This is the fourth of a five-part series. Part one is available here, part two is available here, and part three is available here.
Jason Crye is a program officer for the Bradley Foundation, a philanthropic legacy organization. He is involved in many areas of the foundation, including philanthropic giving in K-12 education, legal studies and practices, and performing arts. He was previously the Executive Director for Hispanics for School Choice, where he worked with his team to help thousands off Spanish-speaking families find schools that best fit their needs. He is also a senior visiting fellow at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Crye holds a J.D. at Roger Williams University, and a 2019 participant in Sir Roger Scruton’s Scrutopia Summer School.
Sarahi Monterrey, an English-as-a-second-language teacher at Waukesha North High School, was named Wisconsin’s High School Teacher of the Year for 2018. Besides teaching, Monterrey works with the Dreamers Welcome scholarship for Hispanic students and Girl Talk, a club that inspires students to become decision makers. She also builds life lessons into her classes and encourages her students to uplift one another. She has been a teacher for more than 15 years, and is now eligible to become the overall state teacher of the year.
Alvaro Araque is the Executive Director of Marketing & Consumer banking at JP Morgan in Milwaukee. He serves on the board of directors of Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Bankers Association, and Penfield Children’s Center, where he is also board chair.
Phil Chavez became the first Latino elected as a Milwaukee Municipal judge in 2007 and served as presiding judge from 2012-2017. A linebacker on the Wisconsin team that won the 1994 Rose Bowl, Chavez went on to Law School at UW-Madison and went into private practice as a sports attorney. He was twice elected municipal judge in the village of Mt. Horeb, just west of Madison, before moving to Milwaukee. He is active in Veterans Stand Down where he provides community court for homeless and indigent veterans, volunteer coaches high school football, was a certified substitute teacher for grades K-12 and has sat on the Board of Directors for Special Olympics-Wisconsin for more than nine years.
Brandie de la Rosa, CEO of E3inspire, is an advocate for survivors of domestic abuse. Based in Madison, she blends her 20-year career in IT, understanding of business analytics and business consulting to reshape how companies approach abuse. Through education, she and her team help organizations understand the impacts of trauma on the workplace while offering real solutions that establish a more productive work space. Before becoming a business owner, she served as a Senior Technical Business Analyst for Pitney Bowes for about two years and a Senior Technical Analyst for Ricoh USA, Inc. for almost four years and has been managing E3inspire for almost six years. She said E3inspire was brought about by her ambition to focus on helping victims create a new story, one of success for those who have experience with trauma.
Eugenia Highland serves as the coordinator of the YWCA Restorative Justice Program Director in Madison. The Restorative Justice Program allows young people ages 12 to 16 the opportunity to avoid fines and a conviction in favor of a creative project that addresses accountability, community safety and competency development. As a program manager, Highland works to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline affecting students of color, students with disabilities and LGBTQ students at disproportionate rates. The program employs peer support and mentoring, to help those who need guidance. In the “Midwest Mujeres” podcasts hosted by Araceli Lopez Esparza, Highland said restorative justice is a journey that requires conversations about transgenerational trauma that comes with both transgenerational impacts and reparations.
Alex Miranda Cruz is the founder of Bravebird, a woman- and minority-owned creative production service led by him and wife Noel Miranda, award-winning filmmakers. Bravebird partners with clients across industries to produce world-class original content in video, photography, and web design. After 15 years as a professional actor, Miranda Cruz transitioned into creative development and production for major studios where he learned the inner workings and realized that the entertainment industry heavily relies on old ideas to appeal to the majority at the expense of the minority. Discouraged by the common narrative that dominates the industry and the poor depiction of minorities, Miranda Cruz founded Bravebird to produce and depict their own stories from a more honest and authentic lens.
Part Five coming tomorrow!
