Born in East Los Angeles and growing up in Compton, Santana’s pedagogical endeavors emphasize socially-engaged practices that retain a commitment to decolonizing epistemologies and learner-centered strategies. The inclusion of otherwise marginalized voices and populations in academia remains a primary endeavor in an ongoing effort to heighten the representation of historically peripheral communities. She has been an educator at a myriad of institutions such as California State University, Los Angeles, the California Science Center, Claremont Museum of Art, American Museum of Ceramic Arts, the Boys & Girls Club, and the San Bernardino County Probation Department’s Gender Responsive Adolescent Caseload Enrichment program. Santana completed her BA in Art Education and Sculpture magna cum laude at CSUSB and received her MFA at CSULA. Santana is elated to be the SmartStart & Scientific Arts Program Coordinator at Heart of Los Angeles. In her downtime, you will find them either at a concert, working on art pieces, watching horror movies or anime, or playing a board game with friends.