Tiara Amar is a Bengali organizer, writer, and filmmaker born & raised in the Bay Area. At Whippoorwill Arts, their work focuses on protecting the livelihoods of local Bay Area musicians. Tiara also works as a Mixed Media Studio Facilitator at NIAD Art Center in Richmond for adult artists with disabilities. Their creative work draws from Bay area earthscapes and archives, with reverence for worldbuilders of the past and the blueprints they left us.

“It all started at the age of seven when I received a guitar for Chanukkah. I couldn’t put that guitar down, learning all the blues and classic rock songs I knew, and I fell head-over-heels in love with music.”

After studying Music Industry at USC, Gabriel brings years of industry experience and passion for live music to Whippoorwill Arts. He is an active performing musician and supporter of human connection and community building. To reach Gabriel, please email him at: musicalive@whippoorwillarts.org.

Michelle Conceison holds a BA in English and Ethical Philosophy from Tufts University and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Simmons University, both in Boston. At MTSU, Conceison instructs courses including Artist Management, Marketing of Recordings, Concert Promotion & Touring, Survey of the Recording Industry and Music Entrepreneurship & Strategic Planning for the Arts. Prior to MTSU, she taught graduate and undergraduate level music business and arts administration at Northeastern University, marketing and brand management in the MBA program at Simmons University, Advertising in the Experimental College at Tufts University, and she was a Graduate Assistant in Creative Writing at the University of California at Berkeley.

She is a practicing Artist Manager, operating Mmgt, an integrated marketing and artist management company she founded in 2004 to manage international singer-songwriters and bands in folk, bluegrass, Americana, and roots music. Conceison has managed artists and songwriters who have been nominated for GRAMMY Awards and International Folk Music Awards, and won JUNO Awards, East Coast Music Awards, International Bluegrass Music Awards, and many other prestigious music industry awards. She has had artists’ albums and singles top radio and sales charts while teaching students how to manage artists and market music. She’s had artists sellout world tours while teaching students to promote concerts.

Conceison is the Global Chair of Mentorship for Women In Music, and was co-founder of the Nashville chapter. She recently served as Secretary of the board of the International Bluegrass Music Association, and was the Chair of that organization’s Task Force on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She assists with programming and research for Folk Alliance International, an organization for which she served on the board for 9 years and is a past-President and former Programming Manager. In 2017, she won the Spirit of Folk Award, “presented annually to honor and celebrate people and organizations actively involved in the preservation, presentation, and promotion of folk music through their creative work, community building, and demonstrated leadership.” Sh  to theto the WA About pagee is a member of Leadership Music Class of 2024 and Leadership Bluegrass Class of 2019. 

For many years, Conceison has conducted research and written about the rights of creators and presenters, fair pay and working conditions in music, representation, organizational change, and change-making in the music industry. Folk Alliance International published two early papers Conceison authored that have been considered significant in the advancement of folk music. She has mentored and spoken on music industry panels at many conferences including AmericanaFest, ASCAPExpo, Folk Alliance International, East Coast Music Week, Folk Music Ontario, Music NL, Music PEI, and World of Bluegrass. 

Rosalind: she/hers

Rosalind Fleury brings 10 years of experience in Operations work for nonprofits, and more than 20 years in associated roles in nonprofits and small businesses. She has earned a Certificate in Facilities and Operations from UC Berkeley and brings her teamwork philosophies and passion for live music to her new role at Whippoorwill.

Kin Folkz is the co-founder of The East Bay’s very 1st LGBTQIA+ Healing Arts Center, Digital Archive + Gallery, Kin and their collaborative of Oakland, California based QTBIPOC + Ally interdisciplinary artists and health practitioners - offer the global community creative opportunities for holistic wellness through culturally competent, accessible workshops, interdisciplinary art programs, innovative community-building events, and human rights advocacy.

Juan Kanagui, M.S. in Fundraising Management and Development Consultant, has over 16 years of experience working as an organizational leader and consultant in nonprofit organizations. In 2024, Juan launched Juan Kanagui Consulting Services (JKCS) and is currently working and fundraising for Bay Area nonprofits. Juan specializes in proposal writing, identifying institutional funding sources, and nonprofit management. Since 2020, he has raised over $6M for Bay Area nonprofit organizations as a consultant with A.M. Crawford Inc (AMC). Before joining AMC, he helped develop foundation partnerships and wrote grants for Mission Graduates and the Mission YMCA in San Francisco. Before that, he worked as an educator, program director, and fundraising professional at various education nonprofits and programs helping first-generation, under-resourced, and immigrant students enroll, matriculate, and graduate from college. 

Mr. Kanagui is bilingual, born in Mexico, and immigrated with his parents to California’s Central Valley at the age of 4. He received his Master of Science in Fundraising Management from Columbia University in 2015 and his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of California at Irvine in 2004. He is the former President of the G.P.A. Greater Bay Area Chapter (2020-21), a Bay Area Men’s Giving Circle and Leadership Council member for the Latino Community Foundation.

I’m Jackie Marushka, a creative entrepreneur with nearly 30 years’ experience in story development, public relations, brand building, and growing successful businesses. I serve as a board member for The Recording Academy, The Americana Music Association (and its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee), and TLACC (Tennessee Latin American Chamber of Commerce). I mentor women and college students in TLACC-affiliated organizations Ella and Futuro, and in May 2021, I was nominated by Nashville’s Mayor, John Cooper, for appointment to the city’s Auditorium Commission.

Native to Caguas, PR, Fabiola Mendez began playing the Puerto Rican cuatro at the age of 6. She was a student at the Hogar del Cuatro Puertorriqueño, the Humacao Musical Institute, the Antonio Paoli School of Music in Caguas, the Conservatorio de Artes del Caribe, and Berklee College of Music, where in 2018 she graduated as the first student to play the Puerto Rican cuatro as principal instrument.

Jim Nunally is a San Francisco Bay Area native. He has been performing music since 1975. Son of Dust Bowl migrants, he was taught by his Arkansas born father, who was taught by his sharecrop farming grandfather, Jim carries on the truly authentic folk music tradition.

During Jim’s early music career he decided to learn a trade to help supplement music income. At Los Medanos College He studied Welding Technology and worked for Kaiser Steel in Vallejo California as a journeyman welder in the Boiler Makers and Blacksmiths Union Local 10. Listen to his original song Steel for the whole story. In the late 1980’s he attended the same college to study Recording Arts.

Jim has received two Grammy Awards certifications, two International Bluegrass Music Association awards and many other notable nominations. From 1990-2016 Jim owned and operated MusicHill Recording Studio where he produced and recorded on over 100 CDs. During this time he also toured extensively with the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience, John Reischman and the Jaybirds, Dix Bruce, Keith Little, Nell Robinson and currently with the Nell and Jim Band. He has performed on many television and motion picture soundtracks.

He has been a dedicated community volunteer. He served as a board member for the CIA (Crockett Improvement Association) for thirteen years with such honorable positions including garbage duty, newsletter editor/designer, voting board member, and general get er’ done job taker. He has volunteered in fund raising for NAMI. 

Jim understands the depth of the musician experience that only people who have worked extensively in arts can understand. Hard work, dedication, for little financial reward, yet a drive to create out of sheer love and passion for the craft.