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.

“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.

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.

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.

Kamara Thomas is a singer, songspeller, mythology fanatic and multidisciplinary storyteller based in Durham, NC. Her storytelling is collaborative and multi-faceted– weaving together musical and theater performance, community art-making, ritual, and visual elements including film, masks, archival material and photography.  

Kamara is currently developing “Tularosa: An American Dreamtime'' in collaboration with the Denver-based theater company Band of Toughs. Based on her 2022 eponymous album and song-cycle, the staged storywork interrogates the mythology of the American West as it seeks to unearth, reinvent and heal the American mythologies that underpin collective cultural identity. The storywork will be the final, integrative installment of a series of experimental, multidisciplinary works including #9 - a pandemic performance for nine social-distancers (2020), the videos Good Luck America (2018) and Oh Gallows (2016), and Soapbox (2018), a community-based, multi-site public performance in downtown Durham, NC.

Kamara also spearheads Country Soul Songbook, an artist-driven and -focused media platform and production team rooted in the mission to amplify historically marginalized voices (BIPOC/LGBTQIA+) in Country, Americana and American roots music. 

As a songwriter and musician, Kamara spent over a decade in New York fronting numerous bands – most notably hard rock trio Earl Greyhound and Kamara Thomas & The Ghost Gamblers. She also founded Honky Tonk Happy Hour, a seminal force of the early-aughts NYC alt-country scene.

Thomas has commissioned work for Cassilhaus, Duke University, and the University of North Carolina, and joins the faculty of Princeton University as an Arts Fellow in 2022.

Born in Alabama, where my family has been for many generations, and into an Air Force family, I learned early to treasure roots and exploration. My parents’ values and sense of justice, their progressive thinking and activism deeply influenced me. 

My early work was in grassroots field organizing for progressive political candidates and causes, with invaluable mentoring from Fred Ross and Larry Tramutola. During the time I worked for Neighbor to Neighbor, I picked up fundraising skills. I took a break to get a Masters in Public Administration at Harvard University, then returned to California to continue with a career in political, educational, and foundation fundraising. My last stint was with Mother Jones Magazine as their Chief Philanthropy Officer. Just as I was tired of this path, my only daughter was entering her last few years of high school. This deep bond we had nurtured for 16 years was going to change radically.

Seeking new ways to direct my love and passion, I took some singing lessons from Cary Sheldon and Laurie Lewis and thus began this exploration of a life in music. I had studied classical music and flute as a child and through college, but when I returned these many years later, folk and bluegrass music captured my heart. My first public song was to my fellow Fellows of the Aspen Global Leadership Network in South Africa! With the great fortune to live in an area with tremendously talented musicians, my collaborations with Jim Nunally and others have been a joy and fruitful challenge. 

I sing in the name of my maternal grandmother, Nell Robinson. I have three solo albums, the first three were produced by Jim. The Rose of No Man’s Land was produced by Joe Henry. Rose toured as a live show, PBS special, and fundraiser for veteran’s healthcare projects. I had the honor of performing at the Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center, on A Prairie Home Companion, and singing and traveling with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Jim Nunally and I have recorded 4 albums, three with our band and the fourth album House and Garden with just our two voices and guitar. I am deeply moved by Jim’s talent and integrity and count my blessings every day. 

Jim and I created Whippoorwill Arts to integrate our activism and music, our life together, and passionate commitment to our artistic community. It’s getting harder for musicians to make a living. We are seeking novel ways to nurture financial support, love, and respect for roots musicians and the lifelong commitment they bring to their craft.

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.

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.

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.