Music Careers

Kaitlyn Korogy-Guarneros is a nonprofit leader working to cultivate authentic and affirming spaces for youth to create music. At the San Diego Youth Symphony, she drives the vision, strategic design, execution, and expansion of community-based programming. After a decade in the field, Kaitlyn knows that every child deserves a future with music, then we should be designing that future now by forging and broadening pathways to sustainable, equitable, and fulfilling music careers.

Helen Dolas, MS, MT-BC is a pioneer in the therapeutic application of creative arts for individuals with disabilities, and Founder/CEO of Able ARTS Work in Long Beach, California, which she established in 1982 while still a student completing her requirements for certification as a Music Therapist. The nonprofit today serves more than 3,000 people annually through various services, including day programs, outreach programs, exhibitions, and community partnerships. As one of the largest employers of music therapists in the region, Ms. Dolas is the Clinical Training Director of her American Music Therapy Association-approved internship program since 1984, and is currently on the Music Therapy faculty at California State University, Northridge and Biola University.

Monica Emery is the executive director of the Center for World Music (CWM), a nonprofit organization that fosters intercultural awareness and understanding through in-depth encounters with the world’s performing arts traditions. Currently, Monica works at the confluence of the performing arts, cross-cultural education, and nonprofit leadership. As executive director, she draws on her early life experiences, educational pursuits, and personal interest in nonprofit operations and management to lead the Center for World Music into its next 60 years.

Adrienne Valencia is a pianist, singer, and former music teacher, and has a passion for introducing her community to creative endeavors. For the last six year, Adrienne has worked with the Arts Education Connection San Diego (formerly known as Arts for Learning San Diego, a Young Audiences affiliate), an arts Education Connection San Diego that provides high-quality education programs that inspire students of all ages to reach their full potential through the arts.

Francisco Eme (1981) is a composer, producer, and multimedia artist. He mainly works with sound, but various disciplines are integrated into his practice. His work has been presented in museums, galleries and concert halls in Mexico, the United States, Europe and South America. He has released albums as a soloist, in collaborations and musical projects in various genres, mainly electroacoustic, experimental, electronic pop music. Francisco is the current Gallery Director at The FRONT Arte & Cultura, a binational art gallery in the San Diego, US – Tijuana, Mex border region, where he curates art exhibitions, workshops, concerts and performances focused on the transnational artistic life of the region, but also attentive to the international art scene.

Brandon is the Founder and Executive Director The David’s Harp Foundation, a local non-profit with a mission to inspire, educate and empower foster, at-risk and homeless youth, as well as those in the juvenile court system. The David Harp’s Foundation was born out of Brandon’s passion for youth and his love for music which was cultivated at an early age.