Leadership & Admin Team
Vanessa Sanchez (Founder & Executive Artistic Director) is a Chicana dancer, choreographer, and educator dedicated to community arts and traditional dance forms that amplify the voices and experiences of Latina, Chicana, and Indigenous womxn and youth. Based in San Francisco, she is the Founder and Executive Artistic Director of La Mezcla, a womxn-of-color-led rhythmic dance company that explores historical narratives and social justice through tap dance, Son Jarocho, and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. A 2019 Dance/USA Artist Fellow and a Rainin 2025 Arts Fellow, Sanchez is committed to increasing access to high-quality arts education and performance opportunities while mentoring emerging artists and youth of color in the Bay Area. From 2020 to 2023, she was a dance lecturer at UC Santa Cruz and is currently an artist-in-residence at Brava! For Women in the Arts.
Kirsten Millan (Marketing Associate) is a Philippine-American multidisciplinary performer and arts administrator born and raised in San Francisco. She graduated from SFSU with dual degrees in History and Dance and has performed internationally at prestigious venues. As Marketing Associate, she manages social media accounts, creates marketing collateral, shares information for La Mezcla and community events, and assists with communication and documentation within the company and beyond. She hopes to continue exploring identity in the context of race, culture, and society in her work on and offstage. @kirstenkmillan |  kmillan.com
Justin Mata (Managing Director) is an artist, performer and arts and culture worker living in San Francisco. Originally from Woodland, California, he received his BFA from California College of the Arts (SF) and his MFA from the School of Visual Arts (NYC). Before joining La Mezcla as Managing Director, Justin worked for the Minnesota Street Project as Director of Operations and New Business Initiatives. He has also served on the Board of Directors for the Latino Center of Arts and Culture (Sacramento) from 2022-2025 helping create programming by and for the Latinx community of Northern California. His artworks have been shown at such venues as El Museo del Barrio (NYC), Northwest Film Forum (Seattle) and Adobe Books Backroom Gallery (SF) and has performed internationally as a Ballet Folklórico dancer.
Sharon BenÃtez (Company & Projects Manager) manages the company’s productions and community programs by providing administrative support for La Mezcla projects and touring. Sharon is a musician, dancer, educator, and arts administrator who has taught and performed throughout California, México, and the UK. An SF Bay Area native, she holds an MA in Dance Anthropology from University of Roehampton London and graduated from Santa Clara University with dual degrees in English and Ethnomusicology. She has spent the last decade working as a program coordinator for various arts nonprofits, museums, and schools.