MUSIC_ CONNECTS_ is directed by a board of three principles, whose professional backgrounds, industry expertise, and shared vision provide the structure needed for organizational initiatives.
The Board of Directors
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Homero Espinosa
The son of an immigrant family, it has been a paramount goal for Homero Espinosa to be involved in diversity and inclusion initiatives, throughout his career. In 2017, it was Espinosa’s participation in MLT which further sparked his passion to increase diversity and inclusion for people of color within the wider tech industry.
Ensuring his contributions to this progressive dialogue in the industry, Espinosa’s participation in Sirius XM’s BIPOC In Tech Group has increased to his current leadership role. Along this way with his own team, he has actively endeavored to examine their own policies and procedures, ensuring that all aspects of the team’s work are as inclusive as possible.
As a contemporary electronic music artist, Espinosa has emerged as one of the preeminent purveyors of the modern sound of West Coast House Music. He has developed a unique musical perspective, that blends elements of jazz, soul, and hip hop into a melodically sound that is as contemporary as it is timelessly classic.
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Joshua Smith
Joshua Smith has spent the majority of his professional life advocating for the LGBT community through a long withstanding resume of volunteer, and non-for-profit work. In 1993, Smith began volunteering with the San Francisco LGBT Pride celebration committee. He would serve a total of nearly 20-years on the committee's Board of Directors.
During his tenure, Smith oversaw the budgetary growth from a half-million to well over a million dollars per annum. He is the co-founder of Bibi, an LGBT organization with a collective goal to assist in the liberation of Queer and Gender Non-Conforming people located in the Middle East and North Africa.
Smith is also the co-founder of the Global Village Stage (SF Pride), providing a welcoming safe space for BIPOC and youth. With over ten years of experience in various roles as a senior staff member with Burning Man, Smith has served as Outreach Coordinator for the organization’s Information Department.
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Robert Brown
A digital transformation executive with over 35+ years of global experience in the Information Technology Services business, Robert Brown spent his formative years in San Francisco immersed in the music scene and a part of the LGBTQ community in San Francisco since the 1970s.
Roberts global business expertise and acumen has allowed him to contribute his skills, time and support to diversity and inclusion causes from Visual Aid and Helping Hand, to The SF AIDS Foundation and The Trevor Project, among many others.
His passion for music and dancing came at an early age when he began ballroom dancing lessons, excelling to eventually becoming a teaching assistant. Throughout his teenage years and beyond, Brown’s passion for music and their associated communities, has led him to becoming a perennial advocate for the BIPOC and LGBTQ communities of San Francisco.