Omilani Alarcon has been building bridges between communities through the arts since she was a child. Starting  her career at the age of 6, Omilani performed at various events, had 3 television shows that aired on cable TV, was frequently on the radio, newspapers, and news and was on tour with her music all while maintaining the life of a teenager. She had a well established career as a performing artist and motivational speaker. She even made her debut with a feature in the Source Magazine at the age of 16. As a teen, Ms. Alarcon won a Lollapalooza Poetry Slam, performed at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, opened for big name artists and wrote her first books.

 

During that time she also began her work as an activist which led to her first job at El Centro Hispano in Durham, NC as the co-director of Jovenes Lideres en Accion. Her multi-cultural background and personal connection to both communities led her to do work easing the tensions between the local Latino and African-American communities.

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In her transition to adulthood, Omilani continued the work at a scholarly level earning degrees in French & Spanish Languages and Literature, African Studies, Film, as well as completing programs in International Business (École Supérieure de Commerce - Clermont-Ferrand, France), Classical Art & Historic Architecture (Cambridge University, United Kingdom), Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars (University of West Indies - St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago),  Yoruba Language (Obafemi Awolowo University) and many more -  all with highest honors.

 

She used her degrees to continue to mend broken ties and to foster understanding between communities all over the world. She became a teacher of French Language and Literature from middle school through university level including at a Peruvian university where she taught Culinary French Language.  She teaches with her heart and sees the classroom as a welcoming space for all no matter their background. Yet she found students wanting to connect with her more and to understand her roots. 

 

Realizing that one's journey can be one's strength, Omilani founded Latinegras, a social media brand that expanded into a documentary and now a history book and comic book series with Latinegra as the superhero. 

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Alarcon decided to embrace all of her roots to truly represent her organization's motto "love the skin you're in" and she went to search for her long lost Filipino Family. They reconnected and she founded AfroFilipina and continues to work in communities all over the world.

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Living among so many different people and working in extremely diverse communities has permitted Omilani to see the beauty and value in all of humanity. It is a small world after all.