WHO WE ARE

• FUSION Staff
• iPride Board

FUSION Staff

Joemy Ito-Gates
Fusion Program Founder

Jilchristina Vest
Fusion Program Director

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iPride Board

Jilchristina Vest

Jilchristina is a righteous mixedblood activist of Black, Indian and Euro descent. Originally from Chicago and a resident of the Bay Area for 20 years, she has participated in numerous mixed-race events in addition to having years of experience taking to the streets in the name of anti-racist, feminist, and anti-war struggles. She has 2 bachelors and a masters degree- Women's studies, Black studies, and International and Multicultural Education. She has traveled the globe and is committed to the necessity for mixed race youth and adults to be able to claim their mixed heritage with pride.

Tarah Fleming

Tarah Fleming is currently the Co-Director of iPride, the longest standing organization in the U.S. dedicated to mixed heritage family pride, and the Director of the Multiethnic Education Program which is a project of iPride in Berkeley, CA. She received her M.A. Ed. at the University of San Francisco in International and Multicultural Education. She has twenty years of experience in the classroom teaching internationally, and locally as a teacher trainer focusing on cultural competency, issues of power and privilege and developing equitable and inclusive curriculum for all ages. She has a biracial son and has over two decades of experience working with multiracial families. She is the executive producer of the film “My People Are…Youth Pride in Mixed Heritage” and of the Educator’s Guide and Video entitled “Serving Biracial and Multiethnic Children and Their Families.” Ms. Fleming is also the founder and director of START DIALOG, Courses in Cultural Competency, a consulting practice for corporate and service agencies.

Andrew Jolivétte

Andrew Jolivétte is an assistant professor in the American Indian Studies Department and also teaches in the Ethnic Studies Program at San Francisco State University. He recently completed a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship through the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council. Professor Jolivétte is a mixed-race studies specialist with a particular interest in Comparative Race Relations, Creole studies, Black-Indians, and mixed-race health disparities. Andrew is the author of, Cultural Representation in Native America (AltaMira Press, July 2006) which is a part of the Contemporary Native American Communities Series. Dr. Jolivette also recently received an advance book contract for his second book, "Louisiana Creoles: Cultural Recovery and Mixed Race Native American Identity" to be published sometime in 2007. Andrew will begin work on a third book, "Mixed Race Gay Men and HIV: A Community History" in the fall of 2006.

He received Ph.D. and master's degrees in sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is the board president of Speak Out Speakers and Artist Agency in Emeryville, California, and also serves as board president of i-Pride, an organization for mixed heritage and transracially adopted youth and their families. He is a Creole of Opelousa, Choctaw, Atakapa, French, African, and Spanish descent.

Joemy Ito-Gates

Joemy is the founder of Fusion. She wrote the initial proposal and curriculum while attending the International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan. She has extensive experience with children domestically as well as internationally. She has designed and led workshops on multiracial identity and Transracial-adoption. She has a B.A. from Smith College and a Multiple Subjects k-8 teaching credential with a CLAD emphasis from the New College of California in San Francisco. She is currently a third grade teacher at Malcolm X Arts and Academics Magnet Elementary School in Berkeley.

Jacqueline Miller

Jacqueline Miller is currently a social worker at Golden Gate Regional Center.She received a BA in Social Work from the University of Georgia and earned her Masters of Social Work, concentrating in Human Services Administration and Planning, from San Francisco State University. She is passionate about youth development and social justice work and has over ten years of successful field experience in teaching, advocacy and community organizing, program development, research, case management and counseling. Jacqueline is actively involved in the mixed heritage community in the Bay area and is the co-founder of Fusion: A Day Summer Camp Program for Mixed Heritage Youth.She conducted a comprehensive qualitative needs assessment of mixed heritage youth and their families in the Bay Area.She has designed and presented professional development trainings to social service organizations on the identity development of mixed heritage adolescents. Additionally, she developed and implemented a Multicultural Education Program for disadvantaged youth.She is proud of her Vietnamese and Western European roots.

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