Our Collective

Cecilia/Mahal is an entrepreneur, artist, storyteller and a climate activist. She is a 3D artist whose regenerative art was shown at Catharsis during Burning Man Waking Dreams and at the 2023 Burning Man Leadership Week art showcase. In June 2022 she was among 200 artists representing 17 countries selected by NFTnyc for its "Diversity in NFTs" showcase at its Times Square gallery and billboards. At Miami Art Basel, Mahal was one of 17 artists selected by Bit Basel to be part of its "OceanNFTMetaverse" showcase in December 2022, supporting UN SDG goals. "Trapped" from Mahal's cenote series includes plastic found on beaches of Tulum where waste from 52 countries wash up daily on the Caribbean Sea's shores. At NFTnyc she curated an NFT drop on behalf of NFT4Good to raise funds for Bye Bye Plastic to eliminate single use plastics at festivals and music venues. She produced an NFT4Good event at the Williamsburg Hotel to raise awareness for climate change-focused artists and DAOs called “Can NFT’s Save the Planet?” In 2020 she worked at Art With Me Festival and volunteered with the renewable energy focused Care With Me Foundation. She was associate producer at TEDxTulum "Congruencia" where solutions to climate change were the focus of speakers. Mahal has a documentary in the works "Kajiado Girls" featuring girls rescued from child marriage in Kenya whose ages have become increasingly younger in recent years due to drought as families are forced to marry off girls earlier to help replenish crops and cattle lost to climate change as dowry. In 1997 Cecilia co-founded MOUSEorg (Making Opportunities for Upgrading Schools and Education) and spearheaded the installation of computers and internet connectivity at NYC Public Schools with a volunteer group of over 100 parents and tech volunteers. She has founded 3 venture-backed startups boutiqueY3k, StyleTrek and appLOUD. Born in the Philippines, Mahal emigrated to the United States as a child with her parents and 4 siblings.

Kate Manser helps humankind feel more alive.

She is a visionary creator and spiritual teacher whose works include large-scale sculpture, books, paintings, and video. Kate's books have sold thousands of copies in 6+ countries, her art has been shown at NY Fashion Week, and she has spoken at Facebook HQ. Her movement, YOU MIGHT DIE TOMORROW, has spread around the world inspiring people like you to live today. 

Kate led teams and produced events for Google for 5 years. She was awarded the Culture Award in recognition for her tremendous commitment to the embodying and cultivating the culture of Google. She has produced corporate events, retreats, conferences, and parties for 2,000+ attendees. Her work as a project manager includes top brands like Indeed, Google, Carl's Jr., INVORG, and more. 

At Burning Man, Kate's experience includes:  

• Build crew: Catharsis (2022)
• Lead Artist: YOU MIGHT DIE TOMORROW (2018) 
• ESD Comms: Networking infrastructure (2018-2019)
• Volunteer: Greeters, Census (2016-2022)

Most of all, Kate reminds all of us to revel in the wild and wonderful experience of being alive. 

www.katemanser.com

www.youmightdietomorrow.com

@thealivekate

Julio Salcedo Fernandez is a renowned and passionate advocate of transformative designs across scales targeting environmental and social justice. He is the Director of Urban Design and former Chair at CCNY and the Principal of Scalar Architecture.  Born in Madrid, Julio holds a B.A. in architecture and sculpture from Rice University, and a Master of Architecture from Harvard University. He has previously taught at Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Syracuse University, and Cornell University. In addition to the book Generic Specific Continuum, he has been widely published internationally. He has garnered accolades for his transformative solutions and environmental designs in projects such as the International First Prize for the development of Hamar, Norway, and the Lasso House, which won the Architectural League’s Award.

Julio Salcedo Fernandez is deeply committed to social and environmental justice in urban design. In 2020, as response to multiple pandemics, he participated in Neighborhoods Now - an Urban Design Forum and Van Allen Institute sponsored revitalization through community engagement of underserved NYC communities. He co-chaired the ACSA / COAM international conference “New Instrumentalities” for cities in crises. In association with his late colleague - Michael Sorkin -, his design advocacy has been featured on the media including PBS and NY1.  He has been a juror for international and national competitions, including AIA awards, the Kay e Sante nan Ayiti Housing Competition in Haiti and DNADD in Lima, Peru.

When Sanctuaria invited the NYC based Scalar Architecture to join the design team, Scalar sought this generous invite as an opportunity to tap into a broader collective. Scalar's Julio Salcedo, relishes collaborations seeking synergetic visions across cultures. Over the past decade, together with Regional Architecture, and Cinco Patas al Gato - CPAG, they have produced transformative sustainable projects in the Americas enjoying the sharing of ideas across cultures to envision a broader environmental and social consciousness through its design. Regional Architecture is led by Juan Lacape and CPAG is led by Jose Roberto Paredes and Paula Cabrera Gil.

Emi Watanabe is an Industrial Designer with a very broad skillset. From running a farm to table restaurant, designing and building large scale steel sculptures to repairing electronics and assembly line production of radios and satellites. Now she is a nomad, exploring the world. This will be her 8th year supporting design and build on playa. Some past projects include: Temple Galaxia in 2018, Roshanai in 2016, and Celestial Mechanica in 2014.

Her most up-to-date work is posted on:

Instagram.com/anybody_can_make_anything

Laura Douciere is a Brooklyn based multi-disciplinary artist and designer with a focus in lighting and spatial design. With curiosity at its core, her work explores the human experience and seeks to link people together by finding and communicating common narratives. What are the threads of experience that weave together the most quintessential aspects of being human? Over the last twelve years, her work has spanned across fashion, music, theatre, fine arts, architecture, and experiential design– creating evocative spaces and experiences with a borderless approach. Balanced and asymmetric, foreign and familiar, she boldly reimagines traditional approaches to design. Laura is the founder of Nothing Studios (an international spatial, lighting, and experiential design firm) and holds an MFA in lighting design from Parsons School of Design. www.nothingstudios.co

Lynn Luzano Bryant is an industrial artist, techie, builder and climate activist. Lynn is and established artist and co-founded Flaming Lotus Girls, a women-led pyrotechnic art group born at Burning Man in 1999. She also works for: DPW Fuel Team Care driving The Kinderpanzer, Illumination Village R.I.D.E., HUBS (delivering compost) & Village Fire Safety and is regional contact for Burn2, Burning Man's virtual regional in Second Life world year round. A conservationist and climate activist, she has been upcycling and donating used surfboards to the Philippines since 2007 helping under-privileged youth get into surfing and fitness. She co-founded Balikbayod Returning Wave, fostering growth in the Philippines' surf community and ocean protectors.She loves working in the intersection of technology, conservation and themed events. 

Ian-Michael Hebert is the founder of Holos, a steward of healing the interplay between the psyche, community and place. His formal training has been in eco-resort design and counseling psychology. He is dedicated to restoring humanity’s reverence for the living earth. He has facilitated the expansion of Esalen Institute, the Denali Education Center, Chena Hot Springs, the Center for Ecological Living and Learning. 

He believes in honoring local and indigenous wisdom when developing built environments, and has demonstrated the capacity to catalyze teams in creating enduring structures and institutions that will benefit generations to come.

Dan Fletcher is an entrepreneur with experience in building and growing adoption of new technology in California, US North East, Chile and across Canada before launching into a series of new energy startups.  With an honours degree in Economics from Queen’s University (yes the same as Elon & his brother) the thrust of his career has been to advance deep tech around power conversion for distributed energy solutions that are less polluting, more economic and more resilient.  In 2015 Dan co-founded dcbel (originally Ossiaco) around the belief that distributed energy on behalf of the user could be achieved.  The arrival of Electric Vehicles and their immediate convergence with home energy hubs or nanogrids has created a tremendous combination of market timing factors & opportunity for the venture.

Some highlights include having co-authored 9 applications to Sustainable Development Technology Canada which produced 4 term sheets awarded and 2 ultimate exits achieved.  As founder and former CEO of Ile Infinie (2010), pioneer in renewable and high-efficiency low emissions energy integration and co-founder and earlier Executive VP of Atlantic Hydrogen (exited 2007), he has been an early innovator in hydrogen generation and storage through which he secured investment from Encana and Emera (Nova Scotia Power).  Was part of the team that delivered a fully integrated distributed Hydrogen refueling station to Shell.  Prior to co-founding dcbel Fletcher worked with a strong consortium of clean technology partners: Solantro Semiconductor Alpha / Outback, Celestica to incorporate and advance smart microgrids and power inverters within the Eco-Campus Hubert Reeves.

Other notable projects included Co-developments with Forward Thinking Motors, Bestech Engineering, Mines Emissions Reduction Initiative, Honeywell, Vermont Solar Farmers, C-Micro Systems, Solar Edge Magnum, Power One, LGES, and select microgrid projects. 

Mr. Fletcher maintains market channel relationships with installers and home builders for  inverters, Solar, batteries and members of the distributed energy hardware, software community, as well as finance and strategic relationships in Silicon Valley, LA, London, New York City and Canada.  He also makes frequent public presentations and panel appearances at events from Cleantech to DER policy to Distributech to Roadmap Forth CES and Carbon Salon to name a few.

Jose Roberto Paredes

is the founder of Cincopatasalgato, an internationally recognized architecture, interior and furniture design studio. He co-founded Regional, an international architecture collaborative with bases in New York, Valencia, Guatemala and San Salvador and The Carrot Concept, a gallery, workspace, shop, and a café which encourages and supports innovative Salvadoran design. Jose Roberto’s work has been featured in international publications including Dwell Magazine, Architectural Digest Mexico and Spain, Madame Figaro in France, and Avivre. In 2015, Alexa Magazine of the New York Post named Cincopatasalgato one of “the 4 edgiest architects designing around the world.” In 2014 and 2016, he was nominated for the Mies Crown Hall American Prize, and has been part of several exhibitions including Arquitectura Irreverente in Mexico City, POST POST POST Nueva Arquitectura Iberoamericana in Buenos Aires, New Territories in The Museum of Art and Design in New York City, and in África / América Latina: Rising Design – Diseño Emergente, Salone Satellite Milan. He received his architecture degree from Universidad Albert Einstein in El Salvador and post-graduate degree in interior design from Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. José Roberto is a Fellow of the 13th class of the Central America Leadership Initiative and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Paula is CEO at Pepe Cabrera, an architecture and interior design studio and contemporary design furniture store, which she currently runs with her brother. After finishing her architecture studies, she worked in companies from the sector, until in the year 2002, together with her father, she designed the current Pepe Cabrera space, a unique and avant-garde 3,000 m2 building that houses the architecture and interior design studio, a showroom of the best contemporary design furniture firms and the Aticcook gastronomic space. At the end of 2021, they inaugurated a new architecture studio in Valencia, as well as a Minotti Store. The studio Pepe Cabrera received the 2002 Interior Design Award from Tendencias Magazine for its impeccable trajectory over the last 30 years.
Paula graduated as a superior architect from the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the European University of Madrid, and completed a Master's Degree in Bioclimatic Architecture taught by Luis de Garrido. Together with Pepe Cabrera's team, she has carried out residential and public projects in Denia, where the headquarters of the company is located, as well as national and international projects.

Mateo is a sophomore studying arhchitecture at Temple University in Philadelphia. He has been fascinated by buildings and architecture since he was 10 drawing architectural landmarks in his free time. In 5th grade he won an art competition with his rendering of the NY Skyline and represented his school in a citywide competition competing with middle school students. At Xavier HS in NYC, Mateo was given an "Block X Award" for his photography as a freshman, traditionally given to senior students. In 2016 he studied "3D Printing and 3D Design" during the summer at NYU. Mateo studied landscape architecture at Penn State in 2020 and is specializing in sustainable architecture at Temple University. Mateo has not yet been to Burning Man but looks forward to going to this magical place where his mom Cecilia returns from each year physically, mentally and spiritually transformed.

Lead Artist Cecilia welcomes your questions and inquiries. Email at ceciliany@gmail.com