Guayaquil, Ecuador. Writer, journalist, psychologist and psychoanalyst.

Now, living in Houston for the last eight years, and an American Citizen, she is the founder and President of Casa Cultural de las Américas, in Houston, Texas a Non-profit Organization.

In her country she was General Editor of Agencia Literaria El Conjuro, Guayaquil-Ecuador; Creative Director of Citra Publicidad, Quito-Ecuador; Creative Director of M S & S Agencia de Publicidad, Guayaquil-Ecuador.

In the area of education Elizabeth has teached at: Universidad Del Salvador; UDLA, Quito; Universidad Autónoma de Quito; ESPOL, Guayaquil; Fundacion Teleducando, Guayaquil; and ITV, Guayaquil.

She has obtained awards in Madrid, Guayaquil, Cuenca and Houston, both for her literary work as well as her work as a psychotherapist and pioneer of social projects in education and health.

Publications in chronological order are: “La mirada ciega”(short stories), “Conjuros y Maldiciones”(novel), “Cristina”(novel), “Travesti de Almas”(short stories), “El Culto”(novel), “Oblivion” (poems), “El amante despiadado” (novel), “El pueblo de los ahogados”(novel)

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Elizabeth Quila

Chairman of the Board

713-647-1777

Chairman

Elizabeth Quila

Deanea is a proven leader who is an active member of Casa Cultural de las Americas, currently serving as director of international relations. She previously served the organization as director of protocol. Deanea co-chaired CCA’s first annual Masquerade Ball with special guest Mario Vargas Llosa in 2015.
She conducted two workshops for the organization in 2015 and 2016 respectively –How to Succeed in the Americas and Dining in the Americas, to share cultural differences and similarities among countries of the Americas.
She often serves as a bilingual emcee or moderator for CCA events, including for the organization’s annual signature event International Literature Festival-Houston.
In her capacity as chief of protocol, Mayor’s Office of Trade and International Affairs, she develops strategies to achieve Houston’s diplomatic, trade and development objectives. Daily, she liaises with members of Houston’s consular corps and international partners to bring economic, cultural, and educational opportunities to Houston. Since 2001, she has overseen the Houston visits of 30 heads of state and over 2,000 cabinet members and ambassadors, connecting these distinguished guests to Houston-area leaders and organizations.
Deanea also assists in organizing mayoral missions abroad, which have included missions to countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.
Deanea has a Bachelors of Arts dual degree in Spanish and International Studies from the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. As an undergraduate she studied abroad at the University of Malaga in Spain and the University of Guadalajara in Mexico. Deanea is fluent in Spanish and studies Arabic. She is a certified corporate etiquette and international protocol consultant.

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Deanea LeFlore

President
832-689-8986

President

Deanea LeFlore

Born and raised in Buenos Aires where he owned a Ladies Boutique in a fashionable avenue, studied Theatre and acting before coming to Houston in 1973.
Started a restaurant career at the then very famous Brennan's, Restaurant in Downtown Houston, that ended in 1999 with the Ninfa’s restaurant chain, where he acted as, Director of training, Purchasing, and Real Estate, among other duties assigned by the President of the Company

From 1999 to 2005 was sales adviser at Advantage BMW, where he resigned being a part at a national level of the company’s Professional Sales Council.
In 2006, created with two partners and was president of Night-Bright, a company dedicated to manufacture and distribute Photoluminiscent exit signs and emergency evacuation systems, where he retired in 2012.

As a founding member of CCA, in August 2012, he now is the VP of public relations and fund raiser of the Organization.

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Mauricio Hussmann

V.P. Public Relations
713-443-4407

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Public Relations

Mauricio Hussmann

Thalía is a Naval Architect and Marine Engineer with 20+ years’ experience providing innovative strategies, precise execution of complex maritime/offshore projects and delivering technical and project management expertise to diverse multidisciplinary teams. She works for The American Bureau of Shipping, ABS, as Manager Global Offshore promoting and implementing globally ABS Offshore business and services. She is an engaging mentor with a passion for the promotion of education specially empowering women in STEM careers, particularly in the Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering fields. She was recently elevated to the grade of SNAME Fellow as a recognition to her outstanding contributions to the Naval Architecture, Marine and Ocean Engineering Fields. Thalia is involved with various professional and community associations: SNAME – The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers - holding the office of Secretary/Treasurer, Vice-chair and Chair of the Texas Section, further progressing to Chair of the International and Sections Committees OTC – Offshore Technology Conference – member of the program’s committee MECA – Multicultural Education and Counseling Through Arts – board member. She founded the ABS Women Engineering Alliance and is a founding board member of the Polish American Chamber of Commerce in Texas.

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Thalia Kruger

Treasurer
281-714-9164

Treasurer

Thalia Kruger

Jocelyne Flores, Mexican, raised in Morelia, where she studied International Trading and lived for 28 years. Specialized in Supply Chain since 2016, Jocelyne worked for the movie theater industry on a multinational company based in Mexico, leading the logistic strategy for 14 countries from 2010 until 2018 before she decided to focus her logistic expertise to the humanitarian cause. She volunteered to work on a project in South Sudan with Doctors Without Borders on March 2018, implementing the supply strategy for the hospitals and clinics across the country,  which was a life changing experience both personally and professionally. Jocelyne married the love of her life  in 2018 and moved to Houston where she continues her studies of  French and  Portuguese and pursuits her dream of being a writer. Devoted reader of Latin American literature joined Casa Cultural de las Americas in 2019.

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Jocelyne Flores

Secretary

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Secretary

Jocelyne Flores

Elsa Yomaira is a native Venezuelan and a graduate from the University of Caracas “José María Vargas.“ She received a degree in Special Education in 1992; she worked in the education arena for the Venezuelan government for several years before emigrating to the U.S.

Elsa Yomaira Torres has 9 years of experience in management, operations and event production with expertise in middle-scale event production. She studied Theater, Motion Graphics in TV/Video, Graphic Designs, and worked in the entertainment industry since 2006 in Houston.

She is also the owner and CEO of two real estate investment companies, Amevezla Alliance Group, and Grand Saman Group; companies founded  by Yomaira and her husband in 2011.

​Helping charitable organizations to help others pursue or discover their love for art is one of her passions. Therefore, Elsa Yomaira has spent more than 2 years as the Director of Events for Casa Cultural de las Americas organizing it's well-respected and well-run high-quality experience signature event, the International Literature Festival in Houston, an event that last year attracted more than 600 attendees and invited the 2010 Nobel prize recipient in Literature, Mario Vargas Llosa, as the main guest.

Elsa Yomaira has always enjoyed creating these types of meaningful experiences that put a smile on people’s faces. She has pursued this passion by creating opportunities that connect people around their interests. In fact, Yomaira also coordinates, recruits, and supervises volunteers for main events for support organizations to fulfill their missions.

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Elsa Yomaira Torres

Events Director
713-992-1500

Events Director

Elsa Yomaira Torres

As a daughter of a Chilean and Uruguayan, Mariela Geronima Dominguez has lived between Santiago of Chile, Buenos Aires where she was born, Montevideo and currently Houston, Texas, where she resides.

Her studies and interests have been various; among them are Project Development in the Field of Visual Communication, including video arte, urban art, fashion design, sculpture, jewellery design, and painting.

In her beginnings as a recent graduate of Graphic Communication, Mariela worked in the production of the project ¨ 730 días de Cartel¨.  This was an outstanding project of contemporary poster design in Chile. 

Later in the University of Buenos Aires, after graduating a course of Strategic Management of Design, she focused her creative projects in the management and planning of projects that integrate design with the visual arts.

During her professional experience she has maintained a permanent compromise with the development of projects that connect communication and the independent artist production.

Her activities as a curator started in the year 2009, in the city of Buenos Aires with the visual arts initiative ¨Sincura¨. Afterwards, in the same creative tendency she continued with the international visual arts project ¨Cuatro Veces Yo¨, shown between the years 2014 and 2016 in the cities of Montevideo, Buenos Aires and Santiago of Chile.  The exhibition consists of four different painters of distinct nationalities.  In 2015 while living in Santiago of Chile she co-directed the management and production of the festival ¨Lobas¨ whose objective was to highlight and promote the work of emerging creative women artists with an abundant participation of 20 different artists. 

In her current residency in Houston, Mariela´s compromise is the development of artistic exhibitions that are characterized by the promotion of Hispanic Art and local emerging artists.  In addition, following her initial training in graphic communication, she explores her own artistic endeavourers in the creations of decorative art.  She was recently selected to exhibit a work in the CraftTexas 2018 at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.

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Mariela G. Dominguez

Communications

832-423-2595

Communications

Mariela G. Domínguez

Bachelor in Communications with solid experience as events coordinator, Radio and TV sales executive, radio personality in the media industry in Venezuela. Main capabilities: talent on voicing for Commercials (Radio and TV), e-learning, natural entertainer event host and master of ceremony. Skilled in Protool and Audio Vault.

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Humberto Tancredi

Director of Media Relations

832-774-8849

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Director of Media Relations

Humberto Tancredi

Bachelor in Communication and Bachelor in Education, solid experience in pedagogy and teaching Spanish as a second language. Specialist in corporate communications, social responsibility programs and community relations.

Experience on writing and edition of children´s books. Journal articles writer in magazines and newspapers (Spanish). High analytical ability, effective communication, critical thinking and interpersonal skills.

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Lisbeth Canga

Associate Director

832-774-8852

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Associate Director

Lisbeth Canga

Luis Moyano, III was born in 1996 into a working-class Ecuadorian immigrant family in Houston, Texas. Luis III is bilingual being fluent in both English and Spanish with a proficiency in French. A pre-med student at the University of Houston, he is always listening to new ideas and places concerted effort in creating relationships that would help him reach his goals by challenging himself to go outside of his comfort zone. Consequently, he began at a very early age helping others in various and diverse non-profit organizations.​

At age 16, he volunteered for Grace Care Center of Cypress in which he was praised for his sense of responsibility at such early age. 

At age 17, he signed to be part of a hospital rotation program at Cy-Fair High School in which he confirmed his interest in medicine, and in the same year, began working at Walgreens as a pharmacy technician intern on a part time bases.

At age 18, he volunteered to be part of the Mika Project in Africa. He traveled with missionaries and medical personnel, under the supervision of Dr.  Hector Alila, President of the Mika Foundation, and Dr. Pedro Arguello, to assist them in providing medical care to the Mika community, a very small village in northern Tanzania, east of Lake Victoria and just south of the Kenyan border. In the same year, he volunteered for the International Literature Festival organized by Casa Cultural de las Americas, an organization that brings remarkable writers such as Mario Vargas Llosa, the 2010 Nobel prize recipient, and others.

At age 19, he volunteered for the Ecuadorian Association to assist in their elections and started working as a volunteer clerk for Cuidado Nutricional del Nino, an organization that protects the health, safety, and well-being of children in day home care. Also at 19, he began working for Gastro Texas, a medical practice that provides a variety of diagnostic services for gastrointestinal and liver disorders, under the supervision of Dr. Pedro Arguello and Dr. Christina Levings, board certified gastroenterologists, who he considers profound mentors.

At age 20, he became the new Director of Culture and Education for Houston Guayaquil Sister City Association, a non-profit organization created to foster cultural and educational exchange, medical assistance, tourism, art, commercial trade opportunities and good will between Guayaquil, Ecuador and Houston. As part of the organization, he has talked to high school children about the importance of diversity and interpersonal connections as well as undertaken the challenge to become a liaison in very ambitious projects to connect Universities such as Rice University, and others to their Ecuadorian counterparts. Also, he became part of Casa Cultural de las Americas as its new Project Logistics Coordinator at the same time. He is in charge for coordinate and communicate with universities nationwide about literature contests and events.

Luis III recognizes that communication is essential to his personal and professional relationships and is centrally situated within the broader frameworks of respect for culture and education in our multicultural community. Therefore, Luis will continue to take one step at a time in his learning process toward achieving his dream of becoming a medical professional who will not only provide health care to the community but advocate for them as a social activist.

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Luis Moyano III

Projects and Logistics

832-275-4506

Projects and Logistics

Luis Moyano III