Interview by Clint Westwood
Article by Celinda De La Fuente

Dancer, singer, musician, performer, and Professor are just a few titles for this Artivist (artist + activist). Keli Rosa Cabunoc Romero is now the newest and youngest board member of the Cesar E. Chavez Legacy and Educational Foundation (CECLEF) where she raises money for educational purposes and assists families in need on the Westside of San Antonio, to say the least. You can also catch her performing with El Tallercito de Son throughout San Antonio, or attend a free workshop on Tuesdays at Centro Cultural Aztlan, where you learn how to dance, sing, and even play Son Jarocho in the traditional manner. Not enough Keli Rosa Cabunoc Romero for you? Check out one of her free virtual Ballet Folklorico classes, again, at Centro Cultural Aztlan. Pre-Covid, you could also catch her on the stage performing as Emma Tennayuca, for instance. That’s right, she is on a whole other toda Chingona level.

When she’s not working with CECLEF or performing in one way or another, you can find her at her day job at Northwest Vista College in the field of Mexican American Studies (MAS), as a Profesora of Mexican American Fine Arts. Her research in MAS curriculum has been instrumental, not only to higher education, but to local high schools as well since the accreditation of MAS as an elective in recent years throughout the state of Texas. Thus, through her work, Profesora Cabunoc Romero is teaching our youth the true history of our ancestors. Chingona status to the max.

Keli Rosa Cabunoc Romero lives and breathes the Chicana flames. The very definition of Chingona, her fire burns bright. Watcha!