Edition 41— Amril Foster Art, All the Time Nearly thirty years after she entered Artists For Humanity as a teen in 1995, chef, small business owner, and artist Amril Foster found herself back at AFH. One of five individuals selected for the inaugural cohort of The AFH Artists Fellowship program, Foster is once again…

Edition 40— Mikey Guadarrama From Outcast to Mentor & Everything In-Between When I ask Mikey Guadarrama to share his favorite memory from his time at Artists For Humanity, he struggles to pick just one. Amid a whirlwind of stories, he places a special emphasis on “The B-Boy Olympics,” an event hosted by a local breakdancer in the…

Edition 39—Trevor Ward All I Wanted to Learn in The World Trevor Ward was one of the few Artists For Humanity (AFH) teens who didn’t discover the nonprofit through their high school career center. Despite being homeschooled, Ward had AFH on his radar for quite some time. “When I was a kid, my mom made us participate in…

Edition 38—Joel Balbuena Kind, Curious, Hardworking Artists For Humanity (AFH) alumni often describe the organization as having opened doors to countless opportunities. Joel Balbuena has a slightly different take. “I actually think it closed my exploration,” he said. “But that’s not a bad thing. That’s a great thing.” A Boston native from Mattapan…

Edition 37— Da Thao Nguyen Coming Full Circle “My name is Da Thao Ngyuen, but I go by D.T.” Da Thao, aka D.T., tells her story with exceptional ease. Her answers to my questions are straightforward, without needless embellishments. Perhaps I expose her modesty when she credits her high school self as a…

Edition 36— Chantale Regnier Little By Little Chantale Regnier has worked in every sector of the fashion industry: creative, business, and even production. Surprisingly, her most cherished memory from Artists For Humanity (AFH) and the time spent honing her skills has nothing to do with fashion. Regnier, a New York City-based designer, recalled…

Edition 35 — Emily Lyons Tough Love “I had no idea that I had this artistic ability to draw and paint.” Instead, 16-year-old Emily Lyons was interested in photography. “That’s when Myspace and Facebook were everything, and everyone was taking photos,” she said. When Lyons discovered that an organization called Artists For…

Edition 34—Sumeya Ali New Light “I have your self-portrait,” referring to the image of Sumeya Ali’s first painting at Artists For Humanity (AFH). “Oh, the one with the milk mustache?” Ali laughed. I could sense her wit, infectious energy, and attention to detail, even through a computer screen. As a…

Edition 33—Silvi Naçi That’s What Social Equity is All About 14-year-old Silvi Naçi did not know much English when they immigrated to America from Albania. However, art-making was a language they comfortably spoke. Their fluency in art was nurtured from a young age by their mother. “I always went to art school—since I was in first grade…