Latinx Heritage Month

Amanda Solis, the Texas City, Texas native, has spent the last few years paying tribute to Tejano icon Selena. Her ability to expertly recreate the late singer's looks, moves, and voice onstage has kept her booked and busy year after year throughout the country.

Among her top accomplishments over the years, she has performed for 30,000 fans at White Sox Stadium in Chicago, performed the halftime show for the Houston Rockets, opened up for the Cumbia All Stars for a Dallas Mavericks pre-game concert, entertained Dr. Phil in Hollywood and appeared on the highly rated national TV DocuDrama series, “Murder Made Me Famous,” on the Reelz Channel portraying the queen of Tejano herself.

These days, she has been busy balancing her time and energy between her Selena tribute artist project and introducing herself to the world as “Amanda Solis” with her debut album, “Space Vaquera,” released on Christmas Eve 2024. Her sophomore release is coming later in 2026 and promises to be an even further exploration of her musical direction under the tentative “Tejano/Cumbia Pop” umbrella.

The confident and skilled persona we see on stage today has a humble unexpected origin story. It’s miles from the Amanda that was secretly entered into a Karaoke contest by a friend one faithful night so many years ago. Social media and the viral videos that ensued following her performance played their part, and as they say, the rest is history.

Ben Mata is a graduate of Southwest Texas State University and an alumnus of Palo Alto College. He has many well-known exhibits from 2009 to 2019. This includes the 2019 “New Paintings” at Radius Gallery, 2018 VOZ selection from the UTSA Art Collection at Centro De Artes, 2018 Common Currents 300 Years–300 Artist at the Southwest School of Art, 2015 “Luminosity” at Bihl Haus Arts, and the 2014 Contemporary Latino Art: El Corazon de San Antonio, Texas at Texas A&M University–San Antonio located at the Educational & Cultural Arts Center.

James Raska is an artist widely known for his longtime association with San Antonio’s art environment. His work has been a regular feature in prominent shows and is part of several international collections. Including The University of Texas at San Antonio.

Aside from his own creative output, his experience includes the installation of exhibitions in numerous venues such as the Blue Star Contemporary. For three years he operated CONCRETE Gallery, an independent (often experimental) component of “Second Saturday” (South Flores’ monthly art event). In that capacity he championed an alternative vision that invited San Antonians to see beyond their usual expectations. He was always a generous promoter of original new work.

Raska cites a 2005 retrospective exhibition of Richard Tuttle’s work at San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art as a turning point, in fact a confirmation of the path he traversed in his own artmaking activity. He works at the edge of conventional notions of art, using familiar materials to craft unique objects that express his unique artistic vision.

Robert Maldonado is a cybersecurity and infrastructure executive with more than 15 years of experience leading enterprise security, IT operations, compliance, and technology transformation initiatives across healthcare, financial services, and enterprise environments. Born and raised in Corpus Christi, Texas, he moved to Waco after high school to attend Texas State Technical College, where he earned an Associate Degree in Information Technology and Network Security. He later completed a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology from Colorado State University Global.

Throughout his career, Robert has held leadership positions ranging from Network Administrator and Senior Technical Lead to Chief Operating Officer and Information Security Officer. He currently serves as Founder and CEO of We Can Change IT LLC, where he helps organizations strengthen their cybersecurity posture, modernize infrastructure, improve regulatory compliance, and implement enterprise technology solutions.

His expertise includes security operations centers (SOC), threat hunting, incident response, cloud infrastructure, Active Directory security, network architecture, regulatory compliance, and business continuity planning. Robert has successfully led multimillion-dollar technology initiatives, developed security programs, and implemented advanced security technologies that improve operational resilience while reducing organizational risk.

Robert is also passionate about mentorship, workforce development, and STEM education. He serves on several educational and industry advisory boards, including Con Mi MADRE, the Texas A&M University–Kingsville Bank Advisory Committee, the Harlandale ISD Business Advisory Committee, the St. Philip's College Industry Advisory Committee, and the Veterans Memorial ISD Industry Advisory Committee. Through his professional and community involvement, he remains committed to developing future technology leaders and using technology to create positive change.

Cristina Muñiz is a painter whose work is inspired by Mexican American roots, Spanish language, deep family bonds and queer identity. Her studio practice is shaped by storytelling, her relationship with her father, and the ways queer culture challenges social, familial, and cultural norms. Other themes present in her work are land and home ownership and its role in wealth distribution of families. She holds a BFA in Painting from the Kansas City Art Institute. Muñiz has been included in several group and solo exhibitions and in 2018 she was included in her first museum exhibition. She has been artist-in-residence at Charlotte Street Studio Residency (2015–16). Her work has been collected in the United States and internationally, including the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art. She has been featured in White Hot Magazine, Potential Spaces, Kansas City Pitch, KC Studio Magazine and Honest Marks in San Antonio Express-News. Muñiz has been a visiting artist at University of Central Missouri, Johnson County College and at Contemporary at Blue Star. Muñiz currently lives and works in San Antonio, Texas and is the Visual Arts Director at SaySí.

Ralph Lopez is an artist born, raised, and currently living in San Antonio, Texas. Artworks emerge from a close observation and attention to scenes and memories from life, as a youngster, moving between the homes of relatives. An expressionistic colorist stokes of thick and thin acrylic paint are applied to wooden panels.

Lopez completed two years at Palo Alto College of Alamo Colleges as a fine art major and completed a Bachelor of Science Management and a Master of Social Work. As a therapist in private practice, Lopez often addresses the creative nature of human life.

Lopez has found a way to combine his professional career with the creation of art, sharing its therapeutic benefits for people to use in their own personal growth and life journey.