Our Team

Silvia Mangue Alene, BA

Silvia is a passionate and experienced leader in the community through her work in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.  For over six years she has been training and consulting individuals and organizations with a focus on eliminating prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping by encouraging respect for diversity, inclusion and equity.

Silvia is the founder of both Kulea Culture Society and Kulea Love Inc., as well as the President of the BC Black History Awareness Society. Her focus is to help shape and implement the City of Victoria’s commitment to equity and diversity.

Paul Schachter

Since the 1960’s Paul has participated in efforts to secure civil rights, civil liberties and human rights in the US and Canada. Paul is a retired lawyer who over the past 20 years has been working with boards, organizations and groups to enable the community to realize its full positive potential.

He is an ardent ally and mentor to diverse communities in the Victoria region and helped co-found Kulea Culture Society where he holds the position of Secretary-Treasurer.

Deniz Ünsal, PhD

Deniz brings her experience in communications, project development and management to Kulea Culture Society. Deniz joined the board of Kulea Culture because she believes in the power of culture and communication to effect change, promote social justice and build inclusive communities.

Currently, she is an assistant professor at the School of Communication and Culture, at Royal Roads University. Deniz is also a board member of the Community Social Planning Council and holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Columbia University

Griselda Martin

Griselda currently serves as an administrative associate in a national financial institution. Previously she was a manager in a national fashion boutique, where she enjoyed working directly with people and in fashion.

Griselda moved to Canada in 2001 with part of her little family. And her family immediately fell in love with Victoria and the Islands and they decided to leave her place of birth to grow new roots in this beautiful land.

Griselda was born in Caracas-Venezuela, another beautiful country, with a variety landscapes, beautiful beaches, tropical jungles, mountains, friendly people, delicious food and the spectacular Angel Falls the world’s highest waterfall.

Griselda is passionate about serving and assisting people and the community. And to help fulfil this passion she founded ‘Alfajores for Hope’ and the ‘Sharing is Caring’ charity events; the first was to support Venezuela with medical supplies during the pandemic and the second was a food drive to provide food for people in need.

Griselda met Silvia who introduced her to the wonderful work she does to teach the community about all the delicious foods from different countries around the World. Griselda participated in the Kitchen & Culture cooking series as a chef for Venezuela. After this wonderful experience she decided to join the Kulea Society in support of the wonderful work Silvia and the rest of the board are doing for our Vancouver island Community.

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