OUR TEAM
JONO GASPARRO
CO-FOUNDER & CEO
Jono was born in Cleveland, OH. He has fifteen years of experience in the music and performing arts specializing in producing and curating live Black Roots music. He has an impassioned belief to heal and uplift communities of the United States through the power of music and its ability to transcend age, race, socioeconomic or educational levels and political lines.
Jono started his professional career as the personal assistant and special projects manager to Wynton Marsalis, followed by launching several initiatives at Jazz at Lincoln Center, including the first live webcasting platform of its kind, which reached hundreds of thousands of audience members across the globe. Jono was then hired by famed chef Marcus Samuelsson to be the Director of Music for Red Rooster Harlem & Ginny’s Supper Club and founded JMG Live, a company that produced and curated over 7,000 performances in NYC and toured shows that performed in over 100 performing arts centers across the United States.
SHARIFFA ALI
DIRECTOR OF ARTISTIC PROJECTS, CO-CREATOR ALARM
Shariffa Ali is an international creative leader committed to advancing radical change through the power of art and activism. She works across disciplines, directing and producing films, virtual reality experiences, and plays. She moves her audiences to engage with timely issues touching upon Black, Afropolitan, and African-American identities.
Originally from Kenya and raised in South Africa, Shariffa has been a New York resident since 2013, where she works primarily as a director, community organizer, professor, and administrator at The Public Theater and The New Group, among others. She is currently on faculty at Princeton University.
Education: BA with honors, Theatre and Performance, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
SANA COLTER
OPERATIONS AND SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
While composers such as Bach and Telemann are some of her personal favorites, Sana has a strong musical passion for old school (and new school) R&B/Hip-Hop, pop, jazz, and electronic music. Sana decided to present the world with a blend of multiple genres in her performances and give new context to classical flute performance.
Sana has a Bachelor's from Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts in Music Performance and Music Technology, and is an alumni of Juilliard's Music Advancement Program for Flute performance. As a student, Sana made her way as an entrepreneurial musician communicating her passion for the arts and its diversity through exquisite melodies through the founding of the organization CREATE (Cultural Rhythm Expressing Art to Empower). The purpose of this organization is to integrate music, dance, visual arts, theatre, film and music technology arts disciplines at Rutgers University and beyond by acknowledging Black/Latinx artists, underrepresented influences and experimental art forms.
Her advocacy for musical diversity continues through the use of her social platforms to create content that provides awareness and education about Black musical contributions, and musical history that is not common knowledge. Her latest partnerships include Fender, Verve Records, TIDAL, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
SANTIAGO LEON
AUDIO ENGINEER & SUPERVISOR, PRODUCTION MANAGER
Santiago has been a sound engineer with Ginny’s Supper Club and Electric Root for over five years. He is a professional guitar player with years of experience in recording studios and stages. Santiago tirelessly contributes to the artist experience with radical hospitality and love.
KAMILAH L. LONG
DIRECTOR OF PERFORMANCE, CO-CREATOR OF ALARM
Kamilah is an innovative leader and dynamic theatrical professional. Her multifaceted theater career includes roles as an actor, director, producer, educator, fundraiser, activist, and speaker. She started her career in theatre as a storyteller, which led her to joining Actors Equity and becoming a professional actor before completing her undergraduate theatre degree from Alabama State University. Kamilah went on to receive her Master’s Degree in Fine Arts in performance along with a Certificate in African American Theatre from the University of Louisville. Kamilah is a world-class orator, delivering commencement keynotes and having traveled as far as South Africa to speak.
Recently she was the founder and CEO of The Black Whole, a multimedia company focused on centering the Black global community through art and storytelling. The Black Whole recently has co-produced and served as a writer on the short film "You Go Girl" which has been selected for the Sundance Film Festival.
GRACE PARISI
EXECUTIVE ADVISOR & HISPANIC COMMUNITY ENAGAGEMENT
Originally from Veracruz, Mexico, Grace Parisi is a creative arts executive who has led initiatives to diversify offerings of top level classical music institutions. Most recently, Grace stewarded the Look & Listen Festival as Executive Director into its highly acclaimed 20th anniversary year, and launched the visual art career of MacArthur Genius, Cecile McLorin Salvant. Her previous roles have been with Jazz at Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and Trinity Wall Street Music.
TAYLOR ROIG
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION, AUDIO & TOURING
Taylor is based in the Denver area. He started his journey in the music world at age fifteen when he taught himself how to play guitar. But his passion for sound was truly sparked when as a teen he received from his mom an unusual gift: a 4-track tape recorder from the 70s that he used to capture his friend’s garage band. He was instantly hooked and began teaching himself recording and mixing, going on to attend the Uptown Music Collective in his hometown of Williamsport, PA. He went on to formally study audio engineering at New York City’s School of Audio Engineering (SAE Institute), where he received an alumni award for outstanding achievement in live sound.
As a professional audio engineer, Taylor mixed and recorded in dozens of performing arts centers throughout the country and iconic New York City locales including Jimi’s Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios. He was for years a live sound engineer at Dizzy’s Club in Jazz at Lincoln Center. It was there, at the late-night jam sessions, where Taylor first met Michael Mwenso who then introduced him to Jono Gasparro. Taylor started with Electric Root as a live sound engineer for Ginny’s Supper Club, a renowned jazz venue part of Chef Marcus Samuelsson’s Harlem restaurant Red Rooster, before transitioning to a production management role.
Five years on, Taylor has helped produce and manage countless shows, festivals, and events as Electric Root’s Director of Production. With nearly two decades in the music industry, he brings to every engagement an eye for detail no matter the scale of the project.