OUR TEAM
“Through this project, I am building on my immigrant mother's emotional and physical labor in the Market and the relationships she has cultivated here. Each person that works in the Market has a story of survival and a driving force to provide a better life for their families. My “Our Market” project is a love letter to my community and the place I continue to call home for over forty years.”
— Michelle Angela Ortiz- Project Director & Lead Artist
Michelle Angela Ortiz- Project Director & Lead Artist
Michelle Angela Ortiz is an award-winning visual artist, skilled muralist, community arts educator, and filmmaker who uses her art as a vehicle to represent people and communities whose histories are often lost or co-opted. Through community arts practices, painting, documentaries, and public art installations, she creates a safe space for dialogue around some of the most profound issues communities and individuals may face. Her work tells stories using richly crafted and emotive imagery to claim and transform spaces into a visual affirmation that reveals the strength and spirit of the community.
For 25 years, Ortiz has designed and created over 50 large-scale public works nationally and internationally. Since 2008, Ortiz has led art for social change public art projects in Costa Rica & Ecuador and as a Cultural Envoy through the US Embassy in Fiji, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Venezuela, Honduras, and Cuba. Ortiz is a 2022 Philadelphia250 Leave a Legacy Grantee, a Leeway Foundation Media Resident, a 2021 Art is Essential Grantee, a 2020 Art For Justice Fund Grantee, a Pew Fellow, Rauschenberg Foundation Artist as Activist Fellow, and a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist National Fellow. In 2016, she received the Americans for the Arts' Public Art Year in Review Award which honors outstanding public art projects in the nation.
Erike De Veyra- Project Manager
Erike De Veyra is a designer, project manager, and founder of Design Gym, demystifying design to designers of all ages and levels through tools, activities, workshops, experiences, and providing expertise to increase access and representation in the design industry. Erike uses (her twenty years) of training and experience in architecture to design and develop initiatives, public programs, and experiences for clients and the design curious.
Erike serves on Jefferson’s College of Architecture & the Built Environment Advancement (CABE) Council and was honored in the inaugural cohort of Philly Girls Do Good—recognizing and celebrating women leaders in design and community development. In the fall of 2017, through the Public Interest Design Institute, became a Social Economic Environmental Design (SEED) Certified Professional, and previously served on the Board of Directors for the AIA Philadelphia Chapter and the Center of DesignPhiladelphia. Erike has a Bachelor of Architecture and MS in Design Thinking & Entrepreneurship, with over 20 years of experience managing projects and initiatives.
Sophia Terry/ Program Assistant
Sophia Terry is the Program Assistant for the Our Market team. She oversees the execution of story collection the Our Market Story Cart. Sophia has worked with the Our Market team in different roles since 2022. She has also works as an art educator for the past three years, and will be teaching 3rd-8th graders in her fourth year of teaching this fall.
AK/ Social Media Manager + Media Team
AK, artistically known as Arekusn (ah-rec-kuh-sin) is a photographer and graphic designer from Philadelphia. Wanting to document his urban art adventures, in 2011 he began taking photos of the street art and murals from his city travels. Since that time, his photography skills have allowed him to work with various Philadelphia organizations such as Ordinarie Heroes, Movement Church Philly, Royal Generation and more. Anna prides himself on maintaining an artistry brand built on three simple things: faith, hope, and love.
Jacob Francois/ Media Team
Jacob is a portrait and lifestyle photographer based in Philadelphia. His photography style is inspired by moody and cinematic tones, and he specializes in capturing striking portraits that evoke emotion and tell a story. Whether it's a single subject or a group shot, he strives to create images that are unique, memorable, and meaningful.
He loves to experiment with different styles and techniques to create photos that are both beautiful and meaningful.
Dr. Veronica Montes/ Lead Researcher
Dr. Veronica Montes is associate professor in the Department of Sociology and co-director of the Latin American, Iberian, and Latina/o Studies minor at Bryn Mawr College. She was an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at the University of Southern California in the Department of Sociology and with the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration. As a feminist ethnographer, her research falls in two areas: on immigration from Mexico and Central America to the U.S. and on the intersection between gender, belonging and migration.
AmaRa Pedreros Montes/ Research Team
AmaRa Pedreros Montes is a student at Temple University studying Psychology and Cognitive neuroscience. Although she was raised in Southern California, having spent the last 10 years in Pennsylvania she now calls Philly home. She has been working closely with the South Philly immigrant community for the last four years and is looking forward to participating in this new project to document the richness of the South Philly community. In her free time she enjoys to knit, play with her cats, cook, and travel.
Amy Reyes/ Research Team
Amy Reyes (she/they) is part of the Research Team in the Our Market Project Crew and is a current senior undergraduate student at Bryn Mawr College. Using the skills she has picked up while working towards her B.A. in Sociology, Amy is focusing on highlighting the changes that have occurred throughout Our Market due to the multiple diverse communities coming together to live and work as one.