2026 Puentes Fellows - Becarios PUENTES - Bolsistas PUENTES

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Adina Thea (she/her/ella) was born in Los Angeles, California, and has lived in both southern and northern California, as well as spending a year in Mexico City. Adina's father is of Ukrainian-Hungarian Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, and her mother has both Chicana/Mexican and American Indigenous roots.

Throughout her life, Adina has been fascinated with the people and cultures of the world and later decided to dedicate herself to the education profession—first as a teacher, then a school principal, and now as the Director of Multilingual Programs and Fine Arts in the Highline School District, where she currently resides in Seattle with her partner.

Adina holds a BS degree in Anthropology, a Master's in Education, and is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Educational Leadership at the University of Washington. In 2017, Adina was nationally recognized as the Washington State Principal of the Year! In her free time, she loves spending time with her partner, friends, and two young adult daughters, as well as hiking, practicing yoga, and exploring amazing cuisine. Recently, Adina has become fascinated with studying the practice of Jewish meditation as well as embracing her unique Jewtina identity.

Adrian Marcos (he/they/él) is a second-year rabbinical student at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles. Born in Texas to proud a Mexican mother and a Filipino father, Adrian has lived all over the world thanks to their parents being in the military. He has encountered a wide variety of cultures and communities, something that has fueled his drive for creating warm, welcoming communities wherever he is. 

Adrian is passionate about all things Jewish. His identity as a Mexican-Asian Jew shapes the way that he engages with his Judaism, as well as the conversations that he has with others. They believe deeply in the power of learning from others and using that power to create warm, welcoming, and accessible spaces where people can explore and develop their love for Judaism. 

Ana Lara (she/ella) is a multidisciplinary and multicultural creative writer, scholar and traditional healer. Ana was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Kenya and Mt. Vernon, NY in a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-faith, multi-lingual and multi-class family. She is currently a university professor and also runs a Caribbean Afro-Indigenous cultural revitalization organization. Ana has been active in participating and co-creating Jewish of color spaces in non-Jewish places since the late 1990s. She co-led the liberatory writing project, Busting Binaries, with Jewish-Arab activist Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz between 2000-2006 and co-led a Bay area POC Pesach with dear friend and artist Margo Rivera Weiss (z'l) for eight years.

Ivan Gil (he/him) is a creative entrepreneur based in the Twin Cities with an international background spanning New York City, Mexico, and Minnesota. He is a Product Development alumnus of FIDM - Los Angeles and holds a degree in Apparel Design from the University of Minnesota, with professional expertise in product development, design, and multicultural marketing. Ivan currently serves as the YALA Manager (Young Adult Leadership Action) at the Minneapolis Jewish Federation, where he leads the development of strategic programming and community experiences for Young Jewish Adults (20’s - 40’s), with an emphasis on professional development, Jewish culture, and identity.

Before joining the Federation, Ivan served for three years on YALA’s Steering Circle and was selected as a JDC Entwine Community Representative in 2023. He has also contributed to the community as a participant in the inaugural Queer Mussar cohort through J-Pride and as a former board member of the Multiracial Jewish Association of Minnesota. Ivan’s ongoing professional and academic interests include the study of Sephardic identity, the Ladino language, and the broader understanding of Judaism in Spanish-speaking contexts, particularly within Latin America and Latino communities in the United States. Outside of Jewish life, Ivan is the CEO of POSH WORLD, a production and creative agency specialized in digital content, experimental experiences and brand management in the areas of beauty, fashion and entertainment. 

Joy Villarreal-Belford (they/them) is the Southwest Education and Training Manager for Keshet. A native Houstonian who still calls Texas home, Joy holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master’s degree in counseling, and a certificate in diversity, equity, and inclusion.

With a deep commitment to advocacy, they have been championing queer rights since the 1990s when they first came out as a teenager. Throughout their career in behavioral health, Joy has worked tirelessly to support marginalized communities, and they bring their compassion, wealth of experience, and vision for a more inclusive and just future to this role at Keshet.

Joy and their wife, Annie, have three amazing children. In their spare time, they love to spend time with their family and friends, bake, be in nature, travel, watch baseball, and read.

Julianna Goldfarb (she/her) is the Springboard Innovation Fellow at Hillel at Stanford, where she focuses on student engagement, community building, and creating joyful, inclusive Jewish spaces. A recent UC Berkeley graduate with a background in Public Health, Julianna is passionate about bringing together Jewish learning, civic engagement, social justice, service, and relationship-building to create spaces where students feel a strong sense of belonging. 

Originally from Miami, Florida, Julianna is Nicaraguan and brings her multicultural identity into her work. She hopes to continue her studies and build a long-term career within the Jewish world.

Lex Dorfman (she/her) was raised in a Jewish-Mexican household that shaped her understanding of what Jewish community can and should feel like - rooted in love, generosity, and collective care. These values have guided her work in Jewish and educational spaces including Augsburg University, Brown RISD Hillel, the Maayanot Community Mikveh of Minnesota, and Sketchpad. Along this path, Lex became a certified Mikveh Guide as well as a Morning Altar Teacher and Trainer to help people mark moments in their lives.

Through the PUENTES Fellowship, Lex looks forward to building meaningful relationships and deepening her leadership as an empowered Jewtina changemaker. Outside of work, she loves Latin dancing, singing, spending time outdoors, traveling, and cultivating deep, authentic connections with others.

Sharon Banda (she/her) is the Program Associate for Tikvah’s Millstone Scholars Program, a rigorous academic initiative designed to cultivate critical thinking, leadership, and a deep understanding of Jewish history and culture among Jewish middle school students in secular schools. She lives in Manhattan and is originally from Miami, Florida. Sharon studied Spanish language and literature at Universidad de Granada in Spain and Anthropology at The Ohio State University. After college, she dedicated her time to volunteering in Central and South America, focusing on community development projects. Her experience led her to work closely with the United States Department of Health and Human Services with The Office of Refugee Resettlement, where she assisted in implementing safe practices within the organization.

Sofía Friedman (she/ella) is a proud Jewish Nicaraguan-Peruvian American. She was raised in San Francisco on her dad’s freshly baked challah and her abuelita’s beans always overflowing in the freezer.

She studied Middle Eastern Studies, Anthropology, and Civic Studies at Tufts University, and then spent a brief stint in Washington, D.C. working with the White House before heading to Barcelona for culinary school. Now she lives in New York City, where she spent two joyful years teaching preschool before joining Jewtina y Co. full-time as Program Coordinator. She is also a B’nei Mitzvah tutor at Central Synagogue.

Sofía is passionate about blending creativity, education, advocacy, and culture. Outside of work, she loves cooking global cuisines, reading historical fiction, spending time outdoors, singing obnoxiously loud to reggaeton, and pondering life’s big questions on her blog, La Judía Errante (The Roaming Jewess).

Vicente Yépez (he/him/él) is a writer, translator, and educator. Raised along the Mexico/Texas border, Vicente writes about marginalized communities in the U.S. and Latin America, whose voices he seeks to amplify and empower. Of B’nei Anusim and Afro-Indigenous heritage, he is a passionate student of Sephardic history and minhag, as well as a strong believer in the healing power of Jewish spiritual tradition. Vicente holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arkansas and continues to live in Fayetteville, where he attends Temple Shalom of Northwest Arkansas with his family.