IFE-ILE's staff & board

Neri Torres
Founder, Artistic & Executive Director

Award-winning dancer and choreographer Neri Torres founded IFE-ILE in 1996, and is the organization's executive and artistic director. Born in Havana, Cuba, Neri defected to the U.S. in 1991 and turned her passion for dance and cultural advocacy into a successful career spanning more than twenty years.

IFE-ILE Director Named 2006 Florida Choreographer of the Year by the Film, Recording & Entertainment Council

In 2006, she was named 2006 Florida Choreographer of the Year by the Film, Recording & Entertainment Council. Neri was honored at the Council's Star Gala in Hallandale Beach, Florida last November, for her accomplishments as a choreographer and her leadership, vision and enrichment of the South Florida community. Awardees are prominent and influential figures in the South Florida film, recording and entertainment industry.

Neri is a leader in Miami's arts and culture community, where she has received numerous awards include a Proclamation by the City of Miami and a Fellowship and Certificate of Artistic Merit from the State of Florida. She is also a cultural ambassador who has performed and choreographed shows in nearly every continent in the world and in dozens of countries.

Neri Torres with Celia Cruz at the CBS Release party for Gloria Estefan's album Alma Caribena. Neri Torres choreographed the album's song No me Dejes de Querer, which earned a Grammy award.

Trained in jazz, ballet, modern, contemporary and Afro-Cuban dance, Torres is a graduate of Havana’s Instituto Superior de Artes where she majored in choreography. She has toured with and been the principal dancer and choreographer for Gloria Estefan.

Neri has also appeared in magazines, newspapers, movies, commercials, and on television, including HBO. She has performed for the Calle Ocho festival, the Orange Bowl Parade, the Super Bowl, the Latin Grammies, the Latin Billboard Awards, and Gloria Estefan’s Evolution World Tour.

As an actress and personality, Neri has worked with Andy Garcia and Charles Dutton and has appeared on the Barbara Walters Show, The View, David Letterman, El Show de Cristina, The Today Show and Rosie O’Donnell, to name a few. In 2000, Glamour magazine named Neri Torres “Woman of the Year.” Read more about Neri.

IFE-ILE's Board of Directors

KAMEELAH BENJAMIN-FULLER, Professional Actress & Poet
Actor and poet Kameelah Benjamin-Fuller is a graduate of Florida International University's African New World Studies, where her Master's thesis focused on Afro-Cuban artists in Miami. Kameelah's fascination with exploring dynamics of race and gender through the visual and performing arts is rooted in her family heritage as a first generation Afro-Caribbean American. Kameelah's training in race, gender and sexuality studies at Cornell University, where she earned a B.A., complements her professional background-having worked in prisons, major corporations and community-based organizations. At FIU she was also assistant director of university's Intercultural American Dance and Music Institute (INDAMI). Kameelah is a former performer and stage manager for IFE-ILE.

LEE HERNANDEZ, Community Events Coordinator
The Community Events Coordinator for the Miami Police Department, Lee Hernandez is an expert in public relations.

CORINNA MOEBIUS, Consultant (Community Cultural Development)
Corinna Moebius is Principal of the Washington, DC-based consulting firm Bordercross Communications, where she works with non-profits, city agencies and small businesses on community cultural development, cultural heritage preservation, civic/cultural heritage tourism and civic engagement and dialogue. A former board member of the Latin American Folk Institute, she will be relocating to Miami in 2006.

AILEEN OCHOA
Aileen Ochoa has over 15 years of professional public relations, media relations, consulting and management experience. She is also an expert in event planning, information fairs and event productions.

GILBERT SQUIRES, P.L., Attorney
Gilbert Squires a Counsel to the Law Offices of Steinberg & Associates, P.A., in Miami Beach. Along with his background in entertainment, technology and trade law, he has extensive experience in corporate law and commercial transactions. He is an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and is the former President of Conoco Mexico, Ltd. He is licensed to practice Law in Florida and The District of Columbia.

NERI TORRES
Neri Torres is the founder and Executive Director of IFE-ILE.