We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. Eva Silot Bravo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Eva, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?

Initially, it was a reaction to an unsuccessful 5 year long experience, trying to get hired in the humanities academic market in North America. After 10 years of graduate studies, I needed to find practical and monetary value to that long period of learning and academic training, first at Florida International University and then at the University of Miami. After that, I became a multidisciplinary scholar in International Studies, Cuban Studies, Cultural Studies, Spanish and Latin-American Literatures, with 3 book projects, and several articles to be published or in the process of being written. However, apparently my education and professional background were working against me in the job market. Later on, I realized that my ethnic, cultural, gender and racial background were also factoring my particular experience in the local job market search. Therefore, I decided that creating a company was my only way to provide a platform to my voice, ongoing research, written endeavors, networking, promoting and curating efforts. I also felt the need to find ways to provide service for communities of people in need, by learning about business and exploring further my creative capacities.

When I started thinking seriously about putting together a company, I locked up in my apartment for almost 2 months. I devoted myself to letting my thinking process completely flow out of my body into my writing. I realized I was providing structure, organization and an outlet to the multidisciplinary skills I have acquired throughout the different hats I have worn in my professional and personal life. I didn’t have any support but my own universe and ideas, and a strong desire to move forward and to create a legacy for myself and my son, no matter the challenges. After living and working in the arts in Miami for a while, I gained perspective on certain traditions or ways of doing things I came across, that were kind of outdated and counterproductive. These traditions shaped local culture in particular ways, by creating complacent environments of exclusivity, lack of access, and few spaces for open dialogue, interaction and reflection on relevant common topics among local communities, with few exceptions. 

For example, the poor quality of Spanish media and the absence of diversity within Spanish media outlets. The scarcity of art conservatories and arts education programs, booking agencies or art presenters that focus on helping promote or support the development of the uniqueness and diverse local and international talents that call Miami home. The existence of certain divisiveness within the Cuban enclave in terms of class, politics, moment of arrival and generations, and in the relationships between Cubans and other local communities. That creates a lot of prejudices, distances, and makes a lot of artists invisible to institutions. 

The lack of systematic documentation, including in the island, on the cultural legacy being produced by Cuban artists in diaspora and across the globe, especially since the turn of the 20th century. That applies especially to the case of Afrocuban and female voices. 

More than adopting a critical stand about these challenges I perceived, I wanted instead to act upon or contribute in some way, through putting forward my projects, create an arts education program, and by promoting mutually beneficial collaboration projects. 

Also opening the company was the result of a process of awakening and awareness I have experienced since leaving Cuba, about the importance of my African ancestry in my life and professional paths, something that until then I haven’t had the chance nor the proper context to explore about in depth. The above, together with my academic training, led to me to further my path of inquiry on these questions. 

Publishing, creating and teaching courses that touch upon or develop further these topics, created in me the need to continue doing a similar educational work outside academia. Another big motivation was the lack of enough local artistic or educational spaces that promote collaboration with or knowledge about local Afro-descendents and migrant communities of knowledge, artistic, entertainment and social justice, as equals. In addition, there’s a lack of systemic conversations about the Caribbean dimension of Miami and what that means for the city’s culture, social life and economy, which host an important number of Afro Caribbean communities. 

In this light, I realized I wanted Alafia Creative Entertainment to become a platform for the promotion of education, awareness, events and projects, and for the promotion of Afro descendent and female voices, in particular from AfroCuban, AFroLatin@s, AfroCaribbean and AfroHispanic cultural legacies and communities, which are the less visible and represented across the board. These were among the main motivations that led to the creation of Alafia Creative Entertainment.

Since the important shifts that are taking place after Covid 19, I have focused in my writing endeavors, creating and teaching a fun Spanish Immersion class online for all levels, and in launching two bilingual online podcasts: Miami Alternativo and Word Culture-Cultura de la Palabra, as part of my entrepreneurial endeavors. 

With these collaborative projects, I’m keeping the momentum going, documenting the work and legacy of different voices of local and transnational creatives. I’m also extending a platform for creatives to promote their work. Last but not least, I’m promoting conversations to help think about how the challenges we are currently living collectively are impacting and reshaping our creativity, the arts and entertainment industries. I’m also interested in exploring creative ideas on how to move forward in times of crisis, as we are experiencing nowadays.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally? What sets you apart from others?
What sets me apart in my creative endeavors I think is my need to communicate, interact and learn from everything I experience. Lately, I’m kind of obsessed by looking for the educational component of everything I do. 

Particularly I want to contribute to the path against all forms of intolerance that set human beings and cultural communities apart from each other. Instead my brand focuses on exploring and promoting communication on our commonalities. I also would like to promote spaces of encounter and celebration of our human condition. 

In my entrepreneurial adventures I strive for greatness, ethics in all kinds of human relationships, and I put a lot of passion and my personal stamp in everything I do. What I want the world to know about my brand is that Alafia Creative Entertainment is here to stay, to make a difference in the local arts, music, educational and entertainment scenes, by making connections, creating access and promoting possibilities. I’m doing everything I can to make my vision happen. It has not been an easy path. Precisely for all that I have learned in my personal road so far, I’m very optimistic and ready to do whatever it takes to move it to the next level. I’m motivated by my need, personal and spiritual mission to contribute, add value and be in service.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?


Well, currently we are living in pandemic times, which changes everything. In any case, I ‘d take them to a street walk by Wynwood. There, we will hang out keeping social distancing norms, while contemplating topnotch street art and murals in every corner. To eat, I would take them to Love Life Cafe, where they serve imaginative and delicious vegan food. For drinks, I would take them to one of Wynwood’s breweries, like Veza Sur, where you can find a nice selection of local beers.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

Many people, readings and experiences have contributed to where I’m today and to my vision. Among them, coming from a biracial family that was really instrumental instilling a love for education at an early age, as the main motivation to move forward in life. The first books I read from Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Emilio Salgari, Alejandro Dumas and Robert Louis Stevenson, at a moment where traveling outside the island was not possible, opened up my imagination to the notion of different life paths, my curiosity for and desire to travel the world. Also, my experience as a former diplomat in the United Nations, and living between New York and Havana for the most part of my twenties, made a fundamental mark on my identity as a global citizen. Specially I learned so much about human nature and politics, interacting regularly with colleagues from all over the world, in never ending and very stressful negotiations about all UN programs and its biannual billions budget, elaborating and delivering statements, position papers, resolutions and decisions of all kinds, contributing to advancing the international UN agenda on decisions and resolutions on topics ranging from managerial reform, human rights, financial issues, sustainable development, economic questions, gender equality, refugee crisis and all forms of intolerance, among many others. That global vision completed for me when I became a migrant and faced different sorts of challenges, later on in Miami. 

Different people throughout my life have been important sources of inspiration, especially strong female voices. Many names come to mind from people I have met, close friends and authors. But if I had to choose one of my main life influences, I would say my great aunt Dr. Gladys Pichs Paret, a former Chemistry University Professor and Lab Manager, who is currently suffering a long Alzheimer illness back in Cuba. Tia Gladys is like a mother figure for everybody in my family. She was also a generous and unconditional loving person for everybody that met her.

Website: http://cubanidadinbetween.blogspot.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alafiacreativeentertainment/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eva-silot-bravo-phd-87171b72
Twitter: https://twitter.com/evitasilot
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alafiacreativeentertainment/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1G3irZffa99Z_BsTE-_nRw?view_as=subscriber
Other: https://independentscholar.academia.edu/EvaSilotBravo

Image Credits:


Artistnator- Images where there’s a mic
Miri Paez-Images with a red clothing among Wynwood walls
All the rest are my own