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Rosario Rexach (1912-2003) was a Cuban exile teacher and author of essays and books on Spanish and Latin American literature and art, particularly that of Cuba. Being of the second generation of Cuban intellectuals of the Republic (1902-1959), Rexach’s research and scholarship focused on foundational literature, that is, her work probed into questions of national identity, often specifically addressing the role of women in the arts and professions. Rexach enjoyed a lengthy publishing career, with her first essay, “Orientación Vocacional de la Mujer en Cuba,” published in the newspaper El Mundo in 1938, and her last monograph, Nuevos estudios sobre Martí, published in 2002 just a year before her death. Other notable works include: El Pensamiento de Varela y la formación de la conciencia cubana (1950); El Carácter de Martí y otros ensayos (1954); Estudios sobre Martí (1985); Dos figuras cubanas y actitud: Estudios sobre Félix Varela y Jorge Mañach (1991); and Estudios sobre Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda (1996). Rexach also penned a novel, Rumbo al punto cierto, in 1979.

As her friend Eduardo Lolo describes, “despite her modest beginning and her status as a woman in a world where women were still second-class citizens,” Rexach acquired a strong academic training at the Normal School for Teachers in Havana and became professionally active in the early 1930s. The graduate assistant and then colleague to national icon and professor at the University of Havana, Jorge Mañach, Rexach was a trailblazer of her time and promoted the professional advancement of women and was involved in innovative pedagogical teaching exercises. As Patricia Pardiñas-Barnes relates in an article that was written using source material contained in this very archive of Rexach’s housed in the Cuban Heritage Collection, Rexach also “belonged to a youthful group who deposed the dictatorship of Machado (1925-30)” (159); this bold commitment to voicing her beliefs would eventually result in her permanent exile from Cuba in 1960. “Taking the school beyond the traditional classrooms would be a constant in Rosario Rexach's efforts in promoting culture,” Lolo writes, her teaching praxis extensively developing at the University of Havana where she was one of the first Cuban women to make use of modern technology in education. Pardiñas-Barnes narrates: “Her voice was heard via CMQ radio waves from 1949 to 1953, where she participated in ‘long-distance learning’ (in today’s pedagogical jargon) at La Universidad del Aire, opening the virtual classroom to as many Cubans as possible to present and discuss national identity concerns and cultural issues. The Universidad del Aire was a cutting-edge educational program created by Jorge Mañach, her mentor and university colleague” (160).

Additionally, Rexach was twice elected President of the prestigious Lyceum de la Habana, “a private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the culture” (Lolo), and a member of the Comisión Cubana de la UNESCO. By 1960, Rexach left Cuba and relocated permanently to New York City because it was believed she was a counterrevolutionary as Patrick Iber relays: “Another member, the professor of sociology Rosario Rexach, left after a Communist student minder – there was one in every university class – denounced her as a counterrevolutionary because her lectures on the French Revolution credited it with having done much to develop systems of modern education … Rexach said that she could have stayed if she had kept her mouth shut, with a good income of $6,000 a year, an air-conditioned house, and three servants.”

Even when in her seventies and eighties, Rexach was “still publishing with the brió of a much younger generation” (Pardiñas-Barnes 163). But in excess of her scholarly and teacherly vigor and the volume of her published works, Rexach will be remembered for her distinct style and flair of writing, best summarized in the words of a friend who knew her voice in life as well as through the many pages she left behind: “Her essayistic prose is literature, even though literature itself is its content. She talks about the art of others through her own art, as if the waves commented on the sea or the cold the snowfall. Form and content go hand in hand to the bottom of the idea and the soul of the text studied, shaping their own soul and idea as a new literary text … it is the case that Rosario Rexach wrote ‘a la Rexach,’ in a formula that is completed when the receiver enjoys both what he receives and the way he receives it” (Lolo).

Dra. Raquel Robés Massés and Ruth Robés de Rangel were Cuban educators in the pre-Revolutionary period. Ruth Robés de Rangel served as sub-director of the Cuban Department of Education in 1956.

Dra. Raquel Robés Massés was the librarian for the Lyceum y Lawn Tennis Club in Havana. She graduated from the School of Pedagogy at the University of Havana and from the two courses in librarianship offered by the Cuban Library Association. On March 24th, 1944, the Lyceum’s Children’s Library opened, where Raquel Robés also served as librarian. Ruth Robés presented commentary on Brave New World by A. Huxley at the Lyceum y Lawn Tennis Club on April 23, 1937, and published two Spanish-language learning books for children: “Había Una Vez” (1971) and “Había Una Vez, Segundo Libro” (1974). Starting in October 1941, she also worked with educator and writer Herminio Almendros to publish the children’s literature journal “Ronda,” which contained sections for children aimed at stimulating creativity and interest in learning. It circulated nationally through 1942. On November 28th, 1941, Ruth Robés spoke on Children's Day at Banda de la Casa de Beneficencia y Maternidad in Havana.

Sina Sutter (b.1951) is an Orlando based Cuban-American visual artist and educator originally from Matanzas, Cuba. Her works, many of them landscapes and composites, weave in themes that relate to her Cuban roots through the use of color and choice of subject.

Sutter began exploring her passion for creating art when she was seven years old. In an interview, she states that she was driven by her love for nature and all living things to become an artist.

In 1962, when Sutter was just 11 years old, her family fled Cuba. They arrived in Miami eight years later in 1970. At age 18, Sutter put her artistic skills to work as a scenic artist at major entertainment venues and corporations, including the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus World, and Vision Enterprises. She also worked as a potter at Axner Ceramics, and as a miniaturist on the "White House in Miniature," which was exhibited worldwide, as well as many other projects. In 1981, she opened an art gallery, the Tropic Art Design, with a business partner and her husband Ben Sutter.

During the 1980’s, Sutter reconnected with her roots, which changed the course of her future work and was the starting point for the decade-long development of her artistic style and philosophy. This new turn in her life as an artist put her identity as a Latina front and center. She especially explored the textures, colors, styles, and locations that are unique to Cuban culture and important to Cuban identity and nationality. Her embrace of her roots did not make her work less accessible to audiences, but rather produced “a style that is sometimes complex yet able to reach people at many different levels.” Many of the titles of her works are bilingual in both Spanish and English. Sutter’s artist statement exemplifies her belief in art’s connection to the living world and personal identity:

"Art is the essence of feeling in its diverse forms. It includes the broadest aspects of life and how each singular personality manifests its perception of each existing experience by means of an aesthetic and comfortable wrapper that stimulates the imagination."

(Su filosofía artística: Arte es la esencia de los sentimientos en sus diversas formas, llevados a las exposiciones más amplias de la vida, en la cual se manifiestan cada una de las personalidades y su manera de sentir frente cada situación existente; mediante una envoltura estética y confortable que desarrolla la imaginación del hombre.)

Sutter has also worked with government grants and initiatives on behalf of women and the Latinx community. She is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Women’s Caucus for Art and was the Chair of the Latina Caucus. She worked with the National Hispanic Leadership Institute creating the posters for the 2000 and 2002 Mujer Award, and from 1999 to 2008 at the National Hispana Leadership Institute (NHLI) Mujer Awards Gala, in Orlando, Florida, La Jolla, California, San Antonio, Texas, and Denver, Colorado. She also worked with the Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives event for Women's History Month (2001), for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2003, 2004), and for UNIFEM's fundraising event for the women of Afghanistan (2004).

Sutter has had her work exhibited all around the country including at the Epcot Guest relations lobby since October 2002, and in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, and in Florida at Walt Disney and other locations in Orlando. Her work has been featured in the following exhibitions: Ritmos Místicos (Mystic Rhythms), City Hall, Casselbury, FL in 2011; Art Buyers Caravan, Atlanta, GA, Chicago, IL, Orlando, FL, and Los Angeles, CA from 1987-1997; Latin American Art in Orlando, Terrace Gallery, City Hall, Orlando, FL; Art Expo, Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA; Professional Pictures Framers Association, Las Vegas, NV; Art Expo, Galleria, New York, NY; The Year of the Ox, Orlando, Terrace Gallery, City Hall, Orlando, FL; Celebrating Hispanic Heritage, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL; Archivers Exhibitions, Celebration of Hispanic Art, The Plaza Hotel, New York, NY; The 10th Annual National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education, Lake Buena Vista, FL; Great Southern Gallery, Key West, FL; Diversity, Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, Orlando, FL; Ofrendas, Border Crossings: Voices of the Past (Installation), Maitland Art Center, Maitlan, FL; Latin Colors Reflexions, Casselberry, FL; The Hispanic 100 (Honoree and Exhibitor), Disney’s Boardwalk Resort, Lake Buena Vista, FL; and Valencia Community College, Orlando, FL.

Sutter has won awards for her creative work including the People’s Choice Award at the Osceola Art Center at the Creativa Art Show, exhibited at the Mexican Consulate in Orlando celebrating Frida Kahlo’s life, and successfully completed an Art & Development Partnership with CREOG APGO, a Medical Education Conference.

During her career, Sutter worked not only as an artist, but as an educator. Sutter founded the Learn to Be Creative and Art Mindfulness Series professional workshops that provided creative outlets and education in corporate settings. She also led workshops at the Family Leadership Institute, Educational Achievement Services, Learning to be Creative Seminar, Empowerment Works, and Chronic Diseases Stress Management Program in Orlando and Miami.

Elena Zayas was an educator from Cuba who lived and worked in New York City. She and her husband, Mario Zayas, were active in Club de Leones Cubanos and other Cuban exile organizations in New York and New Jersey.