Chapter Two: Legacy

Who lives? Who dies? Who tells your story?

The new chapter features twelve women who are changing the landscape of the San Antonio community and beyond.

The theme for this chapter centers on the concept of legacy. Women are often so engrossed in making change that we forget to document the change we make. Who are the women whose shoulders we stand on? What will we leave for the next generation to learn about the work we did today? These are the questions they answer in the recordings below.

Start here and then scroll to see each woman’s portrait and click play to discover their legacy.

Hallease Narvaez

Hallease is a video producer and digital storyteller based in San Antonio, Texas. She has produced content for PBS, Google, SPANX and YouTube. In 2021 she became an Adobe Creative Resident, and for the next year will focus on producing an independent comedy web series, a video podcast interviewing mostly BIPOC artists about their careers, and teaching others how to tell their own story through online classes.

Rocío Guenther

Rocío Guenther grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico and bridges two countries, two cultures, and two languages. She currently works as Director of Constituent Services in the Office of San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, where she also serves as LGBTQ liaison. Rocío previously worked as an International Relations Specialist at the City of San Antonio’s Economic Development Department, where she actively promoted San Antonio’s role on the global stage and helped manage official Sister City relationships by promoting cultural, educational, and economic exchanges.

Prior to her service with the city, Rocío was a bilingual reporter and editorial assistant for the San Antonio Report from 2015 to 2017. Rocío holds a bachelor’s in English with a minor in political science from Trinity University and is finishing her Master’s in Public Administration at The University of Texas at San Antonio. She is a 2021 New Leaders Council Fellow.

Leonora Walker

Leonora Walker is the founder and CEO of FREED Texas, which serves formerly incarcerated men and women ages 18 and older living in Bexar County and seeking to improve their lives in order to avoid reoffending. Walker was once formerly incarcerated, but has now been set free and delivered for over six years from incarceration and addiction. Leonora Walker is now a Nationally recognized Designated Peer Support Specialist. Leonora has worked for the San Antonio Council of Alcohol and Awareness and for the Center For Health Care Services, helping men and women who were formerly homeless struggling with mental health and addiction. Leonora was previously the Outreach Director volunteering at Haven for Hope teaching women in the first stages of recovery. She was also Vice President of the San Antonio Chapter for the National Society of Leadership and Success. Leonora has five years of experience as a High Impact Volunteer in prisons throughout the South Region of Texas. She holds a degree in Human Services: Addiction Studies, from San Antonio College, where she is currently completing a degree in political science. Leonora is a member of Bexar County’s Reentry Board and is an appointee to Precinct 4 Child Welfare Board.

Alex Leticia Zapata Simpson

Alexandra Leticia Zapata Simpson is an artist. Her love for creating has made her a proud alumni of Istituto Marangoni with a BA in fashion design as well as an alumnus of The New York Conservatory For Dramatic Arts with a degree in film television and theater arts. Today Alexandra and her husband Keith Simpson along with their two children sell life in a jar at their local juice bar SQUeeZeRS.

Mary Ullmann Japhet

Storytelling with intent and purpose is the thread that runs through Mary Ullmann Japhet’s decades-long career as a communications professional, and she tells those stories with enthusiasm and passion. The owner and founder of Japhet Media LLC, Mary provides public relations, media training and video and audio production services for companies, nonprofit organizations, and individual leaders.

Prior to founding Japhet Media in June 2019, Mary spent 18 years as the Senior Vice President, Communications & Community Engagement for San Antonio Sports, the local sports commission. She oversaw the public relations and marketing strategies for NCAA Men’s and Women’s Final Fours and numerous other national and international sporting events. A former award-winning TV anchor and reporter, Mary was also the 2019–20 Trinity University Entrepreneur in Residence.

Kiran Kaur Bains

Kiran is the President & CEO of SA2020, the nonprofit that drives progress toward a shared community vision for San Antonio through research, storytelling, and practice. She previously served as the first Chief Equity Officer for the City of San Antonio. Kiran is a 2020 Atlantic Fellow for Racial Equity.

Stephanie Key

An avid performer of contemporary music, STEPHANIE KEY is the founding and current Artistic Director of SOLI Chamber Ensemble. She received her BM with Distinction in Performance from New England Conservatory in Boston, and she has performed with many orchestras and ensembles across the country and internationally. She is Associate Principal and Eb Clarinetist with the San Antonio Symphony, and serves on the music faculty at Trinity University. Ms. Key is a designated Artist with Buffet Crampon, makers of fine wind instruments.

Cindy Vela

I hope to uncover what’s inside me — my heart, my mind, and my soul — and to use that light to build something bigger than myself. I believe this life is mine to live, but it is not for me.

Brielle Insler

For 15 years Brielle has worked to create brand identities and digital communication strategies for nonprofits, private businesses, and political campaigns ranging from municipal ballot initiatives to serving as Digital Director for Julián Castro’s presidential campaign. She has poured the soul of her work into advocacy and community-building and has made it her goal to uplift women and help amplify the voices of those who are continuously left behind. Brielle currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the board of health equity nonprofit Con Corazón, and the Bexar County Child Welfare Board.

Sarah Woolsey

Sarah Woolsey is the founder of The Impact Guild — a community-development design lab and coworking community united around social impact. Woolsey loves her city of San Antonio where she creates opportunities for changemakers to grow their ideas into sustainable businesses and spaces for community connection.

Woolsey is fueled by a desire to see creativity, justice, equity, and love alive in very tangible ways in the buildings, businesses, and people of our neighborhoods. Her recent hobby is learning everything she can about regenerative agriculture and experimenting in her home garden with the help of her two little girls.

Katie Pruett

The founder and editor-in-chief of ESJ Magazine, Katie has been working to make sure representation exists within the sustainable fashion space, and that real conversations that lead to accountability and action are happening in fashion. Over the past year, her work with the magazine has expanded to create a bigger platform for Black women and femmes, and artists to reclaim and take up space in ethical and sustainable fashion.

Tess House