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MEET THE
SPEAKERS
Venazir Martinez
Venazir Martinez is a street muralist and visual anthropreneur. She established a street art movement entitled Hila-bana, which magnifies real-life stories of Filipino cultural advocates of different ethnolinguistic groups unified by a red thread. This thread serves as a catalyst to weave a cultural tapestry that delineates our connected presence to global cultures.
She is also the co-founder of 23 Sampaguita Artist Collective and the purveyor of their collective initiative entitled Sining Eskinita, a multi-sensorial street art festival with a primary goal to champion artists from all disciplines. Her vision is to utilize the streets as instant institutional grounds for creative development and provide universal access to safe, inclusive, and culturally uplifting public spaces.
Jasper Iturriaga
Jasper is a photographer and a filmmaker. He has fit almost all his possessions in two pieces of luggage and has traveled across 50 countries (on a Philippine passport!), telling people’s stories and discovering life through different perspectives.
His passion for telling stories brought him to the jungles of Palawan. Seeing the realities on the ground, he rallied social media to be a force for good—raising over PhP 1M pesos to help build a jungle school, and support medical and dental clinics in the remotest parts of the island.
Ryan Silverio
Ryan V. Silverio is a genderqueer activist. With more than 20 years’ experience in human rights activism, they have performed leadership roles such as being the current Executive Director of ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, as a member of the Board of Trustees of Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights), and as a regional advisory committee member of different international LGBTQI+ programs. In 2021, Ryan co-organized the Southeast Asian Queer Cultural Festival (SEAQCF), an online festival for cultural activism and reclaiming queer cultural identities in the ASEAN region.
He has published research and opinion pieces on topics such as on youth participation in governance, child rights, and on queer activism. Ryan is passionate about contemplative practices, and creating spaces for unheard voices within social movements. They graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies degree from Miriam College, and a Master of Arts in Human Rights degree obtained from Mahidol University.
Lorine David
Alyssa Lorine David is a long-time student leader, having worked with people all her life. Despite this, she still finds something new whenever attempting to understand the complex nature of individuals. As a result, she is interested in looking into different perspectives and has always advocated for different social issues. She is also very familiar with public speaking, being a debater with multiple accolades such as Best Speaker Awards and Finals appearances.