Thamara Bejarano was born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1978. A daughter of two journalists, Thamara recalled her experience growing up in Caracas, especially in the 1990s. She explained in detail the 1998 election, in which Hugo Chavez gained power, leading to the kleptocracy that continues to plague the nation today. Given that Thamara and her parents worked in media, she highlighted how the Chavez and Nicolas Maduro regimes impacted her family professionally and personally. Thamara recounted a particularly harrowing incident during her time as a professor of Film Studies at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, which ultimately led her to flee the country. Thamara arrived in the United States in 2014, building several important and impressive cultural organizations that highlight different perspectives across the varied cultural landscape of Latin Americans in Orlando, specifically, and other underserved communities in the United States generally. Among these cultural organizations that Thamara emphasized included Open Scene, Prolifica, Latin Festival of Performing Arts, and Open Zine. Lastly, she shared her broader experiences living in Orlando as a Venezuelan woman and entrepreneur, particularly how the city has changed culturally and how the cultural landscape might change in the future.