Kari Hensley

Company Manager

Born and raised on the US/Meixco border in San Diego, Kari Hensley is the progeny of a society where, in the words of Carlos Fuentes, "instead of poetry, men read ads." Hensley is dedicated to the preservation and creation of spaces where one can transgress the cycle of production and consumption and infuse everyday life with activated creativity and politicized innovation. She believes in the power of art to galvanize communities and inspire individuals to think critically and act with a social conscious.

Hensley is alumna of UC Berkeley were she completed her degree in the History of Art with an emphasis in contemporary art. At the age of 19, she was the manager and art dealer of a contemporary art gallery in downtown San Diego, where she gained experience running an office. In San Francisco, Hensley has interned at SF Camerawork and, during the dot-com era, she recruited designers in print, architecture, web and fashion design. While recruiting, she acquired an inside eye to the design and corporate industries, performing multiple roles such as recruiter, administrator and tech support. For the past two years she has worked closely with Guillermo Gómez-Peña, first as his assistant, and now as the company manager for La Pocha Nostra.

An aspiring writer, she has written nonfiction essays on urbanism, war and society, photography and film, as well as poetry. She has traveled in Mexico, throughout the States and Europe and speaks French and Spanglish.