Growing up just one block away from New York’s “Museum Mile” and surrounded by cultures from every corner of the world, it’s easy to say that Lynnette Arvelo Sawyer was destined to create her own museum dedicated to the cultures she grew up with. Lynette is a proud Puerto Rican and Afro-Latina from El Barrio of East Harlem in New York; her roots extend from the island of Puerto Rico to the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa.