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.

Mindy Unger-Wadkins was born August 10, 1965 in Los Angeles, California, and her family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada two years later when her father, Joseph Unger, was relocated by his employer. At the age of twelve, after both her parents had passed away, she moved in with her brother Bob Unger and his wife, Aydie. While studying at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Unger-Wadkins took a clerk job based at Yucca Mountain, and was eventually hired as a full-time public relations officer.

African-American actor and singer-songwriter Herb Jeffries was born Umberto Alexander Valentino (alternately spelled Balentino) in Detroit, Michigan in 1913. Jeffries was "Hollywood's first singing black cowboy."