Celesté Martinez

Celesté Martinez (she/they/ella) is a Queer Chicana - born in Santa Cruz, California, raised in San Antonio, Texas and now calling Denver, Colorado home for over 15 years. She identifies as Chicana, embracing the complexity of being both Indigenous of Cherokee and Nahua lineages as well as of Spanish descent, while being politically active in their Colorado community.  

Celesté received a dual Bachelor’s of Arts in Philosophy and Peace & Justice Studies from Regis University. They worked with organizations such as El Centro Humanitario para los Trabajadores, Together Colorado and United for a New Economy (UNE) in varying roles and capacities from 2015-2020.

Her experience from working as a community organizer to nonprofit director taught Celesté invaluable lessons on how to build, develop and transition organizations. Celesté was determined to apply their diverse skillet and center joy in her professional work, which catalyzed her to create Celestial Alegría in June 2020. She is proud her business is a space to support values driven organizations and leaders. They see how their ongoing work ignites joy in the process and often leads to significant transformations. Celesté currently offers services as a facilitator, consultant and cultural curator through Celestial Alegría. 

Also in 2020,  Celesté in partnership with Alicia “Bruce” Trujillo co-founded Colorful Colorado Collaborations — a unique event production business that celebrates BIPOC artists, musicians and small businesses. Together Celesté and Bruce have produced a variety of event series and large scale events such as Dia de los Muertos at Civic Center in 2025 and 2026. Often for these events Celesté leads on vendor coordination featuring a wide range of local businesses with marketplaces, culturally centered food & beverages, and community partners to engage attendees in a variety of activities.

Celesté is a contract Co-Executive Director for Girls Rock Denver. Here she wields her passions for youth empowerment, music education, and intersectional feminism. In their role, Celesté leads on fundraising, program development and partnerships. Leading alongside Heather Goodrich, Celesté is committed to sustainably growing and scaling Girls Rock Denver to further empower girls, trans kids, and gender expansive youth to make music, friends and noise!

Most commonly known for their Latin Feminist Punk project Soy Celesté, she remains active in the Colorado music scene playing shows and festivals with her bandmates. Celesté is also a proud danzante with Kapulli ColorAztlán Quetzalcoatl and supports with annual event planning for Xocohuetzi Pahtia: Falling of the Fruit Healing Summit.