KAREN B. SONG (Director, Producer, Co-Creator) began her 20+ year career in the entertainment industry producing and commissioning music albums on major labels, TV programs, and music videos, working with artists ranging from Madonna, Beyoncé, Bono to Missy Elliot & Patti Smith, and some of the most influential music video directors. She continued on to live events through a span of production, development and marketing roles, working with Ricky Martin, Britney Spears, Alicia Keys & the VH-1 Fashion Music Awards. She’s also provided various media and production services for countless non-profit organizations and their live events, such as GLAAD, Astraea, The Sister Fund, Red Hot Organization, and Keep a Child Alive. She was the Associate Producer on the star-studded TV programs and music albums “Ain’t Nuthin’ But A She Thing” (Polygram Records/MTV Worldwide) and “Inner City Blues: The Music of Marvin Gaye” (Motown Records/MTV Worldwide); and was the Director of the Music Video Department at Elektra/Warner Bros. Records. Her stint in theater includes being a member of the HB Ensemble and working with Tony Award-winning Director Jack Hofsiss. A body of short plays she wrote, “Love and Other Natural Disasters,” was produced at the Manhattan Repertory Theater. As a film/video Director & Producer, she’s directed various music videos, narrative shorts, documentaries, and worked with the advertising industry’s top agencies in commercials, branded content, radio ads & live events media (ie. American Express, Verizon Wireless, Mini-Cooper/BMW, VICE). She directed a music video & documentary short for Meshell Ndegeocello’s “Comet, Come to Me” album and has narrative feature film and TV projects under various stages of production & development. She was a Sunday night patron of Café Tabac. Some of her work can be found at www.singasongproductions.com
WANDA ACOSTA (Co-Creator, Producer) is a stalwart icon in lesbian nightlife in downtown New York. The creator and co-host of Sundays at Cafe Tabac, she has been creating and producing events in NYC for over 25 years. She was an owner of WonderBar, Starlight, and Clubhouse in Manhattan’s East Village. She also hosted and curated, events at many venues in NYC and Puerto Rico. She has worked with a diverse range of clients and media, including The New Festival (New York Gay & Lesbian Film Festival), Mix NYC (New York Gay & Lesbian Experimental Film/Video Festival), The L-Word/Showtime Networks, Miramax Films, Tribeca Film Festival, Twist/Columbia Records, fashion/art magazine Visionaire, and non-profit organizations such as GLAAD, Empire State Pride Agenda, Astraea Foundation, Hetrick-Martin Institute and the LGBT Center. In collaboration with Electric Sheep Co. and L-Word/Showtime, Wanda developed a queer dance event, an experimental simulcast on secondlife.com, an online virtual world. She also published Tulip, a free quarterly pocket-zine for women. Most recently, she was awarded the Community Advocacy Award from The Leslie Lohman Museum of Art. She is the host and producer, of The Podcast, Sundays at Café Tabac. She was a Sunday night patron of Café Tabac. wanda-events.com
JULIE MEHRETU (Co-Executive Producer) Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and coming to prominence in the 1990s—the very era that CafĂ© Tabac celebrates—her work embodies the expansive, visionary, intersectional and deeply political spirit that also defined the fury of the LGBTQ movement of our film’s era that continues to inspire us in today’s climate. She was also part of a burgeoning wave of out lesbians in the art world whose creativity and refusal to compromise their personal truths, revolutionary then, continues to inspire us today. Julie’s career has continually revealed how art can catalyze change.
Mehretu is celebrated for her monumental, layered abstractions that explore identity, cultural history, geography, and personal narrative. She has received numerous honors, including the Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2025), the National Medal of Arts (2015), and a MacArthur Fellowship (2005). In 2024, her large-scale mural for the Obama Presidential Center was announced. Her work has been exhibited worldwide, from the Guggenheim and La Biennale di Venezia to surveys at the Whitney, LACMA, the Walker, Palazzo Grassi, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.
A strong advocate and catalyst for social justice and cultural preservation initiatives, Mehretu co-founded Denniston Hill in 2004, a sanctuary for artists and multidisciplinary creatives, and helped save Nina Simone’s childhood home in 2017 from demolition. She is a committed supporter of the movement to end mass incarceration through the Art for Justice Fund and to abolish juvenile life without parole through the Campaign for Fair Sentencing of Youth.
Photo: Josefina Santos
MICKALENE THOMAS (Co-Executive Producer) World-renowned cultural icon and multidisciplinary artist, Mickalene’s work amplifies and echoes the very themes that drive Café Tabac. And she dares to fill museum-sized walls with portraits of women—rendered in dazzling color, brilliance, and scale—an exclamation point that leaves viewers breathless. This is how we aspire to project Sundays at Café Tabac into the world: boldly, luminously, and with a magnitude that honors the women who made it legendary.
Born in 1971 in Camden, New Jersey, Thomas earned her M.F.A. from the Yale School of Art in 2002 and a residency at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 2003. She has exhibited worldwide at significant institutions including MusĂ©e de l’Orangerie in Paris, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC and most recently— a 20 year retrospective of her work at Le Grand Palais in Paris, The Broad in Los Angeles, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia and Hayward Gallery, London. Thomas’s work is also in numerous public collections including The Museum of Modern Art, NY; Brooklyn Museum of Art; Guggenheim Museum, NY; Whitney Museum; The Studio Museum; The International Center of Photography, NY; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Art Institute of Chicago; and Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan.
Beyond her visual work, Thomas is a cultural force whose practice extends to curatorial projects, mentorship initiatives, and collaborations across fashion, design, and popular culture.
Photo: Emil Horowitz
RHYS ERNST (Editor) is a filmmaker and artist. He has shown his work at the Sundance Film Festival, Oberhausen Film Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Whitney Biennial, Walker Art Center, and Hammer Museum. He has won awards at the Chicago International Film Festival, Outfest, Oslo Fusion, Mezipatra Film Festival, LA Transgender Film Festival, and Seattle Transgender Film Festival, in addition to two Special Recognition GLAAD Awards and an Emmy nomination. He lives in Los Angeles.
rhysernst.com
MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO (Music Composer—Original Score) is an acclaimed American musician, vocalist, composer, producer and songwriter renowned for her innovative blend of funk, soul, jazz, and R&B. With a career spanning over three decades, she has earned critical praise for her powerful voice, virtuosic bass playing, and thought-provoking lyrics. Ndegeocello’s work often explores themes of identity, love, and social justice, establishing her as one of the most influential contemporary artists. Her debut album Plantation Lullabies (1993) received widespread acclaim and she has since released numerous Grammy-nominated albums, including 2024 & 2025’s winners, The Omnichord Real Book and No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin. She has composed countless TV and film scores, including Ava Duvernay’s Queen Sugar. Her music was featured at the original CafĂ© Tabac parties. She was a Sunday night patron of CafĂ© Tabac.
ANGELA SHORE (Associate Producer) is a creative force who has influenced the health and beauty industry through her innovative vision in wellness for over fifteen years as the founder of Jiva-Apoha. Her long-standing career spans high-profile hospitality management, in-house PR, and a decade representing artists in the heart of NYC’s fashion and lifestyle photography scene for editorial and advertising productions. With her signature rock-and-roll yogi swagger, unwavering integrity, and distinct creative style, Angela inspires impactful collaborations by empowering others through deep support. She was a Sunday night patron of Café Tabac.
REBECCA WEINBERG (Costume Designer) is an Emmy award winning costume designer and advertising stylist. Rebecca’s work in the television series, “Sex and the City” received rave reviews and the show became the “Go-To”, “Must Watch”, series that set the bar for fashion globally.
In addition to Sex and the City she has also been the costume designer for “Spin City”, “The $treet”, “Miami Rhapsody”, “Big City Blues” and “Mannequin”.
With over two decades in the fashion styling industry, Rebecca is known and celebrated for her high level mix of fashion and street style compilations. Rebecca is a tastemaker and a visionary who loves what she does and brings her passion, proven expertise and playful inspiration to every project she joins forces with. She was a Sunday night patron of Café Tabac. rebeccaweinberg.com
EDRIS NICHOLLS (Hairstylist) is a legendary hair stylist whose hands, eyes and artistry have graced a who’s who of some of the most beautiful and impactful Black women in the world! She hails from the Caribbean, and is based in New York City since her early days at the esteemed Warren Tricomi salon uptown, succeeded by her very own Edris Salon in the meatpacking district. Edris has made significant contributions to the fashion and art worlds through freelance work in Paris and Milan. Coupled with collaborations with iconic designers like Azzedine Alaia and Prada for runway shows–which speak to her global influence—her editorial work has been featured in Vogue, ID, and Interview and many others. Notably, she collaborated with artist Lorna Simpson on the acclaimed Chess exhibition. Recognized as one of ELLE Magazine’s top 100 salons and invited by L’Oreal to lead the Shu Uemura US Atelier Team, Edris Nicholls continues to shape the landscape of modern hairstyling with her artistry, expertise, and inclusive vision. She was a Sunday night patron of CafĂ© Tabac.
RUBEN TOLEDO (Illustrator) Ruben Toledo is a painter, sculptor, fashion chronicler, and critic. His illustrations have been published in top international fashion magazines including The New Yorker, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country, Visionaire, and the New York Times. His watercolors of one hundred global cities are found in the Louis Vuitton City Guide series for LVMH. He created an animated film about the history of couture entitled Fashionation, and has illustrated many books including Nina Garcia’s series of books on fashion and Laren Stover’s The Bombshell Manual of Style.
Toledo’s illustrations often reflect his keen interest in fashion and his ability to capture the essence of a garment or a subject with fluid, expressive lines and a playful use of color. His artistic contributions extend beyond the page; he has also worked on window displays, mannequins, and even designed sets for theater and dance performances. Toledo’s work is celebrated for its wit, elegance, and the seamless blend of art and fashion. He was a Sunday night patron of CafĂ© Tabac.