Deborah Santana facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Deborah Santana
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Santana in 2019
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Deborah Sara King
January 30, 1951 |
| Alma mater | California Institute of Integral Studies (MA) |
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| Children | 3; including Salvador Santana |
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Deborah Sara Santana (née King, born January 30, 1951) is a peace and social justice activist for women and people of color, business manager and author. She is the former wife of musician Carlos Santana.
Early life and education
Santana is the daughter of the blues musician Saunders King and Jo Frances King (née Willis). Santana graduated from the California Institute of Integral Studies and holds a Master of Arts in Philosophy and Religion with a Concentration in Women's Spirituality.
Career
From 1994 to 2007, Santana was vice-president and COO of Santana Management, which involved working in management of her husband's band.
Philanthropy
As a philanthropist, Santana founded Do a Little, a non-profit which seeks to empower children and underprivileged women, in 2008. Santana has also served as a trustee for ANSA (Artists for a New South Africa) and the Smithsonian Institution. She is on the board of directors of the Violence Intervention program in Los Angeles and is a First Century Leader of the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative, and a Member of the Smithsonian National Education Outreach Working Group for the Smithsonian Under Secretary for Education. Santana is also a founding donor of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
In 2005, Santana published Space Between the Stars: My Journey to an Open Heart, a memoir detailing her biracial upbringing as a child of African-American and European-American parents, and her marriage to Carlos. In 2018, Santana edited and co-published the anthology All the Women in My Family Sing: Women Write the World: Essays on Equality, Justice, and Freedom (Nothing But the Truth So Help Me God), a collection of poems and stories written by 69 women of color. She has also contributed to the anthologies Tutu As I Know Him: On a Personal Note (2006), Nothing But the Truth So Help Me God (2012), Life Moments for Women (2012), and 20 Years - Chokecherries Anniversary Edition (2013).
Santana is credited as a producer on five short documentary films focusing on the Daraja Academy, a free secondary boarding school for high performing girls in need in Kenya, and the work of non-profit partners in South Africa. Four of these films were directed by Emmy Award-winner Barbara Rick. Santana continues to support the Daraja Academy both financially and by using her celebrity to bring awareness.
Santana is a lead investor of the Courage Museum, opening in San Francisco in 2025. The Courage Museum is a world-class immersive educational program that will be a bold new platform for public education, inspiration, and action, a place where individuals are informed and equipped with tools to rethink violence and advance concrete change.
Personal life
Santana has three children with Carlos Santana, whom she married in 1973 and divorced in 2007. Salvador Santana is a songwriter, band leader, and instrumentalist; Stella Santana, a singer/songwriter/performer; and Angelica Santana, a writer, archivist, and film producer.
