Aurora Flores

Twenty-first century Renaissance woman Aurora Flores is the recipient of numerous awards and is included in Who’s Who in Hispanic America. President of her own consulting firm, Aurora Communications, Inc., she was the first female music correspondent for Billboard Magazine. While attending Columbia’s Journalism School, she broke into mainstream journalism penning thousands of published articles. Currently, Aurora is the founder & bandleader of Zon del Barrio /Barrio Zone Music, an intergenerational world music band featuring her original compositions and classic covers while spotlighting new talent in music. Aurora & Orq. Zon del Barrio recently headlined Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing to roaring, sold out diverse crowd of dancers.

Through Aurora Communications, Flores writes on culture while producing, promoting & publicizing many major Latin music and cultural events. She lectures on Latin music, has composed bilingual songs for Nickelodeon’s “Dora the Explorer,” and recently edited and wrote the foreword for ¡Salsa Talks! A Musical Heritage Uncovered. Aurora can be seen over BET’s Pasos Latinos; BRAVO’s “Palladium, When Mambo was King;” the Smithsonian’s “Latin jazz, La Combinación Perfecta;” and in Edward James Olmos’s “Americanos: Latino Life in the U.S.” alongside the late Tito Puente, playing a composition she wrote. She was recently featured in the PBS documentary: Latin Music USA. She is a proud descendent of Puerto Rico’s visionary patriot, Eugenio Maria de Hostos.