Our Team

Krystle Dos Santos

Director, Core Mentor, and Host

“Being a mentor and now a director of the Emergence program is such an honour and privilege. To be a part of running a group that helps to empower women and non-binary people to have a supportive community and resources to be their best selves in their careers and life is such an amazing opportunity. I always learn so much from each session, and now even more, from helping to facilitate the program.”

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Krystle Dos Santos is a 2x Western Canadian Music Award winning soul, jazz and R&B singer based out of Vancouver, Canada. With an extraordinary voice that is commanding, powerful and rich with talent, her music, inspired by classic and neo-soul combined with smooth R&B elements is executed brilliantly; It’s simultaneously elegant, bold and sensual similar to modern legends Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley. Her performances are mesmerizing; She sings with sheer heart wrenching dominion about heartbreak, struggle and falling in love. Krystle’s charming, self-deprecating manner establishes an easy rapport with audiences. She performs with her wildly talented and well-suited 5 piece band creating a magnetic performance with an avalanche of sound. Dos Santos is a rare marvel in contemporary music “an analogue girl in the digital world”. From the sultry, syncopated funky rhythms to the Classic Soul and R&B infused instant classics, her writing pays tribute to her heroes and influences while exploring fresh new vistas of urban soul. Her impressive range of styles showcase the power and versatility of her voice; from soaring highs to throaty lows, from whispers to a howl, with a warmth that envelops you. Her approach to music is unmistakably genuine.
Dos Santos grew up in Edmonton and her roots are Guyanese. She studied at the elite Canadian College of Performing Arts and has a BSc from the University of Alberta. She released her debut self titled album in 2008, which was awarded the Urban Recording of the Year in 2009 at the WCMA’s. Her second, highly sophisticated and elevated album, Fame Fatale, was released in 2011, also garnering a nomination in 2012. Most recently, with her album BLOOM|BURN, Dos Santos received the WCMA R&B Artist of the Year for 2020. She has performed across Canada at the established Edmonton International Jazz Festival, Victoria Jazz Festivals, Honey Jam Toronto, the Whistler International Film Festival and many more. In addition to performing, she is an actor in TV/Film and has starred in The Arts Club musical Dreamgirls, The Chelsea Hotel: The Songs of Leonard Cohen at The Firehall Arts Centre and created a show called ‘BLAK, exploring Canada’s Black History. She also loves performing for young audiences to share the “History of Motown” and “BLAK Canadian women in Music” in schools. Dos Santos is debuted her cabaret style musical, Hey Viola!, a musical exploration of Canadian Civil Rights hero Viola Desmond, a co-creation with award winning producer/writer Tracey Power, in Oct 2020, and will continue touring it across Canada in 2022.

D’arcy Han (aka ZiZi)

Director, Host, and Core Mentor

“I believe in the value of mentorship. There’s nothing else like it. I believe in the power of the Emergence program. We (the organizing team, mentors and the participants) are all energized by the community we are building and the strides our friends are making in the industry. It’s a tough business and musicians need all the support they can get. We celebrate each other’s success and help each other in the process. I’m honored to be a part of this process.”

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Singer, Songwriter, Producer, Actress, Environmental Activist

Beijing born, Vancouver raised, world traveled ZiZi embodies a deep mix of cultures, influences, styles, and musics. Her powerful voice, gleaming stage presence, enchanting smile, and total command of the audience are at odds with her relaxed open demeanor backstage. Within minutes of walking on stage she elicits both awe and endearment at the same time. She is the rare butterfly that spreads her iridescent wings to wrap the whole audience in.

In recent years, she took China by storm, appearing on the top national TV programs with audiences in the hundreds of millions. In 2019, she was on China’s #1 show Spring Gala concert on CCTV 1. In May she performed with her Canadian musician parents on Chant the Classics, one of the most popular shows produced by CCTV 1, and again in September on China’s #2 TV show Grand Display of Chinese Music. In November, she led RC World, a dynamic Canadian music group that blends World Music, R&B, jazz and funk to performs at the Shanghai International Arts Festival, the World Music Days at the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing, and concert performances at the Beijing Language and Cultural University and Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, an important cultural city in China.

Born into a musical family, ZiZi began singing before she could walk, started playing piano at the age of 4, and made her vocal debut on Chinese national TV at age 7. ZiZi sings in English and Mandarin, encompassing pop, soul, blues, jazz, and world music. As a lead singer, her career includes the internationally touring Ten Souljers, Serpentine Funk and Encore. She performed at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and toured USA. She also performed for two years on Disney Cruises to Northern Europe and the Caribbean.

In 2017, ZiZi appeared on Sing! China (“The Voice”) with an international audience of over 400 million. The program vaulted this Canadian singer/songwriter to celebrity status and was followed by special performances at the Miss World 2017 Final, the Silk Road International Film Festival, the Strawberry Music Festival and China International Fashion Week. In 2018, her debut EP This is Me, reached #4 on the BBC Soul Charts, and is still peaking on Spotify and other online mediums. She continued to tour China until 2020.

ZiZi has appeared alongside Rita Moreno and Mandy Patinkin in her voice acting role as Mrs. Lin in the animation “Nina’s World” (Sprout, NBC). She also appeared in Chivas Regal’s Asian campaign alongside Chris Evans. Deeply dedicated to environmental causes and work relating to climate solution, ZiZi also works on various projects that support sustainable development, climate solutions and youth climate education.

An honorary member of the Canadian Association of Songwriters, ZiZi co-writes, produces and collaborates with songwriters/producers, artists, and performers from both North America and Asia. Committed to bridging people through music, she is a cultural ambassador. NetEase Music (China) describes: “A unique magical voice, paired with an unmatched classy style and stage presence”.

Silky, sultry, and powerful, ZiZi brings passion and truth to her music, caressing each note, straight to the soul.

Deirdre Morgan

Core Mentor, Host

“I have been an EmergenceBC mentor since the program’s debut in 2019, and am honoured to return for my third season. My favourite part of Emergence is the sense of community. This program addresses a need for ongoing, long-term support for women and non-binary people establishing their music careers by creating a safe and open forum for discussion and mutual encouragement. This year, I am delighted to see past mentees returning as mentors, and past mentors taking on leadership roles in the organization. I look forward to another season of shared insights and candid dialogue on the many aspects of building sustainable lives in music.”

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Dr. Deirdre Morgan holds a Ph.D in Music from SOAS, University of London (2017), an M.A. in Ethnomusicology (UBC 2008), and a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies (UBC 2006). She is a leading scholar of the jew’s harp, an ancient, mouth-resonated musical instrument found in many cultures around the world. An active member of the global jew’s harp revival, Morgan has researched and played the instrument since 2005, speaking, performing, and conducting research in over a dozen countries.

Morgan’s doctoral research, an ethnographic study of jew’s harp revival communities based on multi-sited fieldwork in Norway, Austria, Sicily, and online, was awarded a Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and a Research Scholarship from SOAS, University of London. Her current research focusses on the cultural study of musical instruments, multi-sited ethnography, historiography, music revival, and transnational subcultures and scenes. Her writing has appeared in Ethnomusicology Forum, and Morgan is co-author, along with Dr. Owen Coggins, of the forthcoming book Jew’s Harps and Metal Music: Folk Traditions in Global Modernity.

As a mentor with EmergenceBC, Morgan brings a wealth of experience to her work with emerging musicians. She honed her marketing and production skills as an administrator with top Vancouver music organizations including the Chan Centre, Vancouver International Song Festival, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, and music intima, and twice served as the Executive Director of the North American Jew’s Harp Festival in Bay City, Oregon. An interdisciplinary performer, Morgan has appeared on local and international stages of all sizes as a soloist, collaborator, and ensemble member. She has served on several artistic and academic boards, including Gamelan Gita Asmara, the International Jew’s Harp Society, and the British Forum for Ethnomusicology.

Morgan is Professor of Music at Vancouver Community College where she teaches courses in ethnomusicology, pop music history, and social media for musicians.

Lola Claire

Social Media Manager

Lola is delighted to be a part of the Emergence Music Mentorship team. Lola’s social media marketing experience is born out of the arts world, and she is thrilled to be using these skills to support an exceptional program. Lola is a Canadian/American actor and film and theater maker.