Daniela Pepe is a Senior at Florida Gulf Coast University majoring in Voice Performance studying with Dr. Jeanie Darnell. In Fall 2021, Daniela founded and became the president of the Coalition for Collegiate Musicians of Color. She formed this organization to create a safe space for collegiate musicians of color to facilitate educational and solution based conversations on issues they face in both the professional and education world. In February of 2022 Daniela placed second in the Van Sickle Competition funded by the Southwest Florida Symphony Endowment; that same month Daniela also won first place in her division of the Tampa Bay National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition. A year later, Daniela won first place again at Tampa Bay NATS, as well as the Most Promising Treble Voice overall. In the Spring 2021, Daniela had the pleasure of performing as Hansel in the Bower School of Music’s rendition of Hansel and Gretel by Engelburt Humperdinck. The following Spring, Daniela had the exciting opportunity to study in Salzburg Austria for five weeks as she learned and performed the role of Marcelina in Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” as a part of the American Austrian Mozart Academy. Most recently, Daniela was honored to take on the rarely performed role of Maria in Astor Piazzola’s tango opera, “Maria de Buenos Aires”, performed at FGCU. Ultimately, Daniela hopes through her work in opera to create an environment within classical music that is more encouraging and welcoming to people of color and working class individuals as musicians and audience members.