Who We Are
Our Board of Directors provides stewardship, strategic guidance, community connections, and philanthropic support for the organization. Together, Board members help shape the organization’s vision, strengthen its network, support fundraising, and ensure that our programs remain rooted in our charitable and educational mission.
Board of Directors
Chief Executive Officer and President
Jhoanna Belfer serves as the organization’s President and chief administrative officer. She is responsible for the overall supervision, management, and direction of the organization, as well as carrying out the policies established by the Board.
Jhoanna is the founder and owner of Bel Canto Books, an independent bookstore with three locations in Long Beach CA. A Filipina-American poet and former hospitality executive, Jhoanna began hosting pop-up book events in 2018 as a way of connecting her business experience with her lifelong love of reading. Bel Canto Books has been featured on Good Morning America, the Southern California News Group, and BIBLIOPHILE: DIVERSE SPINES. Known for their BIPOC-centered book curation, events, and book clubs, Bel Canto Books has hosted renowned authors like John Cho, Stacey Abrams, Elise Bryant, Christina Lauren, and Angie Kim.
A graduate of UC Berkeley and Cal State Long Beach, Jhoanna currently serves on the Board of Directors of the California Independent Booksellers Alliance and the DEIC Committee for the American Booksellers Association. In 2022, she co-founded the Festival of AAPI Books (FAB) Long Beach and Liwanag Lit Fest, two AAPI-centered literary festivals, in partnership with the Long Beach Public Library. Jhoanna was awarded the 2023 BIPOC Bookseller Award in Innovation by Duende District & The Word.
Jhoanna Belfer
Chief Operating Officer and Treasurer
Julia Travers Rickert serves as the organization’s Chief Operating Officer and Treasurer. She oversees Bel Canto Literary Arts’ operations, financial stewardship, and organizational infrastructure, helping create the conditions for its literary and community work to flourish.
Julia is a nonprofit executive, strategist, and educator whose career has brought together a love of literature with a commitment to building organizations that expand access to learning and opportunity. She has taught English literature to high school students at Deerfield Academy and Milton Academy and to English majors at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She currently serves as Chief Advancement Officer at College Unbound, where she leads philanthropic strategy, partnerships, and advancement operations.
A graduate of Yale University with a BA and MBA, Julia brings experience in nonprofit leadership, fundraising, organizational development, and financial management to her work with Bel Canto Literary Arts. She is especially interested in the ways literature and the arts create connection, invite us into other lives, and help communities tell—and preserve—their own stories.
For fundraising questions, partnership opportunities, or any other development-related inquiries, you can get in touch with Julia at julia@belcantoliteraryarts.org.
Julia Travers Rickert
Vice President
Agatha Isabel serves as Vice President and supports the organization’s leadership, strategic development, community relationships, and mission-driven programming.
Agatha is the author of Houseplant Hookups: All the Dirt You Need to Find the Perfect Match, a witty and practical guide to finding and caring for the right plant companion. She is currently developing several projects, including a follow-up to Houseplant Hookups, a memoir weaving together nature, family, and identity, and a collection of short nonfiction essays.
Agatha also leads the BCB AI Ethics Book Club, a community space that brings readers together to explore the human, social, and ethical questions shaping artificial intelligence and emerging technology. The book club reflects her belief that accessible conversation, and diverse perspectives are essential to building a more thoughtful technological future.
Alongside her literary work, Agatha works in AI Governance, and Data Privacy. She helps organizations navigate emerging technologies with attention to human impact—translating complex questions about AI, data, trust, consent, and responsible innovation into practical, people-centered approaches.
Based in Southern California, Agatha brings an immigrant perspective and a deep belief in the power of community to everything she creates. Across her work—as an author, AI governance and privacy professional, plant enthusiast, and nonprofit leader—she is guided by a simple question: How can we nurture more honest, sustainable connections between people, technology, and the living world around us?
Agatha Isabel
Secretary
Renate Boronowsky serves as Secretary and supports the organization’s governance, Board coordination, recordkeeping, and organizational continuity.
An environmental scientist by training, artist, and a climate and community advocate at heart, Renate believes books are one of the best tools we have for building community and creating a better world. Since 2020, she and Jhoanna Belfer have partnered to run the BCB Burning Issues Book Club, a nonfiction reading group exploring various works on social and environmental justice.
Renate serves as the District 5 Commissioner on the City of Long Beach Climate Resilient and Sustainable City Commission. Her background spans environmental science, geospatial analysis, and food systems research. She was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow at UCLA, and her published research includes a study of the carbon footprint of school lunches and an exploration of how default choices can shrink dietary environmental footprints.
She also serves on the board of Long Beach Community Compost, and co-chairs the Longfellow Elementary Green Team. When she isn't reading, driving kids to sports, or yapping at a coffee shop with Jhoanna and Agatha, Renate enjoys hiking, gardening, baking, lifting weights, and making art of all kinds.