Soul Fusion: WISE Music for Change

The Women Invested to Save Earth Fund (WISE) is a nonprofit, global equity enterprise, advancing healing for people, economies, and the planet, including Black and Indigenous communities worldwide. Since its founding in 2020 by Dr. Jacqueline “Bouvier” Copeland, WISE has provided funding of about $1 million USD to women, Afrodescendant, and Indigenous-founded and led social enterprises in the USA, Mexico, Africa, India, and Brazil.

It also has been the convener of Black Philanthropy Month, a global movement to document, celebrate, and advance Afrodescendant philanthropy and capital access for economic justice that has engaged 100 million people in 60 countries. In 2021, recognizing the Black Diaspora’s rich cultural capital as well as the economic injustice and appropriation rampant in our creative economy, WISE established its “Music for Change” program to generate funding for Black, Indigenous, and women entrepreneurs worldwide through cultural innovation.

Initially focused on promoting the music of Dr. Copeland as well as selling other WISE cultural merchandise to generate funding, the Music for Change program is now Soul Fusion. Soul Fusion promotes public awareness, healing, community building, and economic justice through the transformative power of the Black Diaspora music heritage worldwide.

Soul Fusion includes three initiatives: 1) a Black Diaspora Music public educational training and events program; 2) a record label supporting innovative, authentic exemplars of the Afrodescendant music heritage and future; and 3) a Mexico-based music ensemble presenting live performances of Afrodescendant music worldwide, founded with outstanding Afrodescendant musicians, Danielle Simmons and StephyLoren.

Soul Fusion Ensemble

Dr. Copeland is an award-winning singer-songwriter, executive producer, and philanthropist performing under the stage name of “Bouvier.” Also an emergent samba dancer, trained by prominent Brazilian samba teachers, she performed live in Rio de Janeiro during Carnival 2024 with the Portola School, which resulted in her recent album, “I Wish You Love, Brazil: Bouvier Live!” recorded at her Rio de Janeiro concert of the same name. You can listen to Dr. Copeland’s music and learn more about her background as a multifaceted social justice artist and Black Diaspora scholar-advocate at bouvier.world.

The Soul Fusion ensemble specializes in the music of the global Black Diaspora. Its musicians are Afrodescendants from Colombia, Mexico, the USA, and Brazil. Guest vocalists from the Caribbean, Central America and Africa further its unique fusion sound, appealing to audiences of all backgrounds.

Soul Fusion Ensembles lead musicians are Danielle Simmons of the USA, specializing in classic and contemporary soul and R&B music; and StephyLoren, an Afro-Colombian virtuoso in her country’s music traditions as well as contemporary rock, folk, and hip hop music; and Bouvier, presenting Dr. Copeland’s sultry, earthy fusion blues, jazz, R&B, funk, reggae, axé, salsa, bossa nova, and samba sound. For more on Soul Fusion, contact give@theWISEfund.org.