Deborah Sara Santana (née King, born January 30, 1951) is a peace and social justice activist for women and people of color, business manager and author. She is the former wife of musician

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the Rock music, rock band Santana (band), Santana. Born and raised in Mexico where he developed his musical background, he r ...

Early life and education

Santana is the daughter of the

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

musician

Saunders King Saunders Samuel King (March 13, 1909 – August 31, 2000) was an American R&B and blues guitarist and singer. Life and career Saunders King was born in Staples, Caddo Parish, Louisiana. His parents, Bishop Judge L. King and Sarah Anasilistine ...

and Jo Frances King (née Willis). Santana graduated from the

California Institute of Integral Studies The California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) is a private graduate school (with limited undergraduate offerings) in San Francisco. Founded in 1968 as the California Institute of ''Asian'' Studies, the name was changed in 1980. CIIS has b ...

and holds a Master of Arts in Philosophy and Religion with a Concentration in Women's Spirituality.

Career

From 1994 to 2007, Santana was vice-president and COO of Santana Management, which involved working in management of her husband's

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

Philanthropy

As a philanthropist, Santana founded Do a Little, a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

which seeks to empower children and underprivileged women, in 2008. Santana has also served as a trustee for ANSA (Artists for a New South Africa) and the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

. She is on the board of directors of the Violence Intervention program in Los Angeles and is a First Century Leader of the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative, and a Member of the Smithsonian National Education Outreach Working Group for the Smithsonian Under Secretary for Education. Santana is also a founding donor of the

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), colloquially known as the Blacksonian, is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was established in 2003 an ...

. In 2005, Santana published ''Space Between the Stars: My Journey to an Open Heart,'' a memoir detailing her biracial upbringing as a child of African-American and European-American parents, and her marriage to Carlos. In 2018, Santana edited and co-published the anthology ''All the Women in My Family Sing: Women Write the World: Essays on Equality, Justice, and Freedom (Nothing But the Truth So Help Me God)'', a collection of poems and stories written by 69 women of color. She has also contributed to the anthologies ''Tutu As I Know Him: On a Personal Note'' (2006), ''Nothing But the Truth So Help Me God'' (2012), ''Life Moments for Women'' (2012), and ''20 Years - Chokecherries Anniversary Edition'' (2013). Santana is credited as a producer on five short documentary films focusing on the Daraja Academy, a free secondary boarding school for high performing girls in need in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, and the work of non-profit partners in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Four of these films were directed by

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

-winner Barbara Rick. Santana continues to support the Daraja Academy both financially and by using her celebrity to bring awareness. Santana is a lead investor of the Courage Museum, opening in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 2025. The Courage Museum is a world-class immersive educational program that will be a bold new platform for public education, inspiration, and action, a place where individuals are informed and equipped with tools to rethink violence and advance concrete change.

Personal life

Santana has three children with

, whom she married in 1973 and divorced in 2007.

Salvador Santana Salvador Santana (born May 22, 1983) is a singer, spoken word artist, songwriter, and composer. His main instruments are the electronic keyboard and piano. He is the son of ten-time Grammy winning guitarist Carlos Santana and poet/author/activist ...

is a songwriter, band leader, and instrumentalist; Stella Santana, a singer/songwriter/performer; and Angelica Santana, a writer, archivist, and film producer. Santana married actor

Carl Lumbly Carl Winston Lumbly (born August 14, 1951) is an American actor. He is best known for '' M.A.N.T.I.S.'' (1994–1997) and has also had television roles on '' Cagney & Lacey'' (1982–1988) and '' Alias'' (2001–2006). He has also had roles in v ...

in 2015 and the couple divorced in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santana, Deborah 1951 births Living people African-American activists 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 21st-century American memoirists American book editors American documentary film producers American publishers (people) American social justice activists American women memoirists American women non-fiction writers Family of Carlos Santana Film producers from California Activists from San Francisco American women documentary filmmakers African-American women memoirists African-American memoirists