Our Mission | Nuestra Misión
El Retorno is a cultural immersion and storytelling experience dedicated to reconnecting the Dominican diaspora with its roots, history, and cultural identity.
Through thoughtfully curated retreats, creative workshops, intergenerational storytelling, and meaningful community engagement, we create intentional spaces for participants to explore their relationship with the Dominican Republic beyond tourism.
Rooted in the belief that returning is both a physical and personal journey, El Retorno centers the voices, traditions, and lived experiences of Dominican communities while honoring our African, Indigenous, and Caribbean heritage.
Our mission is to bridge the distance between the diaspora and the homeland, foster authentic cultural exchange, support local artists and communities, and inspire participants to reclaim, preserve, and reimagine what it means to be Dominican.
We believe returning is not simply about where we come from, but about what we carry forward.
Our Story | Nuestra Historia
El Retorno began with a personal journey home.
In the summer of 2019, our Founder & Curator, Mariela Regalado, began her own retorno to the Dominican Republic. What started as a personal journey of reconnection became a transformative experience shaped by living, working, and building community in Cabarete, Puerto Plata.
As a Dominican immigrant raised in New York City, Mariela understood the complexities of growing up between two worlds: the place we come from and the place we learn to call home. Her time in the Dominican Republic offered an opportunity to reconnect with her roots, deepen her understanding of Dominican identity, and build meaningful relationships with the people and communities who continue to shape the island's cultural landscape.
That experience sparked a question: What if others in the Dominican diaspora had the opportunity to experience their own retorno?
Not simply as visitors or tourists, but as participants in an intentional experience that invites them to learn, question, create, connect, and rediscover parts of themselves that distance, migration, and generations may have obscured.
In the summer of 2023, that vision became a reality with the official launch of El Retorno in collaboration with the Dominican Writers Association. Escribiendo Hasta Las Raices emerged as a writing and cultural immersion retreat in Cabarete, Dominican Republic. In 2026, El Retorno became its own entity to scale the mission, so Dominican creatives worldwide can participate.
What began as a space for storytelling and reconnection has since grown into a cultural initiative expanding across the Dominican Republic, bringing together writers, artists, educators, cultural practitioners, and community members to explore identity through history, literature, art, education, and shared experiences.
Our Impact | Nuestro Impacto
Rooted in community. Growing with intention.
Since officially launching in 2023, El Retorno has intentionally invested in the Dominican communities that welcome us, prioritizing local talent, businesses, cultural knowledge, and creative labor.
Our Commitment to Community
We believe that meaningful cultural exchange must be rooted in reciprocity. That's why El Retorno intentionally prioritizes working with Dominican vendors, artists, educators, and community partners who live and work on the island. From accommodations and transportation to cultural workshops, food, and educational experiences, our investment is designed to circulate directly to the Dominican locals who have businesses in the communities that make El Retorno possible.
Our Team | Nuestro Equipo.
Mariela
Abril
Founder, Director of Experiences
Marketing, Director of Google Suite
Mariela Regalado has built a life around words, classrooms, and the belief that our stories deserve to take up space. A Dominican immigrant raised in Los Sures, Brooklyn, she became a first-generation college graduate, an educator, a writer, and a mother. Somewhere along the way, “Dreamcatcher” became less of a nickname and more of a job description.
Her writing explores culture, identity, migration, and belonging, drawing on her experiences as a Dominican woman navigating life between two homes. Her work has appeared in the Manhattan Times, The Bronx Free Press, and the Harvard Latinx Literary Journal, with performances at the Nuyorican Poets Café and the Bushwick Starr Theatre. As Founder & Curator of El Retorno, Mariela brings together storytelling, education, and community to help others answer their own call to return.
When asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, 9-year-old Abril happily responded “I’m going to be an artist and a writer!” Her uncle laughed and said, “wow, you picked the two worst paying jobs!” To make her Dominican family proud, she pursued the third worst-paying job: working at a nonprofit.
As a writer, Abril enjoys exploring themes around culture, family, and relationships, inspired by her experiences as a daughter of immigrants, a New Yorker, and an Afro Latina. Her essays have been featured in three anthologies published by Dominican Writers Association. In her career in the nonprofit space, Abril has been a steady advocate for youth, social entrepreneurs, and grassroots leaders who are paving the way for a brighter future.
Natascha
Data and IT
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Jari
Social Media, Chief Hype Woman
Jarii Collado is a Brooklyn native with deep Dominican roots — a writer, performer, mother of two, and lifelong community builder, shaped by years spent immersed in the arts and in service to the people around her.
These days, she's the voice behind Jarii Talks, her podcast and biggest creative focus over the past year, where she gets into healing out loud, identity, motherhood, and what it looks like to build a life you actually chose. She's also the founder of Jariinovates Studios, the platform where that philosophy started, built to help women, especially moms, find their way out of survival mode.
Her bond with Mariela Regalado goes back to elementary school. Decades later, the two of them are still doing what they've always done — building rooms where others get to show up fully, be heard, and create without apology.
Gigi
Program Ops
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