Meet our Team

Sashai Ricketts-French knows what it means to be the person this organization was built for. A Jamaican-American lyric soprano who spent part of her childhood in foster care, Sashai's path to classical music was not paved. It was fought for. Her mother, Cecily Ricketts, a mezzo-soprano, gave her the first brick: piano lessons, a love of singing, and the unshakable belief that her daughter belonged in any room she chose to walk into.  She was in her late thirties before a voice teacher ever assigned her music written by a BIPOC composer. That is not a footnote in her story. It is the reason this organization exists. 

That belief carried Sashai into ACDA Honor Choirs in middle and high school, into AllState choirs, and through the doors of the A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, one of the most competitive performing arts high schools in the country. It carried her onto the stage as Sarah in Ragtime, into the ensembles of Opera in the Heights and iColori dell'Opera, and into the music ministry at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston, where faith and artistry have never been separate things for her. 

She is a two-time first place winner and second place winner in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition, in the advanced adult avocational division. She serves on the board of iColori dell'opera and #VictoryForward.

Music is not the only arena where Sashai has built expertise. She is a Human Resources Director with over 15 years of experience in employee relations, holding both the SHRM-SCP and SPHR certifications, two of the most rigorous credentials in the field. She has spent her career advocating for people in systems that were not always designed to protect them. That instinct, to see a broken structure and build something better, is exactly what drives Ricketts Vocal Arts. She is the proud mother of Giselle, a classically trained soprano accepted to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music as a voice major. Three generations of Ricketts women, singing. That, she will tell you, is the thing she is most proud of.

Sashai founded Ricketts Vocal Arts because she has lived on both sides of the door. She knows what it feels like to have someone open it for you. And she knows what it costs when nobody does.

Ricketts Vocal Arts is guided by a board of dedicated professionals committed to equity, excellence, and the future of the classical vocal arts. 

Sashai Ricketts-French, Founder & Executive Director

Kaci Timmons, Soprano

Errin Hatter, Soprano

James Oluchi, Tenor