27-05-2025
Meet the newly crowned Queen of Carnaval San Francisco, Zoel Mendoza
SAN FRANCISCO — For Zoel Mendoza, the newly crowned 2025 Queen of Carnaval San Francisco, this is no ordinary crown — it's a symbol of renewal, identity, and cultural celebration.
As she rehearses at Casa de Carnaval ahead of the city's iconic Mission District parade, Mendoza said Carnaval represents far more than music and dance.
"Carnaval is a celebration. It is, what we say in Portuguese, 'Uma limpeza' — it cleans energy. It brings in new things. It opens doors. It's almost like the beginning of a new year. It's a renewal," she said.
That sense of renewal is deeply personal for Mendoza. As an Afro-Mexicana, she said this year's theme, Afro-Mundo, resonates with her own story — one shaped by a layered and evolving relationship with race and identity.
"Afro-Mundo really, really resonates with me. Especially because I'm Afro-Latina. And it's something that I kind of struggled with when I was younger," Mendoza said. "I felt I didn't really land in one camp or the other. So, I had a bit of an identity crisis."
Through dance — and with training in Brazil and other cultural centers — Mendoza found clarity and confidence in her identity, as well as a calling to uplift others on similar journeys. In her new role as queen, she hopes to shine a light on fellow artists and deepen the impact of Carnaval's vibrant legacy.
"I really believe in community, and I really want to bring on as many artists as I possibly can," she said. "Platform them, work with them, collaborate with them. Because that's how culture grows, and that's how it's passed — by sharing the space."
Mendoza currently shares her passion for samba while building spaces where others in the diaspora can also feel seen and celebrated.
"Being crowned this year means so much to me because not only have I found my own identity in something that is 100 percent me," she said, "but I'm crowned in a year that really feels like a year that celebrates people like us — who are part of the diaspora, those who are very aware of who they are in the diaspora, and those that are lost, like I was. So it feels like I'm coming home with a win, and I'm very grateful."
It's that gratitude, rooted in rhythm and joy, that Mendoza now brings to every step of her Carnaval reign.
