Olivia Cosío is an educator, vocalist, and co-founder of Sounds that Carry: Creative Impact Consultants, a firm that partners with arts & culture organizations to design impactful community programs that connect more deeply with audiences. She also serves on faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she teaches courses in teaching artistry and music education.

Her innovative work at the intersection of arts, education, and community well-being has been featured by The Wallace Foundation Podcast, Psychology Today, and Opera Canada, and she’s spoken about creative placemaking at Berklee’s Career Jam, Juilliard’s Entrepreneurship Symposium, and the Chamber Music America National Conference.

Alongside her consulting and higher education work, Olivia maintains an active teaching artist practice—most notably as a Director/Playwright with San Francisco Opera’s Voices for Social Justice program and as a vocal coach with the San Francisco Boys Chorus.

Previously, she served as Harvard University’s Director of First-Year Arts Initiatives, leading campus-wide programming and contributing to the Harvard Art Museums’ inaugural Family Day.

A Juilliard-trained operatic mezzo-soprano praised by The Wall Street Journal as “a standout,” Olivia performed internationally at Lincoln Center, Tanglewood, Versailles’s Opéra Royal, London’s Holland Park, and Salzburg’s Großes Festspielhaus before turning her focus fully to education. Throughout her performing career, she sustained a vibrant teaching artist practice that laid the groundwork for her current work in community-engaged arts.

She holds a Master of Education in Education Leadership with a concentration in Arts and Learning from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a Master of Music in Vocal Arts from The Juilliard School, and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Oberlin Conservatory. Proudly from San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, Olivia draws on her upbringing as she builds arts education opportunities that are joyful, rigorous, and transformative.

In her spare time, you might find her baking, playing elaborate board games, or collecting objects that kids can make noise with.