Cerise Lim Jacobs forges new American opera from her past in multicultural Singapore, her sojournsaround the world, and her acute awareness of the social issues of our time, creating original libretti thatrange from the mythological to the topical. She co-founded White Snake Projects, an activist operacompany which focuses on social justice issues by telling stories of communities that have beentraditionally marginalized. Under Cerise's leadership, White Snake Projects has pursued civic practice asan integral part of its artistic work. Cerise's first opera, Madame White Snake, composed by Zhou Long,won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for music. Jacobs has gone on to create many original operas exploringsubjects like immigration, mass incarceration, domestic violence, disability, and religious pluralism,collaborating with many composers including Paola Prestini, Julian Wachner, Jorge Sosa, Mary Prescott,David Sanford, Mary Watkins and Leila Adu-Gilmore. Her most recent opera, Alice in the Pandemic withJorge Sosa, has been acquired by the Library of Congress Performing Arts COVID-19 ResponseCollection. Musical America has named Cerise one of the Top 30 Professionals of the Year in 2021 and aMover & Shaper in 2017. She has also been selected as one of Boston’s 100 Most Influential People ofColor in 2018.