Community health advocate and activist Saanti Bonét Valentino’s loved ones remember her as an intelligent, radiant light, who brought people joy through her witty humor and incredible cooking.
Saanti recently died at the age of 36.
“She was a beacon of light, life and hope,” said Zahara Bassett, Saanti’s chosen aunt and the CEO of Life Is Work. “She was the epitome of being resilient against all the odds she faced, from being in a domestic violence relationship to being a foster child, to being a Black trans woman. There were all these different intersectionalities she had to deal with. She still just kept showing up and was always authentic.”
Saanti dedicated her life to supporting other people and took on numerous roles in local organizations, including Center on Halsted, Cook County Health and the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, among others.
When Corey Elbert-Bonét Valentino met his chosen daughter in 2009 outside of a club, he first noticed her natural ability to fill a space with joy.
“Her laughter, her humor, just everything about her infected me, to the point where I couldn’t not be around her,” Cory recalled. “I remember standing in front of that club, not even knowing her at all, but feeling as if I’d known her my whole life. I loved her as if I knew her all my life.”
Saanti grew up on the West Side of Chicago. She spent time in the foster care system, but was adopted and raised by her grandmother, Corey said. He said Saanti’s “light” and her desire to “make people laugh and feel great” came from the love her grandmother showed her.
Kelisha Blake met Saanti in high school in 2002 and they became family. Saanti celebrated holidays and life events with Blake, and was close with her sisters and mother as well.
In high school, Blake and Saanti were on the dance team together, and they loved making their own costumes with cut-up denim and rhinestones. When Saanti was in college, she returned to their high school to coach the dance team as an alum.
Blake watched Saanti grow from a “shy, nerdy type” to a “big, bold superstar.” She remembers Saanti was often bullied in school, but she always quipped back with a joke.
“She’d still be herself, no matter what people had to say about her,” Blake said. “I remember when she went to college, she started performing and turned into this fierce goddess. When I met her, she was a shy young lady, and she just blossomed into an amazing entertainer.”
As a young adult, Saanti performed in drag and found a support system within Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community. She enjoyed dancing to upbeat songs and regularly performed at Hydrate and the Jeffery Pub, Bassett said.
Becoming part of the Valentino drag family was “very important to Saanti,” because of its legacy and her admiration for her chosen grandmother, Corey said. Sasha Valentino was a pillar in the LGBTQ+ community, who regularly adopted “children” into her ever-growing family and encouraged them in their goals.
“I was so proud of her and proud to be her father and proud she was a Valentino,” Corey said. “She lived with me for years and we supported each other through life’s challenges. We were inseparable. I saw a person who had been through a lot of rejection from her family, so I always tried to just be there for her and give her love.”
An artist of all mediums, Saanti enjoyed dancing, drawing, painting and fashion designing. Corey remembers Saanti’s knack for capturing his visions for outfits by sketching them out for him. Blake, a singer and songwriter, often created music with Saanti, who had a talent for writing songs and poetry. Saanti was also an actress at Steppenwolf Theatre for many years, Blake said.
Saanti loved her dog, Duchess, and spent lots of time with her. She was an incredible chef and was always feeding her loved ones home-cooked meals. Saanti also deeply loved her nephews and created a strong bond with them even though Blake and her sons live in Arizona.
“The last thing we talked about was her plans to come and spend time with my sons,” Blake said. “In our adult lives, I didn’t get to share as many moments with her physically, but she would always call me so excited to share news about her many accolades and achievements.”
As an adult, Saanti worked for multiple community organizations that supported LGBTQ+ people and others in need. But she was known for helping people her entire life, Blake said.
“She was a ball of sunshine, I’d always call her my little angel because she’d extend herself tremendously to other people,” Blake said. “She used to open up her home to members of our dance team who got kicked out or ran away. It just progressed as we got older and she helped so many people in need. She’d cook for them, bring them home—she was destined for that work. It was always in her.”
Saanti worked at Center on Halsted in 2020 during the early days of the pandemic, answering phone calls and connecting people to HIV/AIDS care, housing services and financial support. She recently completed training to become a certified community health worker through a program at Cook County Health, where D’Angelo D’Ontace Keyes was her mentor.
“Saanti was so unique because she talked the talk, but she knew the walk and knew the work,” Keyes said. “She applied her realness to the work. That’s why people gravitated toward her. She opened doors for people in ways that other providers couldn’t. She was the prototype of that program. She wanted to shape herself up, and she did that because she wanted to serve her people.”
The program centered empathy, cultural humility and harm reduction frameworks as participants were trained to become health workers, Keyes said. Saanti was the valedictorian of her cohort.
“I kid you not, Saanti could have taught the curriculum without even seeing what it was,” Keyes said. “She was that intelligent. I felt the substance of her character, strengths and skills, the things you can’t teach. Those are only qualities you can grow and encourage and build upon, but she was a natural.”
Community members can assist friends and family with Saanti’s funeral expenses by donating here.