Philip Hoelzel is an outdoors enthusiast, baseball fan, and samba percussionist. Born and raised near Chicago, he now lives in Austin, Texas, where he performs with the Austin Samba School, a percussion and dance group that introduced him to the subject of this book, Mestre Ailton Nunes. Philip holds a teaching certification and is fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese. He hopes Mestre Ailton’s story inspires readers to embrace the joy of samba!