"Outstanding Ecuadorian-born, New York-based singer-songwriter Eljuri... Fusing socially conscious lyrics with blistering guitar rock, she blended missionary fervor with impeccable musicianship," said The Chicago Sun Times about the Guayaquil-born musician who's been dubbed "the female Carlos Santana," otherwise known as "Carlita."

According to her official website, Cecilia Villar Eljuri, "the exceptional guitarist sponsored by Gibson," has been compared to Santana by many publications including Global Rhythm, The New Yorker and Al Borde.

"Sensitive and committed, of Latin blood and heart, composer and lyricist, leader of all the projects in which she has been involved, Cecilia has toured in Mexico for three years as a power trio with her immensely talented and seasoned accompanying musicians Alex Alexander on drums and Keith Golden on bass."

Her roots run deep in music -- her mother was a pianist and composer so Eljuri was exposed to boleros, tango and flamenco when she was five. When she was 12, she says she became addicted to guitar and rock. She started playing her own music at 17 in clubs in New York City, where she still resides, NBC Latino reports.

"I write from the heart, but it's mostly from experiences and people I meet when traveling -- about empowerment and fighting for change and rights and everything else," she said.

With the help of Voto Latino, she took on an active role in encouraging Latinas to vote in the last U.S. presidential election. Now, Eljuri's new philanthropic mission is to fight for clean water in her native Ecuador. 

"I met the president of Water Ecuador at an Ecuadorian festival in Washington DC in 2008 -- I was performing and he had a booth," Eljuri told NBC Latino, still reeling from the release of her first solo CD.

"He wanted to help treat people as a med student and found a lot of people had stomach issues and it came from the water being infected. Instead of curing people after they get sick, he thought, 'let me prevent it.'"

The two kept in touch over the years and chose Isla Puna -- a rural island off of the coast of Ecuador that currently lacks access to purified water for their next clean water project. The location is four hours from her hometown of Guayaquil, and it has "little access to the mainland and extremely contaminated drinking water." The construction kicked off on Jan. 6, NBC Latino reports.

"We provide them education and then connect with communities to teach them how to maintain a water center -- we make it self-sustainable," says the singer, who had a benefit concert this past October. "We raised tons of money, and we did a hot-a-thon releasing a single for the concert to raise more money ...The money goes right to the project."

If you purchase the LIVE Concert Single of Eljuri's song, "Empuja" exclusively at Hotathon.com -- all proceeds go directly to the construction of a new clean water center on Educador's Isla Puna. Check out Eljuri's video.