- [Narrator] Funding for this episode of Que Pasa NJ?

with Carlos Medina, has been provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, The New Jersey Economic Development Authority, The Engineers Labor Employer Cooperative 825, Hackensack Meridian Health, ROI-NJ Business Magazine, Wells Fargo Bank, The Alamo Insurance Group.

- Ladies and gentlemen welcome to this month's episode of Que Pasa?

This month we're lucky to have Adrian Alea, producer and director.

We have author and playwright, Cristina Garcia, the executive director of Choco Cortes, Carlos Cortes, and Fleriser Bello, of Bellas Fashionistas.

And don't forget to ask, Que Pasa?

(salsa music begins) So welcome to Que Pasa, Adrian.

- Thank you so much., thank you for having me.

- Tell me a little bit about your life story, born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

- Yes, New Orleans, Louisiana.

I was born there, I was raised in Fort Myers, Florida.

I come from a Cuban family, an Ecuadorian family.

My dad's from Santiago de Cuba, my mom's from Guayaquil.

And then they met here in the states and they had me.

Fort Myers was where I was raised mostly for about 18 years, before going off to college to Columbia University.

And then it was mostly a, you know, predominantly white community environment, mostly conservative.

So knowing I was queer from a very young age, I knew I had to get out of Florida.

I was fortunate that I got into Columbia University, and then that took me here to the city, and I've been here for about 10 years now.

- Tell me about the ENCORES!

program that you work with.

- Sure, so I'm part of the artistic team at New York City Centers ENCORES!, where we revive musical theater productions.

We only rehearse for about 10 days and our mission is really celebrating the music, the music of the American theater, musical theater.

So this year we've changed our mission in some capacity.

We do three shows a year, our first show is that hidden Broadway gem, so that one musical that a lot of people don't know about, and bringing that back to life.

The second one has an artist's vision at the forefront, so somebody who, a director, or an actor, who has a dream musical and they wanna re-conceptualize it, whether it's changing the book a little bit, changing the orchestrations, that second slot is for that.

And then the third slot, is starting a new tradition at ENCORES!, which is producing a more popular culture musical, but having a community perspective in it.

So this year we did "Into The Woods."

It's the same "Into The Woods" that transferred to Broadway this summer, and we just extended, so that's very exciting.

But we had a collaboration with youth, so kids in high schools and middle schools all over New York City, and also a collaboration with a senior center, so with elders.

And there was a final moment in the musical, "Children Will Listen", where the whole balcony, the orchestra, the mezzanine, was full of community members singing alongside, you know, Broadway theater actors.

So it's been an exciting season.

We're getting ready to plan our next season this year and we'll see how it goes.

- So is "Hercules" part of the ENCORES!

Program, or is it a separate- - Yeah, it's actually completely separate.

- [Carlos Medina] Okay.

So that's with Disney Theatricals.

- [Carlos Medina] Gotcha.

- So I'm the associate director for that.

So we're currently developing it into a two-act structure, and we'll actually be opening up here in Paper Mill, New Jersey, Paper Mill Playhouse, February.

But completely separate from ENCORES!- - Okay.

- That's one of the tricky things of being a freelance creative producer director, is that you're always working with various institutions, so you have to think about, you know, what is the culture of this place?

What are the politics here?

And, you know, what are the goals of each place, right?

So, that's always tricky navigating, not only with the scheduling, and then all of the logistical stuff, but in the artistic, you know, storytelling aspect, you have to quickly shift gears and that's, you know, I'm blessed in the fact that, I'm able to have a hand at different institutions and in forms of storytelling.

- And you worked on TV also with the "Annie Live", tell me a little bit about that.

- [Adrian Alea] Sure- - That was a pretty unique show.

- Yeah, that, you know, I've slowly been transitioning more into film and TV.

- [Carlos Medina] Okay.

- It's something I've always known that I wanted to do.

And it was the pandemic that actually, I took a leap of faith and started producing my own short films.

One of them, "You Go Girl", got into Sundance this year, and that opened up doors that I executive produced and produced.

It'll be featured on "The New Yorker"- - [Carlos Medina] Excellent.

- [Adrian Alea] Officially next year, so to keep an eye out for that.

That, you know, was a step into that world, which then "Annie Live" came around, so, you know, NBC, Fox, they'd been doing a lot of live TV musicals, and I was the associate director for that as well.

And I think we really tried to hold on to directing it, and developing it as a theater piece first, right, and then you think about, okay, how does the camera help support and facilitate the storytelling?

You know, how can you uplift specific moments that are only able to be done for film?

- And you've worked with Jennifer Lopez and Benny Medina, tell me about that- - I did- - On her Las Vegas residency.

- Yeah.

(laughing) So completely random.

It was actually post graduating from Columbia.

I was at the gym and one of the trainers, I was wearing a Columbia University T-shirt, and one of the trainers stopped by and they were like, "Oh, did you go to Columbia?"

I'm like, yeah, I just graduated two weeks ago.

And he's like, "Well, what are you interested in?"

And I'm like, well, you know, my foundation's in theater directing and producing, but I'm looking to expand into entertainment, so film, commercials, all that stuff.

And he's like, "Well, Benny Medina and Jennifer Lopez are here for the summer, they're shooting 'Shades of Blue', I train Benny Medina and they're looking for someone to mentor and to teach in the industry, be a personal assistant, executive assistant, while they're here on the ground."

And he's like, "Go home, give me your resume, clean it up, I'll pass it along, and we'll see how it goes."

And while I interviewed with Benny, in some ways I needed that experience, in terms of the celebrity world, the commercial world in LA, to really try and pioneer a way for something to have nonprofit values, something based in education and community engagement.

But then how can you uplift that and give it a bigger platform on a commercial setting and with celebrities?

So it's really trying to mash all those different experiences and opportunities that I had, right, ultimately to work on social justice.

- So tell me, I understand you have some new exciting projects.

- Yes, I'd like to share two of them.

So the first one is I'm directing a queer Venezuelan solo performance piece by Migguel Anggelo, - Okay.

- It'll be part of the Under The Radar Festival, at the public theater, and that goes up in January.

And then the second one is actually a piece I co-conceived with Christina Garcia, who I know you'll be having soon.

It's an adaptation of Chekhov's "Three Sisters", called "The Palacio Sisters", but it's set in 1980s during the Miami drug wars.

And what's exciting is we did a radio play version of it with music by Greg Landau and Omar Sosa.

Omar Sosa's a brilliant Cuban jazz pianist, and we're going up at Gala Hispanic Theater, completely fully Spanish production, which I'm nervous for, first time directing in Spanish, we'll see how it goes.

And we'll be going up there in DC in January of 2024.

So a year, a year and a little bit, but you know, those are two exciting projects that are for, of, and by our community, and that's something that I try to do in my work is focus on queer and Latine stories.

- [Carlos Medina] Great.

- And hopefully you can come out and support.

- As a very young person, but a role model already, tell our viewers that are interested in the industry, some tips or advice that you would give them.

- I believe that God and the universe, however you know, identify spiritually, gives you these signs in the world, in your everyday life that if you're present.

So send that email, don't think twice, just send it, and you know, pray, and then once you get into the room, then you have to keep yourself in that room, and show your worth.

And then that's when you stick around and you build genuine, longitudinal relationships in the room, right?

Whether it's asking a choreographer, you know, can I take you out to coffee, I would love to get to know you, but it always has to be on a genuine human level, which is just a skill in and of itself.

- Thank you, and I'm excited to continue watching your career.

- Thank you.

- And up next author and playwright, Christina Garcia.

(salsa music begins) Welcome back, and now we have author and playwright, Christina Garcia, welcome to Que Pasa?

- So pleased to be here.

- Tell me about your journey from Havana, Cuba.

- Oh my goodness, okay, we're talking decades.

(laughing) - Couple years ago.

- In the early years of the revolution, like many other families at the time, and like many other families at the time, we were divided bitterly over the Cuban Revolution.

All of my mother's family, except for her, stayed behind in Cuba.

And all of my father's family came here, and then the shouting match or glacial silences ensued over the next almost 30 years before I went back to visit.

- Wow.

- [Cristina Garcia] So it's always been a part of me.

It's part of my obsession and preoccupation, in terms of my writing novels and plays, and it's probably the one defining feature about me.

- So you've written eight books and the one that's received much acclaim and awards has been "Dreaming in Cuban."

- [Cristina Garcia] "Dreaming in Cuban," yeah.

- Tell me a little bit about that work.

- For the most part, it analyzes the fallout from the Cuban Revolution on one particular family and focused on the women, three generations in this family.

And, you know, we all know kind of the big geopolitics of Cuba and other places that have experienced revolution or dislocation, but very rarely do we hear about the trickle down effect on the individual lives and relationships within families.

And so that's what I'm interested in.

Yes, I know the big historical picture, but what does this do you know, to one sister and another?

How does it estrange a mother from her child?

What other unforeseen repercussions are there from something so cataclysmic?

And so that's what I'm interested in, in a personal part of the politics and you know, personal and the political, I'm interested in the personal part of the political fallout from these huge events.

- How did you transition from author to being interested in turning some of those works of art into a show, a production?

- [Cristina Garcia] Into plays, yeah.

Well, I've made a few twists and turns along the way, I was a journalist for about 10 years, and then turned to fiction writing, and then did that for a couple of decades.

And I think, and this was before COVID, but I was just hankering to get out of the house, basically.

(laughing) - I was like, I've been like a cave dweller for two and a half decades, time to make a move, get out of my pajamas.

So I took a local playwriting class at the major theater in Berkeley, and it just caught fire.

And the fellow, the teacher of the class, also happened to have a theater, small theater in Berkeley, and so I started working with him.

And I'm now Resident Playwright there, at The Central Works Theater, Berkeley.

- So tell me about the recent run of "Dreaming in Cuba" at Berkeley, you just finished a production?

- Yes, we just finished July 31st, so I'm still in the glow, the after glow of a six week run there, and this theater's right off the Berkeley campus.

So we got a lot of students.

I used to teach at Mills College in the area, so a lot of my former students- and it was just, it was like a- (speaking Spanish) over there.

- That's wonderful.

- It was very, very fun.

The last performance, which was a Sunday matinee was wild.

It felt like carnival time there, - [Carlos Medina] Wow.

- Everyone was dancing at the end.

I mean, everything but the conga line, I mean, we were this close to a conga line, so- - That is great.

What advice can you give to our viewers, in particular Latina viewers who are starting businesses- - [Cristina Garcia] Yeah.

- Starting their careers.

- I think it's helpful to stay nimble, be prepared to pivot.

Things may not turn out exactly the way you envision them, but the more flexibility you have, the more opportunity there is, because you may start off in one direction, and then other things present themselves, snatch them if they seem enticing.

And I think the one thing you don't get back is time, so embrace it and make the most of it, I think.

- Thank you for coming to Que Pasa?, and I wish you great success.

- Oh it was such a pleasure!

- I can't wait to see the play.

- Thank you so much.

Thank You, Carlos, for having me.

- And up next, we have Carlos Cortes from Chocobar Cortes.

(salsa music begins) Welcome back, and now we have the executive director of Chocobar Cortes, Carlos Cortes.

Welcome to Que Pasa?

- Hi, Carlos, thank you so much for having me.

I'm super excited to be here.

- Tell me about this company started 93 years ago, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, tell me about- - How all that happened?

Sure.

- How it all happened.

- It was founded by my great-grandfather in 1929.

He was born in Puerto Rico, but he moved to the Dominican Republic, because he actually started making rum, and there was more resources there, more rum, more sugar cane, more land.

And how you do that in 1929, I don't know.

You just move to another country and start making rum.

But what happened was there was a big hurricane in 1927, destroyed Santo Domingo, destroyed the rum factory, and he wanted to get out of there.

The legend is that he got paid a debt with chocolate machinery and then started making chocolate.

That's how Chocolate Cortes was born, so that he could go back to Puerto Rico.

And yeah, so we've been, you know, in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico since then, it's kind of like a heritage brand.

If you're Puerto Rican or Dominican, you probably grew up with our hot chocolate, which is what we're known for.

- [Carlos Medina] Okay.

- We're the largest chocolate manufacturers in the Caribbean.

It's four generation family owned, and we're vertically integrated, which is very rare in the chocolate world, to have a connection to every single step of the process.

We don't grow the cacao ourselves, but we work directly with the farmers, and then basically do every other step of the chocolate making process.

And now serve it to you at our restaurants, Chocobar Cortes, which opened in 2013, the first one in old San Juan.

And the most recent one we opened in the south Bronx, in 2021, December, you know, mid pandemic, so it's been a crazy ride, but a fun one for sure.

- How did you decide that you wanted to stay in the family business?

I know you came to New York, studied at Columbia University, started medical school, and then with some of the things happening in Puerto Rico, you made a little bit of a pivot.

- Yeah, exactly.

So I started medical school in 2013, which is actually when the first Chocobar opened.

But then in 2014, you know, Puerto Rico fell into a deep financial crisis.

I mean, it's always in a financial crisis to be honest, but you know, the governor declared that we could not pay our debt.

I started thinking, you know, I need to do something about this.

I felt responsible to help in some way.

And you know, medicine wasn't really doing that for me.

I went into medicine because I wanted to help people, and I felt like, you know, the medical system is messed up in a lot of ways, and it was kind of really weighing down on me.

So I was like, you know what, maybe I'll join the family business and help grow it, so that we can create jobs in Puerto Rico.

But also be an example for other businesses, entrepreneurs, not just in Puerto Rico, but also in the Dominican Republic, and especially in the United States, because, you know, at that time I had been living in New York for about 14, 15 years, and I had just seen how there was just a complete disconnect between the amount of impact that the Puerto Rican and Dominican communities have in New York City, New York City culture and life, but in terms of businesses, brands, spaces, you know, almost nonexistent.

There are like barely any Puerto Rican restaurants left in New York, which is crazy, because you see a Puerto Rican flag in every corner.

So that's when I started thinking, okay, like I need to bring this amazing concept that we have in Puerto Rico to New York because we deserve it, and we need it.

- That's great.

What would you tell some of our young entrepreneurs starting out in the business world today?

- Dream big, be patient, believe in yourself.

- [Carlos Medina] Yeah.

- I think it's really important to do hard work and really kind of like learn who you are, and what's important to you, before you want to put something out there in the world that you're gonna dedicate your life to, because you're gonna dedicate your life to that.

And you gotta make sure that like you're doing it for the right reason, and that you're passionate about it.

You have put in the work to know that like, what you're doing is important, 'cause then nobody can tell you anything.

- Much success, Carlos, and thank you for joining Que Pasa?

- Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

- And up next, we have Flericer Bello, from Bellas Fashionistas.

(salsa music begins) Welcome back up next we have Flericer Bello, from Bellas Fashionistas.

This segment is brought to you by Wells Fargo Bank.

Special thanks to Wells Fargo.

Welcome to Que Pasa?

- Thank you for having me, Mr. Medina, what a pleasure to be in your space.

- Tell me a little bit about your personal journey.

Were you born in Dominican Republic or were you born in New York?

- I was, I was born in the Dominican Republic.

I arrived to the states when I was 10 years old, and I was literally placed in a room full of English speaking students.

And I could definitely tell you, I cried, I was frustrated, this is probably a story that I've never said to anyone, maybe the students when I present the workshops, but it was very hard at first.

And then, my father who was working nights sometimes, and day, he says to me, "Just read it, just read it as if you're reading Spanish."

I said, okay.

So that process was a little bit frustrating.

I literally learned and taught myself English within six months.

- Wow.

- [Fleriser Bello] And being in regular class.

And it wasn't the easiest thing, because being in a classroom, not understanding anything, thank God for a classmate of mine who was able to speak to me and kind of translate what was happening.

- You were part of a cohort of students with the Statewide Hispanic Chamber that took the Latina Entrepreneurship Training Series class powered by Wells Fargo, tell me a little bit about that experience.

- For me, it was a refresher because when I, I've been in business since 2012- - [Carlos Medina] Sure.

- And I went to SBS for their courses in New York City, and I was able to kind of like have that as a refresher.

So it was really nice to me, all of the leaders that were leading the class, and you know, the classmates were just great folks.

- So tell me a little bit about Bellas Fashionistas.

- The birth of Bellas Fashionistas, Carlos, which probably a lot of people don't know, is that I developed this platform to encourage, motivate and educate Latina youth and women.

When I was attending all of these lavish events events, the Grammys, the Billboards, I would come back to the community and execute any marketing activations for my clients like Goya, like Telemundo and NBC.

And it was very frustrating to see that our community needed that type of guidance, that our students needed some type of guidance, that when I would go to Starbucks and talk to the barista who was probably Latino, I found out that that person didn't have a connection to land into his industry.

I literally came into this continuous midlife crisis where I said Jose Marquez Garcia, who is a very well known author had died.

Maya Angelo had died.

I said, where is the next Jose Marquez Garcia, or the next Maya Angelo?

I know Junot Diaz, okay, there's Dolores Huerta, that's great.

But where's the next youth coming?

It was a very pivotal moment in my life that I said, I need to make a change.

I gathered a group of folks that started as a fashion blog, which I borrowed $24 from my dad.

I'm like, dad, I need $24.

And I literally taught myself how to create a website.

After that, I was able to gather mind-like Latinas and non-Latinas to help me put this together, to be able to share the stories, just like what you're doing.

You're sharing the stories of Latinos who have become success, who have achieved success, and sharing those stories, I said, hold on, let me do this, this way, and then I would do the one-on-one mentoring, so that's how we literally started.

It started as a fashion blog, a few years fast forward, I literally stopped, everyone just literally, just went in to do their own thing, and this is the reason why Bellas Fashionistas is a success, because of all you guys, because of all these powerful Latinas, sharing the stories, giving you guys the amplitude, the elevation, the voice to share that story, it's just imperative for our community.

- Tell me, what would you advise some young Latinas about how can they advance their careers?

- That is a good question.

I would say going to nonprofit organizations that are focused in the industry.

When I was young, I was in high school, in college, I looked up organizations that were in my industry.

So I would say probably Bizbash, I used to get their magazines.

They have a student membership, you know, Alpha has one, Prospanica has one Ship has one, and that's how I got in.

That's how I was, I'm a curious young Latina.

I always, I was constantly on the go talking to people, getting advice, and that was one of them.

They have to persevere.

You have to know what you would like to do.

Research those areas, because once you research those areas, how you could land an opportunity there, my father said, "Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are."

And my father always said to us, "You have to get close to the people that are smarter than you- (laughing) Because you learn from them."

- [Carlos Medina] Yeah.

- And you know, and that's across the board, even now as an entrepreneur, even now doing business, I get close to the people who are smarter than me, 'cause I need to learn from them.

- [Carlos Medina] Sure, sure.

- And you know, and looking into those different aspects, I think are the key to success and to getting a foot in the door.

And don't be afraid, if you are afraid, if you're shy work in those areas, personal development is important, because if you're shy, if you know what your strengths are and your weaknesses are, work towards your strength and get out of that comfort zone, you are gonna be powerful.

- So any last thoughts on the class and the Wells Fargo, LETS, Latina Entrepreneurship Training Series.

- I think that entrepreneur, it's an ever learning stage.

Everyone should continue to educate themselves.

I said, wow, yes, yes, I remember this, yes, I remember this, and it is important.

And I know that you offer additional classes than the LETS, and you know, that's why I love doing this partnership with the Chamber because you guys provide this platform for Latina entrepreneurs, which is not really seen in our community.

- Thank you, and thank you for being a guest on Que Pasa?

- Thank you for having me, Que Pasa?

- Ladies and gentlemen, that's a wrap.

You got to hear some really interesting storytellers and role models that you only get to hear right here on Que Pasa?, but don't forget to ask the question, Que Pasa?

- [Narrator] Funding for this episode of Que Pasa NJ?

with Carlos Medina has been provided by, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, The New Jersey Economic Development Authority, The Engineers Labor Employer Cooperative 825, Hackensack Meridian Health, ROI-NJ Business Magazine, Wells Fargo Bank, The Alamo Insurance Group.

This has been a production of the Modesto Educational Foundation.

(salsa music begins)