- 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, PSE&G, The Engineers Labor Employer Cooperative 825, ROI-NJ Business Magazine, NJM Insurance Group, Hackensack Meridian Health.

- Hola familia, welcome to this month's episode of "Que Pasa?"

where you'll hear amazing stories through a diverse lens.

This month you're lucky to have Allison Strong, singer and songwriter from Hudson County, New Jersey.

You have Carlos Rodriguez, food and security expert, Gloria Molist, the Founder of Olivo Amigo, and Luis DeLaHoz, Chairman of the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Ladies and gentlemen, don't forget to ask yourself, "Que Pasa?"

(upbeat Latin music playing) And our first guest is Allison Strong, Union City's own.

Welcome to "Que Pasa?"?

- Thank you so much, Carlos.

- Singer, songwriter and actress.

- Yes, indeed, all three.

- Tell me a little bit, I know your family's from Colombia.

- Yeah.- - Tell me about that journey to the Northeast of the United States.

- So my grandmother in her forties decided that she wanted to come to the United States, and she applied, she became a Rockefeller scholar, and in her forties with two children, she came to the United States with $200, rolled up in ones and had a job in Texas as a private nurse.

And then she called for my mom to come.

And my mom was nine years old.

This was her first time on a plane ever in the country.

And then she called on my grandpa and my aunt to come, and then once they were in Texas, my grandpa was a migrant farm worker, and my grandma was a nurse and once they went to New Jersey, they said, "Oh, the view of New York is so beautiful, let's go there."

And so they ended up in New Jersey because everyone knows that we have the best view here.

And that's how we began because my grandma was brave enough in her forties to come here.

- From Hudson County girl to Star of a Netflix movie with Adam Sandler,- - Yeah.

- Tell me about that project.

- It came as an audition that I just went to on a whim thinking, you know, what's gonna happen here?

It turned into, you know, being Adam Sandler's daughter for a summer.- - Very cool.

- A beautiful opportunity, and a continuing relationship, thankfully.

And we filmed it in Long Island, so pretty close to New Jersey.

And I got, yeah, that was the week up on Netflix.

So it was pretty, people.- - How was it to work with Adam, was he a good person to work with?

- Like a dad, from the moment that he stepped onto set, it was like a, you know, and he made everyone feel just right at home.

There's a reason why people wanna work with him continuously.

It's because he's a true friend, and he creates an amazing environment for people on set.

You know, there are ice cream trucks, people bring their kids.

My mom was even an extra in the film.

- [Carlos] Oh, that's very cool.- - You know, he's very welcoming and open, and not what you would imagine a Hollywood type being like it all.

He's a real family man and his family is there all the time with him too.- - That's very cool.

- So tell me about your new music video, Bronte, which is about to launch.- - Yeah, well, actually, so Bronte is the name of the full record, that's gonna be dropping in June,- - [Carlos] Okay, okay.

- Soon, my first single off the record is called La Luna, and it's a song that I wrote in homage to my grandmother, Soledad Medina.- - Very nice.

- Same last name.- - Yeah, beautiful, I love it.

- And it's written in sort of magical realism.

Basically, my grandmother always said, (Spanish language speaking ) "I love you all the way to Pluto."

And so when she passed away, I imagined that she joined the sky.

And so in this song, I reimagine her as the moon, and she sort of takes me through the darkest night of my life, clothed me in stars, and like, basically I'm reborn as the sun in this song.

So that was filmed here in Jersey City.

- So you made your Broadway debut on a play called, "Bye Bye Birdie".

And then, also,- - [Allison] I did.

- Worked on Mamma Mia.

- I did, yeah, when I was 18 years old, went to a cattle call in the city, had no idea there were hundreds of people auditioning.

And I got my first Broadway show, that's when I was a freshman at Montclair State, - [Carlos] That's amazing.- - University.

And then I met the music director for Mamma Mia while I was on that show and went on to do my second Broadway show, Mamma Mia, an incredible opportunity.

Musical theater performers are the hardest working performers in the industry, I would have to say.

- Tell me about balancing schoolwork and a Broadway show.

That's quite challenging.

- It was hard, there was a time when I was taking on I think about 20 credits as well as doing shows every night.

So that was a lot of waking up at seven o'clock in the morning, doing three classes, having lunch, taking the train into the city, doing a show for two hours running to Penn Station, or yeah, running to Penn Station or Port Authority, whichever was the fastest mode of travel to get back to campus and then going to bed, and doing it all over again.

That's really what that was, yeah.

- So keeping your Jersey roots, you shot a music video for the album Bronte, right, in New Jersey?- - Yes, I did.

I did shoot it in New Jersey.

I'm very fortunate to have great friends at the Garden State Film Festival, and met the people at Georgian Court University.

They have a beautiful Victorian mansion, and we had a Victorian style music video, and we shot that in July and it just won the homegrown music video award at the Garden State Film Festival, - [Carlos] Congratulations.- - [Allison] That was amazing, thank you so much,- - [Carlos] Very nice, thank you.

- [Carlos] Very nice.

Now you worked with Diego Luna on a documentary called, "Back Home.

"- - [Allison] I did.

- Tell me about that.

- What started out as an email saying, "Would you like to go to Columbia with Diego Luna's show, Back Home?"

You know, you usually get that in your spam folders thinking somebody's just kidding.

- [Carlos] Exactly.

- But basically the show back home takes actors, performers, people in the industry back to where their families immigrated from, and they put you next to your counterpart in that country.

So I got to meet some amazing actors and musicians in Columbia doing that documentary.

And I had never been to Bogota before, and it was just a beautiful experience.

- What would you tell Latinas getting into the field of TV, music, acting?

What words of wisdom can you give our viewers interested in that career?

- Be flexible and flowing and be open-minded.

I think there has to be balance of knowing that you wanna do this, and continue on in that path of entertainment.

But for example, I started in musical theater.

I had to diversify into TV and film, and I would've never known about that if I hadn't been open-minded, and it's created just an entire world of new opportunities for me in terms of music.

I've actually gotten into film production by doing my own music videos.

It's made for a really beautiful, colorful, and varied life in this career.

So I would just say to be flexible, and flowing and go where the opportunities take you.

- Excellent, well thank you for joining us.

- Thank you so much,- - And much success.

- Thank you so much for having me, Carlos.

- And up next food insecurity expert Carlos Rodriguez.

(upbeat Latin music playing) And our next guest is Carlos Rodriguez, food justice leader.

Welcome to ""Que Pasa?

", Carlos.

- Thank you for having me, Carlos.

- Tell me about your family's immigration story to the Northeast.

- Well, it's a common story.

It is a story of a Puerto Rican young man coming over to find success and a woman from Colombia coming over and only in the South Bronx would they meet.

And that was the beginning of what would be my life and career to follow.

- So born in the South Bronx.

- I was born and raised in the South Bronx.

I described myself as first generation Urban Latino, everything.- - Okay.

- Since, they cleared the path so that I can find whatever success was in front of me.

- Tell me about your early career.

- So it's interesting, I, you know, grew up with the opportunity to be the first one in to graduate high school, nevermind go to college.

And I went into college thinking , and starting out as an Economics major, but as a curious young man from the South Bronx, I had more questions and I needed more answers that switched into Sociology.

And then that kind of ignited a passion to, or, and a curiosity I would say, to go back, and, and give back to the community after came back from college.

And that's where I found the non-for-profit sector.

And I said, "Oh, let me give back for a couple years."

And, didn't know what specific part of the sector.

And 27 years later, here I am still trying to give back, and trying to bring value to our communities.

- I know you for many years, and food insecurities a passion here as you've worked in that nonprofit space.

Tell me a little bit, you know, where are we now in 2023?

Covid has accelerated the crisis, I feel, tell me where we are today and what we could do as viewers to better take care of our people here in Jersey, and the tri-state area.

- I think for the first thing is so much awareness on it.

I think we've lived the reality that so many of our neighbors actually go through.

You have one economic shock, one hardship.

Well, we all saw that hardship, and we all lived that hardship, it's called the pandemic.

And I think there was a certain level of empathy, and awareness that came with that where the reality if you're one paycheck away, or one disaster away from not being able to put food on the table.

And I think that created an opportunity for us to really step back and say, what do we do?

Well, what we did, I think as a society has proven to work.

We opened up our hearts, our generosity, and aligned our policies to make sure that families had the tax credits that they needed, child tax credits, the hands on employment that they needed, the snap that they needed and the food, while all those things become a reality, and we solved the problem of food insecurity actually go down at the height of the pandemic.

Unfortunately, what we're seeing now is it go right back up as all of these programs kind of reset to what they used to be.

And then with inflation, I don't have to tell you anyone who goes to the market to shop, we know how prices have been.

And then on top of that, we know rent eats first, and that's eating a lot these days.

And so we're at a point where we know what works cuz we saw it live, it's not theoretical anymore, but we're also seeing things settle back.

And the question is, what are we gonna do about it?

- What would you say the budget looks like, now that's being proposed?

Would that be giving enough to that problem to combat food insecurity, our organizations that,- - Well, I think, - Help getting enough funding,- - Yeah.

- Or is it flat this year?

- No, I think what we're hearing is that we have to stay the course, and I really have to commend in New Jersey because when you look at the policies and the legislations, the legislative work that's been done in this State, it is ahead and in terms of its comprehension, and its reach and it's backed by dollars to get the job done.

And that's important, listen, you're not gonna have thriving communities on an empty stomach and you're not gonna have the workforce that's gonna focus on what's next, and how to be the best that they can if they're worrying about, if parents are worrying about to have enough food to put on the table.

It literally affects your brain psychologically and physiologically.

- There's a phenomenon at the chamber that I've witnessed, I'll ask you if you've seen it.

Many of the restaurants during Covid would not allow their employees to leave without giving them a plate of food and then a bag to bring to their families.

Selfishly, I mean, you know, there's La Familia that takes place at some of these companies.

So selfishly they wanted to keep the employees working, but it was also caring and wanting to keep the family safe, and not allowing them to go to the grocery stores if they didn't have to, have you seen that?

- I've seen it and I have to tell you, it's probably one of the best stories that I don't think that really talk about this new empathy, this sense of familia that we're familiar with.- - Yeah.

- And it did two things, right?

Is it the most effective way to put food on the table?

No, but is it an effective way to keep a company thriving, and to make this connection and show community values, and build community?

Absolutely.

And so I think that's the moment that we're in.

Let's step back and say what do we learn here?

And the pandemic's, the pandemic may be changing into inflationary times and maybe recession, but we have a lot to learn and we know what works.

So what are we gonna do about it, I think is the question.

And you know what's interesting Carlos, is that, we forget that how people become food insecure, and it is when there is not enough work, right, to take care of all the basic needs.

And when community supports aren't there, and when policies aren't working as effectively, or reaching the way they should, that's when you find our neighbors at the pantry lines, and asking for food.

So the more, the bigger those lines are, and the more food that has to be given, that means there's a bigger problem upstream that has to be fixed.

- Thank you, thank you so much for the valuable information Carlos.

- Thank you.

- And up next we have Gloria Molist, the owner of Amigo Oliva Olive Oil.

(upbeat Latin music playing) Welcome back, and up next we have Gloria Molist.

Originally from Spain, now living in California, and the owner of Olivo Amigo Olive Oil.

Thank you for joining us on "Que Pasa?".

- Hi Carlos, thank you for having me today.

- In some of your bio it says, you're born and raised in Spain, "Where happiness is built around the table, and with a drizzle of olive oil."

I like that sentence.

- [Gloria] Thank you.- - Tell me about your company Olivo Amigo.

- Well, so as you said, I was born and raised in Spain.

When I moved to the US to study, I fall in love and I ended up staying.

So when I came here and I was able to work, I got a job but I was not that happy, and I really missed home, especially my family, and the food, I love food.

And inside the food, a good extra virgin olive oil, so when I tried to find a good extra virgin olive oil in the US I couldn't find it.

So just to give you perspective, Spain producers more than 50% of all the olive oil in the world, and we're the size of California, compared to the US that only produces 5% of all the olive oil we consume.

So when I couldn't find a good olive oil as an olive oil familiar, I decided to make my mission to bring high quality extra virgin olive oil to the US, and with that, tried to help people reconnect with their food, and as well, having the (indistinct) experience, right, like Hispanics, we love to eat, and we love to eat with family, and spend hours, and hours around the table having a good time.

So that's what I wanted to also bring in them to the US table.

- Tell me about being a first generation immigrant.

Tell me about that story of immigration to the United States.

- So when I came to the US, right, like first I dated my husband, my visa expired, I went back home and when I came back, I came with a fiance visa.

So I was lucky cuz I came ready to my husband.

I came like with a house.

But it's true that once I got married, I had to wait six months to get my work permit, and I couldn't leave the country.

I couldn't study, I couldn't do nothing, like not work, nothing.

So sound like a stopping your life like that when you're in your high of your career, like, "Hey, I wanna do great things.

", and I was like, "No, you cannot, you have to be at home.

You cannot even drive.

", you're like, "Okay, what I'm supposed to be doing here now, right?"

And besides that, it's hard to, you know, to live your whole life, your family, your friends, what you know, I moved to the other side of the world.

I was lucky that I spoke English, but I didn't spoke a great English.

So that's always there, right?

When you're like now in front of the camera, and you have to speak in another language, it gets challenging, or when you're going to like a job application, or you need to talk in front of a lot of people, you're like, oh my god, like, "I hope the words don't go wrong, right?"

like, "Oh, they understand me."

And also the fact of like, things of the culture that you know, you're not used to it, or I have to go buy pins, I don't know where to go buy pins, you know, in Spain I know, but here?

So it can get challenging, but on the other hand, it will like, it really helps to get to know yourself, and also create people along the way.

And that's really like "fertificant".

- Sure, tell me about "Flavors with Hope".

I know that's a project that you draw on your life experience.

- Yes, so when, unfortunately when I was nine years old, my mom got sick with cancer.

For the next five years of our lives, she fight with cancer, and unfortunately she lost her battle like two months before I turned 15 years old.

And you know, it's really hard to see someone you love, so close to you sick and fighting, and battling, and something that really like shocked me was how like she lost her appetite.

You know, like Spanish food, it's incredible.

Like she love cooking, I love cooking.

And when I saw her in front of food, and not being able to eat, that broke my heart.

It really did, right?

So as I mentioned before, Olivo Amigo's goal is to help people reconnect with food.

And for me with Olivo Amigo, I would love to help people with cancer, women with cancer, to help like them reconnect with their food, or at least help them bring these like elevate each bite that they're gonna take.

- Can you offer some words of wisdom to our Hispanic entrepreneurs, which we have a lot here in the tri-state area that are beginning their entrepreneurial journey.

You've been through a lot, give us some advice that our viewers could use and put forth in their career.

- Absolutely, keep fighting, fight, fight, don't give up.

You're gonna have to work hard for it, but it will bring, it will have it rewards, you just need to be kind to yourself, you know, some days are gonna be better than the others, but those days that they're not that good, be kind to yourself, it's okay.

You know, we're all learning here.

No one knows how to win en-trippen from one day to the other, so keep fighting, and failure, it's an option, and it's okay as well because you will learn from it.

- Great, thank you so much and much success, Gloria.

- Thank you Carlos, my pleasure.

- And up next we have Luis DeLaHoz, the Chairman of the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.

(upbeat Latin music playing) Welcome back, and up next, we have one of our most popular guests, Luis DeLaHoz, who's the Chairman of the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, welcome to "Que Pasa?"

- Gracias!

- Tell me a little bit, I know you had an event called, "The Art of Being a Modern Latina".

We're gonna show some clips from that.

Tell me what's that event about how many years have you been doing it?

- I mean, I believe this is the seven or eighth edition, but the most important thing is that our board members to cover the entire event, almost 50% of our board members happened to be woman was sold out like two weeks before the event happened.

We have a waiting list about 50 people, trying to get into the event.

We have vendors and we have a lot of fun.

But the most important thing is Latinas inspiring other Latinas, telling them what is possible and their own journeys in order for them to get inspired, and believe that it's possible.

- How about membership at the Chamber?

Have you seen an increase in Latina business owners?

- Yes, especially, in our programming.

The HETP has a lot of Latina business owners, and LETS is just focus on Latina women because usually Latinas start businesses six times faster than any other ethnic group.

- Tell our viewers what those acronyms HETP and LETS.

- HETP stands Hispanic Entrepreneur Training Program.

That's a 15 week class program that is virtual, but we have two classes that are in person.

One of them is the graduation, and one of them is the access to capital event, and after that, after they graduate from the class, they have access to one-on-one sessions for over a year.

- Tell us the landscape of the nonprofit world.

I know there's Chambers everywhere.

How do you know, is there a database, a list?

Like who's a chamber that you could rely on?

Is there like a Better Business Bureau stamp?

- In the state of New Jersey is a non-for-profit for all non non-for-profits.

But for the Chambers, I always suggest people to do the due diligence, I mean, if a corporation come to the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce that wanna do business with us, they will ask a lot of questions.

They will ask for our documents, our incorporation, our status with the IRS, our income taxes.

If we audit those financial statements because they wanna make sure that the money that they provide to us is going to the right place.

They don't want to give money if it is only two or three people that will benefit from that.

Usually I will tell people, ask for financials, ask for the annual report.

I mean, it is a lot of events that only happen once.

People get excited and say, "I attend this event for 50 bucks, and someone is offering me a hundred, and another event for 150, I wanna attend."

And they call us back and say, "Hey, I just lost money, like not many people attend.

That was not what we was expecting."

And I say, "Do the due diligence, the same".

Like we struggle sometimes because the members don't trust us.

They come, they see the value, and now they start supporting us.

It's the same thing us for check on the internet, if that event happened, who hosted, how many people attend, and ask people that attend before, and say, "Hey Carlos, you went to that gala, can you tell me about it, like, do you think that it's a good fit for me and my current role?"

- Sure, as money's tight, you wanna make sure you're giving it to an organization that ultimately is putting it on the street, and helping entrepreneurs.

We had a guest on earlier who was born in Union City.

I was born in Union City, and I know the Mayor there, Mayor Stack very well.

And we had a conversation recently, there was a fire in Union City, and many businesses were impacted in family.

So there's a GoFundMe page, we're gonna put it on the screen so that if anybody wants to donate to help these businesses, there were seven businesses, and multiple families that were impacted.

I think to date they've raised about 16,000, but the Chamber and the Mayor wanna, you know, have asked to help,- - Listen, - [Carlos] Get the word on the street.

- One thing that we learned is that the business owners are very generous.

If we ask them, many of them will be willing to support them.

We have an event that is coming up that we, during the pandemic, we didn't have any corporations that support that event.

And we create a social media video asking for support.

And each member support that event with a thousand dollars.

And this year we are expecting 13 of them supporting that event.

We can ask them and I believe that they will be willing to support.

- You have a health fair coming up.

Tell me a little bit about the health fair.

- May 19th, yes.- - May 19th, okay.

- Health is the most important assets for a business owner.

Without health, it's no business, it's no, nothing.

And we are very fortunate that we partnered with Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which is the largest corporate partner that we have, is a relationship that have been developed in the past 10 years, and they really want us to be able to access to services that are not necessarily common for us.

And we are hosting that at the American Dream Project on May 19, a week from today.

And it is open to the public, everybody can come.

It's free and we will have a lot of fun.

I was laughing because I saw that one of the promoters has me on a massage chair having fun.

I say, "I probably need one of those again."

Yes, everybody's welcome, please.

We are looking for food vendors, we are looking for a small business owners to participate and the venue is magnificent, welcome.

- Great, we'll make sure and put the link on the screen, and as always, a pleasure to have you.

Best of luck at the chamber.

- Thank you very much for the opportunity.

- Thank you so much Luis.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's a wrap.

Thank you for sending in the amazing ideas that you continue to do info@quepasanj.org.

And don't forget to ask yourself, "Que Pasa?"

- 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, PSE&G, The Engineers Labor Employer Cooperative 825, ROI-NJ Business Magazine, NJM Insurance Group, Hackensack Meridian Health.

Find out more about our familia at shccnj.org.

This has been a production of the Modesto Educational Foundation.

(upbeat Latin music playing)