- [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 A25.

Hackensack Meridian Health.

ROI, NJ Business Magazine.

PNC Bank.

- Hola familia, welcome to the season finale of Season 4.

We have a great lineup today.

We have Dr. Maria Rodriguez.

We have Arturo Villanueva who created the Alza app.

We have Angela Ortiz from PSEG, and actor/director Adrian Martinez.

Don't forget to ask yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, "Que Pasa?"

(upbeat music) And our first guest is Dr. Maria Rodriguez.

Welcome to "Que Pasa."

- Thank you, thank you for having me.

- Tell me about your family's journey from the Dominican Republic to the Tri-State area.

- So their journey is actually pretty interesting.

- They came here because they were escaping the political background at that time.

So my, I don't know if you know much about the history of Dominican Republic, Trujillo was a president then, he was more of a dictator.

So my grandfather, my mother's father, worked for Trujillo.

When he was overthrown, they were looking for everyone who worked for Trujillo to kill.

So that's why my mom ended up here.

They actually went to his house.

My father flew my mom out of the country.

My aunt, my sister's, my mom's sister wasn't home at that time.

She returned home and she was actually murdered.

- Oh, wow.

- Yes.

So then my father was on the other spectrum of the political problems.

They opposed the government.

So at one point or another, my grandfather, my paternal grandfather had to change his name because they were looking for them to murder them.

So my father also had to flee the country.

My parents had met here and had us.

- Wow.

Wow.

- My brother and I.

- Wow.

Quite a story.

Quite a story.

Is that experience, your family's immigration journey, part of the reason now your practice specializes and focuses on immigrants?

- So that's part of it.

Another part of it is when my parents divorced, I was two years old, my father decided to take my brother and I to the Dominican Republic and dropped us off there.

So now my father's here in the United States, and my mom is here in the United States.

I didn't see my mother until I was nine years old when she arrived to the Dominican Republic and brought us back to New Jersey.

- Tell me a little bit about the practice.

What is the name of the current practice here?

- The practice is Care Counseling Center.

So right now we focus, or I specifically focus on helping immigrant families adjust to the United States, because firsthand experience, learning the language was a big deal.

Fitting in, and just adjusting to a brand new culture, learning something new.

People often compare, or the families that I work with often compare their experience when they're in their country, and I do agree, it's a lot different.

So in Dominican Republic, for example, there's a community based, you know your neighbors, you can go and have lunch, dinner with your neighbors.

It's more like a family community.

- Here, it feels like you're alone.

So there's that sense of loneliness.

I'm alone, I don't know the language.

Maybe I'm separated from my kids and now they return, or they come to the United States maybe years later, and there's that boundary and those difficulties with communication.

- How do you help these families combat that isolation that they feel here in the United States?

- So every treatment plan is uniquely designed for every family.

I focus on redefining what success means for each and every family, because success may look different for every single family.

So one family may feel that their American dream is owning a home.

Another family may feel that it would have the family here be reunited with their children.

So very specifically, we work towards their goals so that they can actually adjust and have their American dream here in the United States.

- Tell me about the book that you're working on the project with another author, correct?

- Yes, Jack Canfield.

He is known for writing "Chicken Soup for the Soul."

- Yeah.

- So I am co-authoring, I'm very excited about this book.

It's about redefining success and tips on how you can achieve that success.

- Can you sneak us a couple of the tips for our viewers before they purchase the book?

- Sure, so one of the tips, forgiveness.

That is something that is very difficult to achieve, not just for giving someone else for hurting you, but also forgiving yourself for allowing that to happen.

So we talk about how to go through that process.

- Excellent, excellent.

As a Latina role model, can you give some advice to our viewers who are pursuing whatever their career might be, a professional career like yourself?

Give us a little words of wisdom for our viewers.

- So, it's very important to take it one day at a time, because it can become overwhelming.

We have our careers, we have family, we have our cultural background that sometimes is very difficult on women especially.

So taking that one day at a time, and again, what is your idea of what your life should be as opposed to what the cultural expectation should be?

- Thank you for joining "Que Pasa," Maria.

- Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

- And up next we have Arturo Villanueva from the Alza app.

(upbeat music) And our next guest is Arturo Villanueva from the Alza app.

Welcome to "Que Pasa?," Arturo.

- Thanks Carlos, thanks for having me.

- Tell me a little bit about your family's journey from Monterey, Mexico.

- Yeah, happy to.

So a little bit about my family.

I was originally born in Monterey, Mexico, but I moved to the US, to Texas, the southern-most tip, a great town called Mission Texas when I was six.

And I moved with my mom, my older brother in the search of New Horizons as many families do.

And we were fortunate to get a new life started in the southernmost tip of the US.

And I grew up in Citrus Farm Town and then went off to college when I was 17.

I attended Harvard College for undergrad.

And I started environmental science and public policy.

I then continued my studies and did my master's degree at the University of Oxford in England, and I was there for a full year pursuing a degree.

And during that time I really started tinkering with what does it look like to, take both my personal experience and my professional experience to bring about new solutions?

For the Latino community.

- And thus Alza app, correct?

I mean, access to capital has always been a major issue, number one issue for Hispanic entrepreneurs nationwide, access to capital.

So tell us a little bit about the app and how that helps address some of that issue that Hispanic entrepreneurs face.

- Yeah, before I talk about the Alza app, I think you, you bring a really good point, which is the US Latino population is truly transforming the economy of the US.

US Latinos account for almost $3 trillion to the American economy.

That on its own is, rivals most European economies on their own.

And so the pace is unmatched.

The impact is palpable, and Alza exists as a financial tool to be able to continue empowering that growth that is evident.

And so with Alza, individuals who are living in the US can apply for a bank account that is FDIC insured that also allows 'em to have access to 20 markets to send cross-border remittances to all within one singular application.

And also is able to do this through our partnership with several banks, the first internet Bank of Indiana, the Bancorp Bank.

And we're able to bring these products to life.

- What differentiates Alza from some of the other corporations and companies that have dipped their toes into the same marketplace?

Yeah, when individuals begin their financial journey through Alza, they're able to begin the process all on their phone from the comfort of their home.

Once they have that account, they can start funding it through a variety of ways.

They can fund it through a direct deposit, through a check the way you would with any other bank account, through connecting it through other payment methods out there.

And then once you have that money in that account, you are already operating in the US fluently.

You can then send that money to Latin America through three different ways.

You can send it to a bank transfer.

So if you're hoping to send money to a loved one in Latin America, they can get into a bank account.

You could also send the money and have them pick it up in cash in some select countries.

Or alternatively you can use a debit card number and fund that money in Latin America.

And the idea is how do we allow individuals who have started a new life in the US whose main priority is to be able to begin saving and then sharing that money with loved ones, how do you make that readily available and accessible?

And we're actively doing our best to expand those forms of transfers.

- So our users are interested in the app.

Tell us what's the next step in what countries, how many countries are you serving currently?

- For individuals who are hoping to open their Alza app, they can do it.

If they're living in the US and already operating here, all they gotta do is visit www.alza.app, and you can also find us on Google Play and on Apple, on the App Store.

Once you do have your Alza account, you can send money to a variety of countries.

Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Honduras, Guatemala, just to name a few.

And as a reminder, you can apply to open your account in the US with a variety of IDs from those countries.

- Well, thank you.

It's been very educational and best of luck with the product.

- Yeah, thank you so much Carlos.

And thank you so much for tuning in.

- And up next we have Angela Ortiz, the head of ESG and sustainability at PSEG.

(upbeat music) And our next guest is Angela Ortiz, the director of ESG and sustainability at PSCG.

Welcome to "Que Pasa?."

- Thank you, muchas gracias.

- Tell me about your family's journey to the Tri-state area.

- Correct, so I was actually born in Houston, Texas.

My dad spent his whole career in the oil business and ended up there and moved living six different countries.

And 18 years ago I moved to New York to pursue graduate school and stayed, fell in love with the area, found a job and state, and now I'm here and I'm building new family here.

- That's amazing.

And your family's originally from Columbia?

- My family is from Colombia.

My parents are Colombians, yes.

- Beautiful.

- And I grew up in Colombia.

- So tell me your role at PSEG.

- I am the director of ESG and sustainability.

So basically I'm in charge of making sure that all the information about our environmental stewardship as well as our social efforts, community involvement, and so on, it's prepared and packaged in a way that our stakeholders are informed and know the story and connecting the dots between our strategic decisions as well as our impact overall.

- How does PSEG report and share that information on the ESG efforts that they're doing sustainability?

- So we report mainly to investors.

That's the first channel we have.

And as you know, the appetite from the investment community has grown significantly.

So, so that is one, we have a sustainability report, a climate report.

We are aligned with the different international frameworks to make sure that the information is consistent and it's comparable against our peers, but we have other different channels.

So you go on our website and you can see the stories about our efforts, our programs, and how they tie to communities.

We have events with communities, we have a foundation where we have relationship with our grantees, and in all the different interactions with the stakeholders, we tend tell that story all the way from the board down to our employees, knowing that there's a connection between what our bottom line and our impact to the community as well as the environmental stewardship.

- You mentioned the PSG Foundation.

Talk to me a little bit how you use that tool to be able to engage your community that you serve.

I mean, you guys do a good job because there are organizations that don't have a robust foundation, especially when you're dealing in urban areas, et cetera.

- That's correct.

And just to be clear, the foundation is a separate entity from, illegally, from PSEG, the corporation, however, it's a fantastic tool we have where we allow or we facilitate resources to get into the small organizations throughout our service territory.

So we touch more than 300 towns in the state of New Jersey, that may be organizations that maybe not don't have access and small resources can make a big difference.

So the foundation has some pillars and it has a separate board that analyzes the impact, the potential impact of the different grantees and in the communities, and it just helps bring the message and touch the community in different ways.

- So as a good neighbor, PSEG I know has procurement goals and has worked with diverse communities, what are you doing, what's PSEG doing to make sure that their vendors look like the community that they serve?

- Yeah, that is a big theme throughout what we do at PS.

Not only within the corporation to make sure that our employees are reflect the communities of the state, but also from a diversity perspective in our service territory, who do we work with?

Who do we hire?

So there are different mechanisms.

We work with the Chamber of Commerce, the African American Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to make sure that the voice is out.

That one of the themes throughout the communities, underserved communities, communities of color, is that not they, the message does not always gets to them, so we try to look for those mechanisms to make sure that the information is out, that they know that they're are opportunities to partner with companies like PS, and that we're looking for strong partnerships and to offer the opportunities, and so on.

- We're proud to have a Latina in charge of such an important initiative at PSEG.

So tell us to our young viewers who wanna have a career such as yours, working on important projects.

- Thank you.

And this is very close to my heart.

I didn't grow up here, so I didn't have to explain myself what being a Latina meant, but I have a seven-year-old daughter that is asking questions, and now I have to answer her what it means to be a Latina.

And I think it's, you can do whatever you want, just, to pursue.

We historically have a very strong role in our communities, Latinas and Latinas in general, but Latinas especially.

And that I think that power can come to, of views in anything you put in front of you.

So I keep saying to everybody, I, my identity is my superpower.

I am different and I'm very proud of it.

So don't be shy of being different, having an accent looking different than the rest of the individuals at the table.

You bring something special to the table, just put it there and be true to yourself.

- Great, thank you for your kind words of wisdom.

- Thank you, thank you for the invitation.

- And up next, actor-director Adrian Martinez.

(upbeat music) And up next we have actor-director Adrian Martinez.

Welcome to "Que Pasa?."

- Hola, como estas?

- Muy bien, muy bien, tell us about your family's journey to the Tri-state area, Adrian.

- Wow, I'm rarely asked that question, so I'm glad you bring it up.

I am the only Dominican Aguan in show business.

My mom was from the Dominican Republic outside Santo Domingo.

And she came to the States in New York when she was in her 20s.

And my father was from Managua, Nicaragua, and he came to the States around the same time, and they met in New York at a party in Queens through a mutual friend.

And here I am (laughs).

- Tell me about this project, which you act and direct in, called "I, Gilbert."

Tell me about this.

- It's interesting because you do so many projects for other studios and for other TV networks, but this one's my baby, you know what I'm saying?

This one's my baby.

This one was born out of two things.

I have a daughter, she's now a teenager, and I was very concerned about people, and how she was going to engage into the world with so much on the phone.

We're always on the phone.

And I saw this guy on the subway one day, it is a true story.

And he started just taking pictures of a beautiful woman sitting opposite him.

And she was like, "What are you doing?"

And he just seemed so cold and dead, and I couldn't get him outta my mind.

And then I thought about him and I thought about my daughter and who she's gonna date when she's age-appropriate, like 45, 50.

It all came together into this movie "I, Gilbert," about a guy who feels on the fringe of the world.

He doesn't connect with anyone except through his phone.

And it's really just an allegory for what can happen if we let technology take over our lives.

And so that was the genesis of the story.

- Tell me, was it based on personal experiences?

Were you able to research?

How did you develop the script?

- I was in this writing group that's led by Jose Rivera, who is an Oscar-nominated writer for "The Motorcycle Diaries."

A wonderful guy besides all that.

And from his heart, he offers this free group to writers that have been invited.

And I workshopped the script there for about a year.

I brought in scenes and we would read the scenes with each other and I would just sort of, chisel the script to the point where I thought it was ready.

And then I started shooting and all that went out the window because things changed.

But I had the basis of a good story, and I was able to shoot it in 20 days.

And yeah, I'm really proud of it.

- Wow, and you got some nice names.

You got Dascha Polanco, a friend of mine, J. W. Cortez has a small role in there.

Very nice, very nice.

- Cortez, yes, he was a big guy.

He came in, he did me a favor.

Dascha, I love Dashia with all my heart.

She's so talented.

She's the real deal.

There's not a false beat in her acting.

And honestly, I had not seen "Orange Is The New Black," and it was my wife who said, "You should look at that show and you should check out Dascha," and I did.

And there was this scene where she was basically having an affair with one of the security guards that was just so tender and so real.

And she just exuded this vulnerability.

And I said, I gotta, I gotta talk to her.

We talked on the phone and she loved the script and she said she could really relate to it, and she agreed to do it.

And she saved my butt, because honestly, I think she's the emotional center of the movie.

- Yeah, talking about Latinos in feature films and in the media, I've seen some recent statistics that are a little disturbing, but tell me what you feel is the state of Latino representation in the media and TV?

- Oh man.

- Hollywood, - It's interesting because, I started as a teenager in the '90s, and I've been asked that question then, and I'm asked that question now.

So the fact that it's still a question is the answer.

It's the struggle does, does, continues to go on.

But I am very much about self-empowerment.

I cannot stress that enough.

I have people who come up to me and they ask for advice.

Make your own opportunities.

You don't need permission from anyone to follow your dream.

You don't need permission for anyone to be an artist.

Grab your boys.

You don't have a script, talk to someone that knows how to write.

Someone knows how to write.

Someone wants to tell a story, get together with your friends and just shoot man, and put it on YouTube.

See what happens.

I think of Issa Rae, you know, Issa Rae had that show for HBO and it all started from YouTube.

I mean, the climate has definitely changed and it's never gonna be a meritocracy, for anyone, but that shouldn't stop you from aggressively pursuing your dream.

- No, I agree, Adrian.

Even this show, which I'm in my fourth season, it was knocking on a lot of doors.

And then, like you said, just do it.

Figure it out, do it.

If you can't, if you can't, be in a play, write your own play, and star in like John Leguizamo has done.

So I know Latinos, we're very resourceful.

We figure it out.

- Figure it out.

Don't wait for permission from anyone, just do it.

- Well, best of luck on your film.

Anything we could do here to support it.

We are here.

We have your back, gracia, and thank you for being a role model to aspiring actors everywhere.

- I appreciate that.

Thank you so much for having me.

- Gracias Adrian, thank you so much Adrian, and best of luck with the "I, Gilbert" premier.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's a wrap.

Thank you.

Thank you for watching.

Thank you for sending me emails.

Thank you for the suggestions.

Don't forget to check out Season 5 and during the hiatus, ask yourself, "Que Pasa?"

- [Narrator] Founding 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 A25, Hackensack Meridian Health, ROI, NJ Business Magazine, PNC Bank.

Thanks to the statewide Hispanics Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.

Find out more about our familia at shccnj.org.

This has been a production of the Modesto Educational Foundation.

(upbeat music)