My passion for music was nurtured at a very young age. I can still recall marimba music blaring at family gatherings. The sounds and rhythm filled every room of our Visalia, CA home. The music created new memories and at the same time took us back to family memories of Guatemala. Today, the instant I hear marimba, I am transported back in time as my head fills with great memories of tias, tios, primas y primos. It is the rich culture of the music during my childhood that has made music such an important part of my everyday life.
From The Scenestar blog to FILTER magazine, I consume all things music. As PR practitioners, it is our responsibility to have our finger on the pulse of popular culture – and the music industry is a big part of that. Our clients rely on us to be experts. As such, it is part of our job to follow emerging trends and keep up with what’s current.
I am the epitome of today’s Latino and their taste of music; I express myself through different genres – far from being one-dimensional. Brands in the PR industry understand this. Such was the case with longtime RLPR client Heineken USA. One of the programs our office executed was bringing DJs together to blend songs and beats from Latin genres and mash them with today’s mainstream music including reggaeton, hip-hop, electronic and funk. The mashups were a way for Latinos to identify and to celebrate being multicultural.
I recall when I first moved from my small agricultural town to one of the cultural meccas in the world, Los Angeles to attend UCLA. My first concert in the City of Angels was the cumbia, funk, reggae-infused band Ozomatli at the Grand Plaza in Downtown Los Angeles. That concert was a light-bolt moment that led me to discover the power of music as a universal language that transcends boundaries and bonds people.
It’s been said that music has the power to break barriers and bring people together despite culture, gender or even age. I’m listing a few of my favorite sounds and hope that it will do just that. Enjoy!
1) Kinky – Soun Tha Mi Primer Amor (Mexico): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_wvxbu3vWg&feature=related
2) Ozomatli – Como Ves (US): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TtFaRtvR6g
3) Buraka Som Sistema – Sound of Kuduro (Brazil): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CkXhtw7UNk
4) Nortec Collective presents Bostich+Fussible - Tijuana Sound Machine (Mexico): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAkk3MqxOY8
5) Marimba Ferrocarril de los Altos (Guatemala): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0VGODoRy9o&feature=related
How does music play a role in your life?
Showing posts with label latinos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label latinos. Show all posts
April 21, 2010
November 10, 2009
Learning as We Go
My mom always says, tuvimos que aprender con vos. My parents moved to a small town in Virginia shortly after marrying in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I was born one year later as my father was working to open his first restaurant that would fulfill my parents’ dreams for our family.
I am first generation in this country and the first-born out of three in my family. I grew up in this small town, watching my parents trying to communicate with others, noticing that they were different, and I could see that it was difficult for others to understand them.
As a child, I was confused and frustrated that people didn't understand my parents. It was evident to me that they were different from everyone else, and I learned early on that I would be an important resource to them. My parents depended on me to learn the nuances and systems of this country and guide them in the process. The role I took on also gave me great insight to the experiences of immigrants and their first-generation children, and the important roles played by education and helping hands in general.
To this day, my mother and father only speak Spanish at home (¡no saben cómo se lo agradezco!). I didn’t speak English when I entered kindergarten, and I fondly remember the amazing teachers who gave their time after school to tutor me when ESL programs didn’t exist. They also became a great resource to my parents, providing them what they needed the most: guidance, encouragement and confidence. But while we were helped by many people along the way, I also learned the hard way that sometimes you have to go it alone.
In high school, my counselor placed me in classes meant for students not interested in going to college. I never understood why this decision was made for me. But that didn’t dissuade me from getting myself on the right path. My parents were amazingly supportive, and encouraged me to make the right choices since they were unfamiliar with the education system. In 2003, I was the first woman in my family to graduate from college.
As an adult I appreciate the courage it took for my parents to come to a new country where they didn't speak the language or understand the system or the culture, and where they weren’t surrounded by friends and family to help them along. I feel honored and proud to have helped my family the best I could. This has shaped me into the person I am today.
It has become a passion of mine to help, as others have helped my parents and me. In college I tutored ESL students preparing to take their SATs and counseled them through the college application process. And I worked part time as an interpreter at an immigration law office. It was my way of paying forward the positive experiences I had growing up.
In my two years at RLPR, I’ve executed exciting programs at nationwide and grassroots levels where I’ve applied my experiences and observations of the immigrant population. I’ve learned that communications can inspire change, and I’ve seen the great impact an educational initiative can have on a community. I’ve worked with national and local media to inform the Hispanic community about important health topics like diabetes and obesity; organized health fairs to give local communities in Chicago and New York access to doctors, nutritionists and physical fitness experts; and developed bilingual materials for schools and clinics. Identifying a need in the community and providing resources and opportunities for education continues to inspire and motivate me.
When we develop communication programs at RLPR we first talk about our audience – acculturated, unacculturated, new arrivals, moms, urban youth, country of origin, etc. Understanding the needs, values and preferences of each segment is vital to successfully reaching them in a way that is relevant and meaningful. It’s empowering to me that my experiences and observations as the child of immigrants is critical to this process.
To this day, my parents still rely on me for many things. They still call me up when they need to order something online or need to find flights to Argentina. They say I find the best deals! And while, secretly I know they really could do it themselves, I do it con amor.
Who or what has had the greatest impact in your life? What immigration story has most moved you?
I am first generation in this country and the first-born out of three in my family. I grew up in this small town, watching my parents trying to communicate with others, noticing that they were different, and I could see that it was difficult for others to understand them.
As a child, I was confused and frustrated that people didn't understand my parents. It was evident to me that they were different from everyone else, and I learned early on that I would be an important resource to them. My parents depended on me to learn the nuances and systems of this country and guide them in the process. The role I took on also gave me great insight to the experiences of immigrants and their first-generation children, and the important roles played by education and helping hands in general.
To this day, my mother and father only speak Spanish at home (¡no saben cómo se lo agradezco!). I didn’t speak English when I entered kindergarten, and I fondly remember the amazing teachers who gave their time after school to tutor me when ESL programs didn’t exist. They also became a great resource to my parents, providing them what they needed the most: guidance, encouragement and confidence. But while we were helped by many people along the way, I also learned the hard way that sometimes you have to go it alone.
In high school, my counselor placed me in classes meant for students not interested in going to college. I never understood why this decision was made for me. But that didn’t dissuade me from getting myself on the right path. My parents were amazingly supportive, and encouraged me to make the right choices since they were unfamiliar with the education system. In 2003, I was the first woman in my family to graduate from college.
As an adult I appreciate the courage it took for my parents to come to a new country where they didn't speak the language or understand the system or the culture, and where they weren’t surrounded by friends and family to help them along. I feel honored and proud to have helped my family the best I could. This has shaped me into the person I am today.
It has become a passion of mine to help, as others have helped my parents and me. In college I tutored ESL students preparing to take their SATs and counseled them through the college application process. And I worked part time as an interpreter at an immigration law office. It was my way of paying forward the positive experiences I had growing up.
In my two years at RLPR, I’ve executed exciting programs at nationwide and grassroots levels where I’ve applied my experiences and observations of the immigrant population. I’ve learned that communications can inspire change, and I’ve seen the great impact an educational initiative can have on a community. I’ve worked with national and local media to inform the Hispanic community about important health topics like diabetes and obesity; organized health fairs to give local communities in Chicago and New York access to doctors, nutritionists and physical fitness experts; and developed bilingual materials for schools and clinics. Identifying a need in the community and providing resources and opportunities for education continues to inspire and motivate me.
When we develop communication programs at RLPR we first talk about our audience – acculturated, unacculturated, new arrivals, moms, urban youth, country of origin, etc. Understanding the needs, values and preferences of each segment is vital to successfully reaching them in a way that is relevant and meaningful. It’s empowering to me that my experiences and observations as the child of immigrants is critical to this process.
To this day, my parents still rely on me for many things. They still call me up when they need to order something online or need to find flights to Argentina. They say I find the best deals! And while, secretly I know they really could do it themselves, I do it con amor.
Who or what has had the greatest impact in your life? What immigration story has most moved you?
July 1, 2009
La mantequilla de maní y el arte de la adaptación (Peanut butter and the art of cultural adaptation)
We speak español at RLPR, though we sometimes misinterpret each other. Tal vez es porque hablamos argentino, peruano, panameño, mexicano, salvadoreño, puertorriqueño and more – so we have to do some work to decipher each other’s dialects. While this is unquestionably conducive to our ability to do good work, it comes with its challenges. On more than one occasion we’ve been distracted by the impromptu Independence Day celebration in the kitchen with pisco sours - not to mention the dispute that arises when the drink’s origin gets called into question (Peru vs. Chile, anyone?).
About six months ago, I was thrilled at the arrival of my colleague Ana Cerón to RLPR. Ana came to us following a successful PR career in Mexico DF followed by two years of Hispanic marketing here in Los Angeles. While most of our agency folks are bilingual and bicultural (Ok, our CFO isn’t, but his Spanish is getting better every day), the task of proofing the writing often gets delegated to those of us who learned our conjugaciones and pretéritos perfectos in la madre tierra.
So when we got a heavy duty writing project - the Spanish-language adaptation of a client website - I called Ana. This project included a few hundred recipes and frankly, nothing gets a bunch of Latinos as confused and excited about language as what to call your favorite childhood food. I mean, our earliest memories - our IDs - are riding on this one, gente! Who can forget el postre especial de la abuelita. And don’t dare call it a crepa if it was in fact a panqueque. ¡No te atrevas…carajo! (Disclaimer – carajo and other words are not that bad where I come from.)
And off went Ana. I said to her: “Some of these have already been translated, but take another look since it’s been a while.” A few days later, and to my dismay, I noticed that a lot of the ingredients and even some recipe names had been changed. I needed an explanation.
Yanka: Oye, ¿qué paso con estas recetas?
Ana: Es que tenían muchas palabras que no se usan.
Yanka: ¿Cómo? ¿Qué es esto de crema de cacahuate? Se dice mantequilla de maní.
Ana: No. Es crema de cacahuate. Maní suena extraño.
Yanka: Llama a la argentina. (El árbitro más cercano.)
Romina: Nosotros no usamos mantequilla de maní. Comemos dulce de leche… En todo caso, se dice MANTECA de maní.
Yanka: Me alegra que ya todo esté claro. ¿Y qué es esto de nieve de mora? Te digo que es sorbete de arándano…
And this exposes briefly why launching campaigns in the Hispanic market is practically an art form. While it may seem easy to translate something, the writing process alone is intricate. We think of our target consumer and in some cases need to discuss minute details to figure out what to call a sandwich.
Beyond translating a text, we publicistas need to figure out who the campaign will reach and where: is it Southern California or DC? Young bilingual Latinos or Spanish-dominant moms? How do we reconcile the differences when we go nationwide? In some cases, it even makes sense to resort to English-language words that we wouldn’t be caught dead using in conversations with our primos back home. All in the name of dealing with cultura in the press.
Which is why I’m happy to have Ana and the dozens of folks here at RLPR whose cultural experiences and knowledge are so valuable to our day-to-day work. We’re blessed to have an amalgam of countries represented. Even if it means shocking the occasional intern who’s not yet used to our daily harangues on language and culture. Next week: dulce de leche: ¿uruguayo o argentino?
So, gente - what other words cause you to argue with your Latino friends and family? Share in the comments - we want to know!
Yanka Burgos is Vice President at RL Public Relations + Marketing. She can be reached at yanka.burgos@rlpublicrelations.com
About six months ago, I was thrilled at the arrival of my colleague Ana Cerón to RLPR. Ana came to us following a successful PR career in Mexico DF followed by two years of Hispanic marketing here in Los Angeles. While most of our agency folks are bilingual and bicultural (Ok, our CFO isn’t, but his Spanish is getting better every day), the task of proofing the writing often gets delegated to those of us who learned our conjugaciones and pretéritos perfectos in la madre tierra.
So when we got a heavy duty writing project - the Spanish-language adaptation of a client website - I called Ana. This project included a few hundred recipes and frankly, nothing gets a bunch of Latinos as confused and excited about language as what to call your favorite childhood food. I mean, our earliest memories - our IDs - are riding on this one, gente! Who can forget el postre especial de la abuelita. And don’t dare call it a crepa if it was in fact a panqueque. ¡No te atrevas…carajo! (Disclaimer – carajo and other words are not that bad where I come from.)
And off went Ana. I said to her: “Some of these have already been translated, but take another look since it’s been a while.” A few days later, and to my dismay, I noticed that a lot of the ingredients and even some recipe names had been changed. I needed an explanation.
Yanka: Oye, ¿qué paso con estas recetas?
Ana: Es que tenían muchas palabras que no se usan.
Yanka: ¿Cómo? ¿Qué es esto de crema de cacahuate? Se dice mantequilla de maní.
Ana: No. Es crema de cacahuate. Maní suena extraño.
Yanka: Llama a la argentina. (El árbitro más cercano.)
Romina: Nosotros no usamos mantequilla de maní. Comemos dulce de leche… En todo caso, se dice MANTECA de maní.
Yanka: Me alegra que ya todo esté claro. ¿Y qué es esto de nieve de mora? Te digo que es sorbete de arándano…
And this exposes briefly why launching campaigns in the Hispanic market is practically an art form. While it may seem easy to translate something, the writing process alone is intricate. We think of our target consumer and in some cases need to discuss minute details to figure out what to call a sandwich.
Beyond translating a text, we publicistas need to figure out who the campaign will reach and where: is it Southern California or DC? Young bilingual Latinos or Spanish-dominant moms? How do we reconcile the differences when we go nationwide? In some cases, it even makes sense to resort to English-language words that we wouldn’t be caught dead using in conversations with our primos back home. All in the name of dealing with cultura in the press.
Which is why I’m happy to have Ana and the dozens of folks here at RLPR whose cultural experiences and knowledge are so valuable to our day-to-day work. We’re blessed to have an amalgam of countries represented. Even if it means shocking the occasional intern who’s not yet used to our daily harangues on language and culture. Next week: dulce de leche: ¿uruguayo o argentino?
So, gente - what other words cause you to argue with your Latino friends and family? Share in the comments - we want to know!
Yanka Burgos is Vice President at RL Public Relations + Marketing. She can be reached at yanka.burgos@rlpublicrelations.com
June 18, 2009
#Vivaviernes! and Other Things Latinos Do Online
I’m one of those Latinas who looks pura gringa. That is - till I rattle off something or other in Spanish. I’m one of those people we in this business call “acculturated.” Trust me: that doesn’t make me any less Latina – I spent most of the first 17 years of my life in Latin America (yes, I wear that like a badge). While my family and I speak Spanglish when we’re together, many things only sound “right” when they’re said in Spanish. And El Chavo del Ocho still makes me laugh uproariously.
I joined RLPR recently after a career in communications that focused on the general market. Working in Hispanic marketing has had a great side benefit: I’ve made a bunch of new friends who, like me, are Latinos to the core living “in two worlds.” I’ve met these folks on Twitter and other social networking sites, but never in person. Still, we’ve made connections. Names will not be mentioned to protect the innocent but there’s the fun and vivacious woman in D.C., the music-man and leader in Boston, the mom (like me) who’s keeping it all together nicely in NY, and the dad and social media guy who organizes Latinos in Texas.
My point? A zillion studies have come out lately declaring that the Latino community is very strong online, and that we looove social media.
(http://www.contactomagazine.com/articles/hispanicsonline0209.htm and http://www.hispaniconlinemarketing.com/2009/02/the-multicultural-world-of-social-media-marketing/)
I’m really not sure why that’s so surprising: we’ve always been technology early adopters – particularly where cell phones are concerned - and we love to connect with each other.
It’s also pretty obvious why we love social media. Despite differences in “country of origin” there are certain values that Latinos hold dear, and we connect over those values. #Followfriday on Twitter is great and we get involved there, but we like #Vivaviernes! created by @julito77 much more. Why? We like it because it’s a celebration of being Hispanic, of the music, food, sports, entertainment and people that “take us back” and make us feel Hispanic. (If any Latino on Twitter tells you that the music that gets passed around on #vivaviernes doesn’t make them want to dance, they are LYING.) While we don’t all have the same political views, we all agreed that it was nice to have a Hispanic nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court for the first time ever. And don’t get me started about the food conversations. (Pupusas, anyone?) We love social media because even through all the “noise” we can find each other and talk and laugh and share over things that are important to us as Latinos.
So now we have this virtual melting pot of Hispanic culture. Brands targeting Hispanics should really consider engaging with the community here, not because social media is cool or the it thing right now. But because blogs, social networking sites, video and photo-sharing sites and more help Latinos to communicate and connect with loved ones and create and share culturally- and personally-relevant content that’s not available anywhere else. And if you can help Latinos do that – in authentic ways that are reflective of our values and cultura - the connection can be lasting and powerful.
Jennifer Vides is Senior Vice President at RL Public Relations. She can be reached at jennifer.vides@rlpublicrelations.com.
I joined RLPR recently after a career in communications that focused on the general market. Working in Hispanic marketing has had a great side benefit: I’ve made a bunch of new friends who, like me, are Latinos to the core living “in two worlds.” I’ve met these folks on Twitter and other social networking sites, but never in person. Still, we’ve made connections. Names will not be mentioned to protect the innocent but there’s the fun and vivacious woman in D.C., the music-man and leader in Boston, the mom (like me) who’s keeping it all together nicely in NY, and the dad and social media guy who organizes Latinos in Texas.
My point? A zillion studies have come out lately declaring that the Latino community is very strong online, and that we looove social media.
(http://www.contactomagazine.com/articles/hispanicsonline0209.htm and http://www.hispaniconlinemarketing.com/2009/02/the-multicultural-world-of-social-media-marketing/)
I’m really not sure why that’s so surprising: we’ve always been technology early adopters – particularly where cell phones are concerned - and we love to connect with each other.
It’s also pretty obvious why we love social media. Despite differences in “country of origin” there are certain values that Latinos hold dear, and we connect over those values. #Followfriday on Twitter is great and we get involved there, but we like #Vivaviernes! created by @julito77 much more. Why? We like it because it’s a celebration of being Hispanic, of the music, food, sports, entertainment and people that “take us back” and make us feel Hispanic. (If any Latino on Twitter tells you that the music that gets passed around on #vivaviernes doesn’t make them want to dance, they are LYING.) While we don’t all have the same political views, we all agreed that it was nice to have a Hispanic nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court for the first time ever. And don’t get me started about the food conversations. (Pupusas, anyone?) We love social media because even through all the “noise” we can find each other and talk and laugh and share over things that are important to us as Latinos.
So now we have this virtual melting pot of Hispanic culture. Brands targeting Hispanics should really consider engaging with the community here, not because social media is cool or the it thing right now. But because blogs, social networking sites, video and photo-sharing sites and more help Latinos to communicate and connect with loved ones and create and share culturally- and personally-relevant content that’s not available anywhere else. And if you can help Latinos do that – in authentic ways that are reflective of our values and cultura - the connection can be lasting and powerful.
Jennifer Vides is Senior Vice President at RL Public Relations. She can be reached at jennifer.vides@rlpublicrelations.com.
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