Identity at Play! A Spotify Originals Podcast
Los Angeles, California
Host | Producer
Identity at Play! Billboard in Herald Square, NYC.
Photography by Carmelo Varela
Identity at Play is a podcast that focuses on multi-hyphenated Americans and meaningful moments in their journey of identity. The show is one of Spotify’s first Latinx-centered podcasts. It aims to build an inclusive definition of identity for kids, adults, and anyone who’s struggled with who they are by diving into stories of when they rejected a part of their culture and when they embraced their culture.
Catch new episodes every Wednesday exclusively on Spotify.
Click on the featured guests to listen to their episode:
Arturo Castro [Actor/Comedian]: Narcos Colombia (Netflix), Alternatino ( Comedy Central)
Shakira Barrare [Actor/Dancer]: Glow (Netflix), Shameless (Showtime)
US Senator Alex Padilla [California]
Yesika Salgado [Poet/Writer]: Corazón, Tesoro
Daniel Buezo [Designer/Entrepreneur]: Kids of Immigrants
Stacy Pascal Gaspard [Filmmaker]: La Negra, Soñadora
Richard Cabral [Actor/Writer/Entrepreneur]: Mayans, Sons of Anarchy, Tepito Coffee
Laith Ashley [Actor/Model]: Visible, Headspace
Jarina de Marco [Singer/Song writer]
Congressman Joaquin Castro [Texas]
Jocelyn Ramirez [Chef/Entrepreneur]
Danielle Perez [Actor/Comedian]
Click on the images to listen to the podcast:
Client: Spotify
Date: 2021
Type: Podcast
Services: Host | Producer
Kids of Immigrants x Vans
Compton, California
Chef
To celebrate the release of their second Vans collaboration, Kids of Immigrants designed a shoe honoring one’s heritage and parents that sacrificed greatly for their children.
Before the shoe launched, Kids of Immigrants produced a photoshoot at Moonwater Farm in Compton. The photoshoot featured community leader Kika Keith from Gorilla Rx, Aura Santos & Lêcoeurcassé. At the same time the campaign highlighted students from Color Compton and Inner City Arts who were invited to help with the production.
After the day long photoshoot, Manolo prepared a dinner that resembled everyone who had a part in the production. A coursed meal that incorporated 8+ nationalities and guided by Paula Duran (Empress). This stems from the work done with Community Gatherings and brings intentionality to the table for such a meaningful shoe campaign.
Kids of Immigrants was founded by Daniel Buezo and Weleh Dennis in 2016, and is an outlet for the two to “express their passion to create, empower and love.” Highly significant to the two based on their first-generation American identity, the “Anything is Possible” shoe represents the passion for their heritage and community.
Photography by David Camarena
Client: Kids of Immigrants
Date: 2021
Type: Dinner
Services: Chef | Food Curation
Photography: David Camarena
Feels Like Home Magazine
Los Angeles, California
Feature | Chef
Feels like home is a collection of work to represent the sensibility and emotions that connect us all to home. Each artist was given the same brief, but no one came back with a singular response. This project was created by Abhi Chandra & Sam del Pilar, two creatives that are pushing the culture forward through this medium.
Manolo was asked to create a piece that tied him back home, so he created a hero’s journey map titled “A Coqui’s journey”. El Coquí, is a species of tree frog endemic to Puerto Rico, was said to survive only in the archipelago’s climate, but Manolo’s journey proves that wrong. This is the story of a Coquí who managed to grow outside of its natural habitat only to find its way back.
On July 2nd, 2021, Feels like home launched in Los Angeles, California and with it, an amazing launch party at Bodega where Manolo prepared the Puerto Rican dish; canoas.
Client: Feels Like Home
Date: 2021
Type: Content Creation
Services: Article Design & Chef
ConPRmetidos | El Comeback campaign
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Creative Direction | Copy Writer
Ads created for El Comeback campaign
El Comeback is a platform that connects professionals with job opportunities in Puerto Rico. The platform helps move Puerto Ricoʼs economy forward by retaining and bringing back talent to the Island.
El Comeback works hand in hand with companies in Puerto Rico looking for Puerto Rican talent to fill work voids in specific sectors. Through their platform, people in the Diaspora can submit their resumes and be matched with a company on the island with comparable pay to the United States.
Manolo was tasked with creating the language and ads that spoke to the Puerto Rican diaspora. Although anyone who wants to work in Puerto Rico can apply, the campaign was designed in Spanglish with Puerto Rican slang to attract a specific demographic. The goal was to get 200 people to apply in the course of a month and the campaign exceeded that 4 times, with over 800 people applying for jobs through El Comeback.
ConPRmetidos is a non-partisan non profit based in Puerto Rico. They are the organization that connects those in the Island with those living abroad and as a bridge between professionals overseas and the growing entrepreneurial ecosystem on the ground.
Learn more about El Comeback here
Client: ConPRmetidos
Date: 2020-2021
Type: Content Creation
Services: Campaign Design
Listos California
Los Angeles, California
Creative Direction | Content Creation
As a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Listos California program developed resources to help Californians navigate the public health emergency and to help inform communities about COVID-19 vaccines.
Manolo was tasked with creating a campaign that encouraged Californians to wear a mask. The Listos mask was created and distributed to tens of thousands of people across the state, along with information in different languages on how to stay prepared for natural disasters throughout those difficult times.
Manolo would continue working with Listos with their Farmworkers initiative. Delivering preparedness information through audio in a variety of languages commonly spoken by our essential farmworkers, including indigenous languages.
“We worked with local based organizations that have legitimacy and the trust of the farm working community to distribute the correct information to those most in need.” — Manolo
Informational videos were created with Listos partners like United Way Fresno and Madera Counties (UWFM), Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño (CBDIO) and Mixteco / Indígena Community Organizing Project (MICOP) to further extend the reach of the program.
Listos California is a statewide effort to boost disaster preparedness by engaging over one million of the most vulnerable Californians and connecting them with culturally and linguistically competent support through a grass-roots, people-centered approach.
Photography by Jon Endow
Client: Listos California
Date: 2020
Type: Content Creation
Services: Campaign Design
Photography: Jon Endow
Courvoisier x Honor Your Roots- Latinx Heritage Month
Miami, Florida
Content Creation | Storytelling
For Latinx Heritage Month Courvoisier gathered a handful of Latinx creatives to tell their story and how they honor their code. Diving deep into their identity journey and how they celebrate it. The campaign interviewed Calma Carmona [Singer/Songrwriter], Saga White [Music Producer], Diego Armando Mendoza [Photographer],Leo Chavez [Choreographer] & Manolo López [Chef].
Census New York
New York, New York
Spokesperson
The 2020 census is trying to count everybody in America to inform the federal funding and political representation decisions made over the next 10 years. This count happens every 10 years, and every 10 years the same communities are undercounted.
Manolo was asked to be a spokesperson for the New York Census to ensure young people and young people of color are counted so that their communities are seen, heard, and supported. The campaign was held virtually through social media, which saw in increase in the amount of people who registered.
The Census determines how over $800 billion will be distributed to local governments, nonprofits, communities, and households across the US. By taking the census, you help our neighborhoods secure the resources we need for affordable housing programs, mental health services, funding for our hospitals, job training programs, public transportation, and so much more.
New York, New York
Spokesperson
Agency: Join Projects NYC
Graphic Designers: Shira Inbar | John P. Dessereau
Duolingo: The Mofongo Ambassador
Feature | Host
In this episode of Doulingo’s podcast, Manolo shares his journey creating brands that tie to his culture and happened when a natural disaster hit his home.
Doulingo created this podcast as a way to improve language skills and gain new perspectives on the world by listening to easy-to-follow, fascinating true stories. Unlike any podcast Manolo has ever done, he narrates his story very slow, so listeners learning Spanish can follow along easier.
Client: Doulingo
Date: 2020
Type: Podcast
Services: Content Production