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Money Traumas, Mindset Shifts, and Making Moves With Gina Mariko Rosales
38 Plays10 months ago
Through a series of dynamic and thoughtful conversations between Ji Bowlus (she/her) and guests, we will showcase how wellness intersects with the rich complexities of our diverse Asian diaspora community. We will bring the voices of the Asian diaspora from the peripheral to the center to empower, reclaim agency, and rewrite the narrative of well-being one personal experience at a time.
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Transcript
Meet Gina Rosales: Founder, Innovator, Community Builder
00:00:00
Speaker
nourishing the mind, body, and soul for the Asian diaspora. Have you eaten? Hello, welcome back to Have You Eaten with G. Bolas and Hello Happy, where we amplify the voices of our community one conversation at a time. And today I am so excited to have Gina with us. ah Gina Rosales is the founder of ah Make It Mariko Studio, and she is also the founder of the very first ever POC food and wine festival that just happened this past May in Berkeley.
00:00:34
Speaker
Welcome, Gina. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah. i I went to the festival and I have to say that it was incredible. I really loved everything that you did there and just what what it was. you know It was giving representation and creating community and space. So thank you so much for that. and Thank you for being a sponsor. um I think you represented like one of our ideals of like somebody who just like saw what we're doing and felt aligned with our mission and our vision and then reached out and was just like, I have an idea. I want to do this. like does that Is that cool? and And followed through and made it happen. So I really appreciate that kind of partnership and outreach because it's hard out here trying to do new things and ah brave new spaces.
00:01:23
Speaker
Yeah, no, absolutely. And that is exactly kind of what I wanted to take our conversation and into because it was something that you came up with.
The Event Planning Journey of Gina Rosales
00:01:33
Speaker
So how did you come up with this idea? Yeah, so I've been an event planner for a long time. I think like my background starts with dance. So I was running a dance company, a hip-hop dance company, and I would plan dance workshops and large-scale dance productions, and then went into nonprofits, then started working at Google, doing corporate events, then started my own agency.
00:01:57
Speaker
so I've had this like broad experience of event planning over 15 plus years and now at this point in time of Make It Marco, we're in our eighth year of business. I've been feeling this itch to like create more and to also trust my own ideas because you know when you run an agency, people typically hire you, they pay you to plan their event, and of course consult. But a lot of the time, it's like this kind of a partnership where there's a lot of ah negotiation around what's going to happen. So I really just wanted like I have all these ideas and I've been unlocking this really another part of my brain where I'm really leaning into being a creative and I just wanted to create something that was like fully our own, fully our ideas and just being able to do honestly whatever the hell we wanted.
Why Create a POC Food and Wine Festival?
00:02:46
Speaker
So I actually started taking wine classes. I got a scholarship to this wine foundation to take classes about wine. I've always loved wine, drinking it. And so going to school unlocked that student part of my brain where I got to learn again. And I, of course, like was learning about how you know not really diverse the wine space is, which we all knew already. And I kind of felt to myself like, okay, I think there could be a place for me here, a place for me to use my skills and event planning and curation and create a space that hadn't existed yet. And so that's how POC Food and Wine was born out of just like putting together my experience in so many different spaces and just wanting to see a place exist, a space exist that didn't exist before.
00:03:33
Speaker
That's awesome. And what I noticed too about that space, I could totally see as you're talking about your background and your music and dance and all of that, like how everything kind of played together. um You had some amazing musicians there too. Oh my gosh. Yes. We're just so blessed in the Bay Area community, honestly, about the level and quality of talent that we have out here. It's just such a really interesting bubble of like people in the Bay and the diversity of what we have and the skills. So yes, it was so beautiful and I'm so blessed and grateful that so many of my friends like accepted the call to come and be a part of the first festival. Yeah. You know what I forgot to do in the beginning? I typically asked my guests, how you identify.
00:04:22
Speaker
Oh, okay. So I guess I identify as being a Japanese Filipino American. I identify as being a Bay Area native. I am a lover and child of hip hop culture. Awesome. Amazing. Tell us about the leading up to putting this together because I followed you on Instagram and your stories and the the trials, the triumph, all of that. and Girl, like you are one strong woman.
00:04:58
Speaker
all Um, yeah.
Overcoming Challenges: Organizing a Festival
00:05:01
Speaker
You know, honestly, it was definitely a journey. So from coming up with the idea and actually producing it, it was over a year in the works of when I was like, I'm going to do it. Let's work on the branding. Let's make a logo. Let's make a website. Let's put the team together. And then a solid six to eight months of then production planning with that team. So it was a long, long journey. And I think something about me too is like, I'm such a dreamer at this point in time and I believe anything is possible. And when I go for it, I go for it. I used to say I was not a risk taker, but after this year, I will never say that again because I took some huge freaking risks this year. um And I'm really proud of myself for that because I i feel like I'm more of a conservative entrepreneur.
00:05:51
Speaker
But um so interesting this year I did it. I know it's crazy. I really i identify that way. I feel like I'm conservative in the way that I approach things. But this year I think that all went out the window in producing this festival. And I was like, I'm going to do it. I'm gonna i'm going to jump. I'm going to fly. um But it went it was crazy because at the same time i was doing the festival i was also doing another leap in trying to get my first venue. Which is always been one of the biggest goals of making marco is to run our own event space and so i was doing two huge leaps at once.
00:06:27
Speaker
And i think the universe knew better for me and they basically was like stop it but it out you're doing the most right now and the venue commercial space actually end up falling through. This is like my kind of third attempt at a venue in the past five years and i think the universe is just like you're doing the most right now this ain't it. And you know that deal fell through but i'm actually really glad because it allowed me to really focus on the festival. because it really did require my entire brain space. So that's what also made it difficult is I was trying to do so many big, hard things at once. And I reached this capacity where I was just kind of like, this is it. This is my max. I cannot do this. like I'm trying so hard to dream big for everyone. I was holding a little bit too much.
00:07:16
Speaker
So then I started focusing on just the festival, but even that alone was such a, like I should say, like it was a mind fuck. I've been doing events for a long time. The production part of it isn't really ah the hard part. like Not saying it wasn't hard, it was. But we've done this before. We know how to do this. The hardest part of producing this festival was me being executive producer for the first time. and The kind of things you have to navigate in your brain of like trusting and crossset having space in ticket sales coming through, and allowing things to take their course.
00:07:59
Speaker
But me as a Capricorn, like I just like wanted control and there's absolutely nothing you can control about a process like this. So all of the hard work was here in my mind. That was the hardest thing for me. I love how you bring up a few words like the universe. and faith and um yeah and I'm just curious like during those really hard times like how did you take care of yourself like what like when you were having those mind fucks like what you what helped you like what did you do to take care of you
00:08:35
Speaker
Yeah, you know because a lot of the reason why the struggle is so hard, and I'll like name this too, is like as a daughter of immigrants, as an Asian American growing up here in the States, we grew up with a different mentality around
Mindset and Mental Health in Leadership
00:08:50
Speaker
things. like Our parents like came here. hard workers, really like keeping that steady job and like taking care of us. right So I have this like different perception around money and scarcity and like fear of losing money. And those were all the things that I had to unlearn actively in order to be successful at producing a festival of this scale.
00:09:14
Speaker
And so therapy is one thing. So I do have a therapist. I see her every two weeks. And that was time for me to just really like vent and break down. like Why are some of these things so scary? And why do I have this physical reaction in my body when I'm talking about money like this or talking about these giant leaps that I'm taking? And why am I so afraid of failing? that it's not allowing me to really stretch in the way that i need to to be successful here so like. Like i'm learning those things and making choices of like what are the thoughts in my head of the stories that i'm telling myself that are not serving me anymore so therapy was super helpful i'm talking having my crew of like entrepreneur friends.
00:10:04
Speaker
who are producing at the scale or bigger actually than me that I could call and just cry to which have been very frequently over the 30 months leading up to the festival. ah but um So having that support system and honestly meditation. So working on my mindset was the biggest thing. And that looked like every day in the morning, holding even five minutes to just like, you know, this is like my office space in my home, I light incense, I would sit on the ground and just like sit with myself for five minutes and kind of
00:10:42
Speaker
get my mindset straight because those voices from your past or from your past lives or immigrant stories, they're so fucking loud. Yes. And in order to really rise above them, you have to learn how to first accept them, which is crazy, like accept that they're part of your journey. And then you also have to learn how to set them aside. Yeah. A lot of times when thoughts pop into my head, I sometimes have to actively say, thank you, but no, thank you. yeah Yes. Yes. I hear you. I hear you and thank you for looking out for me. I know you're looking out for me, but you are not necessary right now. and this this is You're not running the show right now, but thank you. I hear you. I see you.
00:11:36
Speaker
Oh my gosh, you brought up scarcity mindset. Can we talk about that for a minute? Because, Lily, is it? It is no joke. I mean, I also am a child of a of immigrants. ah um I'm actually 1.5 generation American. you And um the scarcity mindset is no joke. I mean, you talk about building something and this fear that pops in. How did you manage that? Like you talked about unlearning. well Like and when it came to the scarcity mindset, like how did you unlearn that?
00:12:14
Speaker
the first thing that was like The first thing that I had to do was recognize that that's what it was and name it. I had to like name in my head, oh, this is scarcity thinking right now. This is fear. This is fear that is in your mind right now. And fear is the thing that's leading, you know, what's holding you back. So naming it out loud was the super first important part. And then really kind of recognizing this is this story that I've been telling myself and then actively creating a new story and trying really hard to um make that new story my mantra. And I think it's like not even about
00:12:55
Speaker
convincing yourself otherwise. It's really about actively creating a new story and living it. So instead of like, you're going to lose so much money. What if you don't sell enough tickets, you're going to lose so much money, then my new story could have become. You, I believe in the space that I'm trying to create and I believe in my vision. And if I have to invest money to start and seed this project, then that's my choice and I'm going to stick by it because I believe in it. So even that mind shift was such a huge thing for me. And I even would catch myself when I was on in it or talking to people and they're asking me, how's it going? The way I would frame it to myself was like, yeah, I think I might lose a lot of money on this, but I'm really working on my mindset to change it and see it as an investment.
00:13:48
Speaker
And then that would like take me then over months, then finally I would get to the point where like, well, why do you have to justify it like that? Why can't you just start with the last part of the sentence? And then you have to say that first. So then I get to the place to be like, it's going so great and I really love the vision of what we're creating for our first year. I'm investing a lot in it because I believe in it and I'm so excited about where it's going to go. Oh, I love that. And saying it to a point where I could believe it, because for some reason there was this voice that was saying, well, if you don't make money, you're a failure and your event is ah is a failure. And so even as like the crazy part of the post festival stuff, the day of, like you said, was just this amazing vibe. It was magical. I think that's the only word that I could use to describe it. like And I literally felt like I was floating on a cloud all day of the energy and the people there.
00:14:41
Speaker
And then once I started you know doing the reconciling of things and seeing the final numbers, then somehow my that old story started creeping in and starting to say, like well, oh, well, like all that beauty that you created, but look at all of this. Look at the spreadsheet, your failure. And so, and then I was like mad at myself, like, why are you allowing this old story to define your perception of this beautiful thing that you created? You know, and so even it's just like a constant
00:15:16
Speaker
practice and unlearning and ah changing my mindset around what things mean and how I allow them to, you know, create meaning in my life. It's constant practice. Yeah. Yeah. And I love how beautifully it's said when you said, um you know, when you're changing the mindset, but you're you changing the story. Like, you know, there is no no reason why your story needs to be a certain way. Like, you you get to write your own story. Exactly.
What's Next for the Festival and Beyond?
00:15:47
Speaker
Exactly. And it's like, we have power. And we have power over all the voices in our heads, actually, because there's many voices, your parents, your grandparents, society, capitalism. And it's up to us really to decide which of those voices we want to believe and which ones we continue to
00:16:08
Speaker
allowed to live rent free in our head and the ones that we verbalize. So I'm learning still to get better at, um like you said, creating my own story and really believing it and ah giving myself permission to believe that story. Yeah. So are we going to see another POC? fooding You know what's hilarious? As I told people, if you asked me a week before the festival that question, I don't know what my answer would have been. But now that I'm on the other side of it, the answer is absolutely yes. So with all the constant work and reframing I'm doing, I really do believe that we created something magical.
00:16:49
Speaker
and that we moved we shifted something in the room that day and everyone who was there i think felt it and so there's no way that i could not do it again and my learning is just you know. i I launched a big. like A lot of people are like, yeah, you could have totally launched with like a one-day, couple-hour event. But no, I had to do a three-day, multi-event, multi-venue. But because we launched so big, I learned so fast.
00:17:22
Speaker
I learned so much from this one festival that probably would have taken some people three years to learn. Right. So now it's just about, all right, we learned so much. Now, how do we just do it better next year? And so I'm excited to to do it better. And I'm excited to give myself the chance to take what I learned and um grow from that. And I trust that we're very smart people as Asians, too. like We learn. like all right that didn't work let's not do that again let's like let's like do it better this time so giving ourselves the opportunity to do better and have a second chance and then that doesn't work then i'll have a third chance a fourth chance we'll have unlimited chances as long as we don't give up on ourselves right yes yes yes i am hearing so so much so much empowered
00:18:13
Speaker
Like an empowered mindset. Like I'm not hearing scarcity mindset at all for me right now. And so I, you know, from everything that you're saying, I can tell like all the work that you did to get here is, has like really shifted things. And that day, um, you know i I wanted to go to the other two days, but I couldn't. But the day that I went, it was just so beautiful. And like you said, it was magical. um And when I walked into the room and felt the energy and just everything that you had created, it was just so, so incredible. um And and my my small group of ah folks that came with me, I mean, they they loved it too in the same exact way. and
00:19:00
Speaker
In fact, they didn't want to leave. that you know
00:19:07
Speaker
Like, do we have to go home now? I was like, oh, I think they're going to kick us out soon. So we might want to leave now. I love that. And you know, it's like, here's the thing too about about me now. you know we've had We're like a month and a half out of um the festival happening. And so that's a lot of time to to process and I've been doing a lot of work in that still too of like that mindset shifting. And here I'm talking, you know speaking out loud, the lessons that I've learned and the news story I want to tell myself, but I'm also doing it like behind my face right now, I feel very emotional.
00:19:41
Speaker
like I'm saying it in a very strong passionate way because i've been working on um you know really this new story but i really do feel like there's like just barely tears because i'm also. still reflecting on how hard like those four months three or four months leading up to the festival were. and Literally every month, like I would feel like I was going to quit. and i ah I seriously considered canceling the festival. like Every month, there would be a moment where I was like just kind of like a little puddle on the floor, like, are you really doing this? like
00:20:18
Speaker
can we do this?" you know And so it was so hard and that's why I'm just so proud that we all did it and the whole community came through and we all made it happen as ah as a team. like My team was working so hard, so hard to make this first one happen. um But then I remember like, that's life though and that's the beauty of life. is doing big things that scare us. And if you're about to be in tears and your stomach is in a knot, then you're probably doing something really big and important.
00:20:50
Speaker
Yeah, you know, um Hello Happy just launched. Yeah, so it's been six weeks and um shortly before you launched POC Food and Wine. And as you're talking, and for those of you who are watching YouTube may see me tearing up a little bit. But um the other day, I just burst into tears because a lot of what you're saying right now with the scarcity mindset and the stories, like all of that, like i it resonates so much. and I told somebody the other day, like, yeah, I just cried. The woman said, see, that means you're doing something purposely because you cried from joy. and I said, no, no, no, no, it was fear.
00:21:38
Speaker
It's hard to differentiate sometimes. They kind of feel the same sometimes, but. Yeah. And so I'm getting emotional just listening to you talk about this because, you know, Hello Happy is, is my POC Food and Wine Festival. you know and um It's just, ah yeah, I can totally feel it and just radiating from your heart when you talk about it. ah So I'm, I'm also curious, like, when you do fall into those moments of doubt again.
00:22:12
Speaker
Like, is there is there a mantra? Is there something that you say other than the thank you very much, but no, thank you? Is there any other things that you say to yourself? two So the the what's my new story is a ah big one for me. So if I hear thoughts and I recognize that there are scarcity or fear thoughts, then I will just kind of like repeat and repeat out loud even. what's What's your new story? What's your new story? What's your new story? and then And then I'll let myself kind of respond of the where what do I want to create? What do I want to manifest as this new story? like Is this story feeding me or is this just fear?
00:22:57
Speaker
So that's just something, and then like journaling, like I'll write it down. like I'll write down the what I'm feeling in the moment, the fear, and then try to have another column of the news story column of how I can translate this to fear. Because there's always a way. There's always a way. like the you know We're failing. this We haven't sold enough tickets. you know That could easily be translated to, we're learning, we're growing, and this is our first year. You know, so giving ourselves grace like that is huge because, I don't know, as like Asian people, as like women, we're we're the hardest critics on ourselves. And if you really just think about, like I compare it all the time, like I'll tell myself, what would a white man do?
00:23:45
Speaker
That's something I also do. I ask myself, that's like not a mantra, but a question. I'll, I'll challenge myself. What would a white man do? And the reality is like a lot of like white men, like start companies, they fail. Maybe they'll even go bankrupt. Yeah. But then after that, they'll shrug it off, take the learning and move forward. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like that kind of, what did they say? Like goldfish, goldfish have the shortest memory span. So in those places, like ah if you watch Ted Lasso, he's like, be a goldfish. When you have a failure, be that goldfish and then like move on, learn from it. And then what are you going to do next? Cause the worst thing we can do is just dwell in shame. And I've been there and I just like sit in this shame spiral and that helps nobody.
00:24:34
Speaker
true. Okay, so I want to bring this up. Yeah. ah it should be very smalling So we can talk about it. Because so let's set the stage. Um, I think I reached out to you. Then I got a response that I ah didn't like.
00:24:59
Speaker
and you know What was beautiful about what happened after that was I was able to show up and um and just i I was who I was at the time. I was you know going through a lot where the mind was saying a lot, the scarcity mindset, and then also I was experiencing other people's scarcity mindset. and so By the time I met you, I had been hit with so much of that that you were the one who got the the brunt of the stick from me and and and what was really beautiful about our coming together was that I could show up and say who that was not great of me and Tell you and be vulnerable and tell you why it was the way it was and the ah scarcity
00:25:55
Speaker
mindset experiences that I've had and and you were so generous and so lovely. and I just wanted to share that with everyone because we all right we all have our experience. Let's see what happened because basically you cold you just kind of cold emailed me and it's like, hey, here's who I am and sent me a one pager. yeah But then even where I was at the time of receiving that was deep in sponsorships where I was like emailing tens of people like every day, also getting a bunch of nos, also no responses, and was just trying to juggle everything. So then when I got your email, I kind of I glanced at the one-pager, I looked at the website and the Instagram, and there wasn't anything there yet. And I was like, oh, well, can you just like tell me more? Because like I didn't really have time to pursue because I was trying to get like cash sponsorships, right? Yeah. And then even like then then you responded back, and then I was like, oh, no, I made her mad.
00:26:57
Speaker
um And then i felt bad and then i was like okay let me read more let me read more so that i went back and read your one pager like more in depth and started looking up some of the names and i was like oh okay i get it. We actually do know some of the similar communities okay like let me respond again and then we're able to kind of start over but i appreciated it your humanness of being like. Yo i have mad experience here i know what the fuck i'm doing um and i just really just wanna you know. Do something with you and i was like alright cool let's do it let's figure it out you know so even you coming real with me and then me being able to give a second chance to.
00:27:43
Speaker
I think it's a beautiful thing because like, yeah, we both know how hard it is out here to get seen for people to give you a chance. You're the new kids on the block, even though you're not like, I've been doing this work for so long. So have you. And then even what's frustrating is Say we'd launched something huge and big and successful, and you're like, oh, I got that Forbes feature. I got this. We had 10,000 people come to this event. Then when it comes to doing this, it feels like you're starting over again every time. hu A hundred percent, a hundred percent. I mean, I've spent 25 freaking years
00:28:22
Speaker
doing this shit for other people, right? And and then it's um and then finally taking ownership and finally taking my you know taking back my agency and doing it. It's like, it It's a whole new world and so one of the things I've committed to and I have definitely made it a mission is I want to bring people up with me. you know um And so one of the things that I'm doing right now with Hello Happy is we're collaborating with this small startup street streetwear brand.
00:28:58
Speaker
like I've worked with the Nikes of the world when I worked for these big companies, and now there's you know two Asian-American women who started a streetwear brand out of New York and in LA, and we're going to be doing this collaboration together because you know what we're both baby brands, but um it's it's stuff like that we have to do to support each other. you know um And that's where I see the beauty and community and building together. um And so that's why I appreciate so much the generosity of your second chance, even though I was a B. I wasn't that bad.
00:29:40
Speaker
I was like, I can't believe this. Like I'm following her. I'm like watching her cry on Instagram. I want to help so bad. And then, and then I was a total B. I will admit that audience. I was a B. What was it about giving us, it's also about giving ourselves grace and it's about giving each other grace. Yes. Cause we all know how hard it is out here. And of course, like, you know, you can't say yes to everybody, but then also, we can give people chances. Um, that's not necessarily like who knows like where things are going to go and what relationship will lead to one. And I think it's more about the drive and it's about the genuineness of that person being down with your cause and being down to help. Cause some people say that they're down to help and there are a lot of this talk and they're like, yeah, down for you, down for you, blah, blah, blah. Like I've seen this. And then when it comes to
00:30:35
Speaker
too The event, and even I'll say for PLC Food & Wine, a couple weeks leading up to it, I know who my real friends are. because those people were coming hard for me and supporting me. When I was literally going through my entire contact list and basically at the end, like I felt like I was begging people to come and show up because I was so afraid that the room was going to be empty. And I was like, damn, I i felt so bad for myself at one point where I was like, I can't even get people to come for free.
00:31:06
Speaker
What am I even doing? Why are you even doing this? Of course, it's just people are just lazy right now and they don't think about what they're doing until one to two weeks before the event, which is mind blowing to me. So of course, everyone came through, but you find out real quick who your real friends are. And it's important to um just accept that truth and also move forward because not everyone is going to be for you. Right. And then also so nurture it. Like when you find those people who are your people, just nurturing that, right? That's so important too. And that's what I'm learning from this whole experience with Hello Happy is like nurturing those relationships and yeah people who are there for you. Um, cause I think it's so easy for people to also forget
00:31:57
Speaker
And they're like, oh yeah, I did this thing. I'm a big shot now and I don't really need anybody. And and it's like, no, I remember every single person right now that had a had my back started happy and who continue to have my back. And I mean, those people know who exactly they are. um And yeah, it it's about nurturing, it's about relationships, it's about community, um and it's about grace, giving yourself a little grace. So I love that. i So what's on the horizon for you? like
Future Vision for Make It Mariko and Multicultural Connections
00:32:35
Speaker
Yeah. So now, so Make it Mark goes in our eighth year of business and I kind of, you know, it's been still rough. Like after the post pandemic, I feel like everyone in hospitality and events is like still that industry is still catching up. And even this year slowed down a little with all the madness that's happening in the world and elections coming up so much uncertainty, right? So people aren't really like spending a lot. So I'm actually in kind of like a restarting over phase where we are looking at our business model. And basically, everything is up for grabs at this point. And we're like, all right, what has been serving us? What has not been serving us? And what kind of company do we want to be moving forward? And how are we going to scale?
00:33:17
Speaker
Because for me, eight years in, I'm kind of like, all right, that was cool. You did a lot of dope shit. But this is not serving you financially. This is not sustainable. And I want to be long term. I'm in for the marathon. I don't want to burn out. So I'm looking at my business model. I'm changing everything up. We are relaunching a new wedding arm of our company. We're like rebranding literally this week. We're going to launch a new brand and we're going to go hard and scale the wedding arm of our business.
00:33:50
Speaker
because what we learned in the pandemic is love never stops so that's like kind of a safe place for us to really grow the company and scale so we're gonna continue producing like non-traditional weddings that feature poc and lgbt vendors So really getting diversified in the wedding industry. And then we still have some big projects in the works. like We're still on the search for a venue, but we're really waiting until we find the right deal. We've got some big bets potentially happening in San Francisco that
00:34:24
Speaker
um The city is really excited about activating downtown again. So we're hoping that something will come through and we'll have an um opportunity to build something amazing downtown in the Selma Filipinas district that we've been building for eight years. ah So I'm excited about putting roots into space and building out more spaces. um And I'm also exploring, we're in the kind of phases of creating a nonprofit right now. So else more, yeah, through the festival, through all the work that we've been doing, um creating diverse spaces, so much of the work that we've been doing has been charitable. So now we're just going to formalize it and have a space where we can really um you know get donations and get, um you know, raise money to create more diverse spaces.
00:35:15
Speaker
so Of course, Make It More Echo will still be involved in the production and planning, but we really want to be active in like how can we just like get more fundraising together to sustain spaces like this existing in the long-term. ah That's awesome. That that is beautiful. and Then you have done a huge ah Filipino heritage month um activation, right? Yes. Our flagship baby event um as a new agency was ah called Undiscovered SF, or it is. It's still active. It started as a Filipino night market. We've kind of shifted into a daytime recently, and it's during Filipino American History Month in October. so That's like our big event.
00:36:00
Speaker
Every year, they'll be anywhere between one to five events a year, depending on how much funding there is available. So, this year, we'll be doing one big one in October. So, that's going to be coming up October 19th and discover this. Oh, awesome. Awesome. um Well, I just enjoyed meeting you and just getting to know you. You're just a force and just a beautiful, lovely person. I'm just so grateful that the universe had brought us together the way that it did. and
00:36:35
Speaker
and every Everything that happened through the process of us meeting because it really just gave a lens of who you are as a person and I appreciate you so much. yeah Thank you. knew I know i'm just I'm so grateful for the the connections and I will say that's one of the main reasons that we wanted to create this festival in the first place because I've been building with the Filipino community for like seven strong years through Undiscovered and through Selma Filipinas. I love that and it's been so beautiful, but I really wanted to create these multicultural connections because so much of our stories as people of color in this country is aligned. and I think we will see our power when we stop creating walls between us and really come together and share our learning, share our knowledge, share our resources.
00:37:23
Speaker
openly and abundantly. And that's when we will all come up together when we can really unite. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. Yeah, thank you. And we'll wait for your event in October. um And yeah, and so until next time, this is Gee with Have You Eaten. And until we meet again, I hope your stomach and heart stay full.
00:37:53
Speaker
Hello, happy fam. Thank you so much for joining us today. Make sure to subscribe, like, and hit the notification bell. And until next time, I hope your bellies and your hearts stay full.