Join us for a special episode of The Pilot Podcast where we interview BuzzFeed’s Pero Like team, the creators of your favorite internet videos and the web series, Mi Quinceañera Come True. Take a listen to get to know Alexis Garcia, Curly Velasquez, Maya Murillo, and Gadiel Del Orbe!
Pero Like’s Social Media
instagram.com/perolike
instagram.com/lexroc
instagram.com/thecurlyvshow
instagram.com/mayainthemoment
instagram.com/gadieldelorbe
Transcript available on our website
Connect with The Pilot Podcast
Visit us at thepilotpodcast.com | Email us at askthepilotpodcast@gmail.com | Tweet us at twitter.com/ThePilotPod | Follow us at instagram.com/ThePilotPod
BJ
Welcome to The Pilot Podcast. We're so excited for our special episode today featuring BuzzFeed's Pero Like, the team behind some of your favorite internet videos and the series Mi Quinceañera Come True. We have Alexis, Curly, Maya and Gadiel. Welcome to the show!
Alexis Garcia
Hi, thank you.
Maya Murillo
Hi.
Gadiel Del Orbe
Thank you for having us.
Mitu
Can you each take turns introducing yourselves however you'd like to our listeners? Alexis if you'd like to go first?
Alexis Garcia
Sure. Hi, my name is Alexis Garcia. And I'm the creator and showrunner of Mi Quinceañera Come True. And I'm really excited to be here. Thank you for having us.
Mitu
Excellent. And Curly?
Curly Velasquez
Hello. Hi, my name is Curly. I am a content creator for BuzzFeed's Pero Like and I am one of the hosts and one of like the fairy godmothers, if you will, on Alexis' show Mi Quinceañera -
Alexis Garcia
It's not my show. It's everyone's show.
Maya Murillo
It is your show.
Curly Velasquez
You're the queen!
Maya Murillo
Yeah, you're the queen.
Mitu
I love that accept your crown. Maya, if you'd like to go next?
Maya Murillo
Hi, I am Maya Murillo. I am also a video producer at Pero Like, and I'm also one of the hosts on a couple of episodes of Mi Quinceañera Come True. And I'm excited to be here.
Mitu
Thank you and Gadiel?
Gadiel Del Orbe
H i, I'm Gadiel Del Orbe. You know, I work a Pero Like as a producer. I was one of the hosts of one of the ep - 2 of the episodes actually that was created by Alexis Garcia. So I am also part of Alexis Garcia's show.
Maya Murillo
Yes, we want to reiterate that it's her show.
Gadiel Del Orbe
So I'm super excited to be here.
BJ
So we had the pleasure of reviewing and watching Alexis Garcia's show and we definitely recommend the show to all of our listeners. And we're wondering do you guys have any favorite quince stories?
Curly Velasquez
I feel like overall a lot of like the quinceañeras really affected us in like different ways. Each of them kind of offered something that was really different and interesting, which is really a testament to how Alexis casted her show. And so like when you have girls like Xochitl, like the girl, the first episode I was on, like, being able to experience the deaf community in a way that was youthful and young, and in a way that I had never experienced it before, was like really interesting for me, but they were also like Maya with Pita.
Maya Murillo
Yeah, one of my episodes was with this wonderful young woman, Pita, who is just such a activist, she's like, you know, 15 and to be like an activist at her age, and just to be so socially aware of all of these things happening and still take part in it. That was really impactful to me because I was not like that when I was 15. I was crying that Joe Jonas was dating Demi Lovato at the time, probably, and meanwhile, this young woman is just being an inspiration to her peers. And you know, and she really cared about her heritage and her family and, and I also felt like we were kindred spirits, too. In the episode we kind of like for sure bond over a lot of different things. And I feel like she could have been my little sister, but we actually went to TJ to go volunteer with them at different refugee- What would you call them?
Alexis Garcia
Refugees shelters?
Maya Murillo
Yeah, shelters. And so that one, I think, for everyone was a real, you know, impactful moment that we all shared of us just lending our time. And this is what she does like with her mom, you know, all the time. So 15 years old, like, what?
Mitu
And she, she was like a future world leader. And from what I can remember from the episode, her family in lieu of any sort of donation to support her quince asked the team to volunteer at the border?
Maya Murillo
Yes.
Mitu
And at these refugee spaces. And so I was curious, how did that feel for all of you?
Maya Murillo
Yeah, well, I can start it off. I think at first we were a little bit, you know, down to do it for sure. But I think we didn't know what to expect. And we wanted to be very sensitive to these refugees while also helping them. So you know, we did get a little bit of training on beforehand on what to do and what not to do and kind of just to be aware of things. But for me, I got to practice my Spanish to these, these kids. They were from, you know, I think mostly from Central America. And so I got to practice my Spanish and I taught them some English that was really great for me.
Curly Velasquez
Yeah, it was super amazing. Like for me, like Maya mentioned, because they were predominantly families from Central America, it hit home because my family is Salvadorian. And they came over 100% undocumented during the Civil War in El Salvador and so it was kind of like these are not only my people because we're from the same country, but they're my people because they're going through the exact same thing that my family went through. And so it was personal. And it felt like these were my cousins, my tias, my tios, my kids. There was a baby like crawling on the floor - in the States, any baby that age, somebody would have picked the baby up right away, like, "Oh, no, no, no, don't don't crawl on the floor." but there, there was truly like a five-year-old or a six-year-old taking care of the baby. And so it made it really like real and it was a real experience. And what was really beautiful about being there was that we all have different strengths. Like I immediately hopped into like, "Okay, I know how to color where's the coloring book? Let's get the coloring books out. Let's do this." Claudia, one of our other teammates, like, became the tattoo artist and literally started drawing on the kids because we ran out of stickers and paper, and she was braiding with hair. And like Maya were you teaching people like like- you guys were like learning Spanish and English, right?
Maya Murillo
Yeah, me and Yvonne, who is another video producer, we were teaching these kids like essential questions, you know that they, they could learn in English since they're, you know, going to be here for a minute. And so we wrote down a bunch of different phrases for them to use, like survival phrases and everything. So- and I think- I also want to say about this experience was like, this is why we do what we do is because we are directly helping our community and showcasing in this episode, not only this wonderful young woman, but also like we're putting the work in and creating awareness for this issue that a lot of our community needs to be, you know, more active on.
Alexis Garcia
Yeah, I just want to add that we were really excited about the opportunity to- to work with Pita and her family and, and be a part of her Quinceañera journey because of this invitation of and like her volunteer work in her service. I think it was really important for us as the Pero Like team and important for us to showcase on our platform that your contribution of your time makes such a huge difference in the life of these migrants who have, you know, made the journey across Central America and Mexico through really treacherous territory, in search of a better life. And so, being able to film that video and show that we've done it, and how accessible it is for people. We ind of just wanted to erase some of the fear that people have around who these migrants are and how accessible it is to go and volunteer and make a difference like Pita and her family were doing. So yeah, it was such a- such a cool opportunity to be a part of that
BJ
And with these families with different stories and cultures and traditions that they incorporated, how did you pick out some of these different families? And did you intentionally look for some of these diverse backgrounds and stories to tell?
Alexis Garcia
Yeah, so we had some challenging criteria. We needed to find eight girls that were turning 15 between April and October, and that were all planning to have quinceañeras and were at different phases in the planning process. And so that- that was like one of the obstacles that our- the initial casting had to overcome. We have an amazing casting department at BuzzFeed. It's two people, their names are Oscar and Molly, and Oscar is Mexican-American himself. And so he was my right hand in finding these girls and bringing them to the show and the criteria was like, you have to be turning 15 you have to have a party that's already like at some point in the process, and you have to be willing to let us film your quinceañera. So we started from there and then from all of the submissions that we got, which we sourced through Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and then from there we started going through people's stories and Oscar would video call all these families, and I call him the Latino Oprah because he would interview these families and by the end of every interview, they're all in tears. And I'm like, "how did you do that?" So we got a lot of really like moving stories, a lot of interesting dynamics, like, we got Aleena's quinceañera, which was the mermaid fairytale where her brother Junior plans her quinceañera. Like, he's such a character. It's like we really can't-
Maya Murillo
That was insane-
Alexis Garcia
Like make this kind of stuff. And so it's kind of magical in that we were, we were finding really interesting stories and families. I think, also, the last quinceañera that we did was actually Sylvia, who is one of the part of the porter staff at BuzzFeed who helps to clean and maintain BuzzFeed. She's like one of our- the grandmother of BuzzFeed. We feel very close to her because she's Latina and the bilingual Spanish speaking team are all Latinos. She's always been like close to us for the past few years that we've been at the location of Buzzfeed that we work at. When she told us that her granddaughter's turning 15, like, you know, and I think she told us in April. We were like, "Oh my gosh, how can we make her part of the show?" because her family was, you know, dealing with a lot of financial hardships. That's very common in our community for people to be dealing with this kind of financial hardships. And with the show, we had the opportunity to take some of the relief, some of that burden just so that these girls could focus on being you know, the princess for the day or having that- that like one day where there is no problems there's no trouble. Everyone's just happy and celebrating and, and I think that was like one of the things that we were able to achieve for many of the families, but that was a really long answer for how we cast it.
BJ
No, that was good. Yeah, it's cool to see the kind of behind the scenes sight. And it was definitely fun seeing you guys with all of these families. And it really looks like you did get to build relationships and bond with each of them. I'm just curious how much time were you able to spend with each girl for their big celebration?
Maya Murillo
Yeah, some of us were there when they were picking up the dresses so we help them try on all the dresses. As you see in like episode one Curly like puts on that dress and you know, does that stuff and then for me, I was there for the dress shopping part. And then we went to the decorating part for Aleena's quinceañera with the whole like that- oh my god- that episode was insane because it felt like I was on an epi- on an episode of like Sweet 16 or something. Because you know, Junior He's an amazing event planner. And he's the big brother of the quinceañera. And so, I mean, we were there pretty much almost all night helping them just watching them put stuff together and we're like, "what do you need like, do you need to set up like the chocolate fountain?" I think like- Alexis, did you like help them set up the chocolate fountain or something?
Alexis Garcia
Oh, yeah, we helped- Oh, it's funny because when we- when I thought of the show, I was like, "oh, it'd be so fun. We just go film some parties. We get to help them get to you know, get- give them some money and make it a little bit more baller" But like so much of the show became like being party planners and actually like doing the physical labor of like making flower arrangements and-
Maya Murillo
Yes
Alexis Garcia
And you know, putting chocolate fountains together.
Curly Velasquez
Yeah, we actually had to set up tables.
Maya Murillo
Yes. Those table- those centerpieces. We set up all the centerpieces.
Alexis Garcia
Yeah, yeah everything. So it's like we were both like party planners and staff and then also trying to film the show.
Curly Velasquez
Exactly.
Maya Murillo
Yeah. And then also producing it
Alexis Garcia
Yeah and also producing it. There's a lot of communication with the moms and for Junior's episode with Junior but we only actually filmed with them like two or three days per episode. We had a lot of hours of footage though from those those three days just to fit into a 15 minute episode.
BJ
Jam-packed couple days.
Alexis Garcia
Definitely.
Mitu
One episode that really moved me was the one featuring Marleen, who learned to dance or got dancing lessons from Gadiel, and it was so powerful and I had like a really healthy cry watching her get to have that father-daughter dance with her dad. So I was just wondering what it felt like in the room to get to witness that moment. And then also, if you have any updates on her father's health, or if he is still seeking, I believe it was a kidney?
Alexis Garcia
Yeah, I can start and then I'm gonna pass it off to Gadiel since he was the host of that episode. That episode was so like, emotional the whole time because the family had been dealing with this, you know, heaviness of the father being constantly sick. And so this moment when she finally dances with her dad, I think it was so breathtaking for everyone in the room that like you know, the focus was completely on them and everyone felt how special that moment was because you know, the future is so uncertain, especially when- when you're dealing with something like a failing kidney and needing a transplant. From the exposure that the family got in these episodes, they had 20 people reach out to them willing to, you know, go through the process and then of those 20 they whittled down to five and then there was one person who had like cleared the blood tests and everything I haven't actually been communication with, with Martha, Marleen's mom, in recent months, but I do need to follow up and find out whatever happened with that, that other donor that they had, and then I know there was renewed interest when that episode went up on YouTube a couple weeks ago. So there's there's definitely been some movement and Martha was sharing with me that she didn't want to tell her husband that you know, they've been getting some people replying because she didn't want him to get his hopes up. And that kind of made me sad because it is definitely a really challenging situation to be in. But you know, at least the family was getting hope from- from having the opportunity to be exposed to so many viewers and the generosity of people willing to reach out to a total stranger and say, "Hey, I, I have a kidney for you." That's no small ask and no small feat.
Gadiel Del Orbe
But you know, I'm glad that we were able to do this and showcase and help a Latino family. Matter of fact, what we should do is we should do an update what happened with that, you know, I'm pretty sure it was like a bittersweet for the dad, just sitting down in that table. You could feel his energy. He was happy for his daughter but he's also concerned about his health conditions and he was really in his head a lot. We want to find out how is she feeling? You know, when we see a situation like that it does have you believe in human beings like you believe like in humanity after that, so maybe it's something- a positive message that we could relate to our viewers.
Alexis Garcia
Yeah, definitely.
Mitu
And I think you did convey some really helpful information within the episode about maintaining and being healthy. And also, I thought it was really powerful in the episode where they talked about how when a family member had passed, they buried them without donating their organs because that's tradition and- and it's that in my culture as well, but there was that incredible moment where it's like until it happens to you now we know the importance of- of being an organ donor and you don't have to be fully there corporeally, you can still have your spirit there and then be incredibly helpful to people who are still walking and on this planet. So that was- that was a powerful message that you're able to convey.
Gadiel Del Orbe
Also for people of color it's something scary because we have a long history. And me being a Black Latino, and knowing the history of the United States of America has with African Americans and injecting the things that they've done to Puerto Ricans. It is hard to trust and say, "You know what? After I die, I'm gonna donate my organs," you know? Yeah maybe if we could put out there that it will help somebody else but also that medicine and, and the medical facilities are going to do their best to take care of us so that we can become organ donors, but it's just like, also within our community and even for myself, it is hard to trust the hospitals and doctors and stuff like that nowadays, especially knowing the history of what was done to people that look like me.
Mitu
Yeah, that's completely an important point. And there's no natural segue, but to take things to a lighter side. Maya, what was it like to witness that dress that Junior handmade in person? I was in awe of the seashells and all of those different elements. I was. Yeah. And I'm sure it was even more amazing in person.
Maya Murillo
It was so amazing to see in person. It was just like a Disney movie coming to life. And I love Disney and I'm like, "Oh my god, this is a princess" And like, "No, it's not. You're, you know, an adult like calm down." Yeah, it was crazy because he had put every little detail on there like there were actual real shells and the heaviness of that dress was just like, it was insane and you know, she had a different dress too that was extravagant too. She had like two dresses that were huge, but that one was just so beautiful. And I think in the episode you see like I'm talking to him he gets really emotional because he's really tired like he had been planning everything. And on top of that, making this dress and you know, they had wanted their grandfather to be there but he had passed away and so that moment when they first tried on the dress, you know, I was like, "look at your work, this is your work" and he just was in tears and we were all in tears because you can really see his love in that dress. And like he did that for his sister and it just like manifested in such a beautiful So, you know, to see that dress IRL and her just like loving it and everyone happy was such a beautiful moment. And before all this- before the show, I have never had a quinceañera. I've never been to a quinceañera before. So I have been to like three or four or I don't remember how many I went to, so it was like such a beautiful experience.
BJ
Awesome. And Have any of you kept in touch with any of these young people that you've helped?
Curly Velasquez
I still talk to Xochitl's family. They- we try to keep in touch. They are- Some of my best friends are part of the same community that they are like my best friends are interpreters and so they know them as well. They also still invite me to a lot of like Native American indigenous ceremonies because they know that I'm trying to connect back to mine as being a Central American. I'm trying to understand where my own indigenous lineage lies, as it is for like a lot of Latinos in the community. And so they're really good. They're really welcoming and they're always like inviting me to different events. And then of course, like talking to Sylvia, we still work with Sylvia. I actually text her daughter all the time because Maida is a single mother and she takes care of three girls. And so I'm- I'm constantly like asking them how they're doing, and just making sure that everybody is still good. And then I actually started to talk to recently Pita's mom again, because Pita- Pita's mother is a nurse. And so she's in the front lines, she's still working in the field, essentially. So like, I just check on them. And I just, you know, we make plans to have a Filipino cook off when we're able to leave the house again. So yeah, I still keep in contact. And I think some of us do as well.
Maya Murillo
Yeah, I still talk to Pita and her mom, and of course, Junior and his sister. We follow each other on Instagram. We're always like messaging back and forth. And it's really cool that this entire series has created friendships that you know, I'm excited to see these- these women grow up. And the families just experiencing their quinceañera. And- and just that beautiful moment that they had. And I'm just excited to see what they will do like at my age, you know, I mean, Pita is probably going to be president, honestly. So-
Mitu
For sure.
Maya Murillo
Got to be friends with her still.
Alexis Garcia
I'm actually friends with all the moms, of course. The girls and I all follow each other on Instagram so it's really fun to see like, what they're posting because they're in high school. And it's so cool to be connected to that generation because I'm like, 20 years out of high school, something like that. I don't know, don't do the calculations. But I do feel like it's been a while since I've been in high school so it's really cool to connect with this next generation and be inspired by them. And also, it's fun to be in touch with their moms too. Pita's mom just started a recipe exchange during this quarantine and so I got a couple emails of that. Fun stuff. And all of these girls had such generous hearts. Like Yasmeen reached out to us after her quinceañera and said "Hey, you know if you guys need a Mariachi for any other quinceañeras, like my Mariachi group would be happy to play some songs and we just want to donate this because we know that a lot of other families wouldn't be able to afford this." And so, we ended up being able to invite Yasmeen to Melany's episode, which was our season finale, and she and her Mariachi group played a few songs and we invited Yasmeen's whole family and so they were all there dancing and it was really cool to be reunited on that last party.
Maya Murillo
Yeah, and I also want add, like every single quinceañera, every girl, none of them were divas, or like ungrateful or like acting spoiled, whatever. All of them, like Alexis said, had such kind hearts and I think that was one of the biggest takeaways that I got that I was like, "Oh man, these are strong, young, you know, Latina women of the future." So it was it was really cool to see. We were just so happy to, you know, promote them and showcase this moment in their lives. But that was a real thing for me that I was like, "Oh, this generation is doing good."
Mitu
And then I'd love for our listeners to get to know each of you individually. So we have some questions for each of you. Alexis, as the creator of this show, have you had young Latinx people reach out to you to say thank you, or even share messages about their own experiences? And if so, what has that felt like?
Alexis Garcia
No one's reached out to me directly, but I read all the comments on all of the episodes both on Facebook and YouTube and it's been really cool to see just how positive people are in the comments. We haven't had any negative comments except for a few that are like, "Oh my god that dress is- I would have never worn that dress," which is like, you know, the usual kind of thing but it's really beautiful to see people reflecting on their own quinceañeras or the regrets that maybe had about not having quinceañera and being able to vicariously experience them through the show. And then also, I think it is refreshing and that there are other quinceañera shows on the internet. And there, of course, was that mega show on MTV called My Super Sweet 16 which showcased teenagers of privilege and, you know, their experience party planning and the focus is usually on the drama between the families and also on, like, the gaudiness of whatever the family can afford. And so the feedback that we've been getting in the comments is always like, "Wow, it's so cool for the focus to not be on the drama between the family but more on like the love between the family." And so I feel really proud of the fact that we were able to, first of all, cast such amazing families who were, you know, opened their hearts and their lives so that we could come in and film and participate in the quinceañeras that we did but also be able to showcase another aspect of youth and why this ceremony is special and important and why quinceañeras are special and important traditions that should be preserved in our culture. Curly always says this and I was hoping he would have brought it up right in the beginning but quinceañeras are like the Met Gala of Latino culture. And so it was cool to be able to, you know, highlight this very epic moment that happens regularly. Unfortunately, it can't happen in the current environment, but then inspire hopefully future generations to want to preserve this tradition because it is a lot of fun. It's more than just one day, one girl, and one party. It's about a family coming together to be able to celebrate together because you never know in 15 years how many of those family members will or will not be there. And so it's really important to create those memories when you're younger and to have them as like one day that is a shining moment in your memory.
Mitu
That's amazing. Yeah, I think, I don't want to speak for all black and brown people but I can speak for the young black me. It is so powerful whenever you get to see your family represented in some way in media. And so I'm sure this is like, so powerful for people to see that love between families and get to see that love represented.
Alexis Garcia
Yes, definitely.
Mitu
And Gadiel, you are such a talented comedian. How do you bring those skills as a comic, if you do, to your projects?
Gadiel Del Orbe
I try to bring it as much as possible and but it's just like even though I'm a comic, it's mostly just me being me, you know. I'm just me all the time. You know, I'm having fun. I think comedy is all about showing people a good time and having a good time yourself. So a lot of the laughter just comes out naturally.
Mitu
Do you find that being a comic gives you a sense of empathy or sympathy with the group that you're trying to appeal to?
Gadiel Del Orbe
I don't think that it's much sympathy because as a comic we go through so many dark things. We see life completely different. We view dark times completely different from anybody else. But, you know, a comic loves dark comedy, because we find relief and comedy in anything. Even at funerals, even the darkest days in human life, we could find the comedy in that. And the truth is because we all suffer, we all go through things, and laughter is one of the best reliefs. And have you ever noticed, you have the biggest laughter when you're going through one of your darkest times.
Mitu
That's very true. And Maya as someone who produces quite often, when you're in front of the camera, do you keep your producer hat on or do you separate those roles of producer and performer?
Maya Murillo
It's funny because whoever is on set with me, I think they can see my producer face and my like, on camera face, because it switches very, very quick. I'm like, "Hi, I'm here and today we're doing..." and then I'm like "That cameras off!" Like my tone just drops and it's very different. It's definitely I think a skill that we all have learned working at BuzzFeed is to just have a lot of skills and to be able to switch back and forth between, "Okay, I'm a producer, this is what I want," but also I'm, you know, hosting the show or acting, performing and I also want to do that as well. And that can be kind of tricky because you can't see yourself on camera, like when you're producing and when you're posting at the same time. For me, it's always good to have someone like Curly or AG or Gadiel or somebody who knows the tone that I'm going for, they can kind of like call things out of like, "Oh, change this or change that." But yeah, I switch all the time between that and it's like they're two different people now. I'm just a fusion of that. I've been watching a bunch of Steven Universe so now I'm using like words like fusion.
Mitu
We're Steven Universe hive over here, so don't worry. Very big fans.
Maya Murillo
Yay!
Curly Velasquez
She's new. She's new to the Steven Universe hive.
Maya Murillo
I am.
BJ
Never too late to join.
Curly Velasquez
I have been telling Maya for forever. I'm like, Maya, you're Steven Universe. Like pink diamond and his dad are like your parents. It's crazy. You have to watch it and she's like, "Okay, whatever. I don't care." And then now in this pandemic, she's like, "Oh my god, I'm Steven Universe."
Maya Murillo
It's crazy, because I am.
Mitu
Actually Curly, I really been enjoying watching you in What the Fashion.
Curly Velasquez
Aw, thank you so much.
Mitu
It's so fun and I've learned a lot of tips that I can apply, you know, once I can potentially leave my home.
Curly Velasquez
Yeah, do it in your living room.
Mitu
That's true. And I'm curious if you bring your passion for fashion into your projects and how you do that, if you do?
Curly Velasquez
For me, like fashion is like super important. I keep telling people that to me, it represents less of what you're putting on and more of like a lifestyle and who you want to be out in the world, who you want people to take you in as. And so in saying that, like fashion for me becomes rather poetic in the way that I take it all in. So like when I get to create videos at Pero Like about the way that my sister and my tias used to dress in the 90s. It allows me to create, like nostalgic content that a lot of people can kind of relate to, and see and take with them as a symbol of seeing themselves and seeing their family. And you know, and I do it with like the pachucas who were kind of like the Cholas, if you will, of the 40s and the 50s in predominantly the Mexican-American community, but it's important to me because I want to get the looks just right so that people can be like, "Wow, the visuals are really beautiful. What am I going to learn about?" And it's kind of like my way to teach people about the culture and the way that we dress. And I try to do that too. Like if I'm wearing like, a traditional Guatemalan jacket on E! like that is a big deal to me because I know that no one is doing that, like no one is gonna wear a Central American jacket. They probably have a stylist who's going to tell him this is cool versus I'm gonna be like, "This is my neighbor, like Guatemala is our neighbor." You know. I wear like, Equihua, who is a Latina designer. A small fashion house and I wear her on the show. So for me, it kind of translates into how do I continue to rep the culture? Like how do I do it in the work that I create? And how do I do it as like a banner that I wear throughout the day? Down to like, my escapularios that I never take off, like, people are like, "Oh, can we mic you? Can we like- you know, it's banging on the mic." And I'm like, I don't take it off. Like it's part of my culture. And it's part of the tradition. Like once my grandma and my tias put it around my neck, I like don't take it off.
Alexis Garcia
I just want to comment that Curly dresses up every day regardless of quarantine. He-
Maya Murillo
Yes, every day.
Alexis Garcia
Comes with the hats and outfits. You can call him anytime and he is dressed to impress.
Curly Velasquez
It might not look like it right now, but I'm super into like old black shirts with like holes in it. So I'm like, "Oh, they're just so like, I just can't help myself." Like, that's the vibe, you know?
Maya Murillo
Well, and I will say to like, being friends with Curly, like, you just have no choice but to step up your game, your fashion game.
Curly Velasquez
You guys have all like stepped it up, like AG.
Maya Murillo
He's such an influence. Like, he's an- like, I know, we all have our little things, but he's been very influential on our aesthetics and, you know, I mean, you see me when I first started Pero Like. Mm-mm, it was not- You don't have laugh that hard, Curly.
Curly Velasquez
No but I think we all inspire each other, which is really nice. And I think that's really the beauty and dynamic of like our team as a whole. Like one of the things that was super important to us in the beginning is that we were all sitting together. We were all working next to one another, creating, bouncing ideas with one another. So creatively we inspire each other with jokes, humor. You know Maya will forever be like, "Get on TikTok. Learn the new trends," you know like Gadiel and AG and even Julissa, you know, they were pushing like, what it meant to be Afro-Latinos. And what that narrative was like and what it feels like to kind of like live in this white landscape of Latinidad. You know, so we inspire each other to get to keep growing and keep learning from one another. So if, you know, we can keep growing, that's kind of the beauty of the dynamic of our team and the content that we make.
BJ
So speaking of content, now that Mi Quinceañera Come True has debuted on YouTube, can we expect you guys to come back for another season?
Alexis Garcia
We're hoping to create additional episodes. We're definitely riding the wave of the current state of the world and seeing how everything plays out. It's kind of fortuitous that the show had its first season last year and none of this was going on, because it would have been so devastating to all of the families involved, which- I can't even imagine if you had been planning a quinceañera this year, and not being able to celebrate it right now would truly be devastating. But also, I'm just glad that we were able to shoot the first season by October. That was really cool. And we'll see. We'll see what happens and how this all plays out. But we are definitely keeping your eyes open for casting. I especially like to look at the comments and see people saying, "Oh, I have a quinceañera that I'm planning for my daughter in January. Like it'd be great if you guys could help me." So we've been making notes, but we'll see.
BJ
Ok, we'll keep our fingers crossed. We'll see what you guys can do next year.
Alexis Garcia
Yeah, exactly.
BJ
And we'd also like for our listeners to keep up with you guys on any other upcoming projects. So if you guys want to tell us about anything you're doing individually or that Pero Like has coming up soon.
Maya Murillo
Yeah. So we are producing a bunch of content at home. So a lot of the kind of like bigger things I think I wanted to do I kind of have to like shift gears but I think just watch for everything that we're posting right now like on TikTok. We have a presence now on TikTok, Pero Like. I'm super super excited. Today's Selena's birthday, April 16th. Selena Quintanilla, who's like icon, my home girl, my best friend. So I made like- I made a video where I tried to dress up like Selena using, like things that I had in my house.
Mitu
Oh, wow.
Maya Murillo
Yeah, and then I recently had a song that I made for Pero Like about being a Pocha Concha, which is basically like, you know, you get judged for not speaking Spanish and everything like that. So please go check those out. You can also follow me @mayainthemoment and @PeroLike also.
BJ
Alexis, do you want to go next?
Alexis Garcia
Sure. So we are really excited to be pivoting in this new time that we're living in 2020. We have some fun content initiatives going on at Pero Like and it's really cool to see how all of these amazing creatives behind Pero Like have been able to pivot their content ideas. And we just got out of a really great brainstorm two hours ago thinking about what we're going to be doing in May and June, but we're also trying to make Hispanic Heritage Month like a really big thing this year. And Curly came up with a really amazing theme for the content. It's going to be "Back to Our Roots" or "Back to Our Raíces," and so we're trying to get brands and even our audience more interested in Hispanic Heritage Month and seeing that as a tentpole for the community, instead of like Cinco de Mayo, which is what you know, a lot of non-Latinos think is a big Latino holiday. And it's really not. So you can follow me on social, I'm @lexroc on all platforms. And yeah, we're just sticking with it and riding this 2020 wave.
BJ
And Gadiel, is there anything you're looking forward to? And where can our listeners find you?
Gadiel Del Orbe
Okay, so, you know, I have plans to stand up, but it looks like that's not gonna happen so-. My sister and I has been getting more active on social. We want to ramp up my YouTube channel again, and we want to do some fun skits with us being at home. And we've been seeing a whole lot of engagement. But you're going to see a lot of fun things that we're going to produce not only for Pero Like, but for our own as well. And Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, everything, gonna do the whole nine. And as you can see, we had a Latin mom that has been doing so well on the Pero Like page and also on my page as well. So I think that we got no other choice but do some social media work so that's what we're going to do. And you can find me @gadieldelorbe in all the platform.
BJ
Awesome. And last but not least, curly?
Curly Velasquez
Awesome. We're working on a lot. I think that as Pero Like, we are still creating content that is here to uplift and highlight all that is Latinidad. Like AG had mentioned, Alexis had mentioned, we're going to be focusing on Hispanic Heritage Month as a time for us to be able to focus on where we come from, focus on a lot of our indigenous roots, focus on a lot of our African roots, or down to the language, down to tortillas and the way that we make them, or traditional things that make us who we are. So we're going to continue to do that. I'm trying to do a focus on my own social platforms and how to uplift small businesses here in LA. I'm actually born and raised in Hollywood. So for me, watching my city kind of grow and go through it right now. It's kind of- it's, again, it's personal. And I want to see a lot of these small businesses continue to thrive. So I'm sharing them across my platforms. I'm actually trying to think and design content that I can make that is quick and digestible, so that I can continue to uplift these people who are also POCs that have small businesses, and that's really important to me to do. And so if you're in the LA area and you want to check out delicious restaurants that are predominantly, if not all, POC-owned or small businesses that you'd like to support that again, are POC-owned, feel free to check out my Instagram or any of my socials. It's @thecurlyvshow, and yeah, that's predominantly where you can find what I'm doing. And you can also of course, check me out criticizing and hating on celebrity fashion on E! What the Fashion.
Maya Murillo
What the Fashion!
Mitu
And I had one last question that I feel so compelled to ask. Maya, what makes a centerpiece worth stealing?
Maya Murillo
Oh, man, listen, it's got to have beautiful flowers, blooming flowers.
Curly Velasquez
Yeah, flowers, mmhmm.
Maya Murillo
It's got to have lights because you have to think like, "I want to steal this centerpiece. What am I going to do with all these items? Oh, I can put those lights like in my house. I can put those flowers on my table," like you have to like, think about those things.
Mitu
You can keep the goldfish as a pet.
Maya Murillo
Exactly! Oh my gosh, the goldfish. It just has to like make you say wow. You know, like, "Wow, I want to steal that," you know. If it doesn't, it's not worth it.
Curly Velasquez
My best friend's wedding centerpieces had like crystals so like purple quartz and all these other crystals. And I was like, yep! And she told us not to steal them. She's like, "I need to return them" and I'm like, "Nope!"
Maya Murillo
Snatched!
Mitu
Well, thank you all so much for joining us today. We love Pero Like and everything that you all are up to. It's so important to not only have your talent and your humor and the awareness you bring to your platforms and the platforms you have together but also this much needed representation that we had an opportunity to talk about. And so we're so excited to see what's next for each of you. Thank you for joining us!
Alexis Garcia
Thank you both. Thank you for having us.
BJ
Thank you.
Maya Murillo
Thank you.
Curly Velasquez
Thank you guys so much. Thank you. Cuidense! Take care of yourselves, ok?
Mitu
Thank you, you too!