Valeria De Miguel Melo
Staff Writer
Someone’s ethnicity is so much more that a set of traits a certain group of people share. It is a collective history that unifies individuals but also makes their uniqueness run even deeper. It is a sense of identity and experiences that may very well help determine the focus of someone’s life. Learning about your own culture and other people’s culture can give you a profound insight into who they are and the way they think, which is what made Professor Eileen Santiago and her daughter Jailyn Santiago want to highlight the Hispanic beauty by sharing food, love, and a fabulous time in an interview with social media manager and music marketing strategist Becky García, also known as Becky Boricua.
Becky is of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent, and she loves being part of both worlds; being able to take part in more than one culture and one community means everything to her. She is not only a manager for influencers, and music marketing strategist but also a bilingual content creator, influencer in the Latino music industry, publicist, and personal assistant for artists. As a content creator she has worked with brands like Mazda, KIA, Chevy, Clinique, and Dove to help them target the Latino market; moreover, she has had social media campaigns for Hispanicize, Latino Public Broadcasting, and Latin Artists Wisin and Yandel. Her website has covered prestigious events like Latin GRAMMYs, Premio Lo Nuestro, Premios Billboard a la Musica Latina, and the Latin American Music Awards. She also goes above and beyond for the artists she works for, which is why she has struck deals with companies like Netflix, NFL, Denny’s, Fenty Beauty, Spotify, Amazon Prime, Pepsi, Neutrogena, Discover Puerto, McDonald’s, among others. Currently she resides in Miami and works as a personal assistant to Marc Anthony, a Multi-Grammy Award Winning artist.
During the interview, Becky revealed the secret to her success: she is simply very passionate about her job. She has always connected with Latinos really easily, and she loved to volunteer to help Mexican families with her dad when she was little. Her love for her culture led her to quit her corporate job of ten years to become a driving force in the Latino Music Industry. “In order for you to be proud [about your culture], you have to celebrate where you come from,” she said. Even though she grew up surrounded mostly by Mexican culture because she resided in Los Angeles, Becky’s house was full of Puerto Rican culture, and the way she speaks in Spanish reflects both cultures: for instance, she uses the Puerto Rican word for fridge (nevera), but the Mexican word for cake (pastel). Her descent became her work and her passion, which has allowed for her to live a life she loves and thoroughly enjoys. After being asked about her work life balance she stated, “I don’t have balance, I just do it all.” Her whole career works because she loves her work so much it doesn’t really feel like work. She shared how the tours can be exhausting, and she might have meetings on weekends, but she doesn’t really mind because she gets to do what she adores every day.
A huge aspect that Becky said gets you far in the professional world is being responsible not only for your accomplishments, but also for your mistakes. “If you do something wrong, take responsibility,” she shared. Becky also advised to set priorities to slowly start climbing towards your goals, step by step, task by task, breath by breath. Her marketing company, in fact, started as a fan club for Yandel, and later she got to work alongside him. Play into your passions, discover what you love, and grow from there, because if you’re determined enough, nothing limits you and your growth. You could be the president of a fan club one day, and the liaison between fans and your favorite artist the next. It’s up to each person to learn about their culture to help form their identity and their point of view; furthermore, it not only helps them know and understand themselves better, but it also helps to connect with people easily.
Professor Santiago, the host for this event, shared that her favorite parts of conducting events like these is proving how beautiful Hispanic culture is and showing how capable Latinos are of accomplishing anything they desire. The Key Club from Franklin Academy was also present at the event. Their aim is to help and bring sources to their community, and by helping to share Hispanic culture they hope to deepen society’s understanding of Latino culture. Every person involved in the event is determined to bring support and love to Hispanic students in Broward College and let them know that the opportunities for them are endless.
Your culture and background don’t have to determine who you are or what you become, but they are a part of you and of your younger self who grew up surrounded by a specific community and certain traditions. It doesn’t limit where you go, but it’s the story of where you come from. The only way to understand and wear your culture like skin is to be open to it, learn about it, let it wash over you and look for the beauty in it. Because in the end, to determine where you want to go, you must know where you come from.
demiv2@mail.broward.edu
caption: Key club and Becky García (Tatiana Smith, Sofia Vilchez, Becky García, Genesis Remedios, Sara Leal)
Photo by Valeria De Miguel Melo/The Observer