00:02
When I begin designing any card, I always wanna make sure there's
00:06
something associated to my culture or traditions when someone
00:11
sees my cards for the first time and they get that reaction
00:13
It's almost like an inside joke.
00:14
That's what I like to see.
00:32
My name is Jesus and I was born in Salinas, California and I
00:37
was raised actually in Castroville, California.
00:40
My mom is from Mexico and my dad is from Sonora.
00:45
Both my parents, they had some education but not professional
00:49
My dad was a farm worker and my mom worked in the packing companies
00:54
I was the first in my family to go to college and to get a degree
00:59
They don't really understand what I do, but they saw me graduate
01:03
and to them that, that's like the milestone for them, you know
01:06
to see me, you know, graduate a few years ago.
01:14
I was at a fair, it was for Frida Carlos birthday.
01:17
And one of the vendors there was selling, you know, like prints
01:20
of different sayings, you know, like, and I remember uh looking
01:26
over to my fiance and telling her like, oh, you know, those
01:29
would, those would make like cute greeting cards, you know
01:31
like that would be a great get Well cards and we kind of joked
01:33
about it a couple months later.
01:35
After that, I had to shop for a card for my mom.
01:39
I was a little frustrated because I was looking at the Spanish
01:42
But, you know, they were very long and kind of sappy and sad
01:47
that memory of going to the fair reminded me, like, how come
01:50
there isn't greeting cards that are really tied into, you
01:53
know, like my culture maybe or what if I just produce like these
01:57
I have, you know, an artistic background.
02:00
I ended up producing 15 cards and then luck would have it.
02:04
That almost a year later from that first time I went to the craft
02:07
show, it was coming up again.
02:09
I took my cards and that was the first time I, I displayed my
02:13
cards to, to people paper tacos is a greeting card company
02:25
that creates greeting cards with Latino culture and tradition
02:29
rooted in each card.
02:32
I saw that, you know, this hunch that I had, that people would
02:35
This was confirmed by the amount of people that I was getting
02:38
you know, following me on social media and things like that
02:43
If you grew up with these type of traditions or culture, it
02:47
hits you right away and you get an immediate response when
02:51
someone sees my cards for the first time.
02:53
And they get that reaction.
02:54
That's, that's what I like to see the Latino community as far
02:58
as I see it and resiliency, it's really, really, really strong
03:01
you know, I live in Salinas, California, which is known as
03:05
the solid bowl of the, of America.
03:07
89% of the, all of the produce comes from this area in the United
03:12
And so if you go to the fields out there, they're still out there
03:16
working like my parents did packing, you know, lettuce broccoli
03:21
all the foods that we love that we eat on our kitchen table
03:25
That's something that just proves that they're so necessary
03:30
and how they're intertwined into the fabric of America.
03:35
My art, you know, it's simple illustrations, but they have
03:40
such an impact on people that I would have never known if I would
03:44
have never put it out there for everybody else out there.
03:47
If they could find, you know what their purpose is.
03:49
As long as they keep that in their focus every day, that's something
03:52
that they could use to keep moving.
03:56
Xfinity is celebrating the diverse voices of our Latino community
04:00
and all the ways we move the world, join us and share yours.
Series