Najera In America

Katie Barberi began her professional career at age ten. After having sustained a successful career as a teen aged actress in Hollywood, she then embarked on a second career: acting in Latin-American "telenovelas." It is a little known fact that Latin "soaps" are actually aired in over 40 countries as prime-time series. This afforded Katie the opportunity to become a very well known prime-time actress in the Latin market. She is 100% bilingual (English and Spanish) and is very grateful to have the benefits of being a part of two different cultures. Katie is now considered a Veteran of the Telenovela Genre, having completed nineteen of them for Televisa, Telemundo and Univision. Katie is also very proud to have this year completed over three hundred episodes and seven seasons of the Nickelodeon International mega-hit "Grachi" and its United States version for Nickelodeon, "Every Witch Way." In both English and Spanish, Katie played the funny, shoe obsessed mother of "Maddie/Matilda", "Ursula." Katie also completed a pilot this year for Red Dove Media called "The Blexicans", in which she plays proud Mexican matriarch Lydia Ortega alongside Rick Najera, Marla Gibbs, Richard Gant and Rolonda Watts, among others. Katie has been very excited to return to the stage, debuting in Chicago in October of 2018 in "Hundreds and Hundreds of Stars" (fka "Felons and Familias") at the Goodman Theatre, fulfilling a lifelong dream of stepping on the stage of the legendary theatre where so many of the artists Katie admires have performed before her. Katie will next star in the world premiere of "The Abuelas" at Victory Gardens for Teatro Vista, written by Stephanie Alison Walker. "The Abuelas"

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Jason Nieves A writer who has written scenes which were performed in seven network affiliated scene showcases. His material has been in the ABC Talent Showcase, the first NHMC Scene Showcase, and five NBC Universal Scene Showcases.

He is an alumnus of NBC's Writers On The Verge Program and was also chosen twice for the NHMC/ABC/NBC Television Writers Program. He is also a semifinalist in the Disney ABC Writing Program.

Was a winner in the Scriptapalooza TV Writing Competition.

Was a film festival programmer for 3 years.

Featured in Latino Leaders magazine as a Leader of the Future (2011).

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Oscar Quintero was born In Hacienda Heights, CA a suburb outside of Los Angeles, the youngest of six children. Oscar knew in order for him to be heard, he would have to speak up. And that he did! In the sixth grade he was cast as the lead in the Glenalder Elementary School Play, “Christmas Fever” where he caught the acting bug. From then on, he looked for ways to be in front of a crowd, like joining the drama club in high school and taking a few acting classes in College. It was in 1999 that Oscar got his break as he met his alter ego, Kay Sedia, when he auditioned for a drag pageant fundraiser called “Quest for the Crown”.

It was at that event that things really began to take shape. Being named the runner-up was the best outcome that could've happened for Oscar. As he became a crowd favorite, many club owners and promoters began to ask for Kay Sedia to make appearances at various local clubs and events. That is where Oscar met Mr. Dan, the owner of Dragstripp 66 and The Plush Life. They began to collaborate and perform together for the next seven years. It was performing in the Plush Life, a weekly drag improv soap opera that Oscar realized and developed his sense of comedic timing. It was thru this show that Oscar met Kurt Koehler and thus began another great collaborating relationship. While writing Superfag, a short film about a gay Superman, Kurt added a part for Kay Sedia as her alter ego, Taco Chick, and created side kick, Salsa Girl, as a spoof of the Sid & Marty Croft kids morning show, “Electra Woman and Dyna Girl”.

One year later, in the summer of 2003, the two began to collaborate on what was to become a big underground hit in Silverlake, CA ; “Chico’s Angels”, a Latin drag queen version of the popular 70’s T.V. show Charlie’s Angels. Over the next five years, four original stage shows, “Pretty Chicas All In A Row”, “Love Boat Chicas”, “Chicas In Chains” and “Chicas Are 4Ever”played to sold out audiences starring the three Angels; Kay Sedia, Chita Parole, and Frieda Laye. Seeing the popularity of Chico’s Angels, they decided to give “Taco Chick and Salsa Girl” their own short film. It has traveled festivals around the world and has won many awards. More recently, Kurt and Oscar helped create and produce, “Cooking With Kay”, a T.V. pilot presentation about a bitter cooking show diva who’s forced to work with a former Tijuana beauty queen, Kay Sedia. The show is currently being shopped around; a short trailer can be seen at

www.cookingwithkay.com

Oscar has also been in three feature films, ALIEN GAME, GETTING LUCKY and AU PAIR, KANSAS starring Traci Lords, as well as in the short films SPEAK ENGLISH AMIGOS, HEIRLOOM, and ALMOST MARRIED. He has studied with Jd Lewis of the Actors Lab.

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Mauricio García left his job at Motorola in 1999 after only 6 months with the desire to pursue a career in business. He just could not see himself living the life he wanted if he had to trade his time for a limited salary. Today, Mauricio owns several businesses ranging from financial services to marketing software. (Goldstone Wealth Management, Iridiumsoft, COOKIN Technologies and HGI México). Through his new blog, Mauricio will share the keys that helped him not look for a JOB for 22 years with enthusiastic entrepreneurs, investors and innovators, and that have helped him become financially independent since the age of 18. The most noble thing one can do is to lead people, your friends, your family, and share with all of them what helped you achieve your goals, as well as all the failures so they don’t make the same mistakes. 

At the age of 14, Mauricio left home to live in Mexico. There, he tried to find the answers that would help him solve his complicated life. He really wanted to be someone, he wanted to do something big, something meaningful, but he didn't know who to turn to for help and no one had told him how to find a mentor. After a short period of 6 months as an employee, he simply didn't see how he would achieve the life he wanted on minimum wage, so he decided to quit his job and go on a journey to achieve the dreams he had when he was 14 years old. After several years of effort, defeats, hundreds of failed experiments, and constantly battling his fears, he discovered that anything you can imagine can come true and that the fastest way to reach any goal is through mentoring, reading books, and taking massive and imperfect action. Mauricio became a Financial Professional specializing retirement planning before founding his own companies. While practicing finance, he learned the keys to bringing his services to thousands of people using the power of the media such as radio and TV. He learned to take advantage of time and began to do in one day what other advisers did in a month. He also served as a financial trainer and taught classes and courses at various universities. Now, you want to share everything you have learned in business and as a financial professional with all those who want to accelerate your path to success. To improve the lives of as many families as possible, Mauricio started a financial empowerment crusade in Mexico and the United States that will help 1 million families, increasing their income and improving their quality of life. Mauricio has created a course called The 8 Fundamental Principles of Retirement Planning which is a course that teaches the financial strategies that are not traditionally taught in schools. As he says, these are the things we wish we could have learned at school or at home.

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TJ has come out with his debut stand-up special titled, January 3rd, through a partnership with Comedy Dynamics, which is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The hour long set record in Brooklyn on January 3rd is a superb culmination of TJ's 8 years as a stand-up comedian in America. With his caustic wit, razor-sharp writing, and casual conversational delivery, TJ presents a keen outsider perspective to the public that only he can provide on the many topics at the forefront of American cultural and social life: immigration, race, Me Too Movement and Donald Trump. Born and raised in Haiti, TJ moved to the United States in 2008 at the age 19, learned English, and started pursuing stand-up comedy four years later. He went one to become one of the 8 finalists in the Boston Comedy Festival in 2016.He has been featured on FOX5, AXS TV, and he received major praise and notoriety for his heartfelt response in a brilliant New York Times Op-Ed after President Trump called his homeland a shithole.

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Stan Zimmerman is an American television producer, director and screenwriter. Zimmerman has written for many television series including The Golden Girls, Roseanne and Gilmore Girls and the 1996 feature film A Very Brady Sequel. Zimmerman is also the creator and executive producer of the sitcom Rita Rocks, starring Nicole Sullivan and Tisha Campbell-Martin which ran on Lifetime Television.

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Is a regular stand-up comic at The Laugh Factory, The Improv and The Comedy Store in Los Angeles.

Best known on MADtv for her dead-pan impressions of Drew Barrymore and Britney Spears.

Was part of the Latinos Locos stand-up tour along with Luke Torres and Carlos Oscar.

Was the first and only Latina Cast Member on MADtv.

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Multi-talented actor/producer, Jaime Aymerich joins host Rick Najera to share his journey in entertainment which includes stand-up, theater, telenovelas, and producing. The team from the film Estilo Americano; Director Miriam Kruishoop with stars Lidia Porto and Antonio Jaramillo discuss the importance of their film that tells the story of a Mexican-American family who is divided by their political views. Producer, German Michael Torres talks about his successful, well-rounded career.

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Legendary actor Luis Guzman discusses his career as a social worker, social activism, giving life to the written material, the effects of media on the public, and shares his opinion about humanity in general. The Godfather of Comedy, Rudy Moreno joins host Rick Najera to reminisce about the working man’s life, his late start as a professional comic, and influencing his peers and an audience. Creator and host of the Georgia Latino Film Festival, Jose Marquez chats about his inspiring work highlighting Latino talent.

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Comedian Paul Conyers talks with host Rick Najera about playing in different cities, sketch comedy, and personal goals. Multi-talented comedienne, Lory Tatoulian talks seriously about the Armenian experience. New York based comedian Rojo Perez discusses his personal life in Puerto Rico, touring, and adapting comedy in the time of COVID.

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