Sonia Manzano's Blog, page 2

Scholastic Announces Multi-Book Publishing Program with 15-Time Emmy Award Winner Sonia Manzano

“Thrilled to announce 15-time Emmy Award winner Sonia Manzano’s multi-book publishing with Scholastic! For all of you who loved Sonia’s Pura Belpré Honor book THE REVOLUTION OF EVELYN SERRANO and her acclaimed memoir BECOMING MARIA, this latest novel COMING UP CUBAN will open your heart. Her picture books bring joy!” – Andrea Davis Pinkney, VP and Executive Editor at Scholastic

Official Press Release: http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/press-release/scholastic-announces-multi-book-publishing-program-15-time-emmy-award-winner-sonia-man

Scholastic is thrilled to announce a new four-book deal with legendary entertainer and 15-time Emmy® Award winner Sonia Manzano. Best known for playing Maria on Sesame Street for 44 years from 1971 until 2015 (for which she received an Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016), Manzano is also the acclaimed children’s book author of Scholastic titles The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano, which won a Pura Belpré Honor Award, and the stunning young adult memoir Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx. In this partnership, Manzano and Scholastic will launch two new middle-grade novels and two new picture books.

“As an award-winning author, multiple Emmy Award winner, activist, and actress, Sonia Manzano has been an inspiration for both children and adults for decades. I am delighted that Scholastic will be teaming up with Sonia Manzano again for the publication of four new and powerful books that are sure to engage and inspire young readers for years to come,” noted Ellie Berger, President and EVP of Scholastic Trade Publishing.

Publishing in spring 2022, this first novel, Coming Up Cuban, is a remarkable story that’s set in 1959 in Cuba right as Fidel Castro came into power. This extraordinary novel follows four children – Ana, Miguel, Zulema and Juan – and each of their wholly unique journeys of struggle and triumph. In this story, two of the kids make it out of Cuba, one of them flown out as part of a program called Operation Peter Pan and brought to Miami. Over 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban minors were sent to the USA under this system by frightened parents who hoped to protect them from the real or rumored Castro policies. Two are left behind, where poverty and uncertainty lurk. Perfect for fans of Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan and Refugee by Alan Gratz, Coming Up Cuban imparts resonant and interwoven tales of children enduring trying moments in history, as they grow through these emotionally-charged experiences.

“Social upheavals affect everyone. I wanted to write a novel that examined the impact the 1959 Cuban Revolution had on four children. Through these four separate life stories, I hope our readers see how interconnected we all are, regardless of any tumultuous times we might be living in. Scholastic, with their everlasting focus on diverse books, are the perfect publishers,” said Manzano.

Manzano’s upcoming picture book Riding the Line With Mac and Millie is based on the author’s own childhood experience of learning to read while riding the subway each day with her older sister. As they traveled from their Bronx neighborhood to their school, they discovered the joy and power of reading by decoding the signs on the subways and billboards outside the windows of their rickety subway car.  Her second picture book, If Miller’s Book Could Talk, is a heartwarming story of a Puerto Rican father teaching his son to read by dramatizing the voices of the many characters that emerge from the books they enjoy together. Further details about Manzano’s second middle grade novel in this publishing program will be announced at a later date.

“We’re honored to be Sonia Manzano’s publishing home,” added Andrea Pinkney, VP and Executive Editor at Scholastic. “Sonia’s narratives present history and culture in stories that resonate with readers everywhere. Her upcoming books underscore our shared mission of presenting meaningful experiences to children and building a bookshelf of beloved titles that will stand the test of time.”

ABOUT SONIA MANZANO

Sonia Manzano is a groundbreaking Latina educator, executive television producer, and award-winning children’s book author. A first-generation mainland Puerto Rican, she has affected the lives of millions of parents and children since the early 1970s, when she was offered the opportunity to play “Maria” on Sesame Street. Manzano has received 15 Emmys for writing television scripts, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Award, the Hispanic Heritage Award for Education. Her critically acclaimed children’s books include A World Together, No Dogs Allowed!, A Box Full Of Kittens, Miracle on 133rd Street, The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano, and the memoir Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx. Manzano resides in New York City with her husband Richard Reagan, whom she married in 1986, and their daughter Gabriela.

ABOUT SCHOLASTIC

For 100 years, Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) has been encouraging the personal and intellectual growth of all children, beginning with literacy. Having earned a reputation as a trusted partner to educators and families, Scholastic is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books, a leading provider of literacy curriculum, professional services, and classroom magazines, and a producer of educational and entertaining children’s media. The Company creates and distributes bestselling books and e-books, print and technology-based learning programs for pre-K to grade 12, and other products and services that support children’s learning and literacy, both in school and at home. With 15 international operations and exports to 165 countries, Scholastic makes quality, affordable books available to all children around the world through school-based book clubs and book fairs, classroom libraries, school and public libraries, retail, and online. For more information, visit Scholastic’s Media Room at http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/.

Romper.com: A World Together’ By Sonia Manzano Explores The Beauty Of Diversity

By Ashley Jones

Original article: https://www.romper.com/p/a-world-together-by-sonia-manzano-explores-the-beauty-of-diversity-33978929

Just when the world could use it most, one Sesame Street actor has brought to life a critical message from the show about the beauty of diversity in an all new book for families, A World Together. Filled with vibrant images of children and families across the globe, the new book is a gorgeous collaboration from National Geographic and Sonia Manzano that not only celebrates diversity, but explores a bevy of human emotion through meaningful prose paired with stunning photographs.

Best known for her role as the beloved character Maria on Sesame Street, the actor and author tells Romper by phone that she had a “terrific time working with the good people of National Geographic,” and “jumped at the chance to write a book about diversity.”

“We’re living in such uncertain times now, and problems that I actually thought Sesame Street had solved in 1969 when we came out of the midst of the civil rights movement had already been solved or acknowledged this, but now we find ourselves sort of in the same terrible situation of intolerance,” Manzano explains.

To write A World Together, she drew inspiration from her childhood. She recalls looking at photographs of Puerto Rico and hearing her parents speak about being there, despite having not been there herself at that point in time. “When I found any pictures of Puerto Rico, I would pore over them,” she says. “We’ve all caressed photos like we’re going to feel something through them, so I kind of connected to that when I started the process.”

She also wanted to dedicate the book to the kids of Puerto Rico, she says. “So the last photo, [in which] they’re standing in a fountain in Puerto Rico, that was important to me.”

Including examples of city life was also important to Manzano, especially since she herself was raised in the Bronx in New York City. Included in the book is a photo of children joyfully playing in the spray from a fire hydrant — “certainly a city view,” she notes.

Manzano says several photos throughout the book stand out as ones that best exemplify the feeling of connection she hoped to evoke with this work. One photo in particular shows a young boy with his father wearing a military uniform, seemingly kissing him goodbye. The emotion in the photo is palpable.

“I hope that parents look at that photo and discuss it,” she says. “I want kids to know that we all feel the same things — hunger, pain, joy. Maybe about different things — I’ll be hungry for pizza, somebody else is hungry for caviar — but it’s still hunger. That’s a way of understanding that we’re all similar.”

Manzano hopes parents can use the book to spark larger conversations with their kids to talk about what they think is going on in the photo and develop empathy instead of dismissing the emotion. She says she remembers feeling “very empowered” as a child when she would feel emotions such as sadness in books — “like I had joined a bigger human experience of adults,” she explains.

As Maria on Sesame Street, Manzano says that she was inspired by the way that the show was always “truthful and sincere” when talking to children, a point she hopes comes across in A World Together.

“I was raised in a household ruled by domestic violence, and I found comfort watching Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver, those shows of the ’50s,” she says. “So when I got on Sesame Street, I always thought there was some kid out there that might be in a terrible situation or scary situation, looking for comfort in me the way I did. So, I always thought the best thing to do for these kids is to be as honest as possible and not sugarcoat.”

One of the tenets of Sesame Street that the book also highlights is that sometimes there is more than one answer to a problem or question, and more than one way to do something.

“I loved that Sesame Street wanted to face things head on, and that’s why I wanted to put in this book that sometimes when people are scared, we forget that we’re the same,” she explains. “That’s kind of a way of alluding to the fact that I’m so stunned that there’s still so much rage out in society now, so much anger. I think that it’s because people are scared and we forget that we’re still the same.”

Manzano hopes that parents will use the photographs to talk about what children see depicted and open broader discussions. “Photos give much more of that opportunity to talk about clothes, emotions, the way people are moving, the way it looks like they’re living. It’s very rich, they’ll see these things,” she explains. “We’re all the same in the human experience, but we’re different culturally, so isn’t that great?”

In addition to this new photo-forward book, Manzano says she is starting work on a new endeavor in partnership with Fred Rogers Productions. While she can’t share many details just yet, it is a “very personal animated series about a little girl.” I’m “very excited about it,” she says.

It will be exciting to see how Manzano engages with kids in this new way. For now, just reading A World Together over and over again will have to do.

 

SheKnows Interview – Long After ‘Sesame Street,’ Sonia Manzano Is Still Teaching Children About Racial Equity

By: Sabrina Rojas Weiss

Original article: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/long-sesame-street-sonia-manzano-210051799.html

When I was a little girl growing up in Boulder, Colorado, these were the Latinas I knew: my mother, my grandmother, my aunts, and Maria from Sesame Street. I’m certainly not alone in that, which was kind of the point of Sesame Street, after all. Though writer and actor Sonia Manzano retired from the series in 2015, after playing Maria since 1971, she hasn’t stopped teaching children about the many kinds of people there are around the world and what they all share. Her latest children’s book, A World Together, does just that with the help of National Geographic Kids and some gorgeous photographs showing children all over the world.

We’ve long loved Manzano’s many kids books, and upon hearing about this latest one, 4-year-old me was jumping up and down like Elmo at the chance to talk to “Maria.” Fully grown-up me was also pretty hyped, because she has excellent timing, releasing this book just as so many parents have questions about how to teach our children about racial equity, cultural diversity, and cultivating empathy for others. Manzano is such a pro, she was able to speak to both my inner child and my mom self without even indicating that I was gushing just a little too much like a Sesame Street fangirl.

SheKnows: Hi Sonia! I’m ridiculously excited about speaking to you today. There are not many celebrities I’ve interviewed that have been with me since basically before I had memories.

Sonia Manzano: Sesame Street is part of so many people’s lives. I realized how long the show was on when we met Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. Usually when we met presidents, they were adults when Sesame Street happened. But Barack Obama and Michelle were kids.

SK: Did you think when you first started that all these years later, people would still be calling you Maria?

SM: No, I think that that is just wonderful. I have a connection with television. I was raised in a household ruled by domestic violence, and I found comfort watching television. It was the days of Father Knows Best and Leave It to Beaver, all those kind of orderly shows and movies, and I was fascinated by television and fascinated by my mother’s reaction to comedy shows. … While I was on Sesame Street, I always remembered that there might be a kid just like me trying to find comfort on television. I always felt you have to be sincere because they’ll be able to tell if you’re not and that I was talking to them. And I’ve gotten letters. Somebody tweeted the other day, “Oh, my God, I was raised in a miserable childhood, and I was so happy to see you on television.”

SK: How did you wind up writing A World Together?

SM: I jumped at the chance when National Geographic asked me to write a book on diversity. They had written some books on diversity with Sesame Street characters, and they wanted another point of view. This was at the height of all the immigrant bashing that was going on in the media, so I wondered how I could impact that.

I was always charmed by the notion, as a kid, that we all looked at the same sun and there was only one moon, and no matter where in the world we looked, that’s one thing that we had in common. What draws the book together for me is trying to illustrate to children that we have the same feelings, and that is what draws us together.

SK: What was it like to work on this as a book of real photography, rather than illustrations?

SM: I would send in a draft, and then the photo editor would look at photos [to use]. It was a real collaborative effort. I thought to myself, what do photos mean to me? Then I remembered how [as a girl] I was struck by these photos of my mother and sister in Puerto Rico, because I had never been there. I would look at them and caress them and try to understand this place that they had come from. They would say how horrible and how poverty-stricken it was, and they had to escape. But then they would sing songs about it like it was a beautiful place.

Photographs have another life somehow. We’ve all looked at photos of our ancestors and fantasized about them. So, I’m hoping that kids have a lot to look at. Maybe they can latch onto that a little bit more.

SK: Did you have a favorite photo?

SM: There’s picture of all those kids in school [in India], sitting in straight lines in the sand, and some are looking at the camera and some are not. Some of the kids say, “I’m going to look right at you.”

SK: And that one girl is giving such a side-eye!

SM: Also the sad photo of the boy — it looks like his father is going off to be deployed or something.

SK: That one has my favorite quote, too: “When people feel scared, they sometimes forget that deep down we’re all the same.” It’s so relevant right now.

SM: Yes. It’s hard to introduce these notions to kids without scaring them. What stuns me about what’s going on today is the anger that is out there, this rage that people are feeling about [things like] wearing a mask. That’s about people being scared. It’s a tough thing to have to have to explain to children.

SK: These are all concepts that I remember Sesame Street teaching me as a kid, though. How would you say the approach to teaching about racism has evolved over time?

SM: When I was growing up, you never saw people of color on television. You certainly didn’t see Latinos. … In the beginning, what we did [on Sesame Street] was sort of stunning and groundbreaking. … We never spoke of skin colors or the fact that we were diverse. That didn’t happen. We were just going to present it. Then years later, we got more overt and started saying, “My skin is dark and I love my skin.” We just pointed those differences out, and we didn’t really try to explain them.

Nowadays, I think people are trying to explain them and in ways of that create empathy. … We try to hit it right on the nose, and we’re not subtle about it like we were in the old days. That’s both good and bad, because if a kid starts to feel like it’s a boring lesson about empathy, how we all have to like each other, they get turned off to it.

Certainly a way to handle that is to not shy away from sad stories. I used to love The Little Match Girl because it was so sad. She went to heaven and met her grandmother! And I used to love Cinderella because I used feel so bad for her. I used to think, “Oh, if I find those ugly sisters, I’m going to punch them right in the nose!” It made me feel empathy through the story.

If they feel powerful or if they feel sad about a fairy tale, let’s say, they feel like a part of a bigger tribe. I think that’s a way of nurturing feelings of empathy and seeing how we’re all in this human condition.

SK: Do you feel like we’re sheltering our kids a little too much from sad and scary stories?

SM: Yeah. I’ve known people who don’t want to read Beatrix Potter to their kids because it’s scary, or Charlotte’s Web because Charlotte dies. I think those are missed opportunities to sit with their kids and say, “What about Mr. McGregor’s pie? I hope Peter Rabbit gets out!” You start rooting for him. We take away things that give them grit, and then want to teach it to them. It’s kind of like when we take vitamins out of food and then repackage them.

SK: Some of the experts I’ve talked to have said that to teach kids about racism, we need to talk about differences as well as the things we have in common. It’s interesting that the text of this book is about the feelings that we share in common, while the photos show such different worlds. How did you come to the conclusion to do both?

SM: We did that at Sesame Street: Everybody’s the same, but we’re all different, too. You have to present both. You want to say everybody’s the same, but Latinos like to do the mambo and they speak Spanish, which is different from non-Latinos, obviously. When we cry and when we feel good about something, and when we’re hungry, we’re the same in the human condition. … But the culture changes, much to our enlightenment and joy.

SK: I’ve talked here about the problems and opportunities with “Hispanic Heritage Month,” which is going on right now. Many think “Hispanic” is the wrong term because if its connection to colonialism. It’s also still uncomfortable to fit such a broad category of people’s history and culture into one month. How do you feel about it?

SM: [We need to] keep building on it. I would say, never take away. Using the word Hispanic has irritated many people. When I was I was campaigning for Barack Obama out in the Southwest, I was told not to use “Latin,” to use Hispanic, because a lot of those people were proud to be descendants of Spaniards. … I wouldn’t spend my own time worrying about the names. I obviously wish we didn’t have to segregate ourselves for one month of celebration, but… I think we’re getting there.

We going to see a real racial reckoning, since George Floyd’s death, that nobody can deny. My optimistic friends say, if there’s anything good about what’s going on today is that nothing is hidden. The horrible truths are coming out about society.

SK: Are you that optimistic too?

SM: I despair often, but you have to keep doing things. Like James Baldwin said, I’m alive; therefore, I’m hopeful.

SK: I wonder if even he thought it would take this long for progress to be made.

SM: I know. Sesame Street, when it came out in ’69, it came out of the Civil Rights Movement. … I really thought in my youth that all these racist people would die, and that’s it. Ya, se acabó… Can you imagine, at my age now, thinking, oh, my God, we’re going through this again and even worse? If people say, “What have you learned from Sesame Street?” then my answer is always going to be that don’t think because you address something in one generation that it’s taken care of in the next one.

SK: Does creating work for a young audience give you hope, despite that?

SM: I find strength from kids. You see Syrian kids on the news, in the worst possible situation they could be in, and they’re looking at the camera smiling. They are resilient. They solve problems. You learn things from them because they see things in their own way. They’ll come up with things that are different than you could have imagined. If I said this to my daughter once, I said one hundred times, “Where did you get such a notion — to fill the fish tank with water from two feet away?”

I hope this book provides moments of open-ended conversation, not lessons, just conversations about the images that they see.

SK: And what are you working on after this?

SM: I’m doing some books with Scholastic, some picture books and some young adult novels — I can’t reveal any more information. The thing that’s very exciting for me, which I can only be coy about is that I’ve partnered with Fred Rogers Productions. I have created a show, an animated series. We’re in the middle of recording it and doing the animation for it. And I can tell you that it takes place in the Bronx and that it’s very personal.

SK: I can’t wait to see it!

Sonia Interview on CBS This Morning

We are thrilled to share that the CBS This Morning segment featuring Sonia’s first TV interview surrounding the launch of A World Together – was absolutely phenomenal! You can view the full segment here.

Sonia and the show’s host, Gayle King, walked through the ins and outs of the book during their incredible 5-minute segment – including the meaning behind it, Sonia’s process of writing it, and about why its core message is so important… now more than ever. Throughout the segment, Gayle held up a physical copy of the book and reiterated the name of the title multiple times for her viewers; they even read through a few meaningful excerpts and highlighted powerful photos from it’s pages throughout their conversation. A handful of screenshots can be found below.

Sonia and Gayle closed out the segment by sharing that A World Together is currently available for purchase NOW. Gayle also made sure to share her personal opinion of A World Together with her viewers as she left the set, stating “it’s REALLY good, and we’re not just saying that. And it’s affordable, too!”

A HUGE thanks goes out to Sonia for bringing this wonderful feature to life – you did an absolutely fantastic job on set, and Marisa TRULY enjoyed your company behind-the-scenes, too!

CHICA Interview: Sonia Manzano on Her New Book and Her Groundbreaking Role on ‘Sesame Street’

The actress and author, who played Maria on Sesame Street, talks to People CHICA about why it’s important to teach kids to respect and celebrate different cultures.

By Lena Hansen

Original article: https://peopleenespanol.com/chica/sonia-manzano-a-world-together

You probably know Sonia Manzano for her role as Maria on Sesame Street, but you might not know that she’s also a successful children’s book author. Her latest, A World Together, is out today. “I jumped at the chance to write a book about diversity,” says Manzano, who was approached by National Geographic for this project. “There is a whole campaign of more diverse books out there that writers like myself want to contribute to. It’s a terrible climate that we are living in. Frankly, we started talking about diversity in 1969 on Sesame Street. We had a diverse cast and it was groundbreaking. At that time, Mississippi didn’t want to show Sesame Street because there was a Black little girl and white little girl sharing an ice cream cone. It’s true! We were making these big strides and it breaks my heart that we’re in this position now.”

Maria, who first appeared on the show in 1971, made Latinx girls feel represented on the small screen. “They kept telling me to be myself. I remembered my own childhood growing up in New York — I had never been to Puerto Rico and I had never seen anyone who looked like me on television,” recalls Manzano, who grew up in the Bronx. “You feel like you’re not part of a society if you’re not reflected in the media. I felt I was invisible. So when I got on Sesame Street, I left my hair natural so that kids would have somebody to relate to who looked like them.”

Her new book compares and contrasts many cultures around the world, with photographs of real people of different backgrounds. “The book is for all children, so they see how many people all over the world experience the same things,” she explains. “People cry and they feel happy, they share many emotions.” Her hope is that the book inspires empathy for and appreciation of other cultures, and helps kids feel pride in their own backgrounds. “If you can put yourself in the shoes of the other person, you’re at an advantage to understand their points of view a little bit,” she says. “It’s great for children to see other cultures and wonder, ‘How do they celebrate Christmas? How do they celebrate New Year’s?’ Learning about other cultures makes you a stronger person. When you know more about your own culture, you understand your family better.”

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She discovered a lot about her own family and Nuyorican neighbors during her first trip to Puerto Rico. “I understood why my mother painted the bathroom pink and why our neighbor raised chickens,” she jokes. She then realized how difficult it must be for Puerto Rican immigrants to adapt to living in small apartments in New York City’s concrete jungle. “I understood my people better,” she says. “I understood where they had come from and what they had to overcome.”

Manzano is now working on the creation of a new animated series with the Fred Rogers Company. As a child, not feeling connected to the characters she saw in children’s media was disheartening. “I was taught how to read with a series of books from the ’50s called Dick and Jane. They were little blonde kids and they lived in the suburbs and their father went to work in a suit and their mother stayed home. Obviously it could not have been further away from my reality — it was like another world,” she says. “My father went to work in laborers’ clothes and my mother was working in a factory sewing and giving us coffee and bread for breakfast.”

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She loves to read books by authors like Sherman Alexie — who narrates what his childhood was like living on a Native American reservation — and says parents should encourage children to read stories that expose them to new worlds. “Kids should be fascinated by other people’s lives and not scared,” she says. “As adults we are scared of those who are different. That’s why our country is in this terrible situation.”

National Geographic Teams Up With Sonia Manzano for Powerful New Kids Book

A WORLD TOGETHER  Promotes Unity by Celebrating Cultural and Generational Diversity

During an unprecedented time when the world truly must come together as one, Sonia Manzano, “Sesame Street’s” beloved character Maria, offers readers warmth and wit in a timely picture book that looks across cultures and generations to celebrate what unites us, wherever we come from. Today, National Geographic is honored to unveil A World Together (Sept. 15, 2020; ISBN: 978-1-4263-3738-3; ages 4–8; $17.99) by Sonia Manzano.

Found within this unique title, Manzano’s lyrical prose combined with stunning photography of people from dozens of countries around the world — including Thailand, Egypt, France, the U.S. and countless more — explores how all of our lives are enriched by our geographic and cultural diversity. Kids will see how people around the world look, dress and spend their day, and learn that what we enjoy and value — friends, family, food, play — may sometimes look different, but deep down is the same wherever you go.

An award-winning children’s book author in addition to her other talents, Manzano says she “jumped at the chance National Geographic gave me of continuing to spread the word of multicultural understanding through A World Together. Creating a presentation through words and pictures of how we’d like our world to be was exhilarating. I tried to make A World Together a refreshing take on a familiar theme. I wanted it to celebrate what connects us wherever we come from, whether it’s a block away or the other side of the planet.”

This lovely picture book from a first-generation mainland Puerto Rican will affirm our common humanity as it presents the glorious similarities and differences that connect us all — and will teach us that with laugher and love, we can help bring a world together.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: SONIA MANZANO

Sonia Manzano is a first-generation mainland Puerto Rican, raised in the South Bronx. In the early 1970s a scholarship took her to Carnegie Mellon University, where she participated in the creation of the hit Broadway show “Godspell.” From there she went on to affect the lives of millions of children and parents when she was offered the opportunity to create the role of Maria on “Sesame Street.”

Manzano has received 15 Emmys for staff writing “Sesame Street,” the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Award and the Hispanic Heritage Award for Education. In 2016, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 43rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards.

A World Together is Manzano’s first book for National Geographic. She is also the author of the picture books “No Dogs Allowed,” “A Box Full of Kittens” and “Miracle on 133rd Street”; the YA novel “The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano”; and the memoir “Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx.”

Manzano is currently working toward the creation of a Bronx Children’s Museum with actual walls — it’s now in a bus! She is also developing an animated children’s series with The Fred Rogers Company.

A World Together, published by National Geographic Kids Books, releases Sept. 15, 2020.

ABOUT NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS LLC

National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and The Walt Disney Company, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic’s media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children’s media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 132 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers … and reaching millions of people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27% of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

 

Media Contacts

Christie Damato, 201-222-9118 x27, cdamato@litzkypr.com
Ann Day, 202-912-6712, ann.day@natgeo.com

PASADENA TOURNAMENT OF ROSES ANNOUNCES 2020 HONORED GUESTS

Jaime Jarrín, Sonia Manzano and Ellen Ochoa

PASADENA, Calif. (Dec. 13, 2019) – The Pasadena Tournament of Roses® is proud to announce the addition of Honored Guests for the 131st Rose Parade® presented by Honda. On January 1, 2020, Jaime Jarrín, Sonia Manzano and Ellen Ochoa – who further exemplify the theme of the 2020 Rose Parade, “The Power of Hope” – will ride together down Colorado Blvd. in a 1915 Pierce Arrow Model 48 made in Buffalo New York.

“These three amazing individuals exemplify the power of hope in both how they’ve aspired to be their best and how they’ve inspired those around them to reach higher,”

shared Tournament of Roses President Laura Farber. “With hope anything, in fact everything, is possible.  Hope is more than simply the possibility of fulfillment. Hope is dignity and respect, joy and happiness, aspiration and achievement.

Jaime Jarrín – “the Spanish voice of the Dodgers,” Jaime Jarrín is one of the most recognizable voices in all of sports broadcasting, has been calling Dodger games since 1959. Last season, the Hall of Famer was added to the club’s Ring of Honor with his name being permanently affixed to Dodger Stadium. In 1998, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. In 1998, Jarrin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is a member of both the California Broadcasters’ Association Halls of Fame and the Southern California Sports Broadcasters’ Association, which awarded him the organization’s Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.

Sonia Manzano – For more than 40 years, Sonia Manzano has inspired, educated, and delighted children and families as “Maria” on Sesame Street. Named among the “25 Greatest Latino Role Models Ever” by Latina Magazine, Manzano broke ground as one of the first Hispanic characters on national television. Throughout her career, she has continued to contribute to enriching diversity on television, on the stage and in the educational realm. A first-generation American of Latin descent, Manzano’s tale is one of perseverance and courage as she overcame countless obstacles to become one of the most influential Latinas in television.

Ellen Ochoa – The first Hispanic woman to go to space when she served on a nine-day mission aboard the shuttle Discovery, Ellen Ochoa has flown in space four times, logging nearly 1,000 hours. She was the 11th Director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, from 2013 until her retirement in May 2018. Prior to her astronaut career, Dr. Ochoa was a research engineer and an inventor, with three patents for optical systems. Ochoa currently serves on several boards, including as Vice Chair of the National Science Board. With six schools named for her, she has been inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame, the California Hall of Fame, and the International Air & Space Hall of Fame.

About the Pasadena Tournament of Roses ® and The Rose Parade ® presented by Honda

The Tournament of Roses is a volunteer organization that hosts America’s New Year Celebration® with the Rose Parade® presented by Honda, the Rose Bowl Game® presented by Northwestern Mutual and a variety of accompanying events. The Association’s 935 volunteer members supply more than 80,000 hours of manpower, which will drive the success of 131st Rose Parade, themed “The Power of Hope,” on Wednesday, January 1, 2020, followed by the 106th Rose Bowl Game.  For more information, visit . Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter , Instagram and YouTube .

For media inquiries:  Candy Carlson, Tournament of Roses, (626) 449-4100

 

I am thrilled to toast Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyed Morrisett at Kennedy Center Honors!

The R&B group Earth, Wind & Fire, the actress Sally Field, the singer Linda Ronstadt and the conductor Michael Tilson Thomas will receive Kennedy Center Honors in December for their lifetime achievements in the arts, the cultural center announced on Thursday.

“Sesame Street,” which is celebrating 50 years on the air this year, will also receive an award, making it the second time the Kennedy Center is bestowing the honor on a work of art rather than an individual. (“Hamilton,” recognized last year, was the first.) It is the first honor bestowed to a television program, the center said.

“We started thinking about what it would be like here in this 50th anniversary year for ‘Sesame Street,’ and it was a runaway hit with the selection committee,” Deborah F. Rutter, the president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, said in an interview. “It really felt right to do this for ‘Sesame Street.’”

The gala, to be held on Dec. 8, is an annual high point for Washington and the cultural community.

Joan Ganz Cooney, a cofounder with Lloyd Morrisett of Children’s Television Workshop (later named Sesame Workshop), with some “Sesame Street” characters in 2009. The cofounders will be accepting the award in December. Credit…Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

Manzano honored by the Bronx Children’s Museum

Gala!

BRONX CHILDREN’S MUSEUM

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

DINNER & LIVE AUCTION

COCKTAIL RECEPTION: 6:30 PM

HONOREES: SONIA MANZANO, CHAZZ PALMINTERI, KERRY MALAWISTA & ALAN HEILBRON

For more information visit www.bronxchildrensmuseum.org

 

MAYOR’S OFFICE ANNOUNCES NEW LATIN MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT COMMISSION

Commission members will advise on strategic direction to position New York City as a global capital for the Latinx media and entertainment industry.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) Commissioner Julie Menin today announced the revitalization of the Latin Media and Entertainment Commission (LMEC) for New York City. Comprised of 18 leaders from the vibrant Latinx creative community here in New York, the commission will leverage partnerships with the city’s entertainment, government, and business entities. The mission of the LMEC is to cultivate the next generation of New York City-based Latinx media and entertainment professionals; to promote enhanced Spanish language content on mainstream and emerging media platforms; to attract and retain major Latinx media events in New York City; and to expand the audience for premier Latinx cultural content in New York City.

“New York City wouldn’t be the artistic and cultural force that it is without the contributions of our Latino community,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “I welcome all the new Latin Media and Entertainment Commission members. Their hard work will ensure our city remains an ever-expanding international hub for Latino media and culture.”

“The contributions of the Latino community are present everywhere in New York City – from our music, to our restaurants and our art,” said Media and Entertainment Commissioner Julie Menin. “New York has the most diverse Latino population in the world, and through the LMEC we will leverage the talent and experience of this vibrant population to position the city as an economic hub for Latino media and entertainment – while also encouraging these industries to more appropriately represent the major and growing influence that the Latino community has not just here in New York, but throughout the United States.”

Over the past 15 years, New York City has strived to position itself as a leading Latinx media and entertainment capital. The city is home to a Latinx population of 2.3 million with heritage from throughout the Caribbean and the Americas, making it a microcosm of the global Latinx market. The city’s economy and workforce would benefit from continued expansion of the existing Latinx media and entertainment industry, as spending on Latinx media is higher than ever. This growth parallels the surge in Latinx influence in the United States as a whole: according to Nielsen, 50% of U.S. population growth from 2010 to 2015 has come from people of Latinx descent.

The NYC Latin Media and Entertainment Commission includes:

MARCO CARRION, Commissioner, Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit
LORRAINE CORTES-VAZQUEZ, Senior Advisor, Office of the Mayor
SONIA MANZANO, Author and Emmy Award-Winning Actor
LUNA LAUREN VELEZ, Producer and Actor
J.W. CORTÉS, Actor, Singer, Marine Combat Veteran, and Philanthropist
MANNY PÉREZ, Actor and Producer
LAURA MARQUEZ, Head of Latino Community Engagement, Google
HERB SCANNELL, Chief Executive Officer, Mitú
ROCÍO GUERRERO COLOMO, Head of Global Cultures, Spotify
RITA FERRO, President, Disney ABC Sales at Disney ABC Television Group
MICHELLE HERRERA MULLIGAN, Motivational Speaker, Author, Editor, and Contributor at Latina Magazine
LOUIS E. PEREGO MORENO, President of Skyline Features and Founder/Executive Producer of PRIME LATINO MEDIA
CARMEN RITA WONG, Host, Writer, Producer and CEO of Malecon Productions, LLC
ANDREW HERRERA, CEO and Founder, Remezcla
LUZ GANDULLA-HUTSON, Principal, VPH Marketing
RAQUEL CEPEDA, Filmmaker and Author
TONIO BURGOS, Chief Executive Officer, Tonio Burgos and Associates
PETER FUSTER, Assistant Executive Director, Labor Counsel, SAG-AFTRA

“New York City has a strong connection to Latin culture and cultural institutions, and this new commission will only help strengthen those bonds. I look forward to working with this commission and its members to expose Latin culture to new communities while also highlighting and preserving the cultural traditions we hold so dear,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.

“The relaunch of the LMEC is a smart recognition of the major and ever-growing market in the industry, and the opportunity in a global city like New York. Queens, where over half a million residents speak Spanish at home, lauds the revitalization of the Commission and looks forward to the resulting enhanced opportunities for Latinx content and talent development,” said Queens Borough President Melinda Katz.

“New York’s growing Latinx communities have been a crucial, indispensable piece of what New York City is and who we are culturally. The city of El Barrio and the Heights should always be striving for greater engagement in the worlds of Latinx art, culture, media, and entertainment,” said Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer.

State Senator Marisol Alcantara stated, “I am ecstatic to hear that the Latin Media and Entertainment Commission will be relaunched! I am the champion of the State TV Diversity Tax Credit bill, which passed the Senate and Assembly. A huge congratulations to City Hall for relaunching this important initiative. We need to continue to work toward making our television screens better reflect their audiences. Latinos make up 30% of the NYC population, yet we feel completely left out on television.”

Council Member Peter Koo, Chair of the Technology Committee, stated, “We are a multicultural and multilingual city, and we pride ourselves on the ability to connect with all New Yorkers, regardless of language. Congratulations to the members of the NYC Latin Media and Entertainment Commission for working with the City of New York on the worthy goal of creating more access and opportunities for Spanish-speaking New Yorkers.”

“The newly revitalized Latin Media and Entertainment Commission is great news for our city,” said Council Member Daniel Dromm (Jackson Heights, Elmhurst). “The commission will help ensure that NYC’s Latinx media and entertainment industry remains robust. As a Council Member representing one of the largest Latinx communities in the city, I applaud Commissioner Menin for her leadership. This important effort will help secure NYC’s position as a global capital for this industry.”

“It’s impossible to ignore the impact the Latinx community has had on the very fabric and identity of our city. New York City is the epicenter of diversity and a place all Latinx communities call home – with immigrants from the islands to Mexico to Ecuador,” said Council Member Francisco Moya. “I am happy to see New York create a commission focused on acknowledging our contributions to the arts, but to also make our city the hub for Latinx entertainment.”

Original article: http://www1.nyc.gov/site/mome/news/latin-media-commission.page