THROWBACK—On this day in history, 25 years ago, I was terrified as I left my corporate job to begin my own company after only three years in NYC. I had a little money saved up, but not much, and zero experience, but I had an idea, researched it, and believed in the vision. I’d met a young, ambitious Latino producer at Univision (my old employer), and he had some good stuff I thought I could help sell. But was it just a pipe dream? Would I go bankrupt and crawl back to corporate America, begging for my job back? Yes, I was terrified.
I wouldn’t be truthful if I didn’t say the first few years were full of doubt and stress. I regretted my move almost as often as I was thankful I’d taken the plunge. But even with the uncertainty, once I tasted working for myself, there was no going back. I had to make it work. And I kept telling myself, what if it works? It was a battle between what if I went bankrupt and what if it worked… One day, I’d be sure I would fail; the next, I knew I’d succeed. Or, more like hour by hour, I’d vacillate back and forth between despair and exuberance.
25 years later, I can now confidently state that it worked out.
My first project was American Latino TV, a syndicated Latin TV show in English that targeted second—and third-generation US Latinos on mainstream affiliates (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, etc.). At the time, this was a wholly ignored market, and it was the first time anyone had successfully accomplished such a thing. This was not easy in this old media world of 25 years ago.
My old employer, Univision, a Spanish-language TV network owned by a billionaire and his many elite media mogul types who ran the place, was unhappy that this unknown Sales Account Executive from Tennessee, of all places, was challenging their multi-billion dollar business model with their own research used against them. They tried to trip me up, but it didn’t work because I had the truth on my side and was not easily intimidated, even back then. I was becoming a man and a street fighter in business, and I relished the battle with these folks who thought I was an easy mark.
Several years later, I’d still get the stink eye from a couple of the intellectually lazy exploiters who were part of the old guard of Spanish language media. Little did they know how that fueled the fire to keep me going. I loved, loved, loved shaking things up. Publicity was my friend, and we got lots of it. But in the end, in this age, well before smartphones, YouTube, and social media, editing bays cost an arm and a leg. Even the cheapest cameras were crazy expensive, and it was a considerable risk. The democratization of media had just begun, and we had no idea we were on the cutting edge. The timing was excellent.
Thanks to a crew of incredibly ambitious young Latinos (immigrants and sons and daughters of immigrants – these were the folks who first gave me the travel bug) from around the world now living in NYC (and eventually LA when we expanded) who were tired of being stereotyped and ignored by both Spanish-language and English-language TV, we succeeded in carving out a nice business, not only for ourselves but for an entire category of English-language Latino-targeted media.
I ran the business side, but the creative team was 100% young Latinos, the audience we were trying to serve. Our timing was good, as the 2000 census bore out the story. We knew that most Latinos in the USA were young, American-born, and understood English and Spanish. It wasn’t about language but cultural relevance. The formula and show concept was simple, showing positive and accurate Latino culture to Americans. They would, like me, fall in love with it.. they did, until around 2006 when Fox News Channel began to demonize immigrants, but that’s a story for another time.
Advertisers wanted this market but weren’t getting it when they put their money on Univision and Telemundo. We offered them an alternative, and Volkswagen, McDonald’s, Nissan, Toyota, US Army, General Motors, Anheuser Busch, and many more came running… well, okay, kicking and screaming, but we got them on board. The research was too overwhelming, and I was an animal back then. I would not be ignored or quit; my ego was probably too big, but it served me well in that scenario. Still, I felt I was fighting for something much bigger than myself, an entire group of 25 million or so ignored people who treated me so well and with so much love that I had no choice but to love them back. I fought hard for them, and they ALWAYS had my back. If I were going to be in a foxhole, give me a Latino any day. They are LOYAL, and so am I.
I was amazed that corporate America, with all its resources, could be so short-sighted and ignorant when it came to the Latino market. I heard a lot of stupid stuff from the mouths of so-called intelligent people, but I learned a valuable lesson. Big companies are risk-averse and not creative. And mediocrity and incompetence can hide more quickly in the folds of a larger company. Small companies can’t get away with ANY shenanigans. They have to be better, brighter, and more nimble.
Small entrepreneurs do the hard work of breaking ground, and corporations jump on board after someone else does the job.
A bunch of (mostly) white, (mostly) dudes running to where lightning just struck is an apt way to describe the TV business. Or a toddlers’ soccer game where every player huddles around the ball.
Of course, we also had our believers and cheerleaders in the corporate world, who opened some doors and spurred us on. NOBODY simply pulls themselves up by their own bootstraps. NO… BODY! That’s just some myth that rich people tell themselves so they can feel less guilty about not paying taxes or giving back to others when they make it.
But we made it thanks to SOME of them and a LOT of hard work (the hardest thing I’d ever done). And we had A LOT of fun in the process. A L-O-T.
Eventually, we were so successful that every Latino celebrity and celebrity wannabe wanted to be on American Latino or LatiNation (our two shows), including this young musician who had just entered the English language market and moved to the USA from Colombia when we interviewed her.
Here is Shakira’s raw and uncut interview in this throwback video. Enjoy!