BY GABRIELA WATSON-BURKETT, MELISSA BEATRIZ AND KRISTAL SOTOMAYOR ON AUGUST 18, 2023

Check out the video ¡Presente! Media celebrates 3 years, by multimedia producer Kianni Figuereo

2023 marks three years since ¡Presente! Media was founded and it’s a great moment to reflect and share some updates and announcements. ¡Presente! Media started with the mission to fill a gap that we felt as community members - to create and produce media content that reflects the diversity of Latinx people and to work toward a more just world. We took on roles that aligned with our past experiences and interests. Gabriela moved the work forward as the Program Manager, Kristal as the Marketing Manager, and Melissa as the Development/Administration Manager. We started 2020 strong, producing our first series of articles mainly dedicated to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities of color - which was one of the main reasons behind the launch of ¡Presente! Media. Another part of our vision included hiring Black and Brown creatives, trying to provide opportunities for freelancers like us to develop their craft and portfolio.

¡Presente! Media Co-founders (left to right): Melissa Beatriz. Gabriela Watson-Burkett, Kristal Sotomayor in the Puebladelphia area in South Philly. (Photo by Burkett Photography for ¡Presente! Media)

During that year, we continued to expand our coverage topics and produce content divided into four main categories: Community Stories, Racial and Immigrant Justice, Cultural Criticism, and Arts and Culture. We piloted the Encuentro Virtual program, which is a series of moderated community conversations on timely pressing issues, as part of our goal to further our outreach, and expand engagement with our audiences. We started to develop stories and goals for the Philly Cultural Equity initiative. At the end of 2020, we also produced a 30-minute 3-part documentary series, BEYOND - Reimagining Philadelphia Journalism, commissioned by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism. The film premiered at Lenfest’s BEYOND Conference, later having its shorts screened at the 2021 Philadelphia Latino Film Festival, 2021 BlackStar Film Festival, 2021/2022 Scribe’s Street Movies, and 2022 Philly-based United We Heal Film Festival.

BEYOND - Reimagining Philadelphia Journalism was produced by ¡Presente! Media and commissioned by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism to premiere at the 2020 BEYOND Conference.

Filmmakers Melissa Beatriz and Gabriela Watson-Burkett filming during a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2021, we created a series of articles about the challenges the LGBTQ+ community faces, The Latinx Ancestors Project, and hired many Latinx and Black and Brown creatives to be journalist and multimedia freelance contributors. Among the amazingly talented people whom we worked with, we also invested in the next generation. We had our first multimedia intern, Laura Anaya-Morga, who soon after took on an internship at the LA Times and is now a reporter at the Long Beach Post. We also hired Managing Editor Fellow, Michelle Meyers, who is now a Service Reporter at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Another achievement is the collaboration we started with the Leeway Foundation to facilitate their information sessions in Spanish and promote funding opportunities in the Latinx community. We are looking forward to continuing this exciting partnership.

Later that year, it was time to “organizar la casa” or in other words, to do organizational planning. Starting an organization virtually amidst a global pandemic, racial reckoning, and personal/collective experiences of grief was not easy. It was a transformative time for the ¡Presente! Media co-founders, as we decided to pivot our production in 2022 to complete, and produce series instead of individual pieces. Throughout 2022 and 2023 we focused on “Cuéntame - historias de nuestra comunidad” a 6-episode web series that showcases the contribution of outstanding immigrants who are helping to shape the Philly community landscape. We also started “The Motherhood Project,” a combination of articles and short documentaries exploring the experiences of Black, Latinx, and immigrant women navigating motherhood and maternal health care. We believe this is an important topic and we will continue to work on this digital series.

2023 NEWS & UPDATES

¡Presente! team interviewing James “Jimmy” Deleon, former Philadelphia mayoral candidate at the Latino Mayoral Forum on April 10.

As we entered a new year, we are happy to share that ¡Presente! Media has joined the Every Voice, Every Vote coalition, and has created multimedia content to help Latinx voters make informed decisions in the 2023 elections. Make sure to check out our videos and articles produced for this civic engagement series, and stay tuned for more content coming up.

We are also very excited to share that our team has expanded. Please help us welcome new staff: Ericka Conant, as Editor and Reporter; Steffany El Barouki, as Marketing Strategist; Ashley Ortega, as Marketing and Production Assistant; Kianni Figuereo, as Reporter and Multimedia Producer; and Claudia Ceballos as Associate Producer.

New staff members

New collaborators

Our team of collaborators has also grown, including Becca Haydu, filmmaker; Scott Burkett, photographer and videographer; Silvia Ferrer, reporter and writer; Alex Pizarro, filmmaker, and many more. The photos below are from past and current collaborators.

Seguiremos adelante! We’ll keep going.

Marketing Strategist & Producer Steffany El Barouki interviews former Philadelphia City Council District 7 candidate Andrés Celin.

During these three years, we have confirmed that journalism for social change needs to be built in dialogue with local residents, so we strive to stay connected with our community which also includes us, our families, and friends.

In these past three years of doing our work, we learned that Latinx, Black, and Brown communities still feel unrepresented in media and spaces of power, and neglected and overlooked at times like the pandemic and during elections. But now more than ever the new generation gives us hope that fighting for inclusivity, equality, and freedom matters.

We are incredibly thankful to current and past supporters: The Samuel S. Fels Fund, Independent Public Media Foundation, The William Penn Foundation, The Lenfest Institute for Journalism, Good Pitch Philadelphia, Delaware Valley Legacy Fund, Bread & Roses Community Fund, and all our individual donors.

Our goal for the future is to continue to support Latinx and Black and Brown communities, and creatives, and to do so by continuing our mission to create journalistic and media centered on social justice. We continue to believe in the power of words and images to tell stories from the Black and Brown perspective, advance important social issues, and help make this world a better place for all of us. We appreciate our collaborators, audience members, funders, and wider communities for their love and support. Pa’lante.

Gracias,

Gabriela, Kristal and Melissa