Original subtitles

I must have to say this or repeat this

5,000 times before I take it.

When you produce yourself, you have all

these different rituals that when you

start working with other people

and you're just supposed to be talent,

you're just tense because you're like,

"Wait, I know there is this way that I

have written in my mind,

and I also feel like I started off doing

social media and doing

everything on my own."

When I started integrating and realizing,

it's like you cannot create in a vacuum.

You need people. You need to

be able to trust your team.

You need to trust your team.

Sometimes we have this

hyper-independence, but you can't go

anywhere without one another.

I think that I learned that little by

little getting off of

social media and learning.

I'm like, "Okay, we have to really come

together to be able to make

strides in this industry."

That's why Maricenando

is so important to me.

The last couple of projects that I've

been working on have been so instrumental

to this shift that is happening within me

where I'm like 10 toes down, where I'm

like, "This is who I am. I don't care if

you like it or not."

I think that there was a part of me who

wanted to be accepted by this industry

and forgetting this is where I came from

because that's what I was told to do.

I was very naive, really coming into this

industry and believing,

"Oh, these people have

the best interest for me."

You're just marking

off a check in their box.

They're not interested in helping you

grow as a talent or business or anything.

I did this play in Philly called La

Egoista, which is produced by a Tony

Award-winning production company called

Edgewood Entertainment.

The woman who wrote it is

Dominican-Americans.

I just did a film with John Franco who

wrote this film

called When Big People Lie.

It's through a lens of a child. From his

personal experience in life, he's also a

Dominican-American writer.

His short was able to make it a tell you

ride. That's a huge deal.

It just goes to show that it doesn't

matter culturally. If the story is good,

it is a universal story.

We should be allowed to have the

resources to tell our stories.

That's what I fight for all the time.

Those two projects that you mentioned,

what were they? Created by Dominicans.

That's how you get to

portray and play a part in it.

If not, you wouldn't exist.

I agree.

We need more writers. We need more

producers. We need more

people that can make things happen.

I definitely agree. I do see this

movement that is happening

within the Dominican culture.

I think that people see it and they feel

like it's like, "No, this

is just a Dominican thing."

This is supposed to inspire other people

from different cultures to be like,

"I also encourage you to look at who you

are, tend tole down, and be like, this is

who I am. This is who I am culturally."

Come together with your culture and

create because we can

come together in that sense.

For example, how many Italian films have

we been inspired by?

Exactly.

You have the Bronx Tale, which is about

an Italian-American.

You have so many Robert

De Niro Al Pacino films.

We love them.

It's culturally Italian.

We don't go, "Oh my God, it's too

Italian." We go, "I want to

see it. I'm inspired by this.

What are they saying? What is their

story? What is their

culture? We know what a cannoli is."

It's not to exclude people.

It's to say, "I want to introduce you to

a part of who I am. This is the only way

that I can do it with people that

culturally understand who I am.

This is a way for you to be welcomed into

a part of society that

you're probably not aware of."

Not only that, but it makes it rich. They

love the music. They consume the music.

That's the thing. In Los Angeles, they

love to consume our music and a little

bit of our culture, but they

don't even know who we are.

I think that's the part of the story that

I'm like, "Hey, I just want to introduce

you to this part of the Latino culture

that you might not be aware of."

Not only that, but I think that Hollywood

and all stories, we have

a different perspective.

The way we tell stories, the way we hug,

it's a little different. I think it's

needed because it brings

diversity to stories right now.

It brings diversity to perspective. It

brings diversity to

culture, community, language.

Like one thing.

That's right.

I want to thank you, Uhaagwe, and Rasul.

Thank you. Thank you for spending time

with us on a beautiful,

beautiful day in New York City.

I am so thankful that you're coming back

because we need you to keep creating,

making us laugh. That's what

I'm looking forward to tonight.

I'm going to make you laugh tonight. I

promise. I wasn't that funny today

because I'm spitting facts.

I would love for you guys

to come and have a good time.

Beautiful, beautiful. So, un ching.

Un ching mucho.

Alright,