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Catching Up With Emmy-Nominated Costume Designer & Owner of gather here, Virginia B. Johnson

Show Description (Podcast Intro):

Today’s guest is Virginia B. Johnson. Virginia is a costume designer and the owner of gather here in Inman Square, which is in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In the interview, we dive into her journey from a naval base in the Philippines to Greater Boston, her career in costume design, and the origins of her shop, gather here. We also talk about the importance of community to Virginia and her work, and her recent Emmy nomination. I’m so stoked for you all to tune in today. Enjoy! 

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Episode Transcript

Trish Fontanilla: All right. So welcome to the podcast, Virginia.

Virginia Johson: I'm so excited to be here. Trish, thank you so much for having me.

Trish: I'm going to have to share a picture. Virginia's one of my icon dressers in Boston. I don't know if you're on lists, but we should start nominating you for lists. If someone's like, What is the one word you would use to describe your clothing?, I would say joy. Inner child Trish and the 40-something Trish are both, “Oh, look at this bundle of joy that's walking towards me right now.“ So I love this. And then, of course, oh, you're in your shop. So there's all these drawings and quotes and being in the shop, too. This is what Virginia is. Or I don't know if there's some collaboration…

Virginia: I would say that that's definitely what Virginia wants to be, and is struggling always with trying not to get down in the dumps. So there's definitely an element of dopamine dressing. Getting up and being, “What is the boldest print and what is the most colorful thing? What things would someone else think clash?”. And then put those things together, because they bring me joy, and I just think we dress for the attitude we want to have. And same with the space gather here is also a reflection of, this is who we are. This is how we feel, even on a bad day.

Trish: Yeah, as I'm looking at my disco ball candle on my desk right now, all my colors are out, and I know some people don't love that. There's millennial gray out there, but that's also not my space.

But yeah, thank you so much for joining us today. We did interview you in 2018 for the blog, which is technically seven years ago, but I think the pandemic adds in an extra 40 to 50 years on all of us, at least mentally, maybe physically. So I'm really excited to catch up with you. But for folks that aren't familiar with you or haven't read our blog in the past. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Virginia: Yeah, I am a Filipina American who moved to Greater Boston twenty-two years ago, and I am a professional costume designer for film and television and occasionally for stage, and I also happen to own a small business, gather here. We're located in Inman Square in Cambridge, and we're a fabric, fiber, all kinds of fiber-related making space and supplies. And it was just a pipe dream back in 2010, and now will be celebrating 15 years in existence come February of next year of 2026 so super excited about that. I just try to balance my time doing costume design, and then being present and available to the shop. But as a small business owner, I'm also in charge of all of the admin stuff that is behind the scenes that no one cares about. But if it doesn't happen, the store doesn't run. So I have the really unglamorous parts of that job still.

Trish: First of all, I love that you highlighted that because, as a business owner myself, you know, there is this romanticism of, oh, you own your own thing. It must be so amazing. And it's like, yeah, to do the percentage of things that we love to do, I have to send out invoices on time, and I have to pay for the software and the hardware and all the supplies that I need to make the thing happen, and if I miss those payments, or if there's a price thing and I don't negotiate it, then things get hairy. And I talk about taxes and health insurance and all this other kind of fun stuff. Yeah, I love that. Like you're doing this costuming stuff, you own the business, but you're like, by the way, here's this other job in addition to the work that you do, because the work that you do for some people is for individual contributors, that is one job. So I love that you mentioned that.

So let's, let's flip it back and talk about where you grew up. How did you come to Boston?

Virginia: So I celebrated 51 years on this planet this past May, and I'm just like, really, and like you said earlier, with the pandemic, I swear to God, I feel like it's been even longer, like solid additional decade.

But I was born in Subic Bay on the naval base in Luzon, and my dad is from the States. My mom is from the Philippines. She's one of 13 children, and like very complicated Filipino colonial story, my grandfather is actually Chinese. He had immigrated to the Philippines. My grandmother and my grandfather met while they were in one of the prison camps during Japanese occupation, and they were liberated by the US. So even though some of my uncles were very anti-American presence in the Philippines in the 70s, my grandmother was very pro-America, was very pro-American military, because in her mind, her life would not have been what it was without that liberation. So we have a really complicated history, which many people do.

My dad being an American naval chief petty officer, my grandmother was like, this is the best, you could not have made a better match. Whereas some of my uncles were like, No way, don't do it. But my mom has always been a very strong matriarch, as was my grandmother, and she was headstrong, and just was going to do her own thing.

So we lived there, and I went to Catholic daycare, and then preschool and kindergarten, because it was a space where English was spoken primarily, and then Tagalog was spoken at home.

And we moved to the States, and when my dad was stationed in Long Beach, California. He made a point of asking to be located there, and they made that decision because they really wanted, by this point, it's me and my sister, us to have more opportunities to not be in a school system where we're being told to only wear dresses, skirts. What does it mean to be feminine? And despite my mom also thinking being pretty was super important, and that is also very complicated, being a pageant girl, all of that just so much to unpack. But they did make the decision to move to Long Beach so and one of the reasons they picked Long Beach is there is a huge Filipino community in that area because of the number of Filipinos that came over post-Vietnam war were married servicemen, service women.

Trish: I don't think I knew all that stuff about your past. I think it's really interesting to hear now, there's a very complicated feeling about the American presence. People forget the colonialism part about the Philippines.

Virginia: Yes, I know. I think it's important to note that there were a lot of people there, even in the 50s and 60s, that weren't Americans yet.

So I spent most of my developmental years, elementary school and junior high, in that area. I actually went to this really cool school in San Pedro called Dodson, and I loved my time at Dodson. It was this magnet school. We got to study all kinds of cool stuff. Also, the teacher strike happened while I was in school, and so I think that was my first real understanding of workers’ rights and the complication of, what are our parents supposed to do with us? Because education is not just about learning, it's also a form of child care. And from a working middle-class place, you know, mom's a nurse, nobody can just call out. They're not in a position. Everybody's just like, What are we supposed to do with these people, and, do we cross the picket line? I just remember being 13 years old, 14 years old, and like, Oh, we're having real conversations. Thinking, this is wild. And I was definitely pro-teacher. In the end, I was like, I stand with my teachers. I know lots of people hate junior high, but I loved junior high. It was really great exploratory time, and it was like a revolutionary public school.

But also during that time, there was definitely a surge in violence in that LA area, and my parents were very concerned about us, and they opted to relocate everyone once it like became clear that my grandfather, on my dad's side, was diagnosed with Parkinson's, and so they picked us all up, and we moved to rural Iowa. I was 16 years old, it was probably one of the most, like, and I had moved like internationally. I had gone from everybody looks like me to most people look like me, and we all speak English, and so I totally lose my ability to speak Tagalog. And then to rural Iowa, where I had gone from a school that had 1000s of students to a school that had literally 400 students in total. Everyone knows everyone. They all grew up together. Their parents knew everyone, and we were really outsiders, and that at the time was incredibly painful, but I do think in the long run helped me develop a voice.

I really needed to learn to articulate who I was as a person, what it meant to have my identity if I wanted to share that identity and talk about my family and stand up for myself, and that was really important. I think it helped me later on as an adult, because I had a very strong sense of self. I didn't want to be part of a clique or the crowd. I couldn't be, I was just so different. I ate different food. I looked different. Nobody knew me. That wasn't an option, so I had to develop a voice, and I spent two years of high school there.

And then in the end, really wanted to be close to home, so I decided to go to college in Des Moines, Iowa, at Drake. One of the reasons that was a great option was that they had tons of financial aid. It was three and a half hours away from home, so I felt like I was far enough away, and again, I felt like I could explore who I wanted to be as fully as possible. And Des Moines was definitely bigger than the small town in eastern Iowa, which had one stoplight. I'm not joking. Small. I grew up in Southern California, and then came to someplace that had a stoplight, and that was so wild. So Des Moines, I was like, there's a lot of stoplights. I felt like a step up to where I wanted to be.

All of that to say, I knew I didn't want to stay there forever. And like many people that go to school at Drake, I ended up going to Chicago and then slowly working my way east, and I ended up in Boston when I finally decided I didn't want to piece together my whole year through these small theater gigs, where I was living out of my car, you'd maybe get a room in some patron’s house, or you'd stay in a cabin or something like that. And I was like, I really would like a little more stability. So I took a job at Tufts University, and that's how I ended up here. After all of that. I didn't even talk about how I was actually a bio pre-med major and ended up in costume.

Trish: I think a lot of Filipinos, you either become a nurse or a doctor, or you have some story growing up in New Jersey. I'm pretty sure I applied to the nursing program at Rutgers, even though I cannot even look at blood and not feel queasy. We all have a story of, oh, we tried it and it just didn't work out.

But so I'd love to dive into the costume design piece of it, you laid some of that groundwork. To me, it sounds like the origins of a costume person is growing up in a place where you have to choose to define yourself, and that's either I'm going to go with everybody else and what everybody else is doing, or I'm really going to go for it. And that decision-making of being thoughtful about what you're going to wear and how you're going to act, I feel like that's the origin story of a costume designer.

But for folks that aren’t in the biz, generally, if someone's like, oh, costume sounder, sounds cool. What does that mean? And then talk a little bit about how you got into that.

Virgina: So you really did sum that up. It's the intention and intentional choices of what you wear and when you choose to wear something, and so my job as a costume designer is really about taking the story, which is something that I'm attracted to. I love storytelling. I've always loved stories, so diving deep into the story, figuring out where we are, what time and place things are happening, and then who are the people in the story, and how do they dress, and how do they transform? And how does the story transform how they dress?

Because sometimes people think that costume designing is fashion, and it's not at all, because I am not creating the seasonal look. I am like doing mini fashion shows for every single person in the story, and sometimes the person in the story never changes their clothes because of the action or their socioeconomic class. And then I love digging into how the action affects how your clothes transform, and it's what I love about doing action films, because you think about what happens to you when you jump through a window, roll on the street, and a car blows up in the parking lot. What has happened to your clothes that if you've survived and you have now caught a train, does everyone on the train look at you, and can they tell what happened to you? Or they just think you had a really rough day. What's the evidence of what that action was? And I have always loved figuring that stuff out.

I actually became interested in costume design because, like I was saying about going to Drake, I had a really great financial aid package, and part of the financial aid package was a work-study job. And my work-study position was in the costume shop. And it was because I knew how to sew and embroider and all these things I learned at like six years old from my grandmother in the Philippines, textiles are incredibly important. We have our own rich textile history of transforming pineapple and coconut into cloth, and then a rich history of embroidery and handcraft, as well as crochet. And so I learned the art of embroidery and crochet from that side of my family, it was really important to staying connected with my family and my grandmother, who loved embellishment and traditional dress. I took traditional dancing classes because of her influence, and we helped make my costumes for that, which is just so intrinsic to who I am, and every stitch holds so much meaning.

Whereas, with my other grandmother she was a daughter of a farmer, and they had survived the Great Depression in the States. So for her, it was all about mending and knitting and making what you want to wear because you can't afford to buy it. So I learned this whole history of her wanting to dress a certain way and having to do it herself. And I love that about Nita. I still have her sewing machine, and by the time I was going to prom, she had invested so much time and care and teaching me to sew that I was like, I can do that. I can make something I want to wear that is reflective of all the parts of me. And no one else will have anything like this. And that was also something that Nita and Christina taught me, was that the act of making it yourself means that it is 100% yours. It is all about your labor and the labor of your family, because everything I make is in tribute and in service of continuing their story.

So it wasn't that big of a leap for me to then go work in a costume shop, learn more about theater. Those jobs were not things we thought about as kids. You know, it would be great if we went to community theater, dinner theater, the high school play. It's not like my parents had a lot of time for other things. And in the Midwest, it's not like we went to Broadway. We didn't, we didn't go to those places. And even in Southern California, what we were doing was typically very specific to the community that we were in, and not necessarily about going and seeing a show. We would go seek traditional dance and things like that. That was what was really important to us, was being in community.

And I think that's also what drew me to costume design, especially for theater. It is community in a collaborative art form. You dive in intensely, and it's always a trust exercise. Are we speaking the same language? Are we seeing the same thing? And when all is said and done, you see it on stage, and that is either proof that you were all in sync with one another, or it shows maybe where the weakness was in your communication, or how everyone was seeing things, and because it's a living work of art, you can continue to grow and make those changes and tweak them. It is absolutely one of the things I love so much about it. It is like the sewing circle. It's like all of these spaces where people rely on one another, it's not solo.

Trish: Thank you so much for walking through the costume design piece.

So you were just nominated for an Emmy, which I think is your first?

Virginia: It's my first ever, my first ever.

Trish: Amazing, congratulations!

Virginia: I'm still in shock. To be nominated by the Television Academy for outstanding period costumes is mind-blowing, because I do get a lot of people who ask me about just how I guess erratic my resume is.

I have done specials for PBS. I have done projects for Happy Madison, which is the Adam Sandler production house, where it's all slapstick and puke jokes. And then I've done super serious things, and then heavy action, and the new Salem's Lot set in the 70s, which is considered a softer period. It's not corsets and things like that, but it's still period, and it's horror. And then I just out of left field, did this show set in 1857, which is incredibly violent, but going back to these, the decisions we make when we get dressed in the morning, every single person that people see on the screen in this six part mini series was a labor of deep consideration.

My research period is nothing compared to people who specialize, who are PhDs in textile history or a certain period. I do my deep dive for a couple of months, I try to pull in as many resources as possible to get to what are the essential parts of dress for this snapshot in time. You know, we don't have iPhones in 1857 so there are daguerreotypes, there are paintings, there are journals, there's these other ways of learning, but we should consider this too. We prioritize in our history the people who are empowered to record that history. And one of the things that's important about this series, and one of the reasons I was drawn to it and why I gave so much of myself to it, is that we also depict various bands of Indigenous peoples who were on the continent from the beginning, and they are literally fighting for survival and fighting for the land that they believe that they are the caretakers of, and they're constantly being displaced and lied to and murdered.

And that dress is not in the history books. That dress is not like the tome of 1850s America, even some of the photographers from the later 1800s they were like, Oh, this is cool. And it may not have been all of the same tribe or the same region, they just were like, that looks good. This makes a really interesting photo. This is how we want to paint the people.

And so we turned to elders. I was so lucky. I reached out to a wonderful consultant, Julie O'Keefe, who had worked with my friend Jacqueline West on Killers of the Flower Moon, and she was able to find elders from the various Native communities to talk to us, because a lot of that is oral history. So they are telling us what they know and showing us how they make the things that we need to make to accurately depict this moment in time. And that was so incredible and also central to telling this in a way that felt authentic, and honored the actual people that were affected by, you know, American expansionism.

So I would like to think that the Television Academy and my peers who decided to nominate the show, that one of the reasons it stuck out to them was that we did put in that time and effort and created things that had not been seen before, and we did it in a way that was caring and very real. So I'll find out September 6th, what everybody…

Trish: Amazing…

Virginia: I am up against like some heavy hitters, but it is, like I said, it's an honor, and I worked with a lot of incredible artists and craftspeople, and just everybody put in so many hours and so much labor to make it possible for it to look the way it did. So it's just, it's pretty cool. I feel pretty cool.

Trish: Love the Filipino humbleness that is coming out. One, will you be in attendance? And two, will you make what you're going to wear on the red carpet?

Virginia: Oh, my God, Trish. I'm so stressed out about what I'm gonna wear, because there's a part of me that, like we started out with, I'm a dopamine dresser. I want a lot of pattern and color, and just to feel like I'm taking up space, because there are so many ways we are made invisible as women of color, children of immigrants, as artists, as creatives, as people who care about other people. I'm also on the East Coast. I'm not an LA person. There are all these things that I don't want to necessarily blend in. I also don't want to make a worst-dressed list. And my show was so dirty and grimy and real that I also want to be very real, but I also want to reflect who I am. So I'm torn.

Part of me is thinking, I'm going to make a set. As you know, I love a set. I love something that is clearly meant to go together. I also love embroidery, and I love big embroidered dresses. So I've been Googling, can I get some Filipino cloth and make myself an over the dress, some pineapple cloth to do an over- I don't know. I do want to honor who I am…

Trish: Barong-style…Yeah, I love the idea of embroidered tapestry. And you can weave so many parts of yourself, your biracial self, your immigrant self, all the many facets of you. But we'll be watching on September 6, everyone go into social media and message all the people interviewing and be like, have you seen Virginia Johnson yet? Just hype you up, because Filipinos love when there's someone in the community. We do love to show up and support.

But to shift, love to talk a little bit about your home base at gather here. So you mentioned what y'all do at the beginning, but how did you decide to open up? And in the location that you decided to open it up in.

Virginia: So when I talk about creating and collaboration, that has always been at the heart of what I want to do with whatever I'm doing, I want to be in community.

And I don't know if you also follow the work of Carl Lorenz Cervantes, a professor, a researcher, and he is always talking about kapwa, which is fellow humans and kindred and community, and how that is definitely part of the Filipino identity of our communities, and that we have been struggling with individualism and capitalism because of being colonized. Because at our heart, we want to be in community, and we want to be supporting one another, And oh, you need this. Let me give it to you. We can make a bigger table. We can grow more food. I will watch your child. Truly, this we are a village, and we will care for one another. And these ideas are constantly struggling with one another, and for me gather here takes that whole, I'm a business, but I also really want to be in community, and tries, sometimes successfully, sometimes I struggle with it, to blend those needs. I wanted to make sure that we were true to ourselves and true to this idea of sustainability, quality tools that don't need to be replaced, which is kind of very anti-capitalist, because we need people to buy things, right? That's how the system works. And so I can pay the rent, but at the same time, I don't want things to end up in the landfill. I want people to take time and put thought into what they invest in, and trust that what they're investing in will last them a very long time, that they are tools that they will be able to pass on.

And that, you know, you will have a place to go that will help you use those tools, that will support you in the use of those tools. And so gather here is that place, and then, because we're here in Greater Boston and space is at a premium, it's like a privilege to have a sewing or craft room in your home that doesn't displace where you cook or sleep or eat. So for us, creating studio spaces where you don't have to clean off your dining table, you can just come and rent an hour in the studio, and you can do your cutting. You can rent the sewing machine. You can steam all your curtains. We have powerful steamers. We have the equipment that you don't need in your home or don't have space for in your home, so that you can actually make things.

And then on top of that, we invest in a team of people that also want to help you. So in our studio, we always have a studio monitor. They're there to help make sure the machine is working correctly. Help you switch out to a zipper foot, wind a new bobbin. We are providing scissors and rotary cutters, and rulers, so that you aren't hauling around stuff or trying to find that stuff in your closet, because it's there. You know it's there, you know it's going to work. And that is kind of at the heart of gather here.

We've always had studio space, and then we've always had workshops, because this knowledge should not be kept to ourselves or only in higher education spaces or relegated to old books in libraries. People want to make things. People want to sew. They want to mend. They want other ways to express themselves and create that isn't at a desk, isn't at a computer or on your phone, that isn't related to work, isn't related to productivity in that way that everything we do seems to be monetized. And I constantly remind people, just because we're good at something and we enjoy making something, doesn't mean it has to become the job. You know, we can just love doing the thing and being with others and do that thing and not suddenly feel like I make bags now all the time. You know, you don't have to.

Trish: You do get that feeling, as someone that did take a sewing class at gather here, after I sewed my first bag, I was like, is this a business? Am I really good at this? Because you do feel this immense sense of pride after you make something. And as someone that generally works at a computer all day but has a creativity streak, it was just lovely to sit and work on something, and I could kind of be on my phone. But also, you can't because you're on the sewing machine, and you're putting stuff together. But to just have this like singular creative focus for however long it took to put together that bag was really amazing. You know, we talk a lot about the absence of third spaces in today's world, and it's such a again, vibrant, beautiful, welcoming space to be in.

To tie, you know, if anyone has listened to anything you've said today, it is no surprise that you would have this community-driven We Care Wednesdays at the store. So we'd love to hear more about that if people aren't familiar with it.

Virginia: So like many people after the 2016 election, I was like, what more can I do? I just don't know how to use this energy in a way that's productive. I just want to help. I have access to community that are also eager to help, but just want to know more. And have that energy go towards something.

And January of 2017, we started hearing about all the different funds that would be cut under a new administration. And we're experiencing that right now as well. where we hear about, my favorite PBS station has had all its funding cut, you know, and I wanted to take this struggle I have with capitalism, and put it to good use, and I put it out there on Facebook of all places, and some of my former students from my time at Tufts, who also were struggling with what they could do in the workplace, or as artists, one of them was like, instead of just me to donate to a cause, why don't you think about this in a more targeted way so that it's not just you, that is giving your money. Let's find a way for you to rally people behind the cause, and also shine a light on a program, you think is essential to living in a sustainable, vibrant community. And I was like, oh, that's great. How do I do that? Oh, I write a blog for my business. I have a robust newsletter that people write back to. Let me figure this out. And by the end of January, we had launched this We Care Wednesday.

Wednesday is probably the day we would be closed if we were not open seven days a week. But we also do kids’ programming on Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday evening. So okay, well, for us it's kind of the start of the week because weekends are our peak. And then we're recovering, getting in product Wednesday is the restart kind of thing.

So we love alliteration, so We Care Wednesday, all sounded good together, and we started with Food For Free. And food is the nutrients and all of that are human, right? I will die on that hill. And I think at the time, there had been this announcement that funding was being cut from food assistance programs all over the country. And I decided that we'll start here. If you want to fight me, that people shouldn't have access to food. I felt really comfortable being like, then I don't know what's wrong with you. You shouldn't shop here. This is not controversial in my mind. So we started there.

And so every Wednesday, we donate five percent of our sales. Regardless, it could be you signed up for a class, PDF printing, whatever, to that month's recipient. We do a blog post about it. We share it in the newsletter. It's the header on Wednesdays.

And over the course of these years since the launch in 2017, we have donated almost $95,000 dollars.

We're doing twelve programs a year. And obviously November, December are peak. People are already out there doing their holiday shopping, and we definitely think about what are some nonprofits or mutual aid organizations that aren't getting as much attention as others, and we choose those because we know the donation is going to be a little heftier. But every May I do fund-a-thon for the National Abortion Fund, and that's always May. We’re always doing that in May because I'm doing fund-a-thon. It's something that I really care about. And then June, we always do pride organization. And it also just highlights for people, who are coming to the store or learning about us for the first time, or continue to support us, that we are very thoughtful and committed to highlighting a variety of organizations that could do really important work.

Trish: So full disclosure, I did not know that your first organization was Food For Free, and I'm on the board of Food for Free.

So what's next for you, Virginia the costume designer, and then what's happening at gather here?

Virginia: So I just started the prep period for season three of Dead City, which is a Walking Dead spin-off. It's shooting in and around greater Boston, Massachusetts. Lowell. I'm really excited. I've never done zombies before. And yeah, it takes place in-

Trish: Not a common thing you hear in jobs.

Virginia: Yeah. I, as I said, like to keep it eclectic, and just to find ways to ground it in reality.

And then for gather here in August, there will be two community events that we're actually hosting in Vellucci Plaza, which is in Inman Square. It's the park with the big stag sculpture in it, where Hampshire and Cambridge Street converge. And we're doing this community dye bath event, so we will have a variety of dyes. So you can do everything from tie-dyeing to over-dyeing, and just give your clothing or some fabric a new life. You'll have to wring it out and put it in a bag, and take it home with you. But we are doing this, craft in the evening August 13th and August 20th. And we are doing this in conjunction with Cambridge Plays. We received some funding to help support doing this community dye bath.

And then also we've done this collaboration with the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square, where we're doing picks and crafts. So we show a movie, you bring your crafting, the lights are at half so that you can still see your work. We did Rocky Horror Picture Show in June, we did Marie Antoinette in July, and we are doing Prêt-à-Porter, the Altman film, in August. And we sold out our first two. I really hope there's great attendance because if this goes well, we'll continue doing it into the fall and winter. It's just really fun to make and be with other people and experience a film in a movie theater. Crafting can be as solitary but as also as communal as you want it to be, and I literally cried at the end of Marie Antoinette one, because I love that movie so much. But two, because I was there with one hundred and sixty other people, and I was just knitting and enjoying a movie and walking out with everyone. It was just such a joy. So please, please, please come to the movies with us. And, you don't have to make things. There are people who didn't even know it was happening, and they're like, what is up? But, it's just a really fun way to be with others. And, it's matinee pricing, so it's thirteen bucks. It's so reasonable. And the Brattle Theatre is a foundation, and they can use your support.

Trish: Amazing. So I'd like to end with, if you could give a shout out to a fellow Filipino creator, artist, chef, someone out there that needs a light shone on them. Who would you give a shout out to?

Virginia: Well, I'm going to shout out a Union Square neighbor, Jen Palacio, who owns Tiny Turns Paperie. Jen has created something incredibly special, has expanded, has really brought the art of the letter and community building to the Bow Market area, and is essential to doing other large-scale gatherings in that area. I'm just happy to call her a friend and to get to see her occasionally. And just so proud of what she's built.

Trish: I think I have a parol Christmas ornament that I got at one of the fairs at gather here that she was tabling at, so she's really awesome. I'm so excited that she opened a storefront. And please, please, please support small business.

But thank you again, Virginia, so much for taking time to share your story, and all the amazing things that you're working on. We'll be rooting for you on September 6th. And just thank you for being an awesome part of our community.

Virginia: Thank you Trish. Thanks for being my friend and for always rooting for me. It's so special, and it's so important to feel seen in part of the Boston Filipino community.

Closing

Trish: This has been The BOSFilipinos Podcast. I'm your host, Trish Fontanilla. Thank you to Virginia for taking time to chat with us today. Let’s all cross our fingers for an Emmy win! 

To learn more about Virginia or gather here, we’ll include the website and some socials in the show notes. If you’re looking for a full written transcript of the episode, check out BOSFIlpinos.com. 

And if you like our show, you can subscribe on your podcast platform of choice so you don’t miss an episode. You can also follow us on Instagram, we’re @bosfilipinos,. And if you have ideas of what we should cover, are looking to sponsor an episode, or nominate a fellow Filipino in greater Boston, you can let us know at info@bosfilipinos.com or DM us on Instagram. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you soon.

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Filipinos In Boston: An Interview With Senior Outreach Manager Constantino "Coco" Alinsug

By Trish Fontanilla

This month’s Filipinos in Boston highlight is Constantino "Coco" Alinsug. He was nominated by Maria Dolorico, who we featured on our social media feeds during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (ICYMI - we did 26 profiles!). We’re so grateful to have a community that continuously pays it forward like ours does, and love how much we’ve expanded through referrals.

I hope you enjoy our profile of Coco, and if you or someone you know wants to be highlighted on our blog or social media this year, you can fill out our nomination form.

Photo provided by Coco Alinsug.

Photo provided by Coco Alinsug.

But first, a bio provided by Coco: “Constantino "Coco" Alinsug is an immigrant, a minority, and a community leader who devotes himself to social justice, culture and arts, and LGBT youth issues and receives recognition both nationally and internationally for his relentless work. Currently the Co-Chair of Lynn Cultural Council; Board Member of Lynn Community Association, Inc.; and Board Member of Lynn's Goldfish Pond Association, Inc., Boston Public Schools CAB, Global HIV Advisory Board, Consolacionanon Original, Inc, to name a few. Coco attends international conferences around the world as a polyglot, fluent in several languages. He is originally from the Philippines and is not new to politics being a son of a Vice-Mayor and grandson of politicians. Coco and his husband Peter moved to Lynn 17 years ago. Coco was elected to the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee on April 4, 2020 on a 4 year-term.”

Where do you work and what do you do? 
Coco: I work at Fenway Health, the world’s biggest LGBTQ health organization, and I am the Senior Outreach Manager. While in the Philippines, I work as a staff of then Philippine President Fidel Ramos in Malacanang and help start the National Youth Commission.

What inspired you to pursue that career path?
Coco: My community.

On Boston…

How long have you been in Boston?
Coco: 17 years.

What are your favorite Boston spots? 
Coco: Fenway Park. I stare at it every day from my building. It inspires me.

On Filipino Food...

What's your all time favorite Filipino dish?
Coco: Chicharong bulaklak (deep fried pig fat) and lechon (roast pig).

What's your favorite Filipino recipe / dish to make?
Coco: Fried lumpia (Filipino spring rolls).

On staying in touch… 

Do you have any upcoming events / programs that you want to highlight? 
Coco:

How can people stay in touch?
Coco: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cocoalinsug/

Photo provided by Coco Alinsug.

Photo provided by Coco Alinsug.

We’re always looking for BOSFilipinos blog writers, so if you’d like to contribute, send us a note at info@bosfilipinos.com.

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Filipinos In Boston: An Interview With Reporter Elysia Rodriguez

By Trish Fontanilla

This month’s Filipinos in Boston highlight is Elysia Rodriguez! We first connected on Instagram a few months ago, and I was so excited to hear that we had some representation on local TV. Although glancing at the Fil-lennials of New England feed, it looks like we have a handful of Filipina reporters in our midst!

Hope you enjoy our profile of Elysia, and if you or someone you know wants to be highlighted on our blog or social media this year, you can fill out our nomination form.

Photo provided by Elysia Rodriguez.

Photo provided by Elysia Rodriguez.

Where are you and your family from?
Elysia: I was born in Florida but moved to the Philippines just before high school and lived in Metro Manila. I went to Dominican High School in San Juan before coming back to the US for college. 

My father’s side of the family is originally from Sorsogon but my immediate family now lives in Antipolo. 

Where do you work and what do you do? 
Elysia:  I am a reporter for Boston 25 News.  

How did you get into broadcast journalism?
Elysia: I honestly have wanted to be a reporter for as long as I can remember. My father is a musician and taught me to be confident and how to perform. However, instead of entertainment, I chose journalism. I love getting to the bottom of an issue, I love telling stories that impact people, and I love getting to know members of the community in ways that my job gives me access to do. 

On Boston…

How long have you been in Boston?
Elysia: About 6 years.

What are your favorite Boston spots? 
Elysia: I love the MFA and the New England Aquarium (I used to volunteer there as a penguin aquarist).

My two dogs and I love Copley Square - they love that they’re allowed to walk into the Fairmont Copley and say hi, and then also say hello to each and every person who lets them on Boylston and Newbury.

Photo provided by Elysia Rodriguez.

Photo provided by Elysia Rodriguez.

On Filipino Food...

What's your all time favorite Filipino dish?
Elysia: I like the simple classics (basically the ones I know how to make) adobo, chicken not pork. And pancit bihon, because I can’t eat gluten. I can also inhale a platter of suman. 

What's your favorite Filipino recipe / dish to make?
Elysia: Pancit - it’s really beautiful at the end, or halo halo because there are just so many colors. 

Photo provided by Elysia Rodriguez.

Photo provided by Elysia Rodriguez.

On staying in touch… 

How can people stay in touch?
Elysia: They can find me on instagram elysiarodrigueztv or my website elysiarodriguez.com - those are the best.

We’re always looking for BOSFilipinos blog writers, so if you’d like to contribute, send us a note at info@bosfilipinos.com.

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Filipinos In Boston: An Interview With Artist-in-Residence Hortense Gerardo

By Trish Fontanilla

February’s Filipinos in Boston profile is Hortense Gerardo! Hortense and I actually met at BF’s Filipino food pop-up at Parsnip last month, and after hearing about her show next week, I thought that it’d be the perfect time to highlight her.

Thank you, Hortense, for letting us profile you this month, and I hope you all enjoy our latest FiB post!

Birthday smile! // Photo submitted by Hortense Gerardo

Birthday smile! // Photo submitted by Hortense Gerardo

Where are you from?
I was born in Nashville, Tennessee, but my father is from Ilocos Norte and my mother is from Ilocos Sur. Most of my relatives are in Quezon City. 

Where do you work and what do you do?
I am the Artist-in-Residence in the Arts and Culture Department at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), and my job involves devising creative strategies to promote community cohesion and resilience through art. 

What inspired you to pursue that career path?
My work as an Associate Professor in Anthropology and Performing Arts at Lasell College has been an ongoing training ground that honed the multidisciplinary skill set that I bring to MAPC as an ethnographer, playwright, filmmaker, choreographer, and educator. However, the current projects on which I am working, which address issues such as mental health care, climate change, and the opioid crisis, are informing the ways I write and my approach to teaching and collaborating with others. Underpinning all of this is a love of travel and storytelling, and the most compelling way for me to pursue these passions was to become an anthropologist and a playwright. 

Until recently, I never understood where my love of playwriting came from. I was told I had a relative who was in theatre, but my searches came up empty, in part because I had been searching under the last names of more distantly-related relatives. More recently I discovered the playwright, Severino Montano, was my grandmother’s half-brother, and there was a commemorative postage stamp issued in his name (picture below!).

Severino Montano (my paternal grandmother's half brother) // Submitted by Hortense Gerardo

Severino Montano (my paternal grandmother's half brother) // Submitted by Hortense Gerardo

On Boston...

How long have you been in Boston?
I was at Boston University the year Mike Eruzione scored his goal against the former Soviet Union and won the gold medal for the US Olympic Hockey Team. You can do the math. 

What are your favorite Boston spots (could be restaurants / parks / anything!):
I think Boston has some amazing art museums. I never tire of going to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Harvard Art Museums, all of which not only house amazing permanent collections and exhibitions, but are increasingly the go-to places to attend performing arts events. 

What's your community superpower?
I don’t know that I’d call it a superpower, but I’ve been told I listen well and can translate what I hear into the works that I write for the stage or screen. I’ve been fortunate to meet some very generous people with inspiring stories to tell. Most recently, I worked with people from the town of Medfield who shared their stories of the former Medfield State Hospital, which I wrote into a full-length play called, The Medfield Anthologies.

I also worked on a project in which a farmer and a fisherman told me about the impacts of climate change on their respective occupations, and the innovative solutions they’ve found to the challenges they faced. Here are the links to short, documentary “video-lets” I co-directed with filmmaker Monica Cohen: https://youtu.be/oJ2f8XZLGug https://youtu.be/nidApZGs88E

On Filipino Food...


What's your all-time favorite Filipino dish?
Camaron Rebosado is the dish I always ask my mom to make when I visit my parents. I associate it with the big dinner parties they’d host at our house for their friends and relatives. As a kid, I knew there was a special occasion to celebrate when she’d make Camaron Rebosado. 

What's your favorite Filipino recipe / dish to make?
My mom’s recipe for Leche Flan is easily my favorite dish to make. It’s that great combination of being delicious and plates really well, yet ridiculously easy to prepare. 

On Staying in Touch...

Created and submitted by Hortense Gerardo

Created and submitted by Hortense Gerardo

Do you have any upcoming events / programs that you want to highlight? 

How can people stay in touch?
www.hortensegerardo.com

Twitter: @hfgerardo 

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Filipinos In Boston: An Interview With Project Coordinator & Artist Anna Dugan

By Trish Fontanilla

I first met Anna Dugan last year at the Filipino Festival in Malden. She was selling some super cute stickers that I picked up, “You Had Me At Halo Halo” and “Kalamansi is My Main Squeeze,” to name two. She was at the beginning stages of launching her online store, so we held off for a little bit, but now that she’s rockin’ and rollin’, we figured it was time to highlight her!

Hope you enjoy our profile of Anna, and if you or someone you know wants to be highlighted on our blog or social media this year, you can fill out our nomination form.

Happy reading!

Anna Ironbound Mural-2.jpg

Where are you from?
Anna: I was born in Methuen, MA. My mom and her family are from Balayan, Batangas originally. A lot of family members have since moved closer to the Metro Manila area. And when I visit the Philippines, I usually stay with my Tita in Quezon City. 

Where do you work and what do you do? 
Anna: I work full time in Salem, MA as a project coordinator for a travel company. That job pays the bills as I pursue my career as a mural artist and illustrator. I am working hard to create more Filipinx representation around the East Coast and beyond.

What inspired you to pursue art?
Anna:  I have always been a creative person. Ever since I can remember, I have loved everything art related. No matter what job I’ve worked in my adult life, I always found myself making time for the arts. Eventually, I realized that I needed to create things. It was part of me, and it was time to listen to myself and my desires to pursue it. 

On Boston...

How long have you been in Boston? 
Anna: I have lived in the area my whole life.

What are your favorite Boston spots:
Anna: Kaze Shabu Shabu in Chinatown is my absolute favorite restaurant to hit up in the city! Usually followed up with a fresh cream puff from Beard Papa. YUM.

Loud Proud Pinoy.jpg

On Filipino Food...

What's your all-time favorite Filipino dish?
Anna: Sinigang na baboy (sour and savory soup that has pork in a tamarind broth). It is the ultimate flavorful, comfort food. My mom also makes the best Filipino spaghetti.

What's your favorite Filipino recipe / dish to make?
Anna: I love making all kinds of soups - Sinigang, Nilaga (boiled meat and vegetable soup), and Tinola (Filipino chicken soup). 

The Balikbayan Box.jpg

On Staying in Touch… 

Do you have any upcoming events / programs that you want to highlight? 
Anna: I am currently fundraising to send my painted balikbayan boxes to help aid people in the Philippines affected by the Taal Volcano eruption. People can donate to my GoFundMe to help pay for the contents of the boxes and the shipping costs OR they can donate physical goods. They can reach out to me on Instagram (@annadidathing) if they would like to drop off goods.

My family is originally from the Balayan area of Batangas. We are proud to be Batanguenos. And exemplifying the essence of kapwa, when our fellow man is in need we step up to help one another however we can. https://www.gofundme.com/f/north-shore-taal-volcano-relief

How can people stay in touch? (website / social / email if you want!)
Anna: Instagram: @annadidathing - Website: www.annadidathing.com

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Filipinos In Boston: An Interview With Experience Design Strategist Noelle San Jose

By Trish Fontanilla

Of course there’s a million reasons why I love BOSFilipinos, but at the very top of my list is the ability to get into deep dive conversations with our community members on platforms like this. Noelle is one of those people that’s been in my network for years now, but we’ve never had a one-on-one. She’s also been amazing at nominating other people in the community to be highlighted across our feeds, so I figured it was time for her very own spotlight! Thanks to Noelle for chatting with me this month, and I hope you all enjoy her profile!

Photo provided by Noelle San Jose.

Photo provided by Noelle San Jose.

Where are you and your family from?
I was born and raised in So-Cal, in the coastal 805 area code. My parents immigrated to the States from Caloocan City’s Grace Park neighborhood in Metro Manila. My mom immigrated to the U.S. as a registered nurse, and was part of the Filipino “outmigration” of nurses and other workers in the 70s and 80s. My dad is not in the Navy or military, but spent most of his life working for the County of Ventura as a Sheriff’s Deputy and DA investigator. 

Photo provided by Noelle San Jose.

Photo provided by Noelle San Jose.

Where do you work and what do you do? 
I’m an Experience Design Strategist at George P. Johnson, a global experience and brand marketing agency located in Copley Square. I use my research, writing, and marketing skills to design user-centered experiences for our clients, like IBM’s flagship conference: Think.

I’m also the founder of GPJ’s first employee resource group (ERG) for multicultural employees, EPIC, which stands for Empowered People, Inclusive Cultures. Our mission is to use our experiential expertise to activate inclusion and equity in the community. We just launched officially, so stay tuned for more!

Tell us a little more about your career path and why you decided to get into experience design. 
My career path is a great example of a zig-zag! I didn’t plan on going into marketing. My parents wanted me to become a lawyer or a doctor. The lawyer route is how I got my parents to accept my BA in Comparative Lit from UC Irvine. I tried law school for a year, but that didn’t pan out. After doing everything from teaching English to admin to accounting, I decided to take a leap of faith and move to Boston. After failing to find a stable job, I was accepted into Simmons College’s MBA program with a focus on Women’s Leadership and Diversity, Inclusion & Equity. I’ve always been passionate about Filipino culture and social justice, so it was a great program for me! 

From there I worked for HubSpot as a recruitment manager, and was set on applying my D&I passion to the job-- you know, shake things up in tech! I learned a ton about startups and marketing, and co-founded their ERG for people of color. But in the end, it really wasn’t for me. I left that job (and all the free snacks, coffee and beer), to be unemployed for about 6 months. That was a really tough time! I didn’t think I was “allowed” quit a job just because it made me unhappy. I was taught to be thankful for employment, yada yada, but I had to do it for me! While I wouldn’t call it funemployment, I used that time as an opportunity to try other things. I was Board Chair of ASPIRE (Asian Sisters Participating In Reaching Excellence) here in Boston, so I threw myself into that work-- helping with marketing, outreach, events, and fundraising. I also got involved with Diversity@Workplace, a D&I consulting and training group, and delivered an inclusion workshop with them. 

And now, here I am doing experience marketing! I found GPJ through my good friend, Mandy who I met at Simmons College. I love doing the research and writing the briefs! I know that sounds hella boring, but I love diving into the latest research and turning that into fuel and insights for our creative teams. It’s all about telling an interesting and authentic story. I hate dealing with the details of execution, but bless our producers for making it all real!

So back to the original question: I decided to get into this field because aside from my aforementioned skills because I AM that Filipina American woman that’s trying to make her way through corporate America. I’m trying to infiltrate from the inside and pay attention to my experience. In the same way my parents had to navigate American culture, I’m taking a deeper dive into American corporate culture-- someplace that no one in my family has really experienced yet. To make change, you have to be excellent and I’m still putting in that work. 

Photo provided by Noelle San Jose

Photo provided by Noelle San Jose

On Boston…

How long have you been in Boston?
I’ve been in Boston since July 2013! It was a really rough transition from the West Coast, but I’ve come a long way. 


What are your favorite Boston spots?
I live in East Boston, and love the vibe. If you’re looking for authentic Latino flavors, they’ve got it all! I also love Chinatown because of the food. I will drive down to JnJ Turo Turo for pinakbet since I can’t make it right! Bodega and Concepts are also great spots for streetwear. I’m a sneaker head who can’t help but buy more Nike stuff!

57852395_10106779975112381_3275778093599424512_n.jpg

On Filipino Food...

What's your all time favorite Filipino dish?
My favorite is Pinakbet or Pakbet-- I’ve tried to make it, but I haven’t been able to layer the flavors right. And I always pick out the bittermelon. Sorry!

 
What's your favorite Filipino recipe / dish to make?
My regular meal prep rotation usually includes spamsilog, bistek, sinigang, and adobo of course, made loosely based on those recipes linked!

IMG_1728.JPG

On staying in touch… 

Do you have any upcoming events / programs / even work things that you’d like to mention? 
ASPIRE’s Leadership Conference happening on November 16! Please attend, donate and support creating an intergenerational network of Asian American women! [Note: Trish is emceeing this year’s conference!]


How can people stay in touch?

ASPIRE: www.girlsaspire.org
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/noellesanjose
Personal Instagram: noe_san_joe
Hobby Instagram: kutsara_kusinera 

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Filipinos In Boston: An Interview With Doctor Manny De La Rosa

By Trish Fontanilla

Well it’s been almost 2 years of Filipinos in Boston profiles (I started this a few months after we started the organization), and we’re finally interviewing a doctor! I met Manny at the BOSFilipinos meetup at Parsnip in July (amazing food and crew over there!). He’s super new to Boston, so I figured why not introduce him to the BF community more formally? After all, we’re all about storytelling and community!

Thank you to Manny for taking time to chat with me, and I hope you all enjoy getting to know him!

Where are you and your family from? Also, feel free to share more about your family’s background and ties to the Philippines.
Manny: For Fil-Ams like ourselves, the story really began in the Motherland. My mom is originally from Bataan and grew up in Quezon City, and my dad in Candelaria in Quezon Province. My maternal grandparents were physicians; Lola (grandma) was a psychiatrist and med school professor and Lolo (grandpa), a pediatrician. On my dad’s side, my Lolo was the Vice Mayor of Candelaria, while my Lola stayed at home to support the kids. My parents are from huge families! My mom grew up with six sisters and two brothers, and my dad has two brothers and two sisters. Starting in the 70s, my parents, titas (aunts), and titos (uncles) on both sides of my family gradually came to the U.S. to pursue their professional careers and start their branches of our family. I have relatives on both coasts and in the Midwest. My dad settled in Iowa for his first job as an engineer for Case before moving to Indianapolis to work for General Motors. My mom finished high school in Ohio, studied nursing initially, but then moved to Indiana, where she switched her major to respiratory therapy and was later hired by one of the local hospitals in Indy.  My parents met through mutual friends in the small Fil-Am community in Indianapolis, where I was born, raised, and educated. I have a younger brother who lives in Orlando and runs his own social media marketing firm called Vadela (check it out at www.vadela.co). After graduating from medical school at Indiana University in 2016, I moved to the D.C. area for internal medicine residency at Inova Fairfax Hospital. I finished residency this past June, and here I am now!

So tell us a little more about where you work and what you do.

Photo provided by Manny De La Rosa / “Still looking alive after a night shift!”

Photo provided by Manny De La Rosa / “Still looking alive after a night shift!”

Manny: I’ve worked as an internal medicine doc at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a part-time instructor at Harvard Medical School since July. My job at the Brigham is to admit patients to the various medical and oncology floors at night, whether they come in as transfers from another hospital or through the emergency room. At the same time, I am available for any overnight needs for about thirty to forty patients who are assigned to me for the shift. At Harvard, I teach med students how to interview and examine patients at the hospital, and I am one of the proctors for the clinical skills exam they take at the end of the course. I am a tough grader… muahahaha. 


For most Filipino families, having someone working in the medical field feels like a pre-req, but when did you decide to get into medicine? 
Manny: I knew I wanted to be a doctor when I was about 7 or 8 years old. My mom kept many of her college textbooks around the house, and I remember browsing through many of the pictures and diagrams. I thought that the human body was the coolest thing in the universe! Particularly inspiring for me as a kid was how my own pediatrician listened and observed carefully to address my concerns. Every time I saw him, I was curious about why he was asking so many questions, and what he hearing with his stethoscope that helped him come up with a diagnosis to restore my health when I was sick and keep me well when I was healthy.  Combined with the fact that I always naturally enjoyed my science classes, loved working in teams of all kinds, and engaged in philanthropy, I knew that medicine was the perfect career for me. Even though a handful of my relatives are physicians, nurses, and medical lab techs, I never experienced family pressure to pursue a career in healthcare. Now that I am a fully practicing physician after many years of school and on-the-job training in residency, I believe that the same things that drew me to the profession as a kid are why I still enjoy coming to work every day! 

Photo provided by Manny De La Rosa / “This is from my residency graduation banquet. My colleague and I shared the award for Resident Scholar and Teacher of the Year.”

Photo provided by Manny De La Rosa / “This is from my residency graduation banquet. My colleague and I shared the award for Resident Scholar and Teacher of the Year.”

On Boston…

How long have you been in Boston?
Manny: I moved here at the end of June, and I live in JP. 

What are your favorite Boston spots (food, parks, spaces, etc!)
Manny: My favorites are Fenway, Newbury Street, Seaport, the Boston Common, and Quincy Market. In terms of food and drink, James Hook & Company has the best lobster rolls I have ever had, but if you know of a better place, let me know! The Liberty Hotel is my go-to for upscale drinks and dining. Last, but not least, JP Licks in Brigham Circle is where you will frequently find me for a cup of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream before work!

This town is great for fitness too! I often take my bike out to Cambridge and ride along the Charles for the great views and fresh air. Before I moved to Boston, I took up powerlifting. I hired a coach based at Rx Strength Training in Somerville, but I now do most of my workouts at GymIt near BU since it’s in a more convenient location for me, while my coach works with me remotely. 

What’s your community superpower?
Manny: Large-scale philanthropy! I was the Vice President External for the Midwest Association of Filipino Americans (www.wearemafa.org) from 2011 to 2012. As part of my role as VPE, I organized a school supply donation competition between the MAFA member organizations (all university-based Filipino clubs) called the Balikbayan Box Project. We sent a wide variety of items to the Philippines-- everything from pencils and books to old computers.     


On Filipino Food...

 What's your all time favorite Filipino dish?
Manny: I am thinking about this while my mouth waters… tinola! 

What's your favorite Filipino recipe / dish to make?
Manny: Beef Kaldereta. 

Photo provided by Manny De La Rosa / “Last Fall, we went on a triple date with my girlfriend and friends from Indianapolis who were visiting D.C.”

Photo provided by Manny De La Rosa / “Last Fall, we went on a triple date with my girlfriend and friends from Indianapolis who were visiting D.C.”

On staying in touch… 

How can people stay in touch? (Social, email, website, whatever you’re comfortable with)

Manny: Instagram and Snapchat: mannydlr, and email: mcdelaro2@gmail.com

I will be starting a vlog and health/medical education channel on YouTube in the upcoming months, so stay tuned!

We’re always looking for BOSFilipinos blog writers! If you’d like to contribute, send us a note at info@bosfilipinos.com.

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Filipinos In Boston: An Interview With Real Estate Broker Ronnie Puzon

By Trish Fontanilla

If you’ve gone to any of the Filipino Festivals in Malden, Ronnie’s name might sound familiar. That’s because he’s one of the founding partners, along with organizer Kristine Bautista!

Hope you all enjoy our interview with Ronnie, and special thanks to Ronnie for all he does for the Filipino community here in MA!

Photo provided by Ronnie Puzon

Photo provided by Ronnie Puzon

Where are you and your family from?
Ronnie: My mother is from Bicol and my father is from Ilocos, but my parents met in California. My mother was a nurse at the time and my father was in the Navy. When my father got stationed in Boston, my mother planted roots here and became a teacher. They lived in the Charlestown Navy Yard in Navy housing, and when that was closed down, they moved the families into the Charlestown projects. I would call the projects home for the next 15 years.

Where do you work and what do you do?
Ronnie: Right now, I am a Broker / Owner of RE/MAX Trinity in Malden, MA - a real estate agency and we currently have 20 agents. In addition to co-managing the office and agents with my partner, I also assist buyers and sellers with their real estate needs.

Can you tell us a little more about how you got into real estate?
Ronnie: Well I attended Northeastern University and graduated with a degree in Finance. The co-op programs led me to a career on Wall Street where I was an equity trader for 20 years. After retiring in 2012, I decided to pursue a second career in real estate. I first started to get into real estate 20 years ago as an investor. It started out as a sort of hobby. I now rent a number of my apartments to low-income families, and I also help to educate my investors on using real estate as a retirement vehicle.

What are some of your hobbies outside of work?
Ronnie: I love to travel. My bucket list would be to travel to every country in the world. I have only been to 63 countries, so I may be running out of time! I also run and train for marathons. I have completed the 6 World Marathon Majors (Boston, New York, Chicago, Berlin, London and Tokyo). And since every true Filipino has at least 1 or 5 side hustles, I’m also into real estate and trading stocks and options.

If anyone ever wants to talk about any of the above, drop me an email!

Photo provided by Ronnie Puzon. // This picture is of Ronnie with his wife Malinda and his daughter Serena in Venice.

Photo provided by Ronnie Puzon. // This picture is of Ronnie with his wife Malinda and his daughter Serena in Venice.

On Boston…

How long have you been in Boston?
Ronnie: I was born and raised in Boston. I worked in New York City for about 6 years, then came back to Boston. I just couldn’t stay away.

What are your favorite Boston spots?
Ronnie: I like to spend a lot of time in the Seaport District and the North End.

What’s your community superpower?
Ronnie: I like to give back to the community. Although I have not worked for a non-profit, I am involved at the local level with the Malden Rotary (President), Malden YMCA (Board Member), and Asian Real Estate Association of America - AREAA (past Board Member). Internationally, I am involved with Habitat for Humanity where I have been a part of a team that’s build houses in 10 countries.

On Filipino Food...

What's your all time favorite Filipino dish?
Ronnie: I love all Filipino food. Whenever I get a chance to go to a cookout or party with Filipino food, I jump at the chance. I loved my mom's pancit and egg rolls. I wish I had the recipes.

What's your favorite Filipino recipe / dish to make?
Ronnie: Unfortunately, I do not cook.

Photo provided by Ronnie Puzon // This picture is from his recent build with Habitat for Humanity in a village in Lesotho, Africa.

Photo provided by Ronnie Puzon // This picture is from his recent build with Habitat for Humanity in a village in Lesotho, Africa.

On staying in touch…

How can people stay in touch? (Social, email, website, whatever you’re comfortable with)
Ronnie: Please feel free to drop me an email with questions on anything. I like to try to help people out and connect them if I can. I also love meeting people. My email is rpuzon@aol.com, and you can also add me on Facebook or Linkedin.

We’re always looking for BOSFilipinos blog writers! If you’d like to contribute, send us a note at info@bosfilipinos.com.

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interviews Trish Fontanilla interviews Trish Fontanilla

Filipinos In Boston: An Interview With Artist Lexi DeLeon

By Trish Fontanilla

A couple weeks ago I wrote a bit of a rally cry post to invite more of the community to share their stories with us. It’s. Been. Amazing. Please, please keep the stories comin’ by nominating a Filipino you know / nominating yourself.

This month’s Filipinos in Boston post came to me thanks to Alex Poon who nominated his girlfriend Lexi DeLeon. Lexi is a super talented artist and - well, I’ll just let you read the interview below!

Photo provided by Lexi DeLeon.

Photo provided by Lexi DeLeon.

Where are you and your family from?

Lexi: I was born in the U.S., but my parents are both Filipino and both have family in the Metro Manila area (specifically in Marikina). I visited the the Philippines for the third time in my life last year, the first two times being when I was quite young. I don’t speak Tagalog, unfortunately, but it was really amazing and humbling for me to visit there, especially at an older age. I was also shocked at the amount of cousins I had that I never knew about. It made me realize how much of my culture I’m unfamiliar with, which was kind of sad and alienating at times. One thing that I really loved about being there was just the strong sense of community and family. Even though there were many titas / titos (aunts / uncles) that I had never met, they never hesitated to show me anything but warmth and hospitality, and always sought to make me feel included. I felt like I was never alone there, which was a really comforting feeling.

Where do you work and what do you do?

Lexi: Honestly I’m kind of shy about it, and it’s kind of surreal to write out, but I’m an artist. I do a lot of commission work and I also work a part-time job.

Can you tell us a little more about the art you create and how you got started?

Lexi: As a kid I was always drawing and doodling. My mom told me that when I was young I would take markers and scribble the brightest colors in different patterns until it filled up the whole page. I didn't take it seriously until I moved from New York to a random suburb in Connecticut during my teens. I was really shy and quiet, and I moved at a very weird point in the school year, so that was definitely a very isolating time for me. My mom had signed me up for an after school program which had a focus on the arts and I think that's when I really got into it because the teachers there were extremely supportive and encouraging. They were always willing to lend me art materials that I didn't have at the time or take the students to different art galleries in the area. And I dove head first into art as a means of trying to deal with this difficult transition in my life. Also because I’m shy and internalize a lot of my thoughts, art provides a way for me to express my emotions or how I’m feeling in a way that I can't articulate through conversation.

As for the art I create, I don't think there's a real deep meaning or grand message that is the driving force for the imagery. I think my art is really more emotion based and is inspired by whatever media I'm interested at the time. I'm really drawn to vivid colors at the moment so I'm always trying to incorporate as many colors in one illustration as I can, and there's always a lot of florals and nature. I love honing in small details or intricate line work as well, because my mind just gets lost in it. I feel like the way I make art now is definitely very similar to the way I made art as a child - just picking random colors that catch my eye and filling up a page with different intricate patterns until I feel it’s finished.

On Boston…

Photo provided by Lexi DeLeon.

Photo provided by Lexi DeLeon.

How long have you been in Boston?

Lexi: I’ve been in Boston for about 5 years now I think? I came here for college and have pretty much stayed ever since.

What are your favorite Boston spots (food, parks, spaces, etc!)

Lexi: Ooh, I love visiting different places for food and coffee especially. I’d have to say my favorite place as of now is definitely Solid Ground Cafe on Huntington. I saw an ad for it on Instagram I think, or maybe it was on the BOSFilipinos Instagram page (the only time I was ever actually been enamored by an ad on Instagram), and it was for a coconut pandan latte. I haven’t had pandan since I visited the Philippines, so once I saw the post I made it a priority to try and visit before they closed that day. I was running really late (in typical Filipino fashion) and I think I made it at 2:55PM, and they close at 3PM. I felt so bad being *that* customer, but they were extremely kind and made me a latte anyway. It was single-handedly one of the best lattes I’ve ever had in my life, and I’ve honestly had a lot - I worked at a coffee shop for like 3 ½ years. They also make this amazing ube tart and bibingka (Filipino bake rice cake), which makes me really happy because finding Filipino food in Boston can be really difficult. The owners themselves are just really sweet. When I can, I love just sitting there to have those nostalgic flavors and write / reflect / sketch. Oh, and I am a hardcore stan for Coreanos in Allston.

My long winded love letter to Solid Ground Cafe aside, I also really love sitting on the benches of the Charles River Esplanade during the Spring / Summer and walking along the river and people watching. The reservoir by Cleveland Circle is also a really lovely spot to go to on a nice day. I’m not a very talkative or outgoing person, so finding these spots / areas to just sit and reflect in the midst of everything means a lot me.

On Filipino Food...

What's your all time favorite Filipino dish? (Feel free to link up some recipes, otherwise I’ll find them around the web)

Lexi: This is so hard, wow. I think it has to be kare-kare (Filipino stew with peanut sauce) maybe? Growing up, I only had it during special occasions, so I would eat 3 servings of it as a kid and even now. I have to say lechon kawali (deep fried crispy pork belly) is a really close second though. After that has to be tapsilog (beef tapa, garlic fried rice, and egg). And anything ube flavored. Honestly, I love all Filipino food so much and it’s so rare that I have it so it’s very difficult for me to pick.

What's your favorite Filipino recipe / dish to make?

Lexi: I’m sadly not very blessed with cooking skills but either sinigang (Filipino tamarind soup) or tinola (Filipino chicken soup). They’re just really comforting foods to make, especially in the wintertime. Oh and arroz caldo! I like to make it in a big batch so I can eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I had a dream that I made an ube cheesecake. I can’t really bake but I’m determined to learn now since I clearly prophesied this concoction.

Art by Lexi DeLeon

Art by Lexi DeLeon

On staying in touch…

Do you have any upcoming events / programs / even work things that you’d like to mention?

Lexi: I’m part of a group show at MECA gallery in Lowell , and the reception is this Wednesday on April 24th. I post a lot on Instagram but this is really one of the few times I’ve ever showcased my work in a gallery setting so it’s pretty exciting and anxiety inducing for me. There’s definitely a lot of fear with putting your work out there. At the same time I’m really excited to meet other artists and cultivate those relationships with creatives who may face similar struggles, and to help each other grow.

How can people stay in touch? (Social, email, website, whatever you’re comfortable with)

Lexi: I’m most active on my art Instagram, which is @lecksydee, and a lot of my work can be seen on my website at lexideleon.com.

We’re always looking for BOSFilipinos blog writers! If you’d like to contribute, send us a note at info@bosfilipinos.com.

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