 Hi and welcome to School Puzzle, I'm your host Sarah and this is the show where we chat with everyday entrepreneurs about everything that goes into starting a new adventure. Hispanic Heritage Month is here and for this episode I am speaking with Maricel Salazar. She is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, a food writer, and a show host. She hosts United States of Spirits on the Spirits Network and Driven to Dine on MSG Networks. And her culinary writing has been featured in Mission, Insider, Vine Pair, Thrillist, The Tasting Table, Pure, WoW, NYC Go, and Martha Stewart Living. She's also the founder of Dew West, a brand communications agency. Maricel, welcome to the show, it's so great to have you here. Thank you so much for having me Sarah and I want you to follow me around everyday because what an introduction. And do your intros? Yes. Wow, I do sound impressive. You are impressive and that's why I'm so glad we're here in this beautiful park in New York enjoying the sunshine and chatting about your career because you know so much about how to get started in food writing and hosting and so many people want to get into that industry. Yeah. So I'd love to just hear if you could tell your own story in your words. Yeah, you know it's a really interesting journey because when I first graduated school there were no programs for food writing. Becoming a food writer was not a job that your parents were like yeah you should do this. You were succeeding. Exactly, you should do this role where you're probably not going to get paid very much and there was no clear cut path for how to become a food writer. But I knew I wanted to do it because I've always grown up loving to tell the stories of people and the people behind the food. And I had this ratatouille moment when I was in Spain. I was studying in Madrid as a student and I was at El Mercado de San Miguel. I bit into an anchovy stuffed olive and it was like a flavor explosion in my mouth not to get ol' Guy Fieri on you, but like. No, it's funny to me because like you're already getting into the food element of how just eating something has changed your entire life. I completely changed the course of my journey forever. I was a virtual editorial assistant for a website here in New York City. And I started very slowly reaching out, pitching myself to very small publications. I was not paid anything, mind you. Well that's the thing, that's what I'm curious about because I also have done some writing, not food writing, I started doing travel writing and the first jobs you get are normally unpaid and that's why people don't really encourage people to go into this career path. Right. But obviously you have gone past the not being paid to being paid and you've even transformed into a show host. Yeah. So what was your first job in writing and then how did you manage to start getting paid in it? Yeah, that's a great question. How do you, people ask me that all the time, how do you make money, how does that work? Yeah. You know, that's when you do something fun. When they ask you how do you make money because it seems like you're just not working. Exactly. Exactly. You know, like yourself, if you saw the behind the scenes of like how my actual day to day life goes, you might be like, I don't know if food writing is for me or hosting because, you know, it appears easy and graceful on camera, on the paper and it's all constructed to look that way. But it's like with any gifted athlete. They make it look easy, but they've had years of training and they know just how hard it is. Exactly. So the more smaller publications that I wrote for, eventually I started to build this portfolio and medium-sized publications took notice of me and I would pitch to them and they gave me a shy. And then once I had enough medium-sized publications under my belt, I started pitching to larger publications, you know, these national or international ones that you may know of, like you said, Michelin guide, tasting table, Zagai. And then it turned to a point where I wasn't reaching out to them anymore. They were coming to me. And that's where, that's the moment that everyone wants to be at. Right. But this was, this was several years in the making. This was not an overnight thing. This was every day after my full-time jobs, I would work into the night. My weekends, my lunch breaks to make it, to make it all happen. And it does take time. In 2014, I got laid off for my first time. My company was going through a downsize and pretty much the entire department that I worked in got let go. And at that moment, it was the scariest thing that had ever happened in my professional life. Well, it could have been a gift. It was my biggest blessing, Sarah. Like, had I not been pushed out, I don't think I would have ever left. And that's, I needed to be pushed out. From the moment that I lost my job, I was like, this is a sign from some God telling you, you need to pursue this. And I did. I gave myself six months to make it work. And I said, if after six months, this food writing, however I want to shape my path, doesn't pan out or doesn't look like it's mounting into something. All right, I'll go back. I'll look for consulting work. And there we go. But it sounds like, you know, a lot of it is talent. But a lot of it is pitching yourself. Absolutely. And I think a lot of people are not comfortable with self promotion. Correct. But in this industry, you have to self promote. Because if you don't do it, no one's going to know who you are. Yes. It's like I say, like on the webpage of Do West, my private brand communications agency from the get go, the website landing page says, it's simply not enough to exist. Yeah. You must be heard. Exactly. I love that. It hits you right off the bat and it's so true. Now it's Hispanic Heritage Month. So tell me, how has that impacted your career? I know that you write a lot about Latina like organizations and Hispanic food and you create great recipes. Check out our Instagram. There's some great recipes there. So how have you been incorporating that and how has that impacted your career? I never made it a declarative statement that I was going to cover Hispanics, Latinos, BIPOC or minorities in my work. It was something that I always just did because I wrote from who I knew and what I knew and my own life experiences. And that's the best place to write from. Exactly. Because it's true. It was true. It was my truth and it was also my bridge to connect with other people who might have been shy to tell their story. Because of coronavirus and the racial unrest that we're experiencing in this country, I made it declarative even to my publications and outlets. You know, I have all this work showcased on my social media. This is who I'm covering and here is why. Because I as a Hispanic female, of course, I've been knowingly stereotyped. I've been unknowingly stereotyped. I don't know how many chances I've been passed over just because of my name. Yeah. Maybe people looking at my background or how I sound. I don't have an accent. I learned English when I was very young. But I can only imagine how much more difficult it would be for me if I did have an accent, if I did look just like a stereotype. And one of the pieces, I guess, in my work that I pivoted to that I'm extremely proud of is working with undocumented restaurant workers telling their stories. Yes. And this is the thing. There was a great article that you were just quoted in. Yeah. Let me read the quote to you all. Oh, thank you. Okay. So this was in New York One. Yes. And, you know, undocumented workers are a huge part of New York City's restaurant scene, which is struggling now. So the article kind of talked about that. But you said, it's not anyone's dream to live in a country illegally. It's not anyone's dream to have to get smuggled into a country and have to find a job that might put them in jeopardy. Now, I'm married to a Guatemalan. Yes. He, like, came here illegally. But now he's a citizen, so everyone relax. Okay. It's all good. So I understand this personally. Yes. But I'd love for you to share more about it from your perspective as well for those who are still here. It was really important for me to tell the stories of undocumented restaurant workers because they are voiceless. They're free to speak up and defend themselves given their visa status, given the fact that they fear losing their job and they have families to feed, people who rely on them. Yes. One of the biggest difficulties in pursuing this was developing the trust in relationships with these undocumented workers. You know, it's one thing to go back a pass to a kitchen and say, hi, thank you so much for a wonderful meal. And another to get somebody to tell them they're their most sensitive secret. Yeah. Because they're scared. They are. And they just come here to work. Right. That's it. They're not trying to take anything. I mean, they're some of the most hard workers I've ever met in my life. All they want to do is come to this country and work and work, work, work just to get a little bit of something to help. So send back to their family normally. But they even invest in the local economy and the domestic economy. You know, undocumented workers pay something to the tune of $11 billion in taxes every year. Yes. They're taxed at a higher average. And they get nothing back after that. They get nothing back. They're taxed at a higher average, 8%, 10% of Americans, which is something like 5%. So everything that they financially put into the economy they do not receive back in benefits. So not only do I now cover undocumented workers but I'm also co-hosting, I'm hosting and I'm executive producing a documentary that talks about the effects of coronavirus on restaurants and part of that has to do with undocumented workers. Yeah. So what have the, from what you've heard what are the undocumented workers doing right now to make money since many of them have lost their jobs? Sarah, they have nothing. It's incredible for how much they give to our workforce, how they're the backbone of our restaurant industry and how they... They are the backbone. That is so well said. And their financial contributions in the form of taxes, they receive nothing in return. They're not eligible for the $1,200 stimulus checks. They're not eligible for unemployment benefit. They can't apply to small business loans. They are relying either upon, if they're fortunate enough, to have a restaurant job or on crowdsourced funding. So like... Like Patreon and things like that. Exactly. Okay. And speaking of crowdfunding, a lot of them don't have the resources to technology like that to understand how to... Receive it. Yes. At least that's what I've experienced. They are reliant upon somebody else, either their restaurant, their managers, a family friend who might have access to internet, who knows how to set these things up. There's just so many limitations and inaccessibility to resources. A lot of these people are waiting in lines for food at soup kitchens. There's wonderful organizations out there like Rethink Food and World Central Kitchen who are providing these meals to those in need, but there is a stop to that. We need jobs back. We need these restaurant jobs to come back. The onus of that is on our government and on our local municipal leaders in order to bring those jobs back. That's part of the reason why in this documentary I highlight the Restaurants Act of 2020. This is a $120 billion grant for the restaurant industry. You don't have to pay it back. How can we make sure that the people that need this money the most know that they can get this? I mean, first, Restaurants Act really needs to get passed. That's first and foremost. It's being spearheaded by Congressman Earl Blumenauer. It needs to happen. One in five restaurants have already closed since the start of pandemic, and they estimate that 90% of restaurants will close at the end of the year. It's so sad. If you can't think about, you know, if people don't have empathy for anybody else, they'll have empathy for yourself and think about what your life will look like without restaurants. What's in a restaurant? Exactly. And that's why my work has drastically pivoted as a food writer to, you know, to making this documentary so that hopefully this act can get passed, you know. That's phenomenal. When do you expect this documentary to come out? We want this to come out really quick. We're in the final stages of filming. It's been a heavy documentary because when you have people pouring out their struggles and their pain to you, it's, you know, it is like fuel. It does give me inspiration and feel like I'm going to do everything I can in my power as a food writer, as a host to help you because you need your voice amplified and if I could do that for you, I will do whatever I can. Yeah, and I saw that you wrote an article recently about 25 Latino-owned businesses in New York. So that's one of the things you're doing, which is great, spreading the knowledge. If you haven't read that, check it out. Go to some of those restaurants, bars, businesses. Support. The food will be delicious. I can listen to you with that. Latin food is delicious. Yes. What other things are you doing besides this documentary in your writing side and your hosting side? You know, like everyone, we were chatting before how we pivoted in our business. Yeah. Everyone had to pivot. If you didn't, you're one of the very lucky few. Exactly. And one of the biggest ways that I've not only pivoted but I've pivoted in support of the Hispanic and Latinx community is through cooking. I've actually always cooked. I'm known as a spine dining food writer, restaurant writer, travel writer. But I've always cooked. I actually was a chef's assistant for several years here in New York City. I had a short stint as a wholesale granola business. I would bake and deliver to hotels in Soho. I've been a cater waiter. You know, I've done it all. And I think that's what makes you so special because you can see all the angles of it, which makes you a great writer or great host because you're not going to judge anyone for being a dishwasher. Correct. You've done all the jobs. You know what it's like. It makes you appreciate it more. Exactly. I mean, that's how I say it. My apartment doesn't have a dishwasher so it keeps me humble. So you are the dishwasher. I am the dishwasher. Very humbling. And cooking Hispanic food, Panamanian food, Cuban food, but then also, you know, cooking recipes that I learned growing up which are outside of my country, Peruvian food, Mexican food, you know. In Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia area, there's a lot of immigrant communities, primarily El Salvador Eño, Guatemala and Honduran, some Mexican, Peruvian, of course. So I grew up also eating these foods from other Latin American countries and learning how to make them myself. And you're starting to incorporate that into the recipes that you show people? Right. So I've been working with magazines on doing video demos, showing people how to cook. Very simply, like, another culture's food doesn't have to be daunting. And I thought, how can I translate that to something that's digestible and delicious looking for folks? And not overwhelming to someone that's not in that culture. Exactly. How do you think non-Hispanic people can help support the Hispanic community better? That's a great question. And I think it all boils down to don't judge so quickly. I think there's a lot of assumptions made about the Hispanic community just based on appearance or by sight alone. There are some people without education. There are some people without accents that doesn't make them any less smarter or educated or work hard. They weren't given the same opportunities a lot. They weren't given the same opportunities. Kids have to go to work at eight years old in Guatemala. They work so much and they ask for so little. So I would say, don't make assumptions about anyone, Hispanic or not. I think that's the first step. And then the second step is think about within the Latinx community. We need to have reforms ourselves. How can we better support each other? Latinx to Latinx. What are we doing to promote from within? What are we doing to elevate our fellow Latina, Latino, Latinx person? And it's also our leaders within being better leaders. Our own leaders need to step up to the plate for us. And then again, it's hopefully folks like myself, use the gifts and talents that you have to not only elevate yourself, but try to bring up other people. I had the very good fortune of talking to Rosa Parks' cousin, Dr. Angela Williams and Sadler. And she said to me, the civil rights movement is everybody's movement because Latinx were brought up by the civil rights movement. The civil rights movement allowed the space for Latinx to be in the same room as a white person. And so that's also something that I think is very impactful. As Latinx, we also need to be accepting of the black community, communicate with our fellow brothers and sisters because this all affects us. And it is my greatest honor and privilege as a food writer, being bilingual, being Latina, to use my profession and my work and whatever voice that I have to try to tell these stories, to get these people put on the map and not just the figurehead Hispanic chefs that are already popularized. Not already the big ones. We have the big ones. What are we doing to bring up the people who haven't made it big? And some of the best chefs are like the taco guy that serves the tacos from the truck under the highway. I had better tacos there than in a gourmet Mexican restaurant. Yes, exactly. I mean, it's talent across different levels and that's why it's something for me to be in a position to be a writer for the Michelin Guide to be their only Latinx writer. Wow. That's actually concerning to me that there's only one Latinx writer. And so I use my position in whatever influence I can to also to elevate the cuisine and what I mean to say is there is assumptions made about Latin American food, that it's street food, that it could be cheap, that it's not classy. Well, when you have restaurants now like Cosme or Pujol, you know, that are world's 50 best, even one of my close family friends, his name is Mario Castrion. He's a Panamanian chef and he runs Maíto. I had the pleasure of dining with Dominique Cren, me at Maíto in my home country, Panama. It is number 17 Latin America's world's 50 best. That is amazing. It is Panamanian fine dining. So it's also to change the conversation of what Latin American food could be. So speaking of Hispanic Heritage Month, what are you doing to celebrate? Oh my gosh, Sarah, I've been cooking so much and you know, it does seem like a pretty passive answer to say like, I celebrate by cooking. But cooking is like so, it's so delicious, the food. I celebrate by cooking. Flavors, the spices. Sharing it. You know, that's a part of it. You know, the education comes from sharing the food, which is why I'm so excited to be working with my publications on these recipe videos to tell a little bit about the history to put more Latin American cuisine on the map. My biggest hope though is that this doesn't stop when Latin X Heritage Month stops. Every day should be Latin American, you know, Latin X Heritage Day. Latin American, Latin Heritage, Latin X Heritage Month. Every day doesn't stop once it's October 15th. You know, that's my biggest fear that we're caught up in a trend. We're caught up in a season. It should be every day that it's celebrated. Yes, I completely agree. I think that all cultures should be celebrated regardless of where you're from, what language you speak, your economic status, or your education level. We should all be accepting everyone equally year-round, not just during Hispanic Heritage Month. Something that I'm really hopeful of is I've started noticing publications when they do have a story that touches upon Latinx, Latinx, immigration, Hispanic cuisine. They're now reaching out specifically to me. That's good. I think it's very telling of the change in media culture where they're seeking writers of that background to tell the stories because they can tell it best. Exactly, exactly. I mean, I can't speak to the Hispanic community like you can. That's crazy. I mean, some folks are doing it really well. Our Zagat, the Spruce Eats, Thrillist, you know, they have actively reached out and said, you know, and eat her, too. They've actively reached out to me and said, we know you cover this. We like your work. Would you like to write it instead of me having to constantly pitching and be like, did you remember about this? Yeah. And here's why I should write it. Right. I love it, and I hope I see more of it. And that came from all the hard work that you did over the years, building yourself up and never giving up. So those out there that want to be a food writer, don't give up on it. Don't give up. Because it does take many years. And then someday I'll be interviewing you right in this part. What is your advice to aspiring entrepreneurs out there? So my advice is something that I say time and time again. And it was told to me by the former food critic of the Washingtonian. His name is Todd Kleiman. I think I know where you're going to go. You know exactly where I'm going to go. It's because I've said this so many times. Yes. But it's so worth it. So please continue. It's so true. He told me once I was a senior at school in college. And I was lucky enough to get on the phone with him to ask him advice about food writing. And he said, Marisol, this is going to be hard. It's going to be very difficult. You will be told no a lot. But what do you do when something that you love doesn't love you back? You do it anyways. And I carry that advice with me every single day. And I would say that for anyone pursuing a passion, a goal, they want to turn it into a financially successful endeavor. You're going to get told no a lot. You really will. Rejection is a part of it. Just become used to rejection. It's going to happen. It's nothing personal. We will feel it personally. But it will happen. You just do it anyways. Keep going. The most successful people have been told no more than the least successful people. I can assure you of that. 100%. And in that same vein, I love telling stories about other people, about food, the culture, who makes it. Trying to bring up workers' rights. And I truly hope that more publications, more publications and more entities will continue to give me the opportunity and the honor to tell these stories because I hope to use my voice in the service of others. I hope so too. Well, it's been absolutely wonderful having you on the show Maricel. So thank you to everyone that joined us and thanks to those who tuned in today. And if you want to learn more about Maricel Salazar, visit her at maricelsalazar.com and follow her on Instagram at Maricel M Salazar. She has great ideas on Latin recipes and dining, so your taste buds will thank you. I can assure you of that. So that's all for this edition of School Apostle. Keep up with other episodes on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you can stream and download podcasts. And if you like what you heard today, please consider leaving a review. It really helps us. Share with your friends. Subscribe. And we'll see you next time. Bye.