Raised in the Burning Bronx with Rosemary Rivera and Mario Menjivar

Mario began his artistic career as an illustrator and designer and had a decade-long run with Disney during what is considered its second golden age of animation. His credits include The Lion King, Pocahontas, Atlantis, the Warner Bros film, and Looney Tunes Back in Action. He was an art director for independent animated features and is now a faculty instructor.  Rosemary was born and raised in the South Bronx and started her creative journey as a magazine writer and editor working at Telemundo and NBC, all while creating ideas on the side. This included developing content for animated movies and TV shows with Mario, and together they created this book called Myra and the Drawing Drama, one of their various collaborations which we'll talk a lot about in this episode today. In this week’s episode, Rosemary and Mario share their experiences as first-generation Latinx growing up in the Bronx, pursuing creative careers, and eventually creating a book together. Theirs is an incredible story of resilience and following their dreams. Both Rosemary and Mario have had a tough upbringing, but they were able to endure it all, become some of the best people in their fields, and become incredibly successful storytellers.  Keep up with Rosemary on her website and her LinkedIn. Keep up with Mario on his website and his LinkedIn. For all Hella Latin@ updates, follow @hellalatinopodcast on Instagram and connect on LinkedIn. More at odalysjasmine.com. To learn more about your ad choices visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Podcast production for this episode was provided by CCST.