- Hi I'm Leslie Ambriz
and you're watching third culture conversations.
- Hey, I'm Manolo Lopez,
and this show is about the longing
and embracing your identity.
- My name's Esteban Gas,
and today we're talking about expanding
the definition of third culture kids.
Third culture kids was originally a term used
by kids who grew up in a different culture
than their parents.
Us three love talking about
culturally complex situations
and contrary complex people
who straddle multiple cultures.
How would you guys think
about a third culture kid
If we expand that definition?
- It's kids who, you know,
whose parents immigrated here
or who are even second generation who you know,
it's their grandparents who came over.
Who're just trying to figure out where they fit in.
I've always heard it said like
we are the 200%.
We're 100% our parent's heritage,
we're also 100% American at the same time.
- To me, third culture just resonates
with the evolution of where we all come from,
where our grandparents come from,
where our parents come from
and where we're going.
- Speaking of where are you from.
All three of us, we got a lot of similarities.
And the way that I think,
we think about these things,
but a lot of differences
in the way that we grew up.
Let's talk about it. - Oh okay.
- Let's talk about it. - Let's do it
Let's talk about it.
- Leslie where are you from?
What's your story? - Me I'm from Los Angeles.
Born and raised.
So hey!
In the working class suburbs of LA,
so right on the outskirts of the city.
Predominantly Mexican and Southern
and central American more specifically.
And yeah, that's where I'm from.
Oh, and my parents are from,
originally both my parents are from Mexico.
- And you're like, I'm Chicana.
- Yeah. All the way.
100% Chicana and I love that
that term means, that blend for me.
I am of Mexican descent,
but I am also fully, American.
- That's great, Manola what about you?
I'm from the west side of Puerto Rico.
I was born in Mayaguez and I was raised in Aguada.
I'm very proud of that.
And my identity is that mix of Spanish blood,
African blood, and Taino Indian blood.
And that's how I identified as a Boricua.
- And Manola you're not just from Puerto Rico
you are, Mr.Puerto Rico.
This dude been on the billboards, Puerto Rico.
This dude has started Puerto Rican restaurants.
Gone all around the world
with Puerto Rican food, right?
And you went to like Japan a little bit ago?
- Yeah, we've done pop-ups with
our traditional dishes mofongo
all around the world.
And I think that at the point
of that intersection in my life
where I embraced who I was,
I also knew that the businesses
and brands that I wanted to create,
had to celebrate my culture,
Because I'm out here trying to show everyone
what makes us so unique.
So everything that I've done is,
hopefully making the Island proud
and will continue to do so, moving forward.
- And Manolo, I have to ask,
what's the key to the perfect mofongo?
- Your mom has to teach you
and her mom has to teach you.
But it's just you need a pilon.
You need a wooden pilon
and you need the green plantains,
and you need that garlic and the chicharrón
double spices.
And it's gotta be something
that's handed down from generations.
- Got it, so I'll need to hit up
a Puerto Rican friend to help
me make some of that.
'cause clearly I cant.
- Yeah, Manolo's answer like,
"well, you can't make it".
- You can't make it.
- That's not what I said, come on guys.
I'll make it on set for you guys.
- Okay Manolo's gonna- - This show is about inclusion
but if you wanna make mofongo
find a new show.
Get outta here.
- Oh, my God.
How about you, Esteban?
- I'm the son of two Colombian immigrants.
I was born in New Jersey
when my dad was finishing, his PhD.
Was born in April, and then by that fall,
we were in Puerto Rico, we were in Mayaguez.
- [Manolo] That's right.
- And I lived there for six years
and then moved to Chicago land
and bounced around Illinois,
in central Illinois, and then Panama.
And then moved to LA a few years ago.
I think my story has been a big journey.
I think the way I think about identity,
especially like cultural identity,
is this journey.
And I mean, I think I went through phases
where I was like embarrassed
to be Colombian and unoriginal.
Kids would be like, narco or drugs
and like all these bad stereotypes
- Stereotypes!
- 'Cause there's nothing else on TV-
- Wait, what did you respond to them
when they would say that?
- You know, I don't know,
I don't think I was... I think I was just like,
no, I needed to be wittier.
That's where I developed this wit.
I mean, I remember giving a presentation
at school and someone raised their hands
and the teacher did nothing.
Someone raise their hand and goes,
"does your family sell drugs?"
It was a presentation on Columbia,
I was so proud to give it,
and yeah, no one did anything.
- Did it break your heart?
- Oh yeah! It broke my tiny little heart.
Especially living in places where,
I'm like one of the few Latin X students.
I think it's been this journey where I am,
or I'm like sometimes ashamed
and reject the culture.
And sometimes I embrace right.
So I then I think like, even in college,
in those one year,
I was like into the fraternity
and I was like, guess I'm white.
Call me Steve.
And then the next year I was like into activism
and
and I helped them start a newspaper.
This is in the span of whatever nine months.
So I think for me, it's been this journey.
The two of you seem more comfortable
in your cultural identities,
but do you have moments
where you've rejected or you've
embraced your culture?
'Cause I think those are conversations
we don't have very often, right?
It's sort of embarrassing for me to sit here
and be like, I don't wanna be me.
But have you had those moments?
Do you also feel like into
this journey that we're on?
- Yeah, oh I can tell you right now,
I've rejected my culture growing up in Puerto Rico.
I was fortunate enough to go to private school.
And when you go to private school,
most of the lessons are in English.
But the lesson of history was also in English
and it was the history of North America.
And that deprived me of the history of my Island.
Now I grew up Americanized,
Nickelodeon, Disney, NSYNC, Jay-Z.
And I really didn't know much of the Island.
When I was of age, I moved to New York
and I thought that was what I wanted.
And I thought that anything up North
was better than what was going on on the Island.
And I was slowly, understanding
that there is a part of me
that was missing.
And it was actually the knowledge
and the history, that I needed to acquire
of my Island and those in the diaspora
that moved out.
And I'm proud to say that I learned
how to be Puerto Rican in New York.
When I moved out of Puerto Rico,
because I started learning about our history.
I started learning about our music
la salsa la fania.
I started retaking ancestral food
from our Afro Boricua culture.
And to me, that was the point where I was,
I took too long to understand
and be grateful of what I had,
only until I moved out and lost it.
- Are you still an equal fan
of NSYNC and Jay-Z ?
- Only Jay-Z.
- You're saying you're growing up in Puerto Rico
and they're like in the main land
NSYNC is there and you're like,
I gotta get there.
- They did a lot of promotion in Puerto Rico-
- Hey that Bye Bye Bye it goes hard, you know.
- That's fine.
- I love it man. Thanks for sharing.
- I think for me it was a weird journey
of a lot of... I think I dealt with,
no I know I dealt with a lot
of self hatred growing up.
Where I wasn't proud at all to be,
Mexican American.
I wanted to be like everything, but.
And so, even just going on that journey
and it wasn't until actually
until I got to college,
that I finally started to open my eyes.
In college, it happened because
I went to a predominantly white private university
and I was like, oh wow,
this is me being Mexican American,
me being born and raised in Los Angeles,
like this is what makes me different
and this is what makes me stand out.
And not just like everybody else.
And so I really started
to embrace that in that sense.
And that's when I just went like,
all the way in.
But I think even back in the rejection
with like my self hatred a lot with strangely,
a lot of it came from being made fun
of by like my family members
or from, friends who were Latina X,
who would call me whitewash.
Just all these things, where it was like,
if I liked anything that was
outside of Mexican culture
to them, or at least the way that
I felt they were portraying it,
felt like, okay, well if I like
this Indie alternative, Myspace,
skinny white boy music,
like then that means
I'm not like Mexican enough
or that means I won't be Latin X enough.
So I felt like this rejection from my culture,
which led to a lot of self hatred.
Which even though I was proud
in a lot of other senses,
it was still very like very in me,
like in my soul and in my spirit.
So that took a lot of dismantling honestly,
it took a lot of dismantling
and I'm like really proud
and excited to say that,
I don't think there's even like .00001%
of an ounce left in me of that.
Where I'm now just
who I am unapologetically,
this beautiful blend of being born here,
but being a Mexican descent.
- I remember going to Columbia
and being like,
And they, you know, family members
yeah lovingly, but being like
And I was like,
And they're like, -
- Yeah words hurt - It would be like what!
But that's what, this show is about right?
In every episode we are sitting down
with incredible people
who help us navigate the cultural complexities
while also us, reflecting on
what it means to be a third culture kid.
Thank you for watching.
And we hope to see you soon.