Featured Non-Profit: Latina Fashionista®

Their Mission: Latina Fashionista, a project of Community Partners, is a nonprofit organization committed to the advancement of Latinas in the apparel industry by sharing information about education and leadership.

Check out this inspiring young Latina Fashionista® Success Story:

Find out more about this non-profit organization at: http://www.latfas.org/

Latina’s with A Passion for Fashion and Helping Others

On Friday, I had the opportunity to meet with some of the Fashion industry’s brightest ladies over a fabulous dinner at Rush St. in Culver City. We each shared our personal stories and talked about our common purpose: Latina’s with a passion for fashion and helping others.

I left that meeting inspired and ready to conquer the world! Imagine a world where 23 million Latinas can join together as a singular force, to love and help one another and make a difference. As my colleague, Ana Lydia Ochoa from Padma Media and Marketing pointed out, “Watch out world here we come!” Stay tuned for exciting news in the weeks to come!

Celebrating Frida Kahlo

“I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration.”
~ Frida Kahlo

Celebrating Frida Kahlo’s Legacy
Earlier this week, we celebrated Frida Kahlo’s birthday. She was born on July, 6th 1907. It’s been fifty-five years since Frida’s passing and her legacy continues and she continues to inspire many, especially within the artist community.
As I was remembering Frida this week, I referred back to my favorite Frida book entitled Kahlo by Andrea Kettenman (info. available at www.taschen.com) and smiled as I came across the page that highlighted the fact that in the early 1940’s, she gave back to her community by teaching at a School of Painting and Sculpture under the administration of the Ministry of Public Education were students were taught practical techniques and were sent out into the streets of Mexico to receive their inspiration from Mexican reality. Many of the students came from low incomes so tuition and materials were provided free of charge.
According to her students, “What she taught us, fundamentally, was love of the people, and a taste for popular art.” I love to hear stories about Latina’s giving back.
Watch this video by Artist Amalia Mesa-Bains talks about the reception of Frida Kahlo's work in San Francisco. Enjoy!

This weekend, we encourage you to celebrate Frida Kahlo’s legacy by visiting one of the many museum’s featuring her works of art in your area:

LACMA ~ Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
http://www.lacma.org/programs/awmcoconuts.aspx

SFMOMA ~ San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 Third Street (between Mission and Howard)
San Francisco, CA 94103
http://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/15228
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 Third Street between Mission + Howard Streets San Francisco, California 94103 USA

We also encourage you to support your local artists and the following organizations that support art education for young Latino community:
http://www.angelsgateart.org/donate.html
http://www.lamoa.net/u-help-details/

Google celebrates Frida Kahlo's 103rd birthday

This tradition of "Google doodles" to mark holidays, birthdays and other special occasions goes back to 1999.

In order to make Kahlo's birthday a happier one, however, the Google artists seem to have taken some liberties to make the 1940 self-portrait upon which the doodle image appears to be based a tad more festive -- and perhaps to skirt the need for copyright approval.
Instead of the necklace of thorns the artist wears in the painting that most closely resembles the doodle, Google has outfitted her with a necklace made of bone that's seen in another self-portrait. Also understandably absent are the bloody droplets and scratches seen on Kahlo's throat in the thorn-necklace image. And the Google birthday girl sports a rich blue robe, replacing the drab greenish-brown one in the original.

Google celebrates Frida Kahlo's 103rd birthday by doctoring its logo - LA Times

Happy 4th of July

I used to think that Freedom meant living in a free country where freedom of speech was part of our nation's constitution. Today, I am grateful to live in such a country but I am also grateful that I've had the opportunity to experience personal freedom.
Personal freedom is probably one of the biggest gifts I've received in my life. I used to be imprisoned by my own limiting beliefs, one of which was allowing other people's personal opinions about me define who I was. I constantly did things to get other people's approval and I did so at any cost. I desperately needed validation in order for me to feel good about myself. I had no self-esteem, no self-worth. Fortunately, I reached a point in my life where I had to make a decision to either change or continue living my life according to what I thought other's wanted me to be.
I got myself some help and turned my life around! Today, I am as Free as a bird! or a dove (that is Paloma in Spanish) my inspiration for 'paloma' in Palomaya, not to mention the other great things that a dove represents including love and freedom.
Today, I often feel like the happy and carefree part of my childhood and enjoy the same child-like wonder. I have many dreams and aspirations and will continue to dream BIG!

Palomaya and Mamas Hot Tamales

We are so excited about Palomaya's involvement with Mamas Hot Tamales photo shoot going on today. Mamas Hot Tamales is an apprentice run establishment that is part of the neighborhood revitalization effort of Macarthur Park in Los Angeles. Visit their website to learn more. We will post the photos from todays events and keep the positive thoughts headin' our way!

Website Re-Launch

The Palomaya Website is officially re-launched.
A special thanks goes out to Keith Chang and his team at 180 Creative Design and the Padma Media and Marketing team for working hard behind the scenes to get this website up and running