ANGELA SUSTAITA-RUIZ ON THE LATINO NARRATIVE
Angela Ruiz has had a whirlwind of a career in Latin media. An entrepreneur with a background in marketing and PR, Ruiz has become an expert at adapting to the dizzying pursuit of success in the business world. Ruiz didn’t grow up knowing that she would end up pursuing a career in such a tantalizing field as Hispanic Media with its many nuances and layers. But if there was one thing she understood throughout her career, it was the needs and values of her cultural community.
Now, as the CEO of newly created Brilla Media Ventures and the online entertainment platform, Nuestros Stories, Ruiz is fighting to change the narrative for of Latino voices. “A lot of the roles that have traditionally been given to Latinos—or people of color in general—are always the same.” Ruiz believes that American media tries to include Latin American culture in its entertainment industry in all the wrong ways. “ Instead of roles that are just being a maid or working in the garden—not that that’s a bad career to have—but we want to show that Latinos are able to be portrayed in better roles, positive leadership roles that are and not just in cartels.”
Currently, Ruiz is working to create a wider, more universal narrative for Latino voices as the co-founder of Brilla Media Ventures. The company was recently established in 2021 with its subsidiaries including Nuestros Stories, an online entertainment platform that shares the origin stories of Latino historical events and, as Ruiz puts it, “all the things we’re proud of as Latinos.” Spotlight Dorado is a program under Brilla Media Ventures LLC designed to promote and uplift diverse voices in the entertainment industry—specifically behind the camera. However, though Ruiz has always loved her heritage, her goals weren’t always aligned with entrepreneurship. This came gradually as she moved through the media industry.
ON THE UNKNOWN OF ADULTHOOD
Growing up in 70’s Waco, Texas, Ruiz faced all the misconceptions Americans have about Latinos first-hand. Her hometown community treated her poorly due to her ethnicity, but Ruiz had always considered herself Mexican-American—with an emphasis on both the ‘Mexican’ and ‘American.’ Her love of Latin culture influenced her choice of major at Baylor University, where she would study Latin American Studies with a hope to go into foreign service.
Ruiz’s first post-grad job took her all the way to Thailand where she began teaching English. A bright-eyed newly independent adult, Ruiz believed that her work would take her all over the world. Though it was a great change of scenery from her life in Texas, Ruiz was beginning to realize that one’s initial goals and adolescent ambitions aren’t static. When Ruiz came back to America, she sought to combine her love for travel with media, being a lover of all things entertainment-based. She soon got hired at Cinemark, a movie theater company, in their Latin American offices. Her work would take her all over South America, from Mexico DF to Santiago, promoting and conducting marketing campaigns for movies. Later she would end up in New York working for Edelman, a marketing consultancy group in their Latin American office.
It was in New York that Ruiz met the man who would become her husband. Manny Ruiz, a Cuban-American and Miami Native, was running in similar circles in the Hispanic PR industry. Though the couple met in New York, Ruiz—being Mrs. Ruiz—decided she was sick of the city and wanted to move back home. However, deciding that she wanted to commit to sharing her life with Manny, they decided to move to Miami together.
ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
“When I was working at Edelman, Manny and I started a company. It started as an event because when I was in Austin,” says Ruiz. Inspired by the South by Southwest model of showcasing creative endeavors in film, music, and other creative industries, Ruiz replicated this type of event and network to benefit Hispanic people. “It became a big event for anyone in the Hispanic Marketing industry or PR or Advertising. They would use our event to launch big campaigns. We worked with a lot of influencers—when they were new on the scene,” says Ruiz.
“Nobody knew who they were,” says Ruiz, being Manny Ruiz—Mr. Ruiz? Angela Ruiz has been working alongside her husband, Manny, for the past 15 years. Hispanicize was the project that made them something more than just man and wife: business partners. Ever since, the lines between work and home have become blurred together, but they wouldn’t have it any other way. So, like everything else, Angela tells the story of her career alongside her husband.
“Please don’t interrupt my interview,” says Angela playfully. They’re both driving from their office after spending hours in phone meetings discussing all things business strategies. The clicking of the turn signal occasionally plays in the background and Manny, the driver, occasionally honks the horn at people likely causing traffic in Miami.
Manny Ruiz applauds his wife for her work throughout the past 15 years as his business partner. He refers to her as his “better half” in all aspects of their relationship. Both of them agree that, despite all of their work together as entrepreneurs, the thing they are most proud of is their family. Hispanicize came only a few years after the birth of their first child, initially making the work-life balance a bit “messy,” as Ruiz describes. But with an uplifting group of colleagues, the Ruiz’s both saw great success with Hispanicize.
It was with Hispanicize that Ruiz’s work began to revolve mainly around working with Latinos. It was a different type of environment than her work with Cinemark and Edelman, with a different cultural demographic. “We’re all from different backgrounds,” says Ruiz, “I’m Mexican, but we have Cubans, we have Dominicans, we have Boricuas. That’s great because we all bring a different perspective.” However, when working with other non-Latinos, there was an educational component because of the misconception that Latin Americans are a monolithic group. “Sometimes non-Latinos aren’t really sold on Hispanic markets,” says Ruiz. “They don’t understand the values and they all speak English.” Understanding the nuances and layers of different Latin cultures was something Ruiz had to be open to learning about, while also being able to teach it. Still, it was her work with Latinos that inspired her to launch her current business, Brilla Media.
ON BRILLA MEDIA AND THE FANTASY AROUND A ‘SUCCESS STORY’
When the pandemic hit, Ruiz’s event-based business model lost all appeal and value as people went into lockdown. Hispanicize had only recently been sold to NGL and the Ruiz’s had just begun building a foundation for their new convention-based business, NostalgiaCon, when the pandemic hit. NostalgiaCon took everything people loved about certain decades and put it in one building. Initially put on in Texas, the Ruiz’s were hoping to bring the idea to Miami when Covid put a dent in all their plans.
Ruiz’s expertise was in event planning, but she had no idea how to adapt that knowledge to the pandemic. “We didn’t know how to help people with all these things that we know from Hispanicize and the community we were connected to,” says Ruiz. “What we realized was that the farm network we were connected to was often not talked about. Their needs were so overlooked—like, who is taking care of these people that put food on our tables?”
It was this sentiment that created the idea for Altisimo Live was born. Having taken place in May of 2020, Altisimo Live was a one-day online event dedicated to helping the farming community through music.“With all the people involved we had all the top talent at the event like Marc Anthony, JLO, Maná—all the “who’s who” of Latin music—it was crazy,” says Ruiz. “And we put that event together in three weeks! Then PNG came in as a big sponsor and iHeart. It was such a great thing to see so many people come together for a great cause. All the Latino community was getting along—we were all doing something for a much bigger purpose.”
The success of Altisimo Live pushed Ruiz to co-launch Brilla Media Ventures, her current entertainment company. Ruiz had gone through her entire career seeing Latinos struggle in areas of PR, marketing, and entertainment. She developed a passion for creating more opportunities for Latinos in these industries. “We’re changing that narrative so that we show up so that there are more positive portrayals of the community and all the positive things that we’ve done for our country,” Ruiz says. “We want to change that narrative into something more positive.”
Angela Ruiz continues to use her entrepreneurial knowledge to uplift her community with Brilla Ventures and is constantly looking to grow. “During elections, people love to throw rocks at our community," she says. “We want to change narratives so that there are more positive portrayals of the community and all the positive things that we’ve done for our country.”