St. Paul – Feeding Our Souls: The Essence of Latino Joy

Savory entrees and delectable desserts will again fill the tables at the Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) as we commemorate Latino Cultural Heritage Month through food and the beloved stories behind them that bring community joy. Cuisine and entertainment will be showcased by some of the Twin Cities’ finest chefs and musicians.

Featured Chef: Manuel Gonzalez
Manuel Gonzalez is from Mexico City. He moved to the United States In 1982, after finishing culinary school in Mexico. Having always dreamed of opening his own business, he applied and was chosen as one of the first restaurants to be part of the Latino Business Development Project, opening in their first restaurant in 1999. He invited his sister Victoria, to participate in this adventure, because she has a background in hospitality management and business consulting experience. Together they run Manny’s Tortas inside the Midtown Global Market and a booth in the food building at the Minnesota State Fair. Manny is frequently a guest speaker for economic development programs, and a guest chef at locations such as Macy’s Department Store and Midtown Global Market. He also teaches cooking classes for different events.

Featured Musician: Jesus Guzman
Born in Vargas, Venezuela, Jesus began to study violin at the age of 7 in the National Network of Youth and Children Orchestras of Venezuela, also known as El Sistema. He has studied in the Latin American Violin Academy in Caracas with the violin master, Francisco Del Castillo. In addition, Jesus has participated in masterclasses with violin virtuosos, Guy Braunstein, Thibault Vieux, and Alexis Cardenas. Jesus has an extensive performing career, notably the five years he spent as member of 1st Violin of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela under conductors Gustavo Dudamel and Diego Matheuz. In 2022 He won an award in the Z-film Festival in Minneapolis, MN, for his composition and video edition as a best original song of “Añoranza” Lastly, He is part of the staff of teachers for GTCYS (Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies) working as a violin teacher in the Harmony program in Riverview West School of Excellence – St. Paul (MN), and teaching around the Twin cities.

Program Emcee: Melissa Gonzalez Vazquez
Melissa Gonzalez Vazquez is Communications and Community Engagement Manager at LatinoLEAD. Drawing from her firsthand encounters with the transformative impact of Latine-focused nonprofits, Melissa is dedicated to enhancing our community’s access, visibility, and success through purposeful programming, cross-sector partnerships, impactful narratives, and cross-cultural coalition building efforts. She believes that Minnesota is an excellent hub to foster Latine leadership infrastructure and strategies. She is dedicated to connecting emerging vanguards across industries and highlighting our Latine community’s assets. Her background in congressional campaign communications and designing nationwide Latine leadership programming reinforced her passion for aligning Latine efforts and amplifying its collective influence through narrative writing, digital marketing and graphic design.

Registration

Registration is required for this free event.

Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org

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