After being introduced to the wonderfully diverse sounds of Latin America through his experiences with AMIGOS, Paul landed a phenomenal job promoting Latino music in the United States!

 

AMIGOS: How did your involvement in AMIGOS impact your life?

Paul: AMIGOS was my first true introduction to Latin culture and life in Latin America. After my first AMIGOS summer in Paraguay, I became infatuated with Latin culture and decided I had to explore it further. 

 

AMIGOS: Tell us a little bit about your AMIGOS experience.  

Paul: My two AMIGOS summers in the Dominican Republic and Paraguay were so completely different. A Caribbean island versus a landlocked country in the middle of South America. A very African-influenced society versus a mostly-indigenous society. But I think these differences were ultimately what helped me develop such a passion for Latin culture – I was fascinated with how there could be so much diversity yet also so many similarities across these different countries. 

In the Dominican Republic, which was my most recent AMIGOS experience, we were basically attempting to form a youth group and create a youth meeting place in the middle of town.  The kids got really excited because we taught them ultimate frisbee.  Town members would come and watch and subsequently got involved in our project.  Everyone started working together and got really psyched about what we were doing. I actually wrote my college essay about teaching ultimate frisbee and how a simple game because such a strong community builder.

 

AMIGOS: In what ways did your AMIGOS experience influence your career path?

Paul: Music is so prevalent in Latin America, especially in rural areas. Most places didn’t even have a television but they all had radios. Towns I lived in always had music playing. I really learned a lot of Spanish through my love of music.  When I first went to Paraguay, I was determined to get to know some Latin artists. I didn’t really know much before then. So when we went to the capital, Asunción, for orientation, I went to a couple CD stores in town and listened to as much as I could. Throughout the rest of that summer and then my summer in the D.R., I rushed to the CD stores to uncover new discoveries whenever I had the opportunity to make it into a major city.

 

AMIGOS: How did you get your big break in the Latin music scene?

Paul: A friend during freshman year of college told me about this guy that had gone to her high school Spanish class and passed out Latin alternative music mixes to the students. She said he was a “gringo” like me. I was intrigued by his story so I looked him up and found out that he was very involved in the world of promoting independent Latin alternative music. So I shot him an email, told him my life story, asked him how I could get involved and help. He had me get involved through an online internship. I first created the pages for his artists on MySpace - which hadn’t really been done for Latin artists at the time. 

Later in college, I went to Buenos Aires to study and this mentor helped me get an internship down there for the summer.  He connected me with one of his old bosses and she would become my boss for the summer at Universal Music Argentina!  It was the ultimate experience for me. We worked with major international artists like  U2 and Jack Johnson as well as local Argentine artists. While it’s a major label, in Buenos Aires it was such a smaller scale. Also, no one spoke much English in the office, not even my boss (who was in charge of marketing and public relations). For those two main reasons – it was an invaluable experience. She was incredible boss and  taught me the world of music marketing from the Latin American perspective. Eventually I went back to the states and finished school. Then I moved to New York City.  While I was working in NYC, I heard from Josh – the first person who hooked me up in this world.  He found me a job with him in Los Angeles. Josh is my boss now!  It was my dream all along to do this.  I immediately dropped everything in NYC, my friends, everything.  I moved to L.A. and jumped on it.  So far it has been a great experience.

 

AMIGOS: Who is your favorite artist?

Paul: My favorite mainstream Latin artist right now is a group from Puerto Rico named Calle 13.  They actually just won five awards at the Latin Grammy’s. They really excite me because they are really creative and original for mainstream Latin music and are really getting recognition for what they do. Calle 13 combines urban Latin sounds with more traditional Latin sounds like Tango and Cumbia. Their lyrics are super witty and hilarious. While so much of popular Latin music is so bland and run of the mill (in my opinion), they are mixing up the scene.

In terms of more alternative Latin music, my favorite artist is Jorge Drexler. He is an incredible songwriter – his songs are so thoughtful and cover some really interesting topics. He combines acoustic and electronic music with such simplicity – it’s amazing. You may be familiar with him from his song “Al Otro Lado Del Rio” - which won an Oscar for its place as the theme song for the movie Motorcycle Diaries.

 

AMIGOS: What advice would you give to other AMIGOS alumni who are pursuing a similar career?

Paul:  The key is to be super aggressive and persistent. When you are intrigued by someone, look them up and contact them! Even if it’s a friend of a friend or your cousin’s boyfriend’s mother’s friend. They are most likely passionate about what they do and will want to talk about their job to someone that is just as passionate as they are. That is how you make connections and start networking! Also, internships are the way to experience and learn about how the industry works. I did as many internships as I could – even if it was over the internet or only a couple hours a week.  Every internship will give you a different experience and new ideas to think about. There are so many different places your passion can take you, so many sides of the entertainment industry that you can explore. Definitely read as much as you can too – magazines, newspapers, blogs, whatever you can find. You can never know too much - especially in such an evolving industry.