Life & Work with Damián Diaz

Today we’d like to introduce you to Damián Diaz.

Hi Damián, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Vallejo, CA to immigrant parents from Aguascalientes, MX. I grew up listening to Rancheras and Rap music, drawing lowriders and eating pozole. At 10 years old, I started working on Sunday mornings with my brother and Father. We helped our pops with concrete side jobs all over the Bay Area. Work was always important growing up; That and always honoring my Mexican heritage. My Mother always applied that in my conscience. The aim at home was to always work hard and never forget where you come from.

I started working in hospitality at the Claremont hotel (now the Fairmont) in Berkeley as a Dishwasher and worked my way up different positions. Tending tables while I shared stories with rich Bay Area socialites, gave way for me to open my mind and think broader when it came to opportunity.

In 2010 I moved to LA and began my hospitality journey working in all corners of LA county with over 20 jobs. I found my way to bartending when a bartender called in sick one night, and I was asked to sub in. The rest is history. Since then, I Co-Founded Va’La Hospitality, a Hospitality consulting company based out of Los Angeles. My business partner Othón and I were steady with consulting work up until the pandemic happened. That’s when everything changed. In March of 2020, I stopped shaking margaritas and Co-Founded No Us Without You LA. NUWYLA is a 501c3 that provides food assistance to undocumented hospitality workers and their families. At the pandemic’s peak, we served over 1,600 families with healthy food boxes weekly. Currently, we serve 700 families a month. We’ve since branched out to also extend tutoring services, job placement, therapy sessions and food deliveries all over LA county. Extending as many resources as possible is always a priority, as the community we serve qualifies for little government assistance. They’re named the most essential workers yet feel the most invisible.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In 2008 the recession hit. I started working three jobs while helping my family with a Birria pop-up in our backyard on weekends. In between everything I started directing theater and acting in plays in the East Bay. I began to develop film and acting interests, so I slowly planned my way to LA. I got a chance to get a taste of LA when filmmaker and friend Anayansi Prado, asked if I could take care of her dog and home while away on a film shoot for three months. Timing wise this was huge for me, as the year prior gave me some major shifts in life. I had a stint in the hospital due to a spleen rupture, and my partner at the time and I lost a baby. I felt the world collapse in 2009, so the opportunity for LA was heaven sent.

Once I started living in LA, the city chewed me up and spit me out. Everything from not having a place to stay and eating peanut butter scoops for meals every day. I’ve lost business partners and have had to destroy to rebuild. Many things have happened, but I’ve never given up. I tend to use setbacks in my life as fuel to convert into something amazing. I believe heavily in alchemy and in this case, it’s about converting negative to positive.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
In the beginning, our food assistance initiative was started as a response to help restaurant workers who wash our plates, reset our hotel rooms and cook our favorite meals. As we near our third year, we’ve since expanded to working with street vendor coalition leaders, to help provide healthy food options to hundreds of street vendors all over LA county. We now serve the Mariachis and Boyle Heights residents at Mariachi Plaza and have helped provide resources to day laborers.

The communities we serve mostly live in food deserts with little to no healthy food options. Food insecurity is directly tied to health risks, and initiatives like ours help to prevent health issues by providing this much-needed support.

I genuinely love working with the community, to help advocate for our immigrant folks in this country. This passion helps me when I correspond with over 100 volunteers and hundreds of families every month. For 2023, I plan to bring on more resource programming and collaborations. I pride myself in creating non-existent systems for folks that feel invisible. My job is to let them know that they are seen and heard and that without them, our economy would fail. My life experience has shaped me to take action and not be a spectator, in hopes that I can inspire change in this crazy unforgiving world of ours.

How do you define success?
Success is such a relative topic. Kids want to be stars on social media, while we have folks on this earth starving not having basic needs like running water. At the end of the day, we all want our health and happiness. Let’s not get it twisted, it helps to have money, but even rich folks are unhappy and unfulfilled.

At the end of the day if you’re happy you’re successful in my eyes. Be fueled by your passions and speak with your heart; Work extremely hard to be consistent until “IT” happens. Whatever “IT” means to you, that’s when you’re successful.

That’s success.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nouswithoutyou.la
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mr_diaz/?hl=en

Image Credits
All photos can be credited to Mel Castro IG: @melhummel