Today we’d like to introduce you to Edward Ortiz, Raul Lopez, Melvin Villatoro and Gerardo Lopez.
Edward, Raul, Melvin and Gerardo, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Mano-A-Mano started off as a t-shirt brand that aimed to find a voice in the streetwear scene. Our goal was to highlight South Central culture through our brand. We then found there was a greater need for community organization, so we started to get involved in volunteer work with non-profits, attending community council meetings and building a community of creatives that can inspire future generations to pursue creative endeavors. Our ultimate goal is to create a platform that encourages unity through our community as we highlight the overlooked talents of our community members and build future leaders through self-empowerment.
Has it been a smooth road?
In the beginning, we wanted to create a streetwear brand for the people of LA that reflected the culture. The concept for the brand was there, but the resources and support were not there. From the conception of the idea to what the movement has become now, there has been negative feedback. At the end of the day, we want to encourage unity in our community, but some of the feedback we get is that this idea is impossible because our communities will never come together. Our goal goes against the grain and that is one of the greatest challenges.
When it came to production, the challenge became finding a manufacturer to work with. Since we are a small company, it was difficult to find a company that would work with us. Therefore, our products took some time to get produced.
Another challenge has been trying to find ambassadors that can represent our mission and people who are willing to work with us.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Mano-A-Mano story. Tell us more about the business.
Our company is more than a clothing brand; it is a movement. Community service and social advocacy are two aspects that drive our movement. What sets us apart is that we are building a community within our community that uplifts our local community members and highlights them in a positive way by providing a platform where they can express themselves creatively and presenting opportunities that don’t come around too often where we live.
We are known for and specialize in doing community work and self-building. By volunteering with non-profits, we help encourage people in our community to also get involved. In so doing, we believe this will create future leaders and inspire future generations to continue building our communities and ultimately change the “I want to leave the hood” mentality to “I want to bring change to my hood” mentality.
What we’re most proud of is that we are bringing change to our community by taking action and at the same time, we are building ourselves up as community leaders. We also take pride in the fact that despite the negative feedback we sometimes get, we have also received major support from other community organizations that have helped us develop a network that is making our mission possible.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
We truly believe that our community will be more united and we will see more young leaders come out of our community in the future. We want to stay true to our mission and if there are any major changes in the future, we believe the changes will have to do with the impact that our movement will have. Currently, we are working to uplift South Central, but in the future we hope to uplift more underprivileged communities.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.manoamano-co.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: mano.a.mano.co
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mano.a.mano.co
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