Nonprofit

A Vision for the Future: Balay Kreative Launch Party

In July of 2019, Make it Mariko teamed up with our nonprofit partner Kultivate Labs and won a $250K grant from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD) to plan a series of pop up events to strategize for a future Filipino American Arts & Culture Center, Balay Kreative. We’ve been hard at work strategizing for this project as well as going through a series of community trainings called “Trauma Informed Systems” work so that we can better serve our entire community. Read More

Top 10 Make it Mariko Moments of 2019

As the decade draws to a close, we’re taking a look back at some of the highlights of this incredible year. From the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach to UNDISCOVERED SF Season 3 to nonprofit events for Leap Sandcastle Classic, these are our Top 10 Favorite Moments from 2019! Read More

Entrepinays Summit, Day 1: Building Sisterhood In The Hustle

The 2nd Annual Entrepinays Summit has left us feeling overwhelmed with gratitude for the incredible community that we’re surrounded by. Make it Mariko is proud to be a Presenting Sponsor of Entrepinays Summit every year. On October 5th, we had over 250+ Pinays from across the Bay Area and beyond sharing space at the beautiful Bespoke Event Space for our first day of a weekend summit. This was only our 2nd year, and already we had double the # of days, doubled the workshops, and the people!Read More

Photo Blog: UNDISCOVERED x Sunday Streets 2019

As summer draws to a close, we want to take a look back at one of our favorite events and collaborations – Undiscovered SF at Sunday Streets! We teamed up with Sunday Streets to create a summer block party by SOMA Pilipinas landmark, Victoria Manalo Draves Park, that brought thousands of people out on a sunny, Sunday afternoon. Read More

UNDISCOVERED SF 2018: Season 2 Recap

The 2nd season of UNDISCOVERED SF was such a blur — an amazing blur — that we didn’t have time to write or post about it until it was over! As the Co-Founders of UNDISCOVERED SF, San Francisco’s only creative night market that showcases the rising talent of the Filipinx-American community from the Bay Area and beyond. Make it Mariko was excited to take on several new production challenges to expand from our successful first season. From 3rd wave Filipinx food and desserts, handcrafted accessories and threads, and underground artists breaking into the music and art scenes, this seasonal gathering is a celebration of history, culture, and identity.Read More

A Look Back at the Leap Sandcastle Classic 2018

We had an amazing time as always at the Leap Sandcastle Classic again this year! Thanks so much to Leap Arts in Education for always having us back.

Check out some of our favorite photos from the event! See you next year!

Bluxome Center Grand Opening

This year we were so excited to start offering a new service to our clients — VENUE CONSULTING! For our first venue consulting client, we partnered with Alexandria Real Estate to reimagine a completely empty space and turn it into a beautiful, functioning community event space!

After 9 months of work, construction, pitching proposals, branding, and outreach we finally launched this month to the Bluxome Street community in Central SOMA as Bluxome Center!Read More

Art Changes Lives 2018 – A Colorful Nonprofit Arts Gala

San Francisco is known for many things, namely its art and the freedom to be whoever or whatever your soul desires. For 35 years, Creativity Explored (CE) has been creating a supportive environment for artists with developmental disabilities to create from their soul. With two studios in San Francisco, Creativity Explored provides an amazing space for artists to explore and achieve their fullest potential. Thus, it was only fitting to celebrate 35 years of creativity in full San Francisco flair – with lots of color, laughter, pizazz, and community. Read More

Top 10 Magical, Meaningful Moments of 2017!

Wow, is 2017 seriously over already? This has been a WHIRLWIND year, in a really awesome crazy way. Make it Mariko has grown and expanded our reach like no other, and we’re so thankful for every single client, community, and organization that has crossed our paths this year. We look forward to growing our family even more in 2018!

Here’s a recap of our favorite magical, meaningful moments of 2017:

UNDISCOVERED SF – Launching a New Creative Night Market for SF

When I was introduced to the movement around SOMA Pilipinas by my friend Desi Danganan about a year ago, I knew I had to get involved. I had just launched Make it Mariko a few months back, and was ready to get back involved with the community especially rallying around Filipino entrepreneurs. So I offered to help produce a “launch party” for SOMA Pilipinas as a way to help spread the word about the district and get people excited and proud. I knew I’d be in for some work, but had no idea how much work…

We eventually came up with the idea for the Creative Night Market based on the vibrant night markets in Asia and we started to see this beautiful concept coming to life, with an amazing team of Filipino entrepreneurs and #Entrepinays. We worked hard for the next year on the concept: raising money, finding sponsors, getting permits, and making it real.