Happy Filipino American HISTORY Month, everyone!

With every FAHM month comes big announcements – today is no different so here goes: this will be Make It Mariko’s last year producing UNDISCOVERED SF.

I honestly can’t believe it’s been 10 years. In 2016, I attended a Filipino Entrepreneur Meetup hosted by Desi Danganan, and I walked away truly inspired and excited. The fact that a Filipino Cultural District actually existed in my city, and as a new entrepreneur just starting my events company, I saw a place where my work could contribute meaningfully to something important.

So I pitched an idea: let me throw a launch party for SOMA Pilipinas. That pitch earned me my first $5K grant! Then Desi did his thing and turned that into a $130K investment from the city which birthed our first season of UNDISCOVERED SF – a 6 month series of the FIRST Filipino night markets, which helped sparked the night market wave that spread across the city.

Producing UNDISCOVERED SF has been one of the most humbling blessings of my life. So much community, growth, hard lessons, learnings, and connections. Everything it taught me shaped the event producer I am today.

Year 1: The Line That Wrapped The Block

I’ll never forget that first night market at the Old Mint + Mint Plaza. We hoped for maybe 3000-5000 people to attend. Instead, over 8000-10,000 people showed up!!! Everyone remembers that crazy ass line that wrapped around the block, and as legend has it, soooo many people couldn’t even get in, including my brother and then District Supervisor Jane Kim had to wait to get in!

I recruited my family and husband to help work the door. People were literally yelling at us to get us in, and it was the craziest, most amazing experience I’ll never forget. We packed this historic SF building with hip hop, streetwear culture, and of course ALL the Filipino creativity and community.

What I’ll never forget was that when the crowd finally cleared and all that was left was cleanup, the last people standing were me, our team, and my family. My husband, parents, brother, uncles, aunties, and cousin walked through a dark Mint Plaza with me, picking up trash and helping move final barricades. 

When I finally got into the car and sat down, the tears flowed. I cried deeply out of sheer exhaustion, joy, and disbelief that we had pulled it off.

Moments I’ll Never Forget

Every year after, UNDISCOVERED SF brought a new location and a new WILD challenge. A few favorite moments that stand out:

  • That time we had a “mini sideshow” on Mint Street from a young neighbor 😂
  • The sinkhole scare. Our venue at the Stevenson Alley parking lot was a potential sinkhole. Ordering seismic inspections to confirm your event site won’t cave in with a food truck on top of it is not something I ever expected to do.
  • That year that SPAM® Brand sponsored the festival and I got to design an immersive booth for them.
  • Cutting a door. One year, I literally had to have a door cut into a parking lot gate just to meet the two-exit minimum for our stage and the Fire Department.
  • A horrible PODS driver. Our giant storage pod holding all our equipment was supposed to arrive the day before the event, but the driver had no bars, and couldn’t get the truck into the lot. Thankfully a more experienced driver came back the next morning and got the job done.
  • Going virtual. When COVID hit, we pivoted to a fully virtual summit and kept the community connected, hosting Filipino dance parties with DJs across 3 cities all dancing together in the interwebs.
  • The hardest breakdown of my life. Also during Covid, we collaborated with Sunday Streets in the middle of a global pandemic, during fire season with smoke in the air, and during a heatwave. That breakdown was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and took so much grit and resilience of our team to finish.
  • A visit from Mayor Ed Lee. He spent over 45 minutes with us and afterward was so inspired by our work that he gave us a space beneath the Fifth & Mission parking garage (after much much advocacy of course). That space became the first Balay Kreative Studios, which I co-founded with Desi and Kim Acebo to keep supporting the artists and cultural workers who came through UNDISCOVERED SF. Today, it stands on its own as an arts organization.
  • The birth of Pinayista. I finally found my community of Pinay entrepreneurs and built a space where we could gather, learn, and grow together. Pinayista birthed annual summits, people meeting their best friends and collaborators, and a movement of Pinay business owners supporting each other.

There are SO many memories I can’t even share them all. 

Fil-Am Culture Meets Bay Area Hip Hop

Selfishly, I wanted to create UNDISCOVERED SF so that I could see myself in a Filipino festival. Yes, I’m Filipino and Japanese culturally, but I’m really a child of Bay Area culture, hip hop, and dance. We curated UNDISCOVERED SF to represent that synergy of Filipinos, hip hop, streetwear, and celebrate our contributions to that culture. 

I’m so proud to have featured some of the biggest and baddest homegrown Filipino talent on our stage over the past 10 years like:

  • DJ Q-Bert and Shortkut from the legendary Invisibl Skratch Piklz
  • Triple Threat DJs Apollo, Vinroc, Kool Raul, Boogie Brown
  • Jocelyn Enriquez, the queen!
  • DJ Umami
  • Ruby Ibarra
  • So Super Sam
  • Rocky Rivera, Bambu, and Power Struggle from Beatrock Music
  • DJ Icy Ice
  • Neil Armstrong
  • Noodles
  • One Voice
  • Miles Medina
  • The launch of Bolo Music Group
  • DJ Bitesize
  • DJ Lex
  • Mango Kingz
  • Epic Bay Area DJs like Celskiii, Cutso, Proof, Mister Rey, ET IV, Ren the Vinyl Archeologist, JP Breganza
  • Musicians like LOW LEAF, Trackademicks, Faith Santilla, Kiana V, Adrian Marcel, Dirty Boots, Ru AREYOU, Ian Santillano, Kiyomi, and Tyler Lauren
  • Dancers like The Company and Parangal Dance
  • Our favorite host Franboogie
  • Even E-40 joined our virtual event for an online toast!

Of course this is not an exhaustive list! But just some of the folks that I’m so proud to have graced our stage.

Then and Now

Ten years ago, I didn’t really see myself represented in the Filipino American community. Filipino heritage festivals existed, but there wasn’t one where I could truly see myself, one rooted in hip-hop and street culture.

Ten years ago, we could barely get Filipino entrepreneurs to claim the word “Filipino.” Most flew under the radar and weren’t actively claiming the title.

Today, you can get ube drinks/treats at stores in big chains (although I always support small biz!). Filipino festivals are popping up across the country. People claim being Filipino loud and proud, whether they’re half, a quarter, an eighth, or a sixteenth. Celebrities like H.E.R., Kehlani, and more are proudly embracing their roots.

What a beautiful thing to see Filipino culture platformed so publicly. And yet, we still have a lot of work to do.

Passing the Torch

This is the final year Make It Mariko will produce UNDISCOVERED SF, but it is not the end of UNDISCOVERED SF. Through our partnership with Kultivate Labs, they will continue working to see what the future of the event will be. 

For now, Make It Mariko is stepping aside with gratitude, passing the torch to the next producer who can bring fresh energy and take it to the next level.

A special thank you to the FIRST core team that brought this beautiful idea to life. Without all of you and your incredible HEARTwork, this institution of a festival wouldn’t be what it is.

  • Kultivate Labs – Desi, Dre, and Marco (RIP we miss you and love you!) who created the name, concept, and branding we all know and love
  • RJ Navalta and Creative Transit Agency – You brought heart, soul, and A/V excellence to our stage. I’m forever grateful and love you, mango.
  • Marky Enriquez & Mark Herlihy – Thank you for your curational eyes and ears and being on top of what was truly the future of Filipino American sound.
  • Jenn Lui & Kevin Pelgone – Our first food & retail curators. Your curated community approach to building our retail market made it truly special
  • Dennis Villafranca – Our Food Vendor Coach helping our vendors get compliant and to code (300 psi hose!)
  • Emerson Aquino – for bringing the dance crew energy to the stage
  • Max Alegria and Last Wave – for creating the epic lighting and lanterns that made us well known!
  • Olivia Ongpin – for curating our first monthly live art features
  • Paul Barrera – You repped SOMA P and helped us bring all the critical partnerships together to unite for the district
  • Raquel from SOMA Pilipinas for your advocacy and support
  • Make It Mariko – And of course our first MIM team from that year: Ariane, Aaron, Megan, and Junalene. We did that yall!

What’s Next

To our community: thank you. Thank you for trusting us for ten years, for saying yes when you didn’t know what to expect, and for moving and grooving with us through the streets of SoMa. What a journey it’s been.

This isn’t the end for Make It Mariko of course. We’re currently embarking on a wild new journey, one I’ve been working towards for the past eight years. I can’t share much yet, but keep an eye out.

Big announcements are coming soon!

In forever kapwa,
Gina Mariko