Manuela Guillén, an artist born in Miami to Cuban and Salvadorian immigrant parents, has collaborated with major companies such as Starbucks and Old Navy, but most importantly, has impacted Hispanic children's lives.
Guillén pursued an artistic career during her entire life and worked as an art teacher in the U.S. and Mexico, where she had the opportunity to meet children with different backgrounds.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, which played an essential role in Guillén's career since she started to get more job offers as a freelance artist, she quit her full-time teaching job to finally test the possibility of living off her passion.
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"There was a lot of anxiety in the beginning, and I definitely am not gonna lie. I was also like, what have I done? I let the good job, the kids were good and I think like a week later I got a call from Starbucks," Guillén said.
Prior to accepting Starbucks' bid to be the Hispanic artist in charge of the company's collection that honors Latin American culture in the Starbucks Artist Collaboration Series, which celebrates the unique stories of artists from around the world, she taught art to middle-school students in Mexico, the very first Art class they've ever had.
Among some of the activities, Guillén and her Mexican students worked together to do a hand-painted mural, she received donations in order to buy the paint for the kids and make this project something special for her students. The mural had such a big impact on the community that they ended up collaborating with a non-profit organization aimed at the conservation of the oceans.
"Not only did they get the stamp of the school, they got the stamp of this very prominent organization called Pangea Seed," Guillén said. "They've done over 500 murals all over the world."
After leaving Mexico and having fulfilled an incredible mission, she got an Instagram direct message from a Starbucks representative, giving her the opportunity to represent Hispanic culture.
Guillén's purpose in creating the cups, was to reflect her culture and roots, adding well-known words and phrases among the Latino community, such as "Buenas Vibras" and "Vida."
As part of her artistic journey, she says she feels blessed to have the opportunity to share her passion with the world while including the Latino community in many of her projects.
"I do community workshops, educational workshops, community gardening...This is always been a passion of mine, especially like, you know, finding those safe spaces where you feel like you feel accepted, liked as you are."
