“Eso Se Hace”. Was not just our family’s mantra it was our way of life. We made everything from scratch from food to furniture. I don’t think this is uncommon in Latino families. Many of us remain a stone’s throw away from people who grow things, harvest things and make things with their own hands.
So, it is no surprise that I ended up making my life’s work about doing things myself. I couldn’t feel more passionate about it. I worked for years at some of New York City’s top interior design firms specifying sofas that cost $30,000 for clients’ second and third homes. As wonderful as it was to work with seemingly unlimited budgets, it felt a little empty. I missed being more hands on. Instead of pointing and ordering people around, I wanted to be the one getting things done.
Television filled that void for me. The entire industry seemed to espouse the same DIY attitude that I grew up with. Networks like HGTV and TLC developed whole slews of shows about creating your dream home on the super cheap. I was on Freestyle (a show that I hosted where there was literally NO budget. Honestly, Google it…) and In A Fix, where people would make over their neighbors house on a song and in a weekend. There I really felt at home. They got it! All my skills of turning a flat sheets into sofa slipcovers, pinning drapes so they looked like a million bucks, and MacGyver-ing just about anything to use as decorations around the house were finally put to good use. Ay, Eso Se Hace.
Now, I am the host of a Facebook Watch show called Slice where I invite a different celebrity chef into my kitchen each week and I have hosted shows on almost every lifestyle network out there. A&E, HGTV, TLC, FYI, you get the picture. I have felt incredibly grateful to be able to share what I know and love with so many people.
I know that all that making things from scratch take time, and these days in our crazy lives who has that time? But I feel strongly that doing things yourself is the antidote to many diseases of modernity. Nothing gets you back in touch with yourself like sitting down to do a project, whether making a meal, hosting a beautiful party, crocheting a scarf for a doggie, or painting a piece of furniture for your baby’s nursery. We were meant to create with our own two hands. When you do that, you are truly in the here and now, building quality time with friends and family. Some of my favorite conversations ever have been over painting walls, tiling floors or making a pernil in the kitchen.
So let’s started!