Disclosure: This is a compensated campaign in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson and Latina Bloggers Connect.
Times change and my family is pretty different from how things where when I was growing up in Guatemala. I think families in general have changed in the last few decades. For me being a Familia de Hoy is all about spending more time together, being there for our kids, being more connected and it’s also about blending cultures and traditions. We love to travel and take any opportunity to go to new places, my daughter who is only eight, dreams of traveling around the world and has a huge map of the world on her wall. My little guy wants to build things, he’s into robots and any kind of machine.
Both my husband and I work from home so we take turns to spend time with the kids during the day. We love to get creative and we enjoy making crafts and experimenting in the kitchen mixing foods and ingredients from different parts of the world. The same can be said about our traditions. Since we moved to the United States 5 years ago we have started lots of new family traditions like Spanish Movie Night, Game Night, celebrating el Día de los Muertos and going all out for Halloween. We celebrate Thanksgiving with turkey, tamales and ponche, we have a special dinner with family on Nochebuena but open gifts on Christmas Day and the kids love getting presents from the Los Reyes Magos.
Johnson & Johnson and Univision have launched a campaign to find an authentic, modern and active family to become “La Familia de Hoy.” There are three different families competing for the title and I want to share a little bit about my favorite family. I want to share with you a little bit about my favorite Familia de Hoy.
The Olivera Family is a very international family, with a huge passion for culture and sports. Milena, the mother, was born in Brazil, lived in El Salvador for many years and speaks Spanish, Portuguese and English fluently. She is a stay-at-home mom, and also likes to write and perform in theater whenever her schedule allows. Roberto, the father, is Peruvian/American, a photographer who also owns an online business that imports handmade gifts from artisans around the world (novica.com). He has a dedicated passion for soccer and also coaches the teams of his twins, Lucas and Ana Luiza (7). The twins are in second grade, love school, enjoy playing sports, dancing and crafts. The youngest member of the family (for now) is Matteo (1); a newborn baby will be joining the family in March 2014. I like that this family is multilingual, is passionate about culture and that the father is an entrepreneur. I find many similarities with my own family.
[important]I encourage you to log into Univision.com and vote for your favorite familia to help them become the spokesfamily for Johnson & Johnson in 2014. You can vote by clicking HERE. [/important]
Paula studied architecture and now makes a living as a freelance writer,traveler and amateur photographer.She started her writing & publishing career as the editor of Bebé y Mamá, the first parenting magazine in Guatemala.She is the founder of www.GrowingUpBilingual.com and www.365thingsswfl.com and writes articles in Spanish and English for both magazines and the web on travel,food and bicultural and bilingual parenting .
When she is not on a plane or road trip she likes to create recipes inspired in the flavors of her native Guatemala.
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I am a mother of three… I have a 5 year old, a 3 year old and a 2 year old. When I think of Johnson and Johnson, I think of babies…youngins. I’ve been following the “Familia de Hoy” Campaign and honestly, the Olivera family fits the bill of today’s family, more specifically- today’s Latino Family. Latinos come in all shapes and sizes, gueritos y morenitos.. .all alike with one language or two if you’re bilingual :). The Olivera family has twins- a boy and a girs, a baby boy- and, apparently another one on the way (yeah, I saw Sabado Gigante!)! I feel that when you see this family, you see Diversity… you can totally see them as representing Johnson and Johnson. They’re a tough act to follow.
I voted for The Olivera Family. They are the family of the new generation, cool, modern and they love culture and sports. What a great combo.
After reading about the Olivera Family, this family is a whole picture of a genuine multilingual/multicultural family growing in a fascinating stage of times that demonstrate the exemplary unity of an ideal Latino family. It is all about a united and well coordinated family to manage family life, keeping up with business, children, sports and most of all cultivating multicultural heritage to pass to their children. The Olivera family picture is a genuine loving and happy family that I recommend to be selected as “La Familia De Hoy!” Why? “A picture is worth a thousand words.” The secret to make a family work is love, unity and being proactive and this family has demonstrated all the above as an exemplary Latino family living in change of times where the sky is the limit.
The Olivera Family has my vote. I have enjoyed getting to know Rob personally and his family through pictures over the past few years. They value family and giving back locally & internationally.
I was actually with Roberto and Milena the day they met in the mid-90’s in Palo Alto and I sensed that they were meant for each other – it’s been wonderful to follow their story for the past two decades!
Los Oliveras family is the perfect fit for this venue! I sure hope they win! I bet they will be phenomenal ambassadors!
My vote is for Oliveira family. They look good!
I love the Olivera Family! They radiate unity and joy. It is getting much rarer to see larger families these days. Soon they will be a family of 6! I really love their combined traditionalism and modernism. They truly represent today’s modern Latino family. They are inspiration!