Spotlight Interview-Hispanic Heritage Month
Mickey Garcia
Manager, Client Services & Educational Technology
What is your favorite thing about your culture/heritage?
What are you most proud of when it comes to your Hispanic heritage? To be completely honest it's baseball, my parents are Dominican and Cuban and baseball is in our blood, it keeps the family together. Our gatherings bring us together and we talk all things baseball. I'm proud of everything my family has overcome especially coming from the Dominican Republic and Cuba. I grew up in Washington Heights in NYC and realized the importance of language and speaking Spanish.
Tell us something unique about your heritage or country of origin that you would like to share with our community.
Our culture is unique because we have people of all skin tones and colors. The neighborhood I grew up in people looked out for people, it didn’t matter which country you were from.
How has Hispanic culture shaped who you are today?
I am the first to Graduate from College, pursuing higher education was very important to my family.
What is your favorite food of your culture?
Ropa vieja, it translates to Old clothes because it resembles wrinkled clothes. Shredded beef, spanish seasoning like sazon and adobo, oregano, garlic its simmered in water then rice, black beans, fried plantains, and beats are added. It's delicious.
http://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/272615/ropa-vieja-cuban-beef/