Content Magazine

Episode #153 | Rubén Darío Villa, Mr. Fuchila Before shifting to local organizing, Rubén Darío Villa built a national presence through Fuchila Fresheners, coining the term Chicanostalgia and turning childhood memories into hanging air fresheners. Today, Darío Villa serves as Chair of the Gilroy Arts and Culture Commission, operates his creative studio Fuchilandia, and founded La Ofrenda Festival i...

Episode #152 | Brooke Einbender, Mindbender StudioA neighbor's hot pink door in Santa Fe, New Mexico, studded with tin milagros, was one of the first thresholds that shaped Brooke Einbender’s path. Born in San Francisco and raised in Marin before moving across Santa Fe, North Carolina, and New York City, Einbender learned early on that changing environments can alter perspective. Working under...

Episode #151 | Carlos Velazquez - Drink & DrawSan Jose roots, vinyl records, third-wave ska, and Sharks hockey shaped Carlos Velazquez’s early years. Leaving the South Bay for San Diego and Chicago deepened his connection to Chicano culture and brought him back home. Since returning, he's built community through local nonprofits, municipal communications, his radio show, and by hosting Dri...

Episode #150 | Kiana Jackson Founded in 2018 by Chef Jacquelyn “Jackie” Jackson and her family, Jackie’s Place grew from a home dining table into a South Bay institution. Their authentic soul food and traditional barbecue began as a catering service and eventually led to the opening of their first storefront, Baby Jackie’s, in San Jose Japantown. As the enterprise scaled, Chef Jackie’s daughter, K...

Episode #149 | Arabela Espinoza Arabela Espinoza got her start with a camera in an elementary school after-school program on the East Side of San Jose. After studying advertising at San Jose State University, contributing to Content Magazine, and co-founding the commercial creative agency Weekend Creative, Espinoza built a career around product photography and art direction. Following the closure...

Episode #148 – Rayos MagosRayos Magos grew up on the west side of San Jose, utilizing art as a natural way to navigate the world. He initially studied journalism at SF State before pivoting to earn degrees in psychology and working on the front lines of community mental health. In April 2021, he left his counseling career to pursue art full-time—a psychological lens that remains foundational to hi...

Miguel Novelo | INFRAMUNDO “It’s about all these little connection points that create the bigger picture... Maybe that’s what art can do.” Born and raised in Yucatán, Mexico, Novelo utilizes interactive video and spatialized sound to explore human experience and our relationship with technology. Narrated by Novelo, this feature—paired with his feature in Summer 2026 Content Magazine Issue 18.3, &q...

Episode #147 - Jasmine Bridges South Bay native Jasmine Bridges has been known to dive headfirst into creative outlets. Early on, she did theater in primary school, later picked up a camera, and even performed competitively in Bachata and Latin Dance during college. Seeking a change of scenery and a "nomadic lifestyle," she left the Bay Area after her time at West Valley College to conti...

Episode #146 | Shannon Mirabelli-Lopez Shannon Mirabelli-Lopez grew up in the East Bay punk scene of the ’80s and ’90s. Starting off managing local bands, she handled distribution for Primus and worked on music videos for Green Day and INXS. That background, along with degrees in Anthropology and Visual Culture: Costume Studies, led her to two decades among elite New York City art institutions, wh...

Episode #145 | Rose Sellery: Ripple Effect Art Festival Rose Sellery is a Santa Cruz-based multidisciplinary artist whose work uses the language of fashion to explore themes related to women’s lives and societal expectations. She grew up in Venice, California, at her parents' ceramic studio, located across the alley from a brothel, where crayons, paper, and clay were her toys. As she got older...

Episode #144 - John W. Kim Filmmaker John W. Kim joins the podcast to discuss his twenty-year journey in independent cinema and the founding of his production house, Civilized Beast . With a background in honors literature and an MFA from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Kim’s work—including his latest feature film, Reunion —focuses on authentic representation and the "stubbornness" req...

Episode #143 | Content Magazine: A look at 2026 It’s been a minute, but we are officially back with the first podcast of 2026. Founder Daniel Garcia and Production Manager David Valdespino Jr. discuss a big year ahead, including a team transition and an overview of projects currently hitting the streets. After founding Content in 2012, Daniel is preparing for a planned transition to focus on his p...

Cooper Salmon | Featured: Issue 18.2, "Sight and Sound." “I challenge the idea that a disability is an inherent negative and that people with disabilities are not capable of living full and rich lives.”— Cooper Salmon Painter Cooper Salmon at work in the studio. Featured in Content Magazine, spring 2026 Issue 18.2, "Sight and Sound." Read more about Cooper Salmon’s life and wor...

rafa esparza is a multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles, working across live performance, sculpture, installation, drawing, and painting. Known for his work with adobe brick, a skill he inherited from his father, Ramón Esparza, his process connects the artist to community and centers inclusivity within contexts of historical exclusion.rafa’s current work uses adobe as a platform to "p...

Alfredo Muccino: Memories & Dreams Alfredo Muccino: Memories & DreamsAlfredo Muccino was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and raised as an Italian. His father’s engineering career took the family across the world. His father was a painter, and Muccino would imitate his work. His artistry has been influenced by Picasso, Matisse, and Basquiat, as well as the art and architecture of Rome, where he g...

Featured Artist: Paulina (Goff) Stovall San Jose-based professional pumpkin carver Paulina (Goff) Stovall discovered her passion for carving pumpkins when she was commissioned to live carve them at a high-end party. She has since transformed this seasonal tradition into a highly technical art form that blends artistry, imagination, and precision. While most of Paulina’s carvings are commissioned,...

Featured Artist: Sarah Bianco  Artist Sarah Bianco’s work can be found at the intersection of fine and commercial art. Her current studio practice at the Tannery Arts Center is quite literally built from her commercial practice, where she uses old drop cloths from her painting business as the foundation for her fine art. Bianco’s process often results in airy dreamscapes that depict figures jumpin...

Laamsha Young Santa Cruz-based artist Laamsha Young has worked across three primary artistic disciplines: jewelry design, painting, and sculpture. While receiving her MFA in painting from San Jose State University, she discovered her latest passion for foam sculpture, which built upon her earlier practice in jewelry and painting. For the past three years, this inexpensive, low-brow foam material h...

Below the Surface – Sieglinde Van Damme In a time of noise, uncertainty, and collective exhaustion, multi-disciplinary abstract artist Sieglinde Van Damme offers something rare: a visual sanctuary to breathe. Sieglinde Van Damme’s path from economist to full-time artist may seem unconventional, but her work reveals a consistent focus: human behavior. Born in Belgium and now based in California, Va...

Episode #142 - Ha Nguyen - LOLAH Entertainment  This podcast is also available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and YouTube . Born in a small town in Vietnam, Ha Nguyen was raised with a clear path laid out before her: academic achievement, a professional career, and a life of quiet respectability. For years, she followed that path—studying dentistry for six years at the insistence of her father. But...

Episode #141 Kris Jensen - Director of the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles This podcast is also available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and YouTube . Kris Jensen, Director of the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, has woven together a range of experiences in taking the helm of one of the Bay Area’s most niche and quietly radical museums. He has decades of nonprofit leadership exper...

Episode #140 - Dan Fenstermacher - Photographer For photographer and educator Dan Fenstermacher, photography is more than documentation—it is a philosophy of presence, humor, and human connection. From the busy streets of Tokyo to quiet corners of San Jose, Dan captures moments that are layered, unexpected, and deeply personal. His work sits at the intersection of activism, storytelling, and every...

Tasi Alabastro uncovered the definition of “flâneur,” a French word that describes a man of urban affluence who can wander and observe urban life, while working on a play called “Three Days of Rain.” In his own life, Tasi views being a flâneur as walking around his hometown of San Jose, being present, looking at murals, and occasionally running into people he knows. He uses walking as a way to pro...

Episode #138 - Tomoyo Yoshinaga | Bitterbuck In this episode, we sit down with co-owner Tomoyo Yoshinaga, who, alongside Cache Bouren, is bringing a unique cafe and cocktail concept to Downtown San Jose's Fountain Alley. Opening Summer 2025 in Downtown San Jose's Fountain Alley, Bitterbuck will offer a unique experience: coffee by day, Amaro and bitters-focused cocktails by night. Tomoyo s...

Join bassist, composer, and arranger Saúl Sierra and his quintet at the 35th San Jose Jazz Summer Fest on Sunday, August 10, at 1 PM at the Montgomery Theater in Downtown San Jose for a performance that combines Saúl’s roots in Mexico City, the rhythms of Latin America, and the soul of jazz. In this conversation, Saúl Sierra discusses his upbringing, the power of rhythm to communicate across borde...