After last week’s noise over Filipino-American director and writer Bobby Rubio creating a Pixar short about Fil-Am characters, and this week’s news of Fil-Am Marc Dela Cruz bagging the titular character in newest run of Hamilton, it’s an absolutely good time to wave the flag a little higher for yet another fantastic feat.
According to Inquirer, the team of Filipino-American host, producer, and independent podcast creator Paola Mardo, and her co-producer Patrick Epino was one of the chosen six to participate in the first cohort of podcasts in the first-ever Google Podcasts creator program. They are included in the accelerator portion; a collaborative move by Google and PRX, which is known for its top-notch podcast content, training, and technology.
From thousands of entries, Paola and Patrick’s Los Angeles-based “Long Distance,” an online collection of Filipino audio stories set a long way from home, was picked. With its narratives, it reveals the unknown histories and current realities about life in the Filipino diaspora.
Paola Mardo is known to have created radio stories for many platforms including KCRW’s Good Food, PRI’s The World, and has been attributing her content to her international upbringing. On the other hand, the familiar recall of Patrick Epino stems from his black sheep family member role in award-winning dark comedy Bitter Melon, an ABS-CBN Cinematografo Original film.
The 20-week program aims to promote diversity by removing barriers in the art of podcasting. From Chile to Kenya, other selected entries include AfroQueer, Las Raras, Timestorm, The Colored Girl Beautiful, and Who Taught You How To Drive?!