A brotherhood amongst Latino dads: a YouTuber and a chef
At midnight on a Thursday in Miami, while most people are likely to be out partying, Jorge Narvaez finds himself by the waterfront under a bridge video chatting with his wife.
Nancy is going into labor with their third child almost 3,000 miles away in San Diego, California.
It’s April 6, 2017. Their baby — and first son — Aaron, is looking to make his appearance one month early.
Narvaez was in Miami attending the Hispanicize 2017 conference, where of the estimated 55 million Hispanics in the United States, over 3,000 of those who are digital creators, journalists, marketing executives and entrepreneurs come together to teach, share and learn.
Narvaez is a YouTube influencer and senior correspondent for this year’s conference. Since 2011 when Narvaez and his eldest daughter, Alexa, got on the Ellen show for their viral video of singing together, he has made a living off of being a YouTube personality and the duo has gone on to sing on other shows like America’s Got Talent.
But it’s much more than that for Narvaez. Family, community, art and music are the four pillars of his YouTube channel: Reality Changers.
“I was going to go to law school,” Narvaez said. “But a light bulb went off and I realized this could be better. I could spend more time with my kids and I could make a difference with our videos.”
From daily hangouts in their home, to him and his daughter, Eliana, doing laundry at the laundromat, to monumental moments like his proposal to the long-time love of his life, Narvaez has documented his and his family’s life.
With over 600,000 YouTube subscribers, Narvaez is reaching people, and — simply put — that is his goal.
“I’m still learning every day,” Narvaez said. “And I’m happy; I love what I do. I just want to encourage people to be good and to be good for their kids. I want to encourage dads to deconstruct their masculinity and just be good.”
For example: a compilation video of a day with Alexa that includes a trip to the nail salon where Narvaez gets a pedicure and encourages dads everywhere to try it out themselves because his feet feel “so good.”
It’s clear from watching just one of Narveaz’s videos that family is at the heart of everything he does.
At the Hispanicize conference and events like it, Narvaez has met people who have become like family.
One of those people is Ronaldo Linares.
“One year ago, I met Jorge at a smaller version of this conference,” Linares said. “We’ve stayed connected and become good friends. We feed off each other y ya somos como familia.”
On most days, you’re likely to find Linares in the kitchen of Martino’s Cuban Restaurant in Somerville, New Jersey, cooking up Cuban favorites like empanadas, plantains and his favorite, mariscos.
But at Hispanicize 2017, he is networking with other Hispanic professionals next to a rooftop pool at the JW Marriott Marquis.
Linares and Narvaez are laughing and taking photos of each other with the typical Miami landscape of the ocean and tall buildings in the background.
The two take turns taking photos of each other and then pose for some photos together — some smiling, some shaking hands, and all with the air of true brotherhood.
When Narvaez’s wife, Nancy, calls him over Facetime, their photo shoot is cut short. I take the opportunity to learn more about Linares.
Linares is a chef, restaurateur and author, among other things. In March, 2016, he published his first cookbook, Chef Ronaldo’s Sabores de Cuba: Diabetes Friendly Traditional and Nueva Cubano Cuisine. The book is a partnership with the American Diabetes Association.
Why this partnership?
“Honestly, it originally started because I wanted to impress the women,” Linares said, laughing. “My freshman year of high school I was a little chubby and I wanted to get healthy, so I started to work out and I loved cooking so I started learning how to cook healthy.”
Linares learned about cooking from both of his parents. In the foreword of his cookbook he writes about how he used to watch his mom carefully select produce at the markets in Medellín, Colombia and how he would watch his Dad, who he calls “the master,” cook dishes from his home country, Cuba.
Besides cooking at his restaurant, being a Dad to his son, Liam, staying healthy himself by doing CrossFit and attending events like Hispanicize, Linares is very involved in his community with organizations like Healthfirst NYC and AARP, as well as with the youth.
He does cooking demos for the community and shows them how to make appetizing food that’s good for them.
“Telling people to eat healthy doesn’t mean anything if they don’t know how to do it,” Linares said. “That’s what I love about my cookbook also — it’s all delicious food and all the recipes are health-based.”
While Linares affects his local community in the northeast, Narvaez does the same in the southwest. As far as they may physically be, the connection they have with their communities and families is one of the main things that keeps them connected and their brotherhood strong.
