Now on Latin Heat TV Channel!
By Elia Esparza
Latin Heat Media has entered into an agreement with Actor/Comedienne/Producer Lydia Nicole to carry her hugely popular weekly Common Sense Mamita vlog on the Latin Heat Video Channel. The entertaining under 3-minute “common sense” tips will be available on Thursdays starting this week, September 5th, 2013, where “9 Social Media Etiquette Rules” will be the featured trending theme.
“It’s exciting to see someone with Lydia Nicole’s wealth of performing and Hollywood behind-the-scenes experience create such an organic and funny piece,” said Bel Hernandez, CEO/Publisher, Latin Heat Media. “I have followed Lydia’s career throughout the years in such works as Robert Townsend’s Hollywood Shuffle, Stand and Deliver and through her comedy shows and we are very excited about this partnership.”
Lydia Nicole
“Latin Heat has been a supporter and an influence for me for the last 21 years. I love and trust what Bel [Hernandez] and Elia [Esparza] have been doing. They represent commitment, dedication, service, determination and love for the Latino community,” said Nicole, Executive Producer, Common Sense Mamita. “They reflect what I am trying to do with my videos. Only they do it with a more serious tone. They are fair, honest, and balanced about giving you the news in Hollywood. And did I mention that they are two outrageous smart mamitas? I could not ask for a better site/brand to distribute my videos.”
We caught up with our comedy heroine this week to talk about her Common Sense Mamita productions.
Latin Heat: Your Common Sense videos are catching on like a California wildfire… where did the inspiration to become the Common Sense Mamita, come from?
Lydia Nicole: I am the “go to person” for advice to my friends. It has been that way since I was a child. Over the years I found myself giving repeated “common sense” advice that I felt all people should know. I started finding out that quite a few people were lacking common sense. I found myself reading Facebook posts that proved it. It started disturbing me because growing up in Spanish Harlem common sense was something you just had to have. Then I found myself keeping a notebook in my car and near my bed as well as dry markers by my bathroom mirror so I could jot down my thoughts and the results were a Common Sense vlog. The original title was Common Sense Guru, but I found out that name was taken after I started doing the vlogs so the new name will be Common Sense Mamita. Why Common Sense Mamita? Because as a former Hot & Spicy Mamita [an all female comedy troupe] that is what I am, a Hot and Spicy Common Sense Mamita. I bring the truth with humor.
LH: Since most of us lack common sense, I doubt you will ever run out of topics… but this first season of videos are you speaking from personal experience?
Lydia Nicole: Well, all of the common sense topics I will be talking about are grounded in what I have personally experienced. I currently have over 60 common sense topics written. I think I could put out three years of personal material before my ideas run out.
LH: Your topics are non-denominational, non-ethnic, rich or poor everyone relates to your common sense preaching. Why do you think that is?
Lydia Nicole: I am giving the viewer truth that resonates in less than three minutes without beating around the bush but with a funny twist. My vlogs are not politically correct. So if the person watching is PC, my vlog will totally offend that person. But if the viewer likes the truth wrapped in comedic coating then they will enjoy it.
LH: Some of your topics have generated a bit of controversy… can you tell us about it?
Lydia Nicole: My mother raised me to tell the truth. And the truth is always controversial, even if it is done in a humorous way.
LH: Your videos have high production value– do you direct and produce them yourself?
Lydia Nicole: Thank you, I am on-air talent as well as writer and producer. In the last 10 years I have had the honor of working with Robert Townsend on various productions. I have learned a lot about guerilla filmmaking. I can do lots with a little. We shoot four to five vlogs per session. I have a team of three young amazing people who help me put it all together. Lexia Grace, my daughter who just graduated from NYU, directs, does lighting, cinematography and supervises the production as well as adds the graphics to the vlogs. Vincent Smith helps me with the re-writes of the scripts, as well as operates the main camera and edits the vlogs. And Chloe Vega does my makeup, coordinates my clothes and helps with the set design.
LH: As they say, it takes a village…. If one has an idea for a topic to cover, to whom or where do they submit it?
Lydia Nicole: I welcome outside topics or ideas. They can submit their ideas or thoughts to CommonSenseMamita@gmail.com.
Welcome to the Latin Heat family, Lydia Nicole!
Don’t forget to check out Lydia Nicole’s latest Common Sense Mamita vlog every Thursday right here on Latinheat.com. There is something for everyone… more than one nerve will be pinched or funny bone tickled.
This week on Latin Heat, we launch “9 Social Media Etiquette Rules,” and previous Common Sense Mamita vlogs are also available to watch:
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More on Lydia Nicole:
An accomplished actress, writer, comedienne, executive, inspirational speaker, and mother.
She has worked with filmmaker Robert Townsend as an associate producer on several projects including Townsend’s upcoming feature film In The Hive, webseries Los Americans, Showtime’s Why We Laugh, a documentary, including interviews with legends Bill Cosby, Dick Gregory, Chris Rock and the Wayans.
Her acting career spans over 15 years. Lydia’s stand-up landed her on BET’s Comic View, a regular at the Comedy Store, a Laugh Factory, and on Hispanic Magazine’s Top 100 Latino Comic lists. She has been featured on TV on The Jefferson’s, Hill Street Blues, and on film in Indecent Proposal, Hollywood Shuffle and Stand and Deliver with Oscar nominee Edward James Olmos.
She both starred in and co-produced a successful comedy troupe entitled The Funny Ladies of Color, and was a co-founder of The Hot & Spicy Mamitas, who released a CD on Uproar Records. Lydia Nicole has performed throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
Nicole wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed A Rose in Spanish Harlem in which she transforms herself into a girl guru, portraying over 25 characters. Lydia has toured her show throughout college campuses and various theater venues.
Nicole is a motivational speaker at inner-city schools, churches and juvenile correctional facilities. She has also served as a spokesperson for Athletes & Entertainers For Kids, PEACE Fund and Artsreach, where she collaborated and directed When The Bough Breaks, an award-winning documentary about incarcerated teen mothers.
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