From Undocumedia to the Immigration MIC, Ivan Ceja joins us for an exclusive podcast episode - and it’s an interview that you do not want to miss, so download it on iTunes and Soundcloud now!

🔵 Learn about Ivan’s personal story - his love for his family and art, being an introvert - and his parent’s harrowing individual journey’s to the US from Mexico, which had near fatal consequences - and how their stories fuels Ivan’s daily motivation.

🔴 Ivan is from Compton, California - hear him talk about growing up, how he got along with different groups of people from an early age at school, and his determination to show people that “good things come out of Compton”, and I connect how his math/writing/ artistic abilities shine through in his work at Undocumedia.

⚫️ He talks about the moment his undocumented status became real to him in 09’, describing it was a moment where “everything began making sense”, that he “wasn’t going to have papers once I turned 18”, and the repercussions that became all too real at that moment.

🔵 The traffic stop at the college he was attending that would eventually lead him to meeting other undocumented students on campus, where he and other students worked to build support systems for themselves (carpooling, sharing stories, ect), which eventually turned into calls for action leading him to becoming a statewide organizer.

🔴 Ivan talks to us about the founding of Undocumedia with Justino Mora, which began as a DACA information website (when there was a lot of confusion about DACA being announced), and how the spirit is for undocumented immigrants to “leverage their own voices, and not have media deciding which stories were worth telling” and how it turned into a digital/social media platform/ nonprofit organization reaching the most marginalized groups/ individuals across the nation.

⚫️ I ask Ivan for a candid assessment about the challenges the immigration movement face, and have a conversation around the lack of investment into creators, how organizations are constantly competing for the same funds, and how callout culture is self destructive within groups that are supposed to be working together.

🔵 His reaction to the Trump campaign, how it was a joke to him until the night of the election, and very quickly it became serious, and a rallying call within the immigration movement that they “wouldn’t be broken and defeated”; also the private moment where tears began dripping from his eyes, and the pressure that comes along in this political moment as a public speaker, and how/why he keeps the work going.

🔴 I ask Ivan the hard questions around the current internal immigration movement, and how contentious it’s become, and we talk about the importance of people listening to each other, rather than attacking each other for their different ideologies as we’ve seen on social media frequently between activists.

⚫️ Ivan leaves us with some great advice for emerging content creators, talks to us about the vision and the future of Undocumedia, and gives us some wisdom for activists in this political moment - giving two special shoutouts to our viewers!

Ivan - you’re the man! I appreciate you reaching out and wanting to work together, and it was great getting to know you and see how much our stories overlap. Looking forward to more collaborations as we continue our work to empower new voices in our movement!

Visit www.thehendelmediaproject.com for more information about how this podcast is following the national immigration movement through local stories AND - to watch my personal immigration documentary From One Mistake for free!