My name is Oldine Monestime, and I am the host for Beyond Vizcaya.

(00:15)
So, Beyond Vizcaya is a community storytelling project where we go out and we record stories of individuals pertaining to Miami, and we follow three major themes. They include cultural identity, migration, and labor.

(00:31)
I have just always been involved with video production in one way or another. Starting from childhood. Just always have taken classes where you get in front of the camera and you do the morning announcements.

(00:43)
I obtained my bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Florida A&M University, and that afforded me opportunities to intern at places like CNN, WSVN, which is a Fox affiliate in Miami, and then I myself decided to pursue some of it on a freelance level.

(01:01)
So, I think all of that led me to here, and I think those skills I’ve been able to apply with this position. I think stories are just very impactful and they’re interesting. So, I look at them as journeys, and a lot of the times, people have these amazing stories and they don’t realize it. So, there’s something about being able to bring out that story and then share it in a way that invokes emotion. I just never get tired of it.

(01:28)
So, I hope that viewers are impacted in a way where they can connect with these stories. I want them to be able to maybe walk away learning something that they hadn’t learned before. There’s just so many parts to the history of Miami, and they are all worth telling. So, we just want to be able to bring them out and have them be appreciated.