Martha Diaz

Martha Diaz
Born	1969, 07, 29
Nationality	Colombian-American
Occupation	Founding Director, Hip-Hop Education Center at NYU
Known for	Community Organizer, Media Producer, Curator, Educator

Martha Diaz is a Hip-Hop ambassador, community organizer, educator, multimedia producer, archivist, curator, social entrepreneur, and the founding Director of the Hip-Hop Education Center at NYU. She has been dedicated to innovating communities, advancing social justice, and developing leaders through Hip-Hop culture for nearly twenty years. Martha is the mother of Anaisa Estrella Smalls and Amber Cielo Smalls. She is the daughter of Colombian parents Enis Maestre and Jose Diaz, and is the sister of Felix Torres. She's in a relationship with the multimedia visual artist, One9.

Martha's impact can be traced to her early days as an apprentice for the late Ted Demme, the TV and film producer and director behind Yo! MTV Raps and Hangin' with MTV. Due to Martha’s poise and creative ideas, she progressed from intern, to production assistant, to segment producer within a year of her apprenticeship under Demme. In addition to her role as Assistant to the Director, Martha’s aptitude for discovering talent and fresh ideas would also land her the role of co-casting director (along with legendary casting director, Jaki Brown) in Demme’s 1993 debut film, Who’s the Man? Martha flourished in the role, casting some 52 rappers in their first starring and cameo parts, into what many die-hard rap fans now consider a cult favorite. She began assisting Demme on music videos for the likes of House Of Pain, Cypress Hill, and the Henry Rollins Band. Not long thereafter, Martha was introduced to casting director Tracy Moore and film director Lionel C. Martin, both of whom hired her to work on separate music videos for Boyz II Men, Keith Sweat, Bobby Brown, SWV, and Jodeci. Martha consulted on the PBS show, Where in the world is Carmen San Diego? Where KRS-ONE made a guest appearance.

It wasn’t long before Martha re-immersed herself in the film world to help Demme with production of Denis Leary’s Showtime Special, No Cure For Cancer and the feature film, The Ref starring Leary, Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis. While working on The Ref in Hollywood, she had the privilege to learn different aspects of the business from acclaimed super producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson. Bruckheimer became Martha’s mentor and muse, and was hired by Bruckheimer to work with the young talent on the set of the blockbuster hit Dangerous Minds. During this time, Martha launched Sabor Wear, a novelty apparel line challenging Hispanic stereotypes (E.g. "Don't Panic, We're only Hispanic!" "DeSPICable!" "ConSPICuous!"). Lynda West and Charlie Stettler from Tin Pan Apple Management (Fat Boys, and Ed Lover and Doctor Dre), helped Martha secure a licensing deal with a small distributor.

After her time in Hollywood, Martha returned to New York to create and produce the short-lived Latino Hip-Hop show called Hip Mundo for MTV Latino. Over the next couple of years, Martha began collaborating with other Latinos in the film and television industry with the goal of diversifying programming for this growing ethnic populace. In 1995 she produced the short film, In The Deep South, starring Lauren Velez and Jon Seda, which helped launch the career of Director, Franc Reyes (Empire). She also produced for the SONY syndicated bi-lingual magazine show, Mi Gente/My People, starring Angel De Leon.

As the 90’s drew to a close, Martha soon revisited her Hip-Hop roots and began shooting H2O [Hip-Hop Odyssey] - a digital video series that she conceived and orchestrated. H2O chronicled the history and multiple elements of Hip-Hop culture and its global effects. It featured Afrika Bambaataa, PeeWee Dance, Alien-Ness, Tats Cru, Crash, Grandmixter DXT, Lord Finesse, Talib Kweli and Manny Fresh, to name a few. Robert “The RZA” Diggs believed in Martha’s vision and passion to educate people on this worldwide phenomenon and signed on as H2O‘s executive producer. Martha produced and directed a 15-minute short with the support of cameramen, Jason Lampkin and Whelan Power, and editors, Ronald Lochard and Leba Haber Rubinoff, and Freddy Milton. H2O was screened from coast to coast, including LA’s Black and Brown Shorts Festival, Brooklyn’s Short film festival, The Rock Steady Crew Anniversary, KRS-ONE’s Hip-Hop Appreciation Week, the Vista Film Festival in Dallas, and numerous high schools and colleges.

In March 2000, Martha was hired to produced two weekly live streaming Internet shows (Queendom and 88Soul) for the 88 Hip-Hop channel on the pioneer web station, Pseudo.com. After the dot-com crash, Martha segment produced on the African Heritage Network’s, syndicated Hip-Hop show, Source All Access. Martha worked with DJ Premier on the Mazda campaign for the Hakuhodo Agency (Japan), Chuck D and La Bruja on PSA's for Americans for the Arts, and Guerilla Marketing on the Truth campaign. In 2001, Karl Carter from Guerilla Marketing asked Martha to document the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement's Black August Tour in South Africa. Martha filmed over 20 hours of footage in Johannesburg, Durban, and Capetown with Dead Prez, Talib Kweli, Jeru the Damaja, Tariq (The Roots), Boots (The Coup), and Black Noise, to name a few. Dream Hampton would later use a portion of the footage in her Black August: A Hip-Hop Documentary Concert (2010).

Days after returning from South Africa, the events of September 11th unfolded and changed Martha's life forever. She felt a calling to focus on rebuilding and empowering the Hip-Hop community, just as she had observed young leaders and musicians do in South Africa with very little to no funding.

Martha first embarked on a mission to celebrate and aid filmmakers with a focus on the Hip-Hop community and edutainment content. In 2002, she founded the H2O (Hip-Hop Odyssey) International Film Festival, named after her short film. H2O a platform where filmmakers could be acknowledged and showcase their work. Incorporated into the festival were workshops, panel discussions, an exhibit floor - where a networking of information, products and services could be exchanged, and an award ceremony. Martha would mobilize hundreds of filmmakers, industry experts, educators, and community activist to create the most exciting and innovative times for Hip-Hop cinema. Gabriel Tolliver helped produce the festival, while Tania Cuevas-Martinez helped program the festival.

While Martha developed and executive produced the film festival, she was also teaching in the Bronx as a NYC Teaching Fellow. As a Literacy and Journalism educator teaching at-risk youth, Martha used what she knew best – Hip-Hop - to engage her students. At the New School of Arts and Sciences, she started a digital film making class while using Hip Hop as the motivational tool. Once again, Martha noticed the influence that Hip-Hop had among her students.

With the same strategy of mobilizing and uniting each sector of the community, the H2ED initiative was formed in January 2003 to advocate on a grassroots and institutional level for educational reform by exploring how curriculum, activities and learning models using Hip-Hop culture can be a more effective way to connect, educate, and activate youth. In November 2003, Martha organized the first Hip-Hop Education Summit with Tricia Wang. The summit introduced the TOPSY (teachers, organizers, parents, social workers, and youth) constituents to each other and connected them to resources.

In 2004, Martha officially formed the Hip-Hop Association [H2A], as way to acknowledge and thank all the people who volunteered and participated in the H2O and H2ED initiatives. The H2A has been fortunate to have had several advisory boards and volunteers made up of leaders and experts from the Hip-Hop community including, Ariel Palitz, Clyde Valentin, Fiona Bloom, Jeff Chang, Rachel Goldstein, and Roxanne Shante.

In 2007, through the H2A, The Hip-Hop Education Guidebook Vol. I was edited and self-published by Martha Diaz and Marcella Runell Hall. It is the first ever book of its kind to offer an array of innovative, interdisciplinary standards-referenced lessons written by teachers for teachers.

Now in its 9th year, the H2A received a Union Square Arts Award and numerous citations and certificates. H2A is considered one of the leading Hip-Hop collectives providing social platforms and educational resources to the community at-large. H2A was influential and supportive of many of today's Hip-Hop leaders and organizations. In 2009, H2A became part of a larger international collective named DA Rua.

In 2008, Martha created the Womanhood Learning Project and developed the Ladies First Fund^[1], the first micro-grant for women in Hip-Hop dedicated to fostering the next generation of social entrepreneurs. Martha is currently completing the resource book entitled, Fresh, Bold and So Def: Women In Hip-Hop Changing The Game, which will feature a directory of 365 international artist, activists, and entrepreneurs. In 2009, Martha launched H2ONewsreel, an educational Hip-Hop media distribution label, in partnership with Third World Newsreel. Martha later teamed up with Dr. Pedro Noguera at the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education at NYU to form the premier Hip-Hop Education Center for Research, Evaluation, and Training.

Martha has been invited to participate as a curator, speaker, moderator, and workshop facilitator at numerous arts and educational institutions, conferences, and social forums across the US and abroad, including: Hip-Hop and Social Change Conference, U.N. Week, the Family and Community Violence Prevention National Conference, World Youth Forum, National Association for Latino Independent Producers Conference, The Rose and Erwin S. Wolfson Center for National Affairs Speaker’s Series, Bakari Kitwana’s Rap Sessions, The Hypnotik Festival in Spain, National Hip Hop Political Convention, UN-HABITAT's YourCity Summit in South Africa, Hip Hop Congress^[2], and The Elizabeth Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum.

Martha completed her Master’s Degree in Hip-Hop Social Entrepreneurship at the Gallatin School for Individualized Study^[3] at New York University in May 2010. She was the recipient of the prestigious NYU Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship. As a Graduate student Diaz developed the Hip-Hop Education Center (H2ED Center). She was a semi-finalist in the NYU Stern Social Venture competition and Echoing Green Fellowship.

The H2ED Center was formed to fully promulgate and explore the potential of Hip-Hop pedagogy. Officially launched in June 2010 through a partnership between the Hip-Hop Association and the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. The H2ED Center is committed to providing effective affordable assistance to failing schools and under-served communities to increase student engagement, academic achievement and social equity.

Martha co-authored with Dr. Pedro Noguera and Dr. Edward Fergus, Re-Imagining Teaching and Learning: A Snapshot of Hip-Hop Education^[4] (October 2011), a groundbreaking report and national scan of Hip-Hop educational programs.

Martha is also the recipient of the Black Lily Emerging Leader Award, Mary Chung Nia Award, and the DJ Kool Herc Award. She was selected to be an iFOCUS Institute We Media Fellow and panelist speaker at the US State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program. Martha is one of Women's e-News distinguished 21 Leaders of the 21st Century for 2010^[5] and she has been celebrated by Lifetime’s Remarkable Woman campaign.

External links

• Martha Diaz
• Hip-Hop Association
• Hip-Hop Education Center

References

^{[6] [7] [8]}

1. ^ "Hip Hop Festival 2011". Njpac.org. http://njpac.org/joomla/component/content/article/10-buy-tickets/507-hip-hop-festival-2011/. Retrieved 2011-10-19. 
2. ^ Name (required). "Martha Diaz Announced as Keynote Speaker for 6th Annual Hip Hop Congress Conference « The Hip Hop Cosign". Thehiphopcosign.wordpress.com. http://thehiphopcosign.wordpress.com/2007/06/07/martha-diaz-announced-as-keynote-speaker-for-6th-annual-hip-hop-congress-conference/. Retrieved 2011-10-19. 
3. ^ "NYU Gallatin > Academics > Faculty > Martha Diaz". Gallatin.nyu.edu. http://www.gallatin.nyu.edu/academics/faculty/md1722.html/. Retrieved 2011-10-19. 
4. ^ Koebler, Jason (November 7, 2011). "Teachers Use Hip Hop to Engage Students". U.S. News Report. http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-school-notes/2011/11/07/teachers-use-hip-hop-to-engage-students. Retrieved November 14, 2011. 
5. ^ Cooper, Charlotte (2010-01-03). "2010 - Seven Who Invent a Better Future". Womens eNews. http://www.womensenews.org/story/21-leaders-the-21st-century/091221/2010-seven-who-invent-better-future/. Retrieved 2011-10-19. 
6. ^ "Martha Diaz: Lady of Hip Hop". Feministing.com. 2007-04-07. http://feministing.com/2007/04/07/martha_diaz_lady_of_hip_hop_1/. Retrieved 2011-10-19. 
7. ^ http://www.fmnh.org/hiphop/bio_diaz.html
8. ^ "Martha Diaz". DaWire. 2010-12-20. http://dawire.com/tag/martha-diaz/. Retrieved 2011-10-19. 

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