Today we’d like to introduce you to Juan Victor Feliciano Mercader.
Juan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started this passion project back in late December 2017. I had just arrived in ATL seeking professional and business opportunities after being affected, as so many other Puerto Ricans, by the horrible devastation left by Hurricane Maria. My older brother had been a neighbor to this wonderful city for almost ten years, working for a major airline company. When he saw our mother and I struggling back home for weeks after the hurricane, he encouraged us to stay at his place for a few months until Puerto Rico recovered a little.
After Hurricane Maria, we didn’t have basic amenities like hot water and power, so it was a nice chance for my mother and I to get to experience a “normal life” once again. Staying with my brother was supposed to be temporary, but what I thought was going to be just a few weeks, turned out for me to be an almost three years experience to this day. I owe my success to my mother and brother. If I had not had the opportunity to stay on my brother’s sofa almost rent-free for an entire ten months, I would not be where I am today.
Today, I work a full time 8-5 customer service/finance job and have other creative side hustles. Everyone’s week has 168 hours. In mine, 40 hours make up my “office job” 8-5, and my other 148, I dedicate to my content creation company, where I give professional consultations and produce digital media and podcasts for both small and large clients. Another big chunk of my time is being one of the leading members of an event ticket brokerage company, but right now this is mostly on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Another significant chunk of my time is helping to manage an e-sports organization, acting as Tournament Commissioner with Metro Sports. In general, 50% of my time goes to my finance/customer service job, but someday I would like to dedicate 100% of my time to my creative projects.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
All of my first podcast interviews were over the phone and with NO professional equipment. Most of my friends and network were in Puerto Rico, and because of the technical challenges there after Hurricane Maria, internet and power were not reliable and EVERY single interview of my first 50 had some sort of glitch or technical issue.
It’s kind of crazy how easily you can start a podcast nowadays with little or no equipment. When I arrived in ATL, I knew NO one. The first local who gave me a huge hand in learning “the ways of the ATL hustler” was ATL United Dj, The DJ Eu. He was my interview #33 and thanks to him. This opened a lot of doors for me in ATL.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
Atlanta has given me this entrepreneurial spirit to really hustle and never give up on any dream I have. I really believe that a human being can be whatever he puts his mind to. When I arrived in ATL, I noticed there wasn’t any quality podcast in Spanish. Being myself an avid podcast listener, I’ve only known 2-3 podcasts in Spanish, but they were not as big or high-quality as some of the top English podcasts like Joe Rogan’s, Tim Ferriss’, or Gary Vee’s.
That’s essentially been my mission ever since I started my podcast in my brother’s closet to avoid audio echo, to create the best, high-quality interview podcast in Spanish. Today, my podcast is produced and created entirely in Atlanta and has over 12k monthly downloads, collectively a total of 200k downloads, and every day it keeps growing! I’ve already produced more than 300 episodes and helped others create over ten podcasts in the course of three years.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
During my childhood years, my grandmother and cousins all lived in the same suburb, with our houses close-by. My grandmother owned a catering business, where she made lunch for many local businesses in PR. She used to get up at 5 am every single day and started cooking for all those hard-working business owners and employees. Occasionally, I used to stay over at her house because she was kind of my second mother. My mother being a single mom, needed all the help she could get!
To this day, I still remember me being a kid jumping out of bed early in the morning to the clanging of the pots and pans my grandmother was using to prep all the food. Although she was busy prepping different dishes, she always carved out some time to make me a quick breakfast. To this day, I still remember being a small kid being woken up in the early morning by the loud banging of the pots and pans and her constant shuffling in the kitchen. What struck me the most was her love and attention because she never failed to make me some food, despite her being crazy busy, so I could continue on with my day as a kid with no responsibilities. That memory made an unforgettable mark and made me understand that we are all here on this planet to serve others through hard work and that we must always find time for those special folks in our circle of friends and family.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4577 River Parkway, Apt H, Atlanta, GA, 30339
- Website: cafeenmanopodcast.com
- Email: juan@prsinfiltro.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/donjuandelcampo
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donjuandelcampo
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/donjuandelcampo
- Other: donjuandelcampo.com
Image Credit:
Adrian Toro
Isaias Sanchez
Suggest a story: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
