A few days ago, we introduced you to last year's Speak & Be Heard winner, Danielle Maglente, in order to give you an idea of the incredible spoken word poetry to expect from our contestants at this year's event. But in addition to the talented competitors, we're thrilled to introduce this year's judges which include Steven Raga (founder of UniPro) and Rosendo Pili (MC known as Mugshot) and Danielle Maglente. Emceeing the night will be Air Tabigue, comedian and emcee from the New York area. Please join us at Jebon Sushi on Februrary 1, 2013 at 7PM for 2013's UniPro Speak & Be Heard competition.
About the Judges:
Steven Raga was the founding President for UniPro in 2009, and served as Executive Director until 2011. Currently, he is a member of UniPro’s Board of Trustees. As of 2012, Steven is serving as the founding National Chairman for Filipino American Civic Engagement (FACE) [facephilippines.com] and Executive Director for Region 1 of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) [naffaa-r1.org]. He is also on the Board of Directors for the Filipino Children's Fund [fcfinc.org], which works to improve the livelihood of impoverished families in the Philippines.
“Before and when all else has failed, words are my first and last resort.” As an MC, poet, writer and educator, Mugshot lives by this credo and has dedicated his passion and energy to the written and spoken word. As an avid Queens New York native, his voice has been inspired by the diversity, culture and grit of his borough, as well as by the beauty and struggle of his immigrant upbringing. This is where the means of his perception has taken root, culminating in a mixture of urban angst, a haze of third world toddler-escent memories and the flowery pessimism of a poetic disposition.
Mugshot has rocked stages throughout the US with his crew, Deep Foundation, and has worked on several releases including Deep Foundation’s “The First Draft,” “Generation ILL” & Hydroponikz’s “Grown.” He is currently working on his solo debut project entitled “Punching Clocks” scheduled for release in 2013.
Air is a Filipino-American comedian, emcee and producer from Long Island, New York. He has performed and emceed numerous events for the Filipino and Asian Community, including the FIND, MAFA, NYC's Asian-Pacific American Heritage Festival, AsianinNY's Moon Festival and Fashion show and the 2011 and 2012 NYC Philippine Independence Day Parades. In 2011, Air was nominated for NYC's "Most Outstanding Filipino-American in Entertainment" for his accomplishments. He is currently performing with Pacific Punchlines: a hilarious group of API comics have banded together to bring standup comedy to school campuses.
At 21 years old, Danielle Maglente is currently a Senior at Seton Hall University, majoring in Philosophy and minoring in Political Science and Asian Studies. She has been involved in the Filipino Community since she was four years old, singing in local Filipino Independence days, various Performing Arts of the Philippines Inc. (P.A.P.I.) events, Shirt the Kids NJ in 2011, and serving as External PR and President of Seton Hall’s Filipino Club (FLASH). She wants to thank UNIPRO for allowing me to come back and judge this year’s SPEAK and BE HEARD Competition, and wants to wish good luck to all of the competitors!