Olga Chapman Rivera
TELL US ABOUT YOU AND YOUR WORK
I am Olga Chapman Rivera, daughter of Olguita and Chuíto, a black Puerto Rican woman, AfroBoricua, a lesbian, a communicator, a brand planner, and a strategist. I was born in the best Barrio de Puerto Rico, Santurce, and the flavors of every corner of Santurce flows through my veins. A mix of salitre, Santurce flow, the salsa of my mom's first cousins Ismael Rivera, a family figure that defined our family and left a mark on the island memory and identity, the rock of the 80s, the indie movements of the 90s. Un arroz con pollo lleno de sabor tropical.
On a daily basis I help brands, projects, and initiatives define their audiences, create/define their brands and make content that is culturally and personally relevant to people and communities. Identity is at the core of what I do at Braave Tribe Collab, the collaborative ecosystem company I founded in 2018
At BRAAVE, our strategy focused on the people (the audience) and their micro-culture; our approach is people-centric (culture, values, tendencies, lifestyle, and identity), resulting in a strategic development that focuses on people's needs and socio-cultural context. Our four pillars of analysis and execution, Audience - Culture - Brand - Growth, help us identify our audience's social and cultural values and translate them into brand values, which directly impact consumer satisfaction and commitment, ultimately resulting in organic and exponential growth for brands. An Audience Centric strategy is significant when discussing developing educational content and campaigns for culturally unique population segments.
Since 2019, we have established a collaborative partnership with Comuna 4, a novel agency; we share their space with them and other shops. The agency space serves as a content studio, an office, a playground, and an extension of that feeling of Home and Community I cherish so much.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
Family inspires me—also, Creativity, Innovation, Technology, Disruption, and Change. But at the core of all of that for me is Home. Home in a particular way. Home as a Place. Home as a Feeling, Experience, Smell. Home is the root of everything we do, beginning and end. As a giant tree that grows, downward for strength/stability and upward to reach the sun. I believe in the power of Digital and Innovation to lift communities. The power of new technology at the service of human needs, technology for the people. Specifically, any technology that decentralizes power and provides access. Technology as an equalizer, as a vehicle that democratizes access to information, experiences, and knowledge. Any technology that decentralizes control and gives back control and power to the people. I work with partners like Corredor Afro in Loiza, Puerto Rico, to develop and find ways to use technology for the people and lift our communities.
WHAT DOES COMMUNITY MEAN TO YOU?
Community means shared memories and experiences. Community to me is a sense of support, care, and love for our family, neighbors, our tribe, our people. Community has everything to do with identity, belonging and includes people who support each other's interests or have something in common. The notion of community, belonging, and identity are essential to me and present in everything I do.
I belong to several communities myself— family, friends, school, peers, female community, the black community, the LGBTQIIA+ communities.
But I go back to my first comment, Home. My first community, the first I was aware of, happened at Home, and it was family. Whatever that first tripe looks like, family and Home is at the center of us all.
Home as a place, not only as a house or building or a village or a country. Home as a self-defining and life-changing feeling of wholeness, belonging, and love. I believe that all of us working, creating, and thriving are trying to go back home and uplift what Home is in us—working around Home and building upon the learning acquired through our first identity-defining tribe.
FAVORITE FILM
Best song and best movie are so tricky for me. I always find that people have the best this and that, and I don't. I have many things I love. Here are some of them:
Átame, 1989
The Matrix, 1999
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2000
Amores Perros, 2000
Amelie, 2001
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004
Slumdog Millionaire, 2008
Avatar, 2009
The Shape of Water, 2017
Parasite, 2019
FAVORITE SONG
Time to Pretend, MGMT
Chandelier, Sia
Una Tarjeta Postal, Ismael Rivera
Dime por qué, De todas maneras todas, Las Caras Lindas, Las Tumbas, Soy Feliz, Ismael Rivera
Caer, Buscabulla
Mujer con Sombrero, Silvio Rodríguez
Adult Education, Hall & Oates
Tenía Tanto que darte, Nena Daconte
Michael Jackson, Thriller
FAVORITE PLACE
En Puerto Rico, El Viejo San Juan, Santurce y Cabo Rojo.