Manny RuizPublisher & Exec Producer - Nuestro Stories / Co-Founder - Brilla MediaManny Ruiz is the Publisher and Executive Producer of Nuestro Stories (www.NuestroStories.com), an innovative, digital media, and documentaries platform that tells THE “Origin Stories” of the cultural traditions, songs, sayings, places, foods, fads, people, sports, nuances, notable achievements, and much more that collectively comprise Latino history and pop culture. In addition to his publishing duties, Manny is also the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Brilla Media Ventures, the branded cultural storytelling media company that produces Nuestro Stories and is owned by his wife and CEO Angela Sustaita-Ruiz. During his more than 27 years in U.S. Hispanic media, marketing, entertainment, and journalism, Manny has built a reputation for leadership, creative storytelling, community service, and collaboration.Prior to Brilla, Manny created the Hispanicize platform that literally founded the U.S. Hispanic social media marketing industry and co-founded the first U.S. Hispanic social media influencer network. Manny sold Hispanicize in 2019 to Urbano TV, a company partly owned by John Leguizamo.Prior to Hispanicize, Manny created the first U.S. Hispanic press release wire service, Hispanic PR Wire, which in 2008 he sold with two other sister companies to the publicly traded events and media company UBM (now Informa). Before launching Hispanic PR Wire, Manny was an award-winning public relations professional with Porter Novelli, where he served as the agency’s national Hispanic media relations director and co-founded the agency’s U.S. Hispanic PR practice.During his career, Manny has been awarded the keys to the City of Miami and has won every major award in the public relations industry, including the PRWeek Campaign of the Year (“truth”), the Silver Anvil, and the Hispanic Public Relations Association Professional of the Year Award. In 1992, during his career as a print reporter, Manny was a co-recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Community Journalism. A serial entrepreneur, Manny is a shareholder and senior partner in Noticias Newswire, which he co-founded in 2013, and in RetroPop Media, which produces events in the retro culture space but is on hiatus during the ongoing pandemic. Born in Miami and of Cuban descent, Manny has a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Florida International University. Manny's hobbies include family road trips, listening to '80s music, playing guitar, and curating his family's history.