I think my biggest advice to filmmakers is to look into the many digital platforms that exist for you and your team to distribute your film.

I think making shorts is really about giving yourself the opportunity to learn what your strengths and weaknesses are. That's really important to know before getting to your first feature. In many ways you can't afford to make too many mistakes while on that feature.

I hope my visual language inspires others to tell their stories and challenges people's thinking.

As for major obstacles keeping young Latinos from becoming filmmakers, I think our communities are still coming into their identities as storytellers. It's such an important identity to reclaim - it's how our ancestors kept our cultures alive. But a long history of silencing, invisibility, and marginalization has kept generations of Latinos from believing in themselves, from seeing themselves as agents of their own lives. I think there needs to be a focus on this aspect to help cultivate young Latinas to see themselves as cultural producers and defenders.

For me becoming a filmmaker was about taking back my voice - crafting stories that would move away from the problematic narratives that the studio system would put out about Latinos. I think this is why people like my films. They're refreshing. They feel more real.

I feel like social media is something that has yet to be considered a viable platform for marketing in the industry.

There is lots of pressure to make a GOOD film. And not just a GOOD film but one that will somehow stand out in the sea of GOOD films.