Miguel Gutierrez: 0:15

Welcome to another episode of Charros y Clásicos a Bosky Strings podcast. I'm your host, miguel Gutiérrez, and I'm here with my good friend and co-host, joel Ozuna.

Joel Lee Ozuna: 0:23

Thank you everyone for tuning in for another episode of Charrados y Clásicos. Today's guest is a proud Edinburgh native. She's a graduate from Edinburg North High School, earned her bachelor's in music education and her master's in educational leadership from UTRGV. She's a former orchestra director at Edinburgh High and is now leading the mariachi program at BL Garza Middle School here in Edinburgh. Most recently, she became the co-founder of RGV International Mariachi Conference. Please welcome Mirela Acuña.

Mirelle Acuña: 0:49

Hi guys, Thank you so much for having me.

Joel Lee Ozuna: 0:52

Thank you for joining us.

Miguel Gutierrez: 0:54

Hey, so you're finally here and we're able to talk about this huge event that's coming up for you.

Mirelle Acuña: 1:03

So why don't we leave with that? Talk to us about this thing that's coming up. We're super excited. As you said, it's the RGV International Mariachi Conference and it's the first of its kind in Texas. A few exist out there in the US, but this is the first one to come into Texas. And what it's going to be it's several days of mariachi workshops and we're going to have mariachi competitions, group competitions, vocal competitions, all culminating with a grand concert at the end.

Mirelle Acuña: 1:27

But what we're really excited about is the fact that we're able to provide educational opportunities for the kids, not just in the Valley, but I mean obviously throughout, but really to our RGV kids.

Mirelle Acuña: 1:38

We've seen an exponential growth in mariachi education here in South Texas and it always feels like we have to travel out to get bigger educational opportunities in these types of workshops.

Mirelle Acuña: 1:49

So we founded the conference and we're able to just bring really high caliber education to these kids without them having to travel out.

Mirelle Acuña: 1:58

So our guest teachers we're actually bringing down Mariachi Sol de Mexico, de Jose Hernandez over from California, so they'll be helping us be the teachers of these workshops, along with some other really great master teachers like Mike Guzman from San Antonio, michelle Quintero, jorge Contreras and just a bunch of other people that are coming down and it's just great days for these kids to work together, master more concepts on their instrument, take vocal lessons, see each other at their craft, just light that fire in the kids and the teachers and we're providing professional development, which is something that doesn't really exist for mariachi educators. So we're going to do that and the grand concert is going to happen. We're super excited. We have a great lineup Mariachi Mariposas, mariachi Los Arreros del Valle and, of course, mariachi Sol de Mexico. That's going to happen at the Performing Arts Center in McAllen and we're also adding Conjuntos. So we're adding an aspect of that to the conference to just really celebrate our Mexican heritage with as many musical experiences as we can give our students in our community.

Miguel Gutierrez: 3:01

So how did this idea come to be? I mean, there's already conferences out there, so how does yours stand out from the others?

Mirelle Acuña: 3:08

So the idea came to be. When I was in college, I always traveled with Maria Chieslan. I was a member of the, at the time, utpa. Right now it's UTRGV. Maria Chieslan and Dr Guerra and Pancho gave us a lot of opportunities of traveling and so I got to participate as a student. It was always something such. It's such an exciting and fun time. And then when we became teachers, we used to, you know, take the kids. We've taken them a few times to some of the other ones, but we're like what, how do we provide that for our students? So Abo and I founded the foundation to give the opportunity for these kids.

Mirelle Acuña: 3:42

Now, what makes it different is a lot of the other conferences don't give professional development for the educators. They only focus on the students. But if we want it to continue to grow, obviously we need to help educate the teachers. And the other thing is that we're also incorporating the new TMEA Allstate component. So we're doing Allstate prep workshops for our kids and a lot of the other conferences, and I think they're all like this. I might be wrong, but from what I've seen is that you choose the instrument that you want, and vocals is one of those instruments. So if you choose voice, you stick with voice and don't do the instrument. Those of us that are mariachi musicians know you can't just stand there and not sing, or you only sing and not play. Singing is a part of it, but so is playing an instrument. So that's different for us. We're incorporating both, so we created a schedule that allows students to do both things during our conference the instrument and the vocal trainings. So that's a little bit different. And of course, the conjunto aspect is very different as well.

Joel Lee Ozuna: 4:40

Tell us more about the conjunto aspect.

Mirelle Acuña: 4:42

Yes. So that came about because a lot of our kids you know we work with Conjunto students and we want something and there's not a lot that exists for Conjunto students. We think of Conjunto as the program right, because it's really. It's not Conjunto, it's more like Norteño. But the programs are starting to grow and there's nothing out there. So we decided to do initially it was just a showcase, Like, and there's nothing out there. So we decided to do initially was just a showcase, Like we're going to do something for them. It's going to be a showcase, no competition, nothing like that.

Mirelle Acuña: 5:10

And then there was a lot more excitement about the conjunto portion. So directors started registering, hey, is it going to be a competition? And we started getting feedback. I'm like, oh my gosh, If you know me, I'm just like, okay, if we need to pivot, we're going to pivot. So we pivoted two weeks ago into a competition, which is like insane really, but it's actually coming together really well. So it turned into a competition and so now we have a bunch of schools that are interested.

Mirelle Acuña: 5:37

It's going to be free for the community. So the great part is that our kids get to play for the community and we get to show the parents, we get to play for the community and we get to show the parents, we get to show families, we get to show administrators, city officials like this is out there, this exists in our schools. How can we support them? I'm not an expert at Conjunto, I don't really know much about Conjunto, so I brought in a consultant, Adrian Zambrano. He's an excellent musician who's my consultant right now for the Conjunto portion of this and it's just coming together. We have a lot of interest, we have sponsors, we're going to give away free instruments for the winners, so that's super exciting. We have already an accordion lined up, we have a bajo sexto lined up and just some other surprises that those winners are going to get, and the joy and the excitement that these kids and teachers are having is that's exactly why we're doing this the joy and the excitement that these kids and teachers are having is.

Joel Lee Ozuna: 6:27

That's exactly why we're doing this.

Mirelle Acuña: 6:28

We're doing it for them. And what date is the event taking place? So we're having this the end of June. It's going to be for the mariachi workshops, june 25th, 26th, all day, half day on the 27th, which is a Friday, so it's two and a half days. Then Friday night we transition into the competition aspect. So mariachi is going to start with the vocal competition we already have our finalists and then we'll do our group competition. That's going to be inside the convention center, outside of the convention center, which we call Oval Park, which is where the water area is, and there's a stage there. The Conjunto is going to have their music and their competition going on there on Friday night. It starts at 6.

Mirelle Acuña: 7:03

We're also having vendors. We're also having vendors, we're having food trucks, like a vendor market open for the community. It's completely free. So that's going to happen on that Friday night, the 27th, and then on Saturday, the 28th, we have the Grand Concert. That's going to be at the beautiful McAllen Performing Arts Center, which we're super excited because we hired a top-notch production company and it's going to be a fabulous show. So everybody should come out. Tickets are on sale at Ticketmaster or in the McAllen Performing Arts Center box office. They're on our website also as well.

Joel Lee Ozuna: 7:31

So for a student that wants to register, they could simply log on to your website and yes, so on our website, wwwrgvmariachiconferencecom, they can go and they can just register as an individual.

Mirelle Acuña: 7:43

There's teachers that still want to register their kids. They can. They don't have to come and compete, they just want to do workshops. That's okay too, so they can register. They can get information on buying tickets for the concert. The registration includes the concert ticket. So that's one thing also that sets us apart that we're very affordable, because we're not out to make money, we're out to give kids opportunities. I know some people do it as a business and that's okay, but our main thing was to give the opportunity. So it's very, very affordable. We have scholarships available if people need those, and just a lot of things. So they can reach out to me if they want. I can give my phone number. It's 956-578-3838. And I can help either. Vendors, teachers, performers, whoever needs help. They can always reach out to me.

Miguel Gutierrez: 8:26

Can normal or like common people sign up for your clinic? Do they have to be a student?

Mirelle Acuña: 8:32

They don't have to be a student. So we actually have three levels. We have middle school, high school and what we call the open category. So the open category encompasses university students and above. The only limit that we placed on age was on the vocal competition, which obviously we already have our finalists. So the open category we do have some groups that are not students. They're, I guess you would call like semi-professional. They're coming in and they're competing in the open category. So, yeah, I mean any age, anybody that wants to learn. The only thing is that we ask is that they already play one of the mariachi instruments, even if they're not familiar with the mariachi genre, because we're not teaching them how. We're expanding their knowledge, right, we're expanding how to play the style and how to incorporate what they already know and make it better. So if they play violin, guitar, vihuela, guitarron, trumpet, then of course they can sign up for one of our workshops.

Miguel Gutierrez: 9:23

That sounds great. So you know. Now you're telling us about the details of this. You know grand event that's coming up. People are going to see your face. You're already a face. People kind of know who you are. So let's tell listeners who you are. So tell us more about yourself. Now a little bit about your background, where you come from, where are you originally from?

Mirelle Acuña: 9:41

I was actually born in Mexico. I'm from Reynosa, so I'm like true, true Mexican. I was born in Mexico. My dad worked here in the United States. He worked in the oil fields so with the assistance of his work he was able to get my mom and my brothers and I our residency documents. So when I was three we moved to the United States. So I don't really know a life outside of living here. We lived in far for a while and then when I was in second grade, my parents moved us to Edinburgh and I've been a product of Edinburgh CISD since then.

Mirelle Acuña: 10:11

And when I was little I always liked music, because my dad grew up singing around the house like Luis Miguel, jose, jose and all those things. He's not formally trained but he wanted. He saw that I kind of had the musical, like just a little spark, and so he's like we need to get her trained. Now the thing my parents couldn't afford it. So my aunt was a pianist and she wasn't formally trained either, but she was quite a good pianist and he started lessons with her on piano and I remember just I took over. If you know me, I'm just like I want to do something. I took over. My poor father had to give up his piano lessons because I wanted to take over. So I took over piano lessons.

Mirelle Acuña: 10:48

I started piano when I was little and joined the school choir and the elementary and things like that and that kind of sparked it. And when I was in middle school I joined orchestra and I was like, ok, this is it. Like I fell in love with the violin, not going back. I loved it. I was under Missetti at Memorial Middle School here in Edinburgh and then I went to Edinburgh North under Mr Giannis and the orchestra. Now, mind you, mariachi was the furthest thing from my mind. I loved orchestra. I was an orchestra geek. I tried band for a little bit under Mr Perez at the time. I did color guard for a little bit and the front ensemble because he made me play keyboard for one show the apocalyptic show, but it was. Violin was my love. I loved violin. And so Mr Science Manny Science was the mariachi director at North at the time and he needed more violinists so he started recruiting. I'm like I'm not going to do mariachi, that sucks.

Joel Lee Ozuna: 11:34

I don't like mariachi.

Mirelle Acuña: 11:36

Because my idea of mariachi was these people that play at restaurants that don't have coordinating trajes and they're kind of just. They don't look very nice.

Miguel Gutierrez: 11:46

The stereotype.

Mirelle Acuña: 11:46

Yeah, the stereotype, they don't sound very nice sometimes. I thought that's what mariachi was like, these men, and I'm like I'm not going to do that. That's weird. So I went home and told my mom and my dad I was like this teacher and I'm like this guy, like I didn't know who Mr Science was. Mr Science was, he wants me to do mariachi. I don't want to do mariachi. Mom is ugly. They're like, yeah, yeah.

Mirelle Acuña: 12:06

So my parents were the ones like Mica, you need to try. I mean, because I mean we're like I said we're from Mexico, so they had listened to good mariachi. The mariachi they knew was mariachi vargas, you know, and stuff like that. So they're like, oh, I was like I don't want to do this, and very quickly. I don't even know because I honestly was so quickly. I don't remember how, but I just I loved it. I was like, oh man, they're right, this is so great. And I loved mariachi.

Mirelle Acuña: 12:41

So by my senior year I was leading the violin section and started singing a little bit. I had sang at church, but singing mariachi a little bit. I was not very good. But then Pancho from UTRGV or UTP at the time he was recruiting for his female group, so he's like. He came, I guess, to the high school or I don't know how it happened, to be honest, but he came and started recruiting we need females for the female group at UTPA. I said, ok, I guess I'll try it.

Mirelle Acuña: 13:12

By this point, I love mariachi and once I started playing a little bit my senior year and then I became a freshman at UTPA, I was like I was yeah, I was hooked. Mariachi became my life. I was studying music as a music major and doing mariachi and orchestra because I still love both genres. And soon after I got into Aslan at UTRGV and that's it, those performances, those big venues. I started taking violin lessons, obviously because of my degree, but also started taking vocal lessons and just the opportunities that UTPA afforded us Dr Guerra and Pancho and just the opportunities that UTPA afforded us Dr Guerra and Pancho where we were able to travel to so many amazing cities and venues and play. We were able to open shows for Vargas and Sol and Cobre and Camperos and all these people, and it was like man, this is a beautiful, like you know, just art, that musical art, and I need to be a part of it. So I mean, that's how it was and I was already studying to be a music major, so I knew I was going to do it. It started with orchestra. I started teaching middle school orchestra for eight years and I moved to high school for eight years and now I'm year 17,.

Mirelle Acuña: 14:17

Back into mariachi. I started this officially at Biel Garza mariachi program and I mean, music has just it's. If I didn't do music I don't know what I would do with my life, because music is my life. And it's so crazy that that seed was planted by this one teacher who nagged Mr Science for me to be in mariachi and it just completely changed the course of my life. So I'm really grateful for that and I'm glad that my parents forced me. Like this teenager, I felt I was mad at them at the time, but I'm really glad that they forced me to do it because it changed my life and now I'm here doing a conference and founding these things. So it really really, really changed everything.

Joel Lee Ozuna: 14:54

So this past year was your first year teaching mariachi right in middle school.

Mirelle Acuña: 15:03

Yes, it was my first year. Well, I mean when I taught originally at BL Garza. I started the mariachi program at BL but it was unofficial, it was like a club. So I was the orchestra director and the mariachi director after school. So some of my former students that were in my first sets of groups, like Miguel Aguirre, he went through our Edinburgh North program and also UTRGV and he's a teacher now.

Mirelle Acuña: 15:21

Priscilla Espinosa also, she's a teacher now, and all these students that came, they were my original students but they were my orchestra kids that I was teaching mariachi to and we were doing on the side. At the time it wasn't acknowledged as a middle school, only the high schools had them and then it was just kind of unofficial. And now this year ECISD adopted all schools to have them as an official curriculum into the school, so they hired out directors. And that's when I made the change, because I was like you know what? I was the original teacher. Here. I want to kind of go back and see what it would be like full time and start building that program full time.

Miguel Gutierrez: 15:57

I was going to say because you started teaching orchestra first at BO right, yeah, yeah, so I think my first six years there.

Mirelle Acuña: 16:04

Well, really, actually I started elementary. I always forget because it was such a short amount of time. I started elementary as my very first job. I taught at LBJ Elementary here in Edinburgh and I love that. I mean, I love teaching elementary, but again, as an instrumentalist and mariachi and orchestra musician, I wanted to be teaching in a different classroom, but I taught for one semester elementary and then they transfer me over, so after that I was there. For the rest, I completed eight years. My last two years of orchestra is when I started the mariachi program. So they had it for two years and I think they tried to keep it for a little while. I don't know how long they kept it up, but then it kind of just, you know, went away and now, obviously, now it's back. Yeah.

Miguel Gutierrez: 16:47

And then from BL, where did you go?

Mirelle Acuña: 16:49

From BL. I actually did one year as an assistant director at Economides High School. I knew that I was ready now at that point to teach high school. I had got an opportunity before that to move up to high school. But I didn't feel ready. I felt like I was too green as a teacher. I needed to learn a lot more. So I went to Economides and I was there for a year as an assistant director and then the assistant director position at Edinburgh High opened.

Miguel Gutierrez: 17:15

You retired right the what Mr Flores retired.

Mirelle Acuña: 17:17

Mr Flores retired, yeah, and Lori was there, lorena Lopez, who was a good friend of mine to this day, and so their program was a little bit bigger and just said, you know, you know what? Like, let me transfer over there, I want to give it a try. They've been established a lot longer Because career-wise it just seemed like the better option. So I moved over. I was Lori's assistant for a few years. She moved to Hidalgo as a teacher and that's when I became the head director at Edinburgh High and I mean it was amazing, we were it. It was a great time. I learned a lot as a head director what to do and what not to do. Definitely it was a learning experience for me.

Miguel Gutierrez: 17:50

Did you also help in the mariachi at EHS with Lori.

Mirelle Acuña: 17:54

I did so. By the time I got there, Lori wasn't the director anymore.

Miguel Gutierrez: 17:57

That's what I couldn't remember, yeah.

Mirelle Acuña: 17:58

Yeah, I think the first year that I got there they actually hired someone. But I did help this person at the time. So time, so I helped because he wasn't a mariachi person, he was a classical guitarist, so he, you know, needed help and as the assistant director I had a little bit more time to help, so I would go and help him, like pretty much run the mariachi, and so we did really well. I did the same thing at Economides. I helped Mr Garza as much as I could when I was there and so when we got to, when I got to hi, I did the same thing with the teacher there. And then Ruben de los Santos took over and he's a mariachi person, so he didn't really need my help anymore. And then shortly after, clyde Guerra took over the program and he definitely didn't need my help anymore. He's a fantastic mariachi musician so he's done phenomenal with the kids.

Mirelle Acuña: 18:42

But yeah, it was great to kind of help there as well, but I was busy, like I tried to help, but I was busy because I was also doing region chair for Mariachi. I don't know if you all remember that I was a region chair for six years and then I became the TAME president for two years running the state competition. So I'm like, okay, something's got to give. And so I stepped back a little bit because COVID happened and I just stepped back and now I'm back into kind of running things. That's, it's a big passion of mine to run events, so that's what I'm doing dang, that's a lot.

Miguel Gutierrez: 19:15

Yeah, it is it's been busy.

Mirelle Acuña: 19:16

It's been busy years, man, a lot of busy years so what year are you on now on teaching? I'm finishing 17. You're 17 already, but it's crazy like it. It feels like a long time, but also feels like a really short time.

Joel Lee Ozuna: 19:30

What made you decide to get your master's in educational leadership?

Mirelle Acuña: 19:34

So I felt like I wanted to make more of a difference in the classroom. Unfortunately, I mean and it's not against anybody, but a lot of the time our administrators they're not musicians or former music educators, or they didn't go through the programs or whatever the case is, and they don't know how to offer us help. Or they don't know how to offer assistance sometimes there's they block certain things in our classroom because they don't understand it, not because they're trying to, you know, undermine us or whatever. They just don't understand it. So my idea was that I wanted to become an administrator to make a difference in how administrators evaluate music programs and really how they just administer music programs. And then I wanted to be a fine arts director and things like that. So it's a very competitive area to do that. So I did go for my master's. I started in 2016. I completed in nine months, so I finished it within that one school. I started in 2016. I completed it in nine months, so I finished it within that one school year and then got certified. So I am certified.

Mirelle Acuña: 20:34

But what's been great about it? Even though I'm not officially an administrator, I was able to be the lead teacher for Edinburgh CISD. So our fine arts director, ms Villarreal, put me as a lead teacher for the orchestra department. So I oversaw the district department and kind of led there. So that was a good experience. But I've also done like TMEA clinics on leadership and I've done other clinics in other school districts of how to apply like T-tests and how to apply my administrative knowledge into the classroom. Like how do you speak to administrators as an orchestra director, mariachi director, band, so forth forth, how do you get administration to help you when you don't know how to communicate, kind of like bridging the gap between administrators and music educators. I've been hired to do that a lot so that's been really great because I've been helping educators in that sense there was that one year where I saw an article yes of yours published the magazine that they have right.

Mirelle Acuña: 21:30

Yes, in Southwestern Musicians. So that year at TMEA I did a workshop at the clinic in San Antonio and it was about motivating students and creating student leadership within your classroom. I thought it was going to be a bust, to be honest, because they gave me a Friday night slot at 6.30. Like what People are going to be out and about at 6.30. Like what People are going to be out and about at 6.30 on Friday? But no, it was actually really good. We had maybe about 150, 200 people in attendance. So that was good.

Mirelle Acuña: 21:57

But what happened with that was that the feedback for the workshop was really great, because everybody does an evaluation afterward and so the evaluation was great. So they actually reached out to me TME reached out to me to write a follow-up article about the workshop that I had done, which again was student leadership and student motivation. So that's how teachers can create that leadership. So I use a little bit of my admin knowledge and my educator knowledge to blend what that was and it's been great, like it's been great doing clinics. I've been doing them a lot more, so that's been something really positive to come out of that.

Joel Lee Ozuna: 22:31

Is that something you see yourself doing in the future and going into administration?

Mirelle Acuña: 22:35

Yeah Well, the goal right now is I really want to branch out and to do more clinics. So one of the things actually in our conference that I'm doing with through the PD is I'm going to do a workshop with t-tests. So for people that are not familiar, t-tests is our evaluation system in Texas that evaluates teacher performance right, and so that's what principals, administrators use. So I'm going to train teachers on how to incorporate the t-tests into their classroom without them feeling like they have to change how and what they're doing. So, again, just bridging that gap between understanding with their administrators, and so that's kind of what I see myself doing right now. I do have some prospects lined up where I'm going to go in clinic and workshop different groups of teachers to kind of do that administrative side.

Mirelle Acuña: 23:22

But then now I've also been getting called to do a lot of vocal classes, violin classes from teachers, a lot of judging, and so I'm going to kind of I'm actually going to step back from teaching this year to focus on doing that so that I can make a difference, not just in my own classroom with the students that are coming in every year with me, but outside of my classroom, like now I can affect school districts throughout.

Mirelle Acuña: 23:46

You know what I mean, Not just mine. So that's, I'm going to focus a lot on that. So if anybody out there you know needs help, I'm going to be flexible in doing that and I'm going to focus on the events, like really trying to explode this conjunto thing. There's a lot of possibility on it. So that's one of the things that I'm excited about. Next year it's going to be a standalone competition. We're already starting the process of that and we're super excited about possibly turning it into the one state competition that exists for groups, because nothing like that really exists for conjuntos. So that's what I'm going to do and we already have a lot of partners going on with this and it's exciting. There's a lot of changes, very exciting changes.

Miguel Gutierrez: 24:23

How did your foundation come into play? Like, what made you start foundation? How?

Mirelle Acuña: 24:29

did your foundation come into play? Like, what made you start foundation? The foundation came because I wanted to make sure that I held myself accountable. Both Abel and I started the foundation and we wanted to hold ourselves accountable to not want to turn it into a business of like. I think there's something to be said when you start a business and that's your source of income, where you're kind of like, oh man, like it becomes where the focus becomes on I need to make money off of this, rather than the instructional aspects or how can I help, how can I serve. So we started the foundation so that we had the ability, not just for mariachi, but really to to do other things where we're helping and it's not like a financial business, but it's more. We're running it.

Mirelle Acuña: 25:12

The goal is to become a nonprofit. We're running it as a not-for-profit because nonprofits are crazy hard to start. There's so much paperwork to do with the IRS and all these things that go into play. But I mean, really, the foundation was so that when we're running a foundation, we felt that we were going to get more support from the people that do carry the money to help us do these things. So that's really what happened. You know just how do we make these events happen. We need a foundation that shows what our mission is, what our goals are, which is education and musical opportunities for students. So that's what that was. That's how that started. I mean, it was just a goal to help kids.

Miguel Gutierrez: 25:52

Did you see yourself like back then, when you first started where you are now?

Mirelle Acuña: 25:58

I'm super chiflada. Heck, no, I wasn't like. I really like. Look. So one thing with me is that I'm a really big go-getter. I'm a very type A type of person. I mean I always tell people, I'm not afraid to admit it, I'm very type A, I'm a very big go-getter. But I'm also like when I was little, I was the baby of the house, you know, growing up with two older brothers, and I was mommy and daddy's little girl. So I was like I mean, they disciplined us but I also got a lot of what I wanted, so era chif something, just because I love to do it, and it was something that was for fun.

Mirelle Acuña: 26:34

I wanted to be initially my career. I wanted to be a pediatrician when I was younger because I've always had this thing, I guess, with for kids right, like helping kids and just like children has always been something that's like I love to help kids, and because I saw through my family and through family friends, when kids are not in a good situation, what that does for them and that's something that's always impacted me to help kids. But then I felt I was like, oh man, I don't know if I can be a pediatrician and see kids suffer. So that was. I pivoted from that and then I became well, let me go to law school. So I initially after that wanted to be a lawyer. Because I wanted to be a family lawyer to help families reunite with their kids or put kids in better situations than what they're in. So I wanted to go to law school.

Mirelle Acuña: 27:23

But as I started getting more into my musical journey, it was just like something that completely disappeared from my mind. I was like am I going to be a music teacher? I was almost confused. Thank God that I have parents that are super supportive with anything that I do. They never told me not to. I'm like what? I'm going to be a music teacher. It was such a misconception of what being a music teacher is. We don't get paid enough and they're just performers. I didn't know anything, but I actually played with the UT Bronzewell at the time orchestra.

Mirelle Acuña: 27:53

My senior year I got recruited so I was playing with the university and to me that was like, wow, that's a lot better. And I saw these music students and all these little people that planted seeds, made me pivot and to me I was just going to be a teacher and do my job and, little by little, everybody that's contributed. There's so many people that have contributed to my journey, have helped me through encouragement. A lot of it's been encouraging you can, you can and do this because you can and you're able, and you're able to do this, you're able to do this, and it's just I wouldn't have done it alone. I mean I really like there's so many people to thank that. I will not make a list of that, but I mean it's just been anybody who's contributed to me or encouraged me. I'm very grateful to them Because that's why I am here now.

Miguel Gutierrez: 28:39

Where do you see your foundation going after this?

Mirelle Acuña: 28:42

Well, I mean, like I said, we want to continue doing mariachi events, but also it's such a populated space already, there's so many mariachi competitions, so I do want to give the opportunity to continue growing in that sector or possibly help other people through collaboration of what already exists in that sector. But, like I said, I'm moving on to the conjunto sector and then, of course, our thing is getting enough traction so that we could provide scholarships for students seeking degrees and then also growing it to possibly creating a program for students that want to be music majors that are still in high school. I know UTRGV has something similar like music major day and stuff, but that's it. That's the extent of it. So, maybe starting a program where university students help kind of guide those younger students or transition from high school to university, just start mentorship programs for music students and start really just providing the opportunities and the avenues for more programs to grow. Like maybe creating an advocacy program so that we can go and talk to the schools and administrators and helping schools.

Mirelle Acuña: 29:52

How do we start programs? How do we I know they already exist in school districts for the curriculum side Like they come and evaluate and they're like this is what we need to do better. This is where we need to pivot and change or whatever. I would love for our foundation to do that for music programs. Look, this is where we need to grow. This is where we need to do better. This is how you can help and then just help programs grow and all schools start new programs. This is send a mentor for two weeks for a new program and this is how you're going to set it up and those types of things help educators and students and grow programs, not just in Texas, but throughout. It'd be awesome.

Miguel Gutierrez: 30:26

What would you say? In your entire career, since beginning to now where you're at, what's the biggest struggle you've had to overcome to get to where you're at?

Mirelle Acuña: 30:36

Honestly, I think the biggest struggle would probably be well, I mean, there's two right Lack of funds. Obviously there's lack of funds anywhere, like whether you're a teacher, there's always going to be lack of funds. Unfortunately, it is what it is. You want to grow programs, but there's not enough resources and there's not enough funds. But I think people that don't see the vision whether that's administrators or that's anybody from the community or anybody that you're asking help from people that don't understand or see the vision that's, I think, the biggest roadblock, because even now I'm dealing with that.

Mirelle Acuña: 31:10

I'm super grateful that I had somebody that saw my vision in the McAllen Visitor Center. So Visit McAllen they've been a huge partner for us for this event because they've been a really big help with the event and getting facilities and those things. I met with this lady, lee Wooldridge, with Visit McAllen, who's been my contact person. She saw my vision. I presented the proposal for this event and she understood and saw the vision and she was excited about the vision. So she opened those doors. But had it been somebody else that didn't see the vision, that door would have been closed and that's been the biggest struggle People that don't understand or don't want to understand and they just close the door and they're like no, because once it's closed, like I always think, like what does little me have? Like I don't have any power to to do much without the help of people, like I think we always everybody always needs help from someone, and so that's the biggest struggle people closing the door.

Joel Lee Ozuna: 32:05

What's a piece of advice that you have for somebody who wants to pursue music?

Mirelle Acuña: 32:07

What's a piece of advice that you have for somebody who wants to pursue music.

Mirelle Acuña: 32:10

I would say look, I mean it's crazy to say, but when I was in college I got told by one music teacher that I should quit music school. And that's not something that I always say a lot, but I mean I think it's important to put it out there because that stayed with me. I mean, luckily I didn't, but had I taken that advice to that person, they said quit music school, you're never going to be a good teacher, you're never going to be a good musician, just quit. And I remember being so devastated by that I was crying. And another music professor came and found me and I was crying, I think somewhere in the stairwell or something, I don't even remember what it was. But they were concerned, this male professor of mine, and what happened. And I said, oh sir, like this teacher said this and that and he goes. Look, sometimes the best, he goes. I don't know the situation, he goes, but sometimes the best musicians are the worst teachers and sometimes the worst musicians are the best teachers. And I looked at him like what does that mean? He goes.

Mirelle Acuña: 33:10

It's not about if you're naturally talented or not, it's about how much effort you put, because sometimes you might not be the best right away, but you work and you work and you work and you work and all those hurdles that you kind of had to learn how to overcome makes you a better educator, because now you teach other kids with the same hurdles how to overcome them, because your toolbox is a lot larger than the ones that didn't need the tools, because it just came so easily. You have so many more tools in your toolbox. So that's my advice really just because you're struggling, just because somebody closes the door, just because somebody says no, that doesn't mean that you can't Take the tools. Put them in your toolbox, use them and change things. Don't let somebody tell you no.

Mirelle Acuña: 33:55

That's my biggest thing about music school, because it's not easy and music being so subjective on opinions there's going to be bad opinions and there's going to be good opinions. No, I think it's just knowing, being realistic with your abilities and saying I need to grow in this area, I need to grow here how do I do better? And seeking the advice of those people that are better and taking it and applying it. I think it's the best thing that you can possibly do as a musician well, thanks for for that advice.

Miguel Gutierrez: 34:22

I completely agree with you, because a lot of us get told no or have heard no's, but it doesn't stop us, it helps us to just push forward. Well, thanks, mina. Thanks for being here.

Mirelle Acuña: 34:32

Of course.

Miguel Gutierrez: 34:32

Pleasure and we look forward to your event. We will be there and let's see what happens.

Mirelle Acuña: 34:36

Thank you so much, guys, for having me.

Miguel Gutierrez: 34:38

Thank you. Mina, thank you.