Have You Met Manny On The Streets?

Former Third Floor Radio intern, Lizzie the Intern visited 102.7 KIISFM in LA to talk to host, tastemaker and actor Manny on the Streetz. Read below and get inspired by his story or listen here:

TFR:
Tell us a little about yourself Manny. A little mini bio.

Manny on the Streetz:
A little mini bio… I work in radio. I work for Ryan Secrest in
the mornings. And I’ve been with Ryan for 9 years. I’ve been with Kiis for a while. I
do radio, I also do, I’m an actor, so I came out here for Jacksonville, Florida. So I’ve
done a couple guest star, co-star roles on like iCarly, a bunch of other tv shows, doll
house. So I do that and I produce tv-shows and reality shows also as well.

TFR:
So you’ve been all around entertainment since a young age.

Manny on the Streetz:
Yeah, I always wanted to. I knew this is what I wanted to
do at such a young age. I kind of fell into radio, I guess, off a whim. My friend was
working in the street team and that’s how I got started. And somebody backed
out and they said we need to fill a position, and I said, “Look, I was doing shows
at Universal and Magic Mountain here like performing on stage or whatever,” and
they were like, “Would you like to go into radio?” I saw what he did. He got VIP
everywhere, and hung out with all the celebrities and partied. And I was like, that’s
what I want to do. So that’s how I got started.

TFR:
Were there any challenges for you reaching your goals in entertainment as a
Filipino or Asian American?

Manny on the Streetz:
Yeah, definitely. I think I speak for a lot of Filipinos and a lot of Asians in the entertainment business. I think we are all proud and supportive of everybody that are Asian and Filipino in the entertainment industry whether it be radio, tv, film, whatever. DJ E-man who’s at Power 106, him and I, we always talk about it, like how we are still in radio for a long time you know. But yeah, I think the tough challenge is, especially in LA, you get mixed into being Latino or
even black, nobody knows where to categorize us. We kind of just I guess stood our
ground and hopefully people realize that you know that we are Asian and Filipino.
The favorite thing is the difference in cultures, the diversity in cultures, and we
accept it. You know, us Filipinos we’re mutts. I mean we can range anywhere from
being Caucasian, to Black, to Hispanic, to Puerto Rican, to you know Chinese, to
Vietnamese, to whatever. I mean I think we blend in so well in terms of our culture,
and that’s what I like about you know being Asian and being Filipino. I was actually
born in Japan. And I have a lot of different friends also.

TFR:
So you are just very relatable to different types of people? And you are very
culturally diverse?

Manny on the Streetz:
Yes, very.

TFR:
What is the day in the day in the life of Manny on Streetz?

Manny on the Streetz:
It’s a busy one, I get up at 3:30 every single morning for the last 9 years.

TFR:
How do you do it?

Manny on the Streetz:
You know you force yourself. And you’re like, “Okay, I have
a job, a lot of people are struggling to have jobs, so you got to get up. You have to
force yourself 3:30 every morning. And then I mean I’m usually not done here ‘til
like about noon. So that’s already a 9 hour day, and after that I have like special
appearances for the radio station or whatever. So you know sometimes I cover red
carpets and I don’t get home ‘til 7pm, 8pm at night.

TFR:
So do you just knock out right when you get home?

Manny on the Streetz:
Yeah, I do. I normally have about 12 alarms going off at
different times, at five-minute increments.

TFR:
So what inspires you? What keeps you motivated and keeps you going?

Manny on the Streetz:
What inspires me… I think the joy of living and meeting new
people. And also wanting to reach my goals that I’ve always wanted to as a kid you
know. See myself on the big screen someday, even if it’s a small role or you know
whatever.

TFR:
Any special rituals before going on air?

Manny on the Streetz:
I shake my leg a lot. I don’t know if that’s a nervous kind of
thing, because there are 3 million people listening at any given time. So I write down
things a lot before I go on air just because I want to add some more things. That’s it
really.

TFR:
What is something about you that most people don’t know about you but
would be surprised to know about you?

Manny on the Streetz:
I play guitar. I play drums and keyboard. And I wanted to be
the Filipino Michael Jackson.

TFR:
Do you dance too?

Manny on the Streetz:
Yeah, I did.

TFR:
Wow, so you’re like a triple threat!

Manny on the Streetz:
Let’s jus say I was going in the route of Bruno Mars until
Bruno Mars blew up. He’s cuter.

TFR:
Is it hard to do everything all at the same time? ‘Cause you’re just so talented
in so many different ways to keep focus on one thing…

Manny on the Streetz:
Uh no, I think it just keeps the creative juices flowing. You
know being at the radio station so fun, so easy that it becomes like clock work. You
become like anchorman and it become like, “Yeah, I can do that, I can do that, I can
do that.” So it’s always fun, so all the other things you’re still learning, so until I
get to what to do at radio to get what I do in film and tv, it’s still I guess a working
progress.

TFR:
What’s the funniest memory in at work or in your life thus far?
Manny on the Streetz: Funniest memory… I don’t know if it was the funniest
memory, but it was a fun memory. We got to go to Michael Jackson’s house, Me and
Jojo on the radio, who’s in the evenings at Kiis. We were there for I want to say his
birthday, something like that. He had a big ole’ party and KiisFM gave away
55th tickets, so we got the honor of bringing him his birthday cake. Jojo and I carried his
birthday cake along with Mike Tyson, and Aaron Carter, and Nick Carter. And we
were on stage, and Michael was standing there, and we brought the cake up, and
Michael was a kid and grabbed into his cake, and we had a big ole’ food fight and he
started throwing the cake around, and we got cake all over us. That was the most
funnest and most exciting experience of my life I guess.

TRF:
That’s great. That’s an amazing memory. So what’s he like in person?

Manny on the Streetz:
Michael Jackson… very quiet. I don’t know. There was so
many aura around him. You see him and it’s like “Oh my god, it’s Michael!” I mean, it
was Michael. You become speechless. It was great.

TFR:
What are your next goals? What are you currently working on, and what are
you working toward?

Manny on the Streetz:
I’m producing a reality show, which will be announced soon.
I’m not in it, but I’m just producing it. I produced a short film with Cory Hardrick,
whose married to Tia Maury, from you know, the two Maury sisters, Sister Sisters.
So I produced a short film which is going to festivals right now. There’s like 3 or 4
festivals that picked it up so that’s… I’m just trying to get into the world of film and
tv I guess, along on top of being here at the radio station.

TFR:
That’s really great! I know you Manny on the Streets, but where can we find
you?

Manny on the Streetz:
my Twitter… @MannyStreetz And that’s with
Facebook, Twitter, and online at MannyOnTheStreets.com