While Socially Diverse is an exploration on the array of diversity found online, it is no secret that I also pay attention to the lack of diversity in the PR industry. 

Though there's a lot of room for improvement, there are many PR practitioners from diverse backgrounds who are very active in the industry. One place you might want to check when doing some background is the PRSA Diversity Today blog. That is exactly how I found Manny Ruiz! 

Manny and I discussed a good bit of the interesting work he's done in the industry, his take on "mommy bloggers" vs blogs by dads, and then zeroed in on his "guide for creative parenting tricks" - PapiBlogger. Enjoy!

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Name: Manny Ruiz

Age (or range if that’s better): 40

Blog: PapiBlogger

Twitter handle: @papiblogger

Profession: Entrepreneur

Location: Miami, FL

Place of Origin: Miami, FL

Adopted Culture (The one you are most connected to): Cuban-American by birth but Latino at heart

1. It is rare that I’m speaking with someone about Hispanic PR and your name does NOT come up. Why did you choose PR? When did you get your start? When did you first realize that you wanted to focus on Hispanic PR and diversity in the industry?

I literally backed into PR in 1995 to survive.  I got into PR to help me transition from a career as a young and disillusioned police reporter for The Miami Herald.  I was going to study law but a number of circumstances led me to stay in PR and then here we are 15 years later!

In terms of Hispanic PR, I embraced it because very early in my PR career I realized that my last name and my heritage would lead me to be pigeonholed.  People can’t even help themselves so I thought to myself, “if I’m going to be pigeonholed I might as well become a Super Pigeon.”   I don’t regret it because I’ve gotten more opportunities being a “Super Pigeon” than I would have battling barriers.  Ironically, the Silver Anvils and PR Week Campaign of the Year awards that I’ve won are from the prominent role I played in the anti-tobacco “truth” campaign.  It’s for general mainstream PR work and not Hispanic.   

2. You have achieved many firsts and made waves in the industry, including the launch of Hispanic PR Wire, founding and serving as media relations director of the National Hispanic Market Practice of Porter Novelli and being one of the catalyst “PRSA Diversity Today” podcast, now you’re focused on adding your perspective to the blogosphere. 

Tell us about Papiblogger. What’s the focus? Who is your primary audience? What do you hope to accomplish with this blog?

PapiBlogger is a web site that features a compilation of my weird “parenting tricks” or recipes.   I thought it would be neat to create a blog that seeks to gather all these interesting and helpful tricks that parents often know but don’t readily share.   As I’ve delved deeper into PapiBlogger I’ve also discovered that I am the ONLY Latino father blogger in the nation.   I feel compelled to produce more content now that is relevant to my experience as a Latino father and not just focus on parenting tricks.

3. What is the most interesting connection you’ve made with someone online as a result of Papiblogger?

Our online presence has led to national coverage for my blog on the Hispanic equivalent of Good Morning America called “Despierta America.”  I’ve also connected with National Public Radio and have met other daddy bloggers.  I’m fielding more and more requests to talk about what it’s like being a Latino father because, like I said, I’m currently the only serious Latino father blogger in the nation.

4. You had the great opportunity to take your family on a 46 day, cross-country trip sponsored by Chevrolet. Tell us about the Papiblogger Family Road Trip and how that came to be?

We were supposed to take our kids on a trip to Italy but those plans got nixed because of scheduling problems I had around the first annual Hispanic PR & Social Media Conference that I organized in Dallas this past May.  My wife and I worked real hard for that conference to be the success that it was and I figured that since I just launched PapiBlogger it would be cool to think of a vacation that was over the top.  The result was a 46-day, 12,000 mile, 33-state PapiBlogger Family Road Trip.  We approached McDonald’s, Sprint Nextel, Chevrolet and Sony to sponsor this one of a kind Latino family adventure and from the start they loved it!  We chronicled every day of this great adventure on our blog with stories, photos and videos.  Along the way we had the best vacation of our lives and a wonderful Hispanic social media case study.  

5. There is a great deal of attention directed to “mommybloggers,” but you rarely see dads in the general discussion about parenting online. Why do think that is? Do you foresee any shifts or expansion in the discussion to include more fathers in the future?

Moms get the attention because they are perceived as the major decision makers when it comes to household purchases and the marketers almost universally believe that dads only buy cars, video games and cologne.  Another reason why mom bloggers are vastly ahead in this game is because they blog in such greater numbers than dads and until now dad bloggers have not united to support each other as the moms have.  Unfortunately, until research and dad bloggers don’t make a stronger factual case indicating that they actually buy groceries or at least influence many of the things that are purchased marketers will heap all the money and attention on mommy bloggers.  I don’t think that’s going to change.  What is going to change is that following the recent M3 Modern Media Man Summit, the first of its kind for male bloggers, male bloggers will unite. I think we will succeed in showing marketers how they need to include us more in their blogger campaigns. 

6. I recently interviewed MochaDad, a great father representing the African-American community. He shared that not many in his immediate circle of friends who are dads actually blog and share their perspective.

As a Hispanic father giving your take on raising kids, do you have a community of dads that are connected online and off?

No, unfortunately I still don’t.  Most of my readers (65%) are women.  I think Latino men are generally not used to talking about parenting online and that’s part of what I want to explore more with PapiBlogger.  I think we will achieve this and we’ll have a story to tell soon!

7. When I started Socially Diverse, I had a simple goal: highlighting interesting, diverse conversations online and the people who lead them. I am glad we were able connect for a few reasons. It’s always great to meet a fellow PR professional, and I’m glad that I can share the perspective of an active, engaged blogger from the Hispanic community.

Out of the many communities you represent (Cuban, “Miamian,” etc), are there any blogs or sites that you would recommend that we explore?

MyLatinoVoice.com, MamaContemporanea.com and Mami2Mommy.com are good in different ways.