Today we’d like to introduce you to Mario Jaramillo.
Hi Mario, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My life has always included a lot of art. My days as a teen were typically spent painting murals or dancing hip-hop with my dance group. On YouTube, you may find my dance group by searching for “Havikoro.” We participated in competitions on a national and international scale, and we were the first group to tour the world with the American Embassy to promote American hip-hop as part of a program for cultural exchange. I was attending the University of Houston intermittently and earning my bachelor’s degree in visual communication during this time.
I’m now 46 years old, and very proud of my experiences as a visual and performance artist, graphic designer, motivational speaker, and entrepreneur. My position of leadership within the local hip-hop community dates back to my adolescence, when I co-founded a dance company that went on to gain international acclaim for its talent and innovation. Through this ensemble, I also organized missions to promote education, community building, and positive hip-hop in countries around the world in collaboration with the American State Department’s cultural exchange initiatives.
Featured on TedxHouston 2011.
On YouTube, you may find my dance group by searching for “Havikoro.”
With a long history of leading cultural exchanges abroad and furthering Houston’s global connections. In April of 2016, I traveled to Basrah to lead an extensive cultural exchange program. Hosted by one of Houston’s key partners in our sister city relationship, the U.S. Consulate General in Basrah, the program consisted of a series of theater and dance workshops. For my work in Basrah, Iraq, Mayor Sylvester Turner, City of Houston, proclaimed June 21, 2016, Mario Jaramillo Day.
These days, I focus mainly on family, my businesses, and brand strategy projects. I’m passionate about developing strategic brand-design systems that require top-tier strategy, innovation, adaptability, and persistence.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely, since day 1. I try not to make it a theme; it’s just part of the process. What really helped me is changing the way I see the process; I now appreciate everything, challenges and all. I love the process just as much as the end result.
We’ve been impressed with The Robot Agency, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We have worked for over a decade to grow a diverse community of talent that we love to work with. What it means for you is that, by definition, we’ll bring a different perspective. A view from a different place, a different discipline, or a different angle is a necessary component for producing creative work that feels new.
We approach problems with a user-centered design methodology, so the solution we develop will improve the user’s overall brand experience. Our work is designed to speak to the imagination of global audiences. User-centered, design-driven work allows us to inject personality into every interaction to bring character to an otherwise templated world, challenge the codes of a category, and establish the brand as a leader within it.
Working together with the Robot Agency team means building a creative relationship that is collaborative. While we do a lot of making, we do even more listening. We don’t pretend to know everything about everything. We work together to combine our strengths and welcome fresh perspectives.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Sometimes on the weekend, my dad used to drive me to the country to look for box turtles to bring back home. I always had a pet turtle, and even now I have an 80-pound Sulcata tortoise named Tito.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://robotagency.com/
- Instagram: @robotagency
Image Credits
Headshot by Laurie Perez
