Singer/actress Mia Maestro has been working in American shows and films for over a decade but she’s remained connected to her native city Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The 38-year-old routinely visits friends and family, who have remained in her hometown and often calls attention to social issues affecting the region. Yet a recent partnership with Fusion TV’s Outpost, gave Maestro a newfound perspective that allowed her to rediscover her native country.
“It was very interesting because every time I go home, my family is still there, my friends are still there – I have my very specific itinerary that I do,” Maestro tells The The Knockturnal. “I work a little bit, I see my friends, I spent a lot of time with my family – I go to all my favorite restaurants, I go to the theaters I love. This time, I was in Buenos Aires for almost two weeks with a completely new crew of people, so it was a way rediscovering my own city with different eyes.”
The docu series combines investigative journalism and adventure travel to explore personal stories that can connect to viewers around the world. Maestro’s episode, Identity – examines the importance of identity and the unknown elements within it that can be unlocked.
“What I love about the project overall is we are showing things that are kind of unexpected from certain parts of the world,” she says. “We’re showing people a country or city through a very different window or a very different light than the way people normally see that place.”
In Identity, the Los Angeles-based star travels to Argentina to meet with young people starting companies and developing new technology while navigating the country’s economic limitations.
Getting to know business-minded youths proved inspiring, especially given the challenges they’ve had to weather.
“There’s this creativity and pushing past any adversity. It’s hard to be a young entrepreneur in Argentina,” the former star of The Strain says. “The economy changes a lot, the politics change a lot. The country, for years, was not wired for young kids to thrive. We still have a more old fashioned structure of big companies and corporations. It’s nice to see this new generation being creative and pushing their products in an economy that can be very volatile.”
“What’s inspiring is how creativity always wins,” she added. “No matter where you are, you can make things happen.”
