OUR STORY

POC Food & Wine Festival is a celebration of the global majority and their allies in food, wine, music, and culture.

PRESENTED BY

OUR GOALS

CREATE

a community-minded, welcoming space for everyone to learn about, explore, and enjoy fine wine, foods, and hospitality.

CELEBRATE

people of color in the food, wine, arts & entertainment industry and the innovation and diversity that already exists.

CONNECT

leaders, creatives, entrepreneurs, and artists with multicultural communities to inspire new, innovative, creative collaborations.

OUR HISTORY

POC Food & Wine Festival presented by Make it Mariko, is the newest food & wine festival to hit the scene. After 7 years of successful festival production, strategic economic development, and community outreach through UNDISCOVERED SF Filipino Creative Market, Make it Mariko is excited to be producing their own food festival concept focused on diversifying the food & beverage industry and uplifting local creatives & entrepreneurs of color.

Over the past 7 years, in partnership with key nonprofits like Kultivate Labs, Make it Mariko has helped bring over $1 million in economic development activity to SOMA Pilipinas Filipino Cultural Heritage District directly into the pockets of small businesses, entrepreneurs, and performing artists.

We’re now excited about bringing the same magic to the food & beverage events space through our new festival, POC Food & Wine.

MEET OUR FOUNDER

GINA MARIKO ROSALES // Founder & Executive Producer

Gina Mariko Rosales is a Filipino Japanese American entrepreneur, events enthusiast, efficiency nerd, dancer, and nonprofit advocate. Prior to founding Make it Mariko, Gina spent 10 years doing corporate & nonprofit event planning, administration, and operations. She was the first Administrative Business Partner for the Google Self-Driving Car Team, and the first Head of Marketing Events at X, the moonshot factory (formerly Google X) where she planned large scale tech event activations, press, and public policy events. Gina has helped found and launch multiple nonprofit and arts & culture projects that all help to amplify POC creatives, entrepreneurs, and artists, namely:

UNDISCOVERED SF Creative Night Market in SOMA Pilipinas Cultural District (Co-Founder)
Pinayista, a nonprofit community of Filipino women dedicated to building sisterhood in the hustle (Founder & Director)
Balay Kreative, nonprofit arts & culture incubator in SF (Co-Founder)

Gina’s personal mission is to create magical, meaningful moments that help remind us of the beauty and interconnectedness of life.