Pittsburgh Latino Magazine: A Year of Growth, Celebrations, and Community Impact
What does it mean to champion a community? For María Manautou-Matos, a Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council grantee, it means “connecting, celebrating, and empowering” Pittsburgh's Latine population.
Over the past five years, María has been creating spaces for connection and visibility through her role as the founder and president of Presente Pittsburgh Media. It's an effort she began after recognizing a major gap: local media coverage of the Latine community was "sporadic" and "insufficient," she says, despite it being the region’s fastest-growing demographic.
"I thought our community deserves something sophisticated, but also accessible," María shares, "something that they felt like any of them, regardless of what they do or what their background, can just read it and know it's for them."
María, who moved from Puerto Rico to Pittsburgh in the 1990s to attend Carnegie Mellon University, launched ¡Presente! in 2000 as a digital platform which eventually became Pittsburgh Latino Magazine. Then, in late 2024, she reached a milestone, one she envisioned for the initiative since its beginning: the magazine’s first anniversary as a print publication.
This is especially impressive considering the venture has largely been a one-woman operation, only recently adding a small team of support. (María built the website, designs the magazine, and has written much of its content while maintaining a separate full-time job and caring for her family.)
The bilingual magazine, featuring stories written in both Spanish and English, is distributed in Latine-owned businesses throughout the region, including the Pittsburgh Latin American Cultural Center, among others. The magazine covers a range of topics from arts and culture to business and finance, while also sharing important news on immigration and politics through partnerships with media outlets including PA Capital Star.
Nayli, who tells María that she fell in love with the city of Pittsburgh after coming to the United States to learn English, shares her journey from playing the oboe in the Venezuelan Symphony to navigating an entirely different career path in her new home. The conversation between the two inspirational women, spoken intermittently in both English and Spanish, is largely a story of reinvention, one that also resonates deeply with María, who reflects on her own journey of entrepreneurship and perseverance.
Nayli says it was an honor to collaborate with María on the podcast and to witness “her unwavering commitment to Pittsburgh's Latinx community.”
“Pittsburgh Latino Magazine is not just a publication; it’s a vital platform that fosters representation and belonging for a community that often goes unseen,” says Nayli. “By creating media opportunities, María is giving our stories a voice and ensuring that the Latinx community feels seen, valued, and celebrated. This work is transformative—not just for individuals, but for the city as a whole.”
María’s efforts are also gaining national recognition.
She recently received three José Martí Awards from the National Association of Hispanic Publications, making Pittsburgh Latino Magazine the only publication honored for covering the Pennsylvania-Maryland-West Virginia region. In 2024, the magazine was awarded a $5,000 grant from Pittsburgh-based entrepreneurial hub Ascender, supporting Latine-owned startups and small businesses in Allegheny County. This follows María being awarded a POWER 100 Who’s Who in Latino Pennsylvania award in 2022.
But María's work is more than just sharing stories. Pittsburgh Latino Magazine and El Podcast are building a community, which continues to become even more important in today's political climate.
How can you support her work? Pick up a free printed copy of Pittsburgh Latino Magazine at local Latine-owned businesses, subscribe to her email newsletter, and tune in to El Podcast for more conversations with notable Pittsburghers. (We highly recommend checking out musician Hugo Cruz's recent appearance.)
You can also stay connected by following Pittsburgh Latino Magazine on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram, where the publication frequently shares job opportunities, resources, and events.
If you have advertising funds, request a media kit to learn more about promoting your business to Pittsburgh’s Latine community. And, if you have a story that you think would be of value, reach out to send her feedback or learn how you can contribute to the magazine.
María's work is focused not only on reporting about the Latine community, she shares, but it's "helping them know what is going on so that they can take advantage of those things, which is really important."
For more info, visit pitlatinomag.com.
To view this, or any of Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council's webpages, in Spanish, select Español at the top of the menu bar.