PBS KIDS Executive and creative team of Alma's Way talk latest S2 episodes and steps to co-viewing with parents

If you're looking to learn more about new episodes of Alma's Way, now airing on PBS KIDS, The Parent Watch has you covered!

Alma's Way is an animated series on PBS KIDS. Based in the Bronx, New York, the series revolves around a six-year-old Puerto Rican New Yorker named Alma Rivera. Alma has a propensity for adventure, and the show highlights the positive aspects of a Latino neighborhood in the City. The show is also a conduit for teaching kids how to make good decisions and become more aware of their own surroundings, as well as exploring new cultures. Alma's Way was created and is executive produced by Sesame Street alum Sonia Manzano.

The main characters include "Junior" Rivera (voiced by Neo Vela), Alma's 5-year-old younger brother; Lulú "Mami" Rivera (voiced by Annie Henk), Alma and Junior's mother; Ruben "Papi" Rivera (voiced by Jesús E. Martinez), Alma and Junior's father; Abuelo (voiced by Danny Bolero), Alma and Junior's maternal grandfather; and, of course, Alma (voiced by Summer Rose Castillo). Also in the cast is Granny Isa (voiced by Manzano).

We sat down with creator and executive producer Sonia Manzano (Sesame Street), supervising producer Olubunmi Mia Olufemi, and Adriano Schmid, Vice President of Content at PBS KIDS. The trio discussed continuing to be inspired by New York City's multicultural environment, what makes Alma's Way so special for viewers, and some additional crossover programming, including Sonia's Way. Alma’s Way is produced by Fred Rogers Productions and animated by Pipeline Studios.

If you're trying to find your way to the interview, you've come to the right place! Read on below to get the inside scoop on all things Alma's Way!

The Parent Watch: Starting with you, Sonia, you're returning to the role of Granny Isa, a character who is both important and special, especially within the world of Alma. What are the similarities you share with this character, as well as what makes you both different.

Sonia Manzano: Actually, nothing makes us different. Granny Isa is exactly who I am, and I think that’s the best way to be. I come across better when I expose my true self, my heart and soul, to the show. One of the plots where I really shine is in The Grandparent Trap, where Alma tries to get the grandparents back together. As you know, they’re divorced, and she sets the scene for them to fall in love and get married again. It’s funny, and I get to have fun with my ex-husband, Abuelo. So, it’s a great character, but really, it’s mostly me.

I appreciate your explanation of the relationship dynamics, as they are quite unique to the stories in this series. Mia, with these new episodes and your close work on them, what have you learned, specifically from the Museum Day episode, and what can fans expect to learn from it?

Olubunmi Mia Olufemi: Fans can expect to learn how fun and accessible museums are, especially in the Museum Days episodes. One of the things we discussed for season 2 was that museums should be for everybody. In some communities, people may not realize they have access to wonderful resources like the American Museum of Natural History. When we reached out to them to pitch some episodes, they were more than happy to collaborate. We received a ton of reference images, so when viewers see the episodes, they'll see elements like the large amethyst in the Halls of Gems and Minerals, the beautiful elephant herd in the diorama room, and even the blue whale. What’s exciting for us is that Alma’s Way is based in the real world, meaning these are real places our viewers can visit. If kids get inspired by seeing a diorama and Alma creating one in another episode, they can go to their local museum and do the same thing at home with their parents and friends.

It's great that I'm talking to the three of you. I have an actor, a producer, and a executive perspective, which is very rare. Adriano, about PBS's place in this, being a person with power and influence and seeing the programming, when it comes to celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month and just different cultures, how does that play into the decision-making process for the episodes?

Adriano Schmid: Thank you! I just want to clarify that the real power here is Sonia’s. She created Alma, and that’s amazing. I agree with what Mia said about the Natural History episode. One thing I love about this series is how it delves into the dynamics between characters. For example, you have Junior and Alma experiencing the same environment but in very different ways. We celebrate that and show how those experiences can work or not. The episode is already beautiful, and having the museum theme on top of it makes it very special. I’ve been with PBS KIDS for two years and was familiar with Alma’s Way when I joined. It truly feels like a slice of life. Kids, even if they don’t live in the Bronx or come from a Puerto Rican family, can connect with the characters because their experiences resonate with whatever they’re going through at home.

For us at PBS KIDS, it's amazing to give a space for that storytelling and allowing our viewers to see themselves reflected or peek through the window. We always talk about the mirror/window, right? To peek through the window into these different lives -- that is the ultimate goal. I think that we also want to do that in a variety of ways.

I just love that we're able to do that and that within the Hispanic, let's say, cohort of content, what we've been able to do in the last for a few years is really go to more specific conversations with the audience through the content. Alma's Way is about the Puerto Rican experience in the Bronx. Then in the case of Rosie's Rules, it's about the Mexican-American experience in San Antonio.

This year, we launched a live-action series called Tiny Time Travel, where both main characters have a Hispanic background. It's something that we are not necessarily highlighting. It's just there. It's something that is natural. They go between Spanish and English very naturally. Again, not to take away from the show that we're talking about, the wholeabanico [the whole fan], of different experiences, is something that we're very proud to be able to share with our audience.

There's always a constant conversation about race and ethnicity, how that's played out in children's media and from the very beginning of it in the landscape of it now. Going into Hispanic Heritage Month and how these programs are amplified by those moments and times. Sonia, over the years, what positive change, have you seen when it comes to people embracing more of their heritage, whether that's through media or just from what you've seen outside in your own life?

SM: Well, I think that when we feature the lives of individual people is when you make the most impact and when people really zero in. The more specific the characters are, the more people will like them and relate to them. Adriano encouraged the Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum team to feature me. When I was talking to them, I said they wanted to know something about my childhood so that they could feature it. What was specific to me was that stories helped me get away from the chaos around me. That's very specific to me, not all Puerto Ricans or not all Nuyoricans, but just me. We were able to funnel that into a little story where that's what they learned from Sonia Manzano as a kid. When you can't handle things that are going on around you, you make up a story, and you could save yourself in the story. I think that we are getting way more specific with the characters that we create, and that's very good. They're not one-dimensional anymore. They're nuanced. We do that in Alma's Way a lot. I think all of the characters that we have are very specific, and we continue to try to make them that way.

Mia, do you have any anecdotes to share, considering your role as a supervising producer?

OMO: Yes, I think the best example is a young girl named Misa who saw our Bomba or Baseball?episode. She is Puerto Rican and lives in New York City. After watching, she told her mom, "I want to dance Bomba." Her mom found free classes at Bombazo Dance Co, a nonprofit in the Bronx, and Misa has been dancing ever since. At our Alma train party at Grand Central Station in 2022, Misa performed with Bombazo Dance Co. It was a celebration of the show, where Sonia opened with a speech, and people could talk to Latina train conductors. Misa also participated in our live-action short My Way: Bomba!, where she shared how dancing makes her feel connected to her culture. One of my favorite quotes from her is, “When I dance Bomba, I feel like I'm in my grandmother's backyard in Puerto Rico. I’m free to be me.” These real-world connections motivate kids to explore their culture through dance, music, and storytelling.

SM: I know that your audience is parents. It would be lovely to encourage parents to watch the show with their kids and have conversations about the show and not worry that they got exactly what we were trying to say. They could say, "Would you do what Alma did?" When I was a kid, I would never do what Alma did. There's a lot of stuff on the walls of Alma's apartment. There’s a Vejigante statue. Maybe the kid watching the show is more interested in that thing in the background. That's also a conversation starter between the parent and kid. And we want to encourage that they could talk about all the aspects and the music on the show. Maybe that's the jumping off point to have conversations. Not exactly not only whatever lesson we set out, but whatever they see on the screen.

OMO: We created two live-action videos called Sonia’s Way specifically for parents, showing them how to engage with the content in the show. One video features mofongo, with Sonia sharing how that dish connects her to her parents' lives in Puerto Rico. We also see a family in Queens making mofongo, discussing culture, which inspires kids to explore cooking other dishes.

SM: There are also Nigerian items featured in the show.

I'd love to hear more about it; Encouraging diversity and conversation about different cultures since historically, as we all know [representation in media], is primarily white.

OMO: Sure! The character of André King, he is half Nigerian, half African-American. The Nigerian side coming from me because I am half Nigerian. Sonia was really gracious about allowing us to make his mom like me, raised here, but Nigerian. We see in her bookstore, which is actually called Ogbon Books. Ogbon means wisdom in Yoruba. There are talking drums on the wall and cow tail switches and Adinkra symbols from Ghana all over the shop; Really subtle cultural cues that kids and parents watching the show will pick up on. There was an episode about body drumming; Andre plays a talking drum, and he mentions, My grandfather sent me that from Nigeria.

One of the great things about Sonia creating this show is that she really gave us latitude to create the show we all wish we saw growing up, because many of us did not see ourselves in the media that we consumed when we were growing up. It's been wonderful to be able to put all of those nuances, those Vejigante masks, the little coffee stove top in Alma's [place], the garlic, the plátanos, the mortar and pestle, the pilon [coffee]. Seeing all of those things in our show makes it so specific, and it's also like a visual cue for folks to say, 'Hey, you're here.' You can see yourself here in all these little things you use, even if it's something in the kitchen.

As you suggested, Sonia, there's different ways to watch this, and you don't always have to go in with a specific agenda. Especially now with how kids consume media, [they] will appreciate that.

AS: Speaking to that idea that parents and kids can watch and take away stuff from the content in different ways, one of the things that happens, in particular with Rosie's Rules and Alma's Way, but then also other series that we have is that we have them both in English and Spanish. We did some research with Hispanic parents in the US because we really wanted to understand if their goal would be for kids to be exposed and learn more Spanish when watching our content or the opposite, really watching English?

Not surprisingly, we found out that people really want to be able to even switch back and forth. The idea could be that a family would watch an Alma's Way episode in English with those Spanish words peppered throughout, and then they will be able to watch it again in Spanish. That double exposure allows for a richer experience. The other aspect that I wanted to not forget to mention are the games which we have, which tend to be more individual experiences for kids. We also know that it's a great opportunity for parents to ask kids what is it that they play to get that sense of kids wanting to share their achievements with parents and with caregivers. Our games, in particular, they allow for that in a way that is very conducive to growth and then dialog with the parents.

Look here! We have a clip from Sonia's Way down below on PBS KIDS YouTube channel. Check it out!:

New episodes of Alma's Way are airing right now on PBS KIDS! Feel free to follow the official Alma's Way Instagram so you don't miss any updates on the show.