Meet Lauren Nadel, Christin Neal | Cofounders of MAFF

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lauren Nadel, Christin Neal and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lauren Nadel, Christin Neal, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Do you know what’s going on in arts & culture in Bangkok, Thailand or what about Accra, Ghana or Istanbul, Türkiye? The list goes on. There are so many talented creatives across the world that aren’t being exposed in mainstream media. We recognized the need to give those creatives a platform. Through our shared love of travel and art, we want to give as many people as possible the ability to understand culture through the lens of the creatives within that community. There’s truly nothing better.

Video, as a medium, has the power to document, tell powerful stories, and ignite collaboration which is why we have decided to build our platform around it. Our project, MAFF (short for Music, Art, Fashion, Forward) is a website that showcases video content created by talented creatives across the globe.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Our mission is to showcase artists from all around the world and give people access to learn more about underground cultures at the click of a button. Our dream is to expose artists from all different backgrounds, especially from cities that aren’t as exposed such as Accra, Ghana to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Our goal is to celebrate the things that bring us together as well as highlight and appreciate the beauty which differentiates us.

We both work full time jobs to make MAFF happen. There’s not much money in exposing artists from cities that mainstream American media doesn’t tap into, especially during a time when people are more focused on fashion influencers showing off their bling.
We’re focused on getting real – and some of this content isn’t even produced yet because these artists don’t have the money to make it. So not only are we on a daily hunt to find content but we are now bootstrapping with our own money ways to make this content happen.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Christin Neal: This would have to be the restaurant, El Coyote on Beverly Blvd. It’s one of the few places I’ve been going to since the 90s that has not changed much. A historic landmark that first opened in 1931!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
This is a hard one as there are so many people who have shaped who we are and have brought us to where we are today. We would like to dedicate this shoutout to the filmmakers we’ve collaborated with who have helped us pursue our mission:

Pedro Prado
Filipe Cordon
Christina Arza
Pablo Domingo
Anna Ottum
Omowunmi Ogundipe
Tomás Rojas

And last but not least our creative team, Ruth Kim and Robbie Simmons, who have poured so much time and love into each project.

Website: https://www.maff.tv/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maff.tv/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/musicartfashionforward

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maff.tv/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@musicartfashionforward