Fanshawe student entrepreneur launches new television series

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Viva London is a community-based TV show that highlights information that is targeted to the immigrant population here in London.

“We integrate interviews with expert panelists that talk about topics like how to buy a house, preparing for retirement, and how to gain financial freedom,” said Maria Villamizar, a Public Relations and Corporate Communications student at Fanshawe College and the executive director of Viva London.

She came up with the idea for Viva London while studying at Fanshawe as an immigrant and journalist from Colombia.

In October 2012, Fanshawe's TV Broadcasting, Audiovisual and Design programs and Biz Inc. joined the project as well, providing support for Villamizar and her show.

Villamizar has completed the first season of her show on Rogers TV. All episodes are offered in Spanish with English subtitles and are now available online at Rogers TV London — check it out at tinyurl.com/VivaLondonS01.

The second season of Viva London will focus on the same topics as it did in the first season, with more being added as the show goes on.

“We're going to continue with the same projection of the show. Topics are related with the common interest of the population. We'll continue with the translation of the show in order to have more of an audience that is not only Hispanic, but from other cultures as well. We'll continue to find expert panelists to talk about what the city and their organizations have to offer. And we're going to include more topics that people have asked us to bring into the show,” said Villamizar.

“The more people that give feedback on what they want to learn from our show, the more we can provide to the community. I am so glad and so pleased that Fanshawe College supports me to do this project for the community,” added Villamizar.

Villamizar and her team are working on filming their second season of Viva London, which will premiere on September 25.