His improbable Journey

BY LEN MANANSALA

If the odds for success in the Big Apple are low for immigrants, the chances for immigrants-of-color to succeed in the city are near zero. But don’t tell that to Fernando “Nanding” Mendez. He has climbed over, dug under and worked around seemingly insurmountable barriers that have cowed millions of dreamers before him. “Dreaming is one thing,” Nanding says in his midtown-Manhattan office. “Breaking one’s back to make dreams come true is the real story.”

Nanding’s trek to America was strewn with “Do not enter” signs from the get-go. He and his siblings were brought up in his grandfather’s poultry farm in Caloocan City. From an early age, they helped out by cleaning the layers’ coops and gathering eggs every morning to sell in the market. But Nanding had a talent for the arts that he knew from the onset would take him as far away as possible from the coops’ stench.

Majoring in Advertising, he graduated from the University of Santo Tomas in the mid1970s with a Fine Arts degree.

His stint as Art Director at Philippine Advertising Counselors (PAC) was distinguished by awards for campaigns on behalf of blue-chip brands. Overseas ad agencies took notice, and he received job offers in Singapore and in the United States. “Accepting a position as Art Director in Montana was the most momentous decision I’ve ever made, up to that point,” Nanding recalls. He moved to Billings, MT with his wife Mila and their sons, Nathan and Mervin, in the early1980s. Nanding first received recognition in U.S. advertising when he won a competition to design the logo of the city of Billings. Another “Do not enter” sign ignored.

Soon after resettling in New York City with his family, Nanding and some Makati advertising colleagues landed an unlikely job producing two annual editions of the first Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi Yellow Pages. “Imagine the nerve of Pinoys writing and designing a business directory for South Asians in New York!” With not a little pride, Nanding remembers those early days of desktop publishing in a cramped apartment in Astoria, Queens.

Ever the restless entrepreneur, Nanding followed up the directory gig by publishing a nationally circulated Filipino American quarterly magazine, Special Edition Press, in 1990. The magazine’s seven-year run built up his Rolodex of connections among U.S. ethnic-marketing experts. The magazine became the precursor to his most successful venture to date, Fiesta In America. Founded in 1996 by Nanding and his late wife (Mila passed away in 2012) as the US-Philippines Trade Show, the indoor festival was popularly known as Philippine Fiesta in its first decade. The expo showcased Philippine exports, tourism attractions, and U.S. brands with a stake in the Fil-Am market. “Our mission back then was to connect businesses with Fil-Am consumers through a festival that highlighted immigrant-centered services, Filipino products, heritage and talent,” said Nanding. Fiesta In America, as the event has been known since 2013, is now recognized as the biggest annual indoor Filipino event on the east coast.

New York-New Jersey area. He also invested in residential and office real estate in the two-state area and in the Philippines, graphic design and photography, as well as commercial printing.

Apart from Fiesta In America, Nanding’s business interests have expanded into large-audience staged events, such as concerts in Atlantic City and New York headlined by icons including Sharon Cuneta, Rico Puno, Nora Aunor, Apo Hiking Society, Dolphy and Zsa-Zsa Padilla, plus a host of rising talents from the

Though his path from the Philippines to the Big Apple has been forked with byways and detours, Nanding remains rooted to his past as graphic artist. Taking time from his various holdings, he has designed the logo of Insular Bank of Asia and America, and has won the competition to design the logo of the Philippine Independence Day Committee, Inc. (PIDCI).

In addition to his graphics design success, Nanding has completed a ceiling painting in 2021 measuring 12 feet by 9 feet. The allegorical representation of angels was inspired by the works of selected early Renaissance masters, and was a tribute for victims of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nanding’s painting symbolizes hope, healing, and solace for the individuals who faced the challenges of the pandemic.

Visit: https://theworldwidegallery.com.

Profiled several times in the Fil-Am Who’s Who, he is the recipient of numerous awards for his civic engagement, including the 2016 Phoenix Award from the Jaycees Philippines-New York in recognition of Exemplary Community Leadership by Jaycee Alumni, and Outstanding Thomasian hosted by University of Santo Tomas Alumni Association.

Fiesta In America’s 26th Anniversary edition will be staged on Saturday, August 19, 2023 in the stunning Court A of American Dream in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The venue boasts four sprawling theme parks and more than 400 brand-name department stores and restaurants. Due to the success of Fiesta In America 2022, American Dream management predicts a much larger audience turnout this year of more than 10,000 Fil-Ams, aside from the venue’s built-in summer weekend foot traffic of 50,000+ consumers of all cultures.

Recognized as the biggest annual indoor Filipino event on the U.S. east coast, Fiesta In America is a one-of-a-kind cornucopia of Philippine music and dance; native products; tourist attractions; real estate for investment and retirement; native cuisine; and financial, health as well as other immigrant-tailored services. It has been attended by more than 220,000 mostly-Filipino consumers since its inception in 1996.