An Apollo Legend

Since 1934, the well-worn stage at The Apollo Theater has been one of the world's greatest launching pads for phenomenal talent, catapulting the likes of James Brown and Ella Fitzgerald to international stardom. Thousands of contestants audition each year, with the hopes of facing the famously mean Apollo audience, described "like a bunch of pit bulls eating raw meat." Judged by the length of their cheers — or the depths of their boos — these contestants put more than their pride on the line in the hope of becoming famous. In An Apollo Legend, we meet two such hopefuls, who share their beliefs about their own talent, as well as their determination to succeed. What does it take to get up on that stage? And could just facing the crowd be success in itself?

Ricky Montalvo

Director, Video Producer. Ricky Montalvo is a video producer for Yahoo! Studios and is based in San Francisco. Ricky is one of the few "one man shows" within the Yahoo! Studios group, where he shoots, edits and often produces content that runs throughout Yahoo!'s online network. Montalvo had a prior career in online advertising and media operations but it was his passion for digital filmmaking that he liked the most. So in 2005 he quit his job and pursued digital video aggressively with his own personal projects. Currently he is working on Yahoo!'s Second Act video series which tells stories of people making the changes necessary to achieve their goals.

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Bernadette Tuazon

Picture Editor. Bernadette Tuazon has been a picture editor for the Associated Press for the last 19 1/2 years doing a myriad of things: editing, assigning, planning, managing and lately involved in producing multimedia projects. As multimedia photo editor for AP, Bernadette is charged with developing and managing a team of staff photographers to create a video product that they plan on offering to commercial online clients. This is a first for AP considering the product will primarily be developed by still photographers and not directly by journalists with direct broadcast background.

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Evan Vucci

Photojournalist. Evan Vucci is a photojournalist for the Associated Press based in Washington, D.C. He studied photojournalism at the Rochester Institute of Technology where he graduated in 2000. He began his career as a freelance photographer for Reuters News Agency, The New York Times, the European Pressphoto Agency and The Associated Press. Evan joined The Associated Press full time in 2003. His work deals primarily with U.S. politics and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has received awards from Pictures of the Year International, NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism Competition, White House News Photographers Association, and The Associated Press Managing Editors Association, and a national Edward R. Murrow award.

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