ABOUT
David Damian & Associates, LLC
David Damian & Associates specializes in social justice, cause campaigns, content creation, concept events, and film and music production.
Our Team
David Damian Figueroa,
Principal & Owner
David Damian Figueroa is a former entertainment publicist representing legendary recording artists and actors. He is best known for his work in connecting entertainers to nonprofits and social justice and human rights campaigns. He has decades-long experience in developing and implementing strategic communications plans that maximize news coverage and increase visibility through television, film, celebrity and influencer engagement, social media, and print media. He has launched nationwide social justice campaigns on policy issues related to education, farmworker rights and empowerment, voting rights, immigration, public resource equity, equity, and employment.
David Damian has cultivated meaningful partnerships with Latino and other diverse populations, community leaders, nonprofits, and corporations. He has a wealth of experience working with various segments of people. He has utilized these resources to increase membership development, community engagement, member value events with the Latino community and other diverse parts of the population, community leaders, nonprofits, coalitions, and like-minded corporations.
David Damian's passion for social justice is derived from his experience as a child farmworker in the agricultural fields of southern Arizona. He is a producer of the documentary film, The Harvest/La Cosecha, which profiles the legalization of child labor in the USA. He is the executive producer of the critically acclaimed documentary Food Chains. He is Co-Director of Shura, an upcoming 2023 documentary that profiles an elderly woman's powerful commitment and mission in providing aid to migrants crossing the border and helping to save lives in the harsh and ruthless elements of the Arizona desert.
David Damian is a social justice leader and has honed his skills with high-profile nonprofit organizations like AARP, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), and Farmworker Justice. He has developed strategic partnerships in helping to bring high visibility to each organization through grassroots outreach, branding, and marketing.
In 2010, UCLA established "The David Damian Figueroa Papers" and cited Figueroa as influential in shaping Latina and Latino popular arts through his film, television, music production, and publicity work. The Chicano Studies Research Center Library and Archive of UCLA maintains the David Damian Figueroa Papers. These materials document his career as a performer and entertainment publicist, as well as his civil rights and public policy work with MALDEF, the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority (LAHSA), and the AARP. The collection includes photographs, correspondence, ephemera, books, serials, and audio and visual materials. It is a resource for researchers interested in Chicano popular culture and Chicano participation in civic service and civil rights organizing.
Karina Noelle Castillo, Associate
Karina Noelle Castillo is an actor, producer, director and entrepreneur from Los Angeles, CA with 17 years of hands on experience in creative direction, film/ television and theatre production, graphic design, and social media management. She is an alumna of Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and she attended the California Institute of the Arts where she studied as a Theatre Major. Her work has been seen on channels such as ABC, FYI, FOX, MeTV and Amazon. Her film and television acting credits include NCIS, The Good Doctor, Grey's Anatomy, L.A.'s Finest, Better Things, and Promised Land as well as feature films Holidays and Missing, the highly anticipated sequel to independent smash hit Searching starring John Cho.
In 2014 Karina served as the honorary Quinceanera for Hollywood Forever Cemetery's 15 year anniversary of its famed Dia De Los Muertos celebration. The event was attended by over 40,000 people and is the largest Day of the Dead event in Los Angeles. In more recent years she has moved on to work with their production team in coordinating the event, focusing on vendor outreach and marketing.
Karina is the co-founder and CEO of Courtyard Entertainment, LLC, a production company that specializes in music videos, short films, acting services and consulting for company and celebrity branding. Focusing on a holistic approach to marketing, Karina works with high profile clients to streamline their online presence and public image.
In 2019 Karina and cofounder Stevie Rae Dominguez launched their Los Angeles based arts collective The Heartbreak Artists. As a subsidiary of Courtyard Entertainment, The Heartbreak Artists seeks to continue its parent company's goal of highlighting life's bitter-sweetness by supporting local artists in their quest to find beauty in chaos. Members include poets, cartoonists, painters, filmmakers, photographers, and more. Their yearly art gallery and festival, Heart Beats, is a celebration of Heartbreak in all forms and brings together Los Angeles artists of all mediums to create original work about their personal journeys of Love and Loss.
Karina is the creator of Humana/Xicana, a clothing line focused on connecting to her indigenous roots by bringing the iconography of Pre-Columbian civilizations into the modern age. Her collection includes the imagery of the Aztec Gods, traditional foods of the Mexican region, and inspiration from the various codices throughout history.
Karina is the current Artistic Director of Thymele Arts, an arts incubator in East Hollywood with over 8,000 square feet of rehearsal and performance spaces. At the arts center Karina is responsible for producing and curating The Salon, an artist showcase with new presenters sharing their artistic journeys, hopes and fears, and inspirations in Q&A sessions. In her position she is responsible for identifying and executing an artistic brand and vision for the whole of the company including color palettes, iconography, photography, typography, style guides, etc.
Karina is the recipient of the Mexican-American Cultural Education Foundation (MACEF) Filmmaker Production Grant and was a Second Rounder in ScreenCraft Film Fund Grant. Her script The Wall, is currently in the top 19% of all Short Thriller projects on Coverfly.
PRESS
"La Quinta resident David Damian Figueroa, who has crusaded for the rights of farm workers, authors a Latino twist to a classic children's tale."
"Figueroa set out to write something for the entire family and not just for children. It’s designed to engage families on issues of migration, social justice, and perseverance."
"We wonder how he finds the time to do all this when he is also working full-time as the Director of Development with the non-profit organization Farmworker Justice whose work helps to improve farmworker’s living and working conditions."