Marco Shalma opens up on his innovative event series
BY ALEX MITCHELL
Many around the borough
are counting the days until
‘It’s The Bronx’ begins at
Union Crossing on Saturday,
January 26.
What’s expected to be a
fun, exciting get-together of
the Bronx’s most talented
artists, musicians, writers,
chefs and much more has an
equally exciting back-story.
The event series, scheduled
for the last Saturday of
each month was created by
Marco Shalma and his media
company Round 7.
“When I began Round 7 I
had just gotten my masters
in fi lm from NYU, before that
I had a background in advertising
and to be perfectly
honest neither of those were
satisfying to me, I wanted to
do more,” Shalma said.
In 2013 he conceptualized
a media company that was
“very loud and very clear”
with direct goal-oriented objectives
for those clients that
truly were dedicated to their
respective crafts.
Soon after that, he created
the concept of the Bronx Night
Market, a sizzling hot hit that
made summer nights in the
Bronx delicious while capturing
some market share from
Brooklyn’s Smorgasburg.
After witnessing fi rsthand
the night market’s
success, Shalma realized
that there was a signifi cant
amount of unrecognized talent
in the Bronx.
“It made me realize,
there’s so many people out
there that have these amazing
gifts and skills, but no
platform, no mentorship,
no way to put their names
out there, no recognition,”
Shalma said.
“That’s when I came up
with the concept of ‘It’s The
Bronx,’ and what we’re going
to do is become a platform for
talent, a place for people to
showcase what they do and if
they’re dedicated enough, we
will give them exposure,” the
creator added.
His philosophy stems
from three major points; create
a space, move artists and
entrepreneurs forward, and
establish mentorships, each
of which is accounted for in
‘It’s The Bronx.’
Shalma secured a space
with Union Crossing, the
means to progress artists forward
SUNDAY JANUARY 27
Sunday
11-1
January 27th
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 16 ANUARY 18-24, 2019 BTR
Marco Shalma, creator of ‘It’s The Bronx’ and The Bronx Night Market
Round 7
130 years
in New
York City
ONE
OVER
130 YEARS
IN NYC
3335 Country Club Rd Bronx, NY
718-824-3260
Graduates earn
over $1 million
in high school
scholarships
Private, Independent and
Catholic
Universal Pre-K - 8th grade
with his Round 7 company,
and a committee and
panel of media and entrepreneurial
go-getters to mentor
the undeveloped talent.
That media panel will
consist of Bronx Times reporter
Alex Mitchell, Bronx-
Net talk show host Gary
Axelbank and his site ThisIs-
TheBronx.info, along with
News12 Bronx’s Jessica Cunnington
and the magazine
Edible Bronx in the major
media panel that now has the
privilege to scout, coach and
mentor the Bronx’s best and
most talented.
Other committee members
are Amaurys Grullon,
Jerome Lamaar and Jalen
Andux.
Grullon is the person in
charge of Bronx Native, a
clothing store that promotes
Bronx culture at 127 Lincoln
Avenue.
He’s also promoting ‘It’s
The Bronx’ as the event series’
marketing director.
Lamaar is a clothing designer
and lifestyle futurist
that hails from Pelham Bay.
Beyonce is just one of
many A-list celebrities that
he’s designed for.
Andux is the founder of
ESCAPE2NY, another Bronxbased
media company. He’s
also a self-made event producer
that promotes arts for
his native borough.
The inaugural, free ‘It’s
The Bronx’ show, sold out in
the fi rst few hours after being
publicized.
“This is something you
can only do in the Bronx,”
Shalma said. “This is the
greatest collaboration in
Bronx history,” the entrepreneur
proudly boasted.