Mauricio Schuartz – Founder/Executive Producer
Mauricio was born in Sao Paulo to a commodities-trader father and a glass-artist mother. As a child, Mauricio was active in several Jewish organizations, such as CIP, Chazit Hanoar, and Hebraica. He studied law at the University of Sao Paulo but in 2008 decided to shift gears and founded KQi Productions, which produces cultural projects such as books, poetry festivals, and movies. In 2010, Mauricio began to focus on promoting (mainly street, vernacular) food as culture. He launched São Paulo’s first street food festival, Chefs na Rua (chefs on the streets) in 2012, during which thousands of people came to check out the food stalls selling amazing food prepared by great chefs. In 2013 he established São Paulo’s first gourmet food marketplace, which takes place every Sunday in the trendy Vila Madalena neighborhood. Food parks, burger festivals, and food truck events came next, and Mauricio can be credited with launching the Street Food Movement in the whole country. In 2015 he was the host and co-producer of a TV show called Chefs na Rua, in which he travels all over the world tasting street food and meeting the chefs and cooks behind it . Mauricio has always continued to be active in the Jewish community, and has been involved with projects such as Laços de Amizade, Espaço K, Perach, and Keren Hayesod, where his skills in communication and as a cultural producer have been used for the benefit of his community and of Israel.