Jessica Padre is the brain child of Jerry and Jackie Wilson, who operate a marketing company called South Padre Networks. The idea was to create a personality to represent the island for online marketing and commercials.

The couple started a search for the "face" of Jessica Padre and it didn't take long to discover island resident Aarin Hartwell, who already had experience working with the International Music Festival.

 

 

Conveniently, Aarin's work with the festival offered the perfect opportunity for Jessica Padre's first video shoot which can be seen on Youtube and www.southpadrelive.com.

The shoot take place in McAllen at the Music Festival's preview party. Jessica interviewed the people behind the scenes including the talent booking agent and festival coordinator, but she also featured an interview with Vallejo, one of the top acts to perform this year.

The second shoot took place at various venues on the island like Amberjack's, Palm Street Pier and Louie's Backyard. These videos can also be seen on YouTube and include interviews with locals, partners of the festival and more artists.

Jessica admits she's use to being behind the scenes. "This kind of in front of the camera work is very green for me, "she says, "but I view it as an opportunity to grow in an area I'm not as strong in."

It wasn't the easiest transition because Jessica says in the past she tried not being in the spot light.

"I try not to be a high profile entity, but inevitably, marketing and promoting is very much that," she said, adding that what's more natural to her is promoting topics she is passionate about like the music festival and the Island.

When Aarin's not portraying Jessica padre or helping to produce the music festival, she is a pirate aboard the Black Dragon in Port Isabel.