Jos\u00e9 Bayona, an immigrant from Colombia who arrived in New York City 30 years ago, has spent decades connecting diverse communities through journalism and government. Now, he\u2019s betting on artificial intelligence to transform how ethnic and community media connect with advertisers \u2014 and ultimately, how New York City communicates with itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While leading New York City\u2019s Office of Ethnic and Community Media, Bayona witnessed firsthand the challenge of matching advertisers with hundreds of small outlets that serve immigrant and minority audiences.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a human being, that\u2019s a process that is going to take days or weeks to negotiate,\u201d he said. \u201cWe would always go to the same ones [media outlets].<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need more diversity,\u201d Bayona said.\n<\/p>\n
That challenge inspired Bayona\u2019s latest venture, Mosaic Connect, a platform that utilizes artificial intelligence to match advertisers with the right community outlets in minutes rather than weeks.<\/p>\n
For Bayona, the project is more than a business. \u201cI didn\u2019t see this as a business in the beginning,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat I see is it\u2019s more like empowerment.\u201d<\/p>\n
From Community News to City Hall<\/strong><\/p>\n Bayona began his journalism career soon after arriving in New York. He studied political science and journalism at Baruch College and earned a master\u2019s degree at CUNY\u2019s Graduate School of Journalism.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bayona also worked as an assistant at Hora Hispana, a community paper under the New York Daily News in the 2000s, and later joined NY1 Noticias and served as metro editor for El Diario.<\/p>\n But journalism wasn\u2019t always easy to balance with family life.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Seeking more stability, Bayona shifted to government communications, working as a deputy press secretary at the Department of Transportation and then at the Administration for Children\u2019s Services.<\/p>\n \u201cCommunications in government is basically like journalism at the same pace, 24\/7,\u201d Bayona said. \u201cYou are on call all the time. You are dealing with media, with stories, with reporters, and all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Building the City\u2019s Community Media Infrastructure<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2018, under Mayor Bill de Blasio, Bayona became director of community media at City Hall. At the time, the city was home to more than 350 community and ethnic media outlets. Bayona led efforts to create a vetted directory to help city agencies connect with these outlets.<\/p>\n \u201cCity agencies started asking, \u2018How can I get to [community media outlets]?\u2019\u201d Bayona said.\n<\/p>\n In that role, Bayona said he helped \u201cexpand the opportunities for city agencies to bring information in different languages and also in different outlets.\u201d<\/p>\n When Eric Adams became mayor, Bayona proposed creating a permanent Office of Ethnic and Community Media. \u201cWhen Eric Adams was elected, he said, \u2018We need to implement this office, since day one, Jan. 21, 2022,\u2019\u201d Bayona said.<\/p>\n Bayona said the office helped \u201copen\u201d community media platforms to New York. \u201cThese outlets, they felt empowered to report,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n He added that publishers also began to see a \u201cpath forward to develop their products and their businesses.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Bayona said the office set a national example. \u201cOther cities are looking into that,\u201d he said, referring to cities creating Community and Ethnic Media Offices.<\/p>\n \u201cBoston is looking into that, San Jos\u00e9, I think LA is also looking into that, and many cities say this is a good model,\u201d Bayona said.\n<\/p>\n From Public Service to Entrepreneurship<\/strong><\/p>\n After leaving City Hall, Bayona founded Grassroots Strategies, a consulting firm. However, he stayed deeply involved in community and ethnic media \u2014 the same field where he had spent years building connections and infrastructure at City Hall.<\/p>\n Bayona expanded Grassroots Strategies, launched Grassroots Media, and began developing Mosaic Connect\u2014driven by the same challenge he encountered in city government, where he found that matching advertisers with the right community outlets was slow and inefficient.<\/p>\n Advertisers and city staff struggled to allocate ad dollars across 350 outlets. \u201cThey said, \u2018How are we going to make that assignment and all of that?\u2019\u201d Bayona said.<\/p>\n He noticed advertisers repeatedly relied on the same outlets, which motivated him to find a solution. \u201cI need to solve this,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n Bayona partnered with tech firms like Airtable and Singular Innovation to build Mosaic Connect, which he describes as an AI-driven marketplace for community media ads.<\/p>\n \u201cSo the platform has two phases,\u201d Bayona explained. \u201cOne for media outlets and another one for advertisers.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe media outlets, they are going to register, subscribe to the platform, and they bring all the information [about the company] \u2014 circulation, rates, what communities they cover, what languages they cover, where they distribute, everything,\u201d said Bayona.<\/p>\n Advertisers, in turn, log into the platform to target specific communities.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI want to do this campaign, let\u2019s say, in the Bronx, or I want to do this campaign in New Jersey,\u201d said Bayona. \u201cSo the platform will look into all of these outlets and say, okay, which ones are from New Jersey?\u201d<\/p>\n The AI narrows the results and filters them based on what advertisers seek and what media outlets offer, whether it\u2019s advertising in print newspapers, on radio, on digital platforms, or in specific communities, such as Latin American-focused newspapers or foreign-language publications.<\/p>\n Ultimately, Mosaic Connect can generate a media plan in hours rather than days. \u201cThat process, I can tell you, it could take like half a day,\u201d Bayona said. \u201cThe same process with a traditional advertising agency could take like a week.\u201d<\/p>\n AI as a tool<\/strong><\/p>\n While Mosaic Connect relies on artificial intelligence to analyze and match data, Bayona stressed that humans remain in control.<\/p>\n \u201cAI will give me the first interaction,\u201d Bayona said. \u201cThis is the recommendation. But AI will not lead the process. [Clients] lead the process.\u201d\n<\/p>\n He emphasized a clear line between the platform\u2019s recommendations and the content of any ads. Mosaic Connect does not generate creative assets or produce political advertisements.<\/p>\n \u201cOne difference is that the AI, the platform is not creating, is not doing creative,\u201d Bayona said. \u201cThe only thing that the platform is doing is suggesting media outlets.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have nothing to do with pictures, text, nothing,\u201d he added. \u201cThe client signs a contract that says, \u2018I\u2019m responsible for that creative,\u2019 but there is no interference.\u201d<\/p>\n Bayona also wanted to ensure smaller community outlets wouldn\u2019t get left behind due to cost barriers. \u201cThere is an annual fee for tech services, and that\u2019s going to be waived for the first month, so everybody can register,\u201d Bayona said. The annual fee is $249 a year.<\/p>\n Bayona said that\u2019s far lower than other organizations, which typically charge $1,000 a year, as well as commission. \u201cGrassroots Media doesn\u2019t charge commissions. Everything is net,\u201d Bayona said.<\/p>\n Empowering Diverse Communities<\/strong><\/p>\n Bayona believes Mosaic Connect could transform how campaigns, nonprofits, and businesses engage with diverse communities, particularly those with limited budgets. While major campaigns often rely on expensive TV ads, smaller organizations could reach similar audiences more affordably through ethnic and community outlets. This strategy costs less but can have a significant impact.<\/p>\n \u201cSo that\u2019s an advantage,\u201d he continued. \u201cWhen they go straight to the communities when they name community media, they spend less, and they might get more.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have to work for the tools \u2014 the tools can work for us,\u201d Bayona said.\n<\/p>\n For Bayona, Mosaic Connect represents the culmination of decades spent bridging power structures and the communities they serve.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWhen ethnic media survives, the community survives. And that means the whole city survives,\u201d said Bayona.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jos\u00e9 Bayona, an immigrant from Colombia who arrived in New York City 30 years ago, has spent decades…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":56749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[691,3460,5229,41591,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-56748","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-ai-tools","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-josu00e9-bayona","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114834427308271117","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}