Around the Block with Pedro Ramirez
Presented by Moments Media, TA98’s Digital Storytelling Division
Written & Photo by Araceli Ramirez
Page design by David Rojas Jr.
On 26th Street in Little Village, where elote carts steam and cumbia pours from storefronts, Pedro Ramirez sees more than a busy strip. He sees the place that shaped him and the canvas where he’s building his career.
At just 21, Ramirez has already built a résumé that stretches from Lollapalooza collaborations to community panels at The Alliance 98, where he serves as head of content. For him, though, the neighborhood sidewalks remain his most important backdrop.
Ramirez’s parents immigrated to Chicago in the early 1990s. His mother, who sold food as a street vendor, became his biggest supporter and still drives him to photo shoots today.
Life wasn’t always easy. At 13, Ramirez shared a single room with his family and remembers feeling underestimated. By 15, he had cut off contact with his dad — but picked up a camera instead.
Photography started casually on his phone, just something to pass the time. The turning point came in his junior year at Benito Juarez High School, when a counselor asked what he wanted to do after graduation and pushed him to think ahead.
Soon after, Ramirez began commuting more than an hour each way to the North Side for a job at Alchemy Chicago, a creative agency. There, he learned the fundamentals of professional photography and assisted on shoots for brands and local artists.
“My mentor really took me under his wing and taught me everything — how to use a camera, look for a frame,” Ramirez said. “That experience really showed me what was possible.”
Still, leaving Little Village for opportunities wasn’t easy.
That tension began to resolve in 2020, when Ramirez connected with The Alliance 98 through a partnership with the Chicago Sky. The project pulled him back to his home community and shifted his focus toward storytelling rooted in Little Village.
“In order to uplift my community, I first had to uplift myself,” Ramirez said. “TA98 is definitely a chapter in my book.”
At TA98, Ramirez found himself surrounded by other young creatives who valued collaboration over competition. He credits artists like muralist Emmanuel Gomez with creating a space where knowledge wasn’t gatekept.
A youth panel hosted by the organization earlier this summer felt like a milestone for Ramirez. Connecting with young people in the neighborhood reminded him of his own younger self.
