When Matthew Mazur asked to meet him at his favorite Peruvian restaurant PioPio in Hells Kitchen for his interview, I was immediately game.

Mazur has been coming here with his mother for more years than he cares to remember, witnessing the pollos a la brasa chain grow from a hole in the wall in Woodhaven, Queens to eight New York locations today.

His go-to dish? A family-style platter called El Matador Combo, which he ordered for the table without looking at the menu. Mazur was in his territory, and it’s clear that he is an expert here, so I gave him free reigns to show me a sliver of his world – a whole chicken, plátanos maduros, yellow rice and beans, salchipapa, avocado salad, and don’t forget his favorite house hot sauce, ají. He’d ask for more each time the server comes around, any way.

The fashion stylist carries himself with a confident demeanor. His personal style inspiring and influential: colorful and adorned with covetable and bright accessories, and the charisma to match. His sartorial flavor piqued the interest of Jeremy Scott and Alexander Wang, and landed him his current gigs styling K-Pop queen CL and up-and-coming pop princess Kim Petras.

Mazur’s Peruvian mother and late Polish father were both immigrants who came to this country with little money and no relationships or security blankets. They met and settled in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where Matthew grew up attending a Polish Catholic school, and first remembers feeling like an “other.”

“If you’re you,” his mother would tell him, “everything will be fine.”

Although he’s Polish by patrimony, the family was so immersed in Peruvian culture that Mazur mostly associated with being Latin. His home was always big, loud and full of love, but being gay and Latin in Catholic school was difficult for him.

“My grandma’s my life, it’s where the family gets our humor from,” he said. “But I remember when my grandma would come pick me up from school, I was ashamed of her, and wouldn’t want to be seen with her because she didn’t speak English. I regret that so much.”

It wasn’t until his mother helped him get into Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts that he was exposed to other Latinxs and his friends came from different backgrounds. It was a safe place for Mazur, and his style blossomed there.

“I started dying my hair and tapering my jeans before tight jeans were a thing. We’d get my best friend’s grandma to sew them into skinny legs in her basement because we thought we were punk,” Mazur said, laughing at the memories. “I was so obnoxiously gay and I didn’t care. I’m loud, I’m present, and here to stay. It was the first time I felt appreciated for my culture there.”

Parsons triggered a healthy obsession with luxury and Louis Vuitton, which led to an internship with a stylist, and ultimately landed him a full-time job after graduation with Jeremy Scott and his team. The self-taught deejay began spinning at the designer’s parties, and was given the opportunity to actually play what he wanted hear.

“You don’t need to know the words to enjoy Latin music,” he said. “The dembow and rhythm is what gets people moving, and now people go crazy for it, even in predominantly non-Latin spaces.”

His sets brought him acclaim and he has created runway mixes for LaQuan Smith, among other fashion collaborations.

For Mazur, the women in his life provide the deepest source of inspiration. He was raised by three: his grandmother, mother, and aunt. Women were everywhere growing up – on telenovelas, in magazines, or on the radio via Thalía or Paulina Rubio, whom he considers style icons.

“My mom, tía and abuela are my rocks – my trinity,” Mazur said. “Everything they’ve done and sacrificed for me has influenced what I do now. That’s what I try to exemplify with the women I dress. I want to express the empowerment I saw growing up from the amazing Latin women in my life.”

His Latinidad is infused into the way he styles his women – think ‘high-low’ flair. “These are Adidas socks, but the top is Hermes,” he said. “A $10 dress with a $750 sandal – that’s how I think.”

Though Carlos Nazario may come to mind, Mazur was challenged to name another prominent Latin stylist. That said, he’s hopeful, recognizing that “there are still boundaries that have to be broken, obviously, but I believe Latin people are going to have their moment, and I think it’ll be soon.”

Current immigration policies have brought Latinxs to the front pages of newspapers and magazines. Mazur believes it’s the perfect time to control the narrative and speak on what we have to speak on.

We started talking about Luis Fonsi’s song Despacito, a cultural and unprecedented phenomenon that disrupted the music industry with its bilingual remix featuring Justin Bieber.

“The fact that that song had the impact that it had, without us even knowing,” he recalled. “When it came on, we’d be like, ‘that song again?’ We hate that song, but it was happening right under our noses…Americans were consuming the song. Not just consuming either, but eating it up! The fact that my 90-year-old grandma knows that song in a New Jersey farm town says something.”

When asked to perform the song live, Bieber couldn’t sing his one verse in Spanish, and mocked the situation by instead singing: “I don’t know the words so I’ll sing dorito.”

“Sometimes it’s about putting your ego aside and thinking about the bigger picture,” Mazur added, believing the song was still a win for Latinxs. “Everybody takes things a lot more personally than they should. It’s not about you sometimes, it’s about the community.”

Celebrating Latinidad is important to him, especially as an opportunity to educate those afraid of the unknown. “This month is a perfect chance to allow people to be exposed to our cultures, and observe,” he said. “It’s important to be proud of who you are and being Latin is no exception. This whole month…Observe it, say it loud, and say it proud.”

“You’re educating people, even when you don’t know it,” he added. “It can be something small as ordering in Spanish in front of non-speakers, cause that can start a conversation about your heritage and create a learning opportunity. 99 percent of the times, if it comes up in a way that’s peaceful and from love and good intentions, it will never backfire on you.”

Throughout his impressive career, Mazur has become something of a public figure, of which he is proud for a very special reason.

“I would have died to have someone growing up that looked like me, and I hope I can be that for someone else,” he said. “Fun, colorful, Latin, gay, and deejaying in spaces I never thought I’d be invited to, in such an exclusive place like the fashion industry.”

Editor’s Note: This feature is part of an ongoing editorial series celebrating Latinxs in fashion during National Hispanic Heritage Month.  Click here to access the series.