Jose Cruz and Irene Miguel are on The Desert Sun's list of the Coachella Valley's Top Content Creators of 2026. To see the full list, click here.
Some content creators choose to go it alone. But viewers get twice the fun when they visit Coachella-based partners Jose Cruz and Irene Miguel's social pages.
The two high school sweethearts have been making social media videos (@jcriz740) for more than a year now by spotlighting the "little guys," such as home-based businesses and local food vendors that are mainly in the east valley. While Miguel is most frequently seen on screen, Cruz is the trusty cameraman who also makes appearances occasionally. They even get their young sons involved in the fun, spotlighting local family-friendly events and giving
them a chance to share their thoughts on food.
The couple also asks community members to participate in funny Q&As, stash cash in various locations for viewers to find and give people insights into their daily lives.
"When I was in sixth grade, I had this teacher who, every single week, would push us to make videos," Cruz told The Desert Sun. "I started from there and I remember editing videos, making skits and that always inspired me."
The duo is one of five winners for the Coachella Valley's Top Content Creators of 2026. Take a look at The Desert Sun's conversation with them below.
(These quotes have been edited for length and clarity.)
How does it feel to be top content creators?
Irene Miguel: It feels amazing. It's crazy to think about. I saw all of the 50 creators and some of them have way more followers than what we have, but we were very committed to making sure people were voting.
Jose Cruz: From top 50 to top five, I think it's an amazing achievement.
How did you two meet?
IM: I was supposed to go to Coachella Valley High School, but my aunt was teaching at Desert Mirage High School so that's how I ended up over there. It was a little hard because I didn't know anybody there. When I met him, we had a class together. We were in digital film together and we sat next to each other.
You're the only duo on our top five. Did you have a conversation about doing content together when you first started?
IM: It's his TikTok account. He was already talking about wanting to do videos. When he was in high school, he had a Facebook page with friends.
JC: We would just do funny skits. But after that we stopped. I always wanted to do videos, but I didn't have a phone for it and it was really bad quality. Since I got the iPhone 14, I was like, oh the colors, we should start filming.
IM: I think how it started was we went to the meat market in Coachella and I walked in and saw the viral ice creams, the fruit ones. I had seen them and I was like oh my god, these are trending on TikTok, I didn't know we had them here in the valley. We should post it and see how it does. It blew up, we got 17K, and we were noticing that a lot of people from the valley were commenting. We were like, oh wow, we didn't know it could hit directly here.
JC: It was crazy too because we would go back to the store and we'd see people walking in and walking out with ice cream, and then we start seeing other meat markets getting the ice cream.
How did you decide to expand your content to food reviews, hidden gems and family events?
IM: A lot of people would tell us about other things, or there was even stuff we knew about and I was like 'we should share it because I don't think a lot of people know about it.' At first it wasn't focused on vendors, it was more stores and restaurants. That's when small vendors eventually started reaching out to us and we thought that was a good idea to start helping them out. Not only does it help us, but we're able to help them and do something that we like doing. It's a lot of fun because we have our kids and we include them in the food videos. He'll be eating and he'll tell us, record me. He's only 3 years old and he'll be like, my turn!
Why is it important to spotlight the 'little guys' in town?
IM: We try hard to get their name out there because on their social media they don't have as many followers or sometimes they just don't post. A lot of them only have Instagram accounts and I try to tell them, TikTok works too, TikTok will get you out there.
Who are you outside of your videos?
IM: I grew up with my grandmother. I would walk a lot with my siblings to school, we lived by Cesar Chavez Elementary School, so we would always walk to Cardenas. It wasn't too much out of the ordinary. My aunt was a big part of my life and she would show me other restaurants. That's how I was able to show him like Thai food, he had never had it, Indian food, Greek food and all that. She was always traveling and she would introduce me to it.
JC: I grew up (in North Shore) with my parents working in the fields. They always pushed me to high standards to go above and beyond. One of the main things was they always wanted me to go to college, so they always pushed me toward that. I've always been a big eater. My mom would always make tamales, pozole, all of that.
What is your favorite thing about the Coachella Valley?
IM: I love that it's not so overcrowded. I know a lot people complain about the weather, but I actually love that it's a bit of both, you get hot and you get cold.
JC: Something I would do when I was young was go to the swamp meet every single week. When we would go, we would shop around, we'd get some tostilocos and raspados. We still go, we take our own kids as well.
What are your favorite spots in town?
IM: Recently we went to a restaurant called Birrieria Sinaloa. We've been two times in one month. Everything on the menu looks amazing, and everything that we got we were satisified.
JC: Another one would be Raspaditos 760. Every single time we go back, those snacks are amazing.
What comes next for you?
IM: Our next goal is hitting 10K so that we can eventually make some money off of it and maybe make it our living. If we get even more followers, I would love to eventually do YouTube.
Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com, on X @ema_sasic or on Instagram @emasasic.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Why this couple is winning over Coachella Valley social media users
