Maritere Castellanos Esteve

Maritere Castellanos Esteve never imagined that hiding in a closet would lead to a career in comedy. But in 2020, with three sons at home during the pandemic and very little time to herself, she grabbed her phone, put on her pajamas and started recording. She had plenty to say about motherhood, and as it turned out, thousands of women were thinking the same things.

Those videos became Madres en Cuarentena, an Instagram account that has grown to approximately 1.7 million followers, with nearly two million across Instagram and Facebook. Castellanos has said she never paid to promote a single post. Her humor is spontaneous, sometimes wonderfully exaggerated, and full of the everyday situations parents recognize immediately.

Some of her funniest moments come courtesy of Altagracia, Olguita and Fulanita, her Dominican, Cuban and Puerto Rican characters. Castellanos knows those cultural differences well. Born to a Puerto Rican mother and Cuban father, she grew up in what she describes as a Cuban bubble within Puerto Rico. The accents, expressions and personalities she encountered growing up eventually found their way into her comedy.

Long before social media entered the picture, Castellanos studied international relations and taught elementary school in Miami. She had also loved performing since childhood, although she hadn't acted since high school. So when producer Alexandra Fuentes suggested taking Madres en Cuarentena to the stage, she wasn’t immediately convinced. She turned down the invitation and spent another year considering it.

Her theatrical debut finally came in February 2024 at San Juan’s Teatro Tapia, where she had danced ballet as a little girl. While preparing for the performance, she came across a trunk of childhood costumes her mother had saved. “I felt like a little girl again,” she recalled. The evening became even more memorable when her sons ran onstage afterward, shouting, “Mom, you did it.”

By 2025, her unexpected career had attracted wider media attention. In March 2026, she appeared on CNN en Español’s Americana POV, discussing motherhood and her longtime interest in acting. That August, she brought Madres en Cuarentena to the Walt Disney Theater at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center, performing in the city she now calls home.

For all the attention, Castellanos has no plans to fill her calendar with performances. About one show a year suits her just fine. She enjoys making people laugh, but she also wants to be home with her family. And after discovering an audience of nearly two million people without ever setting out to become a comedian, she seems perfectly comfortable deciding what success looks like for her.