Latina to Latina

It’s hard to believe she didn’t begin drawing until she was 17. You’ve seen her work on Pixar’s Coco, her gorgeous Google Doodles, and her children’s book illustrations, most recently in Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea. Ana Ramírez González talks with Alicia about falling in love with her craft,  moving from Mexico to the U.S. for art school, and forging an uncertain career path by following her heart, overcoming rejection, and drawing inspiration from Mexican culture.

Raquel Berrios left Puerto Rico for New York City to find herself as an artist. There, she met her musical and life partner Luis Alfredo Del Valle, and they formed their experimental Latin pop duo. As their music careers grew, receiving attention from fans and record labels, they surprised friends and family by moving back to the island—to live and make music on their own terms.

They're funny and they know it. But they're also observant and really quick witted, which makes their brand of comedy a little bit underhanded and conspiratorial in a really appealing way. After honing their standup chops in live shows, and building faithful social media followings, they've launched a sketch show on Fuse TV, Share, Like, Dímelo—a natural next step in their ascension as Latina queens of comedy. But, as this shared interview reveals, it's not always smiles and laughs; they've seen each other through tragedies, dead-end jobs, and creative slumps. But they just keep laughing. Follow Sasha @sashamerci on Twitter and IG; and follow Dee @deesonasty on Twitter and @dee.nasty on IG. If you loved this episode, listen to Gina Brillón and Cristela Alonzo for more on comedy.  Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter! 

Latina Veterans Lucy del Gaudio and Pam Campos-Palma are spearheading a campaign demanding justice after the disappearance and killing of Army Spc. Vanessa Guillén. Their service experience includes misogyny, discrimination and sexual violence that many women, especially women of color, endure while serving. In this powerful conversation, they detail the repeated abuses and military sexual trauma that robbed them of the pride in serving their country, their sense of worth, and military careers they worked so hard to establish  (This episode contains graphic language about sexual trauma.)Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter! 

For years Cristina covered detention centers and drug cartels as an investigative journalist. Without any film school training, she decided to take on visual stories about small worlds that tell us so much about human nature. Her latest, "Mucho Mucho Amor," centers on the private life of renowned astrologer Walter Mercado—her childhood hero and a controversial iconoclast that changed television forever.    Follow Cristina @xtinatini on Twitter and Instagram. If you loved this episode, listen to Suzy Exposito and iLe. Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter! 

Marizol's transition not only tested her determination to live life on her own terms, it also tested her lifelong bond to her sister Selenis.  A failing marriage, an acting career on the rocks, and mental health woes did not allow Selenis to be there for her beloved sister as much as she would have liked. In their memoir, "My Sister: How One Sibling's Transition Changed Us Both,"  they recount the difficult decisions they each had to make to be whole and to love each other through unimaginable hurt.Follow Marizol @iam_marizol on Twitter and IG; follow Selenis on Twitter @selenis_leyva and IG @selenisleyvaofficial. Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter! 

We did it!!!!! Together, dear listeners, you and our team reached 100 episodes today. Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude and love. Thank you for showing up every week, for sharing the show, and for letting us know how much celebrating inspiring Latinas means to you. In this special episode, Alicia and Juleyka reflect on what it's meant to them to make the show, their favorite interviews, and the new goal they've set: reaching 1 million listens by January 1, 2021!! We also hear from some of you, the best part of it all.Follow @latinatolatina on Twitter and Instagram. If you loved this episode, listen to our Mother's Day episode and Juleyka Lantigua-Williams. Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter! 

Growing up, television writer Ilana Peña was a student of books, where, she says, "girls could be complicated." Now, as creator of Diary of a Future President on Disney+, Ilana brings that vision of girlhood to life. She tells Alicia about rising from assistant to writer’s assistant to writer to creator, how the early loss of her father taught her to use “grief as an engine,” and why being in charge forced her to stop saying “maybe.” Follow Ilana @lanstagram on Instagram. If you loved this episode, listen to Linda Yvette Chavez, Gloria Calderón Kellett and Cristela Alonzo for more on creating Latina shows in Hollywood. Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter! 

This week we pause to reckon with the national call for justice that followed the deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and countless Black Americans in what's become an epidemic of sanctioned violence. Alicia talks to veteran community organizer Rosa Clemente and Marisa Franco, co-founder of Mijente, an action hub for social justice, about anti-blackness in Latino cultures, the colonization of identity, and what we must each do right now to make lasting change possible. Follow Rosa @blackpuertoricanphd on Instagram and @rosaclemente on Twitter; and follow Marisa @marisa_franco on Twitter and @marisafranco on IG. If you loved this episode, listen to Karla Cornejo Villavicencio. Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter! 

We've all been there. "Oh my God, can I do this?" And in those moments of intense doubt and fear, Lisa Vidal, the star of ABC's The Baker and the Beauty, says "That's when you have to really embrace your talent, and recognize who you are and say, 'Yes, I can do this. Yes, this belongs to me.'" We believe her. She has a four-decade Hollywood career, survived breast cancer, supported her son through addiction and recovery, and came through it all with the grace to "live one day at a time in gratitude." Get ready to be inspired.Follow Lisa @thelisavidal on Twitter and @thereallisavidal on Instagram. If you loved this episode, listen to Gina Torres and Aimee Carrero for more on acting. Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter! 

First, she planted the seed of the idea in his publicist’s mind. Then she began a relentless insider campaign to convince magazine editors that the megastar was cover worthy. Then she and the art director recruited the singer’s talented artist girlfriend to shoot it in their pandemic hideaway. The details of it all had Alicia on the edge of her seat.Follow Suzy @hexpositive on Twitter and @brujacore on Instagram. If you loved this episode, listen to Cristina Constantini and iLe.  Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter! 

As if setting out to write a book about the undocumented immigrant experience across the country wasn’t hard enough, Karla Cornejo Villavivencio set a much higher bar for The Undocumented Americans. “I promised everyone in the book, all of my subjects, that I would get Americans to care. And that's a promise that I couldn't guarantee that I could keep,” she tells Alicia in this searing conversation about not wanting to be a political tool, being among the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard University,  and not thinking too much about herself to avoid “going into dark places.”Follow Karla @kcornejov on Twitter and @kcornv on IG. If you loved this episode, listen to Carmen Maria Machado and Quiara Alegría Hudes. Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter! 

Alicia selects some of the beautiful moments when our brilliant guests recall a special moment with their moms, open up about the struggle to become a mother, and distill the wisdom and strength they learned from their mamás. Follow @latinatolatina on Twitter and IG. If you loved this episode, listen to our Anniversary Special.  Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter!

Why are so many people trying their hands at sewing homemade masks? Making a mask not only helps the wearers feel safe, it helps the maker feel useful and part of a movement. We speak with members of an Atlanta-based volunteer group that’s been able to deliver more than 13,000 masks to their local hospital system, hear why a long-time sewist only started making masks in the past week, and even make a couple masks ourselves. Visit vpm.org/helpers for more information. Music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Echoing a sentiment shared by many successful children of immigrants, Joanna Vargas tells Alicia, “My parents did not send me to school so that I would work with my hands.” That understanding kept her from telling them about becoming an aesthetician. The irony of it all is that working with her hands to help celebrities like Rachel Weizs, Mindy Kaling, and Tatum O'Neal look and feel beautiful is precisely how she made a name for herself in the beauty business. Joanna talks about it all in this episode and her new book, Glow From Within.Follow Joanna @JVSkinCare on Twitter and @joannavargasnyc on IG. If you loved this episode, listen to Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton and Katia Beauchamp for more on the business of beauty.  Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter!

From the executive producer of Latina to Latina, welcome to How to Talk to Mamí and Papí About Anything! Juleyka Lantigua-Williams made the show because she and many of her friends who were born or raised in the US could use some help in communicating with their immigrant parents. "We’re sometimes torn between the way we choose to live our Americanized lives and the loyalty we feel to our parents’ ways," she says. Every week, she'll talk to adult children of immigrant parents facing a heavy situation from which the rest of us might learn something. She'll also talk to an expert with relevant experience, who can help us understand and move through the situation. 

She started in a Teach for America classroom and today leads the organization as it sends a small army of new teachers into schools that need them most. Elisa opens up about her path to TFA:  realizing how unprepared she was for college (but excelling anyway), recognizing the strength of her experiences as she tackled educational inequity, and stepping into the role of CEO.Follow Elisa @villanuevabeard on IG and Twitter. If you loved this episode, listen to Nina Vaca and Nancy Reyes for more on the power of education.  Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter!

"And if I'm going to play a Latinx woman, she better be strong as hell," Isabella tells Alicia in this powerful conversation about being fully present and finding your power. "And she better have something to say. And she better be smart. And she better have all of these things that I know Latinx women to be." But even working on such a popular show is no guarantee. "I was no longer an actor, I was a Latinx actor," Isabella tells Alicia. "Because I got my part of my privilege taken away, I can see that shift clear as day." The conversation goes there and many other intimate places as she recounts her life from Colombia to Orlando to Los Angeles.Follow Isabella @Isabella_Gomez on Twitter and @isabella.gomez on Instagram. If you loved this episode, listen to Aimee Carrero and Jackie Cruz for more on acting.  Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter!

"If you find yourself in an industry doing all the jobs around the job you really want to do, check in on that," Linda tells Alicia. "There's some sort of fear around you not doing the thing you really want to do." She would know. After years of working in film and digital creative, Linda decided to follow her true passion: writing. Within two years of making that commitment, she was pitching and selling a television series. And there's so much more to Linda's story--breaking with tradition, sacrificing something of great value, and working harder than she thought she could.Follow Linda @lindayvette on Twitter and @lindayvettechavez on IG. If you loved this episode, listen to Cristela Alonzo, Ilana Peña, and Gloria Calderón Kellett for more on creating Latina narratives in Hollywood. Love the show? Show your love and become a Latina to Latina insider here!

She jokingly calls herself “a professional Latina,” but the reality is that Cecilia Muñoz has spent decades advocating on our behalf—from providing immigration services in Chicago to leading the National Council of La Raza to advising President Obama at the White House. Along the way, she learned some hard lessons and gave herself permission to take risks, elbow her way in, and harness her own power. In her new memoir, More Than Ready, she shares the wisdom she has collected and encourages us to step up in big ways.Follow Cecilia on Twitter @cecemunoz @WeAreUnidosUS and @NewAmerica. If you loved this episode, listen to host Alicia Menendez and Daniela Pierre Bravo for more on workplace advice. Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter!