Synopsis
In this interview series, host Alicia Menendez talks to remarkable Latinas about making it, faking it, and everything in between. In often-hilarious and always-revealing episodes, Alicia and her guests take on the challenges of existing, and then thriving, as women of color.
Episodes
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How Marcela Guerrero is Shaping the History and Genealogy of the Whitney
04/12/2023 Duration: 17minThe DeMartini Family Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art shares how her career veered away from academia and into curation, the impact of exhibition choices on a museum’s collection, and the lessons she’s learned from Black curators who’ve come before her.LTL is coming to a city near you! Subscribe to our email list and let us know where we should record next.
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Why Yvonne Castañeda Wants Latinas to Receive Culturally Competent Mental Health Care
27/11/2023 Duration: 19minHow much of our relationship to food begins with our parents’ relationships to food? And how much of that is informed by their experiences of uncertainty and scarcity? Yvonne, a mental health clinician, explores the roots of our relationship to food, the connections between mental health and eating disorders, and offers a framework for talking about food, eating and well-being. Check out Yvonne's latest book Pork Belly Tacos with a Side of Anxiety here! LTL is coming to a city near you! Subscribe to our email list and let us know where we should record next.
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How Alejandra Campoverdi Traced Her Family’s Invisible Inheritances
20/11/2023 Duration: 19minShe navigated her way from “wannabe chola” to first-gen college student to White House aide to President Obama. But those bullet-points fail to capture the messiness and pain that exist in making the leap from one to the other. In her new memoir, First Gen, Alejandra is naming everything from the “Invisible Inheritances” we each contend with, to the “Trailblazer Toll” we pay for breaking those cycles and becoming the first.Find First Gen here. Follow Alejandra on Instagram @acampoverdi. If you liked this episode, listen to Why Aida Rodriguez Believes in Giving Grace and Julissa Natzely Arce Raya Wants You to Reclaim Your Identity.LTL is coming to a city near you! Subscribe to our email list and let us know where we should record next.
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What Motivates Linda García to Build Wealth
13/11/2023 Duration: 20minThe beloved financial educator explores the importance of identifying money wounds, challenges us to rethink "emergency" funds as a form of opportunity (you can hear our host hyperventilate!) and teaches us how to set a money intention. If you love the conversation, check out Linda's new book, "Wealth Warrior: 8 Steps for Communities of Color to Conquer the Stock Market."LTL is coming to a city near you! Subscribe to our email list and let us know where we should record next.
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How Travel Empowered Nikki Vargas to Bring Her Life Into Alignment
05/11/2023 Duration: 20minA senior editor for Fodor's Travel and the author of the travel memoir, Call You When I Land, shares how globe-trotting saved her from committing to a life she knew was not for her, along with her hard-earned insights on learning from failure, and planning trips that foster introspection and growth. LTL is coming to a city near you! Subscribe to our email list and let us know where we should record next.
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How Carmen Perez Became a Forward-Thinker
30/10/2023 Duration: 19minThe President and CEO of The Gathering for Justice and Co-Chair of the Women’s March shares an alternate vision of a carceral society, describes the occasional “messiness” of organizing, and reflects on the life-changing loss that shapes her pursuit of justice and of joy.LTL is coming to a city near you! Subscribe to our email list and let us know where we should record next.
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How Danyeli Rodriguez Del Orbe Learned She Was Not Meant to be a Martyr
23/10/2023 Duration: 19minThe formerly undocumented Afro-Dominican poet, spoken word artist and cultural expression activist shares her decision to forgo law school in favor of a different form of advocacy, the importance of uplifting Black immigrant narratives, and the necessity of developing an identity independent of one’s family.LTL is coming to a city near you! Subscribe to our email list and let us know where we should record next.
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What Drives Marta Tellado to Advocate for a Fair and Just Marketplace
16/10/2023 Duration: 18minThe President and CEO of Consumer Reports, and author of Buyer Aware: Harnessing Our Consumer Power for a Safe, Fair, and Transparent Marketplace, explains why digital rights is the next frontier of consumer protections, and shares her best advice for flexing your consumer power.Follow Marta @MLTellado.If you liked this episode, listen to Why Valarie De La Garza Calls Her Own Shots and Why Susan Gonzales Wants You to Understand Artificial Intelligence.LTL is coming to a city near you! Subscribe to our email list and let us know where we should record next.
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Why Aida Rodriguez Believes in Giving Grace
09/10/2023 Duration: 20minThe beloved comedian shares the pain of growing up without her father, the decision to reunite with him decades later, and the healing power of giving grace. It’s all part of her new memoir, Legitimate Kid.Find Legitimate Kid here, and follow Aida on Instagram @funnyaida. If you liked this episode, listen to Mayan Lopez Knows That Art Imitates Life and Why Kat Stickler Doesn’t Have Vulnerability Hangovers.
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Introducing: 100 Latina Birthdays
06/10/2023 Duration: 35minThe health and wellness of Latinas is crucial to the health and wellbeing of the U.S. economy. In 100 Latina Birthdays, an original documentary series from Peabody-nominated LWC Studios, reporters in Chicago investigate the health and lifetime outcomes of Latinas in the United States from birth to age 100. In season 1, the stories that unfold center Latinas during their perinatal journeys, childhood, adolescence, and up until age 20.In episode 1, new parents Wendy Miralda and José Paz are navigating the first year of their daughter Jelyani’s life, in Spanish. Language is key to their connection as a family and as Hondurans living in a predominantly Mexican neighborhood in Waukegan, Illinois. The Paz family never questioned teaching their baby Spanish. But many Latinos in the U.S. grapple with the misconception that doing so could delay their child learning English, or affect their development. There’s also the stigma Latinos face when they don’t teach their children Spanish. Reporter Andrea Flores dives into
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How Rebecca Alvarez Story Built a Sexual Wellness Brand
02/10/2023 Duration: 20minThe Founder and CEO of Bloomi, a wellness brand focused on clean intimate care essentials, shares how her experience as a single mom inspired her entrepreneurship, the creative approaches she utilized to close a one million dollar funding gap, and the crossroads she finds herself at today.Follow Rebecca on Instagram @rebeccaalvarezstory. If you liked this episode, listen to How Cece Meadows Built a Cosmetics Line as an Homage to Indigenous Beauty and How Nopalera CEO and Founder Sandra Velasquez's Luxury Bath and Body Care Line is Disrupting Eurocentric Standards.
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How Reyna Noriega’s Year of Responsibility Ushered In a Year of Rebirth
25/09/2023 Duration: 17minThe Miami-born and based Cuban-Bahamian artist, designer and author shares her insights on the intricacies of brand partnerships, the power of introspection, and how she learned to manage the business of design without sacrificing her love of the craft.Follow Reyna on Instagram @reynanoriega_. If you liked this episode, listen to How Illustrator Andrea Campos Is Using Art to Spread Positivity and Artist and Organizer Favianna Rodriguez Knows that Pleasure is Political.
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Why Vanessa Marín Believes Communication is the Key to Great Sex
18/09/2023 Duration: 19minThe sex therapist and co-author of the New York Times Best-Seller Sex Talks: The 5 Conversations That Will Transform Your Love Life shares her best advice for talking about desire and pleasure, and fostering intimacy. Follow Vanessa on Instagram @vanessaandxander. If you liked this episode, listen to How Maude CEO Éva Goicochea Plans to Revolutionize Sexual Wellness and LEVEL UP: Your Relationships Could Use a Refresh.Find Sex Talks here!
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How Lisa Guerrero Learned to Be Brave
11/09/2023 Duration: 19minThe Inside Edition correspondent shares her path from cheerleader to actress and sportscaster, the “dream job” as a Monday Night Football sideline reporter that quickly turned to a “nightmare,” and how the surprising choice to appear on the cover of Playboy allowed her to reclaim her narrative and rebuild her career. It’s all part of her riveting memoir, Warrior: My Path to Being Brave.Follow Lisa on Instagram @4lisaguerrero. If you liked this episode, listen to How Lori Montenegro is Holding the Powerful Accountable and Alicia Tells Us about Her Book, The Likeability Trap.
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Why Valarie De La Garza Calls Her Own Shots
04/09/2023 Duration: 17minThe CEO of Fenton Communications, the largest public interest communications firm in the country, shares the key to successful social impact campaigns, the lessons that nonprofits can learn from consumer brands, and the questions she asks to decide if big opportunities are the right opportunities. Follow Fenton on Instagram @fentonprogress. If you liked this episode, listen to How Patty Arvielo Built a Multi-Billion Dollar Mortgage Empire and How Candice Smith is Helping Other Founders Tell their Stories.
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How Cece Meadows Built a Cosmetics Line as an Homage to Indigenous Beauty
28/08/2023 Duration: 19minThe CEO and founder of Prados Beauty leveraged her skills as a make-up artist and her experience as a cancer survivor to launch a beauty brand out of her daughter’s nursery. Cece shares how her company’s strategic partnership with Thirteen Lune and JCPenny brought Prados Beauty to profitability, and how her experiences of domestic abuse and homelessness have shaped her commitment to giving back.If you liked this episode, listen to How Nopalera CEO and Founder Sandra Velasquez's Luxury Bath and Body Care Line is Disrupting Eurocentric Standards and How Flores Is Reclaiming the Borderlands Narrative.LTL is coming to a city near you! Subscribe to our email list and let us know where we should record next.
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How Melania Luisa Marte Became a Word Weaver
21/08/2023 Duration: 19minThe writer, musician and poet shares how her parents’ migration from the Dominican Republic to New York City, and her reverse migration from the United States to the DR informs her exploration of colorism, colonialism, and love. She has poured it all into her new collection of poems, Plantains and Our Becoming.Find Melania on Instagram @melatocatierra and order her book here.If you liked this episode, listen to Why Ada Limón Refuses to Perform Identity and How Writer Leslé Honoré Knows Poetry Changes Lives.
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How Johanna Rojas Vann Wove the Truth Into Fiction
14/08/2023 Duration: 18minShe grew up listening to her mother’s stories of immigrating from Colombia to the United States, then decided to honor her mom by making those experiences central to her debut novel, An American Immigrant. Johanna shares the inner workings of her writing group, the importance of accountability partners, and the role faith plays in her creative process. Follow Johanna on Instagram @johannarvann and find ways to order her book here.If you liked this episode, listen to What Jennifer De Leon Had to Confront to Become the First Writer In Her Family and How Kali Fajardo-Anstine Fought to Tell Her Ancestors’ Stories.
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How Candice Smith is Helping Other Founders Tell their Stories
07/08/2023 Duration: 19minThis serial entrepreneur built her firm, French Press Public Relations, after launching two start ups of her own. Candice shares her insights on how building a service-oriented ethos can take some of the ‘ick’ out of personal branding, the value of choosing which social media platforms to invest in, and the editing required to tell your brand’s story. Follow Candice on IG @frenchpress.pr. If you liked this episode, listen to UNSTUCK: How PR Pro Lissette M. Rios Connects the Dots and How Ana Flores Is Helping Latinas Grow.
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Living Icon Esmeralda Santiago Asks Who We Are Without Our Memory
31/07/2023 Duration: 19minThe acclaimed author joins Alicia to talk about her newest novel, Las Madres, how a stroke changed her writing and her life, and the cruelest feedback she has ever received. Find ways to order Las Madres here.If you liked this episode, listen to How Living Icon Sandra Cisneros Became a Woman Without Shame and Isabel Allende x Alicia Menendez LIVE at the 92Y.