Erika Sánchez is Finding Meaning in the Hurt

The New York Times best-selling author’s new memoir, Crying in the Bathroom, dives deep into mental illness, desire, “life and death” decisions and the power of creating the life you are worthy of.

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How Attorney Melissa Gomez Nelson Stayed the Course

Growing up in the Rio Grande Valley, the daughter of migrant farmworkers, she knew she wanted to acquire skills to protect her family. That motivated her to fast track her way through college and law school, make partner at a big law firm, and now handle complex litigation as the Associate General Counsel at Booz Allen Hamilton.

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Why Healthy Hood Chicago's Tanya Lozano Believes Wellness Requires Community

She grew up in a family of activists and led her first walk out as a high school student. Then she worked in city government and saw up close the need for community-based solutions. Now, motivated by Chicago's 20 year life expectancy gap, the non-profit founder and CEO is working to ensure that her community has what it needs to thrive.

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How NewSchools’ Frances Messano Became a Provider of Dream Capital

As a kid growing up in Coney Island, luck played a big role in setting her life path. Now, as the president and incoming CEO of a nonprofit venture philanthropy fund, Frances is working to make sure that educational opportunity comes down to more than just luck.

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How Photojournalist Sarahbeth Maney Captured History

She made one of the most iconic photographs of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court confirmation hearings. But it almost didn't happen. Sarahbeth shares how she jockeyed to get into the room, the payoff on her patience, and the way she gives agency to her subjects.

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Why Comedian Anjelah Johnson-Reyes is Questioning (Almost) Everything

What is it like to have incredible success at something other than your big dream? What happens when you stop trying to prove yourself to others? Or when you begin to interrogate the things you once took as absolutes? Those are just some of the big questions comedian Anjelah Johnson-Reyes tackles in her new book, Who Do I Think I Am? Chola Wishes and Caviar Dreams.

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Why Investigative Journalist Jean Guerrero is Leaning into the Power of Her Personal Experience

The two time author has investigated everything from her father’s mental health to white nationalists in the White House. Now in her new role as an LA Times Opinion columnist, Jean’s examining both her own experiences and the limits of objectivity.

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200th Episode! Eva Longoria Always Knew She'd Succeed

The multi-hyphenate power house opens up about motherhood, divorce and finding her purpose.

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Encanto's Adassa is Guided By Her Why

The reggaeton star reached new levels of global fame playing Dolores Madrigal in Encanto. Adassa shares the health ordeal that threatened her life and career, and the force that drives every decision she makes.

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Social Impact Strategist Elsa Collins Wants You to Understand the Power of Your Influence

The serial co-founder (This is About Humanity, Poderistas, I Am a Voter) knows how to harness the power of celebrities for everything from political campaigns to direct service for migrant families, but she still believes that you are the most influential person in your own circle. Elsa shares how this ethos applies to everything from civic engagement to raising multiracial kids.

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Karla Monterroso is Interrogating the Language of Power

A personal leadership crisis shaped her understanding of how power is built and distributed. Now the leadership coach, strategist, and racial equity advocate shares how others can navigate the unique demands of leaders of color, and the work necessary to eradicate anti-Blackness in Latino communities.

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Mountaineer Silvia Vasquez-Lavado Knows the Highest Mountain is the One Within

The adventurer, activist, and first openly gay woman to complete the Seven Summits shares the childhood trauma and self-destructive behavior that brought her to the world’s highest mountain.

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Why Cuyana’s Karla Gallardo Believes in Fewer, Better Things

The CEO and co-founder of the global e-commerce company shares how her upbringing in Ecuador shaped her approach to consumption, the skills she cultivated before diving into entrepreneurship, and how you set boundaries when you’re both a hustler and your own boss.

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Why Kat Armas Believes Your Abuela Has the Answers

As a seminary student, she began to question why she hadn’t been trained to recognize the importance of women in the Bible. Now her book, Abuelita Faith: What Women on the Margins Teach Us About Wisdom, examines how our lives would be different if religion centered the stories of women’s sacred practice of survival.

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What Bianca Kea Learned by Listening to Her Yo Soy Afro Latina Community

Growing up in Detroit, she wondered why her peers recognized her as Black, but not Mexican. Now, the Yo Soy Afro Latina founder is building the community she always yearned for.

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Daisy Auger-Dominguez Knows What it Takes to Build an Inclusive Workplace

The Chief People Officer for VICE Media has spent her career building better workplaces. She’s perfected a model: reflect, visualize, act, and persist. Now she's put everything she's learned into her new book, Inclusion Revolution: The Essential Guide to Dismantling Racial Inequity in the Workplace.

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Julissa Natzely Arce Raya Wants You to Reclaim Your Identity

As a kid growing up in Texas, she thought that fitting in would keep her safe. Then, as she rose through the Wall Street ranks while harboring a big secret, a life-changing loss made her question everything. In her new book, You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation, Julissa shares her personal journey, explores the veiled history of U.S. Latinos, and makes a powerful case for reimagining what it means to belong.

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Art Advisor Maria Brito Wants to Help You Harness Your Creativity

She's helped celebrities curate their personal art collections, and worked to make art more accessible to all. Now, the author of How Creativity Rules the World: The Art and Business of Turning Your Ideas into Gold shares her journey from burned out lawyer to art world disruptor, along with the actions and attitudes necessary to take your ideas to the next level.

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Why Novelist Xochitl Gonzalez Isn't Done Being Ambitious

Could you just be done being ambitious?" That was the question the Brooklyn native asked herself before she "blew up" her comfortable New York life to move to Iowa, pursue her MFA, and complete what would become her New York Times Best-Selling novel, Olga Dies Dreaming.

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Artist and Organizer Favianna Rodriguez Knows that Pleasure is Political

She started organizing at 15, dropped out of college to become an entrepreneur, and has been blazing her own path ever since. Favianna shares how she got clear about the things she was fighting for, and how she built a life that allows her to embrace pleasure and joy.

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How Judge Esther Salas is Honoring Her Son’s Legacy

She made history as the first Latina to serve as a U.S. Magistrate Judge and a Federal District Judge for the District of New Jersey. Then, in 2020, a self-avowed anti-feminist violently targeted her family, injuring her husband and killing her son, Daniel. In this powerful episode, Judge Salas reflects on love, faith, grief, and her commitment to keeping her son's joyful memory alive.

Judge Salas talks in detail about the violence that was inflicted upon her family. Listen only if, and when, you are ready.

How Author Alexis Daria is Complicating Our Notions of Romance

The Bronx-native was juggling multiple jobs when she decided, at 30, that it was time to stop playing small. It paid off: her first romance novel was recognized with a prestigious RITA Award, and her newest solo project, A Lot Like Adios, is continuing to ask powerful questions about who gets to fall in love and what love really looks like.

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How Meg Medina Summoned the Courage to Write

"Who is she? What does she want? Why can't she have it?" Those are the questions the Newbery Medal-winning children's author asks about each of her young Latina protagonists. What Meg Medina wanted was to write professionally, but first, she had to get brave.

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Illustrator Michelle Rial Wants You to Feel Better

The acclaimed designer took her experiences with chronic pain, an auto-immune disease, and the loss of her father, and poured them into her new hilarious and moving book, Maybe This Will Help: How to Feel Better When Things Stay the Same.

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Ana Villafañe is Still a Supernova 

She got her big break playing Gloria Estefan in the musical hit On Your Feet. She cherished the role, but it also forced her to “erase Ana to sustain Gloria.” Now, with Chicago, her second Broadway show under her belt, and big projects on the horizon, Ana’s learning how to allow her art and her life to live side-by-side.

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Monica Muñoz Martinez is Confronting Our Past to Change the Future

The MacArthur "Genius" Grant winner is a public historian who interrogates some of the darkest parts of American history, and argues that grappling with our past is vital to developing solutions that address racial injustice.

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How Peloton's Robin Arzón Found Her True Power

The litigator turned ultra-marathoner and fitness instructor shares the personal trauma that helped redirect her from law into fitness, her commitment to showing up fully present and fully committed, and why her new children's book, Strong Mama, is a call to reimagine self-care.

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Julissa Calderon Is Helping Hollywood to Reimagine Latina Characters

Her hilarious BuzzFeed portrayals of Latina moms hooked us, and now, her magnetic energy keeps us glued to Netflix's Gentefied. Julissa reveals what she willingly risked to earn roles that welcome her fullest self.

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How Lauren Jauregui Learned to Listen to Her Own Voice

It took her years to get back to herself, but now the singer-songwriter who exploded onto the world stage as part of Fifth Harmony has her first solo EP, Prelude. And she's also on a mission to help others heal.

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How Emeraude Toubia Uses Love as a Life Force

The star of Amazon's With Love, and Lifetime's Holiday in Santa Fe, opens up about how she sets a supportive tone on set, the experience of building her career alongside her equally talented husband (Prince Royce!) and what a loss taught her about the importance of cherishing life's smallest moments.

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How Filmmaker Cristina Ibarra Cultivated a Junk Aesthetic

Growing up near the U.S.-Mexico border, she became obsessed with questions of belonging. Now, the newly-minted MacArthur Genius is using film to explore those same themes and shine light on stories that too often go untold.

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Bonus Episode: An Inside Look at a New Report on Latinos from Nielsen

Stacie de Armas, Nielsen's Senior VP of Diverse Intelligence and Initiatives shares fascinating insights from Nielsen's new report, "Inclusion, Information and Intersection: The Truth about Connecting with U.S. Latinos." Plus, her thoughts on how Latinas can use the data to help others understand the power of our communities. (Sponsored)

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America Ferrera Knows What Real Power Looks Like

The Hollywood A-lister reveals how she advocates for herself, maneuvers through complex power dynamics, and deflects the “Brown Discount.” She also shares all of the work that went into Season 2 of the smash hit, Gentefied, streaming on Netflix now!

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How Queens' Star Nadine Velazquez is Making the Most of a Second Chance

By 30, the actress had reached most of her goals but still felt like she was living a life someone else had chosen for her. Nadine reveals what it was like to hit rock bottom, and the conversation with a Hollywood A-Lister that changed everything.

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Why Beauty Entrepreneur Aisha Ceballos-Crump Stepped Out on Faith 

The Founder and CEO of Honey Baby Naturals and Botanika Beauty paired engineering and marketing to pave her own path into beauty. Aisha gets candid about the reality TV experience that clarified her vision, and the financial risks she took to realize her dreams.

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Vanessa Birnbaum Rosler’s Yoga Philosophy Ignited a Booming Business

The founder of All You Can Yoga reveals how she harnessed her love of the practice, marketing, and entrepreneurship to simplify the business of yoga, and bring it within everyone's reach.

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How Aida Rodriguez Wove Heartbreak Into Comedy Gold

The comedian had her breakout moment on "Last Comic Standing,” and since, has used comedy to explore everything from politics to familial trauma. It’s all part of her new HBO Max special, Fighting Words.

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What Sonia Manzano Knows Kids Need

As Sesame Street's iconic "Maria," the actress and Emmy-award winning writer harnessed the power of make-believe and imagination to connect with children. Sonia shares how creativity provided respite from her tumultuous childhood, and how problem-solving inspired her new PBS children's animated series, Alma's Way.

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How Mildred Otero Learned to Negotiate

From Capitol Hill to the State Department to Leadership for Educational Equity, this education policy advocate offers wisdom on the art of compromise and the necessity of standing your ground.

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How Grace Bastidas Built a Media Brand for Modern Families

The founding editor-in-chief of Parents Latina and Ser Padres shares how she launched and built a media brand that infuses multicultural roots and inclusive parenting.

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Why Dr. Mariel Buqué Believes Healing Leads to Liberation

The Ivy League educated holistic psychologist is revolutionizing her field with Indigenous healing, curanderos, sound baths, and Reiki therapy. Dr. Buqué breaks down her work in mental wellness, and how we can use “micro moments” to connect with ourselves.

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Why Kayla Rodriguez Graff is Bringing Honey to Wound Care

As co-founder and CEO of SweetBio, she’s harnessing the power of Manuka honey to heal advanced wounds and reimagine health outcomes. But early on, the biotech company nearly crumbled. Kayla describes the pivot that put them back on track, and the unique challenges of bringing health care products directly to consumers.

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Who Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez Is Writing For

The Latina Rebels founder and author of For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts: A Love Letter to Women of Color, opens up about imposter syndrome, colorism, and why shaking off traditional roles was key to finding freedom.

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Why Zaena Zamora is Fighting for Our Reproductive Freedom

The executive director of pro-choice Frontera Fund discusses the ramifications of the loss of abortion rights in Texas, and the challenges that lay ahead for the state and the the country. Zaena also gives Alicia insight into what it takes to keep abortion care at the forefront of the national healthcare movement.

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How Curator E. Carmen Ramos is Representing Us in the Art World

As a teenager, she spent weekends in New York City museums. Today she’s big-time in her field. E. Carmen Ramos talks candidly about feeling unwelcome in her first museum job to challenging the art establishment to include more Latino artists in the country’s biggest art institutions.

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Why Designer Jen Zeano Is Building a Queer Lifestyle Brand in South Texas

Jen, who is behind empowering T-shirt collections like the pink and red “Latina Power” line, started out hand-drawing on coffee mugs while working at a Best Buy. She speaks with Alicia about what it was like launching a design company from her living room, and how being in the Rio Grande Valley fuels her sense of community and inspires JZD’s colorful, mantra-infused tees.

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UNSTUCK: Breathwork Coach Ana Lilia Teaches Us How to Center Ourselves

Ana Lilia fell in love with breathing practices and affirmations as part of her own healing journey. Then she shared those gifts with others. Now she shares how to clear your mind, control your anxiety and rewrite your story—one breath at a time.

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UNSTUCK: What Media Mogul Nely Galán Can Teach Us About the Art of Reinvention

The television executive turned entrepreneur took a major detour—mid career—to go back to school. She shares how that decision changed her life, as well as her insights on how to find your true purpose.

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UNSTUCK: How PR Pro Lissette M. Rios Connects the Dots

The founder of Chic Influence, a public relations firm, shares her tips for telling an individual or brand’s story so that others want to listen. Plus, the powerful exercise she relies on to gain clarity and make big moves.

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UNSTUCK: Why Irene Quevedo Wants You to Take a Chance on Yourself

To kick off this four part series, professional coach and non-profit CEO, Irene Quevedo, shares the biggest obstacle her clients face when it comes to asserting what they really want, as well as the radical decision that transformed her life.

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Why Radical Health CEO Ivelyse Andino Wants to Reimagine Health Care

Ivelyse's personal experience of navigating the health care system inspired her to build a business that harnesses technology and intimate conversations to give individuals more control over their health. In this episode, she shares the power of taking up space and giving yourself permission to figure things out as you go.

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What Activist Tania Rosario Méndez is Doing to Combat Femicide in Puerto Rico

The Executive Director of Taller Salud, a feminist organization in Puerto Rico, breaks down how the island's struggling economy and social systems fail survivors, what needs to change, and what we can each do to combat gender-based violence.

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How Carolyn Rodz Is Connecting Entrepreneurs with Opportunities

Her own leap from investment banking to entrepreneurship inspired Hello Alice, a free platform that helps businesses learn and grow. Carolyn shares her roadmaps for entrepreneurs, and the source of her own eternal optimism.

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How TikTok Star Tefi Pessoa Gets Paid to Be Herself

She was a quirky kid who was obsessed with pop culture and learned the art of chisme from her abuela. It all prepared her to take our social media feeds by storm. Tefi shares her path from behind the scenes to the star of the show and the tricks she uses to make every performance “just a conversation.”

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How Maude CEO Éva Goicochea Plans to Revolutionize Sexual Wellness

Growing up in New Mexico, she read books like Our Bodies, Ourselves, and understood the importance of destigmatizing sexuality. Now the entrepreneur shares how her modern sexual wellness company is reimagining an outdated industry.

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How Mysticism Fuels Natalia Lafourcade's Musical Process

The iconic Mexican folk singer didn’t know if she would keep working in music, so she lost herself in Canada and started paying attention to signs from the universe. In this episode, she shares how she found her way back home and the rituals she relies on to bring new projects to life.

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How Netflix’s Carolina Garcia Picks Binge-Worthy Hits

She learned on the job as an assistant to one of the most powerful women in Hollywood, and spent nine years at Twentieth Century Fox before making the leap to Netflix. Now its director of original programing, she lets us in on what it takes to sell a big idea.

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How NASA engineer Diana Trujillo's Pursuit of a New Life Led Her to Space

She grew tired of seeing the women in her family sacrifice their ambition for their men, so she vowed to build a life that wouldn't force her to choose. At 17, she immigrated to the US, learned English, and decided to study aerospace engineering. Now at NASA, Diana is at the forefront of missions that could tell us if there is life beyond our planet.

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What In the Heights’ Melissa Barrera Learned by Playing an Iconic Character

Roller coaster auditions left no room for self-doubt, and filming was magical. But the release was pushed back a year amid the pandemic. The whole process taught Melissa to cultivate patience, underscored the need to constantly reintroduce yourself, and confirmed why diving deep into her own heartbreak was the only way to play Vanessa on her own terms.

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Why Nathalie Huerta Founded the First Queer Gym in the Country

An athlete who loves the gym, she began presenting as more masculine and locker-room interactions became so stressful she stopped going. Then she took a $50 Target gift card and founded what would become The Queer Gym, the first LGBTQ gym in the nation.

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For Sociologist Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve Getting Latinos to Care about Justice Reform Is Personal

Her cousin's incarceration punctuated the ten years she spent studying the largest criminal court in the country. So she decided it was time to act, not just observe. Now a Brown University professor, Nicole still grapples with how to make people care about police killings, generalized corruption in the system, and the biases within Latino communities that detract from real progress.

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How Showrunner Dailyn Rodriguez Stays in High Demand

Her life story is the stuff of movies. She was a goth kid in private school while her dad ran an underground gambling syndicate. A teacher suggested she write about it. And today she's the executive producer of USA's hit drama Queen of the South. The plot points connecting the two eras are filled with derailed projects, hard choices, and moments of euphoric triumph. In this lucid interview, Alicia gets every detail.

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Why Loira Limbal Spotlights Invisible People in Her New Film

When she read about a 24-hour daycare center, the producer and director knew it would become the heart of her next verité film. Filmed over two years, “Through the Night” offers an emotionally searing portrait of the unpaid, often invisible work of motherhood and caregiving, and a masterclass on intimate storytelling.

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Why Lilliana Vazquez Is on a Mission to End the Stigma of Infertility

The E! Host and style expert struggled with infertility for six years before becoming pregnant. Now, she's sharing her journey in the hopes of helping others feel less alone. Here, she reflects on the unique challenges Latinas run up against on their Advanced Reproductive Technology journeys, the loneliness of keeping her heartbreak a secret, and the life-changing power of surrender.

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What Medium Tatianna Morales Sees in Her Own Future

Intuition is one thing. The ability to connect with the spirit world to help others is entirely another. And for Tatianna Morales a lifelong pursuit in understanding and channeling the wisdom in the occult has resulted in legions of fans, helped her find her purpose, and launched a lucrative business.

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Why Tech Visionary Irma Olguin Jr. Went Back to Her Farming Roots

Growing up, Irma Olguin expected to join the next generation of farmworkers in her family. But the CEO of Bitwise Industries, which has turned California’s Central Valley into a thriving tech hub, says she experienced so much ‘serendipity in her life’ that she realized everything that lifted her out of poverty and struggle was possible for her home community. Someone just had to address the inequalities. The story of how she did it gave us goosebumps.

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How Health Coach Massy Arias Found Her Real Strength

A decade ago, she began sharing her fitness trials and triumphs online after experiencing the dark side of the industry. Since then, she has motivated millions to find their motivation, strengthening techniques, and focus—and built a wellness empire that includes an app and the TRU Supplements line. In this episode, Massy gets candid about her recent divorce, and all the things we don’t see on Instagram.

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Book Editor Michelle Herrera on Finding Your Voice By Not Fitting In

Growing up, she was so close to her family, it was unimaginable she’d ever even go away for college. But a curious mind and an adventurous heart freed her to “dream wild” and create her own “fantasy version of my life.”

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How Neurosurgeon Dr. Analiz Rodriguez Made Her Own Way

Set on being a brain surgeon since childhood, and armed with “unwavering self-confidence” instilled in her by her mother, Analiz powered through college, medical school and a PhD program. Facing steep climbs and faith-testing challenges along the way. Now, the accomplished neurosurgeon and research scientist opens up about leading in the operating room, navigating bias as an Afro-Latina doctor, and relying on her faith to keep her steady.

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How Karla Vasquez Reclaimed Salvadoran Food

When she learned that there were virtually no Salvadoran cookbooks in print in the United States, this food writer and cooking instructor made it her mission to capture the food and the spirits of the women of El Salvador.

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Why Our Friend Dessa Likes Picking Brains Apart

She's a rapper, a performer, a complete science geek, and now a podcast creator and host. And Deeply Human, her new show from the BBC, doesn't stray far from her ambitious curiosity and insatiable creative appetite. In short, it's all the things we've come to love about Dessa.

Follow Dessa on Twitter and Instagram. Listen to Deeply Human.

How Virgie Tovar Is Leading a Fat Revolution

She was researching fatness and wound up “onboarded” into fat activism. That set Virgie on her professional path, and radically changed the trajectory of her personal life. She breaks down the difference between “fat liberation” and “body positivity,” explores the parallels between her Mexican grandparents’ pursuit of the American Dream and her pursuit of thinness, and encourages us to imagine a world without diet culture.

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Why Living Icon Isabel Allende Has Never Kept Secrets

She believes the secrets you keep make you vulnerable. And she is sharing plenty of them in her new book, The Soul of a Woman. Isabel joins Alicia from her cozy writing room in her attic for an intimate chat that touches on infidelity, maternal grief, and the process of becoming "a woman on her own terms."

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How Writer Leslé Honoré Knows Poetry Changes Lives

Her poems have gone viral and reached millions. Now the writer behind "Brown Girl, Brown Girl" opens up about finding her way out of an abusive marriage, the decade where her kids became her poems, and the power of putting what you want into words.

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How Jenny Lorenzo Became the Internet’s Favorite Cuban Abuela

A co-founder of BuzzFeed’s Pero Like, and an alum of MiTu, Jenny spent the early part of her career creating viral sketch videos for big media companies. Frustrated, she decided to break out on her own. In this hilarious conversation, she reveals what goes into creating her videos (she has a second bedroom dedicated to wigs and props!), gets real about the nitty-gritty of monetization, and dreams of producing a more nuanced portrayal of her hometown.

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How Mend's Founder, Elle Huerta, Wants to Help You Beat Burnout

When the digital entrepreneur launched the self-care app, Mend, she was focused on helping users recover from the fallout of romantic breakups. Now she and her team are taking on a new challenge: professional burnout. Elle talks Alicia through the warning signs, the science of recovery, and the steps necessary to tackle what the World Health Organization calls an "occupational phenomenon."

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Why Rum Master Distiller Sylvia Santiago Will Never Quit

The chief distiller at Puerto Rico's Destilería Serrallés, maker of Don Q, is as committed to her craft as ever, but honest about the sacrifices she made along the way to mastering this male-dominated art form.

How Bomba Curls' Lulu Cordero Unfurled Her Natural Hair and Ambition

The entrepreneur, whose hair care line has already made it to Nordstrom shelves, traces her enterprising spirit to a childhood backpack candy business. And gets real about the cultural challenges and triumphs of loving your natural hair.

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LEVEL UP: How to Approach Your Health Holistically

Fitness coach Yami Mufdi wants you to shift your mindset from on how your body looks to how it feels. She breaks down all the components—nutrition, intention, routine—to get to a healthier you.

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LEVEL UP: How to Secure Your Financial Future Starting Today

Personal finance expert Ramona Ortega of My Money, My Future gives us some real talk about how to take control of your finances today so you can own your time, your money, and your life from now on. Plus essential advice for starting a business—and investing in yourself.

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LEVEL UP: Your Relationships Could Use a Refresh

Psychotherapist Genesis Games gets real about why it’s important to assess your relationships truthfully, so you can set healthy expectations and comfortable boundaries. Plus, how to navigate different kinds of relationships—with family, friends, and significant others.

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LEVEL UP: This Life Coach Says Now's the Time to Level Up

To launch this special series, Alicia talks to experts about how each of us can step into our fullest potential in the new year. Life and business coach Wendy Amara explains how to lay out the action steps that will help you accomplish your goals, and shares personal stories about leveling up when she expanded her business - and when she had twins!

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How O Magazine’s Arianna Davis Made It, on Her Own Terms

The digital director of Oprah Magazine talks to Alicia about the maverick moves that landed her jobs in journalism. And she discusses her new book, ​What Would Frida Do?​ and what the icon's “Viva la vida” mantra means to her.

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How Fashion Entrepreneur Camila Coelho Went from Working Retail to Building a Beauty Brand

The blogger and founder of Elaluz and the Camila Coelho Collection shares how a promise to her mother pushed her to work hard in a very competitive industry. And she gets real about using her massive platform to fight the stigma of people living with epilepsy—like her.

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Why Reina Rebelde’s Founder, Regina Merson, Chose Herself Over Everything Else

The successful owner of makeup brand Reina Rebelde talks about how she chose to leave a high-profile law career to find her way back to herself. And how she convinced her family that starting a business was the right path for her.

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Powerhouse Marketer Ana Valdéz on Using Media to Create Change

The marketing and business consultant on realizing and harnessing the power that marketing and media have to influence people’s behavior. And how she drew on those skills to be authentically herself.

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What This Election Taught Us About the Latina Vote

J​ournalists Jennifer Medina and Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times break down how we voted this election, and what the mainstream media so often gets wrong about it.

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How Olympic Gymnast Laurie Hernandez Regained Her Strength After Emotional Abuse

The gold medal athlete opens up about how she dealt with emotional and verbal abuse at the hands of coaches, the key role her mother played in advocating for her, and why leaving her beloved sport for a while was exactly what she needed.

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How Girls Night In Founder Alisha Ramos Started a Stay-at-Home Movement

Her weekly newsletter champions self-care and mental health, while being the heart of a thriving tech company. Alisha talks about how investing $20,000 in herself led to building a massive online community that brings people together in real life.

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Why Dr. Julie Ramos Insists You Take Care of Your Health

She tells Alicia her Latina identity plays into every aspect of her medical career, from the big hoop earrings in her professional headshot, to her pragmatic approach to becoming a successful cardiologist. Hard to believe she almost flunked out of med school, and now practices at one of the country's leading hospitals. We stan a legend.

Let's Talk Latina Power in This Election

She Se Puede founders Jess Morales Rocketto and Stephanie Valencia get real about what’s at stake this election, including Covid recovery, the environment, and immigration policy. Stephanie reminds us there are lives on the line. Jess encourages us to think about how our choices affect others. And Alicia gets emotional about the power of the Latino vote.

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Code for America’s Amanda Renteria Lost Some Battles, but Is Winning the Political War

The former political aide says growing up in agricultural California deeply shaped her identity, especially as a Latina in powerful roles, including chief of staff in the U.S. Senate. Amanda offers candid moments from running for, and losing public office, twice. And why those experiences crystallized her mission to fight for the rest of us.

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How Aimee Garcia Took Charge of Her Hollywood Career

The actor best known for playing a nerdy Latina on TV is becoming a power player behind the scenes, thanks in large part to starting a production company with her long-time collaborator. Aimee talks to Alicia about the road from being a novice writer to penning a comic series for Netflix, how she feeds her artist soul, and the privilege and responsibility of telling stories.

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How Doula Adriana Lozada Guides Parents to Their Own Ideal Birth

After giving birth to her daughter changed her life, she left a thriving media career to support parents on their pre- and postnatal odysseys. Adriana shares practical wisdom and useful advice on Birthful, her popular podcast, where she talks to health experts and welcomes parents to share their personal birth stories. Ultimately, she wants her clients and all parents to trust their intuition and center their needs in the birthing process.

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How Majo Molfino Helps You Break the Good-Girl Myth

The writer and life designer warns about five self-sabotaging tendencies that prevent us from connecting to our purpose and true strength. In this intimate conversation, she holds nothing back as she talks about how being the daughter of immigrants put pressure on her to be “a good girl.” And breaks down the frameworks that keep so many of us trapped in other people's notions of who we should be.

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How Beauty Insider Tina Hedges Created LOLI, an Environmentally Sound Brand

A crisis in health and consciousness pushed her to rethink her life choices and her work in the beauty industry. And she has an epiphany that would fulfill her and put the wasteful beauty industry on notice: a ​zero waste, organic, food-grade beauty company. Tina talks to Alicia about the sacrifices in being self-funded, the work behind pitching and growing LOLI, and navigating the startup world as a woman of color.

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Why Pioneering Journalist Maria Hinojosa Put Herself in the Story

She worked for decades to make sure her voice and ideas were valued as much as those of non-Latinos in the newsroom. Then she founded her own media company to make sure. Now she has written a memoir, Once I Was You, about all of it. Maria, a veteran journalist used to asking the tough questions, opens up to Alicia about her groundbreaking career, the strain it put on her marriage and family, and the friends and mentors who carried her through.

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Why Gianna Nino-Tapias Embodies Labor Rights, and Why Her Tweet from a Blueberry Field Hit a Nerve

The Stanford medical student has worked in fields alongside her mother since she was 14. And has become increasingly worried about working conditions for seasonal workers who pick our food, especially after COVID hit. She talks about how being an indigenous, Mixteca fieldworker born in the U.S. illustrates the economic distance between the farm and our dining tables, and why she's so determined to become a doctor to help her people heal.

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How Philanthropic CEO Carmen Rojas Learned to Lead As Her Full Self

Raised by Nicaraguan and Venezuelan parents who immigrated to the U.S. in the middle of the Civil Rights and labor movements, she grew up determined to uphold the ideals of justice and equality. After being the first in her family to go to college, she set to work improving the lives of working people. In this expansive and intimate conversation with Alicia, Carmen, now the CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, opens up about her modest upbringing, how to strengthen philanthropy, and why she does not hide any part of herself in her new role.

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How Therapist and Healer Christine Gutiérrez Came Back Home to Herself, and Wrote I Am Diosa

After a difficult breakup, Christine sought out deep healing from childhood abuse wounds and toxic people. Then, she became a therapist, trained in spiritual and shamanic practices, and was initiated in the priestess path. In her new book, I Am Diosa, she draws on wisdom from her own experience to help other women heal and tap into their worth.

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Why The Tax Collector’s Cinthya Carmona Defied Religion to Pursue Acting and Find Herself

Her independent spirit, strong will, and artistic ambition made her a rebel in a deeply religious family. But a supportive madrina found ways for her to hone her craft early on. Big sacrifices would follow, including being kicked out of her home. Cinthya speaks candidly with Alicia about her new film, choosing characters that defy Latino stereotypes, and the need to feel legitimate in your profession.

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Why Corporate America Couldn’t Change Carla Vernón at Her Core

Carla Vernón describes herself as “a very malleable piece of clay” with a sense of pride and self-awareness. She has used that singular strength to rise from associate to executive at General Mills. She reflects on her long tenure there, being among the first in her Afro-Panamanian family to venture into the business world, and setting and keeping her own standards as she gained success and status.

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How Coco Illustrator Ana Ramírez González Extends Herself with Her Art

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 Gonzálezv​sits 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.

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How Buscabulla’s Raquel Berrios Wrote ​Her Way Back Home in Regresa

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.

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How S​asha Merci and Dee Nasty Found Their Comedic Calling

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, Like, Share, 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.

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To Honor Vanessa Guillén, These Two Latina Veterans Are Telling Women Not To Enlist

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.)

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How Documentarian Cristina Costantini Fed Her Soul While Making “Mucho, Mucho Amor”

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 primetime television forever​.

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Why Actress Selenis Leyva and Her Sister, Trans Activist Marizol Leyva, Are Closer Than Ever

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 Selenis on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Marizol on Twitter and Instagram.

Happy 100th Episode Beloved Listeners!!

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.

Why TV Showrunner Ilana Peña Craves Complicated Girl Characters

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.”

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Two Latina Activists on Latinos' Place in Anti-Blackness

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 on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Marisa on Twitter and Instagram.

Why Actress Lisa Vidal Believes “I’m here because this was supposed to happen.”

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.

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How Rolling Stone’s Suzy Exposito Made History with Her Bad Bunny Cover Story

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.

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How Writer Karla Cornejo Villavicencio Maintains Control of Her Narrative

As if setting out to write a book about the undocumented immigrant experience across the country wasn’t hard enough, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio 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.”

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A Mother's Day Tribute to You, Your Mom, and All the Mamís

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.

How Joanna Vargas Built a Beauty Empire with Her Hands

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.

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Elisa Villanueva Beard’s Aha Moment as Teach for America's CEO

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.

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How One Day at a Time's Isabella Gomez Found Her Strength

"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.

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When Gentefied Co-Creator Linda Yvette Chávez Realized She Couldn’t Quit

"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.

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Political Power Player Cecilia Muñoz Reminds Us That We Are ‘More Than Ready’

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.

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Why Author Valeria Luiselli’s Art Reflects Real Life

“I think it's really important to be transparent about the place from which you write and the way that place determines your relationship to that which you write about,” award-winning author of Lost Children Archive Valeria Luiselli tells Alicia in this provocative conversation about the meaning and limits of identity. Luiselli, a green card holder, fully recognizes she is “someone who has enormous privilege and therefore also enormous responsibility toward my community.” That sense of duty compelled her to volunteer as a court translator for Central American children who were being processed as asylum seekers during the Obama administration. And it continues to help her interrogate her place in the world as an artist.

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How Ad Exec Nancy Reyes Became Undeniable

After Alicia’s conversation with advertising superstar Nancy Reyes, she wanted to make t-shirts that read, "I am undeniable." That’s how inspiring this trailblazer’s story is. From learning that “everything feels better when you earn it” to “dealing with a massive career failure” and making the decision to go from “good to great,” Nancy’s success is a testament to what happens when grit and tenacity meet opportunity.

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How Artist Scherezade Garcia Came to Work and Exist on Her Own Terms

Listening to Scherezade Garcia talk about her art and her creative process is watching someone relive the many ways she has made herself free— from other’s scrutiny, from expectations, from the need to justify her very existence. Alicia visited Scherezade’s studio and spoke with her about the notion of selling the Caribbean as “paradise”, the business of being a working artist, and what it means to be home. 

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Why iLe’s New Album, Almadura, Is Both Departure and Evolution from Calle 13

iLe’s natural and inherited musical talents were nurtured between classic piano training and the hyper-political songs of Calle 13, Puerto Rico’s most influential group in the last few decades. Now the singer/songwriter takes center stage with her haunting and flaring album Almadura. She and Alicia revisit moments of inspiration and desperation—especially for her beloved PR’s political limbo—and pull threads from the vivid stories and powerful messages that elevate her music to anthem status.

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Why DACA Trailblazer Cristina Jiménez Is Stepping Away

Cristina Jiménez knows how to agitate for change. The co-founder and Executive Director of United We Dream convinced President Obama to act on DACA. Now, as she prepares to step away from an organization she helped build, Cristina’s sharing what she’s learned: everything from her work on "decolonizing my understanding of myself" to warning against the perils of putting your ego ahead of the cause. She tells Alicia about her private conversations with the president and about the criticism she and her fellow organizers faced as they rallied millions to their cause by “defying all conventional wisdom.”

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Storyteller Extraordinaire Martina Castro Has Her Own Exceptional Story

Her professional journey would make an awesome movie. From humble beginnings as an NPR intern to co-founding and producing Radio Ambulante—a powerhouse narrative journalism podcast in Spanish—to launching an international production company, Adonde Media, Martina has never stopped innovating. Today she is at the forefront of digital audio and in demand. But along the way she’s faced some real doubts, like bilingual imposter syndrome and the nagging fears that come from being a CEO.

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How Canticos Creator Susie Jaramillo Built an Inclusive Kids’ Brand

Susie Jaramillo created several lines of award-winning children’s books, animated series, and merchandise. And she made the first board book prototype by hand while easing her child into daycare. It’s no wonder when Alicia spoke to her, Susie was celebrating a $2-million seed round for her Encantos Media. She tells us what it takes to thrive as a creative in the corporate world, and build the confidence to grow from what you know.

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Julissa Prado, the Million-Dollar Curl Whisperer

She had us at hello. Then we got to know her and walked away inspired. Founder Julissa Prado mixed her grandma’s herbal medicine legacy, a lot of sweat from relatives, $50K in life savings, and her uncompromising drive to grow Rizos Curls, a hair care line that reached $1 million in sales before it debuted at Target. But wait for it: before all that she earned an MBA, managed major brands for Nestlé, and became a licensed commercial truck driver.

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How Nelini Stamp Sets Injustice Aflame

She calls herself a “fire-starter,” and has a long list of rabble-rousing moments to prove it. Before turning 18, she registered people to vote by pleading “Please register and vote for me! I can’t vote.” Later, she marched in an anti stop-and-frisk protest to the home of NYC’s mayor. But walking into the Working Families Party to volunteer for Obama changed the course of her life. That path led to joining Occupy Wall Street and spending three weeks camped out in the streets. Along the way, she co-founded Dream Defenders. Honestly, Nelini embodies the phrase “Power to the people.”

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How Ana Flores Is Helping Latinas Grow

One of the original innovators in the personal blogging space, Ana Flores is not only an early adaptor but also a born innovator. She saw an opportunity in connecting brands to popular online personalities—today’s influencers—and ran with it. Her company brought in millions one year and filed for bankruptcy the next. Like a phoenix, Ana rose from the ashes to build the super successful We All Grow Latina.

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Why Dessa Is So Much More Than an Indie Rapper

She says her music is driven by “connection, communion and lost.” But listening, really listening, to one of Dessa’s albums and then drilling down to a single song, leads you through a tunnel of convulsing rage, unanswered love, and philosophical rifts on your place in the world. She brings that intense presence of heart and mind to this revealing conversation.