Speaker 1: Welcome and beam Minidos to this very special episode. Michael
Speaker 1: Tuda conversations, our voices, our stories, our experiences. I'm your
Speaker 1: host Wilmer about drama and I had the pleasure of
Speaker 1: being joined by my friends Adam Luiggins, Stephanie Patrice, and
Speaker 1: Jennica Lopez for a heartfelt conversation on latiniad.
Speaker 2: Listen as we shine.
Speaker 1: A light on our culture, our upbringing, language, and what
Speaker 1: we're hoping to build for the next generation of Latino creators.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited we get to have a space to
Speaker 1: recruit on culture, heritage, and you know the purpose of
Speaker 1: this is to ultimately, you know, reach down into our
Speaker 1: heart and just you know, really remember it and think
Speaker 1: and trigger these emotions that kind of make our culture
Speaker 1: so colorful. And on Hispanic Heritage Month, we thought it
Speaker 1: was kind of excited to get us all here together,
Speaker 1: enjoy some delicious Latin of food and talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about our beginnings. You know, when our culture they
Speaker 1: find who we were, and when our culture told us
Speaker 1: that we could do anything. You know, basically, you know,
Speaker 1: we were always talking about this, when we've talked about
Speaker 1: this before, that that's been the superpowered We'll always find
Speaker 1: a way to get there, you know, so I wanted
Speaker 1: to start. I'll start with the ladies, you know, Steph,
Speaker 1: Maybe tell us a little bit about where you come from,
Speaker 1: what's your story, you know, and you know, give us
Speaker 1: the moment when you realize your heritage was was special.
Speaker 3: I mean, I was an immigrant to the United States.
Speaker 3: I am an immigrant to the United States that came
Speaker 3: when I was a little under too. My dad is
Speaker 3: Columbia and my mom's Bolivian. They moved all around South
Speaker 3: America when I was a kid, but then they landed
Speaker 3: in Texas, and I think growing up in Texas was
Speaker 3: really interesting for me because yes, I was Latina, I
Speaker 3: am Latina, but also there were so many different kinds
Speaker 3: of immigrant groups that my mom met in Houston because
Speaker 3: of her connection to the Catholic Church, and so she
Speaker 3: kind of created this community for us. And so my
Speaker 3: sister and I were given the opportunity to see Latinidad,
Speaker 3: but like through the lens of a lot of our
Speaker 3: family friends who immigrated from lots of different communities, and
Speaker 3: like that was really strange and interesting, and so like
Speaker 3: my upbringing became this kind of mishmash of like selectively
Speaker 3: picked things that came from you know, like this food
Speaker 3: from here, this tradition from here, this thing from here.
Speaker 3: And especially because I grew up in Texas, I feel
Speaker 3: so connected to Mexican culture, Mexican people, Mexican music, Mexican heritage.
Speaker 1: But I'm not Mexican, but I love it.
Speaker 3: So that's really tricky too write this idea that, like
Speaker 3: you can be Latinal, love parts of it, but also
Speaker 3: maybe sometimes feel like you don't belong to parts of it.
Speaker 3: And for me it was really when I was maybe eight,
Speaker 3: of Freedo Capolo exhibit came through the.
Speaker 4: Art Museum in Houston, Houston ArtMuseum, and because it was
Speaker 4: I mean I was eight, I.
Speaker 1: Probably not should have was looking at it, you know what, because.
Speaker 4: We've all seen her art it's pretty intense.
Speaker 3: But it was also this idea that this woman that
Speaker 3: looked like me, that had tan skin and dark hair
Speaker 3: and spoke Spanish and you know, became this world renowned artist,
Speaker 3: so world renowned that her work was traveling now all
Speaker 3: over the world and.
Speaker 5: Here were self portrass of her and she wasn't perfect,
Speaker 5: and she had a unibrown and she had a When
Speaker 5: I was a kid, I had scoliosis, and here she
Speaker 5: was in her back brace from her from her.
Speaker 3: Accident, and that for me was really the moment, was
Speaker 3: like wandering around the gallery and looking at these pictures
Speaker 3: and then looking at the gallery full of people, all
Speaker 3: kinds of people, looking how they were affected by what
Speaker 3: she created from her own pain, from her own literal
Speaker 3: physical pain and also her like mental journey that she
Speaker 3: was on. And as a kid, I just remember thinking like, Wow,
Speaker 3: maybe this is for me. And so that was the
Speaker 3: beginning of my journey as an artist. First I started, like,
Speaker 3: you know, drawing pictures at home and stuff, and then
Speaker 3: I started getting really into finding books in the library
Speaker 3: that we are and then I started getting into like
Speaker 3: reading plays by Latino play rights and were there any
Speaker 3: and how can I find them? And am I just
Speaker 3: looking for names? And you know, And at first it
Speaker 3: is that sort of you're just like kind of looking
Speaker 3: for anything, right.
Speaker 5: But yeah, that's sort of how it started for me.
Speaker 1: Is a very beautiful and common origin story for all
Speaker 1: of us immigrants. When you come to a place and
Speaker 1: you find another Latino community that takes you in and
Speaker 1: invites you to the essence of what they are about.
Speaker 1: And I think that's also very important, which also speaks
Speaker 1: to who we are as Latinos in America, right, Like,
Speaker 1: you know, we're bringing our flags, we're bringing our heritage,
Speaker 1: you know. Speaking of the Mexican culture, Jenaget, tell us
Speaker 1: a little bit about you had a quite an interesting
Speaker 1: upbringing and you were introduced to so many definitions, but
Speaker 1: at the core, you know you you are a Mexican.
Speaker 1: So tell us a little bit about when you come
Speaker 1: from and inherited to tell.
Speaker 6: Well, I'm born and raised in La Long Beach, specifically
Speaker 6: where my mom was also raised, raised by a beautiful
Speaker 6: Latin woman, strong, powerful. My grandparents also came where immigrants
Speaker 6: they came. Was nothing from Mexico. My dad as well,
Speaker 6: he raised me He's from NIAI and I just feel
Speaker 6: like all I had was family, you know, growing up,
Speaker 6: Like that's all I knew. Even in school, like I
Speaker 6: would gravitate towards to Latinos because I didn't feel like
Speaker 6: I necessarily belonged in the other crowd. And I don't know,
Speaker 6: it was just growing up. It made me feel so
Speaker 6: proud because I saw how my grandparents came. My mom
Speaker 6: worked her whole life to bring us to this position.
Speaker 6: That we are now. We had, you know, obviously reality
Speaker 6: TV we were in. We had a lot of different
Speaker 6: opportunities and thankfully my mom worked quite frinkly her whole
Speaker 6: life for my siblings and I were a family of five,
Speaker 6: so and she was a single mom, so it was
Speaker 6: never easy for her because she was always bullied as well.
Speaker 6: She had difficulties, and I think that's my main inspiration,
Speaker 6: like she definitely rose up from nothing, and with me,
Speaker 6: I saw it in the back end. A lot of
Speaker 6: people just kind of see when we're in this light
Speaker 6: or kind of as artists, like people only see a
Speaker 6: certain picture and it's like, no, I get. I had
Speaker 6: the privilege of seeing what she went through, and I
Speaker 6: kind of wanted to give that to people as well,
Speaker 6: Like it's not easy.
Speaker 4: I had lost.
Speaker 6: Both my parents super young. I felt like I couldn't
Speaker 6: relate to anybody. And especially with Latino culture, you're not
Speaker 6: necessarily allowed to express yourself or be vulnerable. It's kind
Speaker 6: of like get up and do it, which to a
Speaker 6: certain extent that's totally and work wise, I feel like
Speaker 6: it's allowed. But when it comes to emotions, I feel
Speaker 6: like it's a sensitive subject. For me, it's like, I
Speaker 6: want to be able to talk about what I'm feeling.
Speaker 6: So that's where I kind of got that inspiration to
Speaker 6: just speak for Latinos and help people, at least in
Speaker 6: my generation, like it's okay to talk about your feelings
Speaker 6: and to say I love you, or to raise your
Speaker 6: children this certain way, or be there for your family
Speaker 6: and kind of just be that guidance for this, you know,
Speaker 6: specific generation.
Speaker 1: Do you think that's some of that crossroads of being
Speaker 1: Mexican and American and at the same time, you know,
Speaker 1: also allowed you to create that skill that we're like
Speaker 1: you weren't really allowed to talk about vulnerabilities as a Latino,
Speaker 1: you know, but then you come to America and you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: but you know, I feel like I have a freedom
Speaker 1: to kind of like stretch a little bit. You feel
Speaker 1: like that was kind of moment. I feel like it's
Speaker 1: a defining moment for this new generation exactly.
Speaker 6: And I feel like, at least for myself, like I
Speaker 6: feel like Latinos and Mexicans specifically are very united in
Speaker 6: a sense. Everybody holds their hand like Okay, you're part
Speaker 6: We're part of each other, Like let's help each other.
Speaker 6: And when it comes to like other groups or Americans,
Speaker 6: and it's kind of just meshing it together, like Okay,
Speaker 6: let's let's all be together.
Speaker 4: Let's all do this together.
Speaker 6: Like everyone struggles in certain ways and specific ways. Let's
Speaker 6: all help each other grow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome, Adam.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the hope, right, That's that's what we should
Speaker 2: be doing. You know. For me my experience, I'm actually
Speaker 2: my my mother's side, I'm already third generation American in
Speaker 2: this country. And then on my father's side, my father
Speaker 2: was first generation his parents, mother from Cuba, father from
Speaker 2: Puerto Rico. So I had a different experience. You know,
Speaker 2: I watched these people sort of that were my father especially,
Speaker 2: you know, being first generation and working hard to prove
Speaker 2: something and to assimilate into the culture here in America.
Speaker 2: And at that time for me, were I was in
Speaker 2: New York, I bounced back and forth between the Bronx
Speaker 2: and then a suburb called New City, which is about
Speaker 2: thirty minutes outside of the Bronx, And so I got
Speaker 2: a taste of two very different worlds whure growing up.
Speaker 2: And it was a beautiful thing because you know, they're
Speaker 2: in the Bronx. Everybody, everybody lived in the same house.
Speaker 2: There was a three family house basically, and on each
Speaker 2: floor was an apartment, and you know, somebody in my
Speaker 2: family lived on each of those floors, and so it
Speaker 2: was like grand central station. They didn't you could be
Speaker 2: with my great grandmother, who didn't speak in English at all,
Speaker 2: or I could be with my grandmother on the top
Speaker 2: of my aunt in the middle. You know. Spent a
Speaker 2: lot of time in that house around a big mix
Speaker 2: of different people, but for the most part, everybody was
Speaker 2: either black or Latino, and it was a beautiful place
Speaker 2: to be because the common denominator was love. And then
Speaker 2: up in Rockland where I lived, there was predominantly white community.
Speaker 2: And in my elementary school, I mean there were probably
Speaker 2: five kids of color myself and my sister included, you know,
Speaker 2: maybe eight if I'm going to stretch it out. But
Speaker 2: so it was a very different environment and it was
Speaker 2: great because I got exposure to different types of people,
Speaker 2: different cultures, big exposure of Jewish culture. A lot of
Speaker 2: kids at that school were Jewish, and it opened my
Speaker 2: eyes to the thing that I've tried to take with
Speaker 2: me for the rest of my life, Like my culture
Speaker 2: instilled in me a love for people, a love for family,
Speaker 2: a love for being together, showing affection for music, for
Speaker 2: beeing loud, and and not holding back about being either
Speaker 2: angry or happy. I mean, if you want to go,
Speaker 2: let it loose. You know, That's how it was, you know,
Speaker 2: in the environment I grew up in. And I'm glad.
Speaker 2: I'm grateful for it because it's it's been healthy in
Speaker 2: my life. If I got something on my mind, I'm
Speaker 2: going to get it off my chest. If I'm happy,
Speaker 2: you're going to know it. If I'm not, let's get
Speaker 2: past it. You're going to know it. But let's get
Speaker 2: past it so we could get back to the love
Speaker 2: part of it all. What I did see, my father
Speaker 2: was heavily involved in the Puerto Rican community in New York.
Speaker 2: A lot of organizations. It's one called Somo Sono that
Speaker 2: he was involved with heavily and just always worked towards
Speaker 2: in you know, jobs where he was doing his best
Speaker 2: to help the community, whether I was in hospitals. He
Speaker 2: practiced law for a little while. He went and he
Speaker 2: moved to Boston for some years and got a law degree.
Speaker 2: But you know, when I think about all the things
Speaker 2: that mattered to me, you know, because language, I didn't.
Speaker 2: I didn't learn to speak Spanish growing up. You know,
Speaker 2: both my parents spoke it. They spoke it to each other.
Speaker 2: They were at work all the time. By the time
Speaker 2: they got home from work, the day was pretty much done,
Speaker 2: and trying to teach us Spanish was just not on
Speaker 2: the agenda. And you know, and at that time, I
Speaker 2: think there was a feeling that it was you know,
Speaker 2: culture wasn't celebrated the way that it is now, the
Speaker 2: same way, and so it was like a little stigma.
Speaker 2: You know, we don't want you to have an accent.
Speaker 2: We don't want you to you know, there was there
Speaker 2: was this thing about assimilating, and so none of my friends,
Speaker 2: we all spoke English. Everybody was you know for the
Speaker 2: most part, and I didn't have any friends that weren't
Speaker 2: born in the States.
Speaker 1: We are old enough and young enough right to remember
Speaker 1: the one generation that says in America you speak English,
Speaker 1: and then those parents are like English, and then this
Speaker 1: new generation is like.
Speaker 2: Where is my Spanish? That's what I want to do,
Speaker 2: you know, I think the difference there. I mean for
Speaker 2: me as I grew up and why I've tried to
Speaker 2: improve my Spanish over time, and it's gotten better. It's
Speaker 2: still sad, but it's gotten better. But you know, it's
Speaker 2: interesting about the journey of it was that for a
Speaker 2: long time I felt guilty about it because you run
Speaker 2: into people you know right away to speak Spanish, and
Speaker 2: you know, this spit a little bit that I get
Speaker 2: as far in the conversation as you know, as I'm
Speaker 2: capable of, and then and then there was always that
Speaker 2: look of disappointment like either your parents did a bad job,
Speaker 2: or where you're not really you're not really Latin, you know,
Speaker 2: you know, you know, you know, whatever the feeling was,
Speaker 2: and I remember, it's not a good feeling, but it
Speaker 2: helped me because what I learned from it was like,
Speaker 2: wait a minute, I'm actually American. I was born here.
Speaker 2: You don't say to some kid whose last name is Schmidt, like, hey,
Speaker 2: whw's your German? Right? You know, guarantee doesn't speak German,
Speaker 2: you know, or somebody with an Italian surname or whatever
Speaker 2: it is. And I just it actually made me stand
Speaker 2: up for myself and realize the reason that I wish
Speaker 2: I knew how to speak Spanish is the same reason
Speaker 2: I wish I knew how to speak ten other languages.
Speaker 2: To communicate with people, to bond with people, to share
Speaker 2: an experience, communicate my thoughts or my feelings and have
Speaker 2: it be understood in a language that's familiar to somebody.
Speaker 2: And part of that lesson, and I'll tie it back
Speaker 2: to my great grandmother who didn't speak a word of English,
Speaker 2: but we adored each other. I learned that communication the
Speaker 2: most important part of communication. You know, the language of
Speaker 2: your colonizer, whether it's English, French, Spanish or whatever, is
Speaker 2: really inconsequential. It's a wonderful thing to have an incredible tool.
Speaker 2: But I stopped. I stopped associating the language itself with
Speaker 2: my culture because I felt like the language really doesn't
Speaker 2: have as much to do with the culture as people
Speaker 2: like to believe. It's how you live your life. It's
Speaker 2: how you treat your family and the things you do
Speaker 2: to celebrate life itself and whatever that tongue is. Yeah,
Speaker 2: God blessed me. You speak Spanish. I'm wonderful. Let's speak Spanish,
Speaker 2: you know. And if you run across somebody doesn't speak it, well,
Speaker 2: be kind and you know, and find a way to connect,
Speaker 2: because it's just about the connection, you know, that's all
Speaker 2: people are looking for. It's like, oh my god, oh Mexican, Mexican,
Speaker 2: Puerto Rican or Puerto Rican. At the end of the day,
Speaker 2: I'm at the point of my life. I don't give
Speaker 2: what you are. Really, that's not what's important to me.
Speaker 2: What kind of personally when we come, when we sit
Speaker 2: across the table, you know, how do you treat the
Speaker 2: people around you? How do you treat the people in
Speaker 2: your space? Then if we have all these other things
Speaker 2: that we can share, wonderful. But for me, I don't
Speaker 2: start there, you know what I mean. I don't start
Speaker 2: or finish there.
Speaker 1: No, that's a wonderful sentiment too. What do you think
Speaker 1: I mean?
Speaker 4: I think I went through something similar.
Speaker 3: I mean my parents were really adamant that we try
Speaker 3: to assimilate. I think, you know, and I don't think
Speaker 3: they use that language, but they spoke English.
Speaker 4: With us as much as possible in the house.
Speaker 3: My sister really didn't speak any Spanish at all.
Speaker 4: Growing up. I spoke of my first language.
Speaker 3: And then you know, speaking to like connection. Last year,
Speaker 3: my dad passed away, and right before he passed, my
Speaker 3: aunt came from Columbia. She was there for a week
Speaker 3: before he died, and she loves to cook.
Speaker 4: She loves to bake.
Speaker 3: She was making tons of food my sister ups to bake.
Speaker 3: And by the time my aunt left, maybe like a
Speaker 3: month and a half later, my dad was gone already.
Speaker 3: She was gonna go back to Columbia. We convinced her
Speaker 3: to stay for another like month in La and I
Speaker 3: overheard her and my sister in the kitchen like in
Speaker 3: this kind of mixed bag of like little bits of Spanish,
Speaker 3: little bits of English, and.
Speaker 4: It really took I think it took.
Speaker 3: My dad dying and losing that connection to our family
Speaker 3: and seeing her aunt there for her to sort of
Speaker 3: pick herself up by her bootstraps and go like I
Speaker 3: got it. Try, I gotta try, even if it's you know,
Speaker 3: quote unquote trash, right, yes, because it's so scary, so scary,
Speaker 3: and your whole family's like getting you know, like everyone's
Speaker 3: making fun of you or whatever, and it's such a
Speaker 3: That's why with my cousins, I really try to encourage them.
Speaker 3: With my own kid, I'm going to try to encourage
Speaker 3: her to learn Spanish. Wants to I think I mean
Speaker 3: talking about like, oh, I get too deep into it,
Speaker 3: but like there's some languages that when you think of
Speaker 3: them that is like beautiful, romantic, and I don't think
Speaker 3: Spanish always has that attached to it. For however, many reasons.
Speaker 3: We can do a whole nother podcast, but I think
Speaker 3: for me, I want to create that sort of like
Speaker 3: beauty around the language, and if that's something that I
Speaker 3: can tap into and connect with, then that's really cool.
Speaker 5: It's such a shame that our parents felt like it's.
Speaker 2: Survival, right, It's vital.
Speaker 1: You have to you have to do it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you gotta do what you wanna do. I don't
Speaker 4: want you to be behind. I don't want you.
Speaker 1: To like and do it the and the sake of survival.
Speaker 1: I just my perspective is so crazy because it's like
Speaker 1: the flip.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: I didn't know how to speak English, right, so I
Speaker 1: came to I'm Colombian Venezuelan right. I was born in Miami,
Speaker 1: but when I was three years old, my parents moved
Speaker 1: back to Venezuela and I was raised in Venezuelanta.
Speaker 2: I was fourteen.
Speaker 1: Now, back then that Moliva and the dollar were like
Speaker 1: almost wanting one because the oil and everything in Venezuela
Speaker 1: was thriving. So my dad moved back where the work
Speaker 1: was so we left the United States.
Speaker 2: My dad and my mom met there.
Speaker 1: My dad like he swears that he speaks English, you know,
Speaker 1: and like he definitely, you know, he definitely gets the
Speaker 1: groceries at home, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he don't get by, you know, definitely, he definitely
Speaker 2: brought the food home.
Speaker 1: So I think obviously something worked all on the way.
Speaker 2: And my mom just.
Speaker 1: Doesn't speak English. When I came to the United States,
Speaker 1: that was my first job to learn how to speak
Speaker 1: English desperately. But I had the craziest accent at fourteen
Speaker 1: fifteen years old, right, And like so when you think
Speaker 1: about that, you think people also somehow stereotyped an accent
Speaker 1: with like your inferior you're on educas you know, and
Speaker 1: Niven put on the box, you know.
Speaker 2: When it's the opposite, right, and she's like, this person
Speaker 2: knows two languages. Damn. It's like what there is something
Speaker 2: I was crazy?
Speaker 1: Like when I came to the United States. For two
Speaker 1: years after I had arrived, I was getting straight a's
Speaker 1: in every class and I didn't hard to speak English
Speaker 1: and people like, how, like you're obviously cheating, and I'm.
Speaker 2: Like, no, they're not cheating.
Speaker 1: And what happens is that in Latin America at the
Speaker 1: academic levels, I had already learned what they were teaching
Speaker 1: me at like sixth and seventh grade two years prior
Speaker 1: to that. So I was seeing it all over again
Speaker 1: like two years eight or and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I kind of already know this, but I'm not on
Speaker 1: the speak English.
Speaker 2: That sounds about right for our education.
Speaker 1: But the point is that, you know, I was told
Speaker 1: and you know you got to speak English, right and
Speaker 1: I and so I learned to speak English right away.
Speaker 1: I was able to keep the Spanish and Spanish in
Speaker 1: my first language. But then the contradiction when you become
Speaker 1: an artists. But like, if you're on TV at the
Speaker 1: time where I started, you're not supposed to have an
Speaker 1: accent if you're if you're a Latino, no matter what
Speaker 1: color you are, you speak perfect English when you're on television.
Speaker 1: Now you allow yourself to have colors in film and television,
Speaker 1: you know. So I'm curious for you all as artists,
Speaker 1: what was that one moment. I know the Feta really
Speaker 1: inspired you. I wonder what was that moment where you
Speaker 1: said like, oh, that's me, that's like who I am,
Speaker 1: no matter which you know, what version or what level
Speaker 1: of Latino we are and that's not golor levels, but
Speaker 1: like where I'm at in the in the in the
Speaker 1: Latino meter. This is not only me, but I identify
Speaker 1: as it in that culture. Is there a moment then
Speaker 1: that that came to you that you said, oh, this
Speaker 1: is why I am.
Speaker 6: Oh my god, well, I don't know. I feel like
Speaker 6: I was raised with such like your Mexican this is
Speaker 6: your family. You have TVs and cameras in front of you.
Speaker 6: And it felt like kind of embarrassing because I had to.
Speaker 1: See when did you realize I'm so curious and when
Speaker 1: did you realize, oh, were my family.
Speaker 6: There was one time where my mom showed up to
Speaker 6: my school and she it was a talent show and
Speaker 6: she brought Mariacci. I think I was the only Mexican
Speaker 6: American girl there. Everybody else was like Puerto Rican or American,
Speaker 6: and at that moment, I'm like, okay, this is kind
Speaker 6: of cool, like all right, thanks, well whatever.
Speaker 4: She sang her Mariacci songs and.
Speaker 6: It felt really nice because everybody was so amazed, and
Speaker 6: it's like and not for me. It wasn't just the person,
Speaker 6: but it was just the culture.
Speaker 4: Like in the dress and yes, and it was beautiful.
Speaker 6: And then when it came to like filming the reality
Speaker 6: show and all that, they needed us to do bilingual,
Speaker 6: and my mom raised us obviously just English, which kind
Speaker 6: of sucked because obviously my grandparents speak just pure Spanish.
Speaker 6: So when we did interviews, like it was just a
Speaker 6: little harder, and you know, we would get comments back
Speaker 6: like oh, it's well how they call it go boschas, Yeah,
Speaker 6: you see exactly, and it just felt like I don't
Speaker 6: want I got I guess I am, And that's totally fine.
Speaker 6: I'm working on it. I've worked on it over the years,
Speaker 6: but I've embraced my culture. I've embraced like what it is,
Speaker 6: like my family's loud and crazy, and I just I'm
Speaker 6: still gonna love you my Hispanic culture. I just loved
Speaker 6: me a little bit back because you know, like I
Speaker 6: don't think it that well, but I'm doing my best
Speaker 6: and I'm carrying it on and everything, and that when
Speaker 6: you said like, oh, I want to carry it on
Speaker 6: to my children is like I hope to do that
Speaker 6: as well. Like I feel like it's so important and
Speaker 6: I feel like for me, the reason why they spoke
Speaker 6: to me just in English was also because in school
Speaker 6: you had to be in a specific class. The esl oh, yeah, yes,
Speaker 6: okay exactly. So I feel like, in order, let's let's
Speaker 6: save you from that class and let's just speak in
Speaker 6: English to you, so that way you don't have to
Speaker 6: run into that problem exactly. If it's alsome at least here,
Speaker 6: it's like, Okay, I get it, but I wish I
Speaker 6: was spoken to more in Spanish because I would speak
Speaker 6: it better.
Speaker 5: It would just look you know.
Speaker 4: I would rather know two languages than just one.
Speaker 6: So for me, I think, as the years keep going,
Speaker 6: I'm just like, this is just what I am. This
Speaker 6: is who I am. This is how my mother raised me,
Speaker 6: this is how my family. I grew up with my
Speaker 6: cousin speaking English, Like I have the culture. I'm just
Speaker 6: I'm gonna still carry it on and it.
Speaker 2: Doesn't make you any less Mexican, American, or any less
Speaker 2: of whatever.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 2: The people with that mindset for me, I just don't
Speaker 2: have time for it. You're not pushing things forward. If
Speaker 2: that's your mindset, You're you're holding things back. Yeah, life
Speaker 2: is too short.
Speaker 1: So what was the moment. I'm so curious and I
Speaker 1: don't think I've ever asked you this in our friendship.
Speaker 1: We know each other our entire careers, you know, and
Speaker 1: I'm so, what was that moment where you were like, oh,
Speaker 1: I know, my entire family has never done this.
Speaker 2: I think I can do this. I know the moment
Speaker 2: that I decided I wanted to be an actor, you know,
Speaker 2: when I really knew. I'll tell you what growing up
Speaker 2: watching TV. As I'm sure everybody knows, the very limited
Speaker 2: number of Latino faces you saw on television. You know,
Speaker 2: I remember Chips being a huge show when I was
Speaker 2: a kid, and you had eric Estrada, Fantasy Island, you
Speaker 2: have Ricardo Montalban that was on that.
Speaker 1: I think Erica Strada was our like Captain America.
Speaker 2: He was at that time, right, you know, we have
Speaker 2: he kind of transcended even being Latino at that time.
Speaker 2: You know, he was a sex symbol. He was, you know,
Speaker 2: look for whatever it was that he was doing. And
Speaker 2: I probably don't even know then because I was so little,
Speaker 2: but it was watching.
Speaker 3: It was no kiding any crazy baby.
Speaker 2: I remember that man in uniform, you know, on a motorcycle.
Speaker 2: You know, he had it going on. So in terms
Speaker 2: of faces that were out there, and then a little
Speaker 2: later east Side, you know, East I Morales. There was
Speaker 2: a big influence, you know, in terms of just seeing somebody.
Speaker 2: I mean, he was brilliant in that movie especially, you know,
Speaker 2: but I remember him even from Bad Boys with Sean
Speaker 2: Penn in the early eighties. So those were fake, Julia,
Speaker 2: of course, you know there there were some, but I mean,
Speaker 2: come on, man, I'm struggling to name five, okay. And
Speaker 2: you know, especially Latin men, very few. You know, our
Speaker 2: women have been a bit more well represented. You know.
Speaker 2: I think that their beauty and their lower in that
Speaker 2: way has been attractive across the board to people. And yeah,
Speaker 2: and and and welcomed to the tickets.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: The nerds weren't even born yet. They didn't exist. Nerds
Speaker 2: didn't even exist. They hadn't been conceived, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: completely ignored, completely ignored.
Speaker 4: You try to think back of like how was I influenced?
Speaker 4: Where did I see it?
Speaker 3: And you know what I thought was really interesting was
Speaker 3: you saying, like no one else in my family has
Speaker 3: done this, can't wait for the little the barrage of
Speaker 3: Latino and Neppo babies. As you know, I mean, I'm
Speaker 3: making a joke but it's.
Speaker 2: Like, oh, that's real.
Speaker 3: It's so exciting to think about like what we're all
Speaker 3: doing and like and on our peers and how we're
Speaker 3: all like moving through different forms of art, different expressions
Speaker 3: of art and different in different ways to reach our communities,
Speaker 3: people that identify as part of our communities and people
Speaker 3: that don't, and like.
Speaker 4: It's really thrilling because there was so little of it.
Speaker 4: We were just like stirving, and.
Speaker 2: We need to be represented so we can break through
Speaker 2: to those other communities too. Because I was influenced by
Speaker 2: way more actors or acts is that were not of
Speaker 2: Latin any kind of Latin descent than the Latin descent.
Speaker 1: You just like the work, you like the story because
Speaker 1: they were there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you were the ones that were there.
Speaker 1: And also talks about the colorless generation that we have
Speaker 1: kind of somehow forced ourselves to grow up and be
Speaker 1: inspired by, right, Like I never saw myself as a
Speaker 1: Latino actor. I never saw my I was a brown actor.
Speaker 1: I was just like, oh, I can do company, I
Speaker 1: can do this.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 1: So, so a lot of what a lot of what happens,
Speaker 1: and it's so funny that you mentioned like what about
Speaker 1: is the nerds, because now there is a real exciting,
Speaker 1: colorful rainbow of performers that are you know, that really
Speaker 1: take the big section of like who we are as
Speaker 1: Latino's on screen and there's so much about storytelling and
Speaker 1: you talk about new mediums, and I, you know, it
Speaker 1: was there was there an image to where you were like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm going to do that, even though like my whole
Speaker 1: family's like what.
Speaker 3: You know, it was really because I didn't know anyone
Speaker 3: in the entertainment industry at all, So it was like
Speaker 3: for me, it started in theater, but I just.
Speaker 4: Didn't know how it was going to happen. You know.
Speaker 3: There was an actress in theater that I when I
Speaker 3: was sort of starting my theater career and like trying
Speaker 3: to like see more theater and see more plays. And
Speaker 3: I had gone to the Organ Shakespeare Festival and there's
Speaker 3: an actress named Vilma Silva and she's Latina and she
Speaker 3: was playing the lead in I think it was Taming
Speaker 3: the Shrew, and I was like this in my audience, like.
Speaker 4: Like I couldn't believe that I was.
Speaker 3: Seeing this woman was doing this, you know, and like
Speaker 3: but my family just didn't.
Speaker 4: They were like I don't know.
Speaker 1: I want to do what I will do?
Speaker 3: What? Yeah, I mean, I'm guessing it was slightly different
Speaker 3: for you because it was like somebody already had opened
Speaker 3: some of those doors and been like, what's behind the exactly?
Speaker 6: And I kind of I didn't want to. I'm very private.
Speaker 6: I'm a very shy person. I wanted to keep my
Speaker 6: life private. And so I realized I have this power,
Speaker 6: this platform to be able to share my story because
Speaker 6: I'm not the only one. Like it's enough that I
Speaker 6: Mexican American, and then I also have this platform that
Speaker 6: people feel like they can't relate to me, or to
Speaker 6: anybody in my circle or people you know, actions actors,
Speaker 6: like they can't relate. But it's like, no, I want
Speaker 6: to be able to open it up and show you guys,
Speaker 6: like we're just as human as you. We grew up
Speaker 6: all the same, I've gone through almost similar things, different things,
Speaker 6: and if I if we have nothing to relate to,
Speaker 6: let me help you.
Speaker 2: That's fine. Yeah, that's fine.
Speaker 6: There.
Speaker 1: Now you see that our culture has been expanded in
Speaker 1: all kinds of media, right, like all kinds of platforms
Speaker 1: and genres and all that, and you know, we come
Speaker 1: full circle. To podcasting, which is a new frontier for Latinos.
Speaker 1: And you think about you know, I know you're no
Speaker 1: stranger to it, and obviously you're no stranger to it too,
Speaker 1: and then you also have a lot of podcasts experience too.
Speaker 1: But I when I think about podcasts, I think about
Speaker 1: this this new frontier for Latinos to discover. Now not
Speaker 1: only you know, we're not only an ocean of versions
Speaker 1: of them, you know, but stories that perhaps are not
Speaker 1: ready for a movie, perhaps I'm not ready for a
Speaker 1: TV show. And it's just like another medium that really expands,
Speaker 1: and it's a very exciting one because this is one
Speaker 1: we can really control. This is one where we can
Speaker 1: really create the narrative, but we can really find it.
Speaker 1: And one of the things I'm incredibly proud of for
Speaker 1: Michael Tuda Podcast Network is to get out of the
Speaker 1: way and we empowered. We just like tell the story,
Speaker 1: you go, you go. You know what was your feeling
Speaker 1: was you experience with podcasting? What you know, what triggered
Speaker 1: what emotions? And then they did it fascinate you The
Speaker 1: fact that you can entertain people on because you did scripted.
Speaker 4: I'm timescripted. I'm done, Like nonscripted. You know, it's as
Speaker 4: you were talking about, I thought.
Speaker 3: One of the things we're doing right now is like
Speaker 3: we're sitting around, you know, shooting like and I think
Speaker 3: that that I mean, whatever kind of family, family group
Speaker 3: or chosen family you come from, that is a part
Speaker 3: of connecting with your family, and like that traditionally, Like
Speaker 3: when I think about my family's tradition, like Nochuana is
Speaker 3: a big one where we're like we're up until midnight.
Speaker 3: We're up until midnight, and like there's a lot of wine,
Speaker 3: there's a lot of food. People are just talking and
Speaker 3: like everyone's going around telling a story. It's so loud.
Speaker 3: Everyone's voices are like on top of each other. But
Speaker 3: like the storytelling and the sharing of like particularly the
Speaker 3: specific family history, our specific stories of that family and
Speaker 3: what we've been through and what we've lived through and
Speaker 3: how funny it was or how sad it was, and
Speaker 3: how hard it was or how beautiful it was. It
Speaker 3: all gets rehashed on those holidays. And I think, in
Speaker 3: a small way, I think that that's what podcasting and
Speaker 3: storytelling through podcasts can do because it's just audio, right,
Speaker 3: Like the families, I was sitting down to watch like
Speaker 3: all of our family movies. We're telling each other, we're
Speaker 3: reliving it with each other, We're telling each other, or
Speaker 3: we're like talking about stuff that.
Speaker 4: I mean, I can't tell you how many holidays I've
Speaker 4: had more.
Speaker 3: I'm like, what what like where you're just finding stuff
Speaker 3: out all the time.
Speaker 4: And I think that that's.
Speaker 2: Part of that, right absolutely? And look, I mean how
Speaker 2: often the four of us going to be in the
Speaker 2: same space together, share our stories, get to know each other,
Speaker 2: give people a chance to get to know us without
Speaker 2: formats like this, you know, I mean, who knows? You know,
Speaker 2: hopefully a lot. Hopefully there's plenty of work that's going
Speaker 2: to be had and we'll get to celebrate and tell
Speaker 2: stories together. But to actually share our experiences that I'm
Speaker 2: sure many people can relate to some version of our
Speaker 2: experience or another. Like, you know, it is wonderful to
Speaker 2: have a place where people can actually go source that
Speaker 2: and what if.
Speaker 1: You important tradition to start and be able to pass
Speaker 1: down and historically record some of our thoughts, some of
Speaker 1: our stories, some of our genre, some of you know,
Speaker 1: some of our lessons you know, through this medium that
Speaker 1: can be passed down and be heard generations and generations.
Speaker 1: What's been your experience so far? What's the most special
Speaker 1: thing of we're making your show?
Speaker 4: Oh my god.
Speaker 6: Well, first of all, just I think Mike Utura the
Speaker 6: network itself, like for someone Latino specifically to find a place,
Speaker 6: like I said before, like I'd never felt like I
Speaker 6: had a place like in school because I was Latina
Speaker 6: or now there's a specific network that you can find
Speaker 6: in different podcasts to relate to different stories. Exactly, it's
Speaker 6: a community and everybody's like, oh wow, I can connect
Speaker 6: with this person and this person, And for me, it's
Speaker 6: the same thing storytelling.
Speaker 4: For me, it's healing.
Speaker 6: I heal my inner child, talking about these things or
Speaker 6: experiences that I didn't get to have as a child,
Speaker 6: and hearing my guests and hearing their experiences as well,
Speaker 6: and kind of just bring some truth into light of
Speaker 6: how you know, our traumas and growing up it was
Speaker 6: never easy, but at the end of the day, we
Speaker 6: had our family, we had people to connect with.
Speaker 4: And I think that.
Speaker 6: For me when I created the podcast, like it took
Speaker 6: me a couple of years. It was always an idea
Speaker 6: in the back of my head, like I want to
Speaker 6: do it, but I'm too shy.
Speaker 4: Will people watch it or whatever?
Speaker 6: And I'm like, you know what, let me just do it.
Speaker 6: And whoever will listen will listen, and who can connect
Speaker 6: will connect, And for me that's the most important part,
Speaker 6: especially you know, being Latina, Like traumas are there's a
Speaker 6: lot of traumas sadly, but they're so healing and so
Speaker 6: rewarding as well. And to be able to have these
Speaker 6: recorded and to show the future generations like Okay, let's
Speaker 6: talk about it, let's heal it, and let's see where
Speaker 6: we can move on and get better in the next generation.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So, as we wrap our beautiful conversations, by the way,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of a lot of honesty and
Speaker 1: a lot of love has been shared and it's really
Speaker 1: fun to relive. And I'm so excited that you guys,
Speaker 1: we're able to get this person with your stories and
Speaker 1: your origin because we never get a chance to like
Speaker 1: really celebrate, like how did the wind that it happened?
Speaker 1: You know, as we kind of go down our chat,
Speaker 1: those two things I wanted to ask, like what specific
Speaker 1: Latino tradition we're passing down to the next gen. That
Speaker 1: would be one that I love for everyone to answer trauma.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, just the easiest want to hand over. You
Speaker 2: know that's it, be a perfectly excused from it too,
Speaker 2: because you know yeah.
Speaker 1: And then the last thing is, you know what advice
Speaker 1: would you give somebody who is being inspired by this
Speaker 1: conversation and saying not only I want to be mean,
Speaker 1: but I want to do what they do.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna go ahead, and just if you are inspired
Speaker 6: to be yourself, I think most importantly, I know that
Speaker 6: sounds so cliche, but I know people get embarrassed or
Speaker 6: shamed sometimes from where they come from. It's like no,
Speaker 6: like own it, learn from it, and kind of just
Speaker 6: be who you are, don't be.
Speaker 4: Afraid to step out, do whatever you need to do.
Speaker 6: And who will love you will love you, and that's it.
Speaker 6: And if they don't, they're not meant to be a
Speaker 6: part of your life.
Speaker 4: So I think Spanish.
Speaker 6: I think I'm gonna pass that true.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna teach the kids Spanish.
Speaker 6: I feel like rather know two more languages than just one.
Speaker 3: So in terms of tradition or like passing down, I
Speaker 3: think a lot of it for our family is going
Speaker 3: to be food. I think that's a big way to
Speaker 3: connect with my ancestors who passed and things like, I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm not really religious, but I love the tradition of buana.
Speaker 4: I think it's so fun.
Speaker 3: It's so exciting for I see my like all my
Speaker 3: little cousins like losing their minds, you know, like waiting
Speaker 3: for midnight.
Speaker 4: That's so that's something that I think is just going to.
Speaker 5: Be really talking.
Speaker 3: And like I think my advice, I mean, my advice
Speaker 3: is very practical.
Speaker 4: Is it dumbed?
Speaker 1: No, Listen, there's a tool for every house savior money. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think my dad definitely didn't tease me that.
Speaker 4: Because I feel like I grew up in a lot
Speaker 4: of lack. There was a lot of lack in my household.
Speaker 3: And I think when there's a lot of lack, and
Speaker 3: it's not for everyone, not everyone's experience is this, but
Speaker 3: when there is a sense of lack, there can be
Speaker 3: a sense of like I'm going to lose everything that
Speaker 3: I have, or I'm gonna, you know, if I make money,
Speaker 3: like it's.
Speaker 4: Going to just go away, so I better send it now,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 3: And I wish someone had said to me earlier, like
Speaker 3: it's going to come and go. But there's a way
Speaker 3: to learn how to be smart with it and financial
Speaker 3: like smartness.
Speaker 1: I don't know what financial for.
Speaker 3: Everybody, like under their access access points for everyone, and
Speaker 3: the Internet is the greatest library there's ever been. You know,
Speaker 3: don't go down a rabbit hole, but like, no.
Speaker 2: Go down the rabbit hole. Yeah, yeah, but I think
Speaker 2: that's a beautiful day because I just opening up that conversation.
Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, my parents didn't have.
Speaker 2: No and when you don't have, you feel guilty about well,
Speaker 2: you also feel guilty about even bringing the subject up
Speaker 2: because the last thing you want to talk about is
Speaker 2: something you don't have. Like I don't want to talk
Speaker 2: about money if I don't have it. It would really I
Speaker 2: don't want to talk about that.
Speaker 3: My mom writing checks at the grocery store, and I'd
Speaker 3: be like trying to learn how to write a check
Speaker 3: looking over her shoulders. She'd be like with it, like
Speaker 3: she would make me go away because she was nervous
Speaker 3: about like mentally balancing how she was going to do
Speaker 3: what I'm.
Speaker 4: Going to do now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And like so even if that's how I grew
Speaker 3: up or whatever. When I think about especially like young
Speaker 3: artists coming into a business that is there's lots of variables.
Speaker 4: It's like save your money, Like.
Speaker 2: You don't you're gonna have your eyes and lows and
Speaker 2: you want to be able to make good choices. You
Speaker 2: got to have some money in the bank to support
Speaker 2: those choices.
Speaker 3: And wanting to like yeah, go out like do it big,
Speaker 3: get that fancy perse or whatever.
Speaker 4: But like, yes, that.
Speaker 1: Person said your back said your bag.
Speaker 4: Yeah I was very boring, but oh no, no.
Speaker 2: It's actually believe it or not.
Speaker 1: It's probably one of the most important things for any
Speaker 1: future artists to understand that, you know, it's not just
Speaker 1: like quitting everything you know because you're about to be
Speaker 1: This is that you have to pay a road in
Speaker 1: a runway so you could really give it the best
Speaker 1: shot at becoming who you want to become.
Speaker 3: Also, like we're like on the cusp of creating a
Speaker 3: new world in which there's generational wealth in the United
Speaker 3: States for Latinos. It's happening now, it's already happening, you know,
Speaker 3: and there's gonna be more and more of us that
Speaker 3: are giving that to our families and trying to like
Speaker 3: get things in place to have that be the truth.
Speaker 3: And like that's so exciting to me to think about like,
Speaker 3: it doesn't have to be what you grew up with.
Speaker 2: It could be something to absolutely, but it's great that
Speaker 2: you open that people's minds to that. Like I try
Speaker 2: to pass down that same advice very often as often
Speaker 2: as possible, because I think it's critical. I'm with Stephanie
Speaker 2: on everything, just everything we've talked about. He yes, food
Speaker 2: is a big thing. Food and music with big things,
Speaker 2: you know, because I think those things they just they
Speaker 2: stay with you in a way that no matter where
Speaker 2: you are in the world, no matter what's going on
Speaker 2: in your life, when those things you smell something that's familiar,
Speaker 2: or you taste something familiar, or you hear music, you know,
Speaker 2: those things I think just have a way of of
Speaker 2: touching our soul that I whatever it is, whether some
Speaker 2: of its Spanish music, whether some of its American music,
Speaker 2: whatever that is, you know, And I think it's about
Speaker 2: creating the memories. Like when you create the memory around
Speaker 2: the thing, the thing has relevance, you know, by itself.
Speaker 2: It's like, okay, it's a play to savicha. But if
Speaker 2: I used to eat sevichia with my grandmother, then we
Speaker 2: had music in the background and the smell of that
Speaker 2: and something else going on. All of a sudden, you're transported,
Speaker 2: and those are the things you can take with you
Speaker 2: no matter where you are in life, no matter whether
Speaker 2: you're up or down. Those are the things that I
Speaker 2: think give us.
Speaker 1: Recipes are coades, our coades to our memories into Harrison
Speaker 1: Jules for sure.
Speaker 2: Yes, history, this was what was available. This is what
Speaker 2: we did with it. This is how we throw it.
Speaker 2: Most of our amazing cuisine.
Speaker 1: It's because that's what was available, of course, you know,
Speaker 1: And it's a beautiful thing to think about it. This
Speaker 1: was food that was that was capable impossible for everyone
Speaker 1: in the community and generally with love.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and I love what you said. Be you,
Speaker 2: you know, be you everything that that feels like to you,
Speaker 2: because you know your mom came from here and your
Speaker 2: dad came from here, whatever. Embrace all of it because
Speaker 2: that is you. Be that. Be embraced that you know,
Speaker 2: and then be who you want to be. But embrace
Speaker 2: that because that is the foundation, you know, whatever that is. No,
Speaker 2: I'm so my advice though I didn't get to. Oh
Speaker 2: I found your advice would be no, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: but no, no, just my little advice. No, no, it's
Speaker 2: a little just a little thing is like, continue the dialogue,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, don't be afraid to have
Speaker 2: these conversations. Elevate the level of conversation you have with
Speaker 2: your friends. And if you're not having good conversation with
Speaker 2: your friends, get better friends, you know, talk about things
Speaker 2: that are meaningful. We're living in a time where you know,
Speaker 2: so much of what's thrown at us that we're bombarded with,
Speaker 2: whether it's you know, coming from TV, radio, whatever radio
Speaker 2: is now, like so many things are vibrating at a
Speaker 2: low frequency right now. When whenever and wherever you can
Speaker 2: do it, elevate, you know, elevate the conversation, you know.
Speaker 4: Here and there.
Speaker 2: Once in a while, you know. Yeah, but I'm saying,
Speaker 2: don't live there, you know, don't live there. It's just
Speaker 2: easy to do.
Speaker 1: So I think for me, it's going to be making
Speaker 1: sure that my daughter knows out a sausa dance. Yeah,
Speaker 1: as number one, I think that she absolutely loves dancing.
Speaker 2: So we know for a fact that they didn't for far.
Speaker 1: And like one simple advice is so important to have
Speaker 1: a plan, but it's even more important to be bold.
Speaker 1: You gotta be bald. You can't be timid. With your ideas.
Speaker 1: You have to be you have to be bald where
Speaker 1: you're talent and whold you feel you are you know,
Speaker 1: and I think, uh, and never forget that, you know,
Speaker 1: your heritage is really a part of your superpower and
Speaker 1: then that's the identity that gives you that fire to
Speaker 1: actually get it done. Really trust that your heritage is
Speaker 1: giving you this uploadable decode in there that I will
Speaker 1: upload when you have the next challenge and it will
Speaker 1: get you.
Speaker 2: Through it, you know.
Speaker 1: So I would say, trust your God and then, you know,
Speaker 1: for the fans is every single sway. But with that,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for being part of the Michael
Speaker 1: Tuda family and really really grateful that you will share
Speaker 1: your stories. This has been a production of Michael Tuda
Speaker 1: podcast Network in partnership with Word Agency and WV Sound.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts, to visit the iHeartRadio app or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcast