0:06

You are tuning in to the Todo Latina show

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from Pro Audio LA Studios

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. I am Jovidy and I'm

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co-hosting with me today none

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other than Cosmo Latina

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, a long member of Todo Guafi Familia

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.

0:19

Como estas Bien aqui

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feliz de estar de regreso after not

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being on air personality

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for a long time , doing a lot of behind the scenes but getting

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ready for Revolución 2024

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.

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So we want to thank our one of our greatest

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sponsors , Global Processing System

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, the official merchant of 2024 Revolución

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Festival . Now that you mentioned it , Our

0:41

guests are Latina Fest

0:43

Founders Bel Hernandez Castillo

0:46

and Naive Renozo .

0:47

Welcome , ladies welcome , thank you , gracias

0:50

, and I want to start giving you a flower

0:52

.

0:52

So I'm going to start with Naive , if

0:54

I'm pronouncing it correctly , naive , naive

0:57

, naive . Multi Emmy award

0:59

winning journalist , speaker and

1:01

author and anchor reporter

1:03

of LA County . Channel Producer

1:06

and Emmy nominated show host . In

1:08

2018 , she founded Contodo

1:11

Pres , a publishing company

1:13

that creates books to amplify

1:16

the voices of underrepresented communities

1:18

, and her first children's book

1:20

highlights 11 women who

1:23

excel in medicine , science

1:25

, sports , the arts , journalism

1:27

and politics .

1:29

Take it over and along with

1:31

Naive we have Bel Hernandez Castillo

1:34

. She is the founder CEO

1:37

of Latin Media , a multimedia

1:39

company that concentrates on

1:41

so many things in the entertainment

1:44

industry . She was dubbed in the 90s

1:46

as the godmother or madrina

1:48

of Latino Hollywood by

1:50

Movie Maker Magazine for helping expand

1:53

Latino filmmakers presence

1:55

. She was awarded for her journalism from

1:57

the National Council of La Raza back

1:59

when it was still there . Now it's called Unid

2:02

Os for her 20 year plus

2:04

contributions to the entertainment community

2:06

. She is currently serving as the

2:08

chair of the Farm Worker Justice Advisory

2:10

Council and in 2021 she

2:12

began working on the credentialing committee

2:15

of the Hollywood Forum Press , aka

2:17

Golden Globes in the House .

2:21

Excellent bienvenidas . So we

2:24

always going to start the show by . You

2:26

know how it all became , how it all

2:28

started an origin story . So my first question

2:30

will be what is Latina Fest and

2:33

what is its purpose , and what

2:35

would you add that

2:37

people still don't know about

2:39

it today ?

2:41

Well , latina Fest is a festival , an

2:43

outdoor festival that celebrates all

2:45

things Latina . It happens in

2:47

downtown Los Angeles at a beautiful venue

2:49

where multi-generational

2:52

Latinas can go and enjoy food

2:55

, our food , our music

2:57

, our fashion right

2:59

, our cultural products . We

3:02

have an author's corner , we have a cocktail

3:04

garden , we have a DJ

3:07

, we have a dance class , we have inspirational

3:09

panels , so tenemos un

3:11

poco de todo para todas , and

3:13

everyone's invited . It's kind of like a one-stop

3:16

shop of a Latina wonderland .

3:18

Yes , it's like walking into Latina

3:21

land . You know Disneyland . This is Latina land Because

3:25

everything that we do speaks to

3:27

who we are and there is

3:30

the only outdoor festival where

3:32

we are basically catering

3:34

to Latinas who are up

3:36

early , mobile , who are bilingual

3:38

, by cultural and multi-generational

3:40

, and they really enjoy

3:42

seeing themselves and their culture

3:44

reflected back , whether , like

3:46

Naive said , whether it's in the products that

3:48

are selling the speakers that are there , the

3:52

people that they meet , and that's

3:54

what it is . We wanted a place

3:56

where it wasn't sectioned

3:58

, you know , like just for business women

4:01

, it wasn't , just for mommies , it wasn't . We said

4:03

we are familia . That's the way Latinos

4:05

are . We're all about familia and this is for

4:07

all the familia . So , you see the

4:10

babies , you see the grandmas , you

4:12

see the tias , you see everybody there , everybody

4:14

. It's a cafe . It's a cafe .

4:15

I know , right , and I wanted to add

4:17

that sometimes the Latina experience

4:20

is that we feel excluded in

4:22

so many different categories , right . So

4:25

we wanted to make sure , at Latina Fest , nobody

4:27

felt excluded . It's not just a festival

4:29

for influencers or just for media

4:32

or just for entrepreneurs , because

4:34

we are tired of feeling excluded . We

4:36

want everyone to feel like they're welcome

4:38

, including la abuelita la visa , abuelita

4:40

la comadre . Every

4:42

age is welcome and there's something there for everybody

4:45

.

4:45

That's fabulous like from a diversity perspective

4:47

, that is amazing . Yeah , I

4:50

also know , having grown up in LA , not

4:52

being Mexican how

4:56

a lot of things can be called Latino

4:58

or Latina , something or other , and yet

5:00

you get there and it's still like super Mexican

5:02

, which I appreciate , having grown up here . What

5:05

do you say to those that say , okay , yeah , it's

5:07

going to be Latina , but like , maybe it's like still

5:09

like super Mexican , like what other communities

5:12

are represented , or how are you intentional

5:14

about having that pan

5:16

Latina experience also represented

5:19

there ?

5:19

Well , you have to understand that Mexicans

5:22

are 66% of

5:24

the whole Latino population and

5:26

we're in LA , this is where it's

5:29

Mexican , this is where almost 50%

5:31

of the population . So you know , when

5:33

we say Latina Fest , we didn't say Mexican

5:35

Fest , we said Latina Fest . But the people

5:37

that come are , they're

5:39

not just Mexican , but a lot of

5:41

them are , because that's the majority . But

5:44

we do have within our circle

5:46

, I mean , the vendors . We have Salvadoran

5:49

food , we have people

5:51

that sell things , that bring

5:53

our artesanias from

5:55

Guatemala or different

5:58

places . So it is that this

6:01

year , what we are adding

6:03

is the Afro Latina , because

6:05

of the panels , because you ladies will

6:07

be there and

6:09

you know it's it's it

6:12

, we are Afro Latinas . You know , even in

6:14

Mexico , there's Afro Latinos there or

6:16

everywhere , and so that

6:18

that's an element that we do want to

6:20

highlight . I mean they've been there . I mean

6:22

one of the actresses that was

6:24

in Orange is the new

6:26

black superhero woman , that oh

6:29

right right , right , yes , and she's a .

6:31

Jorge is her name Lorena Jorge .

6:33

She's Afro Latina and she's been there . She's

6:35

been , you know she's . She's been

6:37

highlighted there and so

6:40

it's not that we haven't included them this

6:42

year . We're highlighting them in the panels which , by

6:45

the way , the panels are new . We've not really

6:47

had panels . What we usually have is we

6:49

interview someone on stage

6:51

for the trend talk , but

6:53

this year we're having panels which you

6:55

will be part of the media panel . We're

6:58

also having a sports panel . We're

7:00

having a wealth panel , like stepping

7:02

into your wealth panel .

7:04

You really actually answered my question ?

7:05

Yeah , and I

7:07

was about to ask you

7:10

, and the other panels are the

7:12

ladies of Lopez , who are the

7:14

ladies from the show , the NBC

7:16

TV show Lopez and Lopez . So

7:18

the showrunner , debbie Wolf , will be there

7:20

, selena Sleva , who plays

7:22

the mom , and my and Lopez was George Lopez's

7:25

daughter who plays the lead , and she will

7:27

be there as well . And then we have a panel

7:29

that's called the Latina disruptors and

7:36

that's who that's who we are

7:38

. We're disrupting the norm , and

7:40

the norm is that we're not included . Well

7:42

, we are included , and this panel will be two

7:44

of the founders of latinas acting

7:47

up which they started .

7:48

You saw that right . Yeah , no , I

7:50

was like Lisa's going to be there , diana's

7:53

going to be there .

7:54

And , again , lisa's Puerto Rican and

7:56

Diana is Dominican and she's

7:58

Afro , also both of them for

8:01

Latina . So you know , so

8:03

we're we're really excited about , about

8:05

that representation that we're adding , and

8:07

I think that this is we've . We've done the festival

8:10

and everybody loves the festival . Now we're

8:12

adding , like a lot of you know , like

8:15

ingredients A

8:17

lot of so there you go . And

8:20

because , you know , we're very opinionated , we love

8:22

to talk about who we are , we love to to

8:24

promote each other and we like

8:26

to like state this is what I think

8:28

, and so I think that's going to be grand

8:30

the panels yeah , and

8:33

when you decided to make it happen in

8:35

March , what was that ?

8:37

How you guys you know how you guys came came

8:39

along in putting this idea

8:41

together , because it's been a while since the

8:43

festival took you know place and

8:45

was created . Can you tell us more about that

8:47

?

8:48

Yeah , so Bell's

8:50

background and my background are both in media

8:52

. They're both , you know , journalists

8:55

, and I've been a host for many years and a

8:57

reporter for many years , and Bell started

8:59

a talk show when she

9:01

invited me , because it's kind of like that

9:04

, saying if they don't invite us to the table

9:06

, build your own table right . So , like

9:09

for the view , for example , which has been

9:11

so popular for many , many , many years , there

9:13

weren't any Latinas . Of course , now there's two Latinas

9:15

yes , I love Anna Navarro

9:17

, and Sonny Hostin

9:19

. But back then

9:22

there weren't any Latinas on major

9:24

talk shows , national talk

9:26

shows . So Bell , being the pioneer

9:29

that she is in media , decided to start her

9:31

own and she gracefully invited me

9:33

to be part of that panel

9:35

right Of hosts for the

9:38

show . The show started

9:40

evolving . Then we kind of

9:42

just broke out and it was just Bell and I and

9:45

we just thought of an idea of like well , first

9:47

of all we started to interview entrepreneurs

9:49

and we noticed like

9:51

they weren't getting a lot of attention from media

9:53

, they weren't getting a lot of platforms where they could talk about

9:56

their businesses . Secondly , the

9:58

show itself needed a little bit more buzz

10:00

, right . So we

10:02

kind of thought like what can we do to like

10:05

, get more sponsors or get more attention , etc

10:07

. So that's how Latina Fest

10:09

was born . But I'll let you take it from

10:11

there .

10:14

We have the show , and it's been done

10:16

for the six years at

10:18

La Plaza de Cultura y Artes , which is right across

10:20

the street from Old Verresty , and

10:23

they have so many events there . And

10:25

we were at an event that Naíbe saw and

10:27

she said they're doing a podcast on

10:29

stage . And then she said wouldn't it be

10:31

great if we did the talk show episode

10:33

there ? Again , we're thinking we're

10:35

going to do this event and we're going to invite

10:38

women . That's who our main audience

10:40

is . So that's how it started . And

10:42

then I remember when we talked

10:44

to La Plaza and we said , oh , we would like to do

10:46

this here . And then they asked us well , how many

10:48

people do you think you're going to expect ? And I

10:50

think they said 300 , three or

10:53

maybe 500 . And

10:55

that was 1500 the first year , and

10:59

then we , the next year was 25 . And

11:02

then the next year was COVID . So

11:05

we pivoted and we did entrepreneurship

11:09

like online . We did a virtual

11:11

.

11:11

I actually took the opportunity to check it out and

11:14

it was really really nice .

11:15

what , how you guys put it together , you know with

11:18

this resources that we had at the time but

11:20

it came out really , really good .

11:22

I think that tends to you know all

11:24

everybody that was displayed

11:27

and you know show their business and

11:29

the interaction was very , very cool .

11:31

And there also was an Afro Latina director

11:34

, did you see that part ?

11:35

Yes , yes , I saw that part .

11:36

Because she did the documentary

11:38

on .

11:39

Stacy Abrams .

11:41

Yeah , so we , you know everybody got

11:43

interviewed , you know , because that's what we had . We

11:46

couldn't be out there , and so it

11:48

was like to me , like the home shopping network

11:50

.

11:51

Because it's like what do you ?

11:53

do and blah , blah , blah , and they would say

11:55

and then , yeah , you know , you can buy my stuff , here's

11:57

my Instagram

11:59

, or whatever . So it was fun .

12:02

It was very interactive , very , very

12:04

approachable . I mean , I was watching

12:06

it it was like why content

12:09

, why it's diverse , you know elevated

12:11

, and it was really inspiring . It

12:13

was very , I was very inspired by that Wonderful .

12:16

After everything you've told us about where the festival

12:18

or how it started , how it's

12:20

grown , how you've pivoted , share

12:23

your vision for Latina Fest over

12:25

the next five years .

12:27

I mean you started at 1500 .

12:30

It's only gonna come up from here . So

12:33

I personally and Bella

12:35

and I , you know we're business partners and

12:37

that is a feat in and of itself to

12:39

be in a partnership for six years

12:42

now and survive

12:44

the partnership this long .

12:46

It's giving me a good feeling .

12:47

Yeah , I mean you know it's been

12:49

a lot of growing pains , but

12:52

I think we are . You

12:54

know we're on the same page as far as , like

12:56

, where do we see it ? And I

12:58

wanna see it become the biggest

13:01

go-to festival for all things

13:03

Latina . Every year . I would

13:05

love for it to grow to two days

13:07

, possibly even three days . Start

13:09

incorporating a concert into

13:12

Latina Fest at the

13:14

end , you know , towards the end , because we are

13:16

, latina Fest stops at

13:18

six . But , like , after

13:21

that it's after hours and let's party

13:24

right .

13:24

Let's , we love music , let's

13:26

take it in must . Yeah , they want more .

13:28

So yeah , just like , have it grow

13:30

. I really like what we have going on

13:32

now with the panels , with the vendors

13:35

, with the food , with the authors corner , with yoga

13:37

, we have paint and sip , we have cocktail garden

13:39

. So , keeping those elements , but incorporating

13:42

more days , incorporating

13:44

, like I said , a band or like

13:46

music concert , let's

13:48

bring in , you know , Carol

13:50

G .

13:51

Hello .

13:53

Let's party for the top . Let's party

13:55

for the top . I don't know

13:57

if you I view ladies are familiar with the

14:00

Essence Festival .

14:01

Yes of course , that's what I see

14:03

.

14:03

I mean , let's make that which goes

14:05

along with what Naeba was saying . The concerts you

14:07

know , and also we

14:10

have a powerful and a great opportunity

14:13

for the bigger

14:15

sponsors to come on board . And I want to

14:17

tell you guys , come on board now , because right

14:19

now , you went to the camera , tell

14:21

her .

14:21

tell her . Tell her , I'm like , so if I stay there , do

14:23

you want to get in now ?

14:25

So if I stay there , If you want to get in

14:27

now , because we are a consumer

14:30

, a business to

14:32

consumer , our attendees

14:34

are , for the most part , consumers

14:36

. They're the ones that watch the television shows , they're the

14:38

ones that buy everything that we

14:40

have to offer there . There's a lot of places

14:42

where it's B2B , you know

14:45

, and it's an industry event , and they talk

14:47

to industry , and that's great

14:49

. But we have your

14:51

consumers , you know , and , ladies , the

14:54

Latinas are forced

14:56

to be reckoned with , as I'm sure you know

14:58

. You know , because if we as a community

15:01

have a $3.2 trillion buying

15:03

power , that if we Latinos in

15:05

the US were a country , we'd be the fifth

15:07

largest country .

15:09

Who makes the ?

15:09

decisions in the Latina

15:12

familia .

15:13

Mostly those numbers Belle .

15:15

Mostly it's the women . The

15:17

women and we're 18%

15:19

of the beauty consumerism

15:21

that's what they're doing .

15:23

So it's like clothing , makeup

15:26

, all that , All

15:28

the products .

15:29

So that's what's really different is like

15:31

we bring the consumer to you

15:33

. So we really want

15:36

to be able to grow and also

15:38

to further steps to

15:40

get to essence level . Yes , we

15:43

want to also grow the festival out into

15:45

the street .

15:46

Get you know , as you say that honestly

15:48

, this is all I picture . It's

15:50

like we take over Inglewood . There's the

15:52

IMA , sinopolis is right

15:54

there , and then the YouTube theater is there . So

15:56

if I see them , is there the form ?

15:58

it's all that row .

16:00

Yeah , Come on , Latina . I

16:02

was like we can't do this . Yeah , I was like we can

16:05

.

16:05

Yeah , we can , we can , but you

16:07

know , what frustrates me is that

16:09

Belle and I are doing this by

16:11

ourselves . Why

16:14

aren't we getting corporate sponsorships

16:16

that believe in our vision ? We

16:18

have been knocking on doors , we have been emailing

16:21

. It's not like we're just waiting for them to come

16:23

to us . We have been emailing right

16:25

. And it's very frustrating

16:27

because , to me , this is a reflection of what's going

16:29

on as a nationwide

16:32

, not just with a festival , but with

16:34

anything .

16:34

When Latinas want an opportunity . Yeah

16:36

, like how many TV shows have been canceled ?

16:38

Oh , when it comes to created by us

16:40

, but are we being supported by

16:42

us too ?

16:43

Correct , but I do want to say

16:45

that Chase , this is

16:47

what we chase this fourth year , except for

16:49

Chase .

16:49

They've been our champions for the past three years

16:52

.

16:52

They have been our champions because they started like

16:54

this will be their fourth time that they are the title

16:56

sponsor and they saw something

16:58

in our festival and

17:01

they said this is what we want to support , because

17:03

the heart of the festival are

17:06

your entrepreneurs that are there vending . They're

17:08

the ones that come and they invented

17:10

, like a new you know , tamarindo

17:13

, whatever and the purses

17:16

and the clothing and the big earrings

17:18

and it's all , like , related to

17:20

our culture . So they saw that

17:22

. They saw that this was a chance to connect

17:25

with the entrepreneurs and so they came

17:27

on board and we're really grateful

17:29

to them . But they're one company

17:31

. We need more because

17:33

we can't grow until

17:36

we have the funding

17:38

Right .

17:40

But they saw the value on being

17:42

connected and you guys being that resource

17:44

to put it together with

17:47

the community and say this is what's going

17:49

on .

17:50

And you know what's interesting this year ? Right

17:52

Naebe , the brands reached

17:54

out to us Nice .

17:56

Like we have Neutrogena .

17:59

See to me , that's smart . That's

18:01

smart , a brand that's smart and

18:03

knows the numbers , because you have

18:05

to be driven . They're not driven by like , oh

18:07

, they do such a pretty thing , let's do it . No

18:09

, they're driven by like oh , latinas , we want

18:12

to reach them because they buy a lot of

18:14

, like I just said , the beauty products , right ? So

18:16

Neutrogena reached out to us , you know

18:18

, and several other

18:20

brands have reached out to us . That's

18:23

when we know we're really getting traction . But

18:25

it took six years right . Meanwhile

18:27

it was , like you know , with tape

18:29

and cheek glue we're pasting everything

18:31

together .

18:32

Yeah , bring all the primos and the primas .

18:35

Yes , it was the first one , right ? The

18:37

first event that we had , the

18:39

very first Latina Fest . We were like all

18:41

dressed up in our outfits and everything

18:43

. And then it's over , right ? And

18:45

so we have a picture of La Yves and

18:48

I , like we had to bring , go on

18:50

stage and start bringing all of

18:52

the decorations down .

18:54

In our , in our , in our , and we had this fake

18:56

little makeup because everyone left

18:58

. And it's like her and I are the

19:00

founders , right ? If

19:03

we don't do it , no one else is gonna do it .

19:05

The main has the main has the both of you and

19:07

so we were there with a big ladder like

19:09

pushing it up and it's hilarious , but

19:11

you know it's . We've also had people

19:13

who have started to come , you know , to

19:15

, to help , and we do have

19:18

, like , volunteers that come and , and

19:20

so it is that community , but again

19:22

, you know , it's not like their employees

19:24

. We can't afford the employees yet , but

19:27

you know a lot of the . Latinas come out and

19:29

they support by by being in the fashion

19:32

show , by volunteering , by

19:34

helping us before you

19:36

know , with little things that we need to do . So

19:39

we are being supported by some

19:41

of the Latinas that come and

19:43

help and by you , because you're , we're here

19:45

and you're talking about this and that's helping

19:47

us .

19:48

So is that what inspire you to really kind

19:50

of like crafted every year , every

19:53

year , like you know , when you guys sit down and

19:55

say , okay , I almost said , what are you guys gonna come up

19:57

with every year ? Where is that

19:59

strive , that energy , you know that motivation

20:01

too .

20:02

Oh my gosh , I ask myself that every single

20:05

year . Like do I

20:07

really wanna do this again ? And I

20:09

cannot say no , I can't

20:11

. I just feel like there's so

20:13

much potential there and I don't wanna give up on

20:15

my community because we

20:17

are doing this at the end . Like Belle

20:20

and I , if we charged an hourly rate

20:22

for the amount of hours that we put

20:24

in that

20:27

putting Latina Fest together would have , like

20:29

we would be getting

20:31

paid in the six figures if

20:33

you count the hours . And

20:36

the experience that we have and what our

20:38

value is right as far as sweat equity

20:40

. But it's just personally

20:43

. I've also made so many connections

20:45

just by like meeting , like the people

20:48

we've met . It's like

20:50

, who am I gonna meet next year ? Who

20:52

you know ? We've met so many amazing

20:54

women that we are still friends with that

20:56

, we go to events

20:59

with that , we connect with , that , we commiserate

21:01

with and I don't wanna lose that . It's

21:04

just beautiful .

21:05

And that happens with everybody that goes there .

21:07

I mean , you'll see .

21:07

You'll see on the resources and that they connect

21:10

. Like all the vendors . They talk

21:12

to each other and then they go off and do things on their

21:14

own or they make events . Once

21:17

they get together , it happens with

21:19

everybody there . You can not help but

21:22

meet somebody and then from there

21:24

start friendships , whether you're an attendee

21:26

or whether you're a vendor or a sponsor

21:28

even sponsors , because that's what the sponsors are

21:30

there for . They're there to connect with

21:32

the community and they definitely do

21:34

that .

21:35

They definitely connect , and does Latina Fest

21:37

itself do anything to continue

21:40

those conversations and connections Are there

21:42

and I know you have a mixer coming up on

21:44

Monday , or are there other

21:46

events where also people can come

21:48

and maybe get

21:50

involved for Latina Fest next year ? Do

21:52

you keep that up throughout the year ?

21:55

We have done events , you know , between

21:58

and between , and we're doing more now . Like

22:00

the first year , we did an event called

22:02

Stepping Into your Badass and it was

22:04

a panel .

22:06

It was a title .

22:07

Like , find me up the title

22:09

right .

22:10

And it was a panel of women , business

22:13

women who had something to offer to

22:15

everybody else , and so it was a brunch

22:17

. We all sat around and had mimosas

22:20

and brunch and then we talked

22:22

, so we had that . We're doing

22:24

more events like , for instance , you know , the

22:28

mixer that we're having . We're

22:30

doing another event with Chase , which

22:32

you're all invited to come . It's

22:34

on the fifth 14th

22:36

. No , the 13th , it's on March

22:38

13th . Go to our Instagram

22:40

and , you know , get in there and

22:42

make sure you sign up . This

22:51

is for business women who

22:54

need a grant and a lot of us

22:56

don't know the what to do . We

22:58

, we don't know what to do or what to say

23:00

or how to put , so this will

23:02

be a class on how to write

23:04

a really wonderful , you know

23:07

, grant proposal which , naive

23:09

, is very successful . I mean , I've gotten grants , but she's

23:11

like the queen of , I got a tick-tock grant

23:13

.

23:13

I'm gonna see a look on tick-tock . I've gotten

23:16

one from Alibaba , I don't know if

23:18

you're heard of Alibaba . It's

23:22

basically the Amazon of yes

23:24

, yes , so she .

23:26

She'll be on the panel because , she's . She's

23:28

had success at securing

23:31

more than just one , and A

23:33

lot of us Latinas were afraid

23:35

to try .

23:36

We're like oh , they're not gonna give it to me

23:38

. You know , I'm just forget it .

23:40

You know I don't have what's this financial stuff

23:43

, I don't know anything about that . Forget it , but

23:45

you have to try it and then you know . And

23:47

so this is what that panel is gonna be like

23:49

. So we do do things . In between , we're also thinking

23:52

of doing a wellness retreat . Maybe

23:54

you know to look , was it our

23:56

partner that we met at let that she came

23:58

to let .

23:59

Enough , as Gina , I will sponsor all the

24:01

oil that will not therapy .

24:06

Is that your business ? That is what that is one of

24:08

well personal wellness .

24:12

See you should . You should have been at Latina .

24:15

Because we have a my head zone and the my

24:17

head zone is going to be like

24:19

massages and meditation . And

24:24

we have reiki and then also

24:26

the , the coranderas doing like you know

24:28

.

24:28

Yeah so you know it's it's a variety

24:31

.

24:34

And , like I said , it's a Latina Disneyland

24:37

.

24:37

Yeah , and we actually have a fun , fun

24:39

run , jog , walk . So

24:42

that's March 16 for us

24:44

. It was it's so important to incorporate

24:47

wellness right and One

24:50

way that we're like how can we get together

24:52

and like , just you know , do something

24:54

fun together ? So we decided to do this

24:56

fun run , but it's like fun run

24:58

, walk , jog like you don't have to . So

25:13

yeah , it's happening . It's free March

25:15

16th in a park in downtown

25:17

Los Angeles . We have a sign-up sheet in

25:19

our link and bio . You sign up and we will

25:21

email you all the information .

25:23

Yeah , and , and our whole title

25:25

is Latina fest mind , body and

25:27

soul . So we're about that . We're

25:29

about the mind you know it's the

25:31

entrepreneurs and learning . We're

25:33

about the body and on keeping our body

25:36

and also our soul in the meditation right

25:38

. That makes a complete Person

25:41

, without you know addressing all of the

25:43

different areas that we need to .

25:45

Yes , I have anything going on online me while

25:47

the festival is going to .

25:50

No , well , we yeah . Well , with who has

25:52

it ? Mm-hmm you want to talk about ? Yeah .

25:53

So we partnered with a company

25:55

called who has it and who has it . What

25:57

they do is they do swag bags

26:00

for the Grammys , for any like

26:02

parties , and they have a group

26:04

of Women or with or

26:06

men just businesses that have

26:08

, you know , new products that they want to promote

26:11

. So they do gift bags and

26:13

they're doing something like what we did

26:15

for entrepreneur fest , but they're

26:18

gonna be at Latina fest there . So we've

26:20

selected 15 of our vendors

26:22

who are gonna be part of this . They're gonna have a booth and

26:25

they're gonna have three , three cameras and

26:27

it's gonna be an interview show , and so they're you're gonna

26:29

sit there and they're gonna interview you and

26:31

, you know , talk about your journey , like we did an Entrepreneur

26:34

fest . However , the key here

26:36

is that they're gonna have a , they're gonna

26:38

live , sell , so it's gonna go

26:40

out to like QVC .

26:42

Yeah , it's like you see , yeah it's

26:44

like QVC .

26:45

So you're gonna have , like we're

26:48

gonna be on our social media , we're gonna

26:50

be on IG , on Instagram

26:53

, facebook , ig

26:55

, facebook and YouTube . So

26:57

, as the women are being interviewed

27:00

, like for me , like I have this

27:02

great Water bottle

27:04

and you need to , you know , buy it , and

27:06

then they'll put a link and they'll actually

27:09

there can buy it online . So they

27:11

have that technology .

27:12

So we're excited about that .

27:14

We're excited about that because not only are you gonna

27:16

be able to sell there , you're gonna

27:18

be able to live sell online

27:21

to other people that I have could not come to

27:23

the festival which , by the way , we need to promote

27:25

that for , like people in New

27:27

York or in Texas , because

27:30

we have had people come to the festival

27:32

from Different other places and

27:34

they go . Why aren't you coming to Chicago

27:36

? Come to Miami , come to , so

27:39

you know , that's another vision that we have

27:41

, but for right now they could just tune

27:43

in and we have people like about

27:45

four or five vendors that are coming out

27:47

from out of state . So when do they need to tune

27:49

in ? Yes , oh , march

27:52

25th , the day

27:54

of the festival , march 24th excuse me

27:56

?

27:56

Yeah , I only know because it's

27:58

my birthday .

28:04

They'll have to tune in . They will

28:06

have to tune in on March 24th

28:08

, the day of Latina Fest , and there

28:11

they'll be a schedule On our

28:13

website so they could see when the live cells happen

28:15

. But there there's gonna be . I mean , there's 15

28:17

women that are gonna be selling , so there's gonna

28:19

be opportunity for you to watch All

28:22

of them , or some of them to , that's Latina Fest

28:24

comm .

28:25

March 24th , the day of the event

28:27

, 11 am , the 6 pm Pacific time

28:29

. Check your local calendars . Make

28:31

all the zone time zone Conversions

28:34

. You need to be by your computer

28:36

, your tablet , your iPhone . Whatever

28:38

you need to do , memorize your credit card

28:40

, paypal , apple pay be

28:43

ready .

28:43

That's right , thank you . That's , in a nutshell

28:46

yes .

28:48

We are so excited to be there . We're looking

28:50

forward to be part of this . This is , you

28:52

know , so special . I'm glad to be

28:54

. This is my first year . I mean I'll be my last

28:56

, so I'm looking forward to .

28:57

Let's talk about the media panel , though , yes

29:00

, and why it's important .

29:01

Go ahead , yes , bell mentioned earlier

29:03

that Joby and I are going

29:05

to be there , we're very excited

29:08

. I'll be moderating the media panel

29:10

. Joby is gonna be a panelist . We also have Um

29:13

Lena .

29:14

Likaro , likaro and we added

29:16

Well , we're still , it's

29:18

not confirmed , okay .

29:19

We have another tbg , but lina

29:21

likaro .

29:22

She was , um , like an editor

29:24

over at LA weekly and now she is

29:26

the senior editor at LA magazine

29:29

. So , like she went and and you

29:31

know it's important to make that distinction

29:33

because for a long time we

29:35

were not present in media , I mean

29:37

the one magazine that was out there was his , uh

29:40

, hispanic magazine , hispanic business

29:42

, and I don't even know if you and latina

29:45

and and latina , and I

29:47

don't know if you , you guys , remember all those magazines

29:49

, but they were around , but it was very

29:51

me . Latina was for everybody

29:54

, right , and and , uh , hispanic

29:56

again for everybody , and it's hard

29:58

and it was a monthly but it was hard to cover

30:00

everybody and , of course , you know , there wasn't a focus on

30:02

latinas . So it's , it's

30:04

important that we have representation

30:06

in media , because

30:09

there's so many of us , so many stories

30:11

, so many Like success

30:13

stories that where , where are

30:15

we reading that ? You know , now you have some

30:18

, you have the laws and in the LA Times

30:20

, and now you have other magazines , like

30:22

me too , that's doing a lot , and

30:24

then call on news and then wafi

30:27

, you know . So now

30:29

we're telling our , we're telling

30:31

our own stories and that's why it's important

30:33

for us , because , like

30:35

, for instance I'll give you an example they

30:38

canceled this fool

30:40

.

30:41

Yeah , it's all . My god , don't ruin one . Yeah

30:43

, so there's a whole topic . On one of the shows there's a campaign

30:46

to hopefully survive it , but yes , so

30:49

when Ojanio D'Avesi's producer on social

30:51

media said , why did they do this ?

30:53

It had 100% on rotten

30:55

tomatoes and his summation was

30:57

that not enough people critiqued

31:02

it , not enough critics wrote about it , and

31:04

that the streamer said , well , nobody's

31:07

really watching it because we

31:09

don't have any critical acclaim . Why

31:12

are those people not paying attention to

31:14

Latino product ? Why are they not

31:16

reviewing it ? That's why we

31:18

need our media , because we know what we

31:20

like and we have to get out there and promote

31:23

our projects . We have to promote

31:25

our people , our politicians , whatever

31:28

the focus

31:31

of the media company is , because

31:33

, yes , that's where we

31:35

need to promote and

31:37

that's why Hollywood is a very

31:40

closed , insular thing and

31:42

they love . If your friend

31:44

is Steven Spielberg

31:47

, even if he did a turkey , they'll

31:49

go fantastic .

31:51

He needs an Oscar .

31:51

That's what they do , and

31:54

we have to do that because they're not paying attention

31:57

to us .

31:57

Exactly , I've been having this

31:59

conversation . I'm the co-chair of the Latina

32:01

alum conference for my undergrad and

32:04

we're like , okay , does

32:06

the college pay attention to us ? Like how

32:08

do we get the funding ? How do we do this ? And

32:11

it's like no , like we need to uplift

32:15

, we need to showcase the talent

32:17

that has come from our

32:19

graduates , because we're there . We have

32:21

the plastic surgeons , we have the authors

32:23

, we have the lawyers , we have the teachers

32:25

, we have the homesteaders , we have it

32:28

all like business women , and we

32:30

don't know ourselves . And a lot of

32:32

times too , I think we've gone as Latinas

32:35

through this process of who identifies

32:37

, who doesn't . If they

32:40

didn't when they were younger , but they do now , and now

32:42

their children are getting into their identity

32:44

. There's a lot of going

32:47

back . You know ancestry and oh

32:49

, I am , and . I didn't know and

32:52

it's really , really important that we

32:54

let people know , because I've come across

32:56

comments . Well , why do

32:58

we need the list of like 100 celebrities

33:00

you didn't know were Latino , or you didn't

33:02

know were Afro-Latino , or because

33:05

, if I know that people are in

33:07

these places ? I mean , I watched General

33:09

Hospital for eons- and

33:12

you didn't know that one of my favorite characters

33:14

was from Whittier .

33:16

Oh no , maurice .

33:17

Oh , I knew , Maurice .

33:18

I know , Maurice no .

33:20

I want to say it was Kimberly McCullough . She

33:23

was , oh yeah , my mommy . I was in Whittier and

33:25

we used to come down and I remember watching State

33:28

of Mind and thinking what I

33:32

was watching , the Latina . My entire childhood

33:34

and I didn't know , but it's because .

33:36

What about Wonder Woman ?

33:37

She was Latina . I know about her . What about Will

33:40

? I Am .

33:42

He went to Roosevelt , my high school . He

33:45

went to my high school and he

33:47

was on the radio with a big

33:49

boy and he was talking about how he was going to do

33:52

the halftime for Roosevelt

33:55

, because there's a classic Roosevelt High School and Garfield

33:57

High School .

33:59

Oh yeah , oh yeah .

34:00

And so he went to Roosevelt and he said I

34:02

did the Super Bowl , I

34:04

was there and I performed because . But when it

34:06

came to performing at the classic

34:09

and he got emotional , he got emotionally

34:11

, said that those are my people . I

34:13

was so happy to be there and I'm like

34:15

I never knew .

34:16

he went to Roosevelt you know , because I went to Roosevelt .

34:18

So you know , you need to know . Things Like , for instance

34:21

I understand , especially in

34:23

, you know , back in the day , where

34:26

people didn't want to say they were Latino , because what

34:28

did you see on ?

34:29

TV , marilyn Monroe was not allowed to say that

34:31

she was Latina . Who ?

34:33

Marilyn Monroe yeah , and

34:35

and . But when you see nothing but

34:37

negative things about Latinos

34:39

, you kind of don't want to say I am associated

34:41

with them , even though you are , and your parents would

34:43

tell you don't speak Spanish . You're

34:46

changed your name , Right . But

34:48

now that that things are looking more

34:50

positive about us , they're

34:52

coming out of the woodwork . You know like , for

34:54

instance , what's her name ? We

34:59

invited Jessica Elba .

35:01

Oh yeah .

35:02

There was times where she said I'm not a Latina .

35:04

And now you hear she's a Latina .

35:06

And that's great . But I understand where

35:08

some of them were coming from . You know they thought that

35:10

if you said something especially actresses that

35:12

you were going to be black belt . That's why Latina

35:15

is acting up the group that was started during

35:17

the strike for SAG

35:19

, for the actors is so important , because

35:21

Latinas are speaking

35:24

out , actresses are speaking out . Before

35:26

you didn't say anything because you

35:28

didn't want to get black belt , and

35:30

even to the point of like Melissa

35:32

Barrera , you remember .

35:33

Yeah .

35:35

Because she said and like she goes , I don't care . You

35:37

know now we're balling women across

35:39

.

35:39

You know the board , but Latina's in particular

35:42

, I'm so proud , like

35:44

Gina Torres , lisa Vidal and Diana .

35:46

I mean , I'm so many . I'm even Ilya

35:48

Calderon , one of the anchors . She came out with a book

35:50

not too long ago , but about three years ago

35:52

, you know , and the title of the book is is

35:54

my turn , you know , it's my turn to speak

35:56

. We have had

35:58

this space now to speak up and it's not

36:00

not , it's like we're not

36:03

. You just wanna say

36:05

what we went through as an

36:07

experience . It's not attacking anyone

36:09

, it's just saying this is what happened to us because

36:11

we were unseen . Basically

36:14

just what it was .

36:15

Yeah , and also , I've worked in media all my

36:17

life pretty much , and it's so

36:19

important for us to be in these newsrooms

36:21

because a lot of times the bosses

36:24

are not Latino , they're white

36:26

, right . So when they , when

36:28

they send you as a reporter to cover

36:31

a story , as a Latina , you

36:33

could have that add , that niche and

36:35

that sensitivity of like

36:37

you know , whatever , whatever the story may be

36:39

, the perspective , the Latino

36:41

perspective , or maybe even shine

36:44

a light on , hey , are we paying

36:46

attention to this , right , something

36:49

that's not stereotypical , something that's you

36:51

know , why are we not ? For example

36:54

, the fact that Latinas are creating

36:56

businesses faster

36:58

than any other

37:00

group ? Who's gonna do a story

37:02

on that , like , a Latina

37:04

, will be the advocate for those types

37:06

of stories , right .

37:09

And even if somebody does that story , the

37:12

perspective of someone doing that

37:14

story that doesn't know anything about the community

37:16

and doesn't understand why things happen

37:18

, as opposed to someone who understands

37:20

the community , that's a different article

37:22

right there Because

37:24

they may do like something like

37:27

very like critical of it , or surface

37:29

, very surface , or light

37:31

or even sometimes downright

37:33

racist .

37:34

Well , a lot of times . Let's call it . Let's call

37:37

it A lot of times , A lot of times .

37:39

the stories are also relegated to , like

37:41

the Latino section or the Latino segment

37:43

, and which is why I think it's fantastic

37:46

that Latina Fest is happening in March , because

37:48

I feel like September 15th

37:50

to October 15th , all of a sudden , it's like Latino

37:52

Heritage Month .

37:53

That's why , everyone's doing something . Yeah , everything is

37:55

up to this Right , and it's like you know we're Latinos

37:57

365 .

37:59

It's the same argument for Black History Month

38:01

right , yes . Black 365

38:03

, right and so to

38:05

be able to do Latina Fest in a

38:07

different month , although it is International

38:10

Women's History Month , so that's a great month to have

38:12

it too .

38:13

But that's one of the reasons why we switched

38:15

it too , because to me , a month

38:19

is like they try to jam everything

38:21

.

38:21

And I call it October was overloaded .

38:24

And yeah , from September 17th

38:26

to October 17th , that's Hispanic

38:29

Heritage Month . I call it Hispanic Hysterical

38:32

Month Because you

38:35

go crazy trying to like do everything

38:37

. Oh , I gotta go to this , I gotta go to that . So we decided

38:39

you know we're about women so we decided

38:41

to move it to March . But I

38:44

don't know , it's kind of cold .

38:46

We're thinking of maybe moving it to May

38:48

, because it's rains

38:50

in March .

38:50

You're not wearing a white instead of having an outdoor no in

38:52

May , in May , yeah , like no doing

38:55

it outdoors .

38:55

Maybe the weather will be better in May , may , okay , but

38:58

this is a climate change thing because

39:00

we did not have to have a plan B .

39:02

Thank you , Growing up here we never

39:05

had a plan B . This like oh , it might rain in March

39:07

or when that

39:09

? No , that climate change is real .

39:11

People knew that California was always sunny and

39:13

that's the way I remember it . But we have to like

39:15

switch our minds because

39:18

now it's climate change .

39:20

Yeah .

39:21

But so we're thinking and maybe you

39:23

can chime in we're thinking

39:25

of moving it to May , because May

39:28

the chance of it raining is not

39:30

that much , as opposed

39:32

to March . And then

39:34

also and then you have Mother's Day and

39:36

you have Cinco de Mayo , and maybe

39:38

we could switch that Cinco de Mayo is not

39:41

Drinco de Mayo .

39:42

Maybe we could switch people's mind that it's

39:44

about celebrating Latinas .

39:46

Yes , anyway , we're just thinking

39:48

about that .

39:49

We're thinking , yeah , because there's , but also

39:51

Latin American Mother's Day is a different

39:53

day as well , so it makes

39:55

sense In May right . Most countries celebrate it in

39:58

May .

39:58

Yeah .

39:59

But March , like May 10th , is like

40:01

in Latin America no yeah

40:03

. And then the .

40:05

US celebrates it like a third With the exception of Panama

40:07

.

40:07

Yeah , I think the art is important . Panama , what is Panama

40:10

?

40:10

Panama celebrates Mother's Day , actually December

40:12

8th .

40:13

Oh , wow .

40:14

Yeah , and it goes more . We are also very similar . We

40:17

were part of Gran Colombia and they have

40:19

La Ceremonia de las Velitas yes

40:22

, around that time , yes , and

40:24

La Virgen de María . So that's kind of how that goes , that's

40:27

so cool , but we're just kicking that

40:29

around .

40:29

We don't know if we're gonna do that , but I am gonna pitch

40:31

though the question , I think

40:33

as a request only , because I've been following her like crazy and

40:35

I don't even eat her food because I

40:38

don't do gluten or sugar , but it's

40:40

just so beautiful and I think it's such

40:42

a work of art . Is Alexandra

40:45

Lourdes out of Vegas , st

40:47

Oneré ? Well , she also has Café

40:49

Lola and she has all sorts of other things which she's not

40:51

sponsoring . This I'm just a fanatic

40:53

as of late , but she does these beautiful

40:56

donuts and does pizza .

40:58

If you don't follow her .

40:59

I mean , if she were at Latina Fest 2025

41:02

, I mean .

41:03

Have you heard of Jenny Martinez , the

41:06

Happy Bellies ? On IG and

41:08

on TikTok she has like three million followers

41:11

and then on IG she

41:13

has like 790 . But

41:16

I tell this story because we've invited

41:18

her to be there and so far she says she's gonna

41:20

be there and hopefully it's 90%

41:22

confirmed and hopefully she does . But

41:24

we met her at the screening of

41:27

Flaming Hot . She

41:29

was there and we got there really early

41:31

. So my friends and

41:34

her and another influencer with

41:37

their husbands , we all went to sit

41:39

at this restaurant to wait for the

41:41

premiere to start and we were talking

41:43

and then go , what do you do ? She goes oh , I'm an influencer

41:45

. She goes really . And

41:49

then we go , oh , that's so cool . I said

41:51

, have you thought about like cooking

41:53

up with celebrities ? And she goes oh

41:55

yeah , mario calls me all the time and

41:57

so and so and so and so . And I'm like , oh

41:59

okay . And then we said something about

42:01

and she says she has a cooking

42:03

. That's what she does , she cooks . And I'm like , oh , that's

42:05

great , maybe you have

42:07

people reached out so that you can sponsor

42:09

or promote their cookware . And

42:11

she goes no , I want my own cookware

42:14

.

42:14

There you go .

42:15

Anyway , long story short , she's

42:18

got her own cookware . It sells at JC

42:20

Penney's . It's called Mesamiah . She's

42:22

always already collaborating with you know

42:24

she's already collaborating with the celebrities

42:27

. She's an author and she's

42:29

like she's an author . She's an author

42:31

. Oh wow . Simon and Schuster

42:33

, oh wow .

42:36

Maybe she can be on my author panel .

42:39

What kind of panel ?

42:40

We have an author panel . Yes , yes

42:42

so anyway , we can talk no , no , no , but go ahead

42:44

about the author . So that's all I'm saying , because you have something coming

42:46

.

42:46

You're writing a book , right ?

42:49

I have a bilingual children's book publishing

42:51

company , so I have like

42:54

11 books that I've published and

42:57

we're going to have . And because I love

42:59

books and I love authors and I feel like

43:01

authors also need to be amplified

43:04

and to have platforms , we created

43:06

the authors corner where we have children's

43:09

authors and adult authors and

43:11

that's been really , really successful in a big

43:13

draw and it just I love seeing

43:15

authors like having a platform

43:18

. But we are also going to have a separate

43:20

authors panel where we're going to talk

43:22

to Gigi I

43:25

forgot her last name Gigi Gonzalez .

43:26

Oh .

43:27

Gigi Gonzalez . She just published

43:29

a book called Cultura and Cash

43:31

, and it's all about . She's been around

43:33

. Yes , yeah , it's all about like Financial

43:35

literacy , right Intelligence . But

43:37

through the lens of Latina , being

43:40

a Latina . And then Alejandra

43:42

Campo Verdi , who used to work at the White House

43:44

under President Barack Obama , I

43:46

believe Sorry , I'm still

43:48

doing my research , that's okay

43:51

. So she just came up with a memoir

43:53

of like her trials and tribulations

43:56

as a successful Latina in

43:58

media and in politics , et cetera

44:00

. So , and I'm moderating that panel because I'm

44:02

an author as well , so

44:04

yeah , but we'll

44:06

see how the timing works out .

44:08

So it's just exciting that all these women

44:10

are like going to be there . Hopefully Jenny

44:12

will be there , but what

44:14

I was trying to say with Jenny is that I think that's where we're

44:16

at all of us as Latinas , it's

44:19

like oh wow , oh no , no , I want

44:21

my own thing .

44:21

Yeah .

44:22

And we're not afraid to say it anymore when before

44:24

it was like well , I don't know , Maybe I can

44:27

do this .

44:28

No .

44:28

I'm going to do this , yes . So that's

44:30

amazing and that's a kind of inspiration

44:32

that we love having at Latina

44:35

Fest , because young

44:37

women will be there and they'll catch

44:39

onto this and they'll hook onto this and

44:41

they'll say she did it , I can do it .

44:43

Now we also know that our

44:45

community is known for loving freebies

44:48

. You know souvenirs . You go to Quinceañera

44:50

todos los recuerdos desaparecen . So

44:53

are there going to be any giveaways at Latina Fest ?

44:55

Yes , yes , well , first of all , we

44:57

have a swag bag that is going

44:59

to be there

45:01

for our guest VIP

45:04

, the speakers , because they're doing this for free . The

45:06

speakers are not charging , so you guys will get one . Yes

45:09

, there was a lot of beauty products and

45:12

, you know , it's like we don't have

45:14

the monies to pay , but so we want to

45:16

do as much as we can , but

45:18

there'll be freebies , there'll be raffles , oh

45:21

, and the other thing that we want to talk about is

45:23

the fashion show . Oh , my god , oh my god , yeah

45:26

, so we do a fashion show every year

45:29

and one of our vendors , one

45:31

of our partners is . Her name is Diana

45:33

Diaz , and she's been doing the festival

45:35

for the past three years . This

45:38

year there was and the

45:40

fashion show , not the festival . The fashion

45:42

show is geared so that our

45:45

vendors can give us their items

45:47

and some of them get to be in the fashion

45:49

show and they get , you know , they get visibility

45:51

. But this year , a woman by the

45:53

name of Carolina Hernandez , she

45:55

reached out to us . She's a veteran and

45:57

she has a fashion design

46:00

company or a fashion line called Veteran

46:03

Couture , and so

46:05

she's going to put the show together . Again , we're

46:07

going to get items from our vendors , you

46:09

know , so that their items can be used

46:12

. But her clothing is going to

46:14

be featured , and so now we have

46:16

the element of bringing in the Latina

46:18

veterans .

46:19

You know the Latina military and

46:21

they're out there doing some amazing things . And I want

46:23

to point out that what

46:26

she did is like exemplify

46:28

something I've learned as

46:31

far as doing and producing Latina Fest

46:33

that if you want an opportunity , you have

46:35

to be aggressive and you have to ask for it . So

46:37

Carolina reached out to us . Flor

46:39

Campos , who's an amazing activist , super

46:41

young , and she's feeding thousands of

46:44

farm workers every month as a young

46:46

, and she's going to be on the disruptor panel . She

46:48

reached out to us last year just talking

46:51

about her mission . There's so

46:53

many examples of people that Latinas that

46:55

have reached out to us that are saying I

46:58

want to , I'm shooting my shot , so to

47:00

speak . This is what I can offer , this is

47:02

what I can do , and we've given them those opportunities

47:04

and it's made me grow

47:07

as a woman , as an entrepreneur , saying

47:09

these women have the , the

47:11

ovarios to be like I want

47:13

to do this , and they took the initiative and

47:16

they got the opportunity . I'm going

47:18

to do that , too in other aspects of my life . So I'm

47:20

learning from these women just as

47:22

much as they're learning from Latina

47:24

Fest .

47:26

What does being Latina mean to you ?

47:29

Being Latina means power . It

47:31

means that I'm steadfast in

47:33

what I want to do and means I don't quit

47:35

, and I got that from my mom

47:37

. My mom was such

47:39

an amazing woman it's we don't

47:41

quit . If we have a passion , we go

47:44

for it . And no nos damos por vencidas

47:46

, never . That's what being a Latina

47:48

is , and being proud of who I am because

47:51

I wasn't always proud of who I am , because I never

47:53

saw myself on TV , but

47:55

now it's like I'm like showing it

47:57

all over and I think we're there . A lot of Latinas

47:59

are like this is who I am and everybody

48:01

wants to be Latina nowadays .

48:04

So to me , being a Latina is

48:06

home and also

48:08

we are

48:10

a mix of everything . You know , I

48:12

did my DNA test and I have everything

48:15

you can imagine . I even have Jewish , I have

48:17

African , I have Middle

48:19

Eastern , caucasian , I have even

48:22

Indian believe it or not , like from India

48:24

. So

48:28

we have the best of all

48:30

worlds in our DNA

48:32

All of our ancestors that traveled all

48:34

over the world and picked up all

48:37

of these cool

48:39

traditions and origins and and like

48:41

developed as a species . It's within

48:43

us and sometimes we

48:45

don't tap into that . It's

48:48

so deep in our DNA . So

48:50

I'm proud of being part of that Rasa

48:52

Cosmica .

48:53

Like , like a famous Mexican

48:56

philosopher said or singer , I think

48:58

, I don't know , but

49:00

it's a great thing yeah .

49:04

Successful Latina business owner . What

49:06

advice would you give aspiring

49:08

Latinas entrepreneurs ?

49:10

The advice I would give aspiring Latina entrepreneurs

49:13

is to really not

49:15

give up . If you find something

49:17

that you're truly passionate about , you can

49:19

do it . If there's been people that

49:21

have created amazing companies out

49:23

of their garages , we can do

49:25

that too . Just believe in yourself .

49:28

Yeah , and I think also that don't

49:31

be afraid to ask for help . I

49:33

think that that women

49:35

feel like , oh , I'm not doing

49:37

good and I'm just a little small potato business

49:40

. You never know who's going

49:42

to lend a hand or who's going to be connecting you

49:44

to someone . So go for it

49:46

. You know , just ask someone . People

49:49

want to help . You know , especially if they

49:51

see you're doing well , they want to give you a helping

49:54

hand and so don't be afraid to ask for it . I

49:56

do .

49:57

I think , at fault . I feel like sometimes we

49:59

minimize ourselves inadvertently

50:01

because somewhere

50:03

along the way the tell us I'll be humble

50:06

, or you know , no , pregunte

50:08

mucho the a pena

50:10

, and it's like no , but if you

50:12

don't ask , you know .

50:14

I think we're close Don't get fit , yeah

50:16

and I think that we're still carrying a lot

50:19

, especially like our generation is still

50:21

carrying a lot of that Be

50:24

grateful mentality .

50:25

Oh yeah , be humble Like and

50:28

, for example , my family .

50:30

We there was never fear of deportation

50:32

, but we still live through that

50:34

as in be grateful , even though my

50:36

parents spoke up , advocated for

50:38

me and everything . There was still a , but

50:40

there's still someone in line who will take your job if you don't act

50:42

right type of thing , and I feel like

50:45

in entrepreneurship it's

50:47

a different mindset and to be

50:50

able to get into , I

50:52

have to go for what I want . Pesele

50:54

a can let this , and if no

50:57

one in my circle believes in me , will

50:59

get a new circle .

51:01

But sometimes it circles your family .

51:02

So how do you like

51:05

Right from your family when ? So

51:07

I absolutely believe like why these events

51:10

, why forming these connections are really

51:12

important because my son , I'm not sure

51:14

what's going to be . Oh , you know what , I

51:16

know , I know everything

51:18

else that we do for all the other things

51:20

in our lives , yeah .

51:21

Well , we'll hold true . And you

51:23

know our families , we grew up . You know I

51:26

don't brag about yourself , you know , don't be

51:29

. That's true for an entrepreneur

51:31

. You have to sell yourself all the time . That's what

51:34

grants are for . That's when you're , when you're pitching

51:36

, when you go for a loan . You always

51:38

have to sell yourself . So don't be shy

51:40

about selling yourself . And

51:43

it doesn't do our business

51:45

any good for us not to speak up

51:47

and brag about ourselves . If we don't

51:49

brag about ourselves , who's gonna brag about us ? If

51:52

we don't convince the person that we

51:54

are that business that deserves that loan

51:56

or that grant ? We're the

51:58

only ones that could do that . So don't be

52:00

shy . Put yourself out there .

52:02

And also have the audacity to

52:05

do it , because I feel like a lot of

52:07

our familia is like be safe

52:09

, miha , you know , do a

52:11

career that's safe and you can

52:14

, but at the same time , do

52:16

your entrepreneurship on the side while

52:20

you gain momentum . If you're scared , I'm

52:22

not saying like quit your job and blah

52:25

blah blah , but have the audacity

52:28

to believe in yourself and in your dreams .

52:30

Yeah , because you get into the projection of

52:32

limited thinking or limited

52:34

possibilities or because I

52:36

don't see it why you should you . And

52:38

it's like can I just try

52:41

, you know ?

52:42

before as I was growing up . I'm

52:45

older than all of you here not

52:47

together , but all of you . But

52:52

when I was coming up , it was I used

52:54

to be an actress , and I would never say

52:56

I did anything else but an actress , even

52:58

though I had to go get a job , because the

53:01

acting jobs don't come that often . So

53:03

I had to go be a legal secretary , I had

53:05

to go do this and that , but I couldn't

53:07

. It wasn't popular to say that you

53:09

did two things , and nowadays it's

53:12

fine to say I'm a business woman

53:14

, oh , but I also . I have

53:16

Latina Fest and I also have my media

53:19

company and Naive . I'm a publisher

53:21

, but I also have . So now it's a good thing

53:23

to do that , and you never know where

53:25

life is gonna take you . Like

53:27

I think about my career . I started off as

53:29

a dancer , then I was an actress and then I became

53:31

a journalist and then I became a producer

53:34

and now we're producing events this

53:36

event and when I think about my life

53:38

, when I was a kid I used to produce little festivals

53:40

in my backyard . So , that producing

53:43

was always there , but it took me

53:45

all of this to like really- . All that

53:47

experience , yeah , so use

53:49

your experience and it'll take you to

53:51

you . Know your passion and it'll take you to

53:53

your success .

53:55

And I wanna really add that the power

53:57

to manifest whatever we want is

53:59

truly within us , and I'm

54:01

gonna use J-Lo as an example , and I always

54:04

use her as an example in my own

54:06

head . Yeah , she's maybe not the greatest

54:08

actress , maybe she's not the greatest singer , but

54:10

she created her

54:13

persona . She worked out to

54:15

create the body she wanted . She , you

54:18

know , got the fashion she wanted . She

54:20

made herself up to be this beautiful

54:22

icon . She made the money

54:24

now she spent $20

54:26

million to do this movie , this

54:28

musical movie out of her own pocket , that

54:31

is . She's a self-made woman and she created

54:34

that from believing in

54:36

herself . And still a lot of people

54:38

don't believe in her and she doesn't care , she still

54:40

does it . So we have to have that type

54:42

of mentality .

54:43

Yeah , I think I totally agree

54:45

with you . It's like she put nobody

54:47

in Hollywood puts up their own money to do

54:49

their projects . That's like a no-no and

54:52

she wanted this so bad and that's why

54:54

a lot of Latinos they don't do their projects because

54:56

they go to the studios and the studios go no , I don't wanna do that

54:58

. And so they go . Oh okay , but luckily

55:01

she had the money and she said I'm

55:03

gonna do it anyway .

55:04

Because they didn't get it .

55:06

Because they didn't get it . They didn't get what

55:09

her vision was . And then , once she did

55:11

it , it's like , oh yeah , we get it now . Because

55:14

, Hollywood is like . The

55:16

green lighters are like they know

55:18

what they know and sometimes they miss out

55:20

on things because they don't know , because

55:23

we know just the gatekeepers .

55:25

Bottom line . Clearly , you know

55:27

where you need to be on March 24th

55:29

, from 11 am to 6 pm . All the information

55:31

is gonna be in our show notes . For those that are

55:34

attending , Jovi and I are delighted

55:36

that we'll be part of the media panel

55:38

here at Latina Fest . Be there

55:40

or be square . No need for FOMO

55:42

, since you'll be there .

55:43

And it's gonna be your birthday . So , basically , latina

55:46

Fest is your birthday party . Yeah , yeah

55:48

.

55:50

And I didn't pay a dime .

55:51

I know what that's Latina way to do it . It's your

55:54

sponsored birthday party . Oh

55:56

my goodness .

55:56

Also remember to go to latinafestcom

55:59

.

56:00

All this information will be there . We're

56:02

putting up all of the schedules pretty soon

56:04

, by the end of next week and we

56:06

have all the information that you

56:08

need there . So , latinafestcom

56:11

.

56:12

Well , thank you for having ladies . All right , everyone

56:14

. We hope that you enjoyed this show with Naive

56:17

. I'm Belle and

56:19

you can watch the interview on all stream platforms

56:21

. And remember to follow us at Todo Wafi

56:24

and at Todo Latino Show from

56:26

Pro Audio LA Studios . I am

56:28

Jovi D , that's Cosmo Latina

56:30

, that's Belle and that's

56:32

Naive , and we are out and

56:35

thanks for the redje Apaignance you got .