October 9, 2023 • 41 mins
Wilmer Valderrama is joined by actors Adam Rodriguez, Stephanie Beatriz, and Overcomfort Podcast host Jenicka Lopez for a heartfelt and insightful conversation on Latinidad. Listen as the group share their memories on growing up in a Latino household, their experiences with learning (and not learning) Spanish, and how they ended up choosing their career paths. They also talk about the importance of traditions, better representation, and what advice they have for the next generation of Latinos.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome and beam Minidos to this very special episode. Michael
Tuda conversations, our voices, our stories, our experiences. I'm your
host Wilmer about drama and I had the pleasure of
being joined by my friends Adam Luiggins, Stephanie Patrice, and
Jennica Lopez for a heartfelt conversation on latiniad.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Listen as we shine.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
A light on our culture, our upbringing, language, and what
we're hoping to build for the next generation of Latino creators.
I'm so excited we get to have a space to
recruit on culture, heritage, and you know the purpose of
this is to ultimately, you know, reach down into our
(00:45):
heart and just you know, really remember it and think
and trigger these emotions that kind of make our culture
so colorful. And on Hispanic Heritage Month, we thought it
was kind of excited to get us all here together,
enjoy some delicious Latin of food and talk a little
bit about our beginnings. You know, when our culture they
find who we were, and when our culture told us
that we could do anything. You know, basically, you know,
(01:06):
we were always talking about this, when we've talked about
this before, that that's been the superpowered We'll always find
a way to get there, you know, so I wanted
to start. I'll start with the ladies, you know, Steph,
Maybe tell us a little bit about where you come from,
what's your story, you know, and you know, give us
the moment when you realize your heritage was was special.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I mean, I was an immigrant to the United States.
I am an immigrant to the United States that came
when I was a little under too. My dad is
Columbia and my mom's Bolivian. They moved all around South
America when I was a kid, but then they landed
in Texas, and I think growing up in Texas was
really interesting for me because yes, I was Latina, I
am Latina, but also there were so many different kinds
(01:51):
of immigrant groups that my mom met in Houston because
of her connection to the Catholic Church, and so she
kind of created this community for us. And so my
sister and I were given the opportunity to see Latinidad,
but like through the lens of a lot of our
family friends who immigrated from lots of different communities, and
(02:13):
like that was really strange and interesting, and so like
my upbringing became this kind of mishmash of like selectively
picked things that came from you know, like this food
from here, this tradition from here, this thing from here.
And especially because I grew up in Texas, I feel
so connected to Mexican culture, Mexican people, Mexican music, Mexican heritage.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
But I'm not Mexican, but I love it.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
So that's really tricky too write this idea that, like
you can be Latinal, love parts of it, but also
maybe sometimes feel like you don't belong to parts of it.
And for me it was really when I was maybe eight,
of Freedo Capolo exhibit came through the.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Art Museum in Houston, Houston ArtMuseum, and because it was
I mean I was eight, I.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Probably not should have was looking at it, you know what, because.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
We've all seen her art it's pretty intense.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
But it was also this idea that this woman that
looked like me, that had tan skin and dark hair
and spoke Spanish and you know, became this world renowned artist,
so world renowned that her work was traveling now all
over the world and.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
Here were self portrass of her and she wasn't perfect,
and she had a unibrown and she had a When
I was a kid, I had scoliosis, and here she
was in her back brace from her from her.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Accident, and that for me was really the moment, was
like wandering around the gallery and looking at these pictures
and then looking at the gallery full of people, all
kinds of people, looking how they were affected by what
she created from her own pain, from her own literal
physical pain and also her like mental journey that she
(03:54):
was on. And as a kid, I just remember thinking like, Wow,
maybe this is for me. And so that was the
beginning of my journey as an artist. First I started, like,
you know, drawing pictures at home and stuff, and then
I started getting really into finding books in the library
that we are and then I started getting into like
reading plays by Latino play rights and were there any
(04:14):
and how can I find them? And am I just
looking for names? And you know, And at first it
is that sort of you're just like kind of looking
for anything, right.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
But yeah, that's sort of how it started for me.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Is a very beautiful and common origin story for all
of us immigrants. When you come to a place and
you find another Latino community that takes you in and
invites you to the essence of what they are about.
And I think that's also very important, which also speaks
to who we are as Latinos in America, right, Like,
you know, we're bringing our flags, we're bringing our heritage,
you know. Speaking of the Mexican culture, Jenaget, tell us
(04:48):
a little bit about you had a quite an interesting
upbringing and you were introduced to so many definitions, but
at the core, you know you you are a Mexican.
So tell us a little bit about when you come
from and inherited to tell.
Speaker 6 (05:02):
Well, I'm born and raised in La Long Beach, specifically
where my mom was also raised, raised by a beautiful
Latin woman, strong, powerful. My grandparents also came where immigrants
they came. Was nothing from Mexico. My dad as well,
he raised me He's from NIAI and I just feel
like all I had was family, you know, growing up,
(05:22):
Like that's all I knew. Even in school, like I
would gravitate towards to Latinos because I didn't feel like
I necessarily belonged in the other crowd. And I don't know,
it was just growing up. It made me feel so
proud because I saw how my grandparents came. My mom
worked her whole life to bring us to this position.
That we are now. We had, you know, obviously reality
(05:45):
TV we were in. We had a lot of different
opportunities and thankfully my mom worked quite frinkly her whole
life for my siblings and I were a family of five,
so and she was a single mom, so it was
never easy for her because she was always bullied as well.
She had difficulties, and I think that's my main inspiration,
(06:07):
like she definitely rose up from nothing, and with me,
I saw it in the back end. A lot of
people just kind of see when we're in this light
or kind of as artists, like people only see a
certain picture and it's like, no, I get. I had
the privilege of seeing what she went through, and I
kind of wanted to give that to people as well,
Like it's not easy.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
I had lost.
Speaker 6 (06:27):
Both my parents super young. I felt like I couldn't
relate to anybody. And especially with Latino culture, you're not
necessarily allowed to express yourself or be vulnerable. It's kind
of like get up and do it, which to a
certain extent that's totally and work wise, I feel like
it's allowed. But when it comes to emotions, I feel
like it's a sensitive subject. For me, it's like, I
(06:48):
want to be able to talk about what I'm feeling.
So that's where I kind of got that inspiration to
just speak for Latinos and help people, at least in
my generation, like it's okay to talk about your feelings
and to say I love you, or to raise your
children this certain way, or be there for your family
and kind of just be that guidance for this, you know,
(07:09):
specific generation.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Do you think that's some of that crossroads of being
Mexican and American and at the same time, you know,
also allowed you to create that skill that we're like
you weren't really allowed to talk about vulnerabilities as a Latino,
you know, but then you come to America and you're like, oh,
but you know, I feel like I have a freedom
to kind of like stretch a little bit. You feel
like that was kind of moment. I feel like it's
a defining moment for this new generation exactly.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
And I feel like, at least for myself, like I
feel like Latinos and Mexicans specifically are very united in
a sense. Everybody holds their hand like Okay, you're part
We're part of each other, Like let's help each other.
And when it comes to like other groups or Americans,
and it's kind of just meshing it together, like Okay,
let's let's all be together.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Let's all do this together.
Speaker 6 (07:54):
Like everyone struggles in certain ways and specific ways. Let's
all help each other grow.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah, that's awesome, Adam.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, that's the hope, right, That's that's what we should
be doing. You know. For me my experience, I'm actually
my my mother's side, I'm already third generation American in
this country. And then on my father's side, my father
was first generation his parents, mother from Cuba, father from
Puerto Rico. So I had a different experience. You know,
I watched these people sort of that were my father especially,
(08:23):
you know, being first generation and working hard to prove
something and to assimilate into the culture here in America.
And at that time for me, were I was in
New York, I bounced back and forth between the Bronx
and then a suburb called New City, which is about
thirty minutes outside of the Bronx, And so I got
a taste of two very different worlds whure growing up.
(08:44):
And it was a beautiful thing because you know, they're
in the Bronx. Everybody, everybody lived in the same house.
There was a three family house basically, and on each
floor was an apartment, and you know, somebody in my
family lived on each of those floors, and so it
was like grand central station. They didn't you could be
with my great grandmother, who didn't speak in English at all,
or I could be with my grandmother on the top
(09:05):
of my aunt in the middle. You know. Spent a
lot of time in that house around a big mix
of different people, but for the most part, everybody was
either black or Latino, and it was a beautiful place
to be because the common denominator was love. And then
up in Rockland where I lived, there was predominantly white community.
And in my elementary school, I mean there were probably
(09:28):
five kids of color myself and my sister included, you know,
maybe eight if I'm going to stretch it out. But
so it was a very different environment and it was
great because I got exposure to different types of people,
different cultures, big exposure of Jewish culture. A lot of
kids at that school were Jewish, and it opened my
eyes to the thing that I've tried to take with
me for the rest of my life, Like my culture
(09:50):
instilled in me a love for people, a love for family,
a love for being together, showing affection for music, for
beeing loud, and and not holding back about being either
angry or happy. I mean, if you want to go,
let it loose. You know, That's how it was, you know,
in the environment I grew up in. And I'm glad.
I'm grateful for it because it's it's been healthy in
(10:12):
my life. If I got something on my mind, I'm
going to get it off my chest. If I'm happy,
you're going to know it. If I'm not, let's get
past it. You're going to know it. But let's get
past it so we could get back to the love
part of it all. What I did see, my father
was heavily involved in the Puerto Rican community in New York.
A lot of organizations. It's one called Somo Sono that
he was involved with heavily and just always worked towards
(10:35):
in you know, jobs where he was doing his best
to help the community, whether I was in hospitals. He
practiced law for a little while. He went and he
moved to Boston for some years and got a law degree.
But you know, when I think about all the things
that mattered to me, you know, because language, I didn't.
I didn't learn to speak Spanish growing up. You know,
both my parents spoke it. They spoke it to each other.
(10:55):
They were at work all the time. By the time
they got home from work, the day was pretty much done,
and trying to teach us Spanish was just not on
the agenda. And you know, and at that time, I
think there was a feeling that it was you know,
culture wasn't celebrated the way that it is now, the
same way, and so it was like a little stigma.
You know, we don't want you to have an accent.
(11:17):
We don't want you to you know, there was there
was this thing about assimilating, and so none of my friends,
we all spoke English. Everybody was you know for the
most part, and I didn't have any friends that weren't
born in the States.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
We are old enough and young enough right to remember
the one generation that says in America you speak English,
and then those parents are like English, and then this
new generation is like.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Where is my Spanish? That's what I want to do,
you know, I think the difference there. I mean for
me as I grew up and why I've tried to
improve my Spanish over time, and it's gotten better. It's
still sad, but it's gotten better. But you know, it's
interesting about the journey of it was that for a
long time I felt guilty about it because you run
into people you know right away to speak Spanish, and
(12:11):
you know, this spit a little bit that I get
as far in the conversation as you know, as I'm
capable of, and then and then there was always that
look of disappointment like either your parents did a bad job,
or where you're not really you're not really Latin, you know,
you know, you know, you know, whatever the feeling was,
and I remember, it's not a good feeling, but it
helped me because what I learned from it was like,
(12:33):
wait a minute, I'm actually American. I was born here.
You don't say to some kid whose last name is Schmidt, like, hey,
whw's your German? Right? You know, guarantee doesn't speak German,
you know, or somebody with an Italian surname or whatever
it is. And I just it actually made me stand
up for myself and realize the reason that I wish
I knew how to speak Spanish is the same reason
(12:54):
I wish I knew how to speak ten other languages.
To communicate with people, to bond with people, to share
an experience, communicate my thoughts or my feelings and have
it be understood in a language that's familiar to somebody.
And part of that lesson, and I'll tie it back
to my great grandmother who didn't speak a word of English,
but we adored each other. I learned that communication the
most important part of communication. You know, the language of
(13:16):
your colonizer, whether it's English, French, Spanish or whatever, is
really inconsequential. It's a wonderful thing to have an incredible tool.
But I stopped. I stopped associating the language itself with
my culture because I felt like the language really doesn't
have as much to do with the culture as people
like to believe. It's how you live your life. It's
(13:38):
how you treat your family and the things you do
to celebrate life itself and whatever that tongue is. Yeah,
God blessed me. You speak Spanish. I'm wonderful. Let's speak Spanish,
you know. And if you run across somebody doesn't speak it, well,
be kind and you know, and find a way to connect,
because it's just about the connection, you know, that's all
people are looking for. It's like, oh my god, oh Mexican, Mexican,
(13:58):
Puerto Rican or Puerto Rican. At the end of the day,
I'm at the point of my life. I don't give
what you are. Really, that's not what's important to me.
What kind of personally when we come, when we sit
across the table, you know, how do you treat the
people around you? How do you treat the people in
your space? Then if we have all these other things
that we can share, wonderful. But for me, I don't
start there, you know what I mean. I don't start
(14:20):
or finish there.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
No, that's a wonderful sentiment too. What do you think
I mean?
Speaker 4 (14:24):
I think I went through something similar.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
I mean my parents were really adamant that we try
to assimilate. I think, you know, and I don't think
they use that language, but they spoke English.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
With us as much as possible in the house.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
My sister really didn't speak any Spanish at all.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Growing up. I spoke of my first language.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
And then you know, speaking to like connection. Last year,
my dad passed away, and right before he passed, my
aunt came from Columbia. She was there for a week
before he died, and she loves to cook.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
She loves to bake.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
She was making tons of food my sister ups to bake.
And by the time my aunt left, maybe like a
month and a half later, my dad was gone already.
She was gonna go back to Columbia. We convinced her
to stay for another like month in La and I
overheard her and my sister in the kitchen like in
this kind of mixed bag of like little bits of Spanish,
(15:20):
little bits of English, and.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
It really took I think it took.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
My dad dying and losing that connection to our family
and seeing her aunt there for her to sort of
pick herself up by her bootstraps and go like I
got it. Try, I gotta try, even if it's you know,
quote unquote trash, right, yes, because it's so scary, so scary,
and your whole family's like getting you know, like everyone's
(15:46):
making fun of you or whatever, and it's such a
That's why with my cousins, I really try to encourage them.
With my own kid, I'm going to try to encourage
her to learn Spanish. Wants to I think I mean
talking about like, oh, I get too deep into it,
but like there's some languages that when you think of
them that is like beautiful, romantic, and I don't think
Spanish always has that attached to it. For however, many reasons.
(16:11):
We can do a whole nother podcast, but I think
for me, I want to create that sort of like
beauty around the language, and if that's something that I
can tap into and connect with, then that's really cool.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
It's such a shame that our parents felt like it's.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Survival, right, It's vital.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
You have to you have to do it.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Yeah, you gotta do what you wanna do. I don't
want you to be behind. I don't want you.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
To like and do it the and the sake of survival.
I just my perspective is so crazy because it's like
the flip.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Right.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
I didn't know how to speak English, right, so I
came to I'm Colombian Venezuelan right. I was born in Miami,
but when I was three years old, my parents moved
back to Venezuela and I was raised in Venezuelanta.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I was fourteen.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Now, back then that Moliva and the dollar were like
almost wanting one because the oil and everything in Venezuela
was thriving. So my dad moved back where the work
was so we left the United States.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
My dad and my mom met there.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
My dad like he swears that he speaks English, you know,
and like he definitely, you know, he definitely gets the
groceries at home, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah, he don't get by, you know, definitely, he definitely
brought the food home.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
So I think obviously something worked all on the way.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
And my mom just.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Doesn't speak English. When I came to the United States,
that was my first job to learn how to speak
English desperately. But I had the craziest accent at fourteen
fifteen years old, right, And like so when you think
about that, you think people also somehow stereotyped an accent
with like your inferior you're on educas you know, and
(17:44):
Niven put on the box, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
When it's the opposite, right, and she's like, this person
knows two languages. Damn. It's like what there is something
I was crazy?
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Like when I came to the United States. For two
years after I had arrived, I was getting straight a's
in every class and I didn't hard to speak English
and people like, how, like you're obviously cheating, and I'm.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Like, no, they're not cheating.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
And what happens is that in Latin America at the
academic levels, I had already learned what they were teaching
me at like sixth and seventh grade two years prior
to that. So I was seeing it all over again
like two years eight or and I was like, oh,
I kind of already know this, but I'm not on
the speak English.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
That sounds about right for our education.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
But the point is that, you know, I was told
and you know you got to speak English, right and
I and so I learned to speak English right away.
I was able to keep the Spanish and Spanish in
my first language. But then the contradiction when you become
an artists. But like, if you're on TV at the
time where I started, you're not supposed to have an
accent if you're if you're a Latino, no matter what
color you are, you speak perfect English when you're on television.
(18:49):
Now you allow yourself to have colors in film and television,
you know. So I'm curious for you all as artists,
what was that one moment. I know the Feta really
inspired you. I wonder what was that moment where you
said like, oh, that's me, that's like who I am,
no matter which you know, what version or what level
of Latino we are and that's not golor levels, but
like where I'm at in the in the in the
(19:11):
Latino meter. This is not only me, but I identify
as it in that culture. Is there a moment then
that that came to you that you said, oh, this
is why I am.
Speaker 6 (19:20):
Oh my god, well, I don't know. I feel like
I was raised with such like your Mexican this is
your family. You have TVs and cameras in front of you.
And it felt like kind of embarrassing because I had to.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
See when did you realize I'm so curious and when
did you realize, oh, were my family.
Speaker 6 (19:38):
There was one time where my mom showed up to
my school and she it was a talent show and
she brought Mariacci. I think I was the only Mexican
American girl there. Everybody else was like Puerto Rican or American,
and at that moment, I'm like, okay, this is kind
of cool, like all right, thanks, well whatever.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
She sang her Mariacci songs and.
Speaker 6 (20:02):
It felt really nice because everybody was so amazed, and
it's like and not for me. It wasn't just the person,
but it was just the culture.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Like in the dress and yes, and it was beautiful.
Speaker 6 (20:13):
And then when it came to like filming the reality
show and all that, they needed us to do bilingual,
and my mom raised us obviously just English, which kind
of sucked because obviously my grandparents speak just pure Spanish.
So when we did interviews, like it was just a
little harder, and you know, we would get comments back
like oh, it's well how they call it go boschas, Yeah,
(20:36):
you see exactly, and it just felt like I don't
want I got I guess I am, And that's totally fine.
I'm working on it. I've worked on it over the years,
but I've embraced my culture. I've embraced like what it is,
like my family's loud and crazy, and I just I'm
still gonna love you my Hispanic culture. I just loved
me a little bit back because you know, like I
(20:58):
don't think it that well, but I'm doing my best
and I'm carrying it on and everything, and that when
you said like, oh, I want to carry it on
to my children is like I hope to do that
as well. Like I feel like it's so important and
I feel like for me, the reason why they spoke
to me just in English was also because in school
you had to be in a specific class. The esl oh, yeah, yes,
okay exactly. So I feel like, in order, let's let's
(21:18):
save you from that class and let's just speak in
English to you, so that way you don't have to
run into that problem exactly. If it's alsome at least here,
it's like, Okay, I get it, but I wish I
was spoken to more in Spanish because I would speak
it better.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
It would just look you know.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
I would rather know two languages than just one.
Speaker 6 (21:36):
So for me, I think, as the years keep going,
I'm just like, this is just what I am. This
is who I am. This is how my mother raised me,
this is how my family. I grew up with my
cousin speaking English, Like I have the culture. I'm just
I'm gonna still carry it on and it.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Doesn't make you any less Mexican, American, or any less
of whatever.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
You know.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
The people with that mindset for me, I just don't
have time for it. You're not pushing things forward. If
that's your mindset, You're you're holding things back. Yeah, life
is too short.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
So what was the moment. I'm so curious and I
don't think I've ever asked you this in our friendship.
We know each other our entire careers, you know, and
I'm so, what was that moment where you were like, oh,
I know, my entire family has never done this.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
I think I can do this. I know the moment
that I decided I wanted to be an actor, you know,
when I really knew. I'll tell you what growing up
watching TV. As I'm sure everybody knows, the very limited
number of Latino faces you saw on television. You know,
I remember Chips being a huge show when I was
a kid, and you had eric Estrada, Fantasy Island, you
(22:43):
have Ricardo Montalban that was on that.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I think Erica Strada was our like Captain America.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
He was at that time, right, you know, we have
he kind of transcended even being Latino at that time.
You know, he was a sex symbol. He was, you know,
look for whatever it was that he was doing. And
I probably don't even know then because I was so little,
but it was watching.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
It was no kiding any crazy baby.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
I remember that man in uniform, you know, on a motorcycle.
You know, he had it going on. So in terms
of faces that were out there, and then a little
later east Side, you know, East I Morales. There was
a big influence, you know, in terms of just seeing somebody.
I mean, he was brilliant in that movie especially, you know,
but I remember him even from Bad Boys with Sean
Penn in the early eighties. So those were fake, Julia,
(23:32):
of course, you know there there were some, but I mean,
come on, man, I'm struggling to name five, okay. And
you know, especially Latin men, very few. You know, our
women have been a bit more well represented. You know.
I think that their beauty and their lower in that
way has been attractive across the board to people. And yeah,
and and and welcomed to the tickets.
Speaker 6 (23:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
The nerds weren't even born yet. They didn't exist. Nerds
didn't even exist. They hadn't been conceived, right, I mean,
completely ignored, completely ignored.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
You try to think back of like how was I influenced?
Where did I see it?
Speaker 3 (24:11):
And you know what I thought was really interesting was
you saying, like no one else in my family has
done this, can't wait for the little the barrage of
Latino and Neppo babies. As you know, I mean, I'm
making a joke but it's.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Like, oh, that's real.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
It's so exciting to think about like what we're all
doing and like and on our peers and how we're
all like moving through different forms of art, different expressions
of art and different in different ways to reach our communities,
people that identify as part of our communities and people
that don't, and like.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
It's really thrilling because there was so little of it.
We were just like stirving, and.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
We need to be represented so we can break through
to those other communities too. Because I was influenced by
way more actors or acts is that were not of
Latin any kind of Latin descent than the Latin descent.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
You just like the work, you like the story because
they were there.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, you were the ones that were there.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
And also talks about the colorless generation that we have
kind of somehow forced ourselves to grow up and be
inspired by, right, Like I never saw myself as a
Latino actor. I never saw my I was a brown actor.
I was just like, oh, I can do company, I
can do this.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
You know.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
So, so a lot of what a lot of what happens,
and it's so funny that you mentioned like what about
is the nerds, because now there is a real exciting,
colorful rainbow of performers that are you know, that really
take the big section of like who we are as
Latino's on screen and there's so much about storytelling and
you talk about new mediums, and I, you know, it
(25:44):
was there was there an image to where you were like, oh,
I'm going to do that, even though like my whole
family's like what.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
You know, it was really because I didn't know anyone
in the entertainment industry at all, So it was like
for me, it started in theater, but I just.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
Didn't know how it was going to happen. You know.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
There was an actress in theater that I when I
was sort of starting my theater career and like trying
to like see more theater and see more plays. And
I had gone to the Organ Shakespeare Festival and there's
an actress named Vilma Silva and she's Latina and she
was playing the lead in I think it was Taming
the Shrew, and I was like this in my audience, like.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
Like I couldn't believe that I was.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Seeing this woman was doing this, you know, and like
but my family just didn't.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
They were like I don't know.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
I want to do what I will do?
Speaker 3 (26:34):
What? Yeah, I mean, I'm guessing it was slightly different
for you because it was like somebody already had opened
some of those doors and been like, what's behind the exactly?
Speaker 6 (26:44):
And I kind of I didn't want to. I'm very private.
I'm a very shy person. I wanted to keep my
life private. And so I realized I have this power,
this platform to be able to share my story because
I'm not the only one. Like it's enough that I
Mexican American, and then I also have this platform that
people feel like they can't relate to me, or to
(27:05):
anybody in my circle or people you know, actions actors,
like they can't relate. But it's like, no, I want
to be able to open it up and show you guys,
like we're just as human as you. We grew up
all the same, I've gone through almost similar things, different things,
and if I if we have nothing to relate to,
let me help you.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
That's fine. Yeah, that's fine.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
There.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Now you see that our culture has been expanded in
all kinds of media, right, like all kinds of platforms
and genres and all that, and you know, we come
full circle. To podcasting, which is a new frontier for Latinos.
And you think about you know, I know you're no
stranger to it, and obviously you're no stranger to it too,
and then you also have a lot of podcasts experience too.
But I when I think about podcasts, I think about
(27:57):
this this new frontier for Latinos to discover. Now not
only you know, we're not only an ocean of versions
of them, you know, but stories that perhaps are not
ready for a movie, perhaps I'm not ready for a
TV show. And it's just like another medium that really expands,
and it's a very exciting one because this is one
we can really control. This is one where we can
really create the narrative, but we can really find it.
(28:19):
And one of the things I'm incredibly proud of for
Michael Tuda Podcast Network is to get out of the
way and we empowered. We just like tell the story,
you go, you go. You know what was your feeling
was you experience with podcasting? What you know, what triggered
what emotions? And then they did it fascinate you The
fact that you can entertain people on because you did scripted.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
I'm timescripted. I'm done, Like nonscripted. You know, it's as
you were talking about, I thought.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
One of the things we're doing right now is like
we're sitting around, you know, shooting like and I think
that that I mean, whatever kind of family, family group
or chosen family you come from, that is a part
of connecting with your family, and like that traditionally, Like
when I think about my family's tradition, like Nochuana is
a big one where we're like we're up until midnight.
(29:05):
We're up until midnight, and like there's a lot of wine,
there's a lot of food. People are just talking and
like everyone's going around telling a story. It's so loud.
Everyone's voices are like on top of each other. But
like the storytelling and the sharing of like particularly the
specific family history, our specific stories of that family and
(29:25):
what we've been through and what we've lived through and
how funny it was or how sad it was, and
how hard it was or how beautiful it was. It
all gets rehashed on those holidays. And I think, in
a small way, I think that that's what podcasting and
storytelling through podcasts can do because it's just audio, right,
Like the families, I was sitting down to watch like
all of our family movies. We're telling each other, we're
(29:48):
reliving it with each other, We're telling each other, or
we're like talking about stuff that.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
I mean, I can't tell you how many holidays I've
had more.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
I'm like, what what like where you're just finding stuff
out all the time.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
And I think that that's.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Part of that, right absolutely? And look, I mean how
often the four of us going to be in the
same space together, share our stories, get to know each other,
give people a chance to get to know us without
formats like this, you know, I mean, who knows? You know,
hopefully a lot. Hopefully there's plenty of work that's going
to be had and we'll get to celebrate and tell
stories together. But to actually share our experiences that I'm
(30:23):
sure many people can relate to some version of our
experience or another. Like, you know, it is wonderful to
have a place where people can actually go source that
and what if.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
You important tradition to start and be able to pass
down and historically record some of our thoughts, some of
our stories, some of our genre, some of you know,
some of our lessons you know, through this medium that
can be passed down and be heard generations and generations.
What's been your experience so far? What's the most special
thing of we're making your show?
Speaker 4 (30:49):
Oh my god.
Speaker 6 (30:50):
Well, first of all, just I think Mike Utura the
network itself, like for someone Latino specifically to find a place,
like I said before, like I'd never felt like I
had a place like in school because I was Latina
or now there's a specific network that you can find
in different podcasts to relate to different stories. Exactly, it's
(31:11):
a community and everybody's like, oh wow, I can connect
with this person and this person, And for me, it's
the same thing storytelling.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
For me, it's healing.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
I heal my inner child, talking about these things or
experiences that I didn't get to have as a child,
and hearing my guests and hearing their experiences as well,
and kind of just bring some truth into light of
how you know, our traumas and growing up it was
never easy, but at the end of the day, we
had our family, we had people to connect with.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
And I think that.
Speaker 6 (31:40):
For me when I created the podcast, like it took
me a couple of years. It was always an idea
in the back of my head, like I want to
do it, but I'm too shy.
Speaker 4 (31:47):
Will people watch it or whatever?
Speaker 6 (31:49):
And I'm like, you know what, let me just do it.
And whoever will listen will listen, and who can connect
will connect, And for me that's the most important part,
especially you know, being Latina, Like traumas are there's a
lot of traumas sadly, but they're so healing and so
rewarding as well. And to be able to have these
recorded and to show the future generations like Okay, let's
(32:11):
talk about it, let's heal it, and let's see where
we can move on and get better in the next generation.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
So, as we wrap our beautiful conversations, by the way,
there are a lot of a lot of honesty and
a lot of love has been shared and it's really
fun to relive. And I'm so excited that you guys,
we're able to get this person with your stories and
your origin because we never get a chance to like
really celebrate, like how did the wind that it happened?
You know, as we kind of go down our chat,
those two things I wanted to ask, like what specific
(32:38):
Latino tradition we're passing down to the next gen. That
would be one that I love for everyone to answer trauma.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
No, no, no, just the easiest want to hand over. You
know that's it, be a perfectly excused from it too,
because you know yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
And then the last thing is, you know what advice
would you give somebody who is being inspired by this
conversation and saying not only I want to be mean,
but I want to do what they do.
Speaker 6 (33:08):
I'm gonna go ahead, and just if you are inspired
to be yourself, I think most importantly, I know that
sounds so cliche, but I know people get embarrassed or
shamed sometimes from where they come from. It's like no,
like own it, learn from it, and kind of just
be who you are, don't be.
Speaker 4 (33:27):
Afraid to step out, do whatever you need to do.
Speaker 6 (33:30):
And who will love you will love you, and that's it.
And if they don't, they're not meant to be a
part of your life.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
So I think Spanish.
Speaker 6 (33:36):
I think I'm gonna pass that true.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
I'm gonna teach the kids Spanish.
Speaker 6 (33:41):
I feel like rather know two more languages than just one.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
So in terms of tradition or like passing down, I
think a lot of it for our family is going
to be food. I think that's a big way to
connect with my ancestors who passed and things like, I mean,
I'm not really religious, but I love the tradition of buana.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
I think it's so fun.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
It's so exciting for I see my like all my
little cousins like losing their minds, you know, like waiting
for midnight.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
That's so that's something that I think is just going to.
Speaker 5 (34:15):
Be really talking.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
And like I think my advice, I mean, my advice
is very practical.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
Is it dumbed?
Speaker 1 (34:25):
No, Listen, there's a tool for every house savior money. Yeah.
I think my dad definitely didn't tease me that.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
Because I feel like I grew up in a lot
of lack. There was a lot of lack in my household.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
And I think when there's a lot of lack, and
it's not for everyone, not everyone's experience is this, but
when there is a sense of lack, there can be
a sense of like I'm going to lose everything that
I have, or I'm gonna, you know, if I make money,
like it's.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
Going to just go away, so I better send it now,
you know.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
And I wish someone had said to me earlier, like
it's going to come and go. But there's a way
to learn how to be smart with it and financial
like smartness.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
I don't know what financial for.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
Everybody, like under their access access points for everyone, and
the Internet is the greatest library there's ever been. You know,
don't go down a rabbit hole, but like, no.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Go down the rabbit hole. Yeah, yeah, but I think
that's a beautiful day because I just opening up that conversation.
Speaker 4 (35:32):
I mean, yeah, my parents didn't have.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
No and when you don't have, you feel guilty about well,
you also feel guilty about even bringing the subject up
because the last thing you want to talk about is
something you don't have. Like I don't want to talk
about money if I don't have it. It would really I
don't want to talk about that.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
My mom writing checks at the grocery store, and I'd
be like trying to learn how to write a check
looking over her shoulders. She'd be like with it, like
she would make me go away because she was nervous
about like mentally balancing how she was going to do
what I'm.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
Going to do now.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Yeah, And like so even if that's how I grew
up or whatever. When I think about especially like young
artists coming into a business that is there's lots of variables.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
It's like save your money, Like.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
You don't you're gonna have your eyes and lows and
you want to be able to make good choices. You
got to have some money in the bank to support
those choices.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
And wanting to like yeah, go out like do it big,
get that fancy perse or whatever.
Speaker 4 (36:28):
But like, yes, that.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Person said your back said your bag.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
Yeah I was very boring, but oh no, no.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
It's actually believe it or not.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
It's probably one of the most important things for any
future artists to understand that, you know, it's not just
like quitting everything you know because you're about to be
This is that you have to pay a road in
a runway so you could really give it the best
shot at becoming who you want to become.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Also, like we're like on the cusp of creating a
new world in which there's generational wealth in the United
States for Latinos. It's happening now, it's already happening, you know,
and there's gonna be more and more of us that
are giving that to our families and trying to like
get things in place to have that be the truth.
(37:14):
And like that's so exciting to me to think about like,
it doesn't have to be what you grew up with.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
It could be something to absolutely, but it's great that
you open that people's minds to that. Like I try
to pass down that same advice very often as often
as possible, because I think it's critical. I'm with Stephanie
on everything, just everything we've talked about. He yes, food
is a big thing. Food and music with big things,
(37:43):
you know, because I think those things they just they
stay with you in a way that no matter where
you are in the world, no matter what's going on
in your life, when those things you smell something that's familiar,
or you taste something familiar, or you hear music, you know,
those things I think just have a way of of
touching our soul that I whatever it is, whether some
(38:04):
of its Spanish music, whether some of its American music,
whatever that is, you know, And I think it's about
creating the memories. Like when you create the memory around
the thing, the thing has relevance, you know, by itself.
It's like, okay, it's a play to savicha. But if
I used to eat sevichia with my grandmother, then we
had music in the background and the smell of that
and something else going on. All of a sudden, you're transported,
(38:26):
and those are the things you can take with you
no matter where you are in life, no matter whether
you're up or down. Those are the things that I
think give us.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Recipes are coades, our coades to our memories into Harrison
Jules for sure.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Yes, history, this was what was available. This is what
we did with it. This is how we throw it.
Most of our amazing cuisine.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
It's because that's what was available, of course, you know,
And it's a beautiful thing to think about it. This
was food that was that was capable impossible for everyone
in the community and generally with love.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Oh yeah, and I love what you said. Be you,
you know, be you everything that that feels like to you,
because you know your mom came from here and your
dad came from here, whatever. Embrace all of it because
that is you. Be that. Be embraced that you know,
and then be who you want to be. But embrace
that because that is the foundation, you know, whatever that is. No,
(39:16):
I'm so my advice though I didn't get to. Oh
I found your advice would be no, no, no, no,
but no, no, just my little advice. No, no, it's
a little just a little thing is like, continue the dialogue,
you know what I mean, don't be afraid to have
these conversations. Elevate the level of conversation you have with
your friends. And if you're not having good conversation with
your friends, get better friends, you know, talk about things
(39:37):
that are meaningful. We're living in a time where you know,
so much of what's thrown at us that we're bombarded with,
whether it's you know, coming from TV, radio, whatever radio
is now, like so many things are vibrating at a
low frequency right now. When whenever and wherever you can
do it, elevate, you know, elevate the conversation, you know.
Speaker 4 (40:00):
Here and there.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
Once in a while, you know. Yeah, but I'm saying,
don't live there, you know, don't live there. It's just
easy to do.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
So I think for me, it's going to be making
sure that my daughter knows out a sausa dance. Yeah,
as number one, I think that she absolutely loves dancing.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
So we know for a fact that they didn't for far.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
And like one simple advice is so important to have
a plan, but it's even more important to be bold.
You gotta be bald. You can't be timid. With your ideas.
You have to be you have to be bald where
you're talent and whold you feel you are you know,
and I think, uh, and never forget that, you know,
your heritage is really a part of your superpower and
then that's the identity that gives you that fire to
(40:46):
actually get it done. Really trust that your heritage is
giving you this uploadable decode in there that I will
upload when you have the next challenge and it will
get you.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Through it, you know.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
So I would say, trust your God and then, you know,
for the fans is every single sway. But with that,
thank you so much for being part of the Michael
Tuda family and really really grateful that you will share
your stories. This has been a production of Michael Tuda
(41:18):
podcast Network in partnership with Word Agency and WV Sound.
For more podcasts, to visit the iHeartRadio app or wherever
you get your podcast
Welcome and beam Minidos to this very special episode. Michael
Tuda conversations, our voices, our stories, our experiences. I'm your
host Wilmer about drama and I had the pleasure of
being joined by my friends Adam Luiggins, Stephanie Patrice, and
Jennica Lopez for a heartfelt conversation on latiniad.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Listen as we shine.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
A light on our culture, our upbringing, language, and what
we're hoping to build for the next generation of Latino creators.
I'm so excited we get to have a space to
recruit on culture, heritage, and you know the purpose of
this is to ultimately, you know, reach down into our
(00:45):
heart and just you know, really remember it and think
and trigger these emotions that kind of make our culture
so colorful. And on Hispanic Heritage Month, we thought it
was kind of excited to get us all here together,
enjoy some delicious Latin of food and talk a little
bit about our beginnings. You know, when our culture they
find who we were, and when our culture told us
that we could do anything. You know, basically, you know,
(01:06):
we were always talking about this, when we've talked about
this before, that that's been the superpowered We'll always find
a way to get there, you know, so I wanted
to start. I'll start with the ladies, you know, Steph,
Maybe tell us a little bit about where you come from,
what's your story, you know, and you know, give us
the moment when you realize your heritage was was special.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I mean, I was an immigrant to the United States.
I am an immigrant to the United States that came
when I was a little under too. My dad is
Columbia and my mom's Bolivian. They moved all around South
America when I was a kid, but then they landed
in Texas, and I think growing up in Texas was
really interesting for me because yes, I was Latina, I
am Latina, but also there were so many different kinds
(01:51):
of immigrant groups that my mom met in Houston because
of her connection to the Catholic Church, and so she
kind of created this community for us. And so my
sister and I were given the opportunity to see Latinidad,
but like through the lens of a lot of our
family friends who immigrated from lots of different communities, and
(02:13):
like that was really strange and interesting, and so like
my upbringing became this kind of mishmash of like selectively
picked things that came from you know, like this food
from here, this tradition from here, this thing from here.
And especially because I grew up in Texas, I feel
so connected to Mexican culture, Mexican people, Mexican music, Mexican heritage.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
But I'm not Mexican, but I love it.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
So that's really tricky too write this idea that, like
you can be Latinal, love parts of it, but also
maybe sometimes feel like you don't belong to parts of it.
And for me it was really when I was maybe eight,
of Freedo Capolo exhibit came through the.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Art Museum in Houston, Houston ArtMuseum, and because it was
I mean I was eight, I.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Probably not should have was looking at it, you know what, because.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
We've all seen her art it's pretty intense.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
But it was also this idea that this woman that
looked like me, that had tan skin and dark hair
and spoke Spanish and you know, became this world renowned artist,
so world renowned that her work was traveling now all
over the world and.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
Here were self portrass of her and she wasn't perfect,
and she had a unibrown and she had a When
I was a kid, I had scoliosis, and here she
was in her back brace from her from her.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Accident, and that for me was really the moment, was
like wandering around the gallery and looking at these pictures
and then looking at the gallery full of people, all
kinds of people, looking how they were affected by what
she created from her own pain, from her own literal
physical pain and also her like mental journey that she
(03:54):
was on. And as a kid, I just remember thinking like, Wow,
maybe this is for me. And so that was the
beginning of my journey as an artist. First I started, like,
you know, drawing pictures at home and stuff, and then
I started getting really into finding books in the library
that we are and then I started getting into like
reading plays by Latino play rights and were there any
(04:14):
and how can I find them? And am I just
looking for names? And you know, And at first it
is that sort of you're just like kind of looking
for anything, right.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
But yeah, that's sort of how it started for me.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Is a very beautiful and common origin story for all
of us immigrants. When you come to a place and
you find another Latino community that takes you in and
invites you to the essence of what they are about.
And I think that's also very important, which also speaks
to who we are as Latinos in America, right, Like,
you know, we're bringing our flags, we're bringing our heritage,
you know. Speaking of the Mexican culture, Jenaget, tell us
(04:48):
a little bit about you had a quite an interesting
upbringing and you were introduced to so many definitions, but
at the core, you know you you are a Mexican.
So tell us a little bit about when you come
from and inherited to tell.
Speaker 6 (05:02):
Well, I'm born and raised in La Long Beach, specifically
where my mom was also raised, raised by a beautiful
Latin woman, strong, powerful. My grandparents also came where immigrants
they came. Was nothing from Mexico. My dad as well,
he raised me He's from NIAI and I just feel
like all I had was family, you know, growing up,
(05:22):
Like that's all I knew. Even in school, like I
would gravitate towards to Latinos because I didn't feel like
I necessarily belonged in the other crowd. And I don't know,
it was just growing up. It made me feel so
proud because I saw how my grandparents came. My mom
worked her whole life to bring us to this position.
That we are now. We had, you know, obviously reality
(05:45):
TV we were in. We had a lot of different
opportunities and thankfully my mom worked quite frinkly her whole
life for my siblings and I were a family of five,
so and she was a single mom, so it was
never easy for her because she was always bullied as well.
She had difficulties, and I think that's my main inspiration,
(06:07):
like she definitely rose up from nothing, and with me,
I saw it in the back end. A lot of
people just kind of see when we're in this light
or kind of as artists, like people only see a
certain picture and it's like, no, I get. I had
the privilege of seeing what she went through, and I
kind of wanted to give that to people as well,
Like it's not easy.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
I had lost.
Speaker 6 (06:27):
Both my parents super young. I felt like I couldn't
relate to anybody. And especially with Latino culture, you're not
necessarily allowed to express yourself or be vulnerable. It's kind
of like get up and do it, which to a
certain extent that's totally and work wise, I feel like
it's allowed. But when it comes to emotions, I feel
like it's a sensitive subject. For me, it's like, I
(06:48):
want to be able to talk about what I'm feeling.
So that's where I kind of got that inspiration to
just speak for Latinos and help people, at least in
my generation, like it's okay to talk about your feelings
and to say I love you, or to raise your
children this certain way, or be there for your family
and kind of just be that guidance for this, you know,
(07:09):
specific generation.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Do you think that's some of that crossroads of being
Mexican and American and at the same time, you know,
also allowed you to create that skill that we're like
you weren't really allowed to talk about vulnerabilities as a Latino,
you know, but then you come to America and you're like, oh,
but you know, I feel like I have a freedom
to kind of like stretch a little bit. You feel
like that was kind of moment. I feel like it's
a defining moment for this new generation exactly.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
And I feel like, at least for myself, like I
feel like Latinos and Mexicans specifically are very united in
a sense. Everybody holds their hand like Okay, you're part
We're part of each other, Like let's help each other.
And when it comes to like other groups or Americans,
and it's kind of just meshing it together, like Okay,
let's let's all be together.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Let's all do this together.
Speaker 6 (07:54):
Like everyone struggles in certain ways and specific ways. Let's
all help each other grow.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah, that's awesome, Adam.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, that's the hope, right, That's that's what we should
be doing. You know. For me my experience, I'm actually
my my mother's side, I'm already third generation American in
this country. And then on my father's side, my father
was first generation his parents, mother from Cuba, father from
Puerto Rico. So I had a different experience. You know,
I watched these people sort of that were my father especially,
(08:23):
you know, being first generation and working hard to prove
something and to assimilate into the culture here in America.
And at that time for me, were I was in
New York, I bounced back and forth between the Bronx
and then a suburb called New City, which is about
thirty minutes outside of the Bronx, And so I got
a taste of two very different worlds whure growing up.
(08:44):
And it was a beautiful thing because you know, they're
in the Bronx. Everybody, everybody lived in the same house.
There was a three family house basically, and on each
floor was an apartment, and you know, somebody in my
family lived on each of those floors, and so it
was like grand central station. They didn't you could be
with my great grandmother, who didn't speak in English at all,
or I could be with my grandmother on the top
(09:05):
of my aunt in the middle. You know. Spent a
lot of time in that house around a big mix
of different people, but for the most part, everybody was
either black or Latino, and it was a beautiful place
to be because the common denominator was love. And then
up in Rockland where I lived, there was predominantly white community.
And in my elementary school, I mean there were probably
(09:28):
five kids of color myself and my sister included, you know,
maybe eight if I'm going to stretch it out. But
so it was a very different environment and it was
great because I got exposure to different types of people,
different cultures, big exposure of Jewish culture. A lot of
kids at that school were Jewish, and it opened my
eyes to the thing that I've tried to take with
me for the rest of my life, Like my culture
(09:50):
instilled in me a love for people, a love for family,
a love for being together, showing affection for music, for
beeing loud, and and not holding back about being either
angry or happy. I mean, if you want to go,
let it loose. You know, That's how it was, you know,
in the environment I grew up in. And I'm glad.
I'm grateful for it because it's it's been healthy in
(10:12):
my life. If I got something on my mind, I'm
going to get it off my chest. If I'm happy,
you're going to know it. If I'm not, let's get
past it. You're going to know it. But let's get
past it so we could get back to the love
part of it all. What I did see, my father
was heavily involved in the Puerto Rican community in New York.
A lot of organizations. It's one called Somo Sono that
he was involved with heavily and just always worked towards
(10:35):
in you know, jobs where he was doing his best
to help the community, whether I was in hospitals. He
practiced law for a little while. He went and he
moved to Boston for some years and got a law degree.
But you know, when I think about all the things
that mattered to me, you know, because language, I didn't.
I didn't learn to speak Spanish growing up. You know,
both my parents spoke it. They spoke it to each other.
(10:55):
They were at work all the time. By the time
they got home from work, the day was pretty much done,
and trying to teach us Spanish was just not on
the agenda. And you know, and at that time, I
think there was a feeling that it was you know,
culture wasn't celebrated the way that it is now, the
same way, and so it was like a little stigma.
You know, we don't want you to have an accent.
(11:17):
We don't want you to you know, there was there
was this thing about assimilating, and so none of my friends,
we all spoke English. Everybody was you know for the
most part, and I didn't have any friends that weren't
born in the States.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
We are old enough and young enough right to remember
the one generation that says in America you speak English,
and then those parents are like English, and then this
new generation is like.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Where is my Spanish? That's what I want to do,
you know, I think the difference there. I mean for
me as I grew up and why I've tried to
improve my Spanish over time, and it's gotten better. It's
still sad, but it's gotten better. But you know, it's
interesting about the journey of it was that for a
long time I felt guilty about it because you run
into people you know right away to speak Spanish, and
(12:11):
you know, this spit a little bit that I get
as far in the conversation as you know, as I'm
capable of, and then and then there was always that
look of disappointment like either your parents did a bad job,
or where you're not really you're not really Latin, you know,
you know, you know, you know, whatever the feeling was,
and I remember, it's not a good feeling, but it
helped me because what I learned from it was like,
(12:33):
wait a minute, I'm actually American. I was born here.
You don't say to some kid whose last name is Schmidt, like, hey,
whw's your German? Right? You know, guarantee doesn't speak German,
you know, or somebody with an Italian surname or whatever
it is. And I just it actually made me stand
up for myself and realize the reason that I wish
I knew how to speak Spanish is the same reason
(12:54):
I wish I knew how to speak ten other languages.
To communicate with people, to bond with people, to share
an experience, communicate my thoughts or my feelings and have
it be understood in a language that's familiar to somebody.
And part of that lesson, and I'll tie it back
to my great grandmother who didn't speak a word of English,
but we adored each other. I learned that communication the
most important part of communication. You know, the language of
(13:16):
your colonizer, whether it's English, French, Spanish or whatever, is
really inconsequential. It's a wonderful thing to have an incredible tool.
But I stopped. I stopped associating the language itself with
my culture because I felt like the language really doesn't
have as much to do with the culture as people
like to believe. It's how you live your life. It's
(13:38):
how you treat your family and the things you do
to celebrate life itself and whatever that tongue is. Yeah,
God blessed me. You speak Spanish. I'm wonderful. Let's speak Spanish,
you know. And if you run across somebody doesn't speak it, well,
be kind and you know, and find a way to connect,
because it's just about the connection, you know, that's all
people are looking for. It's like, oh my god, oh Mexican, Mexican,
(13:58):
Puerto Rican or Puerto Rican. At the end of the day,
I'm at the point of my life. I don't give
what you are. Really, that's not what's important to me.
What kind of personally when we come, when we sit
across the table, you know, how do you treat the
people around you? How do you treat the people in
your space? Then if we have all these other things
that we can share, wonderful. But for me, I don't
start there, you know what I mean. I don't start
(14:20):
or finish there.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
No, that's a wonderful sentiment too. What do you think
I mean?
Speaker 4 (14:24):
I think I went through something similar.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
I mean my parents were really adamant that we try
to assimilate. I think, you know, and I don't think
they use that language, but they spoke English.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
With us as much as possible in the house.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
My sister really didn't speak any Spanish at all.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Growing up. I spoke of my first language.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
And then you know, speaking to like connection. Last year,
my dad passed away, and right before he passed, my
aunt came from Columbia. She was there for a week
before he died, and she loves to cook.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
She loves to bake.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
She was making tons of food my sister ups to bake.
And by the time my aunt left, maybe like a
month and a half later, my dad was gone already.
She was gonna go back to Columbia. We convinced her
to stay for another like month in La and I
overheard her and my sister in the kitchen like in
this kind of mixed bag of like little bits of Spanish,
(15:20):
little bits of English, and.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
It really took I think it took.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
My dad dying and losing that connection to our family
and seeing her aunt there for her to sort of
pick herself up by her bootstraps and go like I
got it. Try, I gotta try, even if it's you know,
quote unquote trash, right, yes, because it's so scary, so scary,
and your whole family's like getting you know, like everyone's
(15:46):
making fun of you or whatever, and it's such a
That's why with my cousins, I really try to encourage them.
With my own kid, I'm going to try to encourage
her to learn Spanish. Wants to I think I mean
talking about like, oh, I get too deep into it,
but like there's some languages that when you think of
them that is like beautiful, romantic, and I don't think
Spanish always has that attached to it. For however, many reasons.
(16:11):
We can do a whole nother podcast, but I think
for me, I want to create that sort of like
beauty around the language, and if that's something that I
can tap into and connect with, then that's really cool.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
It's such a shame that our parents felt like it's.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Survival, right, It's vital.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
You have to you have to do it.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Yeah, you gotta do what you wanna do. I don't
want you to be behind. I don't want you.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
To like and do it the and the sake of survival.
I just my perspective is so crazy because it's like
the flip.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Right.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
I didn't know how to speak English, right, so I
came to I'm Colombian Venezuelan right. I was born in Miami,
but when I was three years old, my parents moved
back to Venezuela and I was raised in Venezuelanta.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I was fourteen.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Now, back then that Moliva and the dollar were like
almost wanting one because the oil and everything in Venezuela
was thriving. So my dad moved back where the work
was so we left the United States.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
My dad and my mom met there.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
My dad like he swears that he speaks English, you know,
and like he definitely, you know, he definitely gets the
groceries at home, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah, he don't get by, you know, definitely, he definitely
brought the food home.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
So I think obviously something worked all on the way.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
And my mom just.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Doesn't speak English. When I came to the United States,
that was my first job to learn how to speak
English desperately. But I had the craziest accent at fourteen
fifteen years old, right, And like so when you think
about that, you think people also somehow stereotyped an accent
with like your inferior you're on educas you know, and
(17:44):
Niven put on the box, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
When it's the opposite, right, and she's like, this person
knows two languages. Damn. It's like what there is something
I was crazy?
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Like when I came to the United States. For two
years after I had arrived, I was getting straight a's
in every class and I didn't hard to speak English
and people like, how, like you're obviously cheating, and I'm.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Like, no, they're not cheating.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
And what happens is that in Latin America at the
academic levels, I had already learned what they were teaching
me at like sixth and seventh grade two years prior
to that. So I was seeing it all over again
like two years eight or and I was like, oh,
I kind of already know this, but I'm not on
the speak English.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
That sounds about right for our education.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
But the point is that, you know, I was told
and you know you got to speak English, right and
I and so I learned to speak English right away.
I was able to keep the Spanish and Spanish in
my first language. But then the contradiction when you become
an artists. But like, if you're on TV at the
time where I started, you're not supposed to have an
accent if you're if you're a Latino, no matter what
color you are, you speak perfect English when you're on television.
(18:49):
Now you allow yourself to have colors in film and television,
you know. So I'm curious for you all as artists,
what was that one moment. I know the Feta really
inspired you. I wonder what was that moment where you
said like, oh, that's me, that's like who I am,
no matter which you know, what version or what level
of Latino we are and that's not golor levels, but
like where I'm at in the in the in the
(19:11):
Latino meter. This is not only me, but I identify
as it in that culture. Is there a moment then
that that came to you that you said, oh, this
is why I am.
Speaker 6 (19:20):
Oh my god, well, I don't know. I feel like
I was raised with such like your Mexican this is
your family. You have TVs and cameras in front of you.
And it felt like kind of embarrassing because I had to.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
See when did you realize I'm so curious and when
did you realize, oh, were my family.
Speaker 6 (19:38):
There was one time where my mom showed up to
my school and she it was a talent show and
she brought Mariacci. I think I was the only Mexican
American girl there. Everybody else was like Puerto Rican or American,
and at that moment, I'm like, okay, this is kind
of cool, like all right, thanks, well whatever.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
She sang her Mariacci songs and.
Speaker 6 (20:02):
It felt really nice because everybody was so amazed, and
it's like and not for me. It wasn't just the person,
but it was just the culture.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Like in the dress and yes, and it was beautiful.
Speaker 6 (20:13):
And then when it came to like filming the reality
show and all that, they needed us to do bilingual,
and my mom raised us obviously just English, which kind
of sucked because obviously my grandparents speak just pure Spanish.
So when we did interviews, like it was just a
little harder, and you know, we would get comments back
like oh, it's well how they call it go boschas, Yeah,
(20:36):
you see exactly, and it just felt like I don't
want I got I guess I am, And that's totally fine.
I'm working on it. I've worked on it over the years,
but I've embraced my culture. I've embraced like what it is,
like my family's loud and crazy, and I just I'm
still gonna love you my Hispanic culture. I just loved
me a little bit back because you know, like I
(20:58):
don't think it that well, but I'm doing my best
and I'm carrying it on and everything, and that when
you said like, oh, I want to carry it on
to my children is like I hope to do that
as well. Like I feel like it's so important and
I feel like for me, the reason why they spoke
to me just in English was also because in school
you had to be in a specific class. The esl oh, yeah, yes,
okay exactly. So I feel like, in order, let's let's
(21:18):
save you from that class and let's just speak in
English to you, so that way you don't have to
run into that problem exactly. If it's alsome at least here,
it's like, Okay, I get it, but I wish I
was spoken to more in Spanish because I would speak
it better.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
It would just look you know.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
I would rather know two languages than just one.
Speaker 6 (21:36):
So for me, I think, as the years keep going,
I'm just like, this is just what I am. This
is who I am. This is how my mother raised me,
this is how my family. I grew up with my
cousin speaking English, Like I have the culture. I'm just
I'm gonna still carry it on and it.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Doesn't make you any less Mexican, American, or any less
of whatever.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
You know.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
The people with that mindset for me, I just don't
have time for it. You're not pushing things forward. If
that's your mindset, You're you're holding things back. Yeah, life
is too short.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
So what was the moment. I'm so curious and I
don't think I've ever asked you this in our friendship.
We know each other our entire careers, you know, and
I'm so, what was that moment where you were like, oh,
I know, my entire family has never done this.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
I think I can do this. I know the moment
that I decided I wanted to be an actor, you know,
when I really knew. I'll tell you what growing up
watching TV. As I'm sure everybody knows, the very limited
number of Latino faces you saw on television. You know,
I remember Chips being a huge show when I was
a kid, and you had eric Estrada, Fantasy Island, you
(22:43):
have Ricardo Montalban that was on that.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I think Erica Strada was our like Captain America.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
He was at that time, right, you know, we have
he kind of transcended even being Latino at that time.
You know, he was a sex symbol. He was, you know,
look for whatever it was that he was doing. And
I probably don't even know then because I was so little,
but it was watching.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
It was no kiding any crazy baby.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
I remember that man in uniform, you know, on a motorcycle.
You know, he had it going on. So in terms
of faces that were out there, and then a little
later east Side, you know, East I Morales. There was
a big influence, you know, in terms of just seeing somebody.
I mean, he was brilliant in that movie especially, you know,
but I remember him even from Bad Boys with Sean
Penn in the early eighties. So those were fake, Julia,
(23:32):
of course, you know there there were some, but I mean,
come on, man, I'm struggling to name five, okay. And
you know, especially Latin men, very few. You know, our
women have been a bit more well represented. You know.
I think that their beauty and their lower in that
way has been attractive across the board to people. And yeah,
and and and welcomed to the tickets.
Speaker 6 (23:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
The nerds weren't even born yet. They didn't exist. Nerds
didn't even exist. They hadn't been conceived, right, I mean,
completely ignored, completely ignored.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
You try to think back of like how was I influenced?
Where did I see it?
Speaker 3 (24:11):
And you know what I thought was really interesting was
you saying, like no one else in my family has
done this, can't wait for the little the barrage of
Latino and Neppo babies. As you know, I mean, I'm
making a joke but it's.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Like, oh, that's real.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
It's so exciting to think about like what we're all
doing and like and on our peers and how we're
all like moving through different forms of art, different expressions
of art and different in different ways to reach our communities,
people that identify as part of our communities and people
that don't, and like.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
It's really thrilling because there was so little of it.
We were just like stirving, and.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
We need to be represented so we can break through
to those other communities too. Because I was influenced by
way more actors or acts is that were not of
Latin any kind of Latin descent than the Latin descent.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
You just like the work, you like the story because
they were there.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, you were the ones that were there.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
And also talks about the colorless generation that we have
kind of somehow forced ourselves to grow up and be
inspired by, right, Like I never saw myself as a
Latino actor. I never saw my I was a brown actor.
I was just like, oh, I can do company, I
can do this.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
You know.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
So, so a lot of what a lot of what happens,
and it's so funny that you mentioned like what about
is the nerds, because now there is a real exciting,
colorful rainbow of performers that are you know, that really
take the big section of like who we are as
Latino's on screen and there's so much about storytelling and
you talk about new mediums, and I, you know, it
(25:44):
was there was there an image to where you were like, oh,
I'm going to do that, even though like my whole
family's like what.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
You know, it was really because I didn't know anyone
in the entertainment industry at all, So it was like
for me, it started in theater, but I just.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
Didn't know how it was going to happen. You know.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
There was an actress in theater that I when I
was sort of starting my theater career and like trying
to like see more theater and see more plays. And
I had gone to the Organ Shakespeare Festival and there's
an actress named Vilma Silva and she's Latina and she
was playing the lead in I think it was Taming
the Shrew, and I was like this in my audience, like.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
Like I couldn't believe that I was.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Seeing this woman was doing this, you know, and like
but my family just didn't.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
They were like I don't know.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
I want to do what I will do?
Speaker 3 (26:34):
What? Yeah, I mean, I'm guessing it was slightly different
for you because it was like somebody already had opened
some of those doors and been like, what's behind the exactly?
Speaker 6 (26:44):
And I kind of I didn't want to. I'm very private.
I'm a very shy person. I wanted to keep my
life private. And so I realized I have this power,
this platform to be able to share my story because
I'm not the only one. Like it's enough that I
Mexican American, and then I also have this platform that
people feel like they can't relate to me, or to
(27:05):
anybody in my circle or people you know, actions actors,
like they can't relate. But it's like, no, I want
to be able to open it up and show you guys,
like we're just as human as you. We grew up
all the same, I've gone through almost similar things, different things,
and if I if we have nothing to relate to,
let me help you.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
That's fine. Yeah, that's fine.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
There.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Now you see that our culture has been expanded in
all kinds of media, right, like all kinds of platforms
and genres and all that, and you know, we come
full circle. To podcasting, which is a new frontier for Latinos.
And you think about you know, I know you're no
stranger to it, and obviously you're no stranger to it too,
and then you also have a lot of podcasts experience too.
But I when I think about podcasts, I think about
(27:57):
this this new frontier for Latinos to discover. Now not
only you know, we're not only an ocean of versions
of them, you know, but stories that perhaps are not
ready for a movie, perhaps I'm not ready for a
TV show. And it's just like another medium that really expands,
and it's a very exciting one because this is one
we can really control. This is one where we can
really create the narrative, but we can really find it.
(28:19):
And one of the things I'm incredibly proud of for
Michael Tuda Podcast Network is to get out of the
way and we empowered. We just like tell the story,
you go, you go. You know what was your feeling
was you experience with podcasting? What you know, what triggered
what emotions? And then they did it fascinate you The
fact that you can entertain people on because you did scripted.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
I'm timescripted. I'm done, Like nonscripted. You know, it's as
you were talking about, I thought.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
One of the things we're doing right now is like
we're sitting around, you know, shooting like and I think
that that I mean, whatever kind of family, family group
or chosen family you come from, that is a part
of connecting with your family, and like that traditionally, Like
when I think about my family's tradition, like Nochuana is
a big one where we're like we're up until midnight.
(29:05):
We're up until midnight, and like there's a lot of wine,
there's a lot of food. People are just talking and
like everyone's going around telling a story. It's so loud.
Everyone's voices are like on top of each other. But
like the storytelling and the sharing of like particularly the
specific family history, our specific stories of that family and
(29:25):
what we've been through and what we've lived through and
how funny it was or how sad it was, and
how hard it was or how beautiful it was. It
all gets rehashed on those holidays. And I think, in
a small way, I think that that's what podcasting and
storytelling through podcasts can do because it's just audio, right,
Like the families, I was sitting down to watch like
all of our family movies. We're telling each other, we're
(29:48):
reliving it with each other, We're telling each other, or
we're like talking about stuff that.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
I mean, I can't tell you how many holidays I've
had more.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
I'm like, what what like where you're just finding stuff
out all the time.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
And I think that that's.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Part of that, right absolutely? And look, I mean how
often the four of us going to be in the
same space together, share our stories, get to know each other,
give people a chance to get to know us without
formats like this, you know, I mean, who knows? You know,
hopefully a lot. Hopefully there's plenty of work that's going
to be had and we'll get to celebrate and tell
stories together. But to actually share our experiences that I'm
(30:23):
sure many people can relate to some version of our
experience or another. Like, you know, it is wonderful to
have a place where people can actually go source that
and what if.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
You important tradition to start and be able to pass
down and historically record some of our thoughts, some of
our stories, some of our genre, some of you know,
some of our lessons you know, through this medium that
can be passed down and be heard generations and generations.
What's been your experience so far? What's the most special
thing of we're making your show?
Speaker 4 (30:49):
Oh my god.
Speaker 6 (30:50):
Well, first of all, just I think Mike Utura the
network itself, like for someone Latino specifically to find a place,
like I said before, like I'd never felt like I
had a place like in school because I was Latina
or now there's a specific network that you can find
in different podcasts to relate to different stories. Exactly, it's
(31:11):
a community and everybody's like, oh wow, I can connect
with this person and this person, And for me, it's
the same thing storytelling.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
For me, it's healing.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
I heal my inner child, talking about these things or
experiences that I didn't get to have as a child,
and hearing my guests and hearing their experiences as well,
and kind of just bring some truth into light of
how you know, our traumas and growing up it was
never easy, but at the end of the day, we
had our family, we had people to connect with.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
And I think that.
Speaker 6 (31:40):
For me when I created the podcast, like it took
me a couple of years. It was always an idea
in the back of my head, like I want to
do it, but I'm too shy.
Speaker 4 (31:47):
Will people watch it or whatever?
Speaker 6 (31:49):
And I'm like, you know what, let me just do it.
And whoever will listen will listen, and who can connect
will connect, And for me that's the most important part,
especially you know, being Latina, Like traumas are there's a
lot of traumas sadly, but they're so healing and so
rewarding as well. And to be able to have these
recorded and to show the future generations like Okay, let's
(32:11):
talk about it, let's heal it, and let's see where
we can move on and get better in the next generation.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
So, as we wrap our beautiful conversations, by the way,
there are a lot of a lot of honesty and
a lot of love has been shared and it's really
fun to relive. And I'm so excited that you guys,
we're able to get this person with your stories and
your origin because we never get a chance to like
really celebrate, like how did the wind that it happened?
You know, as we kind of go down our chat,
those two things I wanted to ask, like what specific
(32:38):
Latino tradition we're passing down to the next gen. That
would be one that I love for everyone to answer trauma.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
No, no, no, just the easiest want to hand over. You
know that's it, be a perfectly excused from it too,
because you know yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
And then the last thing is, you know what advice
would you give somebody who is being inspired by this
conversation and saying not only I want to be mean,
but I want to do what they do.
Speaker 6 (33:08):
I'm gonna go ahead, and just if you are inspired
to be yourself, I think most importantly, I know that
sounds so cliche, but I know people get embarrassed or
shamed sometimes from where they come from. It's like no,
like own it, learn from it, and kind of just
be who you are, don't be.
Speaker 4 (33:27):
Afraid to step out, do whatever you need to do.
Speaker 6 (33:30):
And who will love you will love you, and that's it.
And if they don't, they're not meant to be a
part of your life.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
So I think Spanish.
Speaker 6 (33:36):
I think I'm gonna pass that true.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
I'm gonna teach the kids Spanish.
Speaker 6 (33:41):
I feel like rather know two more languages than just one.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
So in terms of tradition or like passing down, I
think a lot of it for our family is going
to be food. I think that's a big way to
connect with my ancestors who passed and things like, I mean,
I'm not really religious, but I love the tradition of buana.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
I think it's so fun.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
It's so exciting for I see my like all my
little cousins like losing their minds, you know, like waiting
for midnight.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
That's so that's something that I think is just going to.
Speaker 5 (34:15):
Be really talking.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
And like I think my advice, I mean, my advice
is very practical.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
Is it dumbed?
Speaker 1 (34:25):
No, Listen, there's a tool for every house savior money. Yeah.
I think my dad definitely didn't tease me that.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
Because I feel like I grew up in a lot
of lack. There was a lot of lack in my household.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
And I think when there's a lot of lack, and
it's not for everyone, not everyone's experience is this, but
when there is a sense of lack, there can be
a sense of like I'm going to lose everything that
I have, or I'm gonna, you know, if I make money,
like it's.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
Going to just go away, so I better send it now,
you know.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
And I wish someone had said to me earlier, like
it's going to come and go. But there's a way
to learn how to be smart with it and financial
like smartness.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
I don't know what financial for.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
Everybody, like under their access access points for everyone, and
the Internet is the greatest library there's ever been. You know,
don't go down a rabbit hole, but like, no.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Go down the rabbit hole. Yeah, yeah, but I think
that's a beautiful day because I just opening up that conversation.
Speaker 4 (35:32):
I mean, yeah, my parents didn't have.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
No and when you don't have, you feel guilty about well,
you also feel guilty about even bringing the subject up
because the last thing you want to talk about is
something you don't have. Like I don't want to talk
about money if I don't have it. It would really I
don't want to talk about that.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
My mom writing checks at the grocery store, and I'd
be like trying to learn how to write a check
looking over her shoulders. She'd be like with it, like
she would make me go away because she was nervous
about like mentally balancing how she was going to do
what I'm.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
Going to do now.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Yeah, And like so even if that's how I grew
up or whatever. When I think about especially like young
artists coming into a business that is there's lots of variables.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
It's like save your money, Like.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
You don't you're gonna have your eyes and lows and
you want to be able to make good choices. You
got to have some money in the bank to support
those choices.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
And wanting to like yeah, go out like do it big,
get that fancy perse or whatever.
Speaker 4 (36:28):
But like, yes, that.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Person said your back said your bag.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
Yeah I was very boring, but oh no, no.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
It's actually believe it or not.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
It's probably one of the most important things for any
future artists to understand that, you know, it's not just
like quitting everything you know because you're about to be
This is that you have to pay a road in
a runway so you could really give it the best
shot at becoming who you want to become.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Also, like we're like on the cusp of creating a
new world in which there's generational wealth in the United
States for Latinos. It's happening now, it's already happening, you know,
and there's gonna be more and more of us that
are giving that to our families and trying to like
get things in place to have that be the truth.
(37:14):
And like that's so exciting to me to think about like,
it doesn't have to be what you grew up with.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
It could be something to absolutely, but it's great that
you open that people's minds to that. Like I try
to pass down that same advice very often as often
as possible, because I think it's critical. I'm with Stephanie
on everything, just everything we've talked about. He yes, food
is a big thing. Food and music with big things,
(37:43):
you know, because I think those things they just they
stay with you in a way that no matter where
you are in the world, no matter what's going on
in your life, when those things you smell something that's familiar,
or you taste something familiar, or you hear music, you know,
those things I think just have a way of of
touching our soul that I whatever it is, whether some
(38:04):
of its Spanish music, whether some of its American music,
whatever that is, you know, And I think it's about
creating the memories. Like when you create the memory around
the thing, the thing has relevance, you know, by itself.
It's like, okay, it's a play to savicha. But if
I used to eat sevichia with my grandmother, then we
had music in the background and the smell of that
and something else going on. All of a sudden, you're transported,
(38:26):
and those are the things you can take with you
no matter where you are in life, no matter whether
you're up or down. Those are the things that I
think give us.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Recipes are coades, our coades to our memories into Harrison
Jules for sure.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Yes, history, this was what was available. This is what
we did with it. This is how we throw it.
Most of our amazing cuisine.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
It's because that's what was available, of course, you know,
And it's a beautiful thing to think about it. This
was food that was that was capable impossible for everyone
in the community and generally with love.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Oh yeah, and I love what you said. Be you,
you know, be you everything that that feels like to you,
because you know your mom came from here and your
dad came from here, whatever. Embrace all of it because
that is you. Be that. Be embraced that you know,
and then be who you want to be. But embrace
that because that is the foundation, you know, whatever that is. No,
(39:16):
I'm so my advice though I didn't get to. Oh
I found your advice would be no, no, no, no,
but no, no, just my little advice. No, no, it's
a little just a little thing is like, continue the dialogue,
you know what I mean, don't be afraid to have
these conversations. Elevate the level of conversation you have with
your friends. And if you're not having good conversation with
your friends, get better friends, you know, talk about things
(39:37):
that are meaningful. We're living in a time where you know,
so much of what's thrown at us that we're bombarded with,
whether it's you know, coming from TV, radio, whatever radio
is now, like so many things are vibrating at a
low frequency right now. When whenever and wherever you can
do it, elevate, you know, elevate the conversation, you know.
Speaker 4 (40:00):
Here and there.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
Once in a while, you know. Yeah, but I'm saying,
don't live there, you know, don't live there. It's just
easy to do.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
So I think for me, it's going to be making
sure that my daughter knows out a sausa dance. Yeah,
as number one, I think that she absolutely loves dancing.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
So we know for a fact that they didn't for far.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
And like one simple advice is so important to have
a plan, but it's even more important to be bold.
You gotta be bald. You can't be timid. With your ideas.
You have to be you have to be bald where
you're talent and whold you feel you are you know,
and I think, uh, and never forget that, you know,
your heritage is really a part of your superpower and
then that's the identity that gives you that fire to
(40:46):
actually get it done. Really trust that your heritage is
giving you this uploadable decode in there that I will
upload when you have the next challenge and it will
get you.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Through it, you know.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
So I would say, trust your God and then, you know,
for the fans is every single sway. But with that,
thank you so much for being part of the Michael
Tuda family and really really grateful that you will share
your stories. This has been a production of Michael Tuda
(41:18):
podcast Network in partnership with Word Agency and WV Sound.
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