October 23, 2025 • 48 mins
In this powerful and honest conversation, journalist Paola Ramos gets personal talk about everything from her global upbringing to her life now as a proud Latina voice shaping modern journalism.
The daughter of legendary journalist Jorge Ramos, Paola opens up about carving her own lane in media from field reporting on immigration and ICE raids to launching a brand-new podcast alongside her iconic father. We talk about growing up between Miami and Madrid, being raised by a fierce Cuban mom, and eventually finding her community in Brooklyn, where she now works, creates, and thrives (dog mom life included 🐶).
Paola gets real about what it means to speak truth to power in today’s political climate, the responsibility of journalists to tell stories from the ground up, and why Latinos everywhere must stay informed and united. She also drops gems about content creation, finding your voice, and how she shoots those stunning straight to camera clips right from her living room. Smart, witty, and grounded, Paola reminds us that even with a famous last name she’s still a regular Latina using her platform to push culture and truth forward. 🇨🇺🇲🇽🗽 🎧
Don’t miss her new podcast, “The Moment with Jorge Ramos and Paola Ramos” available now wherever you listen to podcasts.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German. Welcome to
another episode of Gracias Come Again. Today, I am sitting
down with journalist, author, Emmy Award winner. What else? What
else can I add to that? I feel like it's
a lot, but give me some more, give me some more.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
My dad would say Harvard, Columbia, all those things, but no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I saw harv like Harvard.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
He cried, he cried when I got in. I think
that's like now. For him, was like the American dream.
And so I just I had I had a hard
time at Harvard.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
So I was kind of skippet and my dad, who
are we talking about?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
That guy? The silver Fox?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Dude them if you are Latino, you know exactly who
we're talking about Luama, And we all cried when it
was like, well he's not gone, but you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Completely, you know what's funny. So when I was growing,
that was that was a story. So at the beginning,
it was it was, you know, I watched your dad,
and then it's my mom watches your dad, and then
it was my grandma watches your dad. So I think,
you know, it grew, it grew, and it grew it.
But the beauty is I mean, he's obviously he was
on air for for longer than I've been around, So
(01:17):
he was on air for forty years essentially when you
see him, and the beautiful thing for me growing up
alongside that is is literally like watching him walking through
the streets or going into restaurants and seeing the way
that people like trust him and recognize him. And that's
been that's always been beautiful. That's part.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
He's the media. I think, you know, he's our guy. Man,
if he said it, we believed.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
It, you know what I'm saying. And that's so hard.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
These very hard. It's just like now it's like if
you say it, we're questioning it.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
It's like gone a the days of like, yo, that's
my guy, your medical and it's like, okay, that was
law in the house because you know, he the reputation
he had, you know, the credibility he had, the way
he delivered. I don't think it's ever gonna be done
ever again, I.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Don't think so. I think the tradition ay of just
we're just talking about, of cable news is dying now.
So this idea that every day now you would put
on and let the Seattle the newscast at six thirty PM.
That tradition is dying, and even for us Latinos right
where we're younger, we speak more English and Spanish were
us born, and so everything is changing so fast. But
I think the consistency that he is able to bring
(02:25):
of that, that trust, and that I think is I
hope know what we're all aiming for.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
And I love you. Know, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I came.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
I didn't know you were his daughter good and I
saw you and I was.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Like, who is this?
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Why is she spinning all these fucking facts?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
And I'm like, I.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Guess I'm gonna follow her. And then I was like, wait,
hold on, her eyes are so beautiful. Yeah, she's kind
of cute. I'm like, hold on, are you gay?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
All of a sudden has a gay daughter?
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I know, all of a sudden, I'm like, am I am?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I liking her?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
But then I realized, I'm like, I like how bold
she is, how forward she and you just felt like
you ain't have shit to lose. You were like, I'm
gonna put these facts out here. And then I'm like,
she reading, because how the fuck do you do this?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I So I think I went to a school. So
my parents separated when I was very young, and so
I grew up in why I Makekana. My mom's Cuban.
My dad is obviously Mexican, and when my parents vibrated,
they were both journalists, like good journalists. They met in
the station, and like a good Cuban in Mexican, that
marriage typically doesn't work, and so they split up, and
(03:34):
so my mom and I went to Spain. But anyway,
as long story short, I went to a very specific
school in Spain where they forced us to memorize so much.
So I spent like fifteen years of my life memorizing
and memorizing and memorizing, and so it's very easy for
me to now like look at scripts and look out
words and I kind of just like retain it and
somehow it's it's helped me out and it's my career.
(03:55):
This skill. I don't know if it's I don't know
if it's I don't know, but it's it's almost like
because I see things, I see numbers, and I'm like
it just stays in my brain. But thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I know, like for a while I didn't know you
were related to whole damas. But I'm like, Yo, this
chick is fucking dope. And I just loved, like, you know,
you were just so bold and you knew what the
fuck you were talking about. Because there's a lot of
bold motherfuckers out here talking a lot of shit online
but they don't know. But with you, and then also
the people reposting you were just equally as you know,
(04:25):
just solid and reputable. I'm like, nah, this is somebody.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I appreciate that coming from you.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
And it's been years now and I'm like, yeah, and
you're growing and you're getting better, and you're just becoming
more visible, and everybody in my space now knows who
you are.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
No, thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
It's like you're for us and it just feels good
and I like it. I love that you exist.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
No. I Well, I, like I said, coming from you,
I appreciate that a lot, and I never take it
for granted. And I think going back to my dad
and my mom, honestly, and the principles were always the same. Now,
if you have a platform, your responsibility is to hold
you bill accountable and hold power accountable, and that that
is always what I was taught to do, and so
this space what we do, Like I that I never
(05:06):
take for granted. So thank you for saying that.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
And the lighting wherever you record. I'm like, I said,
where is she?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
That's Brooklyn. That's it. It's just good. So you just
got the window, I got the windows. Nah, you've been catching.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
The I'm like, no, no, no, no, And I said, I
got to ask of what time she'd be recording, because shit,
that some be hitting.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Six thirty pm.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
She's like, you won't see these wise, What are your eyes.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Blue or green? They're green, They're green.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
You won't catch these eyes that I love, love, love,
Now journalism. Did you always know you were going to
do journalism or did you want to do something else?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
No? So, I actually I studied political science. So look
in my family, you know Cuban exiles. Obviously my dad
immigrated here. The same idea was this American dream is
so so it was always between journalism and politics. Both
of those worlds were intertwined. But when I went to school,
I studied political science. I graduated at a time when
(05:56):
Barack Obama was entering the White House, and so I
to very much part of that movement. I organized for him,
and so I spent the beginning of my career. I'm
not that old, but the beginning of my career in politics,
and so worked at the White House, did Obama campaign,
did Hillary Clinton campaign, And then comes the twenty sixteen election,
and so in that moment, so much of my job
(06:19):
was allegedly understanding who our community was. Then so much
of that story was that in the face of someone
like Donald Trump, the numbers said this, every survey said this,
every poster said that Latinos would sort of rise in
the face of Trump at these like unprecedented numbers, and
that didn't happen, obviously, And so I think that campaign
(06:40):
kind of inspired me to leave politics and to truly
try and ask the questions from outside that it couldn't
honestly understand from inside. And then journalism felt very natural,
literally like once I stepped into a studio again, or
you know, did a direct to camera like it, it
felt it felt like what my dad would always tell me,
would WHI if it doesn't feel like work, you're in
(07:01):
the right space. And it's never felt like work.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I'm so happy that you were able to find that,
you know, because we go a lot of different directions
and sometimes, you know, we find our calling later in life,
but you found it early.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
But I love people that reinvent themselves too. And I
think this, you know, I think we've always been told
to you know, you stick to one thing. You kind
of have to do these jobs forever. But I love
seeing people around me that are flexible, you know, with
the way that life takes them and wherever their inspiration
draws them to. And I think this idea of like
reinventing yourself and kind of going where you think the
(07:34):
power is Like I've I kind of I like that idea.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, where are you now? Mentally? How do you feel
the work, about the work that you're doing. Do you
feel like you need to do more? Do you feel
like you're in a sweet spot.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
I always feel like I need to do more, which
I think is I think in this world of journalism,
I think it's it weighs on you know that there's
always a story to tell, there's always someone that wants
to talk to you, and there just isn't enough time.
And I think in the environment that we're in politically,
I think it is so overwhelming, you know the amount
of stuff that's coming from DC. So I feel very
(08:09):
overwhelmed every day, truly, like every single day I wake
up and I'm like, I should have done this, I
should have done that. And obviously it's you know, you
can't be that hard on yourself, but but I, if
I'm being honest, it is a very overwhelming moment to
be in right now. It is how do you feel?
Every day?
Speaker 1 (08:24):
I'm like, is this just never going to stop? It's
just like everything that comes out of this administration, everything
that comes out of the White House, I'm like.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
What is this?
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Who does this?
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Like?
Speaker 1 (08:32):
What did he say? What's going on? It's overwhelming, to
say the least, to follow, yeah, to experience it, and
you know, just to see what our people are going
through right now. That's what really affects me the most.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
The work.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
I don't care if it's reporting, if it's editorial, if
it's speaking on a microphone, I don't care. It's going
to get done.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Work is work, exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
But when you see the way that you know that
we're being treated and the way we're being targeted and
the way we're being painted, it's something I've never seen.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
But I agree, and I think that's what haunts me, know, like,
how do you capture that nuance and that sentiment? And
do a justice And I think it's really hard for
many reasons. A A lot of people don't want to
speak right now, obviously because there's a lot of fear.
There's also a lot of sensationalism. I think know in
the media, this idea that when they talk about us,
it's always raids and Trump, and so I think getting
(09:22):
outside of that narrative is hard, but you also have
to do that right. So it's this really weird balance
of like how do you tell the story of immigration
without falling into the sensationalisms? And I think that's hard.
And then also one of the things that I keep
thinking about a lot within these narratives is going back
to this idea of the American dream and how people
(09:43):
are truly like letting go of that, you know, and
choosing to leave and choosing to self deport or making
the decision of like is it worth it? And I
think that, to me is like such a profound question
to suddenly be pondering after thirty plus years of being here,
like it is is it all worth it? Or was
this a myth or not? And I think that's like
that weighs on me a lot.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
It is, And I was snow. The product was here
a couple of weeks ago, and she told me her
parents went back. Really, She's like, my parents are in Mexico.
She's like, and I'm going to go to Mexico. She's like,
the plan is to return, yes. And it's crazy because
before it was just like we're here the American dream.
Don't ever see that everybody's working, We're good. Now it's
just like I'm going home.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
It's crazy, But that's to me, that's that's the story, right,
like the raids and the massiveportations, of course, but I
think like if you really think about the fact now
that there could be generations of immigrants and generations of
Latinos and that are finding whatever we were looking for
in the US elsewhere, and think of what that means
(11:00):
is ten twenty thirty years from now, like that completely
changes what the unit sty is supposed to be about,
because it is it is still like an unfinished story
of you know, are we are not this exceptional country?
But if if we no longer see this as what
we thought it was, like that has profound consequences. To
your point, Like every story that I've been doing the
last month, I would say seven out of time people
(11:23):
have told me the same thing, that they want to
go home.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
And when you ask them why, when you say the
word home, right, yeah, it's like we thought we were
homewa exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
But and when you ask them why, like yes, the
raids and you know, yes, it's really hard economically, you know.
They all those that believed in and Trump's economic promise,
a lot of them feel very led down. But then
I keep hearing this idea of the how do you
say that in English? Like the peace of mind?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah, and that is that's that's such an important thing,
not to live without peace of mind.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
It's like as a Latino right now, even driving will
have you on edge. What if I get pulled over?
What if there's an issue? What if I get caught
in some type of like you know, raid, And who
the hell can live like that? Nobody status was questionable.
I'm getting the fuck out of here now, going back
to the Medigan Republic where I can sleep in peace.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Yeah, yeah, I'm.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Not gonna be here. This is this is trauma right now.
What's happening?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
It is? It is trauma. And I think, you know,
I think for for for this White House, I think
that the combination of a presidency that that truly revolves
around in this crackdown, you know this, I mean the
heart of this presidency is truly about obviously like mass
reportations and them delivering on this promise. But I think
then you start to understand that so much of the
(12:43):
way that they're doing it is done with retribution and revenge. Hey,
truelty and hatred. And this is like again like purely objective,
Like turn on your TV and see the way that
these police officers and ice agents and that the military
is now being trained to look at immigrants, Like the
way that stare is one of resentment. It is.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
It's just like I saw the video of the lady
that was with her husband, you know, at the courthouse. Yeah,
the way this exactly agent handled her. I'm like, you're
fucking disgusting. Like this is a woman, her children are there,
there's no heart.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
There's no heart that man. So her name is Monica,
She's like Godrian and exactly that's that's the image right there.
I know, instead of seeing her as Monica, as a mother,
as a wife, and even as an immigrant, you know,
I think we are we have been taught to dehumanize
each other so much, and and and and that's exactly
why why you get that now, that's exactly what you see.
(13:41):
I mean even today, right like even this week, they're
they're not just rating and going after quote unquote criminals,
they're also literally separating families and American citizens are being
tangled and caught in between all of this. And It's
okay because at the end of the day, I think
this is an administration that like fundamentally believes that you're
an immigrant, legal or not, and you are not worthy
(14:04):
of the type of treatment of belonging and feeling that.
And I think it comes down to that ideology.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
I never thought I would see the day ever. And
you know, I'm born and raised in America. My parents
were immigrants, and we existed and you know, we went
to government offices and you know, sometimes we got help
from the government, and I never felt the way I
feel now, Like it makes me want to fucking cry.
I'm like, yoah, like we're going to court to get
our paperwork in order, and this is what's happening. You're
(14:33):
arresting us, you're deporting us, and we've spent ten thousand
dollars trying to get our status in order, like so
fucking unfair. I hate it, like I hate and we
can't ignore it. I'm sorry, it's just it's blatant.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah, I also never thought we would be here. I
think I, or actually my dad and I talk about
this all the time. I think he's someone that is
so still committed to this idea of the American dream,
and he has so much faith in what this country
is like supposed to promise. And I think maybe it's
(15:06):
like the younger generation, maybe it's because we're kind of
more clear eyed about the like the darker parts of
our history maybe than like the older generation that kind
of was taught to like assimilate, put your head down,
be grateful, know for what for what you get to
do in this country. But I think I I'm very
aware of what this country is capable of none where
(15:26):
we've been in the past, and so in that sense,
I'm not truly shocked know that there.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Is we take it back to, you know, slavery and
African Americans, and we know what this country is capable
of exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
And as as we turn majority minority, as we inch
closer to like a twenty forty five, as people of
color continue to step into these positions of power, I
think the the instinct of some to prevent that grows stronger.
And so I think that's kind of this like tipping
point where we are where like that we're getting closer
(15:59):
to that future and the impulse to kind of return
us back to that comfort zone is kind of where
we're at right now.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
So what are we doing here Latinos for Trump? Where
they at right now?
Speaker 2 (16:14):
I think that's the question. I think I'll tell you
that just Miami, right from Miami.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
So that's where that's where I learned about Latinos for
Trump in Miami.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
But now it's I'm like, what is this? What am I?
Speaker 1 (16:26):
What am I seeing right now?
Speaker 2 (16:27):
So I think that the story was maybe like seven
years ago that the Latino for Trump movement would kind
of stay in Miami, right because because of the Cuban story,
and so, you know, most people don't know that that
Cubans typically and historically have have voted for Republicans at
higher rates. The Cuban experience is very different from like
any other immigrants because of this very kind of easy
(16:52):
pathway to citizenship that then kind of prevents them from
ever seeing themselves at it as immigrants and anyone that
has gone to Miami, you're kind of in a bubble.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
It is a bubble. It's the way Cubans experience, you know,
immigration is very different than let's say Americano in Queens.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
You don't experience immigration. That's his point.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
I'm saying, like, is not. It's not comfortable, it's not.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
And then but I always think about it for for
for so many of those Cubans for Trump, I'm like,
you leave Miami, now, go to any other state in
this country, and then tell me what you experience. And
I think that that you know that that story hasn't
really happened there. But I think the larger story is
that that Miami story grew into a national story, and
(17:38):
the Ladino for Trump movement is everywhere. It's in the Bronx,
it's at the border, it's in California.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
It is a trade to wrap.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, exactly. But I think if you look at the
month before the election, right, what the polls were showing
you is that seventy percent of Latinos that were listening
to Trump and listening to his stump speeches and listening
to the insult seventy of us, did not think that
he was talking about us when he was insulting immigrants.
(18:06):
And so now we are, you know, in this current
state of America, and from what I'm seeing on the
road and hearing on the road, the majority of Latinos
for Trump that I'm speaking to now do feel let down.
Mostly the number one reason is economics. They don't feel
like they have enough. They feel let down that Donald
(18:27):
Trump made all these promises, and then the question is
always like, where's the money you know he promised he
promised on theos And then I think the the interesting
thing then is when you start talking about immigration. More
people believed when he was saying that he was only
going after the criminals, and now there's like, but wait
a second, what about the good ones? Fine, so there's
(18:48):
kind of this sense of remorse that I'm feeling. But
then when it gets interesting and complicated, is that suddenly
when you start to talk about crime and when you
start to talk about like the chaos in the streets,
then is when they start to once again see and
feel something in Trump. Now, they feel security, they feel
empowerment with Trump. And that's why I don't think we're
at a point where we can say that, like all
(19:10):
that forty eight percent of the lat Na vote will
go back to the Democrats. No, because that's another question
like where are the Democrats right? Like what are they promising?
That's a whole other discussion. But I think it's it's
too early. It's too early to tell him that Trump
has lost them. And I think we would be making
a big mistake if we kind of fall into the
trap of thinking that that remorse is stronger than like
(19:32):
the grievances that Trump was able to tap into. You know,
it's complicated.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
It is both My parents were Trump people.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
What do they tell you when they voted for him? Like,
what were the main reasons?
Speaker 1 (19:44):
He's a great businessman. Yeah, he's a great businessman. He's
gonna run America like a business. He's going to run
America like a business. I'm like, okay, how do you
feel now? How did he do? And they're just like, well,
I don't know. You know, it's different. It's not what
I expect them. Here you go, hmm, you helped put
us here.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
I say it to them, Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, I mean I think the politics is feelings. It's
he he he never sold his policies He never went
out there with like, you know, really good thought out
economic plans, but he he gave people feelings and on
things to to attach themselves to, and and and and
(20:39):
it worked, it did. But I don't know if Yeah,
I think I see a lot of the the infighting
between us too.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Oh No, definitely, it's like we're like, you know what
I'm saying, it is, but we we definitely have to
band together like as Latinos that you know. I feel
like we have to work even twice as harder now
to prove our cation to our worth, even within companies,
because I feel like what he's doing is tarnishing our
image straight across the board totally, whether you walk into
(21:09):
a bank, whether you're at work, whether you're in school.
I hate where we're at. Yeah, so I felt like
we were so at the top. You know what I'm saying,
We're hard workers, We helped build this country. This country
don't run without us. Now, it's just get them all
out of here.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, yeah, I think so. And I think that that
organically like tarnishes people's pride in themselves, know they're they're
like self worth, and that that is something that I
also hear even for like a lot of Cubans that
were either a political or even voted for him for
the first time ever. I've heard. The other day, I
was talking to this woman voted for Trump. Her husband
(21:43):
was an alligator Alcatraz, this Chilean man, and he's now
in another detention center. And she again, she's she's one
of many examples of Cubans and Latinos for Trump that
are now for the first time being impacted by immigration.
But then when she told me, it's like, oh, I'm
now these days, I'm like too scared even to go
to a CVS A medium, you know, because of the
(22:05):
way that they're looking at me. And and I think
that's it, you know, this the sense of pride that
is very much there because our numbers are there, like
our culture is there, like we're we make this country
run pretty much. But it's it's hard to keep your
head high right now. It is how depressing. We can't
(22:26):
we can't just talk about this.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Oh no, no, your favorite rapper right now? So we
can we could pivot real fast?
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Well, are you a rap? I feel like no. I
just I just got back from Bad Bunny.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I will say that I want no.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I went before him. He cobbied me.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Oh, he said, listen, I went before that me.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Yeah. Yeah. He was like, oh yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
I'm like, yeah, go Bad Bunny.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
How was it in Porto Rico?
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Incredible?
Speaker 1 (22:52):
How was the vibe?
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Incredible? If you're home, right, you know what's interesting. I
not to keep talking about politics, so excuse me, but
in the room I saw a lot of I saw
two people that I recognized from Miami that were like
leaders of the Latinos for Trump movement at the Bad
Bunny concert, and all I was thinking was like, this
is the only person in this country in this moment
(23:14):
that can bring together all I was like, I don't
even know if they're aware of like what the lyrics
mean and like the sentiment that he's trying to evoke.
But I was like, this, this man is the only
person that can bring together all these people.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
But it was incredible because Latino you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
No, I mean, it's it's it's resilience, it's it's history.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
It's what that man's been able to do. Man. Yeah,
I got fucking dope.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Is that? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (23:42):
All those days, all those concerts, and then now he's
taking it on the road, people like, hey, you want
to see Bad Bunny in Brazil. I'm like, no, that
would be like six thousand dollars. I love Ben. You
went to Puerto Rico. Who did you go with?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
From friends? Friends, college friends?
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah, you guys planned it? Or did you win the lottery?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
No, no, it was it was last minnings. We like,
the tickets were out of control and so we literally
booked it like two days before because we found like,
how were you seeing the tickets?
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Because some of my friends went and they were like,
we were so high. I'm like, but you went.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
We were. We were. We were down there. We weren't
like by like a sea there or anything, but we were.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I was like.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
No, I tried, but I could not. Im kidding. No,
it was it was the day. Who was there? Was
like Marcelo was there? No this, and like the Stephans
were there. So it was actually like the Miami night.
And I will say that, but I was not there.
I'm not I'm not that cool.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
I'm happy. You know that he's doing Super Bowl halftime.
I'm like, oh, yeah, that's what That's what I'm happy
about for sure.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
And this idea, like this criticism I keep seeing these
TikTok because are like they're like, how this is so
an American. I'm like, first of all, this man's an
American person. Americans love him, and but this that's the narrative. No,
like he's not American enough. Like what is like what
does that even mean today? And that's that's the problem
of all of this now that that's even to be defined.
(25:07):
I mean literally, you know, like this is like a
national security memo from the White House that is now
defining unamericanism, anti American, anti capitalism as these like words
that can now be seen as a threat.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I saw one of like Trump's top advisors talk about
ice agents will be at the Super Bowl. I'm like,
this motherfucker is so dumb, Like, who do you think
is buying these tickets? Exactly exactly you can said, I
told you we don't have fifteen thousand dollars to be
with the all over there in the Super Bowl. I
don't even know where it's at this year, in California.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
He's in California. I don't know where. We're not going
to school.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
You're not get your ship at super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
But that's exactly good.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
I was thinking, what, Yeah, stupid, but I'm I'm excited
about bad Bunny and you know what he's going to bring. Yeah,
and just the way he represents us, you know, resilient, successful, talented,
because the man is fucking talented. So good he is,
he is you always.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
I've always liked them. I have always liked them.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
He's so he thinks so outside the box, you know
everything you know being and I like, you know what
I'm saying, Like it's just from he encompasses so many
different things. You know, when he went off with the Kardashians,
that was a little questionable, but you.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Know, but here he liked it.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
He liked it and he went back, Okay, just go
back to what you you enjoyed it. But nah, he's
just super super dope.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
And what did he say? He was like, you can't
be with people that don't know your music. What is it?
Speaker 3 (26:32):
He said?
Speaker 1 (26:33):
But how can you vibe out the scene together? But
music is felt.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
You know.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Some of the people that are saying, like, I don't
understand it, Like what what do you feel music? I
love afrobeats, so my favorite, Like I love I love
reggae music. I'm not saying the ship they're saying but
I feel it and I danced with not even mimic
the words, because music is to be felt, not understood,
and I need America to understand that that bunny is
the biggest pop star in the world right now, like
(26:59):
he is a super star. You can't take it away
from the man. Last year we had Kendrick Lamar, he
was having a year. This year we have been Needle.
He's having a year. Let the man do his thing. Yeah, Now,
how'd you end up in Brooklyn?
Speaker 2 (27:11):
That's what I want to I So I moved here
for college, and then I left for I left New
York City. I moved around, was in DC, Chicago, Boston
mostly for work, and then Yeah, mostly for work. This
is when I was in politics and also campaign life.
If I moved to Chicago for the Obama campaign, moved
(27:33):
to Boston for grad school, eventually came back to New
York City and ended up in Brooklyn because that's where
the Hillary Clinton campaign headquarters were. So when when Clinton loses,
I just I stayed in Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
You would sit after a people here.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
My my best friends have been here, like my my
college crew is still here, likely.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Like most of had community here.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
I had, Yeah, I had my people here and and
I think what I love is that I've been able
to kind of converge all these different worlds from politics
and media and college and grad school, and I have
the beauty and the privilege of a lot of my
friends kind of getting that. I mean, now it's been years,
but getting along and everyone's in Brooklyn. So that's been
(28:18):
I love that for you me too.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Brooklyn is just so fucking dope. Yeah, I know you're
in Williamsburg, right.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
I am in the South will Yeah. I mean it's
it's getting a little crazy. What do you mean, like
the there's a high rise every single every other day
that's being built in.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Front of high rises in the Bronx girl.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah, Well, you know, Brooklyn, the Brooklyn that I knew
when I was growing up is not the Brooklyn that's
there now.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I remember being in college and we would we would
go to what was it. It was like Studio A That's
what it was called in Williamsburg and it was like,
you know, like the cool warehouses. And now I mean
now there's like a Chanel so like like literally yeah,
there's like these like Chanelle pop boves and like whole
food so.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Things definitely change. Now you are a dog mom, I am.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
I am. Her name is Dita Golden Doodle. If she's
a mini golden doodle. That was very Is she crazy?
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Because I got one to what he kind of crazy?
Speaker 2 (29:14):
She she is? But she she has such an attitude.
I am in character and I want to finish man. Yeah,
she's I love her so much. And now I've I've been,
I've been not to keep, you know, kind of pivoting
into these dark subjects. But I've been thinking about her
mortality a lot lately. I don't know why wake up,
I know, get the past. She's six, I know, but
(29:40):
but I she's still young. She's still young. But I
don't know why I ended up in these like and
I know a lot of people do this, these like
reddit like comments.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
You went down the rabbit hole?
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Down the rabbit hole, and I was like, what can
I do for this sog to live as long as
many years as possible? I mean that I have, I would,
I would do that. But have I looked into it?
Speaker 1 (29:59):
What have about it?
Speaker 2 (30:00):
You've thought about it? Okay?
Speaker 1 (30:01):
You like, I wouldn't want my dog to see.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Either, I know, but they're never the same. I don't think.
I think the essence is gone. But no, Dida. Dida's
my my rolldog. She goes.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
You look at her eyes and you feel like you
could see a soul. Yes, me too, Yeah, I never
I feel like it's a golden toodle thing. I think
(30:35):
like many golden I think they have like human eyes.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Yeah they do. But I know for for those that
are not dog owners, I feel like when we get
in these like crazy like dog types, I'm like, do
people think we're crazy? Little? No, they do, like, yeah,
doesn't matter now.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I don't really care. I love dogs and people love dogs.
People send me the dogs all day on Instagram, looking
at my dog. Look what I both for my dog.
We find, we find our people, and I understand that
everybody's like that. Let's say my sister lost. She'll be like,
it's not a real baby, like keep it up, Christmas coming,
keep it up mom.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
My mom says that to my sister and I. So
here's the even cuter story. So my sister Gabby has Dida,
sister my dog sister. Yeah yeah, and your mother's probably
my mom.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
These are not you see all the memes talk about
new Grandma's Yeah. Yeah, So she's now thinking, where's your
mom now?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
So my mom is in Madrid, my mom, my mom.
So she I moved from Madrid to Miami when I
was sixteen, and my my mom, myself, and my sister
and my sister Gabby. So I come from a very
which I think is the norm these days, not from
a very complex, messy, big Latino family. Lots of divorces,
(31:56):
a lot of love, a lot of kids.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
But we all just have like my that's my that's
my half brother through my father.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Literally so many have so many step siblings and then
they have their own siblings. So we're a very big, messy,
beautiful family and somehow everyone still kind of gets along.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
I love each other.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Yeah yeah. And so my mom, my mom, and I. Well,
I moved back to the States when I was sixteen,
and my mom moved my sister and I back again,
this idea that she wanted my sister and I to
have an American education and learn English. And because believe
it or not, my English was really bad when I
was sixteen, r so bad. I would never guess I
(32:35):
went to l when I got to college because they
were like, you can't. Oh yeah, I would have never
guessed I don't know, and I always ask my parents.
I'm like, at what age, like when did I learn
to this day, because I went to school fully Spanish
school when I was in Madrid, and so to this day,
I'm always like when did I learn English? Like I
genuinely like, I don't. I don't know, but anyways, somehow
(32:56):
I did it. But when I first got to New
York City, when I went to college, they put me
in a in ANSL class because my English was not
adequate enough to take my English seminar fancy courses.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
On television or no.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Now my friends are like, how did you write a book?
And like how do you know how to talk? I'm like, bro,
I don't know, Like I literally don't know.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
You fucking killed it. I don't know you wrote a book?
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Yeah, no, I wrote I don't know to book?
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Two books?
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Right? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (33:28):
How did you decide? Like okay, do you put pen
to paper, do you open a laptop? Do you be
like Okay, I'm gonna start writing a book?
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Like how no? I had I think the idea honestly
that the twenty sixteen campaign was was very life changing
for many reasons. So the first book was really inspired
around this idea of going back to a lot of
these battleground states and kind of taking note of of
everyone that we neglected in that campaign, So all the
kind of the nuances that we were never talking about,
(33:55):
whether it was like queer Latinos after Latinos, everyone that
was identifying mo as like indigenous first in Latinos, in
rural areas, even Republicans, and through through that is how
I even meet like who was back then like the
chairman of the Proud Boys, and so it was. The
first book is really about understanding the diversity from within
that I think is what cost that campaign a lot
(34:17):
now that we just kind of did not understand our entirety,
know who we were back then. I think I was
more optimistic. I think that we had a lot more
kind of I did. Yeah, I was like, I was like, oh,
we're so different, but we still love each other, which
I think is still yes, the message, it is the message,
I know. But then the second book really becomes around,
(34:40):
you know, understanding why Trump was was getting so much
traction among us and then kind of posing a counter
feaces and counter question of you know, is is is
it a possibility that Ladinas that are supposed to be
at the heart of this like multi racial, multi ethnic
coalition that is allegedly, right, allegedly trying to push this
(35:04):
country towards a better version of itself. Is it even
possible that Latinas suddenly become a threat to that equation?
And it's an open question, right, But it really becomes
around understanding not just why Trump can do so well
among us, but the roots of that, you know, and
the roots of it is more complicated than politics. It's
(35:24):
it's deep, it's very deep. It's all the that like
the racial baggage that is so hard to talk about,
and kind of the weight of colonialism that is also
so hard to talk about, and the political trauma, and
like the way that all of that manifests in politics.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
It is it is a lot. You know, we talk about,
you know, Christopher Columbus, Yeah, colorism, we talk about classism, Yeah, colorism.
It's just a million different things when it comes to
us Latinos, you know, we're very we're very complex creatures.
And it varies from like Mexico, Puerto Rico, like we
all have our own nuances when it comes to.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Very different nuances. Yeah, but but still but still a
very but still the same kind of overshadowing factors of
like colonialism that I think then distort so many of
our of our views here, right, like the way that
we see race or talk about race, or even the
way that we choose to identify. And I think that's
what Trump was able to kind of tap into, you know,
(36:20):
when when they do this like us versus Them and
these like racial games, the idea that that the idea
that a that an after Latina from the Bronx could
see themselves reflected in that racial language that Trump does
very well. You know, you would never believe it, but
it precisely works because of the way that like these
(36:42):
racial hierarchies were institutionalized in Latin America for centuries, right,
And so I think all of that is at play constantly,
and I think, at least for me, like, we never
talked about this growing up, right, we never, like ever.
I remember the first time I was visiting my family
in Mexico and the first time that someone I think
(37:02):
said like, oh, black Mexicans are going to be part
of the census. I remember one of my aunts was
like wait, what, like there's black Mexicans in Mexican I'm like, yeah, what.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Sure her mind was blown?
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Yeah, but that is that's just you know, we never
have those conversations. I didn't.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Yeah, now you mentioned Mexico. When you're out in the field,
how do you keep it together? Man, it's just so
much going on. You're so vulnerable, you're so exposed. You're
meeting people that you don't know who they are. You
don't know how these stories could turn out. Yeah, how
are your nerves?
Speaker 2 (37:36):
So they're They're amazing at my best when I'm out there,
really because I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
It's like you're high.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Yeah literally, yeah no, but it truly it.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Feels is it because you're touching to people?
Speaker 2 (37:51):
I I just that's where like that is. That's that's
what motivates so much of my work. Like when I'm
it's the same, like whether it's I'm interviewing a cartel
member in Quadas or an asylum seeker in the real
Grand Valley, or you know, the freaking broad boys in Miami.
Like the curiosity truly to like to learn better something
(38:15):
that is so complex, Like I love that and I
and I never take for granted that people like allow
me into their spaces and then there's two things there.
I know, I think I spend a lot of time
with I have with like white supremises and white nationalists
and all these people. What you will you start to
learn is that their online personas are so different from
who they are in real you know, in real life.
(38:38):
And I will say that the thread particularly among a
lot of these men is that they are actually so insecure.
So when you face many of them, it's I think
it's very disarming to them, you know, to to to
to kind of be questioned by like a queer Latina
and and and and and to and to engage in
that is like, I don't know, I've I've always had
(39:01):
that experience mostly where I'm like, oh, wow, like you're
not the person that I thought you were, because I
do walk in at times anxious or scared, and then
it's like, oh okay, let me let me understand you.
And oftentimes you know, these like scary like latinos for
trump men or proud boys, or these like you know,
crazy evangelical like white Christian nationalist pastors. Like oftentimes we're
(39:26):
talking to people that are, like we were just saying,
like just trying to belong and find belonging, and that's
like that I can work with right as a journalist,
Like I can dissect that and I can ask you
about that, and I can kind of put the biases
to a side, and that I think is cool.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
The reason I ask this because every time I interview
somebody else is that I'm in my own space. I
am super secure here, and I still feel a sense
of like nervousness and like, yeah, what am I going
to expect? You're out there, like you're just exposed, like Afiram,
Like how the hell does she do this? My nerves
would be like, oh that they gotta put on the
other and at least three times before I meet the
person that No.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
For sure, No, but it's I do I I really
I love it and I love I mostly love when
when stories take you somewhere else, right, when you go
kind of with a said impression or with this idea
what a story is supposed to be, and then it
kind of turns into something. I was like, I love
those type of stories, but no, I'm I I feel
like that I get to do that.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
That's how you ended up with vice. I was a
love device. I remember when I found a vice. I
was like, wow, you found my channel. Like the content.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
I miss that type of journalism. Yeah, it was just
so raw.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
I was just so fucking real. I would watch a
Vice for hours and hours and hours and what was
it that happened with Vice?
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Do you know? Well? I was I mean it was money, right,
and I think the it was like and I think
about it, right, like the type of they would allow
us to go shoot these stories. Sometimes I would even
get two weeks to do a story like that's unthinkable
now right where they would literally allow us to They're like, oh,
you want to go to the Darren Jungle and like
across the jungle with migrants, go do it? Why Because
(41:03):
it's like that is a story that's worth it to
understand that you need to spend time and live it
and live it exactly. And that's the type of reporting
that they would allow us to do.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
Love for years, I miss it.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
And eventually, of course, right like that is a lot
of resources and money, and I think eventually like that
formula imploded, like it just it just wasn't sustainable. But
it was long form, and you know, we got to
do ten minute pieces, fifteen minute pieces, sometimes thirty minute
which is like unheard of today in this and present,
Like you don't. I mean, you're lucky. You're lucky if
(41:36):
you get to do like a three minute piece. Right.
We just function in sound bites on TV all day,
and so I think that those that formula just wasn't
sustainable and it just completely imploded and one day we
were all gone and fired. Yeah. I love it.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
I miss it. I remember when I discovered. I was like,
what the fuck is this? And where has this been
my whole life? Yeah, the stories just so raw, and
you know, shout out everybody whoever worked advice or had
anything to do, you know, with the channel itself and
with all the programming, because the way it was done
fucking top tier.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
It was really good.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
I don't think anybody I can't say like, oh, this
is comparable, because.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
I don't think there's anything like that anymore.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
I don't think so either.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
And maybe it'll come back, right, like, maybe maybe there's
a future in which we we get to do that again,
but but you're right, I don't think there's anything like that.
And also I think the audience is changing too, right,
like the like we are used to the soundbites and
the quick TikTok consumption or tension span is just so short,
and so it's I think that's also the question for us, right,
(42:40):
like how do you how do you inform an audience
that now and just wants to look at news just
through social media? And like, how do you how do
you talk to them?
Speaker 1 (42:48):
Yeah, it's crazy, it's you know a lot of people
tell me that I don't watch the news. I get
my news off of digital on social media. Whatever they
put on on their Instagram, whatever, put it on their Facebook,
and it's insane. But one thing that has changes podcasting,
like how dope is this?
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Well, I mean this is so this is new for us.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
You know, let's talk about your podcast.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Thank you, and it is a it's totally new. We
just we just launched a moment, Yes, very bad at
the bro. Yes it's called the Moment, and yes it's
it's it's just a conversation between my father and I
and in every episode we interview someone and the idea
(43:31):
was was simply to to try and and bring like
an intergenerational conversation between both of us and always have
a guest that allows us to make sense of the
time that we're at And so you know, we had
an interview with Zoran Mamdani, and we've interviewed you He's
gonna win, Yes, I do, I do, But then but
(43:52):
then again, right, we I'm always very cautious of polls today, Right,
he was pulling out one percent a year and a
half ago, and now he's he's the winner, and so
I think I've I've been always wary of of of polls,
but I do think he's gonna win. And then I
think it becomes a story of like, how is this
Democratic party willing or not to embrace someone like him? Right?
(44:16):
And I think that's that's the question, like, dude, does
he of course he has a shot in New York
City and I think he will do very well. But
then it's it's a larger question of you know, what
are the implications for a party that I think is
going through a very severe identity crisis, where like they
don't know who the hell they are or they're supposed
to be. So that's what I'm kind of looking out for.
And so yeah, we've interviewed Ora Mamdani, we had the
(44:39):
spehar she's a they are a TikTok influencer, and we're
gonna have Karine Jean Pierre, who was Biden's press secretary.
I'm very excited to talk to her.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Is it always going to lean towards politics.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
No, I think it's everything. I mean, I think the
idea is to to talk to anyone and and any
voice that that is relevant in the Latino community, entertainment, musicians.
I mean, you know, politics obviously is the top of
mind for my dad and I but no, I think
I think it's it should be as expansive as possible Republicans, Democrats,
(45:16):
but it's it's just I think, giving giving us a
space to to talk about these like complex political and
social and cultural issues. Yeah, as as you do. And
you've been doing.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
I love this for us.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
No, thank you.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
You're a part of Michael Dura podcast network. They linked
us together and they were like, oh not Almos like absolutely,
when give me the date, give me the time.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
You're you're the you're the best. I mean, you've been
doing this, and you've been leading these spaces, and you've
been such an advocate for for this type of content,
I know, for a really long time, and so.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
It is, you know, we have to create these spaces.
But and in the same breath. I want to say,
you have to support these spaces. If you're listening to
this episode, I want you to go, you know, binge, subscribe,
like whatever it is you need to do in the
moment with Amos, and I want you to follow it
beinge it and you know, follow her. Make sure you
(46:07):
support the content because if we don't support it and
we don't consume it, it's going to cease to exist.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
At the end of the day. It's like the numbers
have to you know, they have to be right. Yeah,
you know, we can't have you guys having these shows
if nobody's watching it. But if we're creating it for Latinos, Latinos,
you have.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
To support to show up. Yeah, whatever you say, Well, yes.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
I like you already.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
Yeah, and you have episodes every Wednesday, right, every Wednesday,
that's right. Yeah, So every every Wednesday, they drop in
the morning in wherever you listen to podcasts. We're also
filming them so because you know, that's the hard part
is my dad and I still function like we're in TV.
But but so there's there's like a there's a video
component to all of it.
Speaker 1 (46:52):
But yes, he's in New York too.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
He's in Miami. He's in Miami. But so far we've
we've been recording together. Good. We like that.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
I want to see you in the same room. No,
I'm not opposed, you know, but I like when the
interview is together and very crazy.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
I think so. But I also think I hope that
we get into a rhythm of just you know, doing
things wherever we are. I think that's also the beauty
and I the podcast where you can literally do it.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
Wherever, but audio. It doesn't bother me. I don't want
you can go on the road. I could take my
roadcaster and go all over the world there, you know,
and just interview people. But I'm super happy that you're here.
I'm super proud that you're here.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
The part of Michael Doda Podcast Network, and they're super
excited that you're here. I Radio and the whole team
at Michael. They made a big deal. They're like, hey,
when you guys launch, do you mind if we put
a commercial in your podcast? Absolutely know it now you
don't even have.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
To ask me.
Speaker 1 (47:47):
But now I'm happy that you hear and and I'm
super grateful that you came down. Of course from Brooklyn.
We sat down and I feel like this is the
first time that we're gonna link, but it's not going
to be the last.
Speaker 2 (47:57):
Not the last, absolutely no no. I thank you True
for for doing this with me and for supporting us
and leading the way in many ways.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Truly, Yes, I'll come again.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
I will.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
Grassiers Come Again is a production of Honey German Productions
in partnership with Iheartmcutura podcast Network.
Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German. Welcome to
another episode of Gracias Come Again. Today, I am sitting
down with journalist, author, Emmy Award winner. What else? What
else can I add to that? I feel like it's
a lot, but give me some more, give me some more.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
My dad would say Harvard, Columbia, all those things, but no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I saw harv like Harvard.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
He cried, he cried when I got in. I think
that's like now. For him, was like the American dream.
And so I just I had I had a hard
time at Harvard.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
So I was kind of skippet and my dad, who
are we talking about?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
That guy? The silver Fox?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Dude them if you are Latino, you know exactly who
we're talking about Luama, And we all cried when it
was like, well he's not gone, but you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Completely, you know what's funny. So when I was growing,
that was that was a story. So at the beginning,
it was it was, you know, I watched your dad,
and then it's my mom watches your dad, and then
it was my grandma watches your dad. So I think,
you know, it grew, it grew, and it grew it.
But the beauty is I mean, he's obviously he was
on air for for longer than I've been around, So
(01:17):
he was on air for forty years essentially when you
see him, and the beautiful thing for me growing up
alongside that is is literally like watching him walking through
the streets or going into restaurants and seeing the way
that people like trust him and recognize him. And that's
been that's always been beautiful. That's part.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
He's the media. I think, you know, he's our guy. Man,
if he said it, we believed.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
It, you know what I'm saying. And that's so hard.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
These very hard. It's just like now it's like if
you say it, we're questioning it.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
It's like gone a the days of like, yo, that's
my guy, your medical and it's like, okay, that was
law in the house because you know, he the reputation
he had, you know, the credibility he had, the way
he delivered. I don't think it's ever gonna be done
ever again, I.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Don't think so. I think the tradition ay of just
we're just talking about, of cable news is dying now.
So this idea that every day now you would put
on and let the Seattle the newscast at six thirty PM.
That tradition is dying, and even for us Latinos right
where we're younger, we speak more English and Spanish were
us born, and so everything is changing so fast. But
I think the consistency that he is able to bring
(02:25):
of that, that trust, and that I think is I
hope know what we're all aiming for.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
And I love you. Know, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I came.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
I didn't know you were his daughter good and I
saw you and I was.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Like, who is this?
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Why is she spinning all these fucking facts?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
And I'm like, I.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Guess I'm gonna follow her. And then I was like, wait,
hold on, her eyes are so beautiful. Yeah, she's kind
of cute. I'm like, hold on, are you gay?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
All of a sudden has a gay daughter?
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I know, all of a sudden, I'm like, am I am?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I liking her?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
But then I realized, I'm like, I like how bold
she is, how forward she and you just felt like
you ain't have shit to lose. You were like, I'm
gonna put these facts out here. And then I'm like,
she reading, because how the fuck do you do this?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I So I think I went to a school. So
my parents separated when I was very young, and so
I grew up in why I Makekana. My mom's Cuban.
My dad is obviously Mexican, and when my parents vibrated,
they were both journalists, like good journalists. They met in
the station, and like a good Cuban in Mexican, that
marriage typically doesn't work, and so they split up, and
(03:34):
so my mom and I went to Spain. But anyway,
as long story short, I went to a very specific
school in Spain where they forced us to memorize so much.
So I spent like fifteen years of my life memorizing
and memorizing and memorizing, and so it's very easy for
me to now like look at scripts and look out
words and I kind of just like retain it and
somehow it's it's helped me out and it's my career.
(03:55):
This skill. I don't know if it's I don't know
if it's I don't know, but it's it's almost like
because I see things, I see numbers, and I'm like
it just stays in my brain. But thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I know, like for a while I didn't know you
were related to whole damas. But I'm like, Yo, this
chick is fucking dope. And I just loved, like, you know,
you were just so bold and you knew what the
fuck you were talking about. Because there's a lot of
bold motherfuckers out here talking a lot of shit online
but they don't know. But with you, and then also
the people reposting you were just equally as you know,
(04:25):
just solid and reputable. I'm like, nah, this is somebody.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I appreciate that coming from you.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
And it's been years now and I'm like, yeah, and
you're growing and you're getting better, and you're just becoming
more visible, and everybody in my space now knows who
you are.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
No, thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
It's like you're for us and it just feels good
and I like it. I love that you exist.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
No. I Well, I, like I said, coming from you,
I appreciate that a lot, and I never take it
for granted. And I think going back to my dad
and my mom, honestly, and the principles were always the same. Now,
if you have a platform, your responsibility is to hold
you bill accountable and hold power accountable, and that that
is always what I was taught to do, and so
this space what we do, Like I that I never
(05:06):
take for granted. So thank you for saying that.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
And the lighting wherever you record. I'm like, I said,
where is she?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
That's Brooklyn. That's it. It's just good. So you just
got the window, I got the windows. Nah, you've been catching.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
The I'm like, no, no, no, no, And I said, I
got to ask of what time she'd be recording, because shit,
that some be hitting.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Six thirty pm.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
She's like, you won't see these wise, What are your eyes.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Blue or green? They're green, They're green.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
You won't catch these eyes that I love, love, love,
Now journalism. Did you always know you were going to
do journalism or did you want to do something else?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
No? So, I actually I studied political science. So look
in my family, you know Cuban exiles. Obviously my dad
immigrated here. The same idea was this American dream is
so so it was always between journalism and politics. Both
of those worlds were intertwined. But when I went to school,
I studied political science. I graduated at a time when
(05:56):
Barack Obama was entering the White House, and so I
to very much part of that movement. I organized for him,
and so I spent the beginning of my career. I'm
not that old, but the beginning of my career in politics,
and so worked at the White House, did Obama campaign,
did Hillary Clinton campaign, And then comes the twenty sixteen election,
and so in that moment, so much of my job
(06:19):
was allegedly understanding who our community was. Then so much
of that story was that in the face of someone
like Donald Trump, the numbers said this, every survey said this,
every poster said that Latinos would sort of rise in
the face of Trump at these like unprecedented numbers, and
that didn't happen, obviously, And so I think that campaign
(06:40):
kind of inspired me to leave politics and to truly
try and ask the questions from outside that it couldn't
honestly understand from inside. And then journalism felt very natural,
literally like once I stepped into a studio again, or
you know, did a direct to camera like it, it
felt it felt like what my dad would always tell me,
would WHI if it doesn't feel like work, you're in
(07:01):
the right space. And it's never felt like work.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I'm so happy that you were able to find that,
you know, because we go a lot of different directions
and sometimes, you know, we find our calling later in life,
but you found it early.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
But I love people that reinvent themselves too. And I
think this, you know, I think we've always been told
to you know, you stick to one thing. You kind
of have to do these jobs forever. But I love
seeing people around me that are flexible, you know, with
the way that life takes them and wherever their inspiration
draws them to. And I think this idea of like
reinventing yourself and kind of going where you think the
(07:34):
power is Like I've I kind of I like that idea.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, where are you now? Mentally? How do you feel
the work, about the work that you're doing. Do you
feel like you need to do more? Do you feel
like you're in a sweet spot.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
I always feel like I need to do more, which
I think is I think in this world of journalism,
I think it's it weighs on you know that there's
always a story to tell, there's always someone that wants
to talk to you, and there just isn't enough time.
And I think in the environment that we're in politically,
I think it is so overwhelming, you know the amount
of stuff that's coming from DC. So I feel very
(08:09):
overwhelmed every day, truly, like every single day I wake
up and I'm like, I should have done this, I
should have done that. And obviously it's you know, you
can't be that hard on yourself, but but I, if
I'm being honest, it is a very overwhelming moment to
be in right now. It is how do you feel?
Every day?
Speaker 1 (08:24):
I'm like, is this just never going to stop? It's
just like everything that comes out of this administration, everything
that comes out of the White House, I'm like.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
What is this?
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Who does this?
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Like?
Speaker 1 (08:32):
What did he say? What's going on? It's overwhelming, to
say the least, to follow, yeah, to experience it, and
you know, just to see what our people are going
through right now. That's what really affects me the most.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
The work.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
I don't care if it's reporting, if it's editorial, if
it's speaking on a microphone, I don't care. It's going
to get done.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Work is work, exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
But when you see the way that you know that
we're being treated and the way we're being targeted and
the way we're being painted, it's something I've never seen.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
But I agree, and I think that's what haunts me, know, like,
how do you capture that nuance and that sentiment? And
do a justice And I think it's really hard for
many reasons. A A lot of people don't want to
speak right now, obviously because there's a lot of fear.
There's also a lot of sensationalism. I think know in
the media, this idea that when they talk about us,
it's always raids and Trump, and so I think getting
(09:22):
outside of that narrative is hard, but you also have
to do that right. So it's this really weird balance
of like how do you tell the story of immigration
without falling into the sensationalisms? And I think that's hard.
And then also one of the things that I keep
thinking about a lot within these narratives is going back
to this idea of the American dream and how people
(09:43):
are truly like letting go of that, you know, and
choosing to leave and choosing to self deport or making
the decision of like is it worth it? And I
think that, to me is like such a profound question
to suddenly be pondering after thirty plus years of being here,
like it is is it all worth it? Or was
this a myth or not? And I think that's like
that weighs on me a lot.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
It is, And I was snow. The product was here
a couple of weeks ago, and she told me her
parents went back. Really, She's like, my parents are in Mexico.
She's like, and I'm going to go to Mexico. She's like,
the plan is to return, yes. And it's crazy because
before it was just like we're here the American dream.
Don't ever see that everybody's working, We're good. Now it's
just like I'm going home.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
It's crazy, But that's to me, that's that's the story, right,
like the raids and the massiveportations, of course, but I
think like if you really think about the fact now
that there could be generations of immigrants and generations of
Latinos and that are finding whatever we were looking for
in the US elsewhere, and think of what that means
(11:00):
is ten twenty thirty years from now, like that completely
changes what the unit sty is supposed to be about,
because it is it is still like an unfinished story
of you know, are we are not this exceptional country?
But if if we no longer see this as what
we thought it was, like that has profound consequences. To
your point, Like every story that I've been doing the
last month, I would say seven out of time people
(11:23):
have told me the same thing, that they want to
go home.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
And when you ask them why, when you say the
word home, right, yeah, it's like we thought we were
homewa exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
But and when you ask them why, like yes, the
raids and you know, yes, it's really hard economically, you know.
They all those that believed in and Trump's economic promise,
a lot of them feel very led down. But then
I keep hearing this idea of the how do you
say that in English? Like the peace of mind?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah, and that is that's that's such an important thing,
not to live without peace of mind.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
It's like as a Latino right now, even driving will
have you on edge. What if I get pulled over?
What if there's an issue? What if I get caught
in some type of like you know, raid, And who
the hell can live like that? Nobody status was questionable.
I'm getting the fuck out of here now, going back
to the Medigan Republic where I can sleep in peace.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Yeah, yeah, I'm.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Not gonna be here. This is this is trauma right now.
What's happening?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
It is? It is trauma. And I think, you know,
I think for for for this White House, I think
that the combination of a presidency that that truly revolves
around in this crackdown, you know this, I mean the
heart of this presidency is truly about obviously like mass
reportations and them delivering on this promise. But I think
then you start to understand that so much of the
(12:43):
way that they're doing it is done with retribution and revenge. Hey,
truelty and hatred. And this is like again like purely objective,
Like turn on your TV and see the way that
these police officers and ice agents and that the military
is now being trained to look at immigrants, Like the
way that stare is one of resentment. It is.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
It's just like I saw the video of the lady
that was with her husband, you know, at the courthouse. Yeah,
the way this exactly agent handled her. I'm like, you're
fucking disgusting. Like this is a woman, her children are there,
there's no heart.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
There's no heart that man. So her name is Monica,
She's like Godrian and exactly that's that's the image right there.
I know, instead of seeing her as Monica, as a mother,
as a wife, and even as an immigrant, you know,
I think we are we have been taught to dehumanize
each other so much, and and and and that's exactly
why why you get that now, that's exactly what you see.
(13:41):
I mean even today, right like even this week, they're
they're not just rating and going after quote unquote criminals,
they're also literally separating families and American citizens are being
tangled and caught in between all of this. And It's
okay because at the end of the day, I think
this is an administration that like fundamentally believes that you're
an immigrant, legal or not, and you are not worthy
(14:04):
of the type of treatment of belonging and feeling that.
And I think it comes down to that ideology.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
I never thought I would see the day ever. And
you know, I'm born and raised in America. My parents
were immigrants, and we existed and you know, we went
to government offices and you know, sometimes we got help
from the government, and I never felt the way I
feel now, Like it makes me want to fucking cry.
I'm like, yoah, like we're going to court to get
our paperwork in order, and this is what's happening. You're
(14:33):
arresting us, you're deporting us, and we've spent ten thousand
dollars trying to get our status in order, like so
fucking unfair. I hate it, like I hate and we
can't ignore it. I'm sorry, it's just it's blatant.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah, I also never thought we would be here. I
think I, or actually my dad and I talk about
this all the time. I think he's someone that is
so still committed to this idea of the American dream,
and he has so much faith in what this country
is like supposed to promise. And I think maybe it's
(15:06):
like the younger generation, maybe it's because we're kind of
more clear eyed about the like the darker parts of
our history maybe than like the older generation that kind
of was taught to like assimilate, put your head down,
be grateful, know for what for what you get to
do in this country. But I think I I'm very
aware of what this country is capable of none where
(15:26):
we've been in the past, and so in that sense,
I'm not truly shocked know that there.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Is we take it back to, you know, slavery and
African Americans, and we know what this country is capable
of exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
And as as we turn majority minority, as we inch
closer to like a twenty forty five, as people of
color continue to step into these positions of power, I
think the the instinct of some to prevent that grows stronger.
And so I think that's kind of this like tipping
point where we are where like that we're getting closer
(15:59):
to that future and the impulse to kind of return
us back to that comfort zone is kind of where
we're at right now.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
So what are we doing here Latinos for Trump? Where
they at right now?
Speaker 2 (16:14):
I think that's the question. I think I'll tell you
that just Miami, right from Miami.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
So that's where that's where I learned about Latinos for
Trump in Miami.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
But now it's I'm like, what is this? What am I?
Speaker 1 (16:26):
What am I seeing right now?
Speaker 2 (16:27):
So I think that the story was maybe like seven
years ago that the Latino for Trump movement would kind
of stay in Miami, right because because of the Cuban story,
and so, you know, most people don't know that that
Cubans typically and historically have have voted for Republicans at
higher rates. The Cuban experience is very different from like
any other immigrants because of this very kind of easy
(16:52):
pathway to citizenship that then kind of prevents them from
ever seeing themselves at it as immigrants and anyone that
has gone to Miami, you're kind of in a bubble.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
It is a bubble. It's the way Cubans experience, you know,
immigration is very different than let's say Americano in Queens.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
You don't experience immigration. That's his point.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
I'm saying, like, is not. It's not comfortable, it's not.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
And then but I always think about it for for
for so many of those Cubans for Trump, I'm like,
you leave Miami, now, go to any other state in
this country, and then tell me what you experience. And
I think that that you know that that story hasn't
really happened there. But I think the larger story is
that that Miami story grew into a national story, and
(17:38):
the Ladino for Trump movement is everywhere. It's in the Bronx,
it's at the border, it's in California.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
It is a trade to wrap.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, exactly. But I think if you look at the
month before the election, right, what the polls were showing
you is that seventy percent of Latinos that were listening
to Trump and listening to his stump speeches and listening
to the insult seventy of us, did not think that
he was talking about us when he was insulting immigrants.
(18:06):
And so now we are, you know, in this current
state of America, and from what I'm seeing on the
road and hearing on the road, the majority of Latinos
for Trump that I'm speaking to now do feel let down.
Mostly the number one reason is economics. They don't feel
like they have enough. They feel let down that Donald
(18:27):
Trump made all these promises, and then the question is
always like, where's the money you know he promised he
promised on theos And then I think the the interesting
thing then is when you start talking about immigration. More
people believed when he was saying that he was only
going after the criminals, and now there's like, but wait
a second, what about the good ones? Fine, so there's
(18:48):
kind of this sense of remorse that I'm feeling. But
then when it gets interesting and complicated, is that suddenly
when you start to talk about crime and when you
start to talk about like the chaos in the streets,
then is when they start to once again see and
feel something in Trump. Now, they feel security, they feel
empowerment with Trump. And that's why I don't think we're
at a point where we can say that, like all
(19:10):
that forty eight percent of the lat Na vote will
go back to the Democrats. No, because that's another question
like where are the Democrats right? Like what are they promising?
That's a whole other discussion. But I think it's it's
too early. It's too early to tell him that Trump
has lost them. And I think we would be making
a big mistake if we kind of fall into the
trap of thinking that that remorse is stronger than like
(19:32):
the grievances that Trump was able to tap into. You know,
it's complicated.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
It is both My parents were Trump people.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
What do they tell you when they voted for him? Like,
what were the main reasons?
Speaker 1 (19:44):
He's a great businessman. Yeah, he's a great businessman. He's
gonna run America like a business. He's going to run
America like a business. I'm like, okay, how do you
feel now? How did he do? And they're just like, well,
I don't know. You know, it's different. It's not what
I expect them. Here you go, hmm, you helped put
us here.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
I say it to them, Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, I mean I think the politics is feelings. It's
he he he never sold his policies He never went
out there with like, you know, really good thought out
economic plans, but he he gave people feelings and on
things to to attach themselves to, and and and and
(20:39):
it worked, it did. But I don't know if Yeah,
I think I see a lot of the the infighting
between us too.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Oh No, definitely, it's like we're like, you know what
I'm saying, it is, but we we definitely have to
band together like as Latinos that you know. I feel
like we have to work even twice as harder now
to prove our cation to our worth, even within companies,
because I feel like what he's doing is tarnishing our
image straight across the board totally, whether you walk into
(21:09):
a bank, whether you're at work, whether you're in school.
I hate where we're at. Yeah, so I felt like
we were so at the top. You know what I'm saying,
We're hard workers, We helped build this country. This country
don't run without us. Now, it's just get them all
out of here.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, yeah, I think so. And I think that that
organically like tarnishes people's pride in themselves, know they're they're
like self worth, and that that is something that I
also hear even for like a lot of Cubans that
were either a political or even voted for him for
the first time ever. I've heard. The other day, I
was talking to this woman voted for Trump. Her husband
(21:43):
was an alligator Alcatraz, this Chilean man, and he's now
in another detention center. And she again, she's she's one
of many examples of Cubans and Latinos for Trump that
are now for the first time being impacted by immigration.
But then when she told me, it's like, oh, I'm
now these days, I'm like too scared even to go
to a CVS A medium, you know, because of the
(22:05):
way that they're looking at me. And and I think
that's it, you know, this the sense of pride that
is very much there because our numbers are there, like
our culture is there, like we're we make this country
run pretty much. But it's it's hard to keep your
head high right now. It is how depressing. We can't
(22:26):
we can't just talk about this.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Oh no, no, your favorite rapper right now? So we
can we could pivot real fast?
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Well, are you a rap? I feel like no. I
just I just got back from Bad Bunny.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I will say that I want no.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I went before him. He cobbied me.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Oh, he said, listen, I went before that me.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Yeah. Yeah. He was like, oh yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
I'm like, yeah, go Bad Bunny.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
How was it in Porto Rico?
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Incredible?
Speaker 1 (22:52):
How was the vibe?
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Incredible? If you're home, right, you know what's interesting. I
not to keep talking about politics, so excuse me, but
in the room I saw a lot of I saw
two people that I recognized from Miami that were like
leaders of the Latinos for Trump movement at the Bad
Bunny concert, and all I was thinking was like, this
is the only person in this country in this moment
(23:14):
that can bring together all I was like, I don't
even know if they're aware of like what the lyrics
mean and like the sentiment that he's trying to evoke.
But I was like, this, this man is the only
person that can bring together all these people.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
But it was incredible because Latino you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
No, I mean, it's it's it's resilience, it's it's history.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
It's what that man's been able to do. Man. Yeah,
I got fucking dope.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Is that? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (23:42):
All those days, all those concerts, and then now he's
taking it on the road, people like, hey, you want
to see Bad Bunny in Brazil. I'm like, no, that
would be like six thousand dollars. I love Ben. You
went to Puerto Rico. Who did you go with?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
From friends? Friends, college friends?
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah, you guys planned it? Or did you win the lottery?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
No, no, it was it was last minnings. We like,
the tickets were out of control and so we literally
booked it like two days before because we found like,
how were you seeing the tickets?
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Because some of my friends went and they were like,
we were so high. I'm like, but you went.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
We were. We were. We were down there. We weren't
like by like a sea there or anything, but we were.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I was like.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
No, I tried, but I could not. Im kidding. No,
it was it was the day. Who was there? Was
like Marcelo was there? No this, and like the Stephans
were there. So it was actually like the Miami night.
And I will say that, but I was not there.
I'm not I'm not that cool.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
I'm happy. You know that he's doing Super Bowl halftime.
I'm like, oh, yeah, that's what That's what I'm happy
about for sure.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
And this idea, like this criticism I keep seeing these
TikTok because are like they're like, how this is so
an American. I'm like, first of all, this man's an
American person. Americans love him, and but this that's the narrative. No,
like he's not American enough. Like what is like what
does that even mean today? And that's that's the problem
of all of this now that that's even to be defined.
(25:07):
I mean literally, you know, like this is like a
national security memo from the White House that is now
defining unamericanism, anti American, anti capitalism as these like words
that can now be seen as a threat.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I saw one of like Trump's top advisors talk about
ice agents will be at the Super Bowl. I'm like,
this motherfucker is so dumb, Like, who do you think
is buying these tickets? Exactly exactly you can said, I
told you we don't have fifteen thousand dollars to be
with the all over there in the Super Bowl. I
don't even know where it's at this year, in California.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
He's in California. I don't know where. We're not going
to school.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
You're not get your ship at super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
But that's exactly good.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
I was thinking, what, Yeah, stupid, but I'm I'm excited
about bad Bunny and you know what he's going to bring. Yeah,
and just the way he represents us, you know, resilient, successful, talented,
because the man is fucking talented. So good he is,
he is you always.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
I've always liked them. I have always liked them.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
He's so he thinks so outside the box, you know
everything you know being and I like, you know what
I'm saying, Like it's just from he encompasses so many
different things. You know, when he went off with the Kardashians,
that was a little questionable, but you.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Know, but here he liked it.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
He liked it and he went back, Okay, just go
back to what you you enjoyed it. But nah, he's
just super super dope.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
And what did he say? He was like, you can't
be with people that don't know your music. What is it?
Speaker 3 (26:32):
He said?
Speaker 1 (26:33):
But how can you vibe out the scene together? But
music is felt.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
You know.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Some of the people that are saying, like, I don't
understand it, Like what what do you feel music? I
love afrobeats, so my favorite, Like I love I love
reggae music. I'm not saying the ship they're saying but
I feel it and I danced with not even mimic
the words, because music is to be felt, not understood,
and I need America to understand that that bunny is
the biggest pop star in the world right now, like
(26:59):
he is a super star. You can't take it away
from the man. Last year we had Kendrick Lamar, he
was having a year. This year we have been Needle.
He's having a year. Let the man do his thing. Yeah, Now,
how'd you end up in Brooklyn?
Speaker 2 (27:11):
That's what I want to I So I moved here
for college, and then I left for I left New
York City. I moved around, was in DC, Chicago, Boston
mostly for work, and then Yeah, mostly for work. This
is when I was in politics and also campaign life.
If I moved to Chicago for the Obama campaign, moved
(27:33):
to Boston for grad school, eventually came back to New
York City and ended up in Brooklyn because that's where
the Hillary Clinton campaign headquarters were. So when when Clinton loses,
I just I stayed in Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
You would sit after a people here.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
My my best friends have been here, like my my
college crew is still here, likely.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Like most of had community here.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
I had, Yeah, I had my people here and and
I think what I love is that I've been able
to kind of converge all these different worlds from politics
and media and college and grad school, and I have
the beauty and the privilege of a lot of my
friends kind of getting that. I mean, now it's been years,
but getting along and everyone's in Brooklyn. So that's been
(28:18):
I love that for you me too.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Brooklyn is just so fucking dope. Yeah, I know you're
in Williamsburg, right.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
I am in the South will Yeah. I mean it's
it's getting a little crazy. What do you mean, like
the there's a high rise every single every other day
that's being built in.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Front of high rises in the Bronx girl.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah, Well, you know, Brooklyn, the Brooklyn that I knew
when I was growing up is not the Brooklyn that's
there now.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I remember being in college and we would we would
go to what was it. It was like Studio A That's
what it was called in Williamsburg and it was like,
you know, like the cool warehouses. And now I mean
now there's like a Chanel so like like literally yeah,
there's like these like Chanelle pop boves and like whole
food so.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Things definitely change. Now you are a dog mom, I am.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
I am. Her name is Dita Golden Doodle. If she's
a mini golden doodle. That was very Is she crazy?
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Because I got one to what he kind of crazy?
Speaker 2 (29:14):
She she is? But she she has such an attitude.
I am in character and I want to finish man. Yeah,
she's I love her so much. And now I've I've been,
I've been not to keep, you know, kind of pivoting
into these dark subjects. But I've been thinking about her
mortality a lot lately. I don't know why wake up,
I know, get the past. She's six, I know, but
(29:40):
but I she's still young. She's still young. But I
don't know why I ended up in these like and
I know a lot of people do this, these like
reddit like comments.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
You went down the rabbit hole?
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Down the rabbit hole, and I was like, what can
I do for this sog to live as long as
many years as possible? I mean that I have, I would,
I would do that. But have I looked into it?
Speaker 1 (29:59):
What have about it?
Speaker 2 (30:00):
You've thought about it? Okay?
Speaker 1 (30:01):
You like, I wouldn't want my dog to see.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Either, I know, but they're never the same. I don't think.
I think the essence is gone. But no, Dida. Dida's
my my rolldog. She goes.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
You look at her eyes and you feel like you
could see a soul. Yes, me too, Yeah, I never
I feel like it's a golden toodle thing. I think
(30:35):
like many golden I think they have like human eyes.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Yeah they do. But I know for for those that
are not dog owners, I feel like when we get
in these like crazy like dog types, I'm like, do
people think we're crazy? Little? No, they do, like, yeah,
doesn't matter now.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I don't really care. I love dogs and people love dogs.
People send me the dogs all day on Instagram, looking
at my dog. Look what I both for my dog.
We find, we find our people, and I understand that
everybody's like that. Let's say my sister lost. She'll be like,
it's not a real baby, like keep it up, Christmas coming,
keep it up mom.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
My mom says that to my sister and I. So
here's the even cuter story. So my sister Gabby has Dida,
sister my dog sister. Yeah yeah, and your mother's probably
my mom.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
These are not you see all the memes talk about
new Grandma's Yeah. Yeah, So she's now thinking, where's your
mom now?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
So my mom is in Madrid, my mom, my mom.
So she I moved from Madrid to Miami when I
was sixteen, and my my mom, myself, and my sister
and my sister Gabby. So I come from a very
which I think is the norm these days, not from
a very complex, messy, big Latino family. Lots of divorces,
(31:56):
a lot of love, a lot of kids.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
But we all just have like my that's my that's
my half brother through my father.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Literally so many have so many step siblings and then
they have their own siblings. So we're a very big, messy,
beautiful family and somehow everyone still kind of gets along.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
I love each other.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Yeah yeah. And so my mom, my mom, and I. Well,
I moved back to the States when I was sixteen,
and my mom moved my sister and I back again,
this idea that she wanted my sister and I to
have an American education and learn English. And because believe
it or not, my English was really bad when I
was sixteen, r so bad. I would never guess I
(32:35):
went to l when I got to college because they
were like, you can't. Oh yeah, I would have never
guessed I don't know, and I always ask my parents.
I'm like, at what age, like when did I learn
to this day, because I went to school fully Spanish
school when I was in Madrid, and so to this day,
I'm always like when did I learn English? Like I
genuinely like, I don't. I don't know, but anyways, somehow
(32:56):
I did it. But when I first got to New
York City, when I went to college, they put me
in a in ANSL class because my English was not
adequate enough to take my English seminar fancy courses.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
On television or no.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Now my friends are like, how did you write a book?
And like how do you know how to talk? I'm like, bro,
I don't know, Like I literally don't know.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
You fucking killed it. I don't know you wrote a book?
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Yeah, no, I wrote I don't know to book?
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Two books?
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Right? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (33:28):
How did you decide? Like okay, do you put pen
to paper, do you open a laptop? Do you be
like Okay, I'm gonna start writing a book?
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Like how no? I had I think the idea honestly
that the twenty sixteen campaign was was very life changing
for many reasons. So the first book was really inspired
around this idea of going back to a lot of
these battleground states and kind of taking note of of
everyone that we neglected in that campaign, So all the
kind of the nuances that we were never talking about,
(33:55):
whether it was like queer Latinos after Latinos, everyone that
was identifying mo as like indigenous first in Latinos, in
rural areas, even Republicans, and through through that is how
I even meet like who was back then like the
chairman of the Proud Boys, and so it was. The
first book is really about understanding the diversity from within
that I think is what cost that campaign a lot
(34:17):
now that we just kind of did not understand our entirety,
know who we were back then. I think I was
more optimistic. I think that we had a lot more
kind of I did. Yeah, I was like, I was like, oh,
we're so different, but we still love each other, which
I think is still yes, the message, it is the message,
I know. But then the second book really becomes around,
(34:40):
you know, understanding why Trump was was getting so much
traction among us and then kind of posing a counter
feaces and counter question of you know, is is is
it a possibility that Ladinas that are supposed to be
at the heart of this like multi racial, multi ethnic
coalition that is allegedly, right, allegedly trying to push this
(35:04):
country towards a better version of itself. Is it even
possible that Latinas suddenly become a threat to that equation?
And it's an open question, right, But it really becomes
around understanding not just why Trump can do so well
among us, but the roots of that, you know, and
the roots of it is more complicated than politics. It's
(35:24):
it's deep, it's very deep. It's all the that like
the racial baggage that is so hard to talk about,
and kind of the weight of colonialism that is also
so hard to talk about, and the political trauma, and
like the way that all of that manifests in politics.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
It is it is a lot. You know, we talk about,
you know, Christopher Columbus, Yeah, colorism, we talk about classism, Yeah, colorism.
It's just a million different things when it comes to
us Latinos, you know, we're very we're very complex creatures.
And it varies from like Mexico, Puerto Rico, like we
all have our own nuances when it comes to.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Very different nuances. Yeah, but but still but still a
very but still the same kind of overshadowing factors of
like colonialism that I think then distort so many of
our of our views here, right, like the way that
we see race or talk about race, or even the
way that we choose to identify. And I think that's
what Trump was able to kind of tap into, you know,
(36:20):
when when they do this like us versus Them and
these like racial games, the idea that that the idea
that a that an after Latina from the Bronx could
see themselves reflected in that racial language that Trump does
very well. You know, you would never believe it, but
it precisely works because of the way that like these
(36:42):
racial hierarchies were institutionalized in Latin America for centuries, right,
And so I think all of that is at play constantly,
and I think, at least for me, like, we never
talked about this growing up, right, we never, like ever.
I remember the first time I was visiting my family
in Mexico and the first time that someone I think
(37:02):
said like, oh, black Mexicans are going to be part
of the census. I remember one of my aunts was
like wait, what, like there's black Mexicans in Mexican I'm like, yeah, what.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Sure her mind was blown?
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Yeah, but that is that's just you know, we never
have those conversations. I didn't.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Yeah, now you mentioned Mexico. When you're out in the field,
how do you keep it together? Man, it's just so
much going on. You're so vulnerable, you're so exposed. You're
meeting people that you don't know who they are. You
don't know how these stories could turn out. Yeah, how
are your nerves?
Speaker 2 (37:36):
So they're They're amazing at my best when I'm out there,
really because I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
It's like you're high.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Yeah literally, yeah no, but it truly it.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Feels is it because you're touching to people?
Speaker 2 (37:51):
I I just that's where like that is. That's that's
what motivates so much of my work. Like when I'm
it's the same, like whether it's I'm interviewing a cartel
member in Quadas or an asylum seeker in the real
Grand Valley, or you know, the freaking broad boys in Miami.
Like the curiosity truly to like to learn better something
(38:15):
that is so complex, Like I love that and I
and I never take for granted that people like allow
me into their spaces and then there's two things there.
I know, I think I spend a lot of time
with I have with like white supremises and white nationalists
and all these people. What you will you start to
learn is that their online personas are so different from
who they are in real you know, in real life.
(38:38):
And I will say that the thread particularly among a
lot of these men is that they are actually so insecure.
So when you face many of them, it's I think
it's very disarming to them, you know, to to to
to kind of be questioned by like a queer Latina
and and and and and to and to engage in
that is like, I don't know, I've I've always had
(39:01):
that experience mostly where I'm like, oh, wow, like you're
not the person that I thought you were, because I
do walk in at times anxious or scared, and then
it's like, oh okay, let me let me understand you.
And oftentimes you know, these like scary like latinos for
trump men or proud boys, or these like you know,
crazy evangelical like white Christian nationalist pastors. Like oftentimes we're
(39:26):
talking to people that are, like we were just saying,
like just trying to belong and find belonging, and that's
like that I can work with right as a journalist,
Like I can dissect that and I can ask you
about that, and I can kind of put the biases
to a side, and that I think is cool.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
The reason I ask this because every time I interview
somebody else is that I'm in my own space. I
am super secure here, and I still feel a sense
of like nervousness and like, yeah, what am I going
to expect? You're out there, like you're just exposed, like Afiram,
Like how the hell does she do this? My nerves
would be like, oh that they gotta put on the
other and at least three times before I meet the
person that No.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
For sure, No, but it's I do I I really
I love it and I love I mostly love when
when stories take you somewhere else, right, when you go
kind of with a said impression or with this idea
what a story is supposed to be, and then it
kind of turns into something. I was like, I love
those type of stories, but no, I'm I I feel
like that I get to do that.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
That's how you ended up with vice. I was a
love device. I remember when I found a vice. I
was like, wow, you found my channel. Like the content.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
I miss that type of journalism. Yeah, it was just
so raw.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
I was just so fucking real. I would watch a
Vice for hours and hours and hours and what was
it that happened with Vice?
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Do you know? Well? I was I mean it was money, right,
and I think the it was like and I think
about it, right, like the type of they would allow
us to go shoot these stories. Sometimes I would even
get two weeks to do a story like that's unthinkable
now right where they would literally allow us to They're like, oh,
you want to go to the Darren Jungle and like
across the jungle with migrants, go do it? Why Because
(41:03):
it's like that is a story that's worth it to
understand that you need to spend time and live it
and live it exactly. And that's the type of reporting
that they would allow us to do.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
Love for years, I miss it.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
And eventually, of course, right like that is a lot
of resources and money, and I think eventually like that
formula imploded, like it just it just wasn't sustainable. But
it was long form, and you know, we got to
do ten minute pieces, fifteen minute pieces, sometimes thirty minute
which is like unheard of today in this and present,
Like you don't. I mean, you're lucky. You're lucky if
(41:36):
you get to do like a three minute piece. Right.
We just function in sound bites on TV all day,
and so I think that those that formula just wasn't
sustainable and it just completely imploded and one day we
were all gone and fired. Yeah. I love it.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
I miss it. I remember when I discovered. I was like,
what the fuck is this? And where has this been
my whole life? Yeah, the stories just so raw, and
you know, shout out everybody whoever worked advice or had
anything to do, you know, with the channel itself and
with all the programming, because the way it was done
fucking top tier.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
It was really good.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
I don't think anybody I can't say like, oh, this
is comparable, because.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
I don't think there's anything like that anymore.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
I don't think so either.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
And maybe it'll come back, right, like, maybe maybe there's
a future in which we we get to do that again,
but but you're right, I don't think there's anything like that.
And also I think the audience is changing too, right,
like the like we are used to the soundbites and
the quick TikTok consumption or tension span is just so short,
and so it's I think that's also the question for us, right,
(42:40):
like how do you how do you inform an audience
that now and just wants to look at news just
through social media? And like, how do you how do
you talk to them?
Speaker 1 (42:48):
Yeah, it's crazy, it's you know a lot of people
tell me that I don't watch the news. I get
my news off of digital on social media. Whatever they
put on on their Instagram, whatever, put it on their Facebook,
and it's insane. But one thing that has changes podcasting,
like how dope is this?
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Well, I mean this is so this is new for us.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
You know, let's talk about your podcast.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Thank you, and it is a it's totally new. We
just we just launched a moment, Yes, very bad at
the bro. Yes it's called the Moment, and yes it's
it's it's just a conversation between my father and I
and in every episode we interview someone and the idea
(43:31):
was was simply to to try and and bring like
an intergenerational conversation between both of us and always have
a guest that allows us to make sense of the
time that we're at And so you know, we had
an interview with Zoran Mamdani, and we've interviewed you He's
gonna win, Yes, I do, I do, But then but
(43:52):
then again, right, we I'm always very cautious of polls today, Right,
he was pulling out one percent a year and a
half ago, and now he's he's the winner, and so
I think I've I've been always wary of of of polls,
but I do think he's gonna win. And then I
think it becomes a story of like, how is this
Democratic party willing or not to embrace someone like him? Right?
(44:16):
And I think that's that's the question, like, dude, does
he of course he has a shot in New York
City and I think he will do very well. But
then it's it's a larger question of you know, what
are the implications for a party that I think is
going through a very severe identity crisis, where like they
don't know who the hell they are or they're supposed
to be. So that's what I'm kind of looking out for.
And so yeah, we've interviewed Ora Mamdani, we had the
(44:39):
spehar she's a they are a TikTok influencer, and we're
gonna have Karine Jean Pierre, who was Biden's press secretary.
I'm very excited to talk to her.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Is it always going to lean towards politics.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
No, I think it's everything. I mean, I think the
idea is to to talk to anyone and and any
voice that that is relevant in the Latino community, entertainment, musicians.
I mean, you know, politics obviously is the top of
mind for my dad and I but no, I think
I think it's it should be as expansive as possible Republicans, Democrats,
(45:16):
but it's it's just I think, giving giving us a
space to to talk about these like complex political and
social and cultural issues. Yeah, as as you do. And
you've been doing.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
I love this for us.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
No, thank you.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
You're a part of Michael Dura podcast network. They linked
us together and they were like, oh not Almos like absolutely,
when give me the date, give me the time.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
You're you're the you're the best. I mean, you've been
doing this, and you've been leading these spaces, and you've
been such an advocate for for this type of content,
I know, for a really long time, and so.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
It is, you know, we have to create these spaces.
But and in the same breath. I want to say,
you have to support these spaces. If you're listening to
this episode, I want you to go, you know, binge, subscribe,
like whatever it is you need to do in the
moment with Amos, and I want you to follow it
beinge it and you know, follow her. Make sure you
(46:07):
support the content because if we don't support it and
we don't consume it, it's going to cease to exist.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
At the end of the day. It's like the numbers
have to you know, they have to be right. Yeah,
you know, we can't have you guys having these shows
if nobody's watching it. But if we're creating it for Latinos, Latinos,
you have.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
To support to show up. Yeah, whatever you say, Well, yes.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
I like you already.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
Yeah, and you have episodes every Wednesday, right, every Wednesday,
that's right. Yeah, So every every Wednesday, they drop in
the morning in wherever you listen to podcasts. We're also
filming them so because you know, that's the hard part
is my dad and I still function like we're in TV.
But but so there's there's like a there's a video
component to all of it.
Speaker 1 (46:52):
But yes, he's in New York too.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
He's in Miami. He's in Miami. But so far we've
we've been recording together. Good. We like that.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
I want to see you in the same room. No,
I'm not opposed, you know, but I like when the
interview is together and very crazy.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
I think so. But I also think I hope that
we get into a rhythm of just you know, doing
things wherever we are. I think that's also the beauty
and I the podcast where you can literally do it.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
Wherever, but audio. It doesn't bother me. I don't want
you can go on the road. I could take my
roadcaster and go all over the world there, you know,
and just interview people. But I'm super happy that you're here.
I'm super proud that you're here.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
The part of Michael Doda Podcast Network, and they're super
excited that you're here. I Radio and the whole team
at Michael. They made a big deal. They're like, hey,
when you guys launch, do you mind if we put
a commercial in your podcast? Absolutely know it now you
don't even have.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
To ask me.
Speaker 1 (47:47):
But now I'm happy that you hear and and I'm
super grateful that you came down. Of course from Brooklyn.
We sat down and I feel like this is the
first time that we're gonna link, but it's not going
to be the last.
Speaker 2 (47:57):
Not the last, absolutely no no. I thank you True
for for doing this with me and for supporting us
and leading the way in many ways.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Truly, Yes, I'll come again.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
I will.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
Grassiers Come Again is a production of Honey German Productions
in partnership with Iheartmcutura podcast Network.
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