September 18, 2024 • 34 mins
In this episode of Locatora Radio, Mala and Diosa interview Linda Garcia for their ongoing Latinas in Politics series. Author, podcaster, entrepreneur and former film industry executive, Linda Garcia is running uncontested in the November Election for the Office of Texas State Rep District 107. Linda is slated to be sworn into office in January 2024. We talk about her journey and how a text message at a Christmas party launched her political career.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Lokata Radio is a radiophonic novela, which.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Is just a very extra way of saying a podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I'm fiosa fem.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I am ma la munios.
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We're podcasting through another Trump election year. We've been podcasting
through election years, a global pandemic, civic unrest, political controversies,
the Me Too movement, the rise of TikTok, and we
are still here.
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We're not done telling stories.
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We're still making podcasts. We're older, we're wiser, We're even
podcasting through a new decade of our lives.
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Since twenty sixteen, we've been making locat Our Radio independently
until we joined iHeartMedia's Michael Dura Network in twenty twenty two.
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From our lips to your ears, fall in love with
Locata Radio like you never have before.
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Welcome to Season nine, Love at First Listen.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Ola La Loka Motes. Welcome to Season nine of Loka
Dora Radio. I'm diosa and I am Mala. Loka Tora
Radio is a podcast dedicated to ourchiving our present and
shifting the culture forward. You're tuning into Capitolo Do two fourteen.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Last time on Loca Tora Radio. We interviewed Priscadriguez about
her new book Bis and Primas, which explores the Latina
archetypes that we find in most of our families.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
I think I write for Latina's I think it's more
a millennial Latina for sure. Latinas who went to pwi's
Latinas were raised with really strict conservative Christian parents, like
who understand when I say speaking in tongues like that's
the Let's.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Tune in, leave a comment, subscribe and share with a friend.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Almost every election cycle here at Lokata Radio, we produce
a series called Latinas in Politics. On today's episode, we're
going to be talking to multi hyphenic creative Life Garcia.
You may also know her as Lose Warrior. She used
to host a podcast called Let There Be Loose. She
is also the author of the book titled Wealth Warrior.
(02:12):
She has been creating workshops about financial literacy and the
stock market, specifically for marginalized communities for the past several years,
but now she's shifting into local politics in the state
of Texas.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Linda Garcia, in this new chapter of her life, will
be running uncontested in the upcoming November elections for the
office of Texas State Representative for District one oh seven,
and she is slated to be sworn into office in
January twenty twenty four. She had a very unconventional journey
into elected politics. We're going to hear all about it
(02:48):
and how a text message at a Christmas party led
to this new political position for her.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
Stick around.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
It's a really good interview and you're going to want
to hear all of it.
Speaker 5 (03:01):
My name is Linda Garcia.
Speaker 6 (03:03):
I am calling from Dallas, Texas, and I am currently
also the Texas State Representative elect for the Democratic Party.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
So Linda, tell us about your journey and how you
got into politics. What brought you to this place where
you decided to run for office.
Speaker 6 (03:26):
You know, it's really interesting because in my early twenties,
which was about twenty five years ago, I did have
this intention of I want to be a politician one day,
and I had big aspirations. I thought one day I'll
be mayor of Dallas. I'm originally from California, but at
(03:47):
the time I was living in Dallas, and I started
working for the City of Dallas, and I got to
meet some city officials and just kind of get to
see some of the behind the scenes, and I decided, Okay,
absolutely not.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
I will not enter politics.
Speaker 6 (04:03):
It's for sure not for me. So I moved away
from the idea. And then after graduating college, a few
years later, I met I had a friend that was
a lobbyist, and he took me out to dinner. He's
a Republican and he had mentioned that he thought I
(04:24):
would be great to become a candidate one day and
represent the Republican Party, which I thought was so wild,
like wow, there's really people out here on the hunt
looking for potential candidates. And I really was impressed with
I mean, we're talking about twenty years ago, this idea
that they understood where Latinos were headed and that they
(04:49):
should definitely start seeking viable candidates. So I thought that
was really interesting and I was like, no, I'm not
doing that. So already there were two instances in my
life where the idea of politics was around me, like
the energy was around And then this last time, I
(05:09):
was asked by our current state representative, Representative Victoria yavik Riado,
who is very well respected here in the state of Texas.
She had a very serious inquiry and asked for me
to strongly consider becoming a state representative and running for office,
and honestly, I was flattered, but there was a big
(05:32):
part of me that was terrified of the idea, and
I was I was kind of in limbo.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
She then.
Speaker 6 (05:40):
Started talking to me more about it, and I'm like, oh,
this is the very serious inquiry. I asked her how
much does a state representative make, as you should ask
when anyone approaches you for a job. And when she
told me that a state representative in Texas makes seven thousand,
I was like a month and she said no, a year.
(06:02):
I was in shock, and I started to do a
lot of research. I started to research how much state
representatives get paid in other states, and there's like, the
comparison is crazy. And then to start to look at
Republican states versus democratic states was even crazier. So I
(06:24):
saw immediately the system at play. And then on top
of that, I checked to see how much the per
capita income is in my district, the district that I
would be representing, which is about one hundred and ninety
five thousand Texans, And in my district the per capita
is twenty four thousand a year, and the Latino population
(06:48):
is at sixty five percent, and so I really started
to think, how are you going to find someone that
can afford to actually run for this position? And then
and that was a no brainer for me. I did
it because the position only paid seven thousand a year,
and I saw the system at play.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
I understood immediately.
Speaker 6 (07:10):
Why I was losing all of my rights here in
the state of Texas. And more importantly, I see the
Texas as a leading state in the sense that if
Texas passes a law, then other Republican states follow, so
we are in a very important territory. And then the
(07:30):
setup of the situation was that I probably had a
ninety five percent chance of not having a candidate run
against me, so it would be like a straight slam dunk.
It was like an episode on Scandal, honestly, if.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
I could describe it.
Speaker 6 (07:49):
And I was given about three hours to make a decision.
I came home, had a family meeting, emergency family meeting
with all of my family members, very serious conversations on
how our lives would change. My sister in law, who
is a she works in politics. She works for Congresswoman
(08:12):
Jasmine Crockett and has for years. She's also asked me
to run for politics. She's also made serious inquiries and
thought that I would be a good candidate.
Speaker 5 (08:22):
Of course, she was like, you have to do this.
Speaker 6 (08:26):
So I had the support of my family and I
was terrified. And that's how it happened. That's how I
went into the journey. It was literally an overnight decision.
I was then thrown into registering for the position. Cameras
are on me interviews. At that point, I hadn't really
established any policies or what I wanted to do for
(08:50):
my district.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
It all happened so fast.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Don't go anywhere, lookamotives.
Speaker 5 (08:55):
We'll be right.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Back, and we're back with more of our episode.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
So this article in D magazine talks about you at
a Christmas party in December of last year when you
got a text message from Victoria Criado at that time
the state rep for Texas House District one oh seven,
and that she wanted you to replace her because she
was running for a different seat. But she had never
(09:36):
met you or spoken to you, but she still wanted
to reach out and ask you to take her seat.
Why do you think she had that confidence in you
when she had never met or spoken to you before.
What was it that led her to believe that you
could do the job.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
Sure.
Speaker 6 (09:55):
So it was actually a close contact of her that
reached out first to builter out this idea.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
And this contact of hers his name is Ramido.
Speaker 6 (10:05):
He has an organization out here called Solmost Dejas. I
was on the board for almost Dejas.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
And.
Speaker 6 (10:14):
Ramido had also been semi pushing me to run for office.
I mean, I guess this is like a repeated theme
now that I'm talking it through.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
This is definitely a repeated theme in my life.
Speaker 6 (10:23):
And I feel like that was probably initially more his
confidence because I was sitting on the board and he
was familiar with my work and he walked her through
my work. When Victoria and I met the following day,
one of the things I told her is like, I'm
not changing anything about me because I don't know what
this position in tells or what they're demanding or wanting
(10:45):
from me. I don't understand the political process. I'm walking
through it brand spanking new.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
So it was really.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
Important for me to communicate that I was going to
maintain integrity on who I was. But one of the
things that Victoria talks about is that she could see
that I had been doing the work, and so the
work means that I had been taking steps to work
with our community and shift current circumstances in our community.
(11:16):
And so for a lot of people, that is what
a public servant does. That is what someone in politics
aims to do, hopefully, if their heart is in the
right place, is take action and make changes.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
So I know that they went through my work and.
Speaker 6 (11:33):
My you know, my socials and all of that, and
she was fine with the way I am and said
that's okay, I see, you know, I've seen your stuff.
We still would like to move forward and ask you
to consider taking this role. She also, you know, is
a strong politician here as I mentioned, and she has
(11:57):
aspirations to move into bigger spaces to make a bigger impact.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
So I'm sure that was also a big part of
the decision.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Can you share with our listeners that maybe aren't familiar
with what is a representative?
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Like?
Speaker 1 (12:14):
What does it mean to be a Texas State rep
Democratic nominee? What does it entail, what does a job
look like, and what does the district look like?
Speaker 6 (12:25):
Yeah, so basically, rights that we currently have here in Texas,
like the abortion ban, all of those are voted on
by an amount of representatives that represent the constituents or
the folks that live in the representatives district. So you're
basically entrusting your voting rights on a state representative to
(12:51):
vote reflecting your personal beliefs, morals, values, et cetera. A
state representative can also come up with bill ideas and
present those bill ideas, or carry someone else's bill idea
and get those bill ideas.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
Past and then turn into law.
Speaker 6 (13:11):
So it is basically a body of folks that vote
on specific bills that then become law, and either we're
getting our rights taken away like we're witnessing here in
Texas the majority of the time, especially as of late,
or we're implementing additional laws.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
So while you were living in California, had you ever
considered running for office in California or is this something
that was destined to happen in Texas? You mentioned becoming
like the mayor of Dallas and being a politician in Dallas.
Why Texas and why not California.
Speaker 6 (13:46):
That's so interesting you asked that question. That is such
a good question. You know, places carry energy, there's just
a completely different energy in California.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
I was born there. I lived there.
Speaker 6 (14:00):
Until twelve years old. At twelve, I moved to Dallas.
At twenty seven, I moved back in pursuit of creativity.
I used to write, produce, and direct local TV commercials
here in Dallas, Texas, and I left back to my
home state to pursue film. I went on to launch
(14:21):
the first Latino movie studio called Bantaion Films. I got
to work on a lot of films via that. I
then went into Netflix. And so for me, what California
had was a lot of creativity, a lot of pushing
back against the resistance that I was so familiar with
(14:41):
here in Texas. Texas has very strong energy of assimilation.
And it's almost like when I'm here in Texas, which
I've spent both my entire life.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
I've spent time in.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
Both places, and a lot of what I did deal
with here does feel a little bit more formal and
more political, even just exploring the stock market and finance
that just has much more of a Texas energy. And
then when I'm in California, I get to explore something
that is more spiritual and more creative. And it's these
(15:20):
two aspects that live inside of me and I feel
like it's because I've gotten to live in both places,
and I feel like it's it's also.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
I don't not that the word fun is the correct word.
Speaker 6 (15:36):
But I'm exploring these two very distinct parts of my brain.
A part of me that gets to be an intellect
and dive into data and numbers, and then this other
part of me in California that gets to be free spirited.
And I'm just both both spaces. But when I'm in California,
(15:57):
it pulls one side of me, and when I'm in
Texas it pulls an up side of me. I don't
know if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
That does make sense, And I want to ask you
something because now you've shared, right, you've lived in both states,
one blue, one red. And we hear and I don't
know how true it is, but sometimes you know, to
be a little bit of a masochist. I will read
the comments on Instagram and people. I'll see comments that say,
this is why I'm leaving California and moving to Texas, right,
(16:26):
this is why I'm leaving a blue state and going
to a red state. And so you know, we live here.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
We think it's great, yes we do.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
We don't live in a Red state. But as someone
that's lived in both, you know, what has been your
experience of living in a red state during all of
these huge crucial changes that have happened in Texas, like
the abortion band and like so many others.
Speaker 6 (16:52):
So let's talk about some of the positives first. Some
of the positives for me here in Texas is the
ability to build generational wealth. That does come so much
more easier. You can purchase a home, it is much
more affordable. The quality of life increases, and when I'm
(17:13):
talking about the quality of life, I'm specifically talking about
a roof over head, roots and vegetables that I can
now you know, afford much more comfortably that are organic,
and that type of space. My son goes to a
private school. Things that I can afford that I was
never able to afford in California.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
That felt so much more difficult, right, So that is
the biggest row.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
It was definitely a sacrifice in the sense of, you know,
the weather and my friends and the creative space that
I love so much, and the accessibility to creative spaces
at this stage in my life, at forty four years old,
I just felt like it was the right move for
me and Yeah, there are definitely pros and cons. And again,
(18:02):
I think something that is really interesting is just the
difference of Mexican Americans here versus and I'm speaking from
a Mexican American perspective as a child of immigrants versus
Mexican Americans in California. So I guess navigating those two
energies and seeing the pros and the cons out here
(18:26):
in Texas, it's very behind in terms of progress and
the ability to freely express ourselves in comparison to the
beauty of California, continuously pushing against resistance and against a
simulation coming up with, you know, our own culture in California,
going all the way back to bachuco DA's and to
(18:49):
low writer and Cholo movements where we were continuously pushing
against forms of assimilation and resisting.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
We're here.
Speaker 6 (18:57):
It was life was easier if you assimilated.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
We hope you're enjoying this interview.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Stay tuned, We're back, and we hope you enjoy the
rest of the interview. On the topic of assimilation, there
are so many levels to assimilation and getting into politics.
(19:29):
I feel probably has its own type of assimilation and
what you've already shared what you said when you first considered,
you know, entering office was that you're not deleting anything
off your Instagram. You're not changing who you are. Why
was that so important to you and the Instagram specifically,
because I feel like there are people out there who
(19:51):
maybe are not on Instagram the way we are, Maybe
it doesn't hold a place in their lives the way
it does for us and for you, And so I'm
curious why, specific the social media space you wanted to
protect your archive and your identity and what that meant
for you.
Speaker 6 (20:07):
You know, we had just I mean, I was very
outspoken after October seventh in terms of being pro Palestine,
and so I think that when I was saying Instagram,
what I was really saying is I'm not deleting my
pro Palestine content that I have highlighted.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
That was really really important for me.
Speaker 6 (20:31):
And of course everything else comes second in terms of
other things that I've spoken up on and had been
very vocal. But that was a way for me to
protect that space, and I had just come off of
speaking on it. I was also, in my sphere, the
first one to speak up about it. I also received
(20:53):
a lot of backlash for speaking up on it. But
I also came from a background where my sister in
law had gone to the West Bank, you know, in
twenty nineteen, and she had been educating us on Palestine
for years on what was taking place. So when October
seventh happened, I already had all of this context, and
(21:18):
I just felt like this was it was going to
be really important that I not waiver and not be
bullied or feared into a space where I lose myself
for the cause. So in other words, that I wasn't
going to give up a part of myself so that
I could be a politician and vote for certain progressive things,
(21:41):
but not be able to vote for all progressive things.
That's really important to me, and that was what I
was mostly. That's where my head was fresh off of
that conversation and where we were at the time.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
I love that you mentioned being pro Palestine. There's this
pressure once you get into politics to lean a certain
way or have certain views, And you know, that's so admirable,
right because I think that pressure is intense. When you
feel like there's that backlash can really affect It's a
(22:18):
domino effect in our lives in some ways, but it's
really about like what do you really value and who
do you really value? And how important are your values
to you? And I feel like that is so aligned
with who you are as a person and now running
for an elected position. You've also had some photos be
(22:39):
weaponized against you, So can you talk about that as
well and tell us what the photos are? I know
what they were for, but if you can just paint
the picture for the listener, sure.
Speaker 6 (22:51):
So I am very inspired by black culture. I always
have been, growing up in southern California in and you
know the I was the nineteen I was born in
nineteen eighties. So my first experience with something that wasn't
like all like uh, like my mom for example, we
(23:13):
grew up watching Spanish television and like Quen Senerra and delenovelas,
and so the first time I got a taste of
something that wasn't fully white was black culture like Yo,
MTV raps and so n WA and just all of
this rich culture where I felt I could look towards
(23:35):
that didn't that felt more closer than me than watching
telenovelas with my mom or wal de Mercado or whatever
it is that she was watching at the time on
Spanish television, and so I have embedded that in my book.
I have rap lyrics at the beginning of every chapter,
and I have pictures that I took in a Cugi
(23:56):
sweater and in these pictures we were promo the book
and just promoting the brand, and there's you know, holding
a stack of money like a telephone. It was the
funnest shoot I've ever done in my entire life that
I love. I love that shoot, and I have to admit, though,
there was this initial part of me, because I am human,
(24:18):
coming into the space and this like desire to like
I felt the desire in my head to like want
to like wear long sleeves and cover up the tattoos.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
That I have on my forearms.
Speaker 6 (24:29):
Like there was instantly this automatic like how should I
do my makeup? And immediately I was like, Okay, I see,
I am acknowledging that you're afraid to walk into this
space being authentically you. This is what we're pushing against.
First is my own thoughts, my own limitations about how
(24:50):
I like to show up as a person. And so
I'm in the space and there were there were moments
where I would look at my stuff and I'm like
this isn't political, Like, why am I in this space?
Speaker 5 (25:01):
I do not fit in.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
I just felt like out of you know, the cool
Latino elected click and sure enough, all of my everything
I was feeling was projected.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
And d magazine.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
Did a really stupid little piece on me that was
maybe like two paragraphs, and they made fun of me
holding the money like a phone, stating that I believe
that I could use the phone a stack of one
hundred dollars bills for money. I'm a koujie swear a
(25:38):
sweater wearing Latina. And then the rumor started amongst lobbyists
and politicians throughout the entire state, and it was getting
back to me from other lobbyists and from other politicians
what other politicians and other lobbyists were saying. I was
so livid, and I was at the same time hurt,
(26:02):
you know. I sort of felt bullied and picked on
and judged for pictures.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
And honestly, I'm not new to this. I'm used to this.
I am a teen mom.
Speaker 6 (26:13):
I had my first child at fourteen years old.
Speaker 5 (26:16):
I've been in gangs.
Speaker 6 (26:17):
My family has stopped talking to me. My father still
to this day doesn't talk to me. There's always been
perceptions of who I am, and very rarely does someone
actually get to know my intellect or what I believe.
And so I just felt like, here's this thing showing
up again, and I do what I feel I do best,
(26:41):
and that is be very honest and use that thing
that someone is using against me and just flip it,
transmute it. I'm an alchemist at the core, and I
just took that energy and said, this is what's happening.
I'm going to slap this picture. Instead of being shamed
into a of what I might be, I'm going to
(27:02):
just use this as a fundraiser and I'm going to
amplify the picture as much as possible. I put it
on a tote and I'm like, I'm going to fundraise
from this. And so that is sort of what it's
transpired in that.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
I love it. You took it, and you turned it
into merge.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I was going to say the branding.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
The branding is on point and consistent at this stage
of your life. Have you been inducted? Have you been
sworn in?
Speaker 6 (27:28):
I should say I get sworn in second Tuesday in January.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Okay, amazing, So in twenty twenty five, and when you
when you were first approached about entering political office. Earlier
in the interview, you talked about not necessarily having like
a platform, of course, because you weren't running for office.
But now at this stage of your political journey, what
is your platform, what are your your points and your goals,
and how are you engaging the community that you're going
(27:56):
to be representing.
Speaker 6 (27:57):
Yeah, so I wanted to make sure that I don't
veer away from what I already know. And I have
spent the last ten years really focusing on the stock market,
focusing on understanding investing, focusing on understanding money, and then
focusing on economics. And one of the things that I
(28:19):
had been so frustrated with in the last five years
is listening to the Democratic Party talk about economics, and
it was just very apparent to me that they didn't
understand the nuances of economics and how certain things work.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
And I get it.
Speaker 6 (28:38):
It's when you are in a space where you're a politician,
you're expected to know everything about everything.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
One of the.
Speaker 6 (28:47):
Things that is going to make me unique on the
Democratic side is that I'm going to be one of
the only Democrats that understands economics in the way that
I understand economics. So my biggest frustration in the last
five years is that I have been watching monetary policy
on a federal level being written and marginalized community members
(29:11):
and lower income community members, which is mostly made up
of marginalized folks not being accounted for and not being
advocated for when it comes to monetary policy. So that
is going to be where I stay.
Speaker 5 (29:25):
I'm going to stay in my lane.
Speaker 6 (29:27):
I truly believe that at the core of every single
social issue, which social issues is what the Democratic Party
focuses on. At the core of every single social issue
is an economic issue, and economic issues is usually what
we lean on Republicans to run on, and I'm tired
of that. I think it's very important for us to
(29:48):
start looking at economic impact on social issues and mitigating
and solving for those issues from an economics perspective. Otherwise,
we're going to continue to have the issues that we
have as we've been seeing, and they're only going to
get worse and worse and worse because we're lacking more resources,
we have less money, we're dealing with more inflation, we're
(30:11):
watching the middle class go away, and so yeah, I
feel like what I am going to be focus on
is more of a bipartisan issue. Think that that's going
to be really beneficial because hopefully I will be able
to demonstrate the economic issues to social issues. And I
(30:31):
think that when it comes to speaking to Republicans, which
is who I need support from if I'm going to
pass any of my bills here in the State of Texas,
that hopefully I can speak their language and they can
understand the perspective and it's not so emotionally charged. So
that is sort of the plan.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Thank you so much for giving us that breakdown. Excited
to see the work that you're going to do to
wrap up. You know you're going to be sworn in
in January, but we still have elections coming up in November,
both presidential local state level elections.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
So what would your.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Advice be to someone that maybe knows someone that isn't
going to vote or says my vote doesn't really matter,
what would you say to them?
Speaker 6 (31:20):
Oh, my goodness, this is such a charged topic right most,
especially right now in the state of Texas because we
currently have just recently gotten data that the Latin community
is the majority in the state of Texas. On top
(31:42):
of that, Governor Abbott just purged over a million voter
registration applications, which means that a lot of people are
currently now suspended and unable to vote. So this is
what we are facing here is in Texas, and I'm
(32:02):
telling you these men they get ideas from each other
on how to suppress voters. And so while you might
be in California or in New York, or in a
space that is very safe pertaining to whatever it is
you're going to vote for, I want to urge you
to still vote because that we are closely watching what
(32:27):
demographic is voting and what demographic isn't voting, and we
fall so far behind when it comes to this demographic
and whether we like it or not, whether we consider
ourselves the political people or not, politics is impacting our
day to day life. It controls every decision we make
(32:49):
when we get into a car, put on our seatbelt, drive,
whatever it is. It is controlling so much of our lives,
and so it's important for us to start too, I think,
wake up this giant that has been asleep for such
a long time. It is crucial that we start to
show up and demonstrate our power and the actual impact
(33:11):
that we have.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Linda Garcia. She's done it all, folks. I mean, you
have lived many lives. You are now shaking things up
in Texas politics and eventually like national politics, I imagine.
So I thank you for coming on the show and
sharing your journey with us. And how can folks keep
(33:33):
up with you? Like where can they follow you? Not
just your personal work, but now the political work that
you're doing.
Speaker 6 (33:39):
Yeah, thank you so much for asking. This reminds me
of something that I think is really really important. One
of the other reasons that I'm doing this is because
I want to see us reflected in different colors and
different styles and different vibes. I want for women that
see themselves reflected in me, reflected in space like this one.
(34:01):
And so it's really really important that we take a
close look at our local politicians, most especially if it's
someone that you can relate to, and strongly consider donating
to their campaign because a lot of us don't come
from generational wealth. As I mentioned before, this position only
(34:22):
pays seven thousand dollars, which means I am continuously working
to fundraise, and so please, I urge you to pay
attention to your local politicians and fundraise. If there's someone
that you find alignment with. You can find my political
instagram at Linda the Number four Texas. There's a link there.
(34:45):
If you feel called, five bucks to my Act Blue.
Speaker 5 (34:50):
It will take me a long way.
Lokata Radio is a radiophonic novela, which.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Is just a very extra way of saying a podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I'm fiosa fem.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I am ma la munios.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
We're podcasting through another Trump election year. We've been podcasting
through election years, a global pandemic, civic unrest, political controversies,
the Me Too movement, the rise of TikTok, and we
are still here.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
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Speaker 1 (00:27):
We're still making podcasts. We're older, we're wiser, We're even
podcasting through a new decade of our lives.
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until we joined iHeartMedia's Michael Dura Network in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
From our lips to your ears, fall in love with
Locata Radio like you never have before.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Welcome to Season nine, Love at First Listen.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Ola La Loka Motes. Welcome to Season nine of Loka
Dora Radio. I'm diosa and I am Mala. Loka Tora
Radio is a podcast dedicated to ourchiving our present and
shifting the culture forward. You're tuning into Capitolo Do two fourteen.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Last time on Loca Tora Radio. We interviewed Priscadriguez about
her new book Bis and Primas, which explores the Latina
archetypes that we find in most of our families.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
I think I write for Latina's I think it's more
a millennial Latina for sure. Latinas who went to pwi's
Latinas were raised with really strict conservative Christian parents, like
who understand when I say speaking in tongues like that's
the Let's.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Tune in, leave a comment, subscribe and share with a friend.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Almost every election cycle here at Lokata Radio, we produce
a series called Latinas in Politics. On today's episode, we're
going to be talking to multi hyphenic creative Life Garcia.
You may also know her as Lose Warrior. She used
to host a podcast called Let There Be Loose. She
is also the author of the book titled Wealth Warrior.
(02:12):
She has been creating workshops about financial literacy and the
stock market, specifically for marginalized communities for the past several years,
but now she's shifting into local politics in the state
of Texas.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Linda Garcia, in this new chapter of her life, will
be running uncontested in the upcoming November elections for the
office of Texas State Representative for District one oh seven,
and she is slated to be sworn into office in
January twenty twenty four. She had a very unconventional journey
into elected politics. We're going to hear all about it
(02:48):
and how a text message at a Christmas party led
to this new political position for her.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
Stick around.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
It's a really good interview and you're going to want
to hear all of it.
Speaker 5 (03:01):
My name is Linda Garcia.
Speaker 6 (03:03):
I am calling from Dallas, Texas, and I am currently
also the Texas State Representative elect for the Democratic Party.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
So Linda, tell us about your journey and how you
got into politics. What brought you to this place where
you decided to run for office.
Speaker 6 (03:26):
You know, it's really interesting because in my early twenties,
which was about twenty five years ago, I did have
this intention of I want to be a politician one day,
and I had big aspirations. I thought one day I'll
be mayor of Dallas. I'm originally from California, but at
(03:47):
the time I was living in Dallas, and I started
working for the City of Dallas, and I got to
meet some city officials and just kind of get to
see some of the behind the scenes, and I decided, Okay,
absolutely not.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
I will not enter politics.
Speaker 6 (04:03):
It's for sure not for me. So I moved away
from the idea. And then after graduating college, a few
years later, I met I had a friend that was
a lobbyist, and he took me out to dinner. He's
a Republican and he had mentioned that he thought I
(04:24):
would be great to become a candidate one day and
represent the Republican Party, which I thought was so wild,
like wow, there's really people out here on the hunt
looking for potential candidates. And I really was impressed with
I mean, we're talking about twenty years ago, this idea
that they understood where Latinos were headed and that they
(04:49):
should definitely start seeking viable candidates. So I thought that
was really interesting and I was like, no, I'm not
doing that. So already there were two instances in my
life where the idea of politics was around me, like
the energy was around And then this last time, I
(05:09):
was asked by our current state representative, Representative Victoria yavik Riado,
who is very well respected here in the state of Texas.
She had a very serious inquiry and asked for me
to strongly consider becoming a state representative and running for office,
and honestly, I was flattered, but there was a big
(05:32):
part of me that was terrified of the idea, and
I was I was kind of in limbo.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
She then.
Speaker 6 (05:40):
Started talking to me more about it, and I'm like, oh,
this is the very serious inquiry. I asked her how
much does a state representative make, as you should ask
when anyone approaches you for a job. And when she
told me that a state representative in Texas makes seven thousand,
I was like a month and she said no, a year.
(06:02):
I was in shock, and I started to do a
lot of research. I started to research how much state
representatives get paid in other states, and there's like, the
comparison is crazy. And then to start to look at
Republican states versus democratic states was even crazier. So I
(06:24):
saw immediately the system at play. And then on top
of that, I checked to see how much the per
capita income is in my district, the district that I
would be representing, which is about one hundred and ninety
five thousand Texans, And in my district the per capita
is twenty four thousand a year, and the Latino population
(06:48):
is at sixty five percent, and so I really started
to think, how are you going to find someone that
can afford to actually run for this position? And then
and that was a no brainer for me. I did
it because the position only paid seven thousand a year,
and I saw the system at play.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
I understood immediately.
Speaker 6 (07:10):
Why I was losing all of my rights here in
the state of Texas. And more importantly, I see the
Texas as a leading state in the sense that if
Texas passes a law, then other Republican states follow, so
we are in a very important territory. And then the
(07:30):
setup of the situation was that I probably had a
ninety five percent chance of not having a candidate run
against me, so it would be like a straight slam dunk.
It was like an episode on Scandal, honestly, if.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
I could describe it.
Speaker 6 (07:49):
And I was given about three hours to make a decision.
I came home, had a family meeting, emergency family meeting
with all of my family members, very serious conversations on
how our lives would change. My sister in law, who
is a she works in politics. She works for Congresswoman
(08:12):
Jasmine Crockett and has for years. She's also asked me
to run for politics. She's also made serious inquiries and
thought that I would be a good candidate.
Speaker 5 (08:22):
Of course, she was like, you have to do this.
Speaker 6 (08:26):
So I had the support of my family and I
was terrified. And that's how it happened. That's how I
went into the journey. It was literally an overnight decision.
I was then thrown into registering for the position. Cameras
are on me interviews. At that point, I hadn't really
established any policies or what I wanted to do for
(08:50):
my district.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
It all happened so fast.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Don't go anywhere, lookamotives.
Speaker 5 (08:55):
We'll be right.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Back, and we're back with more of our episode.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
So this article in D magazine talks about you at
a Christmas party in December of last year when you
got a text message from Victoria Criado at that time
the state rep for Texas House District one oh seven,
and that she wanted you to replace her because she
was running for a different seat. But she had never
(09:36):
met you or spoken to you, but she still wanted
to reach out and ask you to take her seat.
Why do you think she had that confidence in you
when she had never met or spoken to you before.
What was it that led her to believe that you
could do the job.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
Sure.
Speaker 6 (09:55):
So it was actually a close contact of her that
reached out first to builter out this idea.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
And this contact of hers his name is Ramido.
Speaker 6 (10:05):
He has an organization out here called Solmost Dejas. I
was on the board for almost Dejas.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
And.
Speaker 6 (10:14):
Ramido had also been semi pushing me to run for office.
I mean, I guess this is like a repeated theme
now that I'm talking it through.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
This is definitely a repeated theme in my life.
Speaker 6 (10:23):
And I feel like that was probably initially more his
confidence because I was sitting on the board and he
was familiar with my work and he walked her through
my work. When Victoria and I met the following day,
one of the things I told her is like, I'm
not changing anything about me because I don't know what
this position in tells or what they're demanding or wanting
(10:45):
from me. I don't understand the political process. I'm walking
through it brand spanking new.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
So it was really.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
Important for me to communicate that I was going to
maintain integrity on who I was. But one of the
things that Victoria talks about is that she could see
that I had been doing the work, and so the
work means that I had been taking steps to work
with our community and shift current circumstances in our community.
(11:16):
And so for a lot of people, that is what
a public servant does. That is what someone in politics
aims to do, hopefully, if their heart is in the
right place, is take action and make changes.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
So I know that they went through my work and.
Speaker 6 (11:33):
My you know, my socials and all of that, and
she was fine with the way I am and said
that's okay, I see, you know, I've seen your stuff.
We still would like to move forward and ask you
to consider taking this role. She also, you know, is
a strong politician here as I mentioned, and she has
(11:57):
aspirations to move into bigger spaces to make a bigger impact.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
So I'm sure that was also a big part of
the decision.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Can you share with our listeners that maybe aren't familiar
with what is a representative?
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Like?
Speaker 1 (12:14):
What does it mean to be a Texas State rep
Democratic nominee? What does it entail, what does a job
look like, and what does the district look like?
Speaker 6 (12:25):
Yeah, so basically, rights that we currently have here in Texas,
like the abortion ban, all of those are voted on
by an amount of representatives that represent the constituents or
the folks that live in the representatives district. So you're
basically entrusting your voting rights on a state representative to
(12:51):
vote reflecting your personal beliefs, morals, values, et cetera. A
state representative can also come up with bill ideas and
present those bill ideas, or carry someone else's bill idea
and get those bill ideas.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
Past and then turn into law.
Speaker 6 (13:11):
So it is basically a body of folks that vote
on specific bills that then become law, and either we're
getting our rights taken away like we're witnessing here in
Texas the majority of the time, especially as of late,
or we're implementing additional laws.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
So while you were living in California, had you ever
considered running for office in California or is this something
that was destined to happen in Texas? You mentioned becoming
like the mayor of Dallas and being a politician in Dallas.
Why Texas and why not California.
Speaker 6 (13:46):
That's so interesting you asked that question. That is such
a good question. You know, places carry energy, there's just
a completely different energy in California.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
I was born there. I lived there.
Speaker 6 (14:00):
Until twelve years old. At twelve, I moved to Dallas.
At twenty seven, I moved back in pursuit of creativity.
I used to write, produce, and direct local TV commercials
here in Dallas, Texas, and I left back to my
home state to pursue film. I went on to launch
(14:21):
the first Latino movie studio called Bantaion Films. I got
to work on a lot of films via that. I
then went into Netflix. And so for me, what California
had was a lot of creativity, a lot of pushing
back against the resistance that I was so familiar with
(14:41):
here in Texas. Texas has very strong energy of assimilation.
And it's almost like when I'm here in Texas, which
I've spent both my entire life.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
I've spent time in.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
Both places, and a lot of what I did deal
with here does feel a little bit more formal and
more political, even just exploring the stock market and finance
that just has much more of a Texas energy. And
then when I'm in California, I get to explore something
that is more spiritual and more creative. And it's these
(15:20):
two aspects that live inside of me and I feel
like it's because I've gotten to live in both places,
and I feel like it's it's also.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
I don't not that the word fun is the correct word.
Speaker 6 (15:36):
But I'm exploring these two very distinct parts of my brain.
A part of me that gets to be an intellect
and dive into data and numbers, and then this other
part of me in California that gets to be free spirited.
And I'm just both both spaces. But when I'm in California,
(15:57):
it pulls one side of me, and when I'm in
Texas it pulls an up side of me. I don't
know if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
That does make sense, And I want to ask you
something because now you've shared, right, you've lived in both states,
one blue, one red. And we hear and I don't
know how true it is, but sometimes you know, to
be a little bit of a masochist. I will read
the comments on Instagram and people. I'll see comments that say,
this is why I'm leaving California and moving to Texas, right,
(16:26):
this is why I'm leaving a blue state and going
to a red state. And so you know, we live here.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
We think it's great, yes we do.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
We don't live in a Red state. But as someone
that's lived in both, you know, what has been your
experience of living in a red state during all of
these huge crucial changes that have happened in Texas, like
the abortion band and like so many others.
Speaker 6 (16:52):
So let's talk about some of the positives first. Some
of the positives for me here in Texas is the
ability to build generational wealth. That does come so much
more easier. You can purchase a home, it is much
more affordable. The quality of life increases, and when I'm
(17:13):
talking about the quality of life, I'm specifically talking about
a roof over head, roots and vegetables that I can
now you know, afford much more comfortably that are organic,
and that type of space. My son goes to a
private school. Things that I can afford that I was
never able to afford in California.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
That felt so much more difficult, right, So that is
the biggest row.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
It was definitely a sacrifice in the sense of, you know,
the weather and my friends and the creative space that
I love so much, and the accessibility to creative spaces
at this stage in my life, at forty four years old,
I just felt like it was the right move for
me and Yeah, there are definitely pros and cons. And again,
(18:02):
I think something that is really interesting is just the
difference of Mexican Americans here versus and I'm speaking from
a Mexican American perspective as a child of immigrants versus
Mexican Americans in California. So I guess navigating those two
energies and seeing the pros and the cons out here
(18:26):
in Texas, it's very behind in terms of progress and
the ability to freely express ourselves in comparison to the
beauty of California, continuously pushing against resistance and against a
simulation coming up with, you know, our own culture in California,
going all the way back to bachuco DA's and to
(18:49):
low writer and Cholo movements where we were continuously pushing
against forms of assimilation and resisting.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
We're here.
Speaker 6 (18:57):
It was life was easier if you assimilated.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
We hope you're enjoying this interview.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Stay tuned, We're back, and we hope you enjoy the
rest of the interview. On the topic of assimilation, there
are so many levels to assimilation and getting into politics.
(19:29):
I feel probably has its own type of assimilation and
what you've already shared what you said when you first considered,
you know, entering office was that you're not deleting anything
off your Instagram. You're not changing who you are. Why
was that so important to you and the Instagram specifically,
because I feel like there are people out there who
(19:51):
maybe are not on Instagram the way we are, Maybe
it doesn't hold a place in their lives the way
it does for us and for you, And so I'm
curious why, specific the social media space you wanted to
protect your archive and your identity and what that meant
for you.
Speaker 6 (20:07):
You know, we had just I mean, I was very
outspoken after October seventh in terms of being pro Palestine,
and so I think that when I was saying Instagram,
what I was really saying is I'm not deleting my
pro Palestine content that I have highlighted.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
That was really really important for me.
Speaker 6 (20:31):
And of course everything else comes second in terms of
other things that I've spoken up on and had been
very vocal. But that was a way for me to
protect that space, and I had just come off of
speaking on it. I was also, in my sphere, the
first one to speak up about it. I also received
(20:53):
a lot of backlash for speaking up on it. But
I also came from a background where my sister in
law had gone to the West Bank, you know, in
twenty nineteen, and she had been educating us on Palestine
for years on what was taking place. So when October
seventh happened, I already had all of this context, and
(21:18):
I just felt like this was it was going to
be really important that I not waiver and not be
bullied or feared into a space where I lose myself
for the cause. So in other words, that I wasn't
going to give up a part of myself so that
I could be a politician and vote for certain progressive things,
(21:41):
but not be able to vote for all progressive things.
That's really important to me, and that was what I
was mostly. That's where my head was fresh off of
that conversation and where we were at the time.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
I love that you mentioned being pro Palestine. There's this
pressure once you get into politics to lean a certain
way or have certain views, And you know, that's so admirable,
right because I think that pressure is intense. When you
feel like there's that backlash can really affect It's a
(22:18):
domino effect in our lives in some ways, but it's
really about like what do you really value and who
do you really value? And how important are your values
to you? And I feel like that is so aligned
with who you are as a person and now running
for an elected position. You've also had some photos be
(22:39):
weaponized against you, So can you talk about that as
well and tell us what the photos are? I know
what they were for, but if you can just paint
the picture for the listener, sure.
Speaker 6 (22:51):
So I am very inspired by black culture. I always
have been, growing up in southern California in and you
know the I was the nineteen I was born in
nineteen eighties. So my first experience with something that wasn't
like all like uh, like my mom for example, we
(23:13):
grew up watching Spanish television and like Quen Senerra and delenovelas,
and so the first time I got a taste of
something that wasn't fully white was black culture like Yo,
MTV raps and so n WA and just all of
this rich culture where I felt I could look towards
(23:35):
that didn't that felt more closer than me than watching
telenovelas with my mom or wal de Mercado or whatever
it is that she was watching at the time on
Spanish television, and so I have embedded that in my book.
I have rap lyrics at the beginning of every chapter,
and I have pictures that I took in a Cugi
(23:56):
sweater and in these pictures we were promo the book
and just promoting the brand, and there's you know, holding
a stack of money like a telephone. It was the
funnest shoot I've ever done in my entire life that
I love. I love that shoot, and I have to admit, though,
there was this initial part of me, because I am human,
(24:18):
coming into the space and this like desire to like
I felt the desire in my head to like want
to like wear long sleeves and cover up the tattoos.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
That I have on my forearms.
Speaker 6 (24:29):
Like there was instantly this automatic like how should I
do my makeup? And immediately I was like, Okay, I see,
I am acknowledging that you're afraid to walk into this
space being authentically you. This is what we're pushing against.
First is my own thoughts, my own limitations about how
(24:50):
I like to show up as a person. And so
I'm in the space and there were there were moments
where I would look at my stuff and I'm like
this isn't political, Like, why am I in this space?
Speaker 5 (25:01):
I do not fit in.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
I just felt like out of you know, the cool
Latino elected click and sure enough, all of my everything
I was feeling was projected.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
And d magazine.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
Did a really stupid little piece on me that was
maybe like two paragraphs, and they made fun of me
holding the money like a phone, stating that I believe
that I could use the phone a stack of one
hundred dollars bills for money. I'm a koujie swear a
(25:38):
sweater wearing Latina. And then the rumor started amongst lobbyists
and politicians throughout the entire state, and it was getting
back to me from other lobbyists and from other politicians
what other politicians and other lobbyists were saying. I was
so livid, and I was at the same time hurt,
(26:02):
you know. I sort of felt bullied and picked on
and judged for pictures.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
And honestly, I'm not new to this. I'm used to this.
I am a teen mom.
Speaker 6 (26:13):
I had my first child at fourteen years old.
Speaker 5 (26:16):
I've been in gangs.
Speaker 6 (26:17):
My family has stopped talking to me. My father still
to this day doesn't talk to me. There's always been
perceptions of who I am, and very rarely does someone
actually get to know my intellect or what I believe.
And so I just felt like, here's this thing showing
up again, and I do what I feel I do best,
(26:41):
and that is be very honest and use that thing
that someone is using against me and just flip it,
transmute it. I'm an alchemist at the core, and I
just took that energy and said, this is what's happening.
I'm going to slap this picture. Instead of being shamed
into a of what I might be, I'm going to
(27:02):
just use this as a fundraiser and I'm going to
amplify the picture as much as possible. I put it
on a tote and I'm like, I'm going to fundraise
from this. And so that is sort of what it's
transpired in that.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
I love it. You took it, and you turned it
into merge.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I was going to say the branding.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
The branding is on point and consistent at this stage
of your life. Have you been inducted? Have you been
sworn in?
Speaker 6 (27:28):
I should say I get sworn in second Tuesday in January.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Okay, amazing, So in twenty twenty five, and when you
when you were first approached about entering political office. Earlier
in the interview, you talked about not necessarily having like
a platform, of course, because you weren't running for office.
But now at this stage of your political journey, what
is your platform, what are your your points and your goals,
and how are you engaging the community that you're going
(27:56):
to be representing.
Speaker 6 (27:57):
Yeah, so I wanted to make sure that I don't
veer away from what I already know. And I have
spent the last ten years really focusing on the stock market,
focusing on understanding investing, focusing on understanding money, and then
focusing on economics. And one of the things that I
(28:19):
had been so frustrated with in the last five years
is listening to the Democratic Party talk about economics, and
it was just very apparent to me that they didn't
understand the nuances of economics and how certain things work.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
And I get it.
Speaker 6 (28:38):
It's when you are in a space where you're a politician,
you're expected to know everything about everything.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
One of the.
Speaker 6 (28:47):
Things that is going to make me unique on the
Democratic side is that I'm going to be one of
the only Democrats that understands economics in the way that
I understand economics. So my biggest frustration in the last
five years is that I have been watching monetary policy
on a federal level being written and marginalized community members
(29:11):
and lower income community members, which is mostly made up
of marginalized folks not being accounted for and not being
advocated for when it comes to monetary policy. So that
is going to be where I stay.
Speaker 5 (29:25):
I'm going to stay in my lane.
Speaker 6 (29:27):
I truly believe that at the core of every single
social issue, which social issues is what the Democratic Party
focuses on. At the core of every single social issue
is an economic issue, and economic issues is usually what
we lean on Republicans to run on, and I'm tired
of that. I think it's very important for us to
(29:48):
start looking at economic impact on social issues and mitigating
and solving for those issues from an economics perspective. Otherwise,
we're going to continue to have the issues that we
have as we've been seeing, and they're only going to
get worse and worse and worse because we're lacking more resources,
we have less money, we're dealing with more inflation, we're
(30:11):
watching the middle class go away, and so yeah, I
feel like what I am going to be focus on
is more of a bipartisan issue. Think that that's going
to be really beneficial because hopefully I will be able
to demonstrate the economic issues to social issues. And I
(30:31):
think that when it comes to speaking to Republicans, which
is who I need support from if I'm going to
pass any of my bills here in the State of Texas,
that hopefully I can speak their language and they can
understand the perspective and it's not so emotionally charged. So
that is sort of the plan.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Thank you so much for giving us that breakdown. Excited
to see the work that you're going to do to
wrap up. You know you're going to be sworn in
in January, but we still have elections coming up in November,
both presidential local state level elections.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
So what would your.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Advice be to someone that maybe knows someone that isn't
going to vote or says my vote doesn't really matter,
what would you say to them?
Speaker 6 (31:20):
Oh, my goodness, this is such a charged topic right most,
especially right now in the state of Texas because we
currently have just recently gotten data that the Latin community
is the majority in the state of Texas. On top
(31:42):
of that, Governor Abbott just purged over a million voter
registration applications, which means that a lot of people are
currently now suspended and unable to vote. So this is
what we are facing here is in Texas, and I'm
(32:02):
telling you these men they get ideas from each other
on how to suppress voters. And so while you might
be in California or in New York, or in a
space that is very safe pertaining to whatever it is
you're going to vote for, I want to urge you
to still vote because that we are closely watching what
(32:27):
demographic is voting and what demographic isn't voting, and we
fall so far behind when it comes to this demographic
and whether we like it or not, whether we consider
ourselves the political people or not, politics is impacting our
day to day life. It controls every decision we make
(32:49):
when we get into a car, put on our seatbelt, drive,
whatever it is. It is controlling so much of our lives,
and so it's important for us to start too, I think,
wake up this giant that has been asleep for such
a long time. It is crucial that we start to
show up and demonstrate our power and the actual impact
(33:11):
that we have.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Linda Garcia. She's done it all, folks. I mean, you
have lived many lives. You are now shaking things up
in Texas politics and eventually like national politics, I imagine.
So I thank you for coming on the show and
sharing your journey with us. And how can folks keep
(33:33):
up with you? Like where can they follow you? Not
just your personal work, but now the political work that
you're doing.
Speaker 6 (33:39):
Yeah, thank you so much for asking. This reminds me
of something that I think is really really important. One
of the other reasons that I'm doing this is because
I want to see us reflected in different colors and
different styles and different vibes. I want for women that
see themselves reflected in me, reflected in space like this one.
(34:01):
And so it's really really important that we take a
close look at our local politicians, most especially if it's
someone that you can relate to, and strongly consider donating
to their campaign because a lot of us don't come
from generational wealth. As I mentioned before, this position only
(34:22):
pays seven thousand dollars, which means I am continuously working
to fundraise, and so please, I urge you to pay
attention to your local politicians and fundraise. If there's someone
that you find alignment with. You can find my political
instagram at Linda the Number four Texas. There's a link there.
(34:45):
If you feel called, five bucks to my Act Blue.
Speaker 5 (34:50):
It will take me a long way.
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