October 2, 2025 • 54 mins
Honey sits down with the legendary Maria Hinojosa - an award-winning journalist whose career began in 1993 with one clear mission: to make Latinos visible. From her early days in radio to founding Futuro Media and leading Latino USA, Maria has spent decades amplifying our stories and holding power accountable.
Maria opens up about her fight to ensure the current administration doesn’t silence her voice or her initiatives, why she and Futuro Media reject terms like “minority” and “illegal,” and why she’s calling on Latino journalists to take responsibility for how they represent our community in the news. As she reminds us, “Basic due process is being tested on our backs!”
But it’s not all heavy they also share laughs about life with her Dominican husband, how she keeps herself fit and grounded, and the passion that continues to drive her work. This episode is both a masterclass in journalism and a powerful reminder of what it means to fight for visibility, dignity, and truth. ✊🏽✨
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Episode Transcript
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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,
you know, one of the women that I have admired,
you know, just wanted to be like and just totally
followed my entire journalistic career. We're sitting down with journalists mom, author, wife,
(00:24):
trailblazer and now part of Michael Tura podcast network, Maria
Inojosa being Benva.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You made me get a little fla. That's very special.
Thank you for saying so. And it's truly an honor
to be here. It's just great to be here with you.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
It's such an honor to have you be part of
the network. I'm like, wait, hold on, wait, hold on,
is this really happening? How did this even come about?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well, you know, Latino USA is the longest running English
language news program on any at work, radio, television, digital.
It said that on any networks. Yeah, basically, and I
like to say yeah, I like to say that. So
(01:10):
we have been around for over three decades now, we
started in nineteen ninety three.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Thank you for your work.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Thank you, Mamita, Thank you so much. It means a
lot to hear that coming from you.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
You paved the way for us. I wouldn't be here
today if what you been doing for decades now wouldn't
have happened.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
You know.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
It's like I thought I was doing something here by
launching podcasts to give Latinos a voice, and then when
I got my when I got into my deep dive,
I was like, no, no, no, no no, I said, Mariyah,
I've been doing this forever. I'm a baby. I'm a newcomer.
I don't even know what I'm doing right now, you know,
but thank you so much, man, I really really appreciate it.
You gave a phase to what I wanted to be.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Oh God, I say, Mamita. You know you have to
remember that way back when, right in the nineteen eighties,
when I'm in college, and basically that's when I start
in college. Radio that's all that. Radio was like our
social media. That was where you would go. But it
was also it was live radio. It was you were
(02:08):
always taking calls from the audience. So live radio was
like our Twitter. It was like our TikTok, it was
our Insta and people who wanted to be engaged, you know,
they just dial up the radio station and so that's
really where it all started for me. And I love
the fact that you quoted Novak that was my radio
show on WKCR. We did it. We did it in Spanish,
(02:31):
and you know what would happen, lahintanos yamba, lahintan nos
ya mava because we have a ninety mile range w KCR,
so catch it. So people would listen and they'd be
call it. They'd call us up at you know, we
ran from ten pm into one in the morning, and
they'd be like, Inglis, you should do it in English.
Your Spanish isn't so good, and we're like, we're a
college student trying. We're trying to be pride full of
(02:54):
our language. You should be proud of us. And we
just kept on doing it in Spanish.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
And I absolutely love that because, you know, it just
back in the day, it was just like us on
the radio saying what we wanted to say, you know,
just speaking about the issues that other outlets weren't speaking about.
And we needed that. And you you saw this from
day one, like how badly we needed it.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I don't know if I saw it from day one
how badly we needed it. What I did know, because
I was living in it was that we were invisible
makes ten from the mainstream news media and from the
media in general. Latinos and Latinas were invisible. So I
loved watching journalists on television and then later on radio,
specifically public radio. But rainomos, not by the siamos, you know,
(03:43):
were not VISI.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
I remember we would have to watch Telemundo O NBC
to see anything Latino related. But if you were watching
you know, the ten o'clock news or Channel seven news,
we were not visible.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Well, I'm talking about way before that, ma, meetam. I'm
talking about the seventies, the eighties, before UNIDI should became
the network, which, as you know, at one point it
was the third largest and most important, most watched network
in the country, as it should be. Everything now with
network television is up in the air. But I'm not
giving up hope.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Oh you're not, and neither are we. Yeah, I'm like, nah,
this is not going to cease to exist. We're not
going away. There's got to be ways you know that
we can help, you know, fund you know futuro media. Hell, yes,
you say, like how we're going to make this exist,
like as Latinos you know, and as you know, people
living their life in Spanglish. It's like anybody who is you,
who has been paving the way for us, who has
(04:36):
been given voice to the invisible. Pretty much, we have
to make sure we support you. Anything that you do,
we have to get behind it, whether it be helping
with funding, whether it be sharing the content. I want
you to know it, no matter what happens with this administration,
you're not going anywhere.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
You know. That's so interesting that you should say this,
because this morning that's exactly what I said to one
of my coworkers. Really exactly what I said, because a
couple of weeks ago, to be honest with you, I
had a rough spell. You know, I felt like they
got into my brain and I had abduction nightmares. You're human, right,
you know. And I felt very worried and stressed and anxious.
(05:14):
And you know, I have a great Dominican husband, and
he was just like, calm down, her man, Yes, her man,
her man. You know who I call it, honey. I know.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
When I saw your husband's name, I was like, wait, wait, wait,
she must be like my husband is honeyed man.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I was like, what am I in a dream? But anyway,
so they got into my head, and I was very upset.
But this morning, it's a beautiful Monday morning, and I
just said to my coworker, I said, BASSI, look at Basse.
We are going to make it through. We're going to adjust,
and then when we come out of this, we're going
to have a rebirth. We are going to do something
(05:52):
that we can't even imagine. And so I'm glad that
you said that, because right, no nos mamos. You know
they they maybe they don't want to see in all
of our honesty, truthfulness, the facts of who Latinos, Latinos,
latinx Latine people are. The facts they don't want to
see it. We're not going anywhere.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
We're the majority. We're the Latin majority. I say it
all the time. I do not feel like any lesser
of I don't feel like a minority. I don't feel
like I'm going anywhere. I do not feel like I'm
gonna stop creating content for Latinos or shining a spotlight
on Latinos. And you're my leader. You're not going anywhere,
because where am I gonna be without Marino Jose?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
You know what? I again, we are on the same
wave length. I swear because do you know there are
two words that we never use at Futuro Media, which
is a nonprofit newsroom. We never use the term minority
ever to refer No, we don't majority. We don't use
the term minority because white people have been told now
(06:53):
they're going to be the minority. Minority, minority it and mieto,
and it's just like we're not going to do things
the same way. And the other word that we never
use to refer to a human being is illegal. You
will never hear us use the term word illegal, illegal immigrant,
nunga hamas never.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
And why should we? We're humans? Why label us, you know,
especially labels that have such a negative connotation and labels
that have become weaponized against us.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
So the person who taught me to never use the
word illegal, it's going to be a little surprising, because
you know, people think of me as such a people
think of me as such as a Latina icon. They're like,
Caesar Chavez must have taught her that the lot is word.
That must have taught her that.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
I don't box me in.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
No, it was actually l. E. Visel who survived the Holocaust.
He was at Auswitch. He won the Nobel Peace Prize.
And when I met him, the one and only time
I met him, I asked him about this. I said,
I met CNN. They want me to use the term
illegal immigrant as I'm writing my piece. I said, what
do you think? He said, There's no such thing as
(08:02):
an illegal human being. The first thing the Nazis did
was to declare the Jews to be an illegal people,
and then gay people and then trans people, and that
they did that, they declare them illegal, and that's how
they dehumanized. And he said, no such thing as an
illegal human being.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And I'm so proud of you, you know, for just taking
a moment like that and just making it span, you know,
your career, because you might have a conversation like that
and just let it go and be like, oh, he
said that it was kind of cool. I should keep it,
but nah, you were like, Nah, these are the two
words we are not going to be using.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Life changing. And I make it a point to tell
that story as often as I can, because it's so
I think it's so memorable, and I think people will
stop after hearing that. After hearing that story, come.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
On, come on, let's get it together. Let's stop using
those terms, especially it's almost latinos.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
And people will use it, you know outside like people.
It will come out of your mouth because you've been
seeing it everywhere in all the mainstream. So you just
have to catch yourself and if someone says it in
front of you, you can take a pause and say,
you know, can we talk about that term. So I'm
very much in this moment twenty twenty five, I'm very
much like I'm engaging you in this conversation. I'm not
(09:14):
going to be quiet.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Holding us accountable. Yeah, as you should, because it's there's
enough already going on, you know, on social media, on television,
in politics that we're not We have to help I
guess dial it back. That's the word I can use.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
So interestingly. I was just interviewed last week for a
piece that's going to come out in the very esteemed
professional magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review. This is like very
you know, high end journalists, teer, top tier, top tier.
And the journalist asked me, do you there was the
National Association of Hispanic Journalists meeting that just happened in Chicago.
(09:51):
I'm a member, proud member of the member.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Or you help him run it?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Well? I let you know, the early early ones. I'm
not running it now, but I was a very very
early supporter of NHJ. And this person said that there
was a lot of talk at the meeting about how
we cover immigrants, and she said, do we need to
explain to other journalists to cover us with more empathy?
(10:15):
Amita I was like, no, we don't need empathy. What
we need is respect. So I actually when people are like, oh,
hype over a sitos mitra. They're climbing the dudi in jungle.
Oh man, they're on a caravan, those you know, poor people,
and I'm just like, you have no idea the strength
(10:40):
that these people. These people have the strength. So I'm like, no, no,
don't look at them and be look at them and say,
damn man nis respetos.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
That's all I want.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Y'all are prepared to climb a rain forest jungle to
get to a dream. You're prepared to talk in a
caravan ten hours a day for weeks because you have
a dream. And by the way, for anybody who's like, oh,
they shouldn't be why are they in a caravan, that's
actually the safest choice to make right now. So you're like, oh,
(11:15):
they're so dumb. Actually they're the smartest, most strategic thinkers,
and they have gotten us and grit that we should
all want just a little piece.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Of it Za and you know, they're out there together.
And you know, I've met women, you know that have
made it to this country and they go through a lot,
and just to go through all those things and come
here and be, you know, a working, you know, member
of society after experiencing such trauma. That tells you the
resilience and the strength that we Latinos have look at.
(11:51):
So I understand you, jose on the Joel. When I
see these videos of everything that's happening, you know, with Ice,
I'm like the disrespect, Like what is happening right now?
Like even the fact that I can't see the face
of an agent arresting me to me feels disrespectful. No,
it is like I need to see your face, Who
(12:12):
are you? Where are you taking me? We're not being
respected the way that we should be. We are humans,
and it hurts me and I think about it, and
if sometimes it makes me want to cry when I
see the footage, because I'm like, what the is going on?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
It is to cry, it is to cry, and I
you know, I see it as well, and I don't
want to stop seeing it. But the point is is
that it's not enough to just see it, right. I
think that you know, people have got to do something
about our democracy again. In what we're saying is you
(12:46):
have to respect basic due process in our country, and
basic due process is being tested on our backs. We
are going to come and get your you people, and
we're going to use masks, and we're going to not
identify ourselves and we're going to terrorize you because you
are the threat. You are Latinos. And it started with
(13:09):
Mexican immigrants and now it's everybody.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Oh it is We're so targeted and you know, we're
so villainized. Like when did Latinos become enemy of the
state Number one? Like when did this happen? It's like
I turned around and all of a sudden, the government
hates us and America hates us and they want us gone,
Like what happened? And we are not the only people
that migrated here, with people from France, from Germany, from Poland,
(13:34):
from everywhere, but Latinos are the only ones that are
now bad people? What happened here?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
So it's very complicated. It's not new. You know, immigrants
have been targeted in our country since really since the
eighteen seventies, which is when the first people by law
are excluded from the United States. And these are actually
Asian China, these women. It's the Page Act. Most people
(14:03):
read about or learn about this. Well, I don't know
what they teach in history now, but it was, you know,
the Chinese men had come to build the railroad. The
wives of those men wanted to come to meet them,
and the US federal government said, oh, no, no, no, no,
all of those Chinese women, you're all sex workers and
we're going to ban you. So it's called the Page Act.
(14:24):
And then it went to the Chinese Exclusion Act that
was in the eighteen seventies. So the issue of people,
by the way, the only difference between us and anybody
is that we weren't born here. That is the nature
of an immigrant, is that we weren't born in this country.
It's not you. Both Republicans and Democrats have participated in this,
(14:45):
So shame on both of them, both of them. I mean,
Bill Clinton was the first one who started building the wall. Okay,
so we have to we can't in Barack Obama. You know,
he is a constitutional scholar. We may love for all
kinds of reasons. He needs to own up to what
(15:06):
he did by not creating a pathway to legalization for everybody,
not just DAKA for everybody. And then the other piece
of the puzzle that we have to talk about it,
especially in Mike Guldura Network. Lets get it, is the
role that Latinos and Latinas really mostly men played in
(15:28):
helping to get Donald Trump elected. Okay, we just have
to own that. Like what happened.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
During the election. I was down in Florida and I
kept seeing the Latinos for Trump vehicles and everyone was
so happy, and I'm like, okay, look at that pass,
Like what is missing here? And when all of this unfold,
that's all I could think about. The parties, the trucks,
the Latino so Trump and I'm like, part to blame here?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Oh yeah. Now, at the same time, if you are
a smart political operative and you understand data and demographics,
you understand that you actually have to go after Latino
and Latino voters. They went after our community in Spanish
in English by flooding us with lies and mis and
(16:27):
disinformation about any number of things. First big lie is
that Donald Trump is a good businessman. I'm a journalist.
I base everything that I do on fact. He has
had four bankruptcies and all of his businesses have basically tanked.
When you see Trump on a tower, it's not his tower.
(16:47):
He's just selling out his name, Okay, because the name.
The other big lie that we were told was that
we immigrants were criminals and that we were destroying this country.
There is less criminality among people who are immigrants, period, dot,
(17:09):
end of story. Fact data. They were I'm not sure
if you saw this, but you know they had pictures
of Kamala Harris in the Revolutionary Communist Party headquarters which
were circulating in South Florida, and Kamala essaistos. You know
(17:39):
the big lie. The big lie was, oh if Kamala
Harris gets in.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Over and over and over again.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
And that's a whole other conversation. But the point is
is that you still fear like this in people that
they think that voting for Donald Trump is what's gonna
save them. And now Luna is okay, now it's gonna happen.
Look at our economy and all of these people who
we are watching that's say not better sta.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Okladobo sent me to see what Trump. They're not gonna
say I was wrong. They're not gonna say. But people
in my family who I know voted for Trump, my
mother included. I'm like, here you are, is this what
you wanted? Is this what you expected? Don And what
does she say When I'm like, we'll see, that's what
(18:42):
that was her thing? I'm like, but my thing is
Ila personaimiento, Like where is it? There is no heart,
there is no there is no warmth, there is no
care for us, and it's visible and it's it's blatant.
Do we not care about that for our our leader
here in America? Is it just all about numbers?
Speaker 2 (19:03):
No?
Speaker 1 (19:03):
I'm sorry. I need somebody who gives up about Latinos.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
So that's why to go back to Latino USA. That's
why we do the work that we've done. Right. We
could see when we started the show in nineteen ninety three.
By the way, you don't know the number of people
who are like, oh, how cute they're starting a Latino show.
Oh my god, it's gonna last three years. Oh my god,
that's so cute. It's never going to go anywhere. Here
(19:31):
we are mus that, you know what, thirty two years later,
thirty three years.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Later, Y's so fucking dope, bro, It's just like thirty
years later.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Because we understood that when we were growing, but also
that the essence of good journalism in the United States
is to be representative, and so Latino USA is we've
been doing that work Futuro Media that I start in
twenty ten, which was terrifying because I didn't think of
(20:00):
myself as a media entrepreneur in a I was a journalist.
But that is the idea, to create a newsroom that
is really representative. So we do the best journalism, which
you know gets us to win. I don't know a Pulitzer,
a Peabody, the Robert F. Kennedy Award, you.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Know, talk about it, talk about it, talk about it,
those awards when you look up at the numents, but like,
this is my legacy. This and not only A said
your legacy, but you did it for your people.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
You know what. I don't look at the awards. I
try not to think about it too much because I
think what what made Futuro become this place where we
win the awards is that we don't really think about
the awards, we think about heart, We think about how
are we going to tell this story in a way
that is going to touch someone, Like we're not afraid
to be journalists that do Betty, you know, you know,
(20:57):
journalism of conscience with a heart and radical transparency. So
we just tell our journalists go out there and like
do it, love it, and then we end up winning
the awards. But to be honest with you, girl, are
you kidding winning a Pulitzer that? I mean, I'm good,
you know, I'm just the Emmys Pulitzer. Okay, your you know,
(21:27):
I know he's watching. But that is like, you know,
the immigrant girl's dream.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
I'm pretty sure from they one to was.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Okay, Dominicano and I'm like, ah, call artist against and
this in the village it was called the Village Gate
(22:02):
and every Monday night they had something called Salsa meets Jazz.
So the night I want to go already, oh my god,
it doesn't exist anymore. But the night that head when
I met Dizzy Gillespie was playing with die Oh my
iconicly Okay, you're just gonna drop those two names like
and they were right, like the stage was small Dizzy
with Tito Puente and that's where head when and I met,
(22:25):
and it's.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
A chance or were you were you set up?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
No, look at Bassi Isaac. I was dancing with my girlfriend,
actually my Dominican queer girlfriend at the time. I mean
she wasn't my girlfriend, my girlfriend, not my lover, homegirl,
my homegirl. And my future husband saw me from Afar
melimahine una salsa and you know I'm Mexicans, so Mexicans.
(22:50):
You know, salsa doesn't necessarily come naturally.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
It's not the thing.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
But Anita worked on me. She worked on me until
I learned all my steps. I knew how to not
move too much. He went on head my maybe and
he was like kein like estado and Puerto Rican friend said,
I still love because I was. He was already I was, Yeah,
I was already.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Celebrit he was like lean that and successful.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yeah, it was. It's a beautiful love story. We've been
married now thirty four years.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
I saw that. I'm like, wow, thirty four years. Like
and you said, we're still in love. That's the important part,
because you can marry and b I fifty years and
hate each other.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
So the thing about marriage to me and I learned
this from my mom, who was married to my dad
for sixty plus years, and Mammy Medijo Mira. When I
was a little girl, Mommy, what's marriage like? And she said,
and I remember saying, like I was seven, I was like,
what do you mean? It's work work ro assoilo. And
(23:55):
you know, one, you absolutely have to love this person,
but it is going to be work. And for us,
us as powerful Latinas who have to be very very
powerful out here in the world, it's also important for
us to know that we don't really want to carry
the ego into the relationship with your partner.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
We got to go home and then tone it down
a little bit. We do be a little soft. It's hard.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
It's hard because we're like, well, I don't want to
be soft.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
This is who I am, this is who I am.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
But at the same time to be able to, you know,
shine a light on them, on our partners that you
have to have and bring it home and shine it
with your partner. Also, the thing is is that I
mean truly, truly, truly, I fell in love with him
(24:46):
on bit is because of his art. Like if you
see his art, I.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Did see his art.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I stopped his arm I just think I'm just a
huge fan. Every day I'm like, I so yeah, I
do love him and so he and being and also
he's a great Dominican man in the sense that he
took all of the challenges the Dubais and he turned
it instead of sour, angry, repressed, lashing out because there's
(25:14):
a lot of there's a lot of stuff that's happened
on the island, and you know, and he lived through
a lot of that. He actually has turned that into
creating beauty every day through art.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I love that he said, I'm not I'm not going
to be bitter. I'm not going to be angry, I'm
not going to be aggressive. I'm going to be.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
You know, an artist. I love that is the musica.
You know it very long, very long.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
You're lucky because you know you got that Latino that
a lot of our parents like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, okay,
keeping absolutely absolutely not boy that no girl, let me
tell you my father was because I'm like, how did.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
You don't know Aicanooiano, it was like iscandal, Gloria, you
and Gloria and my god, we're not Within the first
three months, Maeo Santo Domingo. Oh, service was nineteen nineties,
very serious, and that's when I was like, no macaso,
(26:26):
but she said to The good thing was it. Hermann
was friends with Juan Luis and from a long time before. Wow,
So with all of my Mexican family when I introduced
Herman and they were like, ohescandalo and I was like,
you like one Louis, They're like I see. I was
like when Hermann designed his first album cover, just so
(26:48):
you know, or I don't know if it was first
or second or whatever, you have a number because I know
the black and white cafe.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
My grandmother's song Ripia Warita.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Yeah, and then the inside there's a cow with an umbrella.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I know, the whole.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, you'll see it.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
I'm going back to look at this because that's it's
a beautiful connection. And it's a great way to sell family,
you know, because with Latinos it's like we have to convince.
You know. My husband was also after a Latino. My
mom was like buyanca, like mommy, and now she loves them,
but at the beginning it was just like the color
(27:26):
wasn't making sense to her.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
And so again internally among Latinos and latinas latinx Latini people.
We have to have the conversation about that thing that
we have all heard, which is real but also horrific,
which is, I get, what the hell is that I
heard that it's a little girl.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I absolutely, I said, okay, and you know I touch
on it. You know, in my podcast, I sat down
with Manny Perez, Dominican actor, and we talked about colorism,
and we got dragged to infinity and beyond by dominicanos.
You know, because we also not only are we culprits
(28:09):
of things like colorism, but then we want to say
we're not, which is the bigger problem for me. It's like,
not only are we doing it, but then we're saying
we're not doing it. But yeah, that's a whole nother conversation.
Me and you could talk forever, because we know all
the issues you know that plague our community. There are
issues that have to be fixed before we can even
get other people to view us the way that we
want them to view us.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Eight. That's why I'm saying that right now, it's important
that we have an internal conversation what happened, Like, yes,
there was miss and disinformation that was aimed at us,
but I think, well, one, the Democrats completely don't even
I mean, that's a whole separate conversation. So it was
(28:50):
theirs to lose, and they lost it. But there's a
part of Latinidad which is I love that word. If
you are being told, if we are being told over
and over and over again, y'all are a bunch of criminals,
y'all are a bunch of quote unquote. Again, we're not
going to use the term the I word. Y'all are
are you know, doing terrible things? Then you are like,
no better, But I'm not say yes. If I'm not
(29:13):
going to be that, then I gotta be with this guy.
That means I have to be with Trump. And it's
like no, no. First of all, fact and that's something
that in our community we really need to talk a lot,
which is media literacy. People need to understand you need
to triple fact check whatever you hear and see triple
(29:35):
fact check it.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
It's in my own family, it's a huge problem. My
ideas Facebook. I'm like, mammy, no, Mammy, no, the Facebook
fact checked. There's no problem with you know, consuming media
through social media, but fact check it. That's a huge problem.
(29:56):
And then they share it, and somebody else shares it,
and then this that has all types of misinformation is
shared one hundred thousand times on Facebook.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Yeah. Yeah, so I'm glad that you're having the conversation.
It's gonna take a while. I know, all day, every day. Yeah,
it happens all the time, so all of us have
(30:26):
to be aware of it. By the way it happens
to you and me, it does we see something on
social media, if it makes you have an immediate emotional reaction,
that's exactly when you have to take a pause before
you hit share. You actually have to take a pause
and say, let me bet at and really research because
there's a lot of men.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Sometimes if I'm very unsure on news stories, I'll sleep
on them. I'm like, there's no reason why I need
to share this in a rush. I just did that
this morning.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
You know.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
I work at Power one of five point one, which
is our hit pop station here, and we I the
digital director. So I handled the news and there was
a case and you know, a lot of misinformation, and
it was just like, no, this happened, No that happened,
No this happened, No that happened. And I said you
know what, it's Sunday. I'm going to wait for Monday morning.
This morning I woke up the entire article from a
news source reliable. I said, okay, now I'll.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Go, okay, good.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
You know what I'm saying, and we can all do that.
What is the thirst to sheare information?
Speaker 2 (31:24):
So I'm going to tell you something that happened to
me here in our beloved New York City right before
the election. Talk to me, missuillan taxi. You know, I
live in West Harlem, so it was a livery or something, And.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
What's your block?
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Tell me your blog?
Speaker 1 (31:37):
I was born in Oh you're right there. I love that.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Oh yeah very much. So for years, for years and years. Anyway,
miss who wanted got on they have I'm not going
to say which station plan it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yours, okay, thank you.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
And the anchors who definitely someone someone's Dominican, someone I
don't know, definitely someone of them is Dominican. And they
were the ones right in our city repeating lies about
immigrants and refugees. And my head exploded. I was like
(32:14):
in I had just gotten back from South Florida where
you turn on the AM station and it's all misinformation
basically in Spanish. And I was like, but here in
New York City, you're talking this way about immigrants, and
they were repeating these false claims about immigrants slash refugees, which,
(32:35):
by the way, refugees, Okay, refugee refuge can we if
we yeah that and being this So that was heartbreaking,
which again is why we have to have these conversations
amongst ourselves.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
I feel like sometimes media just to get a reaction,
you know, but it's like, okay, you want to keep
you know, saying the same thing over and over there
you probably know is not right just to get callers,
just to get people to post videos of them listening
just being mad. No, we have to be more responsible,
you know, as media, as a journalist, especially if we're
in the space of latinos and you know, sharing on
(33:12):
latinos to Latinos, Like how irresponsible.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Can you be? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (33:16):
No, that's especially if they're seeking us out as someone
who is giving them the information that they need.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
It used to be back then, right when like the
Spanish language radio stations were just popping up in New
York City, it was like unakomuni le Bredak assistant Dieko
Mouni that mass, but now it's gotten so complicated. And
you know, we are the fastest growing along with Asian
(33:44):
population in this country. We are the most powerful consumer.
You and I actually latinas over index over black women
and white women in terms of determining what's going to
be bought in our homes. We are the most powerful consumers.
What else are we as consumers? Brand loyal?
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Oh that we are? You know that.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Compress, latoy, compresente, la rose, compra. You know, that's who
we are. So instead of seeing us with that kind
of economic power, we're being seen as takers, which is a.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Lie, absolutely the opposite. And you know one thing I
love about iHeart you know, is they see the value
in Latinos. I heart flew me to practice and Gamble
to discuss you know, Latinos in media and Latino consumer
and they I'm like me and they're like, yeah, you
because you are who they want to talk to. And
(34:45):
they were like, we're not going to send to white
men or two white women there, absolutely not. And the
client I call the client practical, they were just so happy.
They were just like they get they put me there
and I was like, this is what we want, this
is what we need, and you know, I applauded I
heard for picking someone who represented who their target audience
was and what they're doing, even what they're doing with
Mike the podcast network. These shows are so positive, they're
(35:07):
so you know, all over the place. They're you know,
they have people that you know, they have Jenny Riveda's daughter,
she is absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
We have.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
You now, which I love. I was just like, wow,
we're really really raising the damn ball. I'm like, I
better get my interview questions up.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
You know what I love is that I think it's
two hundred and fifty million listens every month, and so
for us, it's like, wow, there are a lot of
people who know about us, but there are a lot
of people who don't.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
So it's like, yeah, you that net you just cast it.
Girl is going far and wide and this is you know, like,
you know, this is the content that we need created
for us by us. It's so crazy because Fubu was
a black brand, but that name which is it stuck
with me forever because I'm like, that is what we
need to consume, things that are created for us by us.
(36:00):
I don't want a white woman creating a Latino podcast.
I just don't. How about you creating a Latino podcast,
because I'm very in tune with who is speaking, and
you know, I saw that. You know, you're very in
tune with who gets to tell the stories. You know,
when you know picking journalists and you know your platforms,
and to me, that is top when it comes to
(36:23):
journalism and Latinos. Who tells our stories?
Speaker 2 (36:27):
So it's interesting because one of the things that we
love to do is, yes, we are investigative work is
award winning. Our narrative work is really beautiful, but we
do You're right, we are very conscious about who's telling
and how the stories are being told. In the case
of Suave, which won the Pulitzer, you know, Suave was
(36:47):
in prison for thirty one years. He was sentenced to
life without parole as a juvenile when he was seventeen.
The Supreme Court, in part because of Sonya Sotmayod, they
reverse that it is now illegal to sentence sentence a
juvenile to life without parole. And when I meet Suave,
(37:08):
I never thought that we would end up. I started
recording our conversations when I thought the Supreme Court might
reverse this decision. Now, Suave we dropped season one, won
the Pulitzer. We just dropped season two. But Suave is
one of the producers now, so love that. Yeah, So
it's not just like we're gonna, you know, just use you.
Actually you are part of the production team and you're
(37:29):
gonna help us tell better stories. And so now Futro
Media is not just let you know, USA, It's the
Suave podcast. It's anything for Selena. It's my devo about
Juan Gabriel, It's Loud, the history of Reggaeton, It's La Brega,
which is all about the Puerto Rican reality. It's I mean,
(37:49):
Puerto Rico is like everywhere. I mean, Bad Bunny.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Though, Bad Bunny, let's talk about it.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Okay, I'm a be very obvious with you. I of
course you know about Bad Bunny from the very beginning.
Oh yo, oh yo, we were talking about him. I mean,
what what over a decade ago and when he released
this album. So I've been a fan, but you know,
just like from Afar, when he released this album, my
first and the first time I heard, I'm gonna be
(38:21):
very honest, I was like, kipasa wait a second, I
was like but this is just rer gombo. And I
said to my future Puerto Rican daughter in law, yes
it's true. I said, no better endo porquez Agasta, and
(38:42):
then I took a pause and then I was like,
oh my god. You know when it shifts like that,
beat dropped, beat dropped? I was like, oh no, what?
And then the album grew on me and so I
am such a bad bunny stane now. I honestly we
(39:02):
should just call him Benito, because that is Benito lo
el pais de Puerto Rico. He is fearless. He is
fearless and just filled with so much heart. I mean,
that's that's the thing we love about him, is that
he's got a lot of heart.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
We almost kind of lost California.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
We were I wasn't gonna say it, but you know,
I was worried.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
I said, Benita, what has happened?
Speaker 2 (39:26):
He come back to us? But I think it is
that internalized thing. I mean, when we don't know, right,
we don't know at that level. If it was arranged,
you're not. But I think there's also this internalized thing,
Like you know, my first boyfriend was a white male
preppy named John. I'm not going to give his last
name because I don't want to review. But you know
(39:48):
it's like we we want, we want to almost become
that thing. And it's like, no, it's we can. We
can love all of our white people. I mean they're
our family. My son in law is white, Iirish Airish
white immigrant Biddle. It doesn't mean that we we see
ourselves as equal. That's what's important, is that we see
(40:09):
ourselves as equal, and that's how we have to understand it.
Rather than oh my god, we want to be you.
We need to fall in love so that you see us. No,
we're here, respect us.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
I went to a gala at Schipriani's where you were
being honored in the winter time, and there were a
lot of people speaking, and you know, some people spoke about,
you know, how they felt and how you know they
felt lesser of. And it was weird because I said,
I've never felt lesser of. I've always felt like just
as important in no Sasiek, you're so super overly confident.
(40:44):
But with my white you know student, I mean college maids,
co workers, whoever it is, black white agent, I've always
felt like Joso import Jokai. Lesser of my mind was
just like, Yo, I'm just as important. But I want
everyone to understand it's like, as Latinos, it's just like
we are so important, our voice matters so much, our
(41:05):
spending dollar like we can shift a whole election, but
we have to understand that we have to put our
mind there. That it's just jes.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
Now, when you think about one of the more fascinating
politicians right now, she is a Latina, Alexandre Gacio Cortez.
So you know she's she's just fascinating as a politician.
What she's trying to do, what she has done and
continues to do. You know, this whole conversation that she
had in her district with people who voted for Trump
(41:39):
and also voted for her. So again, Latinos and Latinas,
we are not in the back seat. We are in
the front seat. And I want to take a moment
to say, you know, there was a lot of after
the election it was like, oh my god, you Latinos,
you voted for Trump. You delivered this election to Trump.
It's not true Trump would have won without Latinos and Latinas.
(42:03):
So that is actually on white America, white men and
white women. They have to answer to that. But it
is true that more Latino men turned to Trump. So
on Latino USA, we're doing a series called Ombre Understanding
Latino Men, so we're able to understand Latino men. But
my point is that what happened in LA at the
(42:26):
beginning of the summer, Guendolo de Los Angeles led in
its majority by Mexicanos, Chicanos Chicanas. We have to say
thank you to standing up for democracy. What they were
standing up was saying you cannot come into our communities
(42:47):
and terrorize us with masks in the middle of the
night without due process. So people are like, oh my god,
how radical. Actually they were protesting to save due process
and our democracy. So thank you to LO because there
were people of every age group out there isacto, which
(43:11):
is crazy because taking to the streets to protest should
never be a question of There should never be a
risk if we are taking to the streets to protest
because we live in a democracy.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
I mean ish, you know how they're moving now, One
bad mood and your life is taken. You know the
way things are right now, it doesn't even feel safe
to go to a protest, like we live here in
New York and it's just like you see footage sometimes
and I'm like, how did things get so out of control?
Speaker 2 (43:41):
But remember that most of the time, So we know
this as journalists, like if we're at a protest, we're
actually not going to post the stuff that's kind of
just happened normal. When something i'l go sescalat is a brende,
that's actually what you're going to talk about. So I
(44:04):
just want to say, overwhelmingly the protests are overwhelmingly peaceful,
and we need to realize that, Like, for example, there
were protests yesterday in Israel. Tens hundreds of thousands of
people in Israel came out asking for a ceasefire and
for a hostage negotiation and for stopping this war in Gasa,
(44:28):
war on Gaza, not war in Gaza, the war on Gaza.
They were overwhelmingly peaceful those demonstrations, So let's remember that that. Yeah,
you're going to see this stuff where it gets tough,
and there are always instigators at protests on either side.
To be honest, I hate to say that on both sides,
but I was a hothead at one point too when
(44:50):
I was a kid. La pasion la pasiononsas. Yeah, and
again we don't want to be the ones who end
up not being the instigators. But it is true that
on the other side, they are now coming at protesters,
nonviolent protesters, with force, with the military, with federal agents,
with National Guard, with arms. So it is truly being
(45:16):
instigated from one side.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
You got me strong, You're strong. Let's talk. Let's talk fitness,
because we had, you know, we had a whole pre
(45:38):
meeting to this interview, and something that kep coming up
is have you seen her body? Have you seen her muscles?
Have you seen her did you hear her the beginning,
I'm like, yes, I did. Like you have to tell
her to talk about, you know, her work. Have you
always been like a fitness person.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
I don't know if I would say always. I danced
when I was younger, but really, what happened. I'm just
gonna be very honest with you because I'm always honest. Yes,
so I was always working out, it was always happening.
But what happened was in twenty fifteen it Dolosta de Roumbando. Actually,
you know, I was having my dad, my best friend,
(46:14):
my cousin were all dying within a period of six months.
I was very challenged at work. I was having financial
issues because we had two kids in college. Headman and
I were having issues in our marriage.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
But all those things happening, of course your marriage is
going to.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
Be affected, Dollo and Don says. Somebody said to me,
one of my trainers actually said, you really need to
start taking the boxing class at six thirty in the morning.
I was like, hell no, I'm not waking up the
hell no. I was like, I'm never doing that. Something
said to me go and I realized that I needed that,
that letting go, that punching of the bag and believing
(46:53):
that I could be a boxer because I'm only five
feet tall, so I'm really really tiny. And then it's
just in intensified the boxing. And now I'm weightlifting pretty intensely.
And I have a dear friend who is now well,
she's now a dear friend. She's a trainer, actually a
former Republican UH state trooper woman from Connecticut whose heart
(47:20):
has really changed in the process of she and I
working out intensely over the past year and a half.
So I'm very dedicated. But the other thing that I
put a lot of emphasis on is sleep. So I
make sure that I get at least eight seven hours
every night.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
How your body heals.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
And I don't eat anything processed. That was hard. I
have to be really honest with you, just giving up everything.
No cookies, no potato chips, no crackers, no cold cuts,
no naa this so now that, no candy, no sugar.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
No. See, they get a lot of that stuff that
we eat. Is it's a bit addictive. You understand, like
you have it and then it makes us sick, and
then you want it again. You're like, and by the way,
I loved me some Cheetos. Oh my god, Cheetos are
just regular cheetos, No either one anyway, I always had
(48:23):
a bag of Cheetos in my desk. No, no, no, no, no,
no hamas.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
So it's toxical. Now you think about it, like she
was poisoned. I used to like those Dockys, the spicy Dockys.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
Yeah, man, you know that's all banned in Europe. You
can't get it in Europe.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
That's a whole other conversation, the way we're we're poisoned
in America with the things that we are allowed to eat.
But now you look absolutely amazing. Your fitness I saw
your arms.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
And I said, I started because of Michelle though okay,
I started because of Michelle Obama. Well, yes, that was
a long time ago.
Speaker 1 (48:54):
You could wear those sleeveless dresses the way Moe used
to wear, Like come.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
On, yes, I'm just telling you this. It's not. And
the reason why I post yeah, because I do. And
as you know, I did just put a thirst trap
up there. I was like god, I was like yeah.
I was like, you're you're gonna do this and I
was like, you know what, have fun and mostly for inspiration,
and you look fit and you know you.
Speaker 1 (49:15):
Look respectable, and you know it's it's it's not lude,
it's not overly bulgar. It's a dope picture.
Speaker 2 (49:20):
Thank you mama. I love thank you. I really love
to inspire you do so it's not so much like
ooh blah blah. It's like you can do it too.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
You see you see this?
Speaker 2 (49:29):
Do you see this?
Speaker 1 (49:30):
Do you see this? You could get this ship too.
Speaker 2 (49:31):
If I got it, you can get it too. I
got it, you can get it, And I get inspired.
There's a woman who is I follow. She's a Canadian woman.
She's like seventy five, and she was not in good shape,
like a decade ago she was. You know, she's seventy
five and she is killing it. She's a weightlifter. So
I'm like, see, yeah, we.
Speaker 1 (49:53):
See.
Speaker 2 (49:53):
So I'm very for the inspiration. Absolutely, I love.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
That and i am just so happy that you are
part of the network. Now, thank you. Talk to me.
Where do we need to go? What do we need
to follow? What do our listeners need to do right now,
whether it be with Futuro Media Latino USA or your
new you know, your new partnership with Michael Dura podcast network.
What do you want us to activate?
Speaker 2 (50:15):
Well, look, I think the conversation with like the network,
I think is just starting. You know, this just happens.
So where we go from here? It is really like
there's all kinds of possibilities. Like, of course I'm in
the cread Quarters network. I'm in the network and I'm
looking out there and I'm like, oh, y'all, do you
can do live events? Yeah? I'm like, we need to
(50:37):
do something live because we love to engage with our audience,
you know. But the most important thing for us is
again we are we have a big It's like we
have a big impact with a huge network. iHeart. But
actually we're small. We're tiny, but mighty.
Speaker 1 (50:53):
Under the umbrella.
Speaker 2 (50:54):
That's what, man, We're under the umbrella. But still we
depend on our audience to support us. So for example,
we still fundraise. We're still a nonprofit. We are not
a for profit independent newsroom. We're non profit. And right
now we're depending on our listeners to become members. Right
(51:15):
that's the new thing. Now. We created a membership program
plus and it's super easy. It's seven dollars a month
and then you don't have to hear the ads and
you let's do it, man, if you get the little cheesemad,
we do the behind the scenes things. So yeah, it's
just actually asking people to become a members and and
(51:35):
then sharing and talking about our content, just sharing and
talking about it. So honestly, it's my my pleasure, in
my honi honor to be with in the conversation honeyhead,
I'm honey, but you know I don't spell honey, h
O n E y j O and I coney.
Speaker 1 (52:01):
That age don't matter, that age you don't matter.
Speaker 2 (52:03):
Man.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
I'm so happy, you know we got to sit down together.
I got to know you and I can say you
know what I sat down Conline cleve the icon, the
legend Maria.
Speaker 2 (52:15):
You know I might meet that. Honestly, it's my pleasure
and it's my first I heart part of the podcast
Network interview. So you did it, and obviously we're on
the same wavelane, We're on.
Speaker 1 (52:28):
The same exact page. After this, we're going to talk
about everything we need to get together and do and
make it happen and whatever you need, I'm here for you,
whatever which way I.
Speaker 2 (52:37):
Compare about sisterhood. Solidary man, you know.
Speaker 1 (52:42):
Is a big Dominican thing. When you go back tell
the esposal, that's something they would make us repeat in school.
And Dominican Republic.
Speaker 2 (52:51):
Oh my god, I love that. But you know what
my kids are. My kids are Domini mex I love that.
Speaker 1 (52:57):
My two favorite foods Mexican and Dominican. Albeit that I
don't even want to think about house break.
Speaker 2 (53:02):
I break the diet for mango. Me you.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
Come.
Speaker 2 (53:12):
I also break it for I see, and also Tito's.
I'll break my diet for all the Yeah, those are
like flowers. I like Mexico City style taos. So takito
is like a small tortilla with the fresh you know,
freshly chopped meat cilant. I know, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (53:41):
Thank you so much for sitting down with me. You're
absolutely stunning. Your work speaks volumes, and I wouldn't be
here right now if it wasn't for you.
Speaker 2 (53:48):
Thank you. That what a blessing.
Speaker 1 (53:50):
Grassiers Come Again.
Speaker 2 (53:52):
You call me and I'm subway right away. He get
thank you.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
Graciers Come Again is a product of Honey German Productions
in partnership with iheart's My Kundura podcast network.
Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German. Welcome to
another episode of Gracias Come Again. Today. I am sitting down,
you know, one of the women that I have admired,
you know, just wanted to be like and just totally
followed my entire journalistic career. We're sitting down with journalists mom, author, wife,
(00:24):
trailblazer and now part of Michael Tura podcast network, Maria
Inojosa being Benva.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You made me get a little fla. That's very special.
Thank you for saying so. And it's truly an honor
to be here. It's just great to be here with you.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
It's such an honor to have you be part of
the network. I'm like, wait, hold on, wait, hold on,
is this really happening? How did this even come about?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well, you know, Latino USA is the longest running English
language news program on any at work, radio, television, digital.
It said that on any networks. Yeah, basically, and I
like to say yeah, I like to say that. So
(01:10):
we have been around for over three decades now, we
started in nineteen ninety three.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Thank you for your work.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Thank you, Mamita, Thank you so much. It means a
lot to hear that coming from you.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
You paved the way for us. I wouldn't be here
today if what you been doing for decades now wouldn't
have happened.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
You know.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
It's like I thought I was doing something here by
launching podcasts to give Latinos a voice, and then when
I got my when I got into my deep dive,
I was like, no, no, no, no no, I said, Mariyah,
I've been doing this forever. I'm a baby. I'm a newcomer.
I don't even know what I'm doing right now, you know,
but thank you so much, man, I really really appreciate it.
You gave a phase to what I wanted to be.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Oh God, I say, Mamita. You know you have to
remember that way back when, right in the nineteen eighties,
when I'm in college, and basically that's when I start
in college. Radio that's all that. Radio was like our
social media. That was where you would go. But it
was also it was live radio. It was you were
(02:08):
always taking calls from the audience. So live radio was
like our Twitter. It was like our TikTok, it was
our Insta and people who wanted to be engaged, you know,
they just dial up the radio station and so that's
really where it all started for me. And I love
the fact that you quoted Novak that was my radio
show on WKCR. We did it. We did it in Spanish,
(02:31):
and you know what would happen, lahintanos yamba, lahintan nos
ya mava because we have a ninety mile range w KCR,
so catch it. So people would listen and they'd be
call it. They'd call us up at you know, we
ran from ten pm into one in the morning, and
they'd be like, Inglis, you should do it in English.
Your Spanish isn't so good, and we're like, we're a
college student trying. We're trying to be pride full of
(02:54):
our language. You should be proud of us. And we
just kept on doing it in Spanish.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
And I absolutely love that because, you know, it just
back in the day, it was just like us on
the radio saying what we wanted to say, you know,
just speaking about the issues that other outlets weren't speaking about.
And we needed that. And you you saw this from
day one, like how badly we needed it.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I don't know if I saw it from day one
how badly we needed it. What I did know, because
I was living in it was that we were invisible
makes ten from the mainstream news media and from the
media in general. Latinos and Latinas were invisible. So I
loved watching journalists on television and then later on radio,
specifically public radio. But rainomos, not by the siamos, you know,
(03:43):
were not VISI.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
I remember we would have to watch Telemundo O NBC
to see anything Latino related. But if you were watching
you know, the ten o'clock news or Channel seven news,
we were not visible.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Well, I'm talking about way before that, ma, meetam. I'm
talking about the seventies, the eighties, before UNIDI should became
the network, which, as you know, at one point it
was the third largest and most important, most watched network
in the country, as it should be. Everything now with
network television is up in the air. But I'm not
giving up hope.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Oh you're not, and neither are we. Yeah, I'm like, nah,
this is not going to cease to exist. We're not
going away. There's got to be ways you know that
we can help, you know, fund you know futuro media. Hell, yes,
you say, like how we're going to make this exist,
like as Latinos you know, and as you know, people
living their life in Spanglish. It's like anybody who is you,
who has been paving the way for us, who has
(04:36):
been given voice to the invisible. Pretty much, we have
to make sure we support you. Anything that you do,
we have to get behind it, whether it be helping
with funding, whether it be sharing the content. I want
you to know it, no matter what happens with this administration,
you're not going anywhere.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
You know. That's so interesting that you should say this,
because this morning that's exactly what I said to one
of my coworkers. Really exactly what I said, because a
couple of weeks ago, to be honest with you, I
had a rough spell. You know, I felt like they
got into my brain and I had abduction nightmares. You're human, right,
you know. And I felt very worried and stressed and anxious.
(05:14):
And you know, I have a great Dominican husband, and
he was just like, calm down, her man, Yes, her man,
her man. You know who I call it, honey. I know.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
When I saw your husband's name, I was like, wait, wait, wait,
she must be like my husband is honeyed man.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I was like, what am I in a dream? But anyway,
so they got into my head, and I was very upset.
But this morning, it's a beautiful Monday morning, and I
just said to my coworker, I said, BASSI, look at Basse.
We are going to make it through. We're going to adjust,
and then when we come out of this, we're going
to have a rebirth. We are going to do something
(05:52):
that we can't even imagine. And so I'm glad that
you said that, because right, no nos mamos. You know
they they maybe they don't want to see in all
of our honesty, truthfulness, the facts of who Latinos, Latinos,
latinx Latine people are. The facts they don't want to
see it. We're not going anywhere.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
We're the majority. We're the Latin majority. I say it
all the time. I do not feel like any lesser
of I don't feel like a minority. I don't feel
like I'm going anywhere. I do not feel like I'm
gonna stop creating content for Latinos or shining a spotlight
on Latinos. And you're my leader. You're not going anywhere,
because where am I gonna be without Marino Jose?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
You know what? I again, we are on the same
wave length. I swear because do you know there are
two words that we never use at Futuro Media, which
is a nonprofit newsroom. We never use the term minority
ever to refer No, we don't majority. We don't use
the term minority because white people have been told now
(06:53):
they're going to be the minority. Minority, minority it and mieto,
and it's just like we're not going to do things
the same way. And the other word that we never
use to refer to a human being is illegal. You
will never hear us use the term word illegal, illegal immigrant,
nunga hamas never.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
And why should we? We're humans? Why label us, you know,
especially labels that have such a negative connotation and labels
that have become weaponized against us.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
So the person who taught me to never use the
word illegal, it's going to be a little surprising, because
you know, people think of me as such a people
think of me as such as a Latina icon. They're like,
Caesar Chavez must have taught her that the lot is word.
That must have taught her that.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
I don't box me in.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
No, it was actually l. E. Visel who survived the Holocaust.
He was at Auswitch. He won the Nobel Peace Prize.
And when I met him, the one and only time
I met him, I asked him about this. I said,
I met CNN. They want me to use the term
illegal immigrant as I'm writing my piece. I said, what
do you think? He said, There's no such thing as
(08:02):
an illegal human being. The first thing the Nazis did
was to declare the Jews to be an illegal people,
and then gay people and then trans people, and that
they did that, they declare them illegal, and that's how
they dehumanized. And he said, no such thing as an
illegal human being.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And I'm so proud of you, you know, for just taking
a moment like that and just making it span, you know,
your career, because you might have a conversation like that
and just let it go and be like, oh, he
said that it was kind of cool. I should keep it,
but nah, you were like, Nah, these are the two
words we are not going to be using.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Life changing. And I make it a point to tell
that story as often as I can, because it's so
I think it's so memorable, and I think people will
stop after hearing that. After hearing that story, come.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
On, come on, let's get it together. Let's stop using
those terms, especially it's almost latinos.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
And people will use it, you know outside like people.
It will come out of your mouth because you've been
seeing it everywhere in all the mainstream. So you just
have to catch yourself and if someone says it in
front of you, you can take a pause and say,
you know, can we talk about that term. So I'm
very much in this moment twenty twenty five, I'm very
much like I'm engaging you in this conversation. I'm not
(09:14):
going to be quiet.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Holding us accountable. Yeah, as you should, because it's there's
enough already going on, you know, on social media, on television,
in politics that we're not We have to help I
guess dial it back. That's the word I can use.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
So interestingly. I was just interviewed last week for a
piece that's going to come out in the very esteemed
professional magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review. This is like very
you know, high end journalists, teer, top tier, top tier.
And the journalist asked me, do you there was the
National Association of Hispanic Journalists meeting that just happened in Chicago.
(09:51):
I'm a member, proud member of the member.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Or you help him run it?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Well? I let you know, the early early ones. I'm
not running it now, but I was a very very
early supporter of NHJ. And this person said that there
was a lot of talk at the meeting about how
we cover immigrants, and she said, do we need to
explain to other journalists to cover us with more empathy?
(10:15):
Amita I was like, no, we don't need empathy. What
we need is respect. So I actually when people are like, oh,
hype over a sitos mitra. They're climbing the dudi in jungle.
Oh man, they're on a caravan, those you know, poor people,
and I'm just like, you have no idea the strength
(10:40):
that these people. These people have the strength. So I'm like, no, no,
don't look at them and be look at them and say,
damn man nis respetos.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
That's all I want.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Y'all are prepared to climb a rain forest jungle to
get to a dream. You're prepared to talk in a
caravan ten hours a day for weeks because you have
a dream. And by the way, for anybody who's like, oh,
they shouldn't be why are they in a caravan, that's
actually the safest choice to make right now. So you're like, oh,
(11:15):
they're so dumb. Actually they're the smartest, most strategic thinkers,
and they have gotten us and grit that we should
all want just a little piece.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Of it Za and you know, they're out there together.
And you know, I've met women, you know that have
made it to this country and they go through a lot,
and just to go through all those things and come
here and be, you know, a working, you know, member
of society after experiencing such trauma. That tells you the
resilience and the strength that we Latinos have look at.
(11:51):
So I understand you, jose on the Joel. When I
see these videos of everything that's happening, you know, with Ice,
I'm like the disrespect, Like what is happening right now?
Like even the fact that I can't see the face
of an agent arresting me to me feels disrespectful. No,
it is like I need to see your face, Who
(12:12):
are you? Where are you taking me? We're not being
respected the way that we should be. We are humans,
and it hurts me and I think about it, and
if sometimes it makes me want to cry when I
see the footage, because I'm like, what the is going on?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
It is to cry, it is to cry, and I
you know, I see it as well, and I don't
want to stop seeing it. But the point is is
that it's not enough to just see it, right. I
think that you know, people have got to do something
about our democracy again. In what we're saying is you
(12:46):
have to respect basic due process in our country, and
basic due process is being tested on our backs. We
are going to come and get your you people, and
we're going to use masks, and we're going to not
identify ourselves and we're going to terrorize you because you
are the threat. You are Latinos. And it started with
(13:09):
Mexican immigrants and now it's everybody.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Oh it is We're so targeted and you know, we're
so villainized. Like when did Latinos become enemy of the
state Number one? Like when did this happen? It's like
I turned around and all of a sudden, the government
hates us and America hates us and they want us gone,
Like what happened? And we are not the only people
that migrated here, with people from France, from Germany, from Poland,
(13:34):
from everywhere, but Latinos are the only ones that are
now bad people? What happened here?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
So it's very complicated. It's not new. You know, immigrants
have been targeted in our country since really since the
eighteen seventies, which is when the first people by law
are excluded from the United States. And these are actually
Asian China, these women. It's the Page Act. Most people
(14:03):
read about or learn about this. Well, I don't know
what they teach in history now, but it was, you know,
the Chinese men had come to build the railroad. The
wives of those men wanted to come to meet them,
and the US federal government said, oh, no, no, no, no,
all of those Chinese women, you're all sex workers and
we're going to ban you. So it's called the Page Act.
(14:24):
And then it went to the Chinese Exclusion Act that
was in the eighteen seventies. So the issue of people,
by the way, the only difference between us and anybody
is that we weren't born here. That is the nature
of an immigrant, is that we weren't born in this country.
It's not you. Both Republicans and Democrats have participated in this,
(14:45):
So shame on both of them, both of them. I mean,
Bill Clinton was the first one who started building the wall. Okay,
so we have to we can't in Barack Obama. You know,
he is a constitutional scholar. We may love for all
kinds of reasons. He needs to own up to what
(15:06):
he did by not creating a pathway to legalization for everybody,
not just DAKA for everybody. And then the other piece
of the puzzle that we have to talk about it,
especially in Mike Guldura Network. Lets get it, is the
role that Latinos and Latinas really mostly men played in
(15:28):
helping to get Donald Trump elected. Okay, we just have
to own that. Like what happened.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
During the election. I was down in Florida and I
kept seeing the Latinos for Trump vehicles and everyone was
so happy, and I'm like, okay, look at that pass,
Like what is missing here? And when all of this unfold,
that's all I could think about. The parties, the trucks,
the Latino so Trump and I'm like, part to blame here?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Oh yeah. Now, at the same time, if you are
a smart political operative and you understand data and demographics,
you understand that you actually have to go after Latino
and Latino voters. They went after our community in Spanish
in English by flooding us with lies and mis and
(16:27):
disinformation about any number of things. First big lie is
that Donald Trump is a good businessman. I'm a journalist.
I base everything that I do on fact. He has
had four bankruptcies and all of his businesses have basically tanked.
When you see Trump on a tower, it's not his tower.
(16:47):
He's just selling out his name, Okay, because the name.
The other big lie that we were told was that
we immigrants were criminals and that we were destroying this country.
There is less criminality among people who are immigrants, period, dot,
(17:09):
end of story. Fact data. They were I'm not sure
if you saw this, but you know they had pictures
of Kamala Harris in the Revolutionary Communist Party headquarters which
were circulating in South Florida, and Kamala essaistos. You know
(17:39):
the big lie. The big lie was, oh if Kamala
Harris gets in.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Over and over and over again.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
And that's a whole other conversation. But the point is
is that you still fear like this in people that
they think that voting for Donald Trump is what's gonna
save them. And now Luna is okay, now it's gonna happen.
Look at our economy and all of these people who
we are watching that's say not better sta.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Okladobo sent me to see what Trump. They're not gonna
say I was wrong. They're not gonna say. But people
in my family who I know voted for Trump, my
mother included. I'm like, here you are, is this what
you wanted? Is this what you expected? Don And what
does she say When I'm like, we'll see, that's what
(18:42):
that was her thing? I'm like, but my thing is
Ila personaimiento, Like where is it? There is no heart,
there is no there is no warmth, there is no
care for us, and it's visible and it's it's blatant.
Do we not care about that for our our leader
here in America? Is it just all about numbers?
Speaker 2 (19:03):
No?
Speaker 1 (19:03):
I'm sorry. I need somebody who gives up about Latinos.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
So that's why to go back to Latino USA. That's
why we do the work that we've done. Right. We
could see when we started the show in nineteen ninety three.
By the way, you don't know the number of people
who are like, oh, how cute they're starting a Latino show.
Oh my god, it's gonna last three years. Oh my god,
that's so cute. It's never going to go anywhere. Here
(19:31):
we are mus that, you know what, thirty two years later,
thirty three years.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Later, Y's so fucking dope, bro, It's just like thirty
years later.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Because we understood that when we were growing, but also
that the essence of good journalism in the United States
is to be representative, and so Latino USA is we've
been doing that work Futuro Media that I start in
twenty ten, which was terrifying because I didn't think of
(20:00):
myself as a media entrepreneur in a I was a journalist.
But that is the idea, to create a newsroom that
is really representative. So we do the best journalism, which
you know gets us to win. I don't know a Pulitzer,
a Peabody, the Robert F. Kennedy Award, you.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Know, talk about it, talk about it, talk about it,
those awards when you look up at the numents, but like,
this is my legacy. This and not only A said
your legacy, but you did it for your people.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
You know what. I don't look at the awards. I
try not to think about it too much because I
think what what made Futuro become this place where we
win the awards is that we don't really think about
the awards, we think about heart, We think about how
are we going to tell this story in a way
that is going to touch someone, Like we're not afraid
to be journalists that do Betty, you know, you know,
(20:57):
journalism of conscience with a heart and radical transparency. So
we just tell our journalists go out there and like
do it, love it, and then we end up winning
the awards. But to be honest with you, girl, are
you kidding winning a Pulitzer that? I mean, I'm good,
you know, I'm just the Emmys Pulitzer. Okay, your you know,
(21:27):
I know he's watching. But that is like, you know,
the immigrant girl's dream.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
I'm pretty sure from they one to was.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Okay, Dominicano and I'm like, ah, call artist against and
this in the village it was called the Village Gate
(22:02):
and every Monday night they had something called Salsa meets Jazz.
So the night I want to go already, oh my god,
it doesn't exist anymore. But the night that head when
I met Dizzy Gillespie was playing with die Oh my
iconicly Okay, you're just gonna drop those two names like
and they were right, like the stage was small Dizzy
with Tito Puente and that's where head when and I met,
(22:25):
and it's.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
A chance or were you were you set up?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
No, look at Bassi Isaac. I was dancing with my girlfriend,
actually my Dominican queer girlfriend at the time. I mean
she wasn't my girlfriend, my girlfriend, not my lover, homegirl,
my homegirl. And my future husband saw me from Afar
melimahine una salsa and you know I'm Mexicans, so Mexicans.
(22:50):
You know, salsa doesn't necessarily come naturally.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
It's not the thing.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
But Anita worked on me. She worked on me until
I learned all my steps. I knew how to not
move too much. He went on head my maybe and
he was like kein like estado and Puerto Rican friend said,
I still love because I was. He was already I was, Yeah,
I was already.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Celebrit he was like lean that and successful.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yeah, it was. It's a beautiful love story. We've been
married now thirty four years.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
I saw that. I'm like, wow, thirty four years. Like
and you said, we're still in love. That's the important part,
because you can marry and b I fifty years and
hate each other.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
So the thing about marriage to me and I learned
this from my mom, who was married to my dad
for sixty plus years, and Mammy Medijo Mira. When I
was a little girl, Mommy, what's marriage like? And she said,
and I remember saying, like I was seven, I was like,
what do you mean? It's work work ro assoilo. And
(23:55):
you know, one, you absolutely have to love this person,
but it is going to be work. And for us,
us as powerful Latinas who have to be very very
powerful out here in the world, it's also important for
us to know that we don't really want to carry
the ego into the relationship with your partner.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
We got to go home and then tone it down
a little bit. We do be a little soft. It's hard.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
It's hard because we're like, well, I don't want to
be soft.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
This is who I am, this is who I am.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
But at the same time to be able to, you know,
shine a light on them, on our partners that you
have to have and bring it home and shine it
with your partner. Also, the thing is is that I
mean truly, truly, truly, I fell in love with him
(24:46):
on bit is because of his art. Like if you
see his art, I.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Did see his art.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I stopped his arm I just think I'm just a
huge fan. Every day I'm like, I so yeah, I
do love him and so he and being and also
he's a great Dominican man in the sense that he
took all of the challenges the Dubais and he turned
it instead of sour, angry, repressed, lashing out because there's
(25:14):
a lot of there's a lot of stuff that's happened
on the island, and you know, and he lived through
a lot of that. He actually has turned that into
creating beauty every day through art.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I love that he said, I'm not I'm not going
to be bitter. I'm not going to be angry, I'm
not going to be aggressive. I'm going to be.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
You know, an artist. I love that is the musica.
You know it very long, very long.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
You're lucky because you know you got that Latino that
a lot of our parents like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, okay,
keeping absolutely absolutely not boy that no girl, let me
tell you my father was because I'm like, how did.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
You don't know Aicanooiano, it was like iscandal, Gloria, you
and Gloria and my god, we're not Within the first
three months, Maeo Santo Domingo. Oh, service was nineteen nineties,
very serious, and that's when I was like, no macaso,
(26:26):
but she said to The good thing was it. Hermann
was friends with Juan Luis and from a long time before. Wow,
So with all of my Mexican family when I introduced
Herman and they were like, ohescandalo and I was like,
you like one Louis, They're like I see. I was
like when Hermann designed his first album cover, just so
(26:48):
you know, or I don't know if it was first
or second or whatever, you have a number because I know
the black and white cafe.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
My grandmother's song Ripia Warita.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Yeah, and then the inside there's a cow with an umbrella.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I know, the whole.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, you'll see it.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
I'm going back to look at this because that's it's
a beautiful connection. And it's a great way to sell family,
you know, because with Latinos it's like we have to convince.
You know. My husband was also after a Latino. My
mom was like buyanca, like mommy, and now she loves them,
but at the beginning it was just like the color
(27:26):
wasn't making sense to her.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
And so again internally among Latinos and latinas latinx Latini people.
We have to have the conversation about that thing that
we have all heard, which is real but also horrific,
which is, I get, what the hell is that I
heard that it's a little girl.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I absolutely, I said, okay, and you know I touch
on it. You know, in my podcast, I sat down
with Manny Perez, Dominican actor, and we talked about colorism,
and we got dragged to infinity and beyond by dominicanos.
You know, because we also not only are we culprits
(28:09):
of things like colorism, but then we want to say
we're not, which is the bigger problem for me. It's like,
not only are we doing it, but then we're saying
we're not doing it. But yeah, that's a whole nother conversation.
Me and you could talk forever, because we know all
the issues you know that plague our community. There are
issues that have to be fixed before we can even
get other people to view us the way that we
want them to view us.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Eight. That's why I'm saying that right now, it's important
that we have an internal conversation what happened, Like, yes,
there was miss and disinformation that was aimed at us,
but I think, well, one, the Democrats completely don't even
I mean, that's a whole separate conversation. So it was
(28:50):
theirs to lose, and they lost it. But there's a
part of Latinidad which is I love that word. If
you are being told, if we are being told over
and over and over again, y'all are a bunch of criminals,
y'all are a bunch of quote unquote. Again, we're not
going to use the term the I word. Y'all are
are you know, doing terrible things? Then you are like,
no better, But I'm not say yes. If I'm not
(29:13):
going to be that, then I gotta be with this guy.
That means I have to be with Trump. And it's
like no, no. First of all, fact and that's something
that in our community we really need to talk a lot,
which is media literacy. People need to understand you need
to triple fact check whatever you hear and see triple
(29:35):
fact check it.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
It's in my own family, it's a huge problem. My
ideas Facebook. I'm like, mammy, no, Mammy, no, the Facebook
fact checked. There's no problem with you know, consuming media
through social media, but fact check it. That's a huge problem.
(29:56):
And then they share it, and somebody else shares it,
and then this that has all types of misinformation is
shared one hundred thousand times on Facebook.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Yeah. Yeah, so I'm glad that you're having the conversation.
It's gonna take a while. I know, all day, every day. Yeah,
it happens all the time, so all of us have
(30:26):
to be aware of it. By the way it happens
to you and me, it does we see something on
social media, if it makes you have an immediate emotional reaction,
that's exactly when you have to take a pause before
you hit share. You actually have to take a pause
and say, let me bet at and really research because
there's a lot of men.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Sometimes if I'm very unsure on news stories, I'll sleep
on them. I'm like, there's no reason why I need
to share this in a rush. I just did that
this morning.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
You know.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
I work at Power one of five point one, which
is our hit pop station here, and we I the
digital director. So I handled the news and there was
a case and you know, a lot of misinformation, and
it was just like, no, this happened, No that happened,
No this happened, No that happened. And I said you
know what, it's Sunday. I'm going to wait for Monday morning.
This morning I woke up the entire article from a
news source reliable. I said, okay, now I'll.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Go, okay, good.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
You know what I'm saying, and we can all do that.
What is the thirst to sheare information?
Speaker 2 (31:24):
So I'm going to tell you something that happened to
me here in our beloved New York City right before
the election. Talk to me, missuillan taxi. You know, I
live in West Harlem, so it was a livery or something, And.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
What's your block?
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Tell me your blog?
Speaker 1 (31:37):
I was born in Oh you're right there. I love that.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Oh yeah very much. So for years, for years and years. Anyway,
miss who wanted got on they have I'm not going
to say which station plan it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yours, okay, thank you.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
And the anchors who definitely someone someone's Dominican, someone I
don't know, definitely someone of them is Dominican. And they
were the ones right in our city repeating lies about
immigrants and refugees. And my head exploded. I was like
(32:14):
in I had just gotten back from South Florida where
you turn on the AM station and it's all misinformation
basically in Spanish. And I was like, but here in
New York City, you're talking this way about immigrants, and
they were repeating these false claims about immigrants slash refugees, which,
(32:35):
by the way, refugees, Okay, refugee refuge can we if
we yeah that and being this So that was heartbreaking,
which again is why we have to have these conversations
amongst ourselves.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
I feel like sometimes media just to get a reaction,
you know, but it's like, okay, you want to keep
you know, saying the same thing over and over there
you probably know is not right just to get callers,
just to get people to post videos of them listening
just being mad. No, we have to be more responsible,
you know, as media, as a journalist, especially if we're
in the space of latinos and you know, sharing on
(33:12):
latinos to Latinos, Like how irresponsible.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Can you be? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (33:16):
No, that's especially if they're seeking us out as someone
who is giving them the information that they need.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
It used to be back then, right when like the
Spanish language radio stations were just popping up in New
York City, it was like unakomuni le Bredak assistant Dieko
Mouni that mass, but now it's gotten so complicated. And
you know, we are the fastest growing along with Asian
(33:44):
population in this country. We are the most powerful consumer.
You and I actually latinas over index over black women
and white women in terms of determining what's going to
be bought in our homes. We are the most powerful consumers.
What else are we as consumers? Brand loyal?
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Oh that we are? You know that.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Compress, latoy, compresente, la rose, compra. You know, that's who
we are. So instead of seeing us with that kind
of economic power, we're being seen as takers, which is a.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Lie, absolutely the opposite. And you know one thing I
love about iHeart you know, is they see the value
in Latinos. I heart flew me to practice and Gamble
to discuss you know, Latinos in media and Latino consumer
and they I'm like me and they're like, yeah, you
because you are who they want to talk to. And
(34:45):
they were like, we're not going to send to white
men or two white women there, absolutely not. And the
client I call the client practical, they were just so happy.
They were just like they get they put me there
and I was like, this is what we want, this
is what we need, and you know, I applauded I
heard for picking someone who represented who their target audience
was and what they're doing, even what they're doing with
Mike the podcast network. These shows are so positive, they're
(35:07):
so you know, all over the place. They're you know,
they have people that you know, they have Jenny Riveda's daughter,
she is absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
We have.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
You now, which I love. I was just like, wow,
we're really really raising the damn ball. I'm like, I
better get my interview questions up.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
You know what I love is that I think it's
two hundred and fifty million listens every month, and so
for us, it's like, wow, there are a lot of
people who know about us, but there are a lot
of people who don't.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
So it's like, yeah, you that net you just cast it.
Girl is going far and wide and this is you know, like,
you know, this is the content that we need created
for us by us. It's so crazy because Fubu was
a black brand, but that name which is it stuck
with me forever because I'm like, that is what we
need to consume, things that are created for us by us.
(36:00):
I don't want a white woman creating a Latino podcast.
I just don't. How about you creating a Latino podcast,
because I'm very in tune with who is speaking, and
you know, I saw that. You know, you're very in
tune with who gets to tell the stories. You know,
when you know picking journalists and you know your platforms,
and to me, that is top when it comes to
(36:23):
journalism and Latinos. Who tells our stories?
Speaker 2 (36:27):
So it's interesting because one of the things that we
love to do is, yes, we are investigative work is
award winning. Our narrative work is really beautiful, but we
do You're right, we are very conscious about who's telling
and how the stories are being told. In the case
of Suave, which won the Pulitzer, you know, Suave was
(36:47):
in prison for thirty one years. He was sentenced to
life without parole as a juvenile when he was seventeen.
The Supreme Court, in part because of Sonya Sotmayod, they
reverse that it is now illegal to sentence sentence a
juvenile to life without parole. And when I meet Suave,
(37:08):
I never thought that we would end up. I started
recording our conversations when I thought the Supreme Court might
reverse this decision. Now, Suave we dropped season one, won
the Pulitzer. We just dropped season two. But Suave is
one of the producers now, so love that. Yeah, So
it's not just like we're gonna, you know, just use you.
Actually you are part of the production team and you're
(37:29):
gonna help us tell better stories. And so now Futro
Media is not just let you know, USA, It's the
Suave podcast. It's anything for Selena. It's my devo about
Juan Gabriel, It's Loud, the history of Reggaeton, It's La Brega,
which is all about the Puerto Rican reality. It's I mean,
(37:49):
Puerto Rico is like everywhere. I mean, Bad Bunny.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Though, Bad Bunny, let's talk about it.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Okay, I'm a be very obvious with you. I of
course you know about Bad Bunny from the very beginning.
Oh yo, oh yo, we were talking about him. I mean,
what what over a decade ago and when he released
this album. So I've been a fan, but you know,
just like from Afar, when he released this album, my
first and the first time I heard, I'm gonna be
(38:21):
very honest, I was like, kipasa wait a second, I
was like but this is just rer gombo. And I
said to my future Puerto Rican daughter in law, yes
it's true. I said, no better endo porquez Agasta, and
(38:42):
then I took a pause and then I was like,
oh my god. You know when it shifts like that,
beat dropped, beat dropped? I was like, oh no, what?
And then the album grew on me and so I
am such a bad bunny stane now. I honestly we
(39:02):
should just call him Benito, because that is Benito lo
el pais de Puerto Rico. He is fearless. He is
fearless and just filled with so much heart. I mean,
that's that's the thing we love about him, is that
he's got a lot of heart.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
We almost kind of lost California.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
We were I wasn't gonna say it, but you know,
I was worried.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
I said, Benita, what has happened?
Speaker 2 (39:26):
He come back to us? But I think it is
that internalized thing. I mean, when we don't know, right,
we don't know at that level. If it was arranged,
you're not. But I think there's also this internalized thing,
Like you know, my first boyfriend was a white male
preppy named John. I'm not going to give his last
name because I don't want to review. But you know
(39:48):
it's like we we want, we want to almost become
that thing. And it's like, no, it's we can. We
can love all of our white people. I mean they're
our family. My son in law is white, Iirish Airish
white immigrant Biddle. It doesn't mean that we we see
ourselves as equal. That's what's important, is that we see
(40:09):
ourselves as equal, and that's how we have to understand it.
Rather than oh my god, we want to be you.
We need to fall in love so that you see us. No,
we're here, respect us.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
I went to a gala at Schipriani's where you were
being honored in the winter time, and there were a
lot of people speaking, and you know, some people spoke about,
you know, how they felt and how you know they
felt lesser of. And it was weird because I said,
I've never felt lesser of. I've always felt like just
as important in no Sasiek, you're so super overly confident.
(40:44):
But with my white you know student, I mean college maids,
co workers, whoever it is, black white agent, I've always
felt like Joso import Jokai. Lesser of my mind was
just like, Yo, I'm just as important. But I want
everyone to understand it's like, as Latinos, it's just like
we are so important, our voice matters so much, our
(41:05):
spending dollar like we can shift a whole election, but
we have to understand that we have to put our
mind there. That it's just jes.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
Now, when you think about one of the more fascinating
politicians right now, she is a Latina, Alexandre Gacio Cortez.
So you know she's she's just fascinating as a politician.
What she's trying to do, what she has done and
continues to do. You know, this whole conversation that she
had in her district with people who voted for Trump
(41:39):
and also voted for her. So again, Latinos and Latinas,
we are not in the back seat. We are in
the front seat. And I want to take a moment
to say, you know, there was a lot of after
the election it was like, oh my god, you Latinos,
you voted for Trump. You delivered this election to Trump.
It's not true Trump would have won without Latinos and Latinas.
(42:03):
So that is actually on white America, white men and
white women. They have to answer to that. But it
is true that more Latino men turned to Trump. So
on Latino USA, we're doing a series called Ombre Understanding
Latino Men, so we're able to understand Latino men. But
my point is that what happened in LA at the
(42:26):
beginning of the summer, Guendolo de Los Angeles led in
its majority by Mexicanos, Chicanos Chicanas. We have to say
thank you to standing up for democracy. What they were
standing up was saying you cannot come into our communities
(42:47):
and terrorize us with masks in the middle of the
night without due process. So people are like, oh my god,
how radical. Actually they were protesting to save due process
and our democracy. So thank you to LO because there
were people of every age group out there isacto, which
(43:11):
is crazy because taking to the streets to protest should
never be a question of There should never be a
risk if we are taking to the streets to protest
because we live in a democracy.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
I mean ish, you know how they're moving now, One
bad mood and your life is taken. You know the
way things are right now, it doesn't even feel safe
to go to a protest, like we live here in
New York and it's just like you see footage sometimes
and I'm like, how did things get so out of control?
Speaker 2 (43:41):
But remember that most of the time, So we know
this as journalists, like if we're at a protest, we're
actually not going to post the stuff that's kind of
just happened normal. When something i'l go sescalat is a brende,
that's actually what you're going to talk about. So I
(44:04):
just want to say, overwhelmingly the protests are overwhelmingly peaceful,
and we need to realize that, Like, for example, there
were protests yesterday in Israel. Tens hundreds of thousands of
people in Israel came out asking for a ceasefire and
for a hostage negotiation and for stopping this war in Gasa,
(44:28):
war on Gaza, not war in Gaza, the war on Gaza.
They were overwhelmingly peaceful those demonstrations, So let's remember that that. Yeah,
you're going to see this stuff where it gets tough,
and there are always instigators at protests on either side.
To be honest, I hate to say that on both sides,
but I was a hothead at one point too when
(44:50):
I was a kid. La pasion la pasiononsas. Yeah, and
again we don't want to be the ones who end
up not being the instigators. But it is true that
on the other side, they are now coming at protesters,
nonviolent protesters, with force, with the military, with federal agents,
with National Guard, with arms. So it is truly being
(45:16):
instigated from one side.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
You got me strong, You're strong. Let's talk. Let's talk fitness,
because we had, you know, we had a whole pre
(45:38):
meeting to this interview, and something that kep coming up
is have you seen her body? Have you seen her muscles?
Have you seen her did you hear her the beginning,
I'm like, yes, I did. Like you have to tell
her to talk about, you know, her work. Have you
always been like a fitness person.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
I don't know if I would say always. I danced
when I was younger, but really, what happened. I'm just
gonna be very honest with you because I'm always honest. Yes,
so I was always working out, it was always happening.
But what happened was in twenty fifteen it Dolosta de Roumbando. Actually,
you know, I was having my dad, my best friend,
(46:14):
my cousin were all dying within a period of six months.
I was very challenged at work. I was having financial
issues because we had two kids in college. Headman and
I were having issues in our marriage.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
But all those things happening, of course your marriage is
going to.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
Be affected, Dollo and Don says. Somebody said to me,
one of my trainers actually said, you really need to
start taking the boxing class at six thirty in the morning.
I was like, hell no, I'm not waking up the
hell no. I was like, I'm never doing that. Something
said to me go and I realized that I needed that,
that letting go, that punching of the bag and believing
(46:53):
that I could be a boxer because I'm only five
feet tall, so I'm really really tiny. And then it's
just in intensified the boxing. And now I'm weightlifting pretty intensely.
And I have a dear friend who is now well,
she's now a dear friend. She's a trainer, actually a
former Republican UH state trooper woman from Connecticut whose heart
(47:20):
has really changed in the process of she and I
working out intensely over the past year and a half.
So I'm very dedicated. But the other thing that I
put a lot of emphasis on is sleep. So I
make sure that I get at least eight seven hours
every night.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
How your body heals.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
And I don't eat anything processed. That was hard. I
have to be really honest with you, just giving up everything.
No cookies, no potato chips, no crackers, no cold cuts,
no naa this so now that, no candy, no sugar.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
No. See, they get a lot of that stuff that
we eat. Is it's a bit addictive. You understand, like
you have it and then it makes us sick, and
then you want it again. You're like, and by the way,
I loved me some Cheetos. Oh my god, Cheetos are
just regular cheetos, No either one anyway, I always had
(48:23):
a bag of Cheetos in my desk. No, no, no, no, no,
no hamas.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
So it's toxical. Now you think about it, like she
was poisoned. I used to like those Dockys, the spicy Dockys.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
Yeah, man, you know that's all banned in Europe. You
can't get it in Europe.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
That's a whole other conversation, the way we're we're poisoned
in America with the things that we are allowed to eat.
But now you look absolutely amazing. Your fitness I saw
your arms.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
And I said, I started because of Michelle though okay,
I started because of Michelle Obama. Well, yes, that was
a long time ago.
Speaker 1 (48:54):
You could wear those sleeveless dresses the way Moe used
to wear, Like come.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
On, yes, I'm just telling you this. It's not. And
the reason why I post yeah, because I do. And
as you know, I did just put a thirst trap
up there. I was like god, I was like yeah.
I was like, you're you're gonna do this and I
was like, you know what, have fun and mostly for inspiration,
and you look fit and you know you.
Speaker 1 (49:15):
Look respectable, and you know it's it's it's not lude,
it's not overly bulgar. It's a dope picture.
Speaker 2 (49:20):
Thank you mama. I love thank you. I really love
to inspire you do so it's not so much like
ooh blah blah. It's like you can do it too.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
You see you see this?
Speaker 2 (49:29):
Do you see this?
Speaker 1 (49:30):
Do you see this? You could get this ship too.
Speaker 2 (49:31):
If I got it, you can get it too. I
got it, you can get it, And I get inspired.
There's a woman who is I follow. She's a Canadian woman.
She's like seventy five, and she was not in good shape,
like a decade ago she was. You know, she's seventy
five and she is killing it. She's a weightlifter. So
I'm like, see, yeah, we.
Speaker 1 (49:53):
See.
Speaker 2 (49:53):
So I'm very for the inspiration. Absolutely, I love.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
That and i am just so happy that you are
part of the network. Now, thank you. Talk to me.
Where do we need to go? What do we need
to follow? What do our listeners need to do right now,
whether it be with Futuro Media Latino USA or your
new you know, your new partnership with Michael Dura podcast network.
What do you want us to activate?
Speaker 2 (50:15):
Well, look, I think the conversation with like the network,
I think is just starting. You know, this just happens.
So where we go from here? It is really like
there's all kinds of possibilities. Like, of course I'm in
the cread Quarters network. I'm in the network and I'm
looking out there and I'm like, oh, y'all, do you
can do live events? Yeah? I'm like, we need to
(50:37):
do something live because we love to engage with our audience,
you know. But the most important thing for us is
again we are we have a big It's like we
have a big impact with a huge network. iHeart. But
actually we're small. We're tiny, but mighty.
Speaker 1 (50:53):
Under the umbrella.
Speaker 2 (50:54):
That's what, man, We're under the umbrella. But still we
depend on our audience to support us. So for example,
we still fundraise. We're still a nonprofit. We are not
a for profit independent newsroom. We're non profit. And right
now we're depending on our listeners to become members. Right
(51:15):
that's the new thing. Now. We created a membership program
plus and it's super easy. It's seven dollars a month
and then you don't have to hear the ads and
you let's do it, man, if you get the little cheesemad,
we do the behind the scenes things. So yeah, it's
just actually asking people to become a members and and
(51:35):
then sharing and talking about our content, just sharing and
talking about it. So honestly, it's my my pleasure, in
my honi honor to be with in the conversation honeyhead,
I'm honey, but you know I don't spell honey, h
O n E y j O and I coney.
Speaker 1 (52:01):
That age don't matter, that age you don't matter.
Speaker 2 (52:03):
Man.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
I'm so happy, you know we got to sit down together.
I got to know you and I can say you
know what I sat down Conline cleve the icon, the
legend Maria.
Speaker 2 (52:15):
You know I might meet that. Honestly, it's my pleasure
and it's my first I heart part of the podcast
Network interview. So you did it, and obviously we're on
the same wavelane, We're on.
Speaker 1 (52:28):
The same exact page. After this, we're going to talk
about everything we need to get together and do and
make it happen and whatever you need, I'm here for you,
whatever which way I.
Speaker 2 (52:37):
Compare about sisterhood. Solidary man, you know.
Speaker 1 (52:42):
Is a big Dominican thing. When you go back tell
the esposal, that's something they would make us repeat in school.
And Dominican Republic.
Speaker 2 (52:51):
Oh my god, I love that. But you know what
my kids are. My kids are Domini mex I love that.
Speaker 1 (52:57):
My two favorite foods Mexican and Dominican. Albeit that I
don't even want to think about house break.
Speaker 2 (53:02):
I break the diet for mango. Me you.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
Come.
Speaker 2 (53:12):
I also break it for I see, and also Tito's.
I'll break my diet for all the Yeah, those are
like flowers. I like Mexico City style taos. So takito
is like a small tortilla with the fresh you know,
freshly chopped meat cilant. I know, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (53:41):
Thank you so much for sitting down with me. You're
absolutely stunning. Your work speaks volumes, and I wouldn't be
here right now if it wasn't for you.
Speaker 2 (53:48):
Thank you. That what a blessing.
Speaker 1 (53:50):
Grassiers Come Again.
Speaker 2 (53:52):
You call me and I'm subway right away. He get
thank you.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
Graciers Come Again is a product of Honey German Productions
in partnership with iheart's My Kundura podcast network.
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