100 Latina Birthdays

Between 2015 to 2019, unsheltered homelessness increased among two populations: women and Latinos. Homelessness carries a social stigma, and getting help is difficult because people do not disclose how much they’re struggling. But housing insecurity—overcrowding, doubling up, and moving often—can be traumatizing and have life-long impacts on a person’s health and well-being.  In this episode, reporter Vicky Diaz-Camacho explores th...

This week, we are sharing an episode from our Peabody-nominated series, 70 Million.  The newest season focuses on the ways that Immigration and Customs enforcement, or  ICE, detention impacts those in its custody who identify across the gender spectrum. We hope you like it.

Many make the dangerous trek across South and Central America to arrive at the U.S. border to seek asylum and safely. But for some mothers, reaching the country...

Being diagnosed with ADHD can feel like a complicated and isolating experience—but for Vanessa, her ADHD diagnosis as a 28-year-old Latina gave her much-needed clarity. Vanessa spent most of her life questioning why "simple" tasks were so challenging. She knew something was not right, so she sought out a psychiatrist who specializes in anxiety disorders. In this two-part episode, reporter Carmen Marquez explores the challenges of r...

 Being diagnosed with ADHD can feel like a  complicated and isolating experience—but for Vanessa, her ADHD diagnosis as a 28-year-old Latina gave her much-needed clarity.   Vanessa spent most of her life questioning why "simple" tasks were so challenging. She knew something was not right, so she sought out a psychiatrist who specializes in anxiety disorders. 

In this episode, reporter Carmen Marquez explores the challenges of receiv...

Nearly 80% of Latino youth suffer childhood trauma, but many don’t start actively healing and acknowledging adverse childhood events until later in life – often when they start showing up as physical symptoms – stomach pains, headaches, racing heart rates. Some Latinas are starting to recognize the inextricable link between the mind and body, and reconnecting to ancestral medicine to heal. But in the process of offering a deeper he...

Nearly 21.4% of Hispanic and Latino adults report having a mental illness. In this episode, Juleyka Lantigua, the creator of our show, sits down for a roundtable discussion with two mental health practitioners to discuss some of the most prevalent mental health issues among Latinas and to unpack how Latinas understand and cope with their mental wellbeing. Generalized anxiety disorder, major depression, and PTSD––the panel gets into...

This is Part 2 of a special two-part episode of 100 Latina Birthdays. After serving 10+ years in prison, Destiny and Diana had to adjust to a new life outside of prison. From finding a new job, to rebuilding relationships, and learning to regulate their emotions, returning to the community, their families, and their kids was often an overwhelming experience. Reporter Francesca Mathews investigates why Latinas impacted by the carcer...

The negative health impacts of incarceration on Latina mothers and their families are profound and long-lasting, even beyond a release from prison. Destiny and Diana were incarcerated during their transition from adolescence into adulthood and motherhood, so they had to learn about their bodies and reproductive health, as well as their physical and mental wellbeing in the dehumanizing setting of prison. Francesca Mathews documents ...

In Chicago, there are 77 community areas ranked by their social vulnerability index, a tool that helps explain how underlying health disparities can make some Latino neighborhoods more vulnerable in the face of environmental or man-made disasters. Reporter Francesca Mathews spends time in the southwest side speaking with residents and advocates, like organizers from the Chicago Environmental Justice Network and the Little Village E...

The popularity of "magic mushrooms" or psilocybin is on the rise. While its use has been decriminalized in very limited contexts in some states, it remains illegal in most of the U.S. Journalist Carmen Marquez reports on Chicago and LA-based Latinas who are raising awareness about the potential of these psychedelics to heal, to nurture, and to connect us with our roots.

100 Latina Birthdays is an original production of LWC Studios....

This is Part 2 of a special two-part episode of 100 Latina Birthdays. If you haven’t listened to Part 1, we suggest you do that first. Mariela "Ella" Vazquez had a hysterectomy at age 11, after being diagnosed with endometriosis. As an adult, like many Latinas with this condition, Ella had to learn not just how to manage her chronic pain, but how to speak about it openly with loved ones. Reporter Julia Binswanger documents Ella's p...

This season we’re documenting the health, wellness and lifetime outcomes of Latinas between the ages of 20 and 40. 29-year-old Mariela "Ella" Vazquez was diagnosed with endometriosis at an unusually young age, and figuring out how to understand and address her physical symptoms became a lifelong journey. Journalist Julia Binswanger reports on Ella's personal experience understanding her body and her pain, and investigates why it ca...

Celiana Lopez, Gisselle Cambron, and Yami Rodriguez are three students at Loyola University Chicago. Attending a predominantly white institution, or PWI, has presented challenges to all three girls, but Celiana, Gisselle, and Yami have found joy and community in Lambda Theta Alpha, their Latina sorority, and in programs meant to support first generation and low income students like Loyola’s Achieving College Excellence program. In ...

Art has always been an important way for 20 year-old Kaelah Serrano to explore and express her queer identity. Born and raised on Chicago’s southwest side, Kaelah found an artistic home in Yollocalli Arts Reach, a nonprofit based in Little Village that provides arts, media, and storytelling education for young people—many of them Latinx—in Chicago. Yollocalli is an example of a crucial “third space”: a place separate from home and ...

Dariana Urbina is just 17 years old, but she is responsible for far more than the average teenager. She takes care of her three younger siblings—budgeting, cooking and cleaning, and doing paperwork and translation for her parents, who work jobs with grueling hours. Dariana’s heightened burden of responsibility is an example of what experts call “adultification” or “parentification”, in which children are forced to take on the respo...

Nine year-old Rosalia Gonzalez and her teammates love playing flag football through Beyond the Ball Girls, a Little Village organization that teaches children life skills through sports. Safe outdoor recreation is especially important to the families in Little Village, a predominantly Latino neighborhood in Chicago impacted by higher rates of gun violence and gang activity compared to much of the city. Little Village also faces hig...

Andrea Luna Oviedo got her period for the first time in fourth grade, a year before her school district typically began puberty education for its students. She was able to tackle this new phase of her life with the help of supportive family and friends, and her school district in Berwyn, IL began teaching puberty education to fourth graders the year after. 

In this episode, reporter Francesca Mathewes explores the increase in early ...

For Latina parents like Melissa Huerta in Berwyn, IL, providing her children with food that reflects her Mexican upbringing is a priority. But this objective is complicated by the relative convenience of processed foods, and her 9-year-old daughter’s preference for spaghetti and meatballs. In this episode, reporter Julia Binswanger digs into the array of issues facing families looking to feed their children healthy and culturally s...