Listeners, we're back this week with Rudy Ruiz.

Rudy Ruiz is a native of the Texas-Mexico border, born in Brownsville, Texas and raised along both sides of the Rio Grande. From an early age he dreamt of attending Harvard, a wild assertion in the eyes of his classmates and teachers, but his parents always taught him to believe in himself and his potential. He indeed earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees at Harvard, graduating with Honors. There he first studied Romance Languages and Literature and fell in love with magical realism as a style. His books of literary fiction and short stories have won numerous awards, including six International Latino Book Awards and the Gulf Coast Prize in Fiction. 

During our conversation, we talked about:

• Growing up by the border
• Going to Harvard
• His love for writing
• His dad as an inspiration
• And much more...

This episode is brought to you by 
MagicMind is the world's first productivity drink.
🧠 All-natural Ingredients: Adaptogens - help decrease stress Nootropics - boost blood flow & cognition Matcha - keeps you focused.
🧠 Lighter On Caffeine: Unlike regular energy drinks, minimal caffeine, all of which comes from matcha tea.
🧠 Drink Less Coffee: Quitting coffee is hard. MagicMind increases productivity while reducing coffee cravings and preventing the caffeine crash.
🧠 Crush Your To-do List:The extra productivity and focus allow you to be more successful, conquer to-do lists faster, and give you more time to spend with loved ones.
🧠 Helps Fight Off:Procrastination, Brain Fog, fatigue, and some ADD symptoms. After 3 to 7 days of continuous use, it’s easier to get into a flow state, be more productive, and drink less coffee.
TRY IT OUT, USE MY CODE PAM AND GET 20% OFF
 
Relevant Timestamps:
07:23 - Growing up on the border
09:12 - Bi-national existence
12:01 - Going to Harvard
18:43 - Assimilation
23:45 - Changing plans
27:58 - Chose one path
35:04 - Being a writer
35:07 - I write because I have to
42:06 - Hispanics don’t read
45:39 - His inspiration for the book
53:23 - His dad’s typewriter & his collection
 
Follow Rudy on all things social:
Twitter
Website
 
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social
Instagram
Facebook
http://cafeconpam.com/
Join the FREE Cafe con Pam Challenge
Join our Discord space and let's keep the conversation going!
 
If you are a business owner, join us for Aligned Collective Mastermind
 
Learn about PowerSisters
 
Subscribe, rate, review, and share this episode with someone you love!
And don't ever forget to Stay Shining!

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cafe-con-pam--6348411/support.

Listeners, we're back this week with Michelle Morales.

Michelle Morales, M.S., is an award winning professional salsa dancer, school psychologist, speaker, activist, and consultant. She guides people to embody their freedom through movement. Michelle has dedicated her life to advocating for Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) and folks with marginalized identities within the school system. She incorporates dance in her social-emotional curriculum to help students build self-confidence and learn effective problem-solving skills. She is passionate about helping parents, professionals, and educators lead with compassion and integrity when working with students with disabilities or social-emotional needs.
 
During our conversation, we talked about:

• Growing up and being different
• Belonging
• Dancing and the healing powers of movement
• Choosing herself first
• Friendships
• Systemic Racism
• And more... 

 
This episode is brought to you by MagicMind is the world's first productivity drink.
🧠 All-natural Ingredients: Adaptogens - help decrease stress Nootropics - boost blood flow & cognition Matcha - keeps you focused.
🧠 Lighter On Caffeine: Unlike regular energy drinks, minimal caffeine, all of which comes from matcha tea.
🧠 Drink Less Coffee: Quitting coffee is hard. MagicMind increases productivity while reducing coffee cravings and preventing the caffeine crash.
🧠 Crush Your To-do List:The extra productivity and focus allow you to be more successful, conquer to-do lists faster, and give you more time to spend with loved ones.
🧠 Helps Fight Off:Procrastination, Brain Fog, fatigue, and some ADD symptoms. After 3 to 7 days of continuous use, it’s easier to get into a flow state, be more productive, and drink less coffee.
TRY IT OUT, USE MY CODE PAM AND GET 20% OFF
 
Relevant Timestamps:
06:28 - Growing up as a Guatemalan-Jamaican
15:48 - Impact of systemic racism
18:46 - Being passionate
25:40 - The nuances of her identity and feeling like she didn’t belong
31:46 - Psychological impact
33:28 - Mindset
34:34 - Dance
41:11 - Dancing with our ancestors
44:30 - Leaving the district
45:34 - Working hard
 
Follow Michelle on all things social:
Website
Instagram
 
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social
Instagram
Facebook
http://cafeconpam.com/
Join the FREE Cafe con Pam Challenge
Join our Discord space and let's keep the conversation going!
 
If you are a business owner, join us for Aligned Collective Mastermind
 
Learn about PowerSisters
 
Subscribe, rate, review, and share this episode with someone you love!
And don't ever forget to Stay Shining!
 

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cafe-con-pam--6348411/support.

Listeners, we're back this week with Lizbeth Ramirez.

Lizbeth Ramirez has an extensive work history including having worked 11 sessions of the General Assembly at the Illinois State Capital and approximately three years in City Council of Chicago. Lizbeth served as a staff member for Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan for seven years overseeing chamber operations, committees and House Floor Liaison. Lizbeth currently serves as the Executive Director for the Democrats for the Illinois House under Speaker of the House Emanuel Chris Welch.

In addition to her direct experience in government, Lizbeth has served as in-house lobbyist for Commonwealth Edison in Springfield, Cook County and the City of Chicago. Among numerous accomplishments an in-house Lobbyist, Lizbeth, worked to ensure the passage of the Future Energy Jobs (FEJA) legislation in 2016. Lizbeth oversaw ComEd’s Chicago North Redevelopment project from beginning to end, engaging local elected officials, community advocates and worked closely with the local aldermen to address community concerns. Lizbeth also provided the company with support as the community liaison for the north side Chicago, overseeing 19 wards from community issues, sponsorships, community engagement and promoting the Company’s brand with initiatives to promote STEAM education, social responsibility and grants for renewable energy.

Most recently, Lizbeth has volunteered her time as the Hispanic Star Chicago Hub Leader under the We Are All Human Foundation, where she organized volunteers in over 10 communities in Chicago to provide food and essential items to those in need, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this work, Lizbeth received the Making the Difference Award presented by Telemundo Chicago and highlighted as Chicago’s Very Own by WGN-TV. Among other public recognitions, Lizbeth was named “Best In-House Lobbyist” by Capital Fax as a first-year lobbyist, along with being named to Negocios Now’s “Latino 40 under 40” in Chicago.
 
During our conversation, we talked about:

• Her immigration story
• Her interest in politics
• Studying in Mexico
• Being the only Latina in rooms
• Her new foundation
• And much more...

 
This episode is brought to you by 
MagicMind is the world's first productivity drink.
🧠 All-natural Ingredients: Adaptogens - help decrease stress Nootropics - boost blood flow & cognition Matcha - keeps you focused.
🧠 Lighter On Caffeine: Unlike regular energy drinks, minimal caffeine, all of which comes from matcha tea.
🧠 Drink Less Coffee: Quitting coffee is hard. MagicMind increases productivity while reducing coffee cravings and preventing the caffeine crash.
🧠 Crush Your To-do List:The extra productivity and focus allow you to be more successful, conquer to-do lists faster, and give you more time to spend with loved ones.
🧠 Helps Fight Off:Procrastination, Brain Fog, fatigue, and some ADD symptoms. After 3 to 7 days of continuous use, it’s easier to get into a flow state, be more productive, and drink less coffee.
TRY IT OUT, USE MY CODE PAM AND GET 20% OFF
 
Relevant Timestamps:
08:01 - Her immigration story
12:56 - Educación como herencia
17:05 - Her interest in politics
26:42 - Spending a semester in Mexico
36:28 - Being career-focused to show her father she was capable
37:51 - Her career
43:48 - Prime age to shape someone
46:20 - Being the only Latina in her field
53:19 - Her new foundation
 
Follow Lizbeth on all things social:
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Power Seeds Foundation Instagram
 
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social
Instagram
Facebook
http://cafeconpam.com/
Join the FREE Cafe con Pam Challenge
Join our Discord space and let's keep the conversation going!
 
If you are a business owner, join us for Aligned Collective Mastermind
 
Learn about PowerSisters
 
Subscribe, rate, review, and share this episode with someone you love!
And don't ever forget to Stay Shining!

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cafe-con-pam--6348411/support.

Listeners we're back this week with a solo episode with Pam.

Pam shows up with a bonus episode sampled from her private podcast feed where she shares her philosophy on business. 

During this episode, Pam shares her perspective on having a strong vision and aligning your offers with it. This is a shorty but goodie. To learn more about her private podcast feed you can sign up here.
 
This episode is brought to you by MagicMind is the world's first productivity drink.
🧠 All-natural Ingredients: Adaptogens - help decrease stress Nootropics - boost blood flow & cognition Matcha - keeps you focused.
🧠 Lighter On Caffeine: Unlike regular energy drinks, minimal caffeine, all of which comes from matcha tea.
🧠 Drink Less Coffee: Quitting coffee is hard. MagicMind increases productivity while reducing coffee cravings and preventing the caffeine crash.
🧠 Crush Your To-do List:The extra productivity and focus allow you to be more successful, conquer to-do lists faster, and give you more time to spend with loved ones.
🧠 Helps Fight Off:Procrastination, Brain Fog, fatigue, and some ADD symptoms. After 3 to 7 days of continuous use, it’s easier to get into a flow state, be more productive, and drink less coffee.
TRY IT OUT, USE MY CODE PAM AND GET 20% OFF
 
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social
Instagram
Facebook
http://cafeconpam.com/
Join the FREE Cafe con Pam Challenge
Join our Discord space and let's keep the conversation going!
 
If you are a business owner, join us for Aligned Collective Mastermind
 
Learn about PowerSisters
 
Subscribe, rate, review, and share this episode with someone you love!
And don't ever forget to Stay Shining!

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cafe-con-pam--6348411/support.

Listeners, we're back this week with Maria Brito.

Maria Brito is an award-winning New York-based contemporary art advisor, author, and curator. A Harvard graduate, originally from Venezuela. Brito has been selected by Complex Magazine as one of the 20 Power Players in the Art World she was named by ARTNEWS as one of the visionaries who gets to shape the art world.

She has written for publications such as Entrepreneur, Huffington Post, Elle, Forbes, Artnet, Cultured Magazine, Departures, and the Gulf Coast Journal of Literature and Fine Arts from the University of Houston, Texas. For several years, Maria has taught her creativity course in companies and, in 2019, she launched “Jumpstart”, an online program on creativity for entrepreneurs based on years of research and observation in both the areas of business and art. 
In 2019 she created and hosted "The "C" Files with Maria Brito", a TV and streaming series for PBS's new station "ALL ARTS".

Maria and her projects have been featured extensively in national and international publications including The New York Times Style Section, T: The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, W Magazine, ELLE Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Time Magazine, New York Magazine, The New York Observer, The Daily Beast, The Economist, Interview Magazine, VOGUE and more.

She’s the author of “How Creativity Rules The World” (HarperCollins March 15, 2022).
 
During our conversation, we talked about:

• Leaving Venezuela to go to Harvard
• Navigating change
• Making a decision to switch careers
• Her upcoming book
• And more...

 
This episode is brought to you by MagicMind is the world's first productivity drink.
🧠 All-natural Ingredients: Adaptogens - help decrease stress Nootropics - boost blood flow & cognition Matcha - keeps you focused.
🧠 Lighter On Caffeine: Unlike regular energy drinks, minimal caffeine, all of which comes from matcha tea.
🧠 Drink Less Coffee: Quitting coffee is hard. MagicMind increases productivity while reducing coffee cravings and preventing the caffeine crash.
🧠 Crush Your To-do List:The extra productivity and focus allow you to be more successful, conquer to-do lists faster, and give you more time to spend with loved ones.
🧠 Helps Fight Off:Procrastination, Brain Fog, fatigue, and some ADD symptoms. After 3 to 7 days of continuous use, it’s easier to get into a flow state, be more productive, and drink less coffee.
TRY IT OUT, USE MY CODE PAM AND GET 20% OFF
 
Relevant Timestamps:
08:18 - Growing up
10:37 - ‘Giving up her dreams’
13:04 - Mourn that talent & don’t have regrets
17:31 - Leaving her country
20:52 - Culture shock
23:31 - Moving to NY
27:16 - Her ‘dark ages’
35:03 - Show me what are my talents
39:22 - Pregnancy as a catalist
43:04 - The art business
45:59 - Gaining momentum
52:29 - Pricing
54:19 - When you run your own business
59:02 - Taking a chance on yourself
 
Follow Maria on all things social:
Website
Instagram
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
 
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social
Instagram
Facebook
http://cafeconpam.com/
Join the FREE Cafe con Pam Challenge
Join our Discord space and let's keep the conversation going!
 
If you are a business owner, join us for Aligned Collective Mastermind
 
Learn about PowerSisters
 
Subscribe, rate, review, and share this episode with someone you love!
And don't ever forget to Stay Shining!

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cafe-con-pam--6348411/support.

Listeners, we're back this week with Aida Rodriguez. 

Aida Rodriguez is a Comedian, Writer, Actor, and Mother. Lauded by Esquire Magazine as “raucously funny,” she has become a favorite with fans and critics alike. With her first hour standup special set to premiere, her own TV series in development, both at HBO Max, and a deal for an animated series with ITV, Aida is bound for the comedy stratosphere.

In 2020, Aida headlined the HBO LatinX standup special Entrenos while also appearing in Showtime’s Shaquille O'Neal Presents: All Star Comedy Jam, one of only four women to have performed on the series in its 15 seasons. Prior to that, she had her own half hour special on Netflix’s hit comedy series They Ready, Executive Produced by Tiffany Haddish and Wanda Sykes. In reviews Decider gushed that the special “will have you laughing, crying and begging for more” and Esquire Magazine declared *“*This is Rodriguez's genius—using comedy to turn pain into progress, to give voice to the voiceless, and to laugh instead of cry.”
 
During our conversation, we talked about:

• How she started her career
• How she now honors her height
• Everything that she's learned has supported her now
• Her HBO special Fighting Words

 
This episode is brought to you by 
MagicMind is the world's first productivity drink.
🧠 All-natural Ingredients: Adaptogens - help decrease stress Nootropics - boost blood flow & cognition Matcha - keeps you focused.
🧠 Lighter On Caffeine: Unlike regular energy drinks, minimal caffeine, all of which comes from matcha tea.
🧠 Drink Less Coffee: Quitting coffee is hard. MagicMind increases productivity while reducing coffee cravings and preventing the caffeine crash.
🧠 Crush Your To-do List:The extra productivity and focus allow you to be more successful, conquer to-do lists faster, and give you more time to spend with loved ones.
🧠 Helps Fight Off:Procrastination, Brain Fog, fatigue, and some ADD symptoms. After 3 to 7 days of continuous use, it’s easier to get into a flow state, be more productive, and drink less coffee.
TRY IT OUT, USE MY CODE PAM AND GET 20% OFF
 
Relevant Timestamps:
08:48 - Humor in her household
09:51 - Her 1st play
11:32 - Her sister’s birth
13:05 - Being scouted to model
14:52 - Modeling world
17:17 - Why she left modeling
24:00 - Female role models
27:12 - Negotiation rules
28:54 - Your worth
35:05 - Preparing for her special
39:55 - Meeting her father
41:33 - Love letter to Latinx
46:39 - ‘Arrived’
 
Follow Aida on all things social:
Website 
Twitter
Instagram
 
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social
Instagram
Facebook
http://cafeconpam.com/
Join the FREE Cafe con Pam Challenge
Join our Discord space and let's keep the conversation going!
 
If you are a business owner, join us for Aligned Collective Mastermind
 
Learn about PowerSisters
 
Subscribe, rate, review, and share this episode with someone you love!
And don't ever forget to Stay Shining!

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cafe-con-pam--6348411/support.

Listeners, we're back this week with Mike Alfaro.

Mike Alfaro is the creator of "Millennial Lotería" a modern update to the classic Latinx card game that became a #1 Best Seller and sold out at every Target store in America. With over 10 years of agency experience as an award-winning Creative Director, Mike also brings a wealth of industry knowledge and Latinx insights to all his collaborations, including his skills as a video creator, copywriter, and graphic designer. Past collaborations include work for Honda, Walt Disney Pictures, DC Comics, HBO, Target, Maker's Mark Whiskey, and even a special commission by President Joe Biden.
 
Relevant Timestamps:
6:30 - His early work experiences
8:07 - Wasn’t really expecting to become a business owner...
9:02 - First investment
10:35 - Representations of Latinidad
12:25 - How Millenial Lotería came about
22:25 - Making it a business
24:22 - The biggest lesson with the first set
36:56 - The power of Latinos...
37:54 - Celebrating the growth
40:39 - Relationship with Target
 
This episode is brought to you by Aligned Collective Mastermind
Let's embark on a journey of dismantling outdated business practices and oppressive marketing tactics. Let's decolonize and create liberated businesses together. Inside Aligned, we'll lean on principles of Mother Earth and practical studies rooted in feminism and liberation. Sliding scale available. Learn more and submit your intake form at alignedcollective.club
 
Follow Mike on all things social:
TikTok
Instagram
Website
 
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social
Instagram
Facebook
http://cafeconpam.com/
Join the FREE Cafe con Pam Challenge
Join our Discord space and let's keep the conversation going!
 
If you are a business owner, join us for Aligned Collective Mastermind
 
Learn about PowerSisters
 
Subscribe, rate, review, and share this episode with someone you love!
And don't ever forget to Stay Shining!

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cafe-con-pam--6348411/support.

Listeners, we're back this week with N. Chloé Nwangwu.

N. Chloé Nwangwu is a Brand Scientist, Digital Diplomacy (like actual diplomacy!) advisor and the founder of NobWorks, an evidence based brand advisory for historically underestimated public figures, leaders and their organizations. She believes brands not built with power dynamics and biases in mind need to be quarantined. Again.

It's her personal mission to help historically underestimated leaders reclaim and command the influence they and their work deserve and need in order to have the kind of societal impact they want.Before starting her evidence based brand advisory, Chloé spent four years advising Israeli civil society groups and the local municipality in Tel Aviv, where she also contributed to track two final status peace negotiations. She has consulted on and developed programming around anti-bias and anti-discrimination as an Assistant Director at the Anti-Defamation League and mediated crisis level bias incidents in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential elections. She has an MA in International Conflict Resolution and Mediation from Tel Aviv University where she continued her undergraduate honors research in the modalities of sensory perception, religious experience and intractable conflict. Her other research includes intragroup conflict dynamics and the use of social media in the Arab Spring, which she pursued after living in Cairo in the months leading up to the protests in Tahrir square.

Most recently, she advised the first refugee delegation to the UN and the High Ambition Coalition--a coalition of the world's most climate ambitious nations.
 
During our conversation, we talked about:

• Her work as a Brand Scientist
• Her Nigerian roots and how that influences her work now
• So much more

Please note, the first part of the episode got unexpectedly cut off, so you'll hear the beginning and then an abrupt jump to the second part of the show. Sorry about that!
 
Follow Chloé on all things social:
Website
Instagram
Company LinkedIn 
Personal LinkedIn
 
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social
Instagram
Facebook
http://cafeconpam.com/
Join the FREE Cafe con Pam Challenge
 
If you are a business owner, join us for Aligned Mastermind
Join PowerSisters! PowerSisters.Club
Subscribe, rate, review, and share this episode with someone you love!
And don't ever forget to Stay Shining!

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cafe-con-pam--6348411/support.

Listeners, we're back this week with Elisabet Velasquez.

Elisabet Velasquez is a Boricua writer born in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Her work has been featured in Muzzle Magazine, Winter Tangerine, Latina Magazine, We Are Mitú, Tidal, and more. Her debut novel, WHEN WE MAKE IT, has been selected as an Indie Next selection and The New York Times named it as a new and upcoming book to watch for. You can find it wherever books are sold.
 
During our conversation, we talked about:

• Growing up poor
• Discovering writing
• Poetry
• Elisabet's lineage and healing when going to Puerto Rico
• Writing as a career
• And so much more!

 
This episode is brought to you by Aligned Collective Mastermind
Let's embark on a journey of dismantling outdated business practices and oppressive marketing tactics. Let's decolonize and create liberated businesses together. Learn more and submit your application at alignedcollective.club
 
Relevant Timetamps:
5:48 - Her grandparent's immigration story
11:51 - Her parents
15:07 - Going to Puerto Rico
16:31 - 'In Puerto Rico I was Americana'
17:47 - Visiting her grandmother
21:02 - Writing
24:22 - Our stories were important
35:06 - Education and writing 'contra la corriente'
36:57 - Being a statistic
38:51 - Nuyorican Poets Cafe
43:51 - Poetry
44:54 - 'Poetry to me is...'
46:53 - Professional Spanish
 
Follow Elisabet on all things social:
Website
Instagram
 
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social
Instagram
Facebook
http://cafeconpam.com/
Join the FREE Cafe con Pam Challenge
Join our Discord space and let's keep the conversation going!
 
If you are a business owner, join us for Aligned Collective Mastermind
 
Learn about PowerSisters
 
Subscribe, rate, review, and share this episode with someone you love!
And don't ever forget to Stay Shining!

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cafe-con-pam--6348411/support.

Listeners, we're back this week with Diana Mendoza.

Diana Mendoza, a mom to two daughters ages 9 and 21, wife to her husband of ten years, President of Media Latino, Inc for the past 15 years and her most recent endeavor and life purpose, owner and creator of Never Alone Candles. Being a two-time breast cancer survivor her goal is to inspire those around her that no matter how dark the darkness is, the light of a candle conquers all. As a proud Latina she is determined to leave a mark of her Ecuadorian roots with her two daughters. Diana loves to cook Ecuadorian food and her speciality is lechon, humitas and ron pope. In her free time, Diana loves to read, do pilates and travel.

During our conversation, we talked about:

• Growing up Latina
• Learning professional Spanish
• Her cancer diagnosis
• Raising her daughter
• Starting Never Alone
• And more

This episode is brought to you by Aligned Collective Mastermind
Let's embark on a journey of dismantling outdated business practices and oppressive marketing tactics. Let's decolonize and create liberated businesses together. Learn more and submit your application at alignedcollective.club

Follow Diana on all things social:
Instagram
Website
 
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social
Instagram
Facebook
http://cafeconpam.com/
Join the FREE Cafe con Pam Challenge
 
If you are a business owner, join us for Aligned Mastermind
Join PowerSisters! PowerSisters.Club
Subscribe, rate, review, and share this episode with someone you love!
And don't ever forget to Stay Shining!

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cafe-con-pam--6348411/support.