Join Rosanna Alvarez in conversation with guest Elodia Esperanza Benitez as we talk about Elodia's journey as a fierce mujer and writer of flowers and fire, all while navigating a landscape that is often hostile to those she loves most - her gente (family and community). We also talk about what it is to tell our stories with grace, beyond vulnerability, as we write from a space of sincerity.

With faith and grace, flowers and fire, poetically --of course!

Marked "explicit" because of grown folk language: Y'all know no words are bad words; it's how we use 'em, and here, they are used with cariño and for emphasis.

In this Wiri, Wiri Wednesday (tm) episode, Rosanna Alvarez of the Hella Chingona Podcast is joined by podcast guest Brenda Vaca, Author & Founder of Riot of Roses Publishing House. They talk about storytelling journeys and the upcoming release of Brenda's debut children's book Buttons Finds His Mojo. They also center the importance of supporting and investing in BIPOC and Latinx storytellers and how critical we are in hyping each other up in our nonlinear mojo journeys.

In this solita, solita episode, Rosanna Alvarez reflects on the struggles that come with the business of busy-ness. She gets real about the sometimes necessary contradictions in our quest for balance, while calling out the unrealistic expectations we set when we take a one-phrase-fits-all approach. She reminds us to reflect and recalibrate as a regular practice in our lives, meeting ourselves with compassion and grace on this journey. We might even feel like being relentlessly busy isn't always a choice, and still, we can always choose to extend ourselves grace and compassion over guilt or shame.

Per usual, "strong" language is used throughout.

In this solita, solita episode, Rosanna Alvarez reflects on the dysfunctional expectation of compromise. She explores the collective salve of enabling our abundant creativity and comments on the power of this beautiful messy journey beyond narratives of aspiration and becoming. Lets reclaim our lives y'all, and lets ground it in the power of our creative flow!

In this episode, we get reacquainted with each other, affirm the simplicity of our stories, and remind ourselves of the power of challenging the mainstream gaze. From Hella Chingona to Hella Chingada and back, we reclaim ourselves and our stories as valid, valuable, heart-centered, community-driven fuerza.