YOU ARE NOT CRAZY. NO estás LOCA. All too often Latina professionals navigate their workplaces wondering whether this “feeling” of being overlooked, overworked, underpaid, underestimated, harassed, dismissed, excluded, humiliated, pigeon-holed, tokenized, etc., is a figment of our imagination. It’s NOT.

In this episode of I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY I talk with Sandra Noemi Torres and Ilhiana Rojas Saldana, Co-Founders of UnitedLatinas, established to empower Latinas through collaboration, speaking opportunities, entrepreneurship, and leadership development.

I thank God every day that these two women found each other. They share their lived experiences in the Corporate world and how, even in the midst of having to deal with their own challenges in the workplace, they helped other Latinas throughout their individual career journeys, before they became entrepreneurs. Then their spheres of influence touched each other despite living in two different regions of the U.S., thanks to the power of LinkedIn. Realizing there was a huge void in capacity building and leadership development designed specifically for Latinas, they decided to formally create the UnitedLatinas platform after years of creating and implementing culturally relevant programming that attracted Hispanic women across all industries.

As a result of listening to the feedback of many Hispanic women experiencing this sense of “inadequacy” and “discomfort” in the workplace, they were able to confirm their observations regarding the most pressing areas that needed attention, which in turn informed the development of a curated leadership accelerator for Latinas entitled “Lead Extraordinary”. The program focuses on three key pillars where leadership development for Latinas is lacking and it shows us how to a) Build Community (Chica! You’re not alone!), b) Build Visibility (Nena! You’ve got a lot to share!), and c) Build Leadership Skills (Hermana! You DO have the ability lead!).

From understanding our value and learning self-advocacy to finding our voices and exercising new skills like public speaking, UnitedLatinas delivers a safe space to grow because we’ve all been there – we can all relate to experiences that are unique to the Latina experience. “Lead Extraordinary” is a 6-week virtual program that will kick off in March 2023 – right in time for Women’s History Month.

Details here: https://sites.google.com/view/unitedlatinas-leadership/home?pli=1

As Latinos business owners, sometimes we decide to just operate within our communities, reaching out for assistance from people we know and avoiding stepping into spaces where we feel “This is not for me” because we are not represented properly or don’t feel safe and wanted.  In this episode of I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY, I talk with my friend Lourdes Mola, Founder and President of Lourdes Mola Solutions, who is on a mission to help large and small companies led by Latinas certify themselves as ‘Women-Owned’ businesses and ensure they have a seat at a table where over 450 corporate entities are interested in engaging in procurement opportunities with more ‘jefas’ (boss ladies).

Lourdes is a consultant for the Women Business Enterprise Council (WBEC) of Florida, assuming the role of regional director and she’s making inroads in helping Latina entrepreneurs in the Sunshine State and Puerto Rico navigate the intricacies of WBEC certification. She brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise like nobody else I know having worked with corporate giants like Disney, and in varying roles, for close to 30 years and transitioning into business ownership herself, nearly a decade ago. Plus, she gets it: we tend to be apprehensive about investing our time and energy in places and spaces we feel we have been historically viewed as a ‘persona non grata’.

First-generation born American to Cuban refugee parents, Lourdes was raised in a bicultural and bilingual household that also provided a depth of understanding that informs how she shows up in spaces where she can disrupt the status quo. Her deep understanding and respect for the influence that ethnicity, race, language, and culture have on how we engage with each other, makes her well-versed in the nuances that can hinder success if left unaddressed. She is determined to solve the underrepresentation of Latina business owners that are WBEC certified and help them navigate how to identify opportunities to scale their business and wealth.

And we made a pinky promise: I’m going to apply for WBEC certification ASAP now that I see myself represented through Lourdes. And the moment I land a new client in direct correlation to my WBEC certification, we are coming back to tell you all about the experience. GAME ON!

First, we celebrate that my sister from another mister earned her Ph.D.!!! And then, Dr. Xaulanda Simmonds-Emmanuel and I take a deep dive into the topic of “toxic leadership”, and how to navigate that, in this week’s episode of I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY.

“If ‘leaders’ are not creating a work environment where individuals can be their best selves and do their best work, are they really leading or just creating chaos?”, Dr. Simmonds-Emmanuel recently stated in a post that prompted this raw conversation about workplace environments and the leaders in them. 

Upon defending her dissertation and obtaining her Ph.D., Dr. Xau was faced with two options: a) hyperfocus on her role as Chief Passion Seeker/Co-Founder of The XauSky Group, dedicated to fueling passion in the workplace by providing organizational development, consulting, and training offerings to create high-performance teams and more engaging work cultures, or b) pursue a leadership role in Corporate America. She chose option “a”. Why? Like so many entrepreneurs, she suffers from PTSD caused by having previously worked in toxic work environments that once dimmed her light. Plus, she has a business empire to build 😊.

Dr. Xau shares insights regarding the signs of a toxic leader, so we know how to identify them, and she also shares the traits of a leader people will want to work with and for, passionately.  We discuss shifts in organizational cultures driven by the millennial mindset, a more ethnically diverse workforce, and the lasting effects of the COVID pandemic – the human equalizer – that made everyone realize “I am vulnerable”, regardless of race, faith, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual identity or orientation, abilities or disabilities, age, lived experienced, zip codes, etc., etc., etc.

The key question here is: Can a toxic leader change? Depends…

Everyone is back to the grind, and so are our kids, who are in most instances bogged down by conforming to educational environments that do not meet their diverse needs.

As my first guest of I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY for 2023, I’m delighted to talk to Dr. Latasha Casterlow-Lalla, an Educator, Author, Motivational Speaker, and Agent of Change who is on a mission to provide equitable programming to students reflecting modern, popular and traditional musical genres as well as embedding cultural relevancy into teaching curriculums. She’s an advocate for culturally responsible pedagogy that leverages students’ culture and lived experiences to help them learn in the classroom.

Dr. Casterlow-Lalla says that we have to stop seeing students as empty vessels because they come to school with a lot to offer: culture, lived experiences, different perspectives, abilities, histories and a plethora of talents that often go untapped and underdeveloped. “We need to see ourselves as collaborative, a ‘sopa’, where we take a little bit of this and a little bit of that and then combine those things. And when we get it brewed right, we can create something, a really good soup – a good ‘sancocho’ – that fills the belly and warms the soul. That’s kind of what my gig is,” she shared.

A proud product of the Passaic Public Schools (NJ), Dr. Casterlow-Lalla has been in Education for two decades, supporting students in different roles: as a teacher, leading student organizations, in programs for gifted children, and assuming administrative responsibilities.

With a Bachelor of Arts in Music, a Master of Arts in Counseling, Human Development, and Guidance, and having recently defended her doctoral dissertation entitled “Advisement Challenges and Opportunities in Pre-Service Teacher Education: Insights into the Experiences of Diverse Pre-Service Teachers”, let’s just say she’s an expert in how to engage kids today so they are active participants in creating meaningful and effective learning experiences.

Dr. Casterlow-Lalla is committed to ensuring the Arts are acknowledged as core academic subjects and to sharing diverse career opportunities with the 15,000 students she serves. She stated: “In just a few years, most of our learners will be students of color, and to continue to encourage them to move on and to continue to have a very robust and innovative nation, we have some serious dissonance that we need to fix, and we need to continue to advocate. It’s important to understand culture to figure out how we can infuse it in school for our students to be successful.”

Closing the year with a showstopping episode of I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY. Make sure to experience it. This conversation with Gigi Pedraza, Founder and Executive Director of the Latino Community Fund (LCF Georgia) is what conversations behind closed doors look like among Hispanic leaders that are convening, galvanizing, organizing, and mobilizing Latino power – and have receipts to prove it.  “The problem with our community is that they don’t fear us,” says Pedraza, as she shares a step-by-step description of how to catalyze investment and promote collaborative work in the Latinx/Hispanic community…this is her mission, and she’s unapologetic about declaring ESTAMOS AQUÍ (WE ARE HERE). She’s walking the talk and I’m a huge fan.

LCF Georgia’s impact work as a 501(c)(3) is focused on growing people’s democracy, protecting, and building community, and investing in economic opportunity and they do this through direct community engagement, education, and mobilization. Under Gigi’s leadership, Latinx-led and governed member organizations throughout the state of Georgia are working together to bring to fruition LCF Georgia’s agenda of raising funds and re-granting to support power-building strategies, program development, and scholarships in three high-impact funds: Advocacy and Civic Participation, Capacity Building and Program Development, Educational and Micro-entrepreneurship scholarships.

Importantly, during the recent mid-term elections in Georgia (and the senatorial run-off elections as well) Gigi and the LCF Georgia family of organizations knocked on tens of thousands of doors, made countless calls, and accompanied people who were afraid to exercise their vote to voting locations where people were being harassed. This is the type of hands-on leadership that we need in the Latino community to ensure that Latinos who are eligible to vote are civically engaged. The overarching goal is to elevate the voice of the Hispanic community and demand that our concerns be addressed, including undocumented families who contribute to our society and economy. It’s worth repeating: ESTAMOS AQUÍ…and as Gigi points out, we’ve always been here.

My Co-Producer, Chris Majocha, and I haven’t done one of our Monthly Musings episodes in a while (should rename Quarterly Musings 😊). I’m glad a guest canceled their recording of I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY at the last minute, giving us an opportunity to enjoy a light-hearted conversation about our “Business Pet Peeves”. We each share the Top 3 things that people do that currently make us cringe or turn us off while trying to conduct business. 

Here are Chris’:

1. Fake show of support
2. Lack of a heart in business dealings
3. Integrity / Lack thereof

Here are mine:

1. The illusion of inclusion / Gatekeepers
2. All talk no walk syndrome
3. Mediocrity when excellence is possible

Please share YOUR Top 3 Business Pet Peeves!!!

We are drawn to people with shared values, and that’s when magic ensues. This is the case of Alison González, President, and Co-Founder of Lil Horse who leads an exceptional team of creatives dispersed throughout the Americas.

In this episode of “I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY”, we talk about how our teams have blended together in the last 6 months to collaborate generously, honestly, and strategically, producing the coolest outcomes because we both lead incredibly cool creative teams. We share how our exchanges are peer-to-peer mentoring experiences, how we’re investing resources to pioneer in metaverse marketing and education, and how we’ve been able to build trust by leaning into our strengths.

From a generational standpoint, we respect each other’s perspectives and value the expertise we bring to the table. As a millennial, Alison is extremely tech-savvy, adaptive to change, and a passionate learner. As a Gen Xer, I’m sort of a marketing macgyver that is fiercely independent and very nimble.  The combination of these characteristics has proven to be lethal – in a good way. 

We discuss our most recent project – creating the URBANDER MetaHQ in the form of a branded showroom – to give demonstrations of the business and educational applications of this new digital tool. Each person on our collective team is committed to bringing this to fruition before the Holiday break to have “show and tell” sessions with current and prospective clients who are eagerly waiting to experience the freaking amazing 3D graphically-rich custom space we are building. And knowing that only 8% of professionals in STEM are Hispanic, we were both compelled to band together to elevate our presence in this space.

Three months ago I told my 15-year-old son that we were going to dive in headfirst into Metaverse Marketing. His answer: “So lame…the Metaverse has been around forever. What do you think Minecraft and Fortnite are?” 

Me: “Ah! But we’ve figured out an entire list of business applications using this technology and we have assembled a freakin’ amazing team to create customized branded spaces.” Then, my son smiled (gotcha, papito!)

Here’s the inside scoop. In this episode of I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY I talk to Marcos Navas, Founder of Hands On Coding – and now my business partner in the tech realm. We were introduced by one of his relatives, my dear longtime friend Emma Medina who I know from way back when I worked in publishing. THANK YOU, EMMA!

Navas has been an active member of the Ed Tech space for over two decades. As an advocate for raising the voice of students, he is one of the original Flipgrid ambassadors and a Ted Ed Innovative Educator helping spread student Ted Talks via Ted Clubs.

Within the coding and STEM space, Navas is one of the original Raspberry Pi Certified Educators in the U.S. helping enable people of all ages to explore computing. He completed a fellowship with the IDEO Teachers Guild making him one of ten educational experts trained in Design Thinking.

He also founded Ed CampUrban, a free professional development program for urban educators/teachers implemented by teachers, and Latinos in Coding, a nonprofit whose mission is to increase awareness and participation of the Hispanic community in computer sciences to remedy the equity gap of Latinos in STEM.

Listen, this guy is on a serious mission to transform educational environments to give access to and teach underserved children about technology as early as possible.

Navas and I quickly began collaborating because we understood the value we each brought to the table. And I became an investor and partner in his business, experiencing a new, scary, and exciting role. He’s brilliant and I needed tech expertise at URBANDER so it was an easy decision for me. 

Together, we have assembled a talented team of incredible bilingual, multimedia creators to help businesses and organizations connect and communicate with their key stakeholders on a whole new level. Our combined pioneering expertise in building branded and customized 3D, immersive, and graphically rich virtual spaces (Metaverses) will deliver safe, engaging, and interactive experiences for an array of business applications that range from online instruction and virtual offices to dedicated promotional campaigns and LIVE events such as conferences.

Wanna get a VIP tour? Messenger me! We’re currently building URBANDER’s Meta Headquarters and can’t wait to put it to good use.

THIS IS EPIC. Latino eligible voters across the U.S. represented 62% of the total growth in U.S. eligible voters from 2018 to 2022, according to Pew Research (that’s 4.7 million NEW eligible Latino voters – outpacing new eligible voters of other population segments by A LOT). And it’s not something to take lightly.

Today, one in every ten eligible voters in the U.S. is Hispanic. We need to get out and VOTE, mi gente! Here’s why…

In this episode of I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY, my special guest Jackie Colón, Southeast Regional Director, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund, gives us an inside look at the organization’s efforts to promote civic engagement and the importance of exercising our vote, in the general population, and as Latinos on behalf of our familia.

As an immigrant, American, mother, constituent, voter, and former Deputy Mayor for Palm Bay County and Brevard County Commissioner, Jackie has a well-rounded view of the magnitude of the importance of the Latino community exercising their vote.

From churches to college campuses, mailers to radio spots, town hall meetings to chambers of commerce events, she leads a team determined to leave no stone unturned to reach Latino eligible voters and explains why it is critical for them to participate in the electoral process.

Jackie shares that she sees a lot of excitement amongst Latino voters in Florida about going to the polls in the upcoming mid-term election on November 8.

Early voting has started, and NALEO anticipates a healthy turnout of the Latino vote in this state driven by the issues they care about such as the economy, gun control, good-paying jobs, and education.

And she describes much of the growth in new eligible Latino voters as YOUNG voters, like Jackie’s own children who are U.S. born and have seen their mom model how to exercise their right to vote since they were little.

According to Pew Research, the median age of Latino-eligible voters is 39, compared to the median age of all U.S. adult-eligible voters (48). One of the cultural values we transfer from generation to generation is to care for family and our extended family which includes friends and neighbors.

It’s been deeply embedded into how we operate as a community by our abuelitas and our mamás. So, Jackie encourages Latinos who are eligible to vote to do so on behalf of Latino communities who are not eligible, to elevate our collective voice and care for each other like family does. If we also consider that 27% of Latinos marry a non-Hispanic person (Pew), at this point: familia is EVERYONE.

For Latino voters who are not sure where they need to vote or that need Spanish language assistance, Jackie encourages them to call NALEO’s toll-free number for this information at 888-839-8682. 

Our vote affects things like who and how our schools are run and funded, who and how people are helped in the aftermath of a natural disaster, and everything in between.

It’s a privilege and our responsibility to protect each other! And it’s one of the few ways we can show up together and massively impact our community in a positive way.

GRIT. TENACITY. DETERMINATION. INTELLIGENCE. COURAGE. PURPOSE.

These are the qualities that describe a badass like Claudia Mercado, Founder and CEO of Calibueno, an online dispensary and cannabis brand that provides quality, affordable cannabis to adults throughout the state of California.

In this episode of I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY, Claudia shares her migration story from Mexico with her parents and growing up in the Bay Area where the wealth gap between the “haves” and “have nots” is likely greater than anywhere else in the U.S.

Understanding that pursuing a career in tech would be her ticket to social mobility, after earning both a BA and MBA from Mills College, she did just that. Soon enough Claudia dominated in her tech roles, however, she also realized that her chances of experiencing a quantum leap in her career advancement would be limited by a broken business ecosystem in which she had no real power.

In 2016, she saw an opportunity in the cannabis industry and began preparing to be a key player once California passed laws giving the green light to its commercialization for medicinal and recreational purposes. Claudia was one of the first 50 people to secure a cannabis license in the state (yeah, badass) and the rest is history in the making. 

As a Latinx social equity brand, Calibueno’s mission is to establish an ecosystem of people, plants, brands, and businesses that spreads wellness and fosters a diverse cannabis industry. Claudia works only with select brands that fall in line with Calibueno’s values of quality, affordability and supporting primarily Latinx and people of color-led companies.

She has identified trusted farm workers with small family-owned farms that are committed to wellness and the health of our planet, giving farmers the credit they deserve with the hope of inspiring others to do the same.

It is of paramount importance for Claudia to inform the Latino community about the opportunities and economic empowerment available in the cannabis industry as well as to support people and spaces that want the best for EVERYONE.

And that’s why she’s modeling how to infuse the utmost transparency in an industry that has historically been shady because she wants Calibueno consumers to know from where and from who they’re getting their products so they can make ethical choices for the planet, people, their health, and their pockets.

The end goal is to create equitable access to the benefits of the ancestral herbal treatments that cannabis has to offer.