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In this episode, I sit down with Vanessa Carrillo, a first-generation Latina, product marketing manager at Microsoft, and founder of Latinas and Lattes, before she gets too big. We talk about navigating college, showing up in professional spaces, and finding our way through career and identity shifts.

Our conversation made me reflect on my own early 20s—especially now as I turn 30. We talk about growing up bilingual, being ESL kids, dealing with imposter syndrome, finding faith, and learning how to ask for help. Vanessa shares her journey from El Paso to Georgetown to working in tech, and how her experiences led her to create Latinas and Lattes, a nonprofit helping Latinas in Seattle connect and support one another.

We also talk about rejection, rest, and what it means to choose yourself when the world often expects you to shrink. Whether you're figuring things out at 23 or starting over at 30, this episode is your reminder that you're not behind—and you're definitely not alone and every Latino has their own story.

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Undocumented creatives have helped shape the American brand but we’re only good for the brand until we speak up. Rarely are we trusted to shape our own narratives.

In this episode, America Castillo sits down with Miriam Frutos, an influencer marketer, to talk about what it means to be a DACA recipient working in media and marketing and navigating an American workforce that often benefits from our creativity while quietly pushing us out.

In the first half, Miriam shares her immigration story crossing the border at age nine, growing up undocumented in a predominantly white neighborhood, and pushing through community college, state college, and grad school with little support and a lot of persistence.

In the second half, the conversation shifts to the challenges of being let go from jobs where they were praised one moment and dismissed the next. Despite showing up with ideas, care, and commitment, both Miriam and America experienced what most undocumented creatives risk when being outspoken about your status.

Journalism taught them to question what they were told. Branding taught them that speaking up can cost us everything. 

Whether you’re a DREAMer, a creative of color, or someone genuinely trying to understand how the system works, you’ll want to hear this.

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América has been on a long hiatus. It’s a long story, but she won’t trauma dump or bore you with it today. She’s here to give a quick update and let her friends know what she’s been up to. Even though she’s still had a few “mental health breakdowns” along the way, her head is still in the game and more focused than ever.

Fair warning: the audio levels in this episode are a little all over the place. She tried to fix it, but it’s a bit chaotic, kind of like her life right now.

Like everything América does, she completely overthought this podcast and this episode. She recorded it twice, tried editing the second take, then realized she liked the first one better. She spent way too much time trying to cut out the ums (she says a lot of ums) and adjust the audio. In the end, she decided to leave it. Everything online is too filtered so lets leave it unfiltered and a little messy, just like the country she is in.

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Stephanie is back and listens to America discuss the Writer’s Guild of America strike.  Then they, like, talk about what being a valley girl is and the misrepresentation in the media. 

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In this episode, America discusses the health care expansion to include DACA recipients and Florida’s new anti-immigration bill.  Then, she proceeds to dive into the topic of DACA by sharing her personal stories of growing up as an undocumented student. 

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What is Chisme? In this first episode America and Stephanie discuss what it means to be a chismosa and whether gossiping is good or bad. 

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Every other week, America Castillo tries to convince her sister Stephanie Zuniga into having a conversation about things going on in the world. Whether it’s about pop culture or politics, I can guarantee at least one episode on serial killers.  

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