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Today's toxic cultural norm: believing that asking for help is a failure of morality. 

In fact, it's more like breaking your leg and then denying yourself medical attention. Or crutches. Imagine hopping around like a human pogo stick because you're too proud to admit you need help!

Refusing help doesn't make us stronger, it keeps us weak. That's what trickle-down pendejadas gave us: generational curses passed down until they felt normal. But like Denise Soler Cox taught us, that's not our backpack. We didn't pack it, and we don't have to continue to carry it.

We can start small in asking for help. And eventually, grow our Comfort Zone of Asks until the thing we really want (a raise, a ride to the doctor, etc) stops feeling impossible and becomes an easy request.

Key takeaways:

1. Asking for help is just a skill, and you can learn to do it too.
2. The patriarchy lied to you to keep you weak. Being strong happens when we rely on the collective.
3. When people disappoint us, that's good intel.

To get the full show notes, and an episode transcript, go to PauletteErato.com/shownotes. This is episode 101. 

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Like what you hear? Become a Super Cheverita and grab a limited edition LVMC baseball t-shirt. Check it out at pauletteerato.com/shop.

How to reach me:

• Got a comment or a question? Send a text!
• Email me at hola @ pauletteerato dot com
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Ep 100 - "El qué dirán." Almost every Latina has heard of it. For a lot of us, it's a constant whisper. Be careful, be quiet. Otherwise: what will they say?

This childfree Latina podcast has never been afraid of that whisper, and neither is our guest. Keynote speaker, filmmaker, and author Denise Soler Cox is fed up by this toxic cultural norm, too. So to celebrate the 100th episode of La Vida Más Chévere, we're done whispering. It's time to loudly claim our liberation from the opinions of people we don't even freaking know!

Through an inspection of Denise's new book What Will They Say?, we break down what a "good Latina" actually is, how to let go of the struggle tax, and how surrender is sometimes the ultimate step in your healing journey.

Let's harness our Latina Power and order your copy of What Will They Say? before August 23rd. That's the magical deadline to make the book a New York Times bestseller. We have that power!

Order here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/What-Will-They-Say/Denise-Soler-Cox/9781668082966 

To get the full show notes, and an episode transcript, go to PauletteErato.com/shownotes. This is episode 100. 

About Denise Soler Cox

Denise Soler Cox is a cultural excavator: an award-winning filmmaker, keynote speaker and author who goes inside the cultures that shape how we lead, belong, and who we become. Her debut book, What Will They Say? (Simon & Schuster, August 2026), uncovers the ten inherited cultural rules keeping Latina leaders shrinking and sidelined and shows them, finally, how to stop.

A sought-after voice on culture, identity, and belonging, Denise has spoken on 400+ stages including two TEDx talks and SXSW 2026. She has partnered with Ralph Lauren, Amazon, Microsoft, and L'Oréal, among others. In 2020, Apple Podcasts North America recognized her podcast The Self-ish Latina as both a Featured Podcast and Featured Host, with listeners in 32 countries. She has appeared as a culture expert on NBC Nightly News, and her work has been featured in Forbes, CNN and PBS.

The woman who finally uncovered what's been happening inside the culture and why it matters for how we lead.

Support the show

Like what you hear? Become a Super Cheverita and grab a limited edition LVMC baseball t-shirt. Check it out at pauletteerato.com/shop.

How to reach me:

• Got a comment or a question? Send a text!
• Email me at hola @ pauletteerato dot com
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Ep 99 - Closing out Healing Girl Summer with the very last lesson in Benchmarks are Bullshit: expand your bubble. This is also the last stop on the childfree Latina podcast's summer series, and it's about the moment you realize your comfort zone isn't keeping you safe. In fact, it's a prison of your own making.

Let's bust you out of prison! You can be safe AND uncomfortable. That's how you become a more interesting person, how you evolve, and how you shake off the toxic cultural norms that taught you to stay small and stay calladita. All it requires is a little curiosity.

From trying spicy foods, to going wild with pizza, to becoming the Mexican Madonna, you don't have to feel ready. You don't even have to be ready. You only have to be curious.

Key takeaways:

• Comfort and safety are not the same thing
• Curiosity beats training and technique
• You don't have to feel ready to start

Get your own copy of Benchmarks Are Bullshit at https://pauletteerato.gumroad.com/l/pmavo/VIDA30

To get the full show notes, and an episode transcript, go to PauletteErato.com/shownotes. This is episode 99. 

Support the show

Like what you hear? Become a Super Cheverita and grab a limited edition LVMC baseball t-shirt. Check it out at pauletteerato.com/shop.

How to reach me:

• Got a comment or a question? Send a text!
• Email me at hola @ pauletteerato dot com
• Join the rest of the Super Cheveritas at https://pauletteerato.substack.com/
• Support the show at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1948831/supporters/new

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Healing Girl Summer stretches into July with the eponymous lesson from Benchmarks are Bullshit. 

As a species we love to measure and rank things. Benchmarks are everywhere, and sometimes even useful. Until they show up uninvited at our family gatherings, in our LinkedIn feeds, in hustle culture, or in the quiet voice that whispers, "you should have more by now." 

That's not helpful! And who benefits from these beliefs? Certainly not us, especially when they make us feel lesser than. 

Let's break down why those metrics were never meant for us childfree Latinas, and what to measure instead for designing our vidas más chévere.

• Success isn't measured by hitting milestones on someone else's timeline
• Keeping up with the Joneses is a loser's game, and capitalist culture thrives on it
• Frida Kahlo didn't live by anyone's rules, and you don't have to either

Get your own copy of Benchmarks Are Bullshit

In this episode

• LVMC Episode 97 - Decisions are NOT Life Sentences  
• LVMC Episode 96 - Failure, Fear, and Generational Trauma: Healing that Mess
• Wear Sunscreen - Wikipedia explanation
• Frida Kahlo - Wikipedia article

To get the full show notes, and an episode transcript, go to PauletteErato.com/shownotes. This is episode 98. 

Support the show

Like what you hear? Become a Super Cheverita and grab a limited edition LVMC baseball t-shirt. Check it out at pauletteerato.com/shop.

How to reach me:

• Got a comment or a question? Send a text!
• Email me at hola @ pauletteerato dot com
• Join the rest of the Super Cheveritas at https://pauletteerato.substack.com/
• Support the show at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1948831/supporters/new

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Ep 97 -  Healing Girl Summer continues with Lesson Three from Benchmarks Are Bullshit: you will change your mind. But that's not a flaw, it's how growth actually works. 

We break down why we treat reversible decisions like permanent ones, and how the story you've been telling about yourself doesn't have to be the only story.

From Vera Wang not designing her first dress until nearly 40, to Grandma Moses picking up a paintbrush at 78, to living three completely different lives in under a decade, the evidence is everywhere. Skills travel. Identity isn't fixed. And almost every decision you will ever make sits way closer to the Brussels sprouts end of the spectrum than the face tattoo one.

Key takeaways:

• Decisions are not life sentences, but being inflexible is
• The spectrum framework: Brussels sprouts vs. face tattoos
• Don't let your job become your identity
• Your skills travel with you across every pivot
• You have the power to change your story, no permission necessary

Get your own copy of Benchmarks Are Bullshit at https://pauletteerato.gumroad.com/l/pmavo/VIDA30

To get the full show notes, and an episode transcript, go to PauletteErato.com/shownotes. This is episode 97. 

Support the show

Like what you hear? Become a Super Cheverita and grab a limited edition LVMC baseball t-shirt. Check it out at pauletteerato.com/shop.

How to reach me:

• Got a comment or a question? Send a text!
• Email me at hola @ pauletteerato dot com
• Join the rest of the Super Cheveritas at https://pauletteerato.substack.com/
• Support the show at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1948831/supporters/new

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Ep 96 - We're back, and we're starting with a lesson you also probably could've used in college (or anytime): failure isn't the end. It's the whole point!

This is episode 1 of 4 in the Healing Girl Summer mini-series, pulled from the manuscript Benchmarks Are Bullshit: Lessons I Wish I Knew at 18. We're revisiting the first big failure and what happens when a girl who was never allowed to fail finally does.

All of us have already survived learning to walk. We've been failing and recovering our entire lives. This episode is just the reminder we forgot we needed.

Key Takeaways

• Failure only destroys your identity when you've never been given room to practice it
• The scientific method is also a pretty solid life strategy. 
• Your comfort zone is just the ground you kept sitting on after you stopped trying to walk
• Failure at this big age is just information: that didn't work, so let's try the next thing

Get your own copy of Benchmarks Are Bullshit at https://pauletteerato.gumroad.com/l/pmavo/VIDA30

 In This Episode 

•  #95 - Grief & Death: What I've Learned
• #37 – Perfectionism and Childfree Latinas: The Ivy League School Dropout
• The scientific method (Wikipedia)
• Encanto, Disney-animated movie
• Article - We Don’t Talk About Perfectionism: Using Encanto to Explore Perfectionism and Growth Fostering Relationships (Journal of Creativity in Mental Health)

To get the full show notes, and an episode transcript, go to PauletteErato.com/shownotes. This is episode 96. 

Support the show

Like what you hear? Become a Super Cheverita and grab a limited edition LVMC baseball t-shirt. Check it out at pauletteerato.com/shop.

How to reach me:

• Got a comment or a question? Send a text!
• Email me at hola @ pauletteerato dot com
• Join the rest of the Super Cheveritas at https://pauletteerato.substack.com/
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Ep 95 - TRIGGER WARNING: death of a parent 

On Friday, Feb 13th my life, and the life of everyone in my family, changed forever.

In the aftermath, I've learned the power of The Specific Ask so I'm sharing that with you. While I grapple what it's like to be a fatherless daughter, and the complicated, messy reality of grief, I hope you too are able to let go of the judgements of others (el qué dirán) and also ask for the help you actually need.

Asking for help is an act of self-love.

My one specific ask for you: send memes, not condolences. Muchísimas gracias.

Support the show

Like what you hear? Become a Super Cheverita and grab a limited edition LVMC baseball t-shirt. Check it out at pauletteerato.com/shop.

How to reach me:

• Got a comment or a question? Send a text!
• Email me at hola @ pauletteerato dot com
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Ep 94 - Thank you for sticking with LVMC during this extended hiatus!  2025 was a drag, right? 

So to keep 2026 from becoming a repeat of that misery, there's big changes to announce about the podcast AND life! Starting with my upcoming live TEDx Pitch Contest on Saturday, February 7, 2026 in Long Beach, CA.

Get tickets here!

Latinas In Podcasting  is also hosting the Love Your Voice mini summit for anyone wh's been fighting burnout or overwhelm and needs to reconnect to that inner spark—even if you aren't a podcaster. 

Learn what to expect moving forward, and read more about my TEDx journey by joining my newsletter. 

Support the show

Like what you hear? Become a Super Cheverita and grab a limited edition LVMC baseball t-shirt. Check it out at pauletteerato.com/shop.

How to reach me:

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• Email me at hola @ pauletteerato dot com
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Buen día mi gente, and welcome to La Vida Más Chévere de Childfree Latinas. The #1 Spanglish podcast for childfree Latinas y Latines helping us liberate ourselves from the toxic cultural brainwashing we all grew up with, so that we can design our best lives instead.

Support the show

Like what you hear? Become a Super Cheverita and grab a limited edition LVMC baseball t-shirt. Check it out at pauletteerato.com/shop.

How to reach me:

• Got a comment or a question? Send a text!
• Email me at hola @ pauletteerato dot com
• Join the rest of the Super Cheveritas at https://pauletteerato.substack.com/
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Thanks to our proudly racist government, it's now open season to hunt people with brown skin. So I've made a decision to disassociate with platforms that support this. 

And that's why you won't hear this podcast on Spotify anymore.

Free Palestine, Free Congo and Free Sudan.

Support the show

Like what you hear? Become a Super Cheverita and grab a limited edition LVMC baseball t-shirt. Check it out at pauletteerato.com/shop.

How to reach me:

• Got a comment or a question? Send a text!
• Email me at hola @ pauletteerato dot com
• Join the rest of the Super Cheveritas at https://pauletteerato.substack.com/
• Support the show at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1948831/supporters/new