Latina Leadership Podcast

The title stays behind. The network too. The family too.

Amiga, if you have ever rebuilt a life in a country that did not recognize your work, this conversation is for you.

Yohara Caraballo is a Dominican born attorney, author, and screenwriter. Before immigrating she spent close to 10 years in government and public service in the Dominican Republic and served as a delegate and attorney on the legal committee of the International Civil Aviation Organization. She also trained as a Cessna 172 pilot. Today she is the author of When Hope Becomes Pain and a practical guide to coparenting with a high conflict parent, and she has adapted her book into a 106 page screenplay.

She tells Claudia Macías what she wishes someone had told her about postpartum depression, how she answers hard messages from a coparent, and the one small step she recommends this week. You leave with a way to answer hard messages, a checklist for court, and a first page to write.

You have the degree. The results. The years of showing up early and staying late. And somehow, someone with less of all three just got the promotion you were counting on. Sound familiar? For a lot of us, the problem was never our work. It was that nobody

Elizabeth Suarez spent two decades as the only Latina in Fortune 100 rooms, from Johnson & Johnson to PepsiCo International to Silicon Valley's tech world, armed with a chemical engineering degree from Cornell and an MBA from Wharton. She exited corporate leadership to build her own executive coaching and facilitation firm, The Negotiation Unleashed, where she now coaches the C-suite and board members she used to sit across from. Online, her clients call her the Salary Queen.

Elizabeth breaks down the exact blueprint she teaches executives: how to build visibility around outcomes instead of tasks, how to state an ask without over-explaining it, and why chasing perfect is costing you the promotion.

Episode 24: Latina Disability Advocate Fighting for a Seat at the Table with Rocío López, Disability Rights Advocate & Skagit County Community Organizer Building policy, voice, and community as a Latina in rural disability advocacy Rocío López spent four years helping pass a law just so disabled Washingtonians could sit at the same table as everyone else. She's a Latina disability activist in one of the smallest counties in the state, and she's not waiting for anyone to hand her a microphone.

Share Your Story

Your story matters. Have you reclaimed your voice from a difficult experience? Share it with us. DM us on Instagram: @LatinaLeadershipPodcast or email us at [email protected].

Found this powerful? Please like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to join our community of support and storytelling.

Prefer audio? Find the full podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/latina-leadership-podcast/id1539009007 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1OD36YHq4caQaCY5iYfMO4 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/8755c9e9-bba6-4e6a-9283-9fab5696a017/latina-leadership-podcast

Connect With the Community: Don't miss a beat of the Latina Leadership Podcast!

Website: latinaleadershippodcast.com Instagram: instagram.com/latinaleadershippodcast Facebook: facebook.com/LatinaLeadershipPodcast LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/latina-leadership-podcast

You had the idea. You know exactly what you want to build. And the gap between that idea and an actual physical space, with a lease and a staff and people walking through the door, feels impossible to close.

Sam Navarre and her husband, Brayden, closed that gap. In April, they opened By the Wayside Bar and Live Music on Navigation Boulevard in Houston, a space built on one rule: come meet somebody new. Marianne Garcia, founder and executive director of Raices Unidas, sits down with Sam ahead of By the Wayside's National Latina Day event to talk about what it took to get there.

You'll hear how three years of pop-ups turned into a brick and mortar, why "professional" has nothing to do with how many gigs you've played, and what it actually feels like to watch a room fill up with the community you set out to build.

Share Your Story

Your story matters. Have you reclaimed your voice from a difficult experience? Share it with us. DM us on Instagram: @LatinaLeadershipPodcast or email us at [email protected].

Found this powerful? Please like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to join our community of support and storytelling.

Prefer audio? Find the full podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/latina-leadership-podcast/id1539009007 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1OD36YHq4caQaCY5iYfMO4 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/8755c9e9-bba6-4e6a-9283-9fab5696a017/latina-leadership-podcast

Connect With the Community: Don't miss a beat of the Latina Leadership Podcast!

Website: latinaleadershippodcast.com Instagram: instagram.com/latinaleadershippodcast Facebook: facebook.com/LatinaLeadershipPodcast LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/latina-leadership-podcast

A 160-year-old opera house. Gold leaf on every wall. A World Cup FanFest roaring right outside the doors. Somewhere between the past and the present, one Latina keeps it all standing. Mariel Tinoco started as a violinist. Conservatory, years in orchestras, the whole path. But the real pull was never the stage itself, it was everything that makes the stage possible: the space, the conditions, the magic behind the curtain. That pull took her into cultural management, and today she's the administrator of the Teatro Degollado, one of the three most important theaters in Mexico alongside Bellas Artes and the Teatro Juárez de Guanajuato. Recorded live at the theater during World Cup Fan Fest Guadalajara, this conversation covers 160 years of history, a wartime opening, real 22-karat gold, and why Mariel calls preservation "a dance between two time periods." Amiga, this is what it looks like when una protects the story for todas who come after her. 00:00 - Inside Teatro Degollado during World Cup Fan Fest Guadalajara 01:15 - How does a violinist end up running one of Mexico's most historic theaters? 02:43 - 160 years of Teatro Degollado: the history behind Mexico's golden stage 05:02 - What are the biggest challenges of preserving a monument that's still in daily use? 07:39 - How do you connect a phone-scrolling generation to a 160-year-old theater? 13:49 - Why Teatro Degollado calls itself "el teatro del pueblo" Share Your Story Your story matters. Have you reclaimed your voice from a difficult experience? Share it with us. DM us on Instagram: @LatinaLeadershipPodcast or email us at [email protected]. Found this powerful? Please like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to join our community of support and storytelling. Prefer audio? Find the full podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/latina-leadership-podcast/id1539009007 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1OD36YHq4caQaCY5iYfMO4 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/8755c9e9-bba6-4e6a-9283-9fab5696a017/latina-leadership-podcast Connect With the Community: Don't miss a beat of the Latina Leadership Podcast! Website: latinaleadershippodcast.com Instagram: instagram.com/latinaleadershippodcast Facebook: facebook.com/LatinaLeadershipPodcast LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/latina-leadership-podcast

They said it was a soccer exhibit. It isn't. Inside Guadalajara's Museo de Arte de Zapopan, cleats and paintbrushes are asking the same question: who actually gets a fair shot?

Viviana Kuri Haddad runs that answer. She directs MAZ, one of Mexico's most important contemporary art museums, with two locations two blocks apart in the heart of Zapopan. This World Cup season, she's turning a soccer moment into a citywide conversation about equity, identity, and who gets remembered.

In this episode, Viviana walks us through the exhibits connecting fútbol to inequality, introduces the installation built on an uneven playing field, and explains why a legendary goalkeeper ended up in paint. Listen in, and the next trip to Guadalajara looks different.

People: Viviana Kuri Haddad — Director, Museo de Arte de Zapopan (MAZ); Claudia Macías — LLP host, also of The Claudia Macías Podcast Show (admirableradio.com); Priscila Monge — artist, Costa Rica; Mario García Torres — artist, Coahuila / Mexico City; Jorge Campos — former Mexican national team goalkeeper; Juan José Frangié — MAZ board president

Organizations: Museo de Arte de Zapopan (MAZ); Estación MAZ; Latina Leadership Podcast; FIFA World Cup 2026

Events / Programs: Canchas Desiguales installation; the Jorge Campos exhibition; Zapopan World Cup Fan Fest

Platforms: Instagram (@mazmuseo); Facebook

You're good at something. Everyone tells you so. And somehow you still can't see a career in it. That was Stephanie Leal for most of her life, even after teachers kept pointing her toward art. Stephanie Leal is the artist and graphic designer behind the official Houston FIFA World Cup poster, now stamped on billboards, metro wraps, t shirts, and keychains across the city. She trained in fine arts and graphic design at the University of Houston and cut her teeth designing for the Houston Dynamo and Houston Dash. Amiga, this conversation is about what it actually takes to trust yourself enough to apply, to submit the portfolio you finished the night before the deadline, and to let your own story become the work.

A steady paycheck. A $125,000 salary. The kind of job your familia brags about at every carne asada. Michelle Myra had it, and she walked away to make socks.

Michelle is a Pilates instructor since 2018 who taught her way across Asia before coming home to California. Today she runs two businesses: Sazón Grip, one of the first Latina-owned grip sock brands with every phrase en español, and Sazón Pilates Studio in Bellflower, open barely a month when we sat down. She built both by reading the room, testing everything herself, and refusing to launch anything she wouldn't wear.

In this conversation she breaks down how she went from instructor to product owner, why she used her socks to fund immigrant families during the ICE raids, and the one piece of advice she gives every amiga with a product idea.

Share Your Story

Your story matters. Have you reclaimed your voice from a difficult experience? Share it with us. DM us on Instagram: @LatinaLeadershipPodcast or email us at [email protected].

Found this powerful? Please like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to join our community of support and storytelling.

Prefer audio? Find the full podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/latina-leadership-podcast/id1539009007 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1OD36YHq4caQaCY5iYfMO4 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/8755c9e9-bba6-4e6a-9283-9fab5696a017/latina-leadership-podcast

Connect With the Community: Don't miss a beat of the Latina Leadership Podcast!

Website: latinaleadershippodcast.com Instagram: instagram.com/latinaleadershippodcast Facebook: facebook.com/LatinaLeadershipPodcast LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/latina-leadership-podcast

Your parents spoke it at home. Your abuela still calls to speak it with you. And somewhere between Duolingo streaks and half-remembered conjugation tables, the language still feels just out of reach. That gap between hearing Spanish your whole life and actually feeling fluent in it is one of the most common, least talked-about experiences in our comunidad.

Sonia Salvador spent 20 years in marketing and product design, including as US Communications Director for Ray-Ban. Native French and Spanish, with roots in the Basque Country, she's lived across Spain, France, Italy, and the US. She's the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Unedo, a daily Spanish-language magazine recently named Apple's App of the Day and one of Apple's Best New Apps of 2026.

In this conversation, Sonia breaks down why Unedo skips the grammar drills entirely and builds around culture instead, and what that means for anyone trying to reconnect with a language that was always theirs.

Chapters

00:00 — Why this Spanish app is built entirely around culture

01:52 — Sonia Salvador: "Who are you, and what do you do?"

04:07 — How do you reconnect with a language your parents never taught you?

06:39 — Is Spanish one language, or hundreds?

09:17 — What it's really like building a tech company as a woman

16:15 — Why Sonia stopped studying the competition

24:39 — Do you consider yourself a leader?

Connect with Unedo:

Instagram: instagram.com/unedo_in_spanish

Threads: threads.com/@unedo_in_spanish

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/unedo-app

Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575621142169

Share Your Story

Your story matters. Have you reclaimed your voice from a difficult experience? Share it with us.

DM us on Instagram: @LatinaLeadershipPodcast or email us at [email protected].

Found this powerful? Please like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to join our community

of support and storytelling.

Prefer audio? Find the full podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/latina-leadership-podcast/id1539009007

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1OD36YHq4caQaCY5iYfMO4

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/8755c9e9-bba6-4e6a-9283-9fab5696a017/latina-leadership-podcast

Connect With the Community: Don't miss a beat of the Latina Leadership Podcast!

Website: latinaleadershippodcast.com

Instagram: instagram.com/latinaleadershippodcast

Facebook: facebook.com/LatinaLeadershipPodcast

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/latina-leadership-podcast

You drive right past it. Every road trip, every time. A skyline going up north of Dallas, and you tell yourself you will stop next time. Sound familiar, amiga?

Kelly Walker is the woman who wants you to pull in. As Communications Manager for Visit Frisco, she is the one who brings media, creators, and podcasters to town and hands them the itinerary that changes their mind. She started as a coordinator, grew into media relations, and she is the partner who brought the Latina Leadership Podcast to the Dallas Cowboys studio at The Star. She also happens to be a lifelong sports obsessive, which is a useful thing to be in a city that made sports its whole identity.

In this one, Kelly maps out Sports City USA, what Frisco is building for the 2026 World Cup, and what leadership looks like when your title does not say manager. You walk away with a real plan for a getaway, not a brochure.