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.

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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.

A Latina from Puebla now oversees 85 girls teams at one of the top youth soccer clubs in the country. Marisa González breaks down how to build a career in sports when you are not going pro, how to beat imposter syndrome, and why representation is what lets a girl dream at all.

In this episode of the Latina Leadership Podcast, recorded at the Dallas Cowboys Podcast Studio in Frisco, Texas, host Claudia Macías sits down with Marisa González, Senior Director of Girls Programming at FC Dallas Youth. Marisa went from playing college soccer in Minnesota to an MBA in Madrid to becoming the first general manager of Club Puebla Femenil in Liga MX Femenil. Now she is shaping the pathway for thousands of young female players in North Texas, just as the World Cup arrives in the region.

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!

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They told us the history books were complete. They were not.

Most of us walked through twelve years of school and never heard the names of the people who fought, in courtrooms and city councils and newspaper columns, so that a Latina could vote, run for office, and be counted as a full citizen. That history was here the whole time. We just were not handed it.

Dr. Sarah Zenaida Gould is the Executive Director of the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute, MACRI, the only national museum dedicated to preserving and sharing Mexican American civil rights history. A historian who has spent two decades in museums, she sat down with Anjelica inside MACRI in San Antonio, the city she calls the cradle of the movement, during Fiesta on the Texas Road Trip.

In this conversation you learn why San Antonio holds this history, how Mexican Americans fought for the vote, and how to find your voice in a room that was not built to hear it.

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

Learn more about our guest: MACRI: somosmacri.org Email MACRI: [email protected] 2026 MACRI Symposium: May 29 to 30 in San Antonio, livestreamed

You trained for years to become one thing. Then the path bent somewhere you never planned for. Sound familiar, amiga?

Dr. Erika Cavazos started as a physician in Mexico. When she moved to Texas she landed in a public health department, and from there she kept following her curiosity into graduate school, into a hospital administration role, and finally into a field most people cannot even define: biomedical informatics. Today she teaches it as faculty at the same university where she once sat as a student.

In this Laredo conversation she explains what biomedical informatics actually is, how it brings specialists to communities that have few, and how she built all of it while raising three kids.