Growing up, television writer Ilana Peña was a student of books, where, she says, "girls could be complicated." Now, as creator of Diary of a Future President on Disney+, Ilana brings that vision of girlhood to life. She tells Alicia about rising from assistant to writer’s assistant to writer to creator, how the early loss of her father taught her to use “grief as an engine,” and why being in charge forced her to stop saying “maybe.” 

Follow Ilana @lanstagram on Instagram. If you loved this episode, listen to Linda Yvette Chavez, Gloria Calderón Kellett and Cristela Alonzo for more on creating Latina shows in Hollywood. Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter! 

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This week we pause to reckon with the national call for justice that followed the deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and countless Black Americans in what's become an epidemic of sanctioned violence. Alicia talks to veteran community organizer Rosa Clemente and Marisa Franco, co-founder of Mijente, an action hub for social justice, about anti-blackness in Latino cultures, the colonization of identity, and what we must each do right now to make lasting change possible. 

Follow Rosa @blackpuertoricanphd on Instagram and @rosaclemente on Twitter; and follow Marisa @marisa_franco on Twitter and @marisafranco on IG. If you loved this episode, listen to Karla Cornejo Villavicencio. Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter! 

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We've all been there. "Oh my God, can I do this?" And in those moments of intense doubt and fear, Lisa Vidal, the star of ABC's The Baker and the Beauty, says "That's when you have to really embrace your talent, and recognize who you are and say, 'Yes, I can do this. Yes, this belongs to me.'" We believe her. She has a four-decade Hollywood career, survived breast cancer, supported her son through addiction and recovery, and came through it all with the grace to "live one day at a time in gratitude." Get ready to be inspired.

Follow Lisa @thelisavidal on Twitter and @thereallisavidal on Instagram. If you loved this episode, listen to Gina Torres and Aimee Carrero for more on acting. Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter! 

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First, she planted the seed of the idea in his publicist’s mind. Then she began a relentless insider campaign to convince magazine editors that the megastar was cover worthy. Then she and the art director recruited the singer’s talented artist girlfriend to shoot it in their pandemic hideaway. The details of it all had Alicia on the edge of her seat.

Follow Suzy @hexpositive on Twitter and @brujacore on Instagram. If you loved this episode, listen to Cristina Constantini and iLe.  Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter! 

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As if setting out to write a book about the undocumented immigrant experience across the country wasn’t hard enough, Karla Cornejo Villavivencio set a much higher bar for The Undocumented Americans. “I promised everyone in the book, all of my subjects, that I would get Americans to care. And that's a promise that I couldn't guarantee that I could keep,” she tells Alicia in this searing conversation about not wanting to be a political tool, being among the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard University,  and not thinking too much about herself to avoid “going into dark places.”

Follow Karla @kcornejov on Twitter and @kcornv on IG. If you loved this episode, listen to Carmen Maria Machado and Quiara Alegría Hudes. Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter! 

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Alicia selects some of the beautiful moments when our brilliant guests recall a special moment with their moms, open up about the struggle to become a mother, and distill the wisdom and strength they learned from their mamás. 

Follow @latinatolatina on Twitter and IG. If you loved this episode, listen to our Anniversary Special.  Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter!

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Why are so many people trying their hands at sewing homemade masks? Making a mask not only helps the wearers feel safe, it helps the maker feel useful and part of a movement. We speak with members of an Atlanta-based volunteer group that’s been able to deliver more than 13,000 masks to their local hospital system, hear why a long-time sewist only started making masks in the past week, and even make a couple masks ourselves. Visit vpm.org/helpers for more information. Music by Blue Dot Sessions.

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Echoing a sentiment shared by many successful children of immigrants, Joanna Vargas tells Alicia, “My parents did not send me to school so that I would work with my hands.” That understanding kept her from telling them about becoming an aesthetician. The irony of it all is that working with her hands to help celebrities like Rachel Weizs, Mindy Kaling, and Tatum O'Neal look and feel beautiful is precisely how she made a name for herself in the beauty business. Joanna talks about it all in this episode and her new book, Glow From Within.

Follow Joanna @JVSkinCare on Twitter and @joannavargasnyc on IG. If you loved this episode, listen to Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton and Katia Beauchamp for more on the business of beauty.  Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter!

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From the executive producer of Latina to Latina, welcome to How to Talk to Mamí and Papí About Anything! Juleyka Lantigua-Williams made the show because she and many of her friends who were born or raised in the US could use some help in communicating with their immigrant parents. "We’re sometimes torn between the way we choose to live our Americanized lives and the loyalty we feel to our parents’ ways," she says. Every week, she'll talk to adult children of immigrant parents facing a heavy situation from which the rest of us might learn something. She'll also talk to an expert with relevant experience, who can help us understand and move through the situation.

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She started in a Teach for America classroom and today leads the organization as it sends a small army of new teachers into schools that need them most. Elisa opens up about her path to TFA:  realizing how unprepared she was for college (but excelling anyway), recognizing the strength of her experiences as she tackled educational inequity, and stepping into the role of CEO.

Follow Elisa @villanuevabeard on IG and Twitter. If you loved this episode, listen to Nina Vaca and Nancy Reyes for more on the power of education.  Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter!

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