Why is podcasting growing at such a phenomenal rate in the last 3 years? It's the intimate environment between your ears, that we can captivate your attention, one on one, and people want it. In this episode, Zachariah Moreno, CEO and Co-Founder of Squadcast.fm, tells us why his love of story and art, helped him create a recording studio audio experience for the global internet podcasting community! The goal, 'to amplify collaboration with your guests by having meaningful conversations without compromising quality in a remote conversation." He takes us on his start-up journey, from his ideation of Squadcast.fm from his love of painting and listening to fictional stories online, to Google. Technology was not the goal, but later became the destination for the audio collaboration experience. As podcasting is becoming very competitive for your ears,  the evolution for quality sound and story telling is really separating the podcasting realm from the hobbyist to the professional who is monetizing a brand as a business. It's time to level up and Squadcast.fm is building that audio platform for anyone to record globally with the quality experience of a recording studio. Yes, you can create products that can help transform an industry from your love of creating art and then building it through technology. Its the process, patience and the journey of learning along the way. Podcasting with Squadcast.fm will take your podcast to the next level. Pod On and Muchas Gracias!!  Special thanks for mixing and editing to Robert Lopez of Mixed By Crates. 

You can knock us down 9, but we get gotta get up TEN! As the small business community has been crushed by COVID-19, which has left many communities wondering about their future, it's time to get back into the online business game, level up and become a phoenix from the ashes!  How? By putting a game plan together, aka... business plan, and use legal contracts, get some strong online marketing and trademarks that will protect all that hard work you've accomplished, even if it's a side hustle. The good news is it doesn't take piles of money to do it, if done right! Andrea Sager Law, Trademark Attorney and I talk about how both of us are on a mission to help small business navigate the online presence and understand the legal game with your business. The time is now to STOP the appropriation of our culture, our ideas and our food, etc. from being hijacked and made into millions without our communities. It's time we profit off our own labor of creation. This will be a continued series of business mini podcasts, so legalize that brand, your side hustle, your company and get back in the game for 2021! Level up, I got you! 

"If all we had to do was to make girls feel empowered, that’d be a piece of cake!!"- CEO Laura Donnelly states in this podcast. The social justice energy is strong with these Latinas who are holding it down by supporting Texas's most marginalized communities with STEM innovation and a creative mindset. Latinitasonline.org was founded back in 2002, to change the narrative around Latinas in media AND technology. They have been building a Chica Media Technology Army by creating the safe spaces for exploration of journalism, science and technology. The time is now, for us to be SEEN with more representation within the current media and technology platforms. Let's keep going, stay loud, proud and show up in the arena. Si Se Puede! 

There are pivotal moments in your life when the fork in the road of life can take you down a dark path, or you "Get Ish Done!" Ish Verduzco, Latino in Tech and Author,  tells us how after losing his father at age 12, and growing up in South Central Los Angeles, he was guided by the matriarchal women in his life. The realities for some young Latino men, with no father, can end up in the pipeline to prison segment.  In California alone, there has been only one UC college build since 1980 and 22 prisons built. The odds are usually stacked against these young men. However, that one college built in California, is UC Merced, located in the central valley, where Ish graduated from and got on the path into Tech. Listen to this episode of how he decided to help build a bigger door into Tech for POC and how "doing the work" to succeed in anything folks set their mind to, came from all the strength and perseverance he learned from the Latinas in his family. 

The band aid has been ripped off Corporate America in their hiring practices and they need to be held accountable. This episode of business equity was recorded just after the first week of rioting in the United States. I have been in tears, traumatized and pissed off, to get my strength up to talk about the systemic racism that is Silicon Valley and how it's literally running the world outside of government. I have been a part of and seen it as a contract worker and hired employee. Why is this not talked about or relevant? Because there are not many of us, POC, in those technology arenas to hold leaders/product teams accountable OR we don't want to make waves. Leaders are not being asked to change their thinking in technology. That's one "Moon Shot" they, C-Suite Executives, don't want to do. I hope many of you who listen to this podcast, and are in positions of D&I and HR, can call out the "elephant" in the room to make the necessary changes that can help rebuild trust and investment into communities of color. Hold them accountable!  We've lived under the white gaze for to long and without business equity. 

Listen up y'all! We are the most valuable thing to tech companies. Why? Our engagement with these platforms make their money, tells us what to buy, what to look at and it starts with our consent, “ I Agree” with the terms of Service. Why do you think its always “Free?” Can you trust Google and TikTok? How does Covid-19 tracking impact me and my family? Many questions, that we have the right to ask and demand! We are the data that are building the new apps, the artificial intelligence driving new marketing, new products on social media platforms, and adding more to the global search engine. Do you think we should get paid for using our data? Many people would say, YES!  In this collaboration podcast, with Creepy Tech podcaster, Lydia Shompole, who is also the founder of The CrossPods.com, we discuss how some of us have  been living in a haze of data trust with these social media platforms, yet we less than 2% of people of color within leadership and or product teams on these global and social media platforms or even less within the realms of science and medicine. Believe it or not, it affects so much of our lives that we don’t even realize it! Let’s get educated on this data privacy issue and realize how we can use our technology to ask the right questions about our data to protect our identities and our ancestral knowledge from being exploited. 

Nathalie Molina Nino and I discuss the Cares Act for PPP, Payroll Protection Plan,  and how it has exposed the financial systemic racism that funneled our small business stimulus dollars through the big banks to big companies. WE had no voice in the Cares Act PPP to understand how to distribute the funds into the communities businesses, smaller banks and WOC businesses. Communities of color are having to all start over again, eliminating generations of wealth! How did this happen?? Listen to this episode to find out how we can tap into our 63 million voices strong to define our economic power and hold the financial and federal systems accountable for our share of what we pay into our taxes. Let’s keep up the pressure to call out systemic oppression and racism! Si Se Puede! 

Terry Solis-VP of Bitwise Industries in Fresno, California gives us the story of courage for Latinx communities within the COVID-19 pandemic. Terry comes from farm working background and is part of the Bitwise Industries leadership team that rallied together with the Oakland Kapor Center, to create a job platform, OnwardCA.org. This was completed in less than 6 weeks to employers and workers affected by the pandemic layoffs. Ok,  Latinas are mad strong in times of crisis! Terry discusses the strength we have within us to push through the hard times and to learn new skills to keep us going. It's about our survival!  Terry and the Bitwise Industries  have created a growth mindset, encouragement and tech classes to keep our communities going. "When you have to survive in this pandemic, to put food on the table for your kids, you'll do what it takes to learn a new skill to find a job that pays well."  Listen up y'all, the wealth gap in our communities is losing ground and businesses are shutting their doors, so let's step up our game by moving into the next chapter to lift each other up and build community. OnwardCA.org. Gracias, Theresa. 

COVID-19 will live forever in our minds and for generations to come. Now is the time to change our business marketing to "how can I serve?"Our legacy of products and services will be impacted, and remembered,  by this impossible time of loss and community struggle unless we change our purpose by marketing with listening to this moment. Now is the time to build those products that help our communities survive and come together. Think outside the box for our health care workers who need relief services, our delivery drivers who need to be safe, our children who need to be educated, our food to be healthy and the elderly who need to know we care. This is a time to build new things, test new services, ideas and build stronger communities with our intellectual power to do more. Let's get to it and stay strong! Gracias. 

Have you heard the heartbreaking percentage of Latinas representing only 2% in STEM fields?? Yeah, SMH! How does this work, when we use so many manufactured products for our monthly hygiene, make-up, and medicine? I found out from Carly Tompkins, STEM Molecular Biology and BioInformatics student at San Jose State, that "precision medicine" is becoming a thing! Not only that, but she is helping other Mijas with "Girls Who Code.org," a partnership with the Silicon Valley Hispanic Foundation, to provide visual learning to girls in elementary and middle school. She is making moves in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math to increase the awareness and importance of our Latina presence to be recognized in these fields. This is an awesome nerdy pod for those that want to learn more! No coding or science background required. Enjoy! Special mixing thanks to MixedbyCrates & 25th Street Recoding Studio, Oakland.