Pina Soul Podcast

In this episode, we sit down with Mona Gable,  an award-winning journalist and author of Searching for Savanna. Mona shares the inspiration behind her book, the reporting journey that brought this powerful story to life, and the lessons she learned while exploring themes of family, identity, resilience, and belonging. We also discuss her broader work covering gender, conservation, nature, and travel, and how curiosity continues to shape her storytelling. Join us for an engaging conversation with a writer whose work connects personal stories to larger social issues. 

In this episode, we sit down with Teton Saltes of The Bear Program to discuss the power of education, mentorship, and cultural connection in supporting Indigenous youth. Teton shares the organization's mission, its impact on Indigenous communities, and the importance of creating opportunities that empower future generations. Join us for an inspiring conversation about leadership, resilience, and investing in Indigenous youth.

Learn more about The Bear Program: https://thebearprogram.org

In this episode of the Piña Soul Podcast, we sit down with Indigenous journalist, author, and human rights advocate Brandi Morin. Known for her courageous reporting on Indigenous rights, environmental justice, and the impacts of resource extraction on Indigenous communities, Brandi shares her journey as a storyteller committed to amplifying voices often left out of mainstream narratives.

Together, we explore the power of Indigenous-led journalism, the importance of truth-telling, and the responsibility of documenting stories from the frontlines of social and environmental change. This conversation highlights resilience, solidarity, and the role of storytelling in advancing justice across our homelands.

Join us for an inspiring discussion on media, advocacy, and the enduring strength of Indigenous communities. 

In Episode 7 of Piña Soul, we are joined by Dr. Hortencia Jiménez, professor, sociologist, author, podcaster, and activist for a conversation about healing, identity, ancestral wisdom, and self-discovery.

In Part 1, we discuss her new poetry collection, I Carry My Ancestors in My Bones: A Love Letter to Every Version of Me. Dr. Jiménez shares reflections on migration, belonging, queerness, and the importance of reconnecting with the parts of ourselves that have been silenced or forgotten.

This heartfelt conversation explores how poetry can serve as a pathway to healing and invites us to embrace every version of ourselves with compassion, courage, and love. 🌻💛

Welcome to Episode 6 of the Piña Soul Podcast! 🎙️

In this episode, we speak with Otilia Portillo Padua, director and producer of Daughters of the Forest, an immersive sci-fi documentary that follows two Indigenous mycologists in Mexico as they navigate the intersections of ancestral knowledge, modern science, and environmental change.

Together, we explore the relationships between humans and mushrooms, the visible and invisible worlds that shape our lives, and how Indigenous communities are reimagining the future while remaining deeply rooted in generations of knowledge. Daughters of the Forestinvites us to rethink our connections with both human and non-human beings and consider new possibilities for living in reciprocity with the Earth.

Let's get started. 🌿🍄✨

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Rocio Rosales Meza, a Xicana/Mexicana seer, mother, spiritual guide, and initiated medicine woman with a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology. Rooted in a matriarchal lineage, her work weaves together ancestral, Earth-based, and cosmic traditions through the Ñusta Paqo path in the Q’ero Inca lineage.

With over 25 years of experience as a healer and teacher, Dr. Rosales Meza shares how reconnecting with our ancestors, spirituality, and inner wisdom is essential for holistic healing and living in balance with all of Creation. Together, we explore what it means to move beyond conventional systems of care and return to community-centered, sacred ways of knowing and being

In this episode, we explore Pretty by KB Brookins, a powerful, award-winning memoir that confronts identity at the intersections of race, gender, and perception. Drawing from personal experience and Black queer studies, Brookins reflects on what it means to navigate the world as a Black trans masculine person in a society that is quick to define others.

Pretty moves between tenderness and critique, examining both the beauty and the harm embedded within traditional ideas of Black masculinity. Through deeply personal storytelling, Brookins reveals the tension between how we see ourselves and how we are seen, and the emotional labor of resisting imposed identities.

Join us as we discuss themes of self-definition, belonging, and the ongoing process of unlearning. This episode highlights how Pretty is not only a memoir, but also a call for recognition, understanding, and change.

In this episode, we step into the winding, layered world of Poppy State: A Labyrinth of Plants and a Story of Beginnings by Myriam Gurba. Blending memoir, botany, and sharp cultural critique, Gurba invites us to reconsider California not just as a place, but as a living archive shaped by language, power, and ancestry.

Structured like a labyrinth, the book moves through stories of plants, personal history, and colonial legacies, revealing how landscapes carry memory and resistance. We explore how Gurba reclaims narrative authority, using ecology as a lens to examine identity, belonging, and survival.

Join us as we unpack how Poppy State challenges traditional storytelling and redefines what it means to root yourself in place. This isn’t just a story about plants, it’s a story about who gets to name them, who gets to belong, and how we find our way back.

In this powerful episode, Dr. Beronda Montgomery invites us to reimagine the relationship between science, history, and the living world. Drawing from her book When Trees Testify, she reveals how trees are not just part of the landscape, but witnesses to history—holding stories of resilience, survival, and resistance within Black communities.

Through a unique blend of plant biology, personal narrative, and historical reflection, this conversation traces the deep connections between Black botanical knowledge and the lived experiences of enslaved people and their descendants. From pecans to sycamores to oaks, these trees become archives of memory, revealing how plants were used for food, medicine, and liberation.

This episode challenges dominant narratives of science by centering Black ecological knowledge as both rigorous and transformative. It asks us to consider what it means to heal from land-based trauma, and how reconnecting with the natural world can be an act of remembrance and justice.

This is not just about plants—it is about history, survival, and the knowledge systems that have always sustained communities, even when they were erased.

Welcome to the Piña Soul Podcast with Dr. Jessica Hernandez.

Today’s episode features a powerful conversation with Dr. Kyle Mays, an Afro-Indigenous writer and scholar whose work explores U.S. history, urban studies, race relations, and contemporary popular culture.

Dr. Mays joins us to discuss themes from his forthcoming book, When We Are Kin: The History and Future of Afro‑Indigenous Solidarity, a timely and deeply needed examination of shared histories, resistance, and coalition-building across Afro‑Indigenous communities.

The book is set to release on May 26, and it is available for pre‑order now. This conversation invites us to rethink kinship, solidarity, and the futures we build together.

Let’s get into it.