Listen Now

Today we are posting our latest conversation with the CEO of the Latino Community Foundation (LCF) Jaqueline Martinez Garcel. Jacqueline has led LCF through a critical stage of growth and expansion. The foundation leads one of the largest networks of Latino philanthropists in the country and it is the only statewide foundation solely focused on investing in Latino leaders. Jacqueline has published extensively on issues related to health equity, vulnerable populations, and community health workers. During her tenure, she developed, evaluated, and expanded programs to improve the health and quality of care for vulnerable populations. Jaquelin has been part of the foundation since 2015 and she is talking us today about the last period and experiences of LCF, the state of the foundation during the pandemic, the events during the last year and the activities of their giving circles. LCF was a pioneer with implementing giving circles, inspiring Latinos towards philanthropy, while helping causes of their choice. The “Giving Circles” create a safe space where people can show up as their full selves. This provides an opportunity for authentic conversations and presence from the members which creates a special, unique sazon (flavor) in each Giving Circle.  LCF gathering in Berkeley California, October [...]

Today we are showing a conversation with Maestro Jesus Cortez. He is the founder and director of the school of Dance “Cuicacali” in San Francisco, California. He started learning dance in his original hometown in Mexico under his Uncle Juan Natoli. During many years he expanded his knowledge and experience in renown national and international schools of modern and folkloric dance. He is a choreographer a teacher and an avid defender of folk arts and traditions. The word CUICACALLI means the “House of Culture” in Maya. Similar to the idea of Ateneo or Atenea in our shows. Jesus used to learn to dance as a child in his uncle’s academy also called Cuicacali. It was a house of culture where children and adults alike would learn and work together to preserve the cultural values through dance and music. Cuicacali Mariachi School Today, as expressed by its founders, “Cuicacali values its mission to serve the diverse community of San Francisco with dedication towards excellent instruction, performances and community programs, for intergenerational students, artists and audiences of all backgrounds and continues to build communities through dance – expanding, exploring and celebrating the cultural traditions of the Americas.” Cuicacali Dance School The school [...]

Interview with SFBATCO and Marcelo Javier Today we talk with Marcelo Javier from SFBATCO. SFBATCO or San Francisco Bay Area Theater Company. SFBATCO is a Black, Latine, & Asian-led non-profit organization, produces compelling theater that builds community, fosters cross-cultural dialogue, promotes social justice, and authentically reflects the experiences of communities of color and LGBTQ people. Our theatrical productions address social justice issues from an intersectional perspective and present affirmative non-stereotypical representations of individuals and communities who are feared or ostracized for their gender, race, religion, sexual preference, socioeconomic or immigration status. ITSA Dancers will be presenting “I, Too, Sing America.” for the festival. Marcelo Javier is a co-founder of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (BATCO). He was born and raised in San Francisco and has been performing, directing, and causing all sorts of theatrical chaos in the Bay Area for most of his life. Today we talk about his trajectory, the mision and vision of his theater company, and insights about his theater company in the bay area. During the last year of pandemic quarintine the company stay in contact with its public online, but they are ready to life performances with and sharing with the people of [...]

This week we had a conversation with Marisol Bohorquez Godoy. She is the founder of “Vuela Palabra.com, a literary magazine that specializes in poetry in Spanish, English, and Italian.  Marisol Bohorquez Godoy was born in Santa Maria, Huila, Colombia. She is a Poet, a write, a painter, and an industrial Engineer.  She is a published author, with collections of her work in 7 languages. Her books have been also published in Italian. Her books are “La soledad de los Espejos (2016)”,-”Efecto mariposa (2017)”, Antiparticulos-Antiparticelle (2019) and in co-authorship with Gianni Darconza, “The form of the void.(2019).” Marisol was the winner of the “Fiori di luce” contest (2020) in the category of foreign poetry and Finalist awarded with equal merits (1st, 2nd, and 3rd places) of the “Europa In Versi” International Literature Prize (2020), with her work “The form of the void.” VuelaPalabra.com is an online literary magazine specialized in poetry and has works from all over the world in 3 languages. to celebrate their first anniversary they have launched an international call for poetry writers. The main objective for this event is for the magazine to donate, for the first time, their work as translators in favor of three poets [...]

This week we have a fun conversation with Maestro Hector Armienta and Soprano Violeta Cecilia Lopez about a new Opera that tell the stories of local farmers during the pandemia. “Mi Camino” was created by composer Héctor Armienta this year. gives voice to farmworkers in the greater Bay Area. Through song and multimedia, “Mi Camino” portrays real stories shared by these important yet often forgotten members of our community, focusing on the impact of COVID-19. It is performed by nationally acclaimed soprano Cecilia Violetta López, joined by outstanding Bay Area singers Deborah Rosengaus, mezzo-soprano, and Emmanuel Mercado, tenor. Mi Camino Trailer – Farmworkers in the Pandemic Héctor Armienta is an acclaimed composer who focuses on creating work that explores the Mexican and Mexican-American cultural experience. As an opera and theater composer, he draws on stories and music that represent his bicultural roots. He interviewed migrant farmworkers, and local farmers in the greater Monterey and San Francisco Bay Area and learned from their experiences during the COVID 19 pandemic. He learned from their experiences and told his stories with Opera. Soprano Cecilia Violeta Lopez is an opera singer of Mexican descent, originally from Idaho. She has been a long-time friend of [...]

Nancy Marmolejo Today we will be talking with Nancy Marmolejo. She is an Executive Coach who teaches entrepreneurs and leaders how to access their Deep Genius, that one-of-a-kind combination of innate strengths, life experiences and expertise that only you bring to the table.  She’s received several awards for her role as a Latina entrepreneur and has appeared on Univision, Latina Magazine, Hispanic Business, Smart Money and starting today Atenea Americana.  Originally had no plans to write a book on grief, yet after experiencing the deaths of three loved ones in a four-year period, Nancy saw how so many people struggled with offering condolences, especially on social media. A former teacher, she decided to create a guide to help people compose heartfelt messages that convey empathy. Her book, Don’t Say That, Say This: Navigating Grief and Loss in the World of Social Media, has been used in college courses, nursing programs, churches, reading groups as well as by everyday people looking for the right words to say. It’s currently available on Amazon as a Kindle or paperback.  Why grief on social media? Do you ever wonder what’s the best way to respond to someone who posts about an illness, death, or [...]

Dr. Angelica Perez-Litwing Today, we are sharing a conversation with Dr. Angelica Perez-Litwin.  She is a a licensed Clinical Psychologist with over 20 years of experience in private practice and research work. She has a B.S. in Psychology, from Columbia University, a M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Fordham University, a M.B.A., Entrepreneurship and Innovation from Clemson University,  and is an Alumna from Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education Program. Dr, Perez-Litwin had been before in our show, as the founder of “Latinas Think Big,” a global community designed to help and support careers and venture projects of this community. It is a big group of talented women who meet for events, network throughout a social network and online platforms. She has been feature in magazines before as one of the most influential latinas, and has been instrumental the future of many latin women around the world with her network. Dr. Perez-Litwin is currently staring a new style of mental health platform, with clinical practitioners and specialist in mental health to help the well being of a bigger audience online and in person. This modern therapy practice can reach many online, with its site http://LuminCenter.com. Today we are talking about mental health during pandemic, the challenges the population [...]

Luis Fernandez, director of CINCIA For this show, we had at the station CINCIA’s director Luis E. Fernandez. He is the Executive Director of the Amazon Scientific Innovation Center and Assistant Professor of Research (CINCIA), Department of Biology, Wake Forest University. Fernandez is a tropical ecologist and an expert in the dynamics and impact of environmental mercury in the areas of artisanal mining. During the last 12 years, he has carried out several research studies on the effects of mercury pollution in Peru and Brazil and consulted with governments of Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Colombia. Previously, he has held positions at the Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford University, the Argonne National Laboratory of the United States Department of Energy, the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) in Washington DC and Dallas, Texas. The presence of mercury in the Amazon region has been studied since the 1980s– mainly in Brazil– due to the exploitation of gold. In Madre de Dios, gold mining has been growing rapidly since 2000; however, there are very few studies that systematically assess the presence of mercurcy and its risk to the region and its inhabitants. Therefore, the impact assessment of mercury pollution in the region has several limitations. In this episode, we will be [...]

This month, representatives from different tribes, ethnicities, and countries of the Amazonian rainforest and other rainforests of South America will meet at Stanford University. They will be brought by efforts from different organizations inside and outside Stanford. Dr. Jose Fragoso, from the California Academy of Sciences They will be talking about way to save the rainforest and their land rights. They will talk about the state of their homes and their tribes, and exchange knowledge with researchers, academics, and other institutions. To talk about this our guest is Dr. Jose Fragoso. He is a researcher at the California Academy of sciences, and also a professor at Stanford university. Dr. Fragoso has been with us in the show before and will be back soon. He spends many months a year researching new species in the Brazilian Amazon and studying ways to preserve its environment. He also has great experience sharing ideas and learning about different Native Tribes of the south American Rainforest. Listen to our show to learn more about their plans, their programs, their achievements and their history. Remember to leave a comment and to follow us on social media.  We hope to inspire and inform. We wish you can give us feedback, [...]

Natassia Rodriguez, Research Analyst The growth in the number of Latino-owned firms in the United States is outpacing growth in number among other firms in the nation. In fact, the five-year average growth rate in the number of Latino firms has remained at double or triple that of the national average for the past fifteen years. All this growth presents a great opportunity to expand the U.S. economy, and data shows the importance of Latino new businesses in the whole economy. Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative has been doing research about the state of Latino entrepreneurship and small businesses for the last two years. Their latest research surveyed a national sample of over 4,900 Latino-owned businesses. To talk about SLEI’s research and about its presentation this year at the Oberndorf Event Center at Stanford, we invited Tiq Chapa, Program Manager, and Natassia Rodriguez Ott,  Research Analyst from Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI). Tiq Chapa, Program Manager Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative is part of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Graduate School of Bussines at Stanford University. Listen to our show to learn more about their plans, their programs, their achievements and their history. Remember to leave a comment and to follow us on social media.  We hope [...]

Founder and Executive Director Maria Celier Today show is a conversation with María Célérier, founder and Executive Director of the foundation “Kids Vission”. They main mission is to engage girls into STEM education. They started with the vision that that girls in Silicon Valley need to know how STEAM is applied in real life, and suggested offering girls in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades an after school program that would show them how some of the most innovative companies in the Valley apply STEAM. This program could is primarily funded by several high-tech companies and hosts inside their headquarters, where employees from different companies volunteer as mentors and role models for leadership skills and STEAM-related careers. Celier earned a Master of Business Administration at HEC-Paris and a Bachelor of International Relations at the Universidad de las Americas-Puebla. Her job experience in the Bay Area has been focused on helping children, youth and adults to improve their lives through education–at Renaissance helping adults to start their own businesses, at JobTrain helping youth to graduate from high school and to find jobs, and at Kids’ Vision empowering girls to learn STEM. The girl in the left of the image represents a girl who has been in the program. [...]

Today we are talking with Ramon and Becky Sandoval from “Vino with Amigos” events and “Vino Latino”. They have a company that helps promote a variety of wines from Napa and Sonoma Valley, making emphasis in the contributions that Latinos made on the production of this wines, while spreading their knowledge of wine introductions and oenophila. Wine has been an important part in history of humans. Long time ago people used to ferment plants to drink mostly because their water were not safe to drink, but with that first intent a whole culture of wines and foods was created, intertwineing tradicions and history. Many poets had written about wine and the world around it. Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges on his Sonnet to Wine said: In what kingdom, in what century, under what silent conjunction of the stars, on what secret day that stone has not preserved, emerged the valiant and singular idea of inventing mirth and play ? With autumns of gold it was created. Wine flows red along with the generations and on the ardous road like the river of time pours on us its music, its fire and its lions. On the night of joy or on [...]