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Catch up on our Season 1 Amiga Circle episodes, click here to listen.
Velvet Hernandez-Johnson - Season 2 Episode 10
Listen to our conversation with Velvet Hernandez-Johnson, where she talks about her journey of moving to the U.S. from Guatemala to complete her education and finding purpose in helping her community, and advocating for girl power with her daughter. Velvet is also a strategic partner to Irie Love, her daughter’s initiative to provide care packages to Guatemalan children who work instead of attending school.
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Latina Equal Pay Day Discussion - Season 2 Episode 9
The economic status of women in Tennessee has made considerable advances in recent years however women of color still face inequities that often prevent them from reaching their full potential. Unfortunately, Tennessee still ranks in the worst third in the nation for both women’s Employment & Earnings and Poverty & Opportunity.
That’s why we had this conversation with three local Latinas from different industries, Arielle Garcia-Hayes, Nahomi Ortiz and Veronica Perro focused on awareness, advocacy, and structural change to build true equity for Latina women in Tennessee as we navigate inequality through the covid-19 crisis and beyond.
Let’s start by clarifying what is Latina Equal Pay Day, is the approximate day Latina’s must work into the new year to make what White non-Latino men make at the end of the previous year. Latinas nationally earn only .55 cents for every dollar earned by a white, non-Hispanic man and must work nearly 23 months to earn what white men earn in 12 months. That means it takes Latinas almost two years to earn what white men earn in one.
Many people assume that Latinas face a pay gap because they're concentrated in lower-paying roles. But even in the same job, Latinas are paid less than white men. For example, Latina nurses earn 28% less than white men nurses, on average. This hurts Latinas and their families, making Latinas, many of whom are single heads of households, at risk to experience poverty. For those listening, you can be an ally and advocate for us by talking about the many contributions we are making as a community and telling our stories.
Claudia Caballero - Season 2 Episode 8
In this episode, we talked to Claudia Caballero, the President & CEO of Centro Hispano de East Tennessee, a nonprofit that works to empower the Latino community through education, workforce development, youth, and family engagement, and resource referral services. During her five-year tenure at Centro Hispano she has increased the organization’s annual income tenfold and expanded its staff from one employee to over 30 full and part-time team members. Raised between Honduras and the United States, she is both bicultural and bilingual.
In 2021 Caballero was the first Latina to join KUB’s board. She is a member of Conexión Américas’ Mosaic Fellowship class of 2018, the 2019 class of Leadership Knoxville, and class VII of Leadership Tennessee. She is the recipient of the YWCA Emerging Leader Award, the Young Professionals of Knoxville Outstanding Young Professional Award, and was named to the 2019 Knox.biz list of 40 Under 40 and VIP Knoxville’s 2020 list of VIP Women.
Sarah Marquez Berestecky - Season 2 Episode 7
In this episode, we talked to Tejana, Sarah Marquez Berestecky a third-generation Mexican-American/Chicana who grew up navigating the borderlands of living as a light-skinned Latina in the United States. Her engagement with Be the Bridge to Racial Unity inspired her to develop Anti-Racism and Cultural Competency Training (ARCC) after relocating to Chattanooga. Her anti-racist work is closely tied to her efforts as a nationally trained community organizer. As a self-declared introvert, you can find Sarah taking a break from people watching Netflix, reading a provocative book, or blasting Mariachi music in her house.
Luis and Gisela Contreras - Season 2 Episode 6
In this episode, we talk to husband and wife entrepreneur duo Gisela and Luis Contreras, owners of The Local Juicery and Kitchen, Local Paletas, and Squeaky Clean, on how taking a leap in their relationship set the course on taking leaps in their businesses.
They share their roadmap to their success and future business goals, and the source of inspiration that they find in each other, their family, and their community in Chattanooga.
Dominique Brandt - Season 2 Episode 5
In this episode, our conversation is more relaxed and personal as we talk to Dominique Brandt, originally from Miami, FL, and relocated to Chattanooga in 2013 to work in community engagement and development.
She talks about her previous life, as she calls it, as a real estate paralegal, event planner and how she never stops looking for the next professional venture and life adventure thanks to her Dominican mom who played a huge influence in her life and taught her how to adjust to new circumstances.
Jimmy Obleda - Season 2 Episode 4
This is our first episode where we interview a Latino and not a Latina. We wanted to include the men in our lives and in our community who not only support Latinas but who were influenced by them. In this episode, we talk to the head coach of the Chattanooga Red Wolves of the USL League One Division, Jimmy Obleda, a New Yorker Uruguayan who later moved to California to pursue his soccer career and play professionally for 8 years in South America, Europe, and the United States.
Jimmy’s success speaks for itself as he also holds degrees in child development, cross-cultural development, and Kinesiology. This extensive educational background creates a unique perspective on his coaching philosophy and style.
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Silvia Ramos - Season 2 Episode 3
This episode gets real quick as we talk to Silvia Ramos an Afro-Indigenous Peruana about how we can figure out what type of changemaker we "want to be when they realize that many of us have inherited systems of inequities and in order to dismantle those systems, we have to be intentional and examine ourselves."
She utilizes her background as a transformative equity strategist professional to partner with higher education, non-profit organizations, and corporations to assist them in achieving systemic equity and inclusive excellence. Her passion quickly grew into a lifelong commitment to dismantling barriers within education that prevent underrepresented students, schools, and their communities from experiencing the full benefits of education.
Jully-Alma Taveras - Season 2 Episode 2
Jully-Alma Taveras is the founder of Investing Latina, an online community for financially powerful women. She is an award-winning money expert, writer, and YouTuber that covers topics around personal finance, investing, and entrepreneurship. She's a speaker and facilitator that has led workshops at Nasdaq, Google, other Fortune 500 companies, and startups. Her money philosophies have inspired thousands of women to live minimally & spend intentionally so that they can invest more.
We talked to Jully about her financial career journey and all things investing. Learn more about her program The Investing Workshop, where she teaches foundational investing principles and strategies to her audience. You can also text her where she invites you to "Ask Me Money Things™".
Jeannette Ceja - Season 2 Episode 1
Jeannette Ceja from Jet Set with Jeannette, is an award-winning seasoned bilingual Travel Journalist, TV Host, Travel Advisor, and Global Public Speaker. Her work and experience have taken her to over 60 countries to date. She also has interviewed countless celebrities, politicians, athletes, and travel experts on the red carpet. Jeannette's work has appeared on ABC7 Los Angeles, FOX 11 Los Angeles, Mexico Travel Channel, and countless media outlets around the world.
We talked to Jeannette about her career journey and how she continues to shed light on the lack of diversity in the Travel industry.