LatinEQUIS Andrea Marquez

Hola, yo soy Andrea Marquez and this is my last episode as your host of LatinEQUIS. On today's episode Ariel and I will talk about some of the things I learned through the journey of hosting and producing LatinEQUIS and I get to say goodbye. Even though I will be moving on to other opportunities, I'm forever grateful for everything LatinEQUIS has taught me, and to you, our listeners, for being with us through every step of the journey. LatinEQUIS will always be my first love and I'm honored to have given a voice to many different stories. LatinEQUIS was a love letter to my Latinidad, a great part of who I am and who I will always will be... my superpower. I'm excited for you to meet our new host! So stay tuned... and as always... thank you for listening.

David is the CEO and Founder of NGL Collective a pioneer of new media and entertainment co-founded by John Leguizamo. NGL connects advertisers and New Generation Latinx (NGL) through video across platform in-language, in-culture, and in-context. They're also the people who bring Hispanicize to life every year, an event that brings together Latinx from all over in a large summit and celebrates our Latinidad. You might remember hearing about NGL on episodes 9 and 10 of LatinEQUIS with Joe Bernard, NGL's CRO. On today's episode David and I will talk about his journey to regaining his Spanish citizenship, how following his passion was the best thing he could have done in life, trusting vision over visibility and more.
Check out NGL Collective: https://nglcollective.com/ 
Hispanicize: https://hispanicize.com/ 

On today's episode I speak to Ashley Solis as well as filmmaker Emily Cohen Ibañez about their new documentary Fruits of Labor. As the director of the coming of age documentary, Emily chronicles the day-to-day life of Ashley, an 18-year-old high school senior in Watsonville, CA, who like other girls her age, fantasizes about her perfect prom dress, steals away with her boyfriend, and dreams of what she'll do when she graduates college. Though graduating at all for Ashley is a reach because despite the fact that she's intelligent and motivated, she's oftentimes too tired from work or busy taking care of her younger siblings to actually attend school half the time.
The film is an official selection of South by Southwest and you can watch the full-length documentary on https://www.pbs.org/pov/watch/fruitsoflabor/video-fruits-of-labor/ or on their website at fruitsoflaborfilm.com. 
Support the film and learn more on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @fruitsoflaborfilm.

Today I have the honor of speaking to Sonia Manzano known by many as Maria on Sesame Street, who she's played for 44 years. Sonia introduces Alma's Way, a new show on PBS Kids about a young 6-year-old proud, confident, Puerto Rican girl living a fast paced life in the Bronx alongside her family, friends, and neighbors. Sonia, a Puerto Rican just like Alma, has been nominated for an Emmy twice for Best Performer in a Childhood Series and has won 15 Emmys for her television writing. In 2016, Sonia was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, recognizing her as a pioneer in representation of Latinos on television and for portraying Maria.

You can watch Alma's Way now on PBS Kids. 

On this episode I speak to Yvette Bodden, Founder and Author of Awakened-Woman, a digital platform designed to inspire and invigorate females. Her writing seeks to empower and encourage women searching for personal definitions of success to build strong communities through powerful storytelling. In just two years, Awakened Woman has amassed tens of thousands of followers, thanks to a combined 500+ articles centered around celebrity profiles, relationships, love, abuse, motherhood, and Latino culture, infused with a signature blend of Yvette’s pragmatism and compassion. Yvette is also a motivational speaker, channeling her own growth experiences to empower others.

Her debut book, A Journey to Becoming the Best Self (Black Rose Writing)—part memoir and part prescriptive fiction, inspired by Yvette’s own post-divorce path from devastation to joy—was published in 2019, and received praise from The U.S. Review of Books. In 2021, she was also named one of the “Bella Bosses We Admire” by Bella Magazine.

Visit Awakened-Woman.com and read her book A Journey to Becoming the Best Self available on Amazon. 

You can also follow Yvette @womanawakened on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

On today's episode, I speak to Juan Gil a young Colombian/Ecuadorian-American film writer and director who already has a lot of projects under his belt. More recently he wrote and directed Super Ma, a short film about a struggling single mother who is caught in a moment of peril, and unleashes her inner hero to get home safely to her son. Watch the film on VIMEO here: https://vimeo.com/393176209 the PASSWORD is: totherescue. 
Juan and I will talk about the making of Super Ma, his creative process, the current landscape of the film industry, and more. Learn more about Juan on Instagram @juangilproductions