What is your favorite part or favorite way of being Latina?
Honoring my culture and the way that I was raised. I was raised by a single Mexican father, who was very imperfect in many ways. Still, I tell people he was an accidental feminist. He encouraged me to try whatever I wanted because that’s why he came to the United States, to give his kids a different opportunity than what he had in Mexico. So, I honor the culture, the beliefs, and the values, but I very specifically honor the values that my dad showed me, which are celebrating those who came before us and who made sacrifices and overcame hurdles, all for the purpose of benefiting the next generation.
Tell us about growing up.
Growing up was very difficult, as it is for millions of Latinos, people of color, and people in general in this country. It is still painful to talk about my past, and what bothers me the most is that things have not gotten even marginally better for many kids who are still growing up in the conditions that I grew up in. It’s those conditions that took me where I ended up, which was in the school-to-prison pipeline. My mom left my family when I was nine, and I didn’t have any resources to cope with what was happening at home. I turned to whatever was there, and that was drugs, gangs, and violence. We had more police officers than we did school counselors. Despite being in the gifted and talented program, I started acting out. I got put into the school-to-prison pipeline. It wasn’t until years later that I finally got someone who intervened, and that was my parole officer. She was the first person who treated me like a kid with problems instead of a bad kid who was a waste of a human. It didn’t happen overnight, but I realized if this one person believed in me, maybe she was right, perhaps I could do something different than what I’d seen until then. I got my GED and started community college. I was partying with college girls who told me I should go to college. At the time, I thought that’d be so much fun. I went through a lot of learning processes but what really helped me move forward was the realization that there was this entire other universe and this other life that existed and was possible for people like me. It wasn’t just on TV.
What is your superpower, and how has it helped you as a leader?
Listening. I have deep empathy for where other people are coming from and where they are in their journey. If we all listened more, we would learn more, and we could apply those things to ourselves for the purposes of growth, and we could also build empathy. And when it comes to leadership, the first thing to know is that you don’t do it yourself. It is rare for a leader to get there by themself. They get there because they have help from people, because they have reached out, or because they got lucky. What I mean by “lucky” is that you’ve taken the time to be still, listen, observe, constantly monitor the landscape, and be curious. Self-centered people can’t do those things. As a leader, you have to put other people first. I think that’s what gotten me this far. I’m genuinely interested in what other people have to say and what they have to add. And then in helping amplify that.
You have pivoted from a career in law to one in politics and now one in media. Tell us about those pivots–have they come naturally to you?
I’ve always been very aware of how short life is. I’ve always told myself if there was more bad than good for me in any situation, I would leave that situation. I also have never been defined by whatever role I was in or whatever title I happened to hold. So not being a lawyer or not being known as an assemblywoman, or not being called “the honorable” didn’t matter to me because that was never what it was about. It was always about what I’m doing and whether it fulfills me and makes me happy. If it doesn’t, then I have to leave and figure out what else is out there. At the end of the day, it can sound selfish, but I think that our purpose in life is to be happy. You have to define what happiness is for you. So, pivots have always been easy for me because my identity has never been tied to my job.
For people who have not yet come across Luz Media, how do you describe your site and I wonder if you can share a few insights, things you’ve learned (about media or about our community) while building this community?
Luz Media aims to put Latina stories and experiences front and center in mainstream media where they belong. Latina culture and lifestyle is more than the stereotypes mainstream media force feeds American audiences. To that end, Luz Media is a media platform and community where Latinas can feel seen, heard, and represented in the culturally accurate ways that they deserve.
Who is another Latina we should feature on Informada?
Karina Martinez, the co-founder of Drafted.