El Progreso

In this episode of the El Progreso podcast, we discuss the latest news from the US-Mexico border. With undocumented people applying for asylum and crossing the border at record rates, we talk to immigration experts about what the Biden administration has done to move away from the Trump policies and how it has also upheld some of the same harmful laws, including Title 42. 

Our guests include Dulce Garcia, the Director of Border Angels, an immigration advocacy organization that among its many efforts, places large water jugs in the desert for people crossing the border. We'll get a sense of how that organization and others like it reach out to immigrants in the US, including day laborers, and help them with basic needs, especially during COVID. 

We'll also speak with Latinx people working inside tech companies about how they feel about tools they build being used to apprehend immigrants. And we end the show with a conversation with a San Francisco-based band, Soltrón, whose songs describe the city's political battlefields of gentrification and the immigrant experience.

In the second part of the latest episode of the El Progreso podcast (formerly Techqueria), reporter Jose Fermoso continues to speak to Latinx people in tech about how they've handled the last year of the pandemic.

Featuring the following guests:

• Alexia Núñez, a trans Grubhub software engineer who worried about her parents and her own mental and physical health in the middle of a rise of hate crimes across the U.S.
• Clara Yolks, a Peruvian pop star who released several songs during the pandemic, including the hit "Millennial," about connecting with people from her generation beyond social media constraints.
• Camilo Payet, a software developer from Florida whose wife lost a parent during the pandemic.
• Miguel Gomez, a financial advisor who took the extra time available at home to connect with his children.

We also explain why we changed the name of the podcast!

In this week's episode of the newly renamed El Progreso podcast (formerly Techqueria), reporter Jose Fermoso speaks to a series of Latinx people in the tech industry about how the last full year of dealing with the pandemic under quarantine has affected their and their loved one's lives.

In part 1, Jose speaks to two young mothers who've had to rearrange the focus of their businesses, their work processes, and even where they live.

First, Cecilia Corral, the co-founder and VP of Product at CareMessage explains how she, while pregnant, had to pivot their financial model to a free version so needy health clinics could help their clients connect to key medical, food distribution, rental assistance, and financial support. She also moved to Austin, Texas, with her husband while dealing with the immense loss of family members to the coronavirus.

Second, Jeanette Corona, a long-time tech product manager, tells us how she moved her mom into the home she shares with her partner and their new child. She also changed jobs in the middle of the pandemic, managed to support her mom's restaurant business, and, yes, directed her full, incredible wedding over Zoom.

Part II will follow this episode, which features Alexia Núñez, a Grubhub software engineer, and Peru pop star Clara Yolks, who has written and performed some of the catchiest songs in Latin America in the last few years.

By the way, we'll explain the change to our new name in part II!

In this episode of the Techqueria podcast, Jose Fermoso talks to lawyers and academics about the United States Census, one of the most important civic events in the country. As we prepare to learn about the full results of the 2020 Census, we find out how and why the actions of the Trump administration likely severely and negatively affected the accuracy of the count, especially in Latinx communities, including how congressional apportionments may suffer.

Our guests include:

• Dale Ho, the national Director of Civil Rights at the ACLU and lead counsel in the recent U.S. Supreme Court case New York v. Trump.
• Jose Perez, the chief legal officer of LatinoJustice, one of the non-profits that submitted an amicus brief on behalf of Latinx communities in the above case.
• Natalia Molina, a USC history professor, and 2020 MacArthur Foundation Fellow.
• Onesimo "Ness" Sandoval, a St. Louis University Demographics and Computational Spatial science professor.
• Lara Manzanares, a former enumerator who wrote a fun song about the importance of taking the census.

Produced by Jose Fermoso and Neil Godbole.

In this week's episode of the Techqueria podcast, our host Jose Fermoso speaks to Matthew Zayas, a young father who has spent a lot of his adult life reconciling with the racism he experienced as an Afro Latino child in New York's Staten Island. From fights in the back of the school bus in his teens to his work in psychology with new businesses, Matthew opens up about his fears for the first time and looks forward to the future.

Featuring analysis and conversations with the following Afro Latinx experts:

• Kia-Fiara Melendez, a Founding Social Worker at New York City's School on the Square
• Dr. Adolfo Cuevas, the Director of the Psychosocial Determinants of Health (PSDH) Lab at Tufts University
• Prof. Jill Richardson, the Associate Professor of English at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and The CUNY Graduate Center and author of The Afro-Latin@ Experience in Contemporary American Literature and Culture: Engaging Blackness

Don't forget to rate and review us on the podcast platform of your choice.

Thank you for listening.

Produced by Neil Godbole and Jose Fermoso, with editing help from Ami Icanberry.

In this mega-episode of the Techqueria podcast, our host Jose Fermoso speaks to experts on the Latinx vote, tech workers volunteering for political campaigns, a reporter digging deep into the gig industry and how it might affect the future of jobs, as well as the Latina U.S. representative who followed her friend Beto O’Rourke into Congress.

The order of guests:

Dean Lisa Garcia Bedolla, the Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and the Dean of the Graduate division at UC Berkeley, on the biggest Latinx voting trends nationwide.

Rep. Veronica Escobar, from El Paso, TX, on education, Latinx history, and a potential blue Texas vote.

Lauren Hepler, CalMatters reporter, on CA’s Prop. 22 battle and how it might affect labor in tech.

Nicole Rivera, a political campaign veteran, on why this election is more important for environmental reform than any other.

Paul McLachlan, a Mexican-American engineer, on the importance of volunteering.

Rodrigo Dominguez Villegas, UCLA’s director of research at the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative, on economic opportunity, community health, and democracy under a new Biden Presidency or a second Trump one.

UnLearn the World, one the Bay Area’s hottest rappers, talks about the importance of connecting to the social protest language.

In the second episode of the Techqueria podcast, Jose Fermoso speaks to two software engineers still new to the profession. First, Jose speaks to Gabriel Lujan, a Bay Area native who worked on the electronic media side of tech as an A/V pro until his interest in programming led him to the San Francisco bootcamp App Academy to boost his skills. Then Jose talks to Steffany Bahamon, a Miami techie who was the first person in her family to go to a U.S. college and works for a bank hoping to help Latinx avoid disastrous financial decisions like those made by people she knew in the run up to the 2008 global financial crisis. 

Host: Jose Fermoso

Producer: Neil Godbole

In Part II of the first episode of Techqueria, reporter Jose Fermoso continues his conversations with Latinx people dealing with the pandemic.

Dr. Nyah Zarate, a green power tech standout with multiple U.S. Department of Defense awards, explains how her workers are staying positive, how getting into the Purdue Ph.D. program changed her life, and why thinking long-term about the current political landscape is vitally important.

And emerging cumbia star Ivan Montemayor, known as Mister Cumbia, describes his humble origins before he reached the top of the charts earlier this summer with his catchy earworm of a song, the "Cumbia de Coronavirus." 

Host: Jose Fermoso

Producer: Neil Godbole

In the first episode of Techqueria, reporter Jose Fermoso speaks to three people who find themselves in widely different circumstances as they face the coronavirus pandemic.

In part 1, Jose speaks to Dr. Luis Rubio, a graduate of the top medical school in the United States, The University of California at San Francisco. Dr. Rubio finds himself in the war zone of the hospital with the city’s biggest COVID-19-infected Latinx population.

This episode will be followed by Part II, which features Dr. Nyah Zarate, the CEO of Continuous Solutions, and emerging cumbia star Ivan Montemayor, known as Mister Cumbia.

Host: Jose Fermoso

Producer: Neil Godbole

The Techqueria podcast is coming soon! In this trailer, tech and culture reporter Jose Fermoso introduces the types of stories featured on the show. Look for conversations and news context on socioeconomic displacement, immigration policies and multigenerational tech and business startups, as well as the latest on the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the Latinx community. Get ready!