latin american

In season 4, episode 4 of Developing Global Citizens we discuss the connection between food and culture in teaching the Humanities. And several SF students and faculty talk about their personal experiences with some of the foods highlighted in the Florida Heritage Foods Initiative, www.floridaheritagefoods.com. 

The Florida Heritage Foods Initiative at Santa Fe College aims to stimulate the heritage food economy in Florida farmers' markets in partnership with Florida Organic Growers and Consumers, by providing public education about heritage foods for consumers and providing farmers' markets with tools to reach culturally diverse communities already purchasing heritage food.

Funding for the Florida Heritage Foods Initiative: Connecting Local Food with Local Culture in Florida Farmers Markets was made possible by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service through grant Agreement Number 21FMPPFL1026-00. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USDA.

Sometimes one decision can completely change the trajectory of your life! That’s what happened to Natalia Cardona Puerta when she decided to follow her dreams of being an illustrator and uproot her life in Colombia.

In this episode, I chat with Colombian illustrator Natalia Cardona Puerta who creates colorful and playful illustrations inspired by her ‘90s upbringing, her love for the outdoors, and her innermost feelings.

Natalia “never in a million years” expected to leave Colombia, but after graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design she took a break and realized she wanted to reconnect with her creative voice. Eventually, her mom encouraged her to pursue a Master’s degree and it all happened very quickly from there. One thing lead to the next and she was on a one-way flight to Georgia to pursue a Master’s degree in Illustration at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Nowadays, Natalia is going through the permanent residency process here in the U.S. to be able to live and work here long term. The legal process has been slow and frustrating. She feels it slowed down her post-grad momentum but she is taking this time to ”plant a lot of seeds” that are sure to blossom in the future.

Tune into this episode to hear Natalia and I talk about growing up in Bogota, why she decided to immigrate to the U.S., and how she developed her illustration style after graduating.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

EPISODE LINKS:

Listener Survey: Take the survey to help me improve Season 2!

Guest Links: Check out Natalia’s Instagram and Portfolio.

Host Links: Check out Fabiola Lara on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

Topics Covered:

1. Living a sheltered life in turbulent Bogota in the early 90s
2. Rejecting a fine art career path for an undergraduate degree in Industrial Design
3. Pursuing a Master’s in Illustration at SCAD after learning about the program a few week prior
4. The difficulties of being an artist in the US pursuing a Permanent Resident Card (greencard)
5. The impacts of not being able to work in the US as an artist
6. The pros and cons of receiving an art school education
7. Her current creative routine after graduating
8. Finding a better work-life balance after graduation
9. Developing her personal illustration style and tailoring her portfolio
10. The feeling of languishing during slow creative seasons
11. Working with an illustration agent for editorial and publishing projects
12. Completing a large-scale mural for a dream client
13. Working with The Washington Post on an editorial illustration

If you feel that running an online shop isn’t a solid long-term plan, today’s guest is about to blow your mind! In this episode, I chat with Cuban-American illustrator Danny Brito, who has run a successful and sustainable online shop for over a decade.

Danny originally went to college for Graphic Design, but eventually dropped out to pursue illustration independently after “the universe told” him he wasn’t good at academics. Once he realized you could sell prints of your illustrations instead of only originals, he opened an Etsy store and has kept it running ever since.

After 38,000 online sales, Danny has learned to design products as he goes, as opposed to developing entire collections, in order to get a sense of how his customers receive the new merch. With this method, he’s been able to create a variety of products that make his online shop more sustainable in the long term.

Tune into this episode to hear Danny and I chat about his experience as an alt-Cuban in Miami, the intricacies of Cuban politics, how he’s made his online shop sustainable, and exactly how he feels about online art theft.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Guest Links: Danny’s online shop, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok

Host Links: Follow Fabiola on Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok

Free Download: Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

Topics Covered:

1. Growing up in Hialeah aka “Little Cuba”
2. How his family immigrated from Cuba
3. Facing culture shock when you leave Miami
4. Trying to fit in with American “white” culture
5. Reconnecting with his Cuban roots with his Cuban boyfriend
6. His experience of losing his connection to the Spanish language
7. Avoiding racism by staying in the Miami bubble
8. The politics of Cubans in Miami
9. Why he chose to drop out of Graphic Design school
10. How he started his merch career with custom painted tote bags for clients from Livejournal
11. How he started an Etsy shop in a different era (2009)
12. Fundraising with sticker sales and matching donations for charities
13. Dealing with artistic theft
14. Whether he thinks art theft is ultimately preventable in an online era
15. Struggling with imposter syndrome as an artist
16. How finding community can help you cope with imposter syndrome
17. Rolling with the punches when it comes to the ever-changing social media trends

Did you ever feel like you didn’t fit in with the Latinx kids at your school? This week’s guest experienced just that after moving from Tijuana to San Diego for her Sophomore year of high school.

In this episode, I chat with Mexican illustrator and designer Itzel Islas who’s worked with brands like Nickelodeon, GoFundMe, and for her own brand @YAYITZEL.

Itzel never wanted to leave Tijuana, but now she’s so thankful her parents made that decision when she was just in high school. She had a hard time adjusting to American life to the point where even the automatic sprinklers made her mad, but now she can’t imagine her life being any other way. Thankfully, since they moved right over the border to San Diego, she’s always managed to feel very connected to her Mexican heritage and grew up constantly going back and forth across the border.

Nowadays, Itzel is a self-employed graphic designer and illustrator who creates amazing bilingual products inspired by her Mexican culture. Despite originally having doubts about creating products in two languages — and sometimes even in Spanglish — now she recognizes it’s the best decision she could’ve made.

Tune into this episode to hear Itzel and I talk all about her artsy emo days in high school, how her mom helped her discover the field of Graphic Design, and how she decided to create bilingual products to stay true to herself.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Guest Links: Itzel’s online shop, portfolio, Instagram, and TikTok!

Host Links: Follow Fabiola Lara on Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube!

Free Download: Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

Topics Covered:

• How Itzel’s family decided to move to the United States to help her and her siblings pursue a college education
• Finding her high school clique as an Artsy Mexican girl from Tijuana
• The diversity of people within Latin America
• How her parents didn’t want her to pursue being a Makeup Artist
• How her mom lead her to Graphic Design
• Paying for and attending college, and whether she recommends it now
• Deciding to go freelance from a full-time, in-house job
• The stress and anxiety she developed from working in a toxic workplace
• Balancing work and personal life as a freelance graphic designer
• How she launched her online shop YAYITZEL
• Her experience creating bilingual products
• Going viral and her advice for artists on TikTok
• Launching a Patreon to create stable income after leaving her in-house gig
• Her dream commissions under YAYITZEL

This week’s guest grew up drawing book covers and joining competitive reading bowls just for fun! In this episode, I chat with Afro-Colombian cartoonist and illustrator Arantza Peña Popo who’s created comics for publications such as The New Yorker, title slides for Cartoon Network, and editorial illustrations for Refinery29. Arantza and I talk about how people question her existence as an Afro-Colombiana, the persistent conflict between her American and Colombian culture, and how she found her passion for autobiographical comics.

Arantza immigrated from Colombia with her mother as a refugee and landed in Clarkston, Georgia before moving to Stone Mountain, Georgia. Arantza grew up in a diverse community but struggled with the isolation of her identity as an Afro-Latina. These days, she is reconnecting with her Colombian culture through Salsa music, even if that means her mom is technically “winning.”

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

• One for the money by Janet Evanovich
• Smile by Raina Telgemeier
• Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol
• This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki
• Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

Other Links:

• Junior High by Faye Orlove
• Oblivion by Grimes
• Tiny Splendor Risograph Printing

Guest Info

• Check out Arantza'’s Instagram  and Portfolio!

Host info:

• Instagram
• Youtube
• TikTok

Special Offer

• Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

Topics Covered:

1. How her family immigrated to the US from Colombia
2. Growing up in an immigrant and refugee community
3. Growing up bookish and drawing book covers for fun
4. Participating in the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl
5. How people question her existence as an Afro-Colombiana
6. The struggle to identify with the larger Latinx community
7. The strife between her American and Colombian culture
8. How she got into making comics after being introduced to more complex comics
9. Her recent solo show “The World is Looking For You” at Junior High LA
10. How Risograph printing translates the digital into analog
11. Feeling conflicted about fine art and comics culture
12. How she let go of the “elite academic white gaze” for her work
13. Navigating oversharing in her own autobiographical comics
14. Winning the Doodle for Google competition in 2019

This week’s guest believes making money from art isn’t harder than any other career. In this episode, I chat with Cuban-Bahamian artist and author Reyna Noriega who’s worked with clients such as Apple, Old Navy, and The New Yorker. Reyna and I talk about the complexities of being Afro-Latina, why NFTs are dumb, and why she ultimately decided to leave teaching art to focus on being an artist.

Reyna initially tried to tread cautiously into freelancing by taking a creative director role at a startup, but quickly realized it wasn’t for her — so she jumped into freelancing earlier than expected. After just a few months, she was able to stabilize her income and move out of her parents’ house as a full-time artist. Now, she creates illustrations for brands, runs an online shop with the help of her mom, and writes her poems as a form of self-reflection.

In this episode, Reyna shares her journey to becoming a full-time artist, the growing pains of running an online shop, and how she’s now working on creating a legacy for herself and her family.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Topics Covered:

1. Her passion and love for her hometown of Miami
2. Gentrification and the rising cost of housing in Miami
3. The struggles of being Afro-Latina
4. Why she prefers the word Latinx
5. Impulsively pursuing Psychology at FIU
6. The reality of being a teacher in the public school system
7. Why she ultimately left teaching for a creative career
8. How she decided to take the leap to freelancing
9. Why she loves being an independent and freelance artist
10. The growing pains of running an online shop
11. Creating art beyond social media in order to create a legacy for herself
12. Why NFTs aren’t real and are cash grabs for artists
13. The process of writing her collection of poems, “In My Cocoon”
14. Her experience self-publishing projects
15. Her upcoming projects in 2021
16. Her amazing Reel

Guest Info

Check out Reyna’s Instagram, Portfolio, and Shop!

Special Offer

Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

Follow Host Fabiola Lara between episodes:

• Instagram
• Youtube
• TikTok

This week’s guest describes herself as “100% Mexican and 100% American.” In this episode, I chat with Mexican-American Graphic Designer and Illustrator Marisol Ortega. Marisol and I discuss everything from the trauma of being first generation American, to getting a full scholarship to art school, to landing an in-house role at Amazon. Aside from her Mexican background and culture, we also get into how she found her way to design and illustration.

Marisol discovered her passion for art and design after living as a foreign exchange student in Italy for a year during high school. This experience shifted her entire perspective and opened her eyes to art as a career. Once arriving back in the States, she took this momentum and channeled it into finding scholarships to fund her dream of going to art school. With dedication, Marisol was awarded a Gates Millennium Scholarship and received a full ride for her art education.

In this inspiring episode, Marisol shares her perspective on freelancing and motherhood, how she’s putting a stop to generational trauma, and how she found her passion for design through a foreign exchange program.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Topics Covered:

• Marisol’s experience being a first-generation Mexican-American
• Motherhood and breaking generational trauma
• The trade-offs between being an in-house designer and a freelance designer
• How she found her passion for design through a foreign exchange program in Italy
• Being the first in her family to attend college
• Becoming a Gates Millennium Scholar and getting a full-ride scholarship to the Art Institute of Seattle
• The struggles of being one of two minority students in art school
• The intricacies of being a white Mexican and not feeling Mexican enough
• Dealing with backlash in the workplace for speaking on politics as a Latina
• Being the token Latina in the office
• How she landed her graphic design role at Starbucks
• Why Marisol has a passion for packaging design
• Her process for collaborating with a brand designer
• Her process for creating powerful color palettes
• The difference between illustration and design
• How to think more broadly about the application of illustrations
• Why she was compelled to work with Linocuts and incorporate it into her design practice

Guest Info

Check out Marisols’s Instagram, Portfolio, and Shop!

Special Offer

Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

Follow Host Fabiola Lara between episodes:

• Instagram
• Youtube
• TikTok

This week’s guest found her way to illustration after resisting a creative career for a few years. Ree is a Seattle-based Venezuelan independent character designer and illustrator. She’s built a career off of her unique character style and perspective and continues to share it with the world through Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

Ree found herself in a severe creative block for the past few years, but is now finally on the other side after relocating to Seattle and adjusting her work/life balance. Now she prioritizes self-care instead of overworking herself in order to prevent creative burnout.

In this episode, we go over how Ree revitalized her creative practice, how she developed her artistic style, and her tips for prioritizing self-care.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Topics Covered:

1. The pros and cons of living in Miami
2. Exploring different career paths
3. Launching her online shop
4. Balancing content creation with artwork
5. Prioritizing self-preservation over content creation
6. Struggling with depression and anxiety as an artist
7. Working through art block by prioritizing her own needs
8. Knowing when it’s time to take a break instead of burning out
9. Discovering her unique artistic style
10. Ree’s creative routine
11. Advice for finding your own style and illustration world
12. Rusalochka - The Little Mermaid, USSR, 1976
13. Evolving with your work online
14. Being embarrassed by your own artistic evolution
15. Her marker collaboration with ArtXX
16. How TikTok is the new place to be

Guest Info

Check out Ree’s Instagram, TikTok, YouTube channel, and Portfolio.

Special Offer

Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

Follow Host Fabiola Lara between episodes:

• Instagram
• Youtube
• TikTok

This week’s guest originally went to school for Behavioral Psychology before finding her way to graphic design. Lila Miller Espinosa is a Brooklyn-based Mexican graphic designer and illustrator who currently works as the Digital Design Manager at Parkwood Entertainment — aka Beyoncé — while running her Spanish-language newsletter Bonita Semana.

After years of being a working psychologist, Lila spontaneously decided to follow her then-boyfriend to the US after finding out she qualified for U.S. citizenship through ancestry. With a U.S. passport in hand, Lila moved to NYC with only $1,000 to her name.

After 3 months of job-searching, she landed a job as an Office Manager at TimeHop. From there, she made major moves to end up as the Digital Design Manager at Parkwood Entertainment.

In this episode, we go over how Lila seized opportunities to become a brand designer, how she launched Bonita Semana, her tips for breaking into the design world, and whether or not she’s met Queen Bey herself.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Guest Info

Check out Lila’s Instagram, Portfolio, and Subscribe to Bonita Semana.

Special Offer

Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

Follow Host Fabiola Lara between episodes:

• Instagram
• Youtube
• TikTok

Topics Covered:

1. Resisting creativity by choosing a practical career path
2. Working full-time as a psychologist after graduating with a Behavioral Psychologist degree
3. Breaking into design through UX/UI Design
4. Moving to the US with $1,000 dollars to her name
5. Experiencing culture shock moving from Monterrey to New York City
6. Struggling with Imposter Syndrome since she doesn’t have a formal design background
7. Launching her Spanish-language newsletter Bonita Semana
8. Landing her role at Parkwood Entertainment as the Digital Design Manager
9. Working on IVY PARK with the Adidas Team
10. If she’s met Beyonce herself
11. Her favorite Latinx designers
12. Advice for people trying to break into the graphic design industry
13. Having no shame around self-promotion
14. Disputing negative Mexican stereotypes

Pepita Sandwich grew up feeling like she couldn’t be an artist because her work wasn’t realistic enough. Josefina — who goes by her nickname Pepita Sandwich — is a Brooklyn-based illustrator and cartoonist who loves to capture “crappy magic” and nostalgic emotions with her creative work.

She was raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina and grew up visiting art museums and eating endless amounts of ice cream at her grandfather’s ice cream shop. Pepita pursued a degree in Fashion Design from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, but after graduation, she quickly followed her passion for illustration and comics.

Once she published Survival Diaries in 2016, she made her way to the US to pursue an MFA in cartooning at The Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. While studying for her MFA, she wrote and published her second book, Women Move Mountains, with Penguin Random House. She’s gone on to work with clients such as The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and Adidas.

In this episode, we go over how she discovered cartooning and illustration, why she decided to move to the US, the pressure that comes with sharing your work on social media, and why she just loves to cry.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Topics Covered:

• Growing up in Buenos Aires with an Art Historian mother and Engineer Father
• Frequenting Art Museums in her childhood and how it impacted her work
• Feeling the pressure of being a “Fine Artist”
• Graduating with a Fashion Design degree from Universidad de Buenos Aires
• How to explain a creative career to your parents and family
• The pros and cons of the rise of social media
• Dealing with social media comparison and toxicity
• Pursuing an MFA in Comics at The Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont
• Publishing Women Move Mountains in 2019 and Survival Diaries in 2016
• Experiencing culture shock from moving from Buenos Aires to Vermont
• The origin story of the name Pepita Sandwich
• Making bilingual comics in order to expand her audience and reach the US market
• Developing a book on crying and the associated taboos of crying
• Launching her new class about having a visual diary to capture a feeling

Guest Info

Check out Pepita’s Instagram, Patreon, and new visual diary course on Domestika.

Special Offer

Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

Follow Host Fabiola Lara between episodes:

• Instagram
• Youtube
• TikTok

Leaving a stable desk job always feels risky, but this week’s artist — Jackie Rivera — took the leap and never looked back! She is a Seattle-based artist who creates colorful and very graphic pieces mixing illustration, animation, and lettering.

Jackie knew it was time to leave her admin job when she received an inquiry for a freelance project with a budget in the 5-figures, and even though she didn’t land the gig, she saw it as a sign to believe in herself. Just six months later she’s already taking on freelance projects with dream clients and pursuing the creative career she’s always wanted.

Beyond her career trajectory, we also get into the ins and outs of growing up Mexican in Northern California, cleaning your classmates’ homes with your mom, and dealing with the guilt that comes with being a first-gen college student.

Be sure to tune in to this episode for a few words of encouragement for artists who find themselves between a soul-sucking admin job and their dream creative career.

In this episode, we talk all about how Jackie found graphic design, how she gets inspired to create new work, and how she expanded her identity beyond her artistic output.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Topics Covered:

• Connecting with your culture through Mexican food
• Unpacking Mexican Misconceptions
• Validating your immigrant parents’ struggles
• Drawing Spongebob, Bratz Dolls, My Scene Dolls, and Zentaggle
• Breaking the starving artist stereotype
• Cleaning houses for your rich classmates
• Discovering graphic design at a career fair
• Being inspired by the Mexican designers before her such as Marisol Ortega
• Working at a soul-sucking job for a stable income
• Struggling with feeling like “an artist”
• Believing in your artistic value
• Advice for artists who feel like giving up
• Creating for Instagram in order to attract clients
• Working with Adobe on animated lettering posts
• Getting started with tactile lettering
• Being comfortable with being bad at something

Guest Info

Check out Jackie Rivera’s Instagram and Portfolio.

Special Offer

Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

Follow Host Fabiola Lara between episodes:

• Instagram
• Youtube
• TikTok

This week’s artist went from buying second-hand Vogue magazines to illustrating Vogue covers! Niege Borges is a Brooklyn-based, Brazilian-born illustrator and graphic designer who creates vivid, bold, and movement-driven illustrations of figures and faces.

She kicked off her creative career studying graphic design, but an ad agency internship revealed her knack for illustration. Niege eventually made the leap to freelance illustration after exploring her style and sharing it with the world through Instagram. She took a leap of faith and went to visit New York City for 3 months — which quickly turned to 5 months — eventually deciding to make New York home.

In this episode, we discuss the details of Niege's creative process including how she starts her illustrations, her favorite illustration tools, and how she discovered to her style. Niege also shares a few words of wisdom for artists who are still finding their voice and identifying the type of clients they want to work for.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Topics Covered:

1. Brazilian influences in her artwork
2. The over-sexualization of Brazilian women
3. Working with Vogue Brazil
4. Getting a U.S. Artist Visa
5. Niege’s TikTok Campaign for Latinx Heritage Month
6. Using Illustrator for Sketching
7. Finding Your Own Illustration Style
8. Working with Photo References

Guest Info

Check out Niege’s work on her website.

Special Offer

Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

Follow Host Fabiola Lara between episodes:

• Instagram
• Youtube
• TikTok

On this episode, I have a very vulnerable conversation with 21-yr-old Mexican illustrator and YouTuber Paloma Cordova. We get real about how broken the US immigration system is, the intricacies of race and Latinx identity, and how she broke into the illustration world through YouTube.

In the first half of this episode, we discuss how Paloma’s Mexican heritage impacts her work and she gets honest with me about the struggles of immigrating to the US. Paloma reveals that she’s an undocumented DREAMer in the US, how that impacts her life here and her relationship with her Mexican roots. We also bond over the intricacies of racial identity as light-skinned Latinx women and how it can be difficult to navigate racial terms while staying true to ourselves, our experience, and our culture.

In terms of her creative career, Paloma got her start in illustration by following her love for cute stationary and stickers. Her father (adorably) gifted her a Cricut machine as a way lifting her out from a depressive season, and she seized the opportunity by launching her online sticker shop in mid 2019. Once sticker sales started picking up in 2020, she realized — alongside her parents — that she could pursue art as a career.

Now, Paloma is studying Art History all while balancing a thriving YouTube channel, Patreon, and merch store. Her degree is helping her round out her influences and develop her style as she keeps exploring new mediums and evolving her digital work. Listen to this episode to hear more about Paloma’s complex immigration story, racial identity as a Mexican woman, and career as both an artist and content creator.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Guest Info

Check out Paloma’s latest work on Instagram, YouTube, Merch store, or website.

Special Offer

Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

Follow Host Fabiola Lara between episodes on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok

Topics Covered:

1. Immigrating from Mexico at 1 year old
2. The struggles of living undocumented in the US
3. Dating within your nationality and immigration status
4. How to stay connected with your Mexican heritage
5. The divide between Mexican-Americans and Mexicans
6. How your immigration status impacts your everyday life
7. Discussing race within the Latinx community
8. Breaking down negative Mexican stereotypes
9. Exploring the difference between race, culture, and ethnicity
10. Finding a community of art youtubers such as Katnipp Illustration and Apple Cheeks
11. Getting started on YouTube by creating Studio Vlogs
12. Advice for launching a successful Patreon account
13. Establishing yourself as a Content Creator and Artist
14. Landing her first brand collaboration with Kinokuniya USA

Do you ever have the urge to sell everything you own and move to a tropical island? Well this week’s [Draws in Spanish] guest did just that! Although Manuela doesn’t consider herself someone who usually makes impulse decisions, we talked all about how her time living abroad in Isla Mujeres, Mexico and how her experiences in Latin America directly influence her work to this day.

Manuela, now an artist and educator based in Philadelphia, was raised in South Florida and moved to a predominately white suburb in New Jersey. During her high school years, Manuela felt ostracized for being Latina and found solidarity with other creative kids of color.

Manuela’s family has always been extremely supportive of her creativity and encouraged her to pursue her dreams of being an artist. With her family’s support, she went on to attend Stockton University where she developed a series of paintings that celebrated her family’s immigration story, and kicked off her more “political” work. Now, Manuela fully believes in art’s power to create social change by disarming viewers and showing them a new perspective.

Beyond her relationship with art, we also discussed body image issues associated with Latinx women, identifying with alternative and “emo” subcultures, and the unwanted attention of speaking Spanish publicly in suburban New Jersey. Listen to this episode to learn more about Manuela’s complex identity and unique path as an artist.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Guest Info

Check out Manuela’s latest work on Instagram, view  her portfolio, or shop her online store.

Special Offer

Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

Follow Host Fabiola Lara between episodes:

• Instagram
• Youtube
• TikTok

Topics Covered:

1. Impulsively Moving to Isla Mujeres in Mexico
2. Being an Art Teacher in North Philly
3. How Living Abroad in Tropical Places Has Shaped Her Work
4. How Her Cuban and Salvadorian Culture Influence Her
5. The Diversity of Culture and Food in Latin America
6. Speaking Spanish in White Dominated Spaces
7. Feeling Ostracized because of your Latinx Culture
8. Finding Community Through Art
9. Breaking Down Negative Cuban and Latinx Stereotypes
10. How Art Can Create Social Change

If you’ve ever felt shy speaking Spanish, you’ll feel right at home with this episode. This week, I chat with Portland-based illustrator and author Molly Mendoza about how their Mexican/Irish-American culture influence their colorful and dynamic work.

Molly was raised in the Chicago suburbs before moving to Arizona in middle school, and eventually landed in Portland, OR for college. Since their college days, Molly’s illustrated picture books, written graphic novels, and painted murals all while continuously elevating their work.

Despite working with notable clients like Adobe and The New York Times, Molly’s not above making fan art! They explain that they view fan art as a fun outlet and a break from commercial work that allows them to connect to some of their favorite anime series like JoJo Bizarre Adventure. Molly even admits that their JBA fan art subtlety influenced their recent work for “Reflejoz en La Luz,” their recent duo show at Upper Playground Gallery in Portland.

These days, Molly’s focused on illustrating a new picture book, Jovita Wore Pants, and explains how they’ve built trust with Art Directors in order to approach every illustrated book differently. Listen to this episode to learn more about Molly’s Latinx influences, intuitive approach to illustration, and thriving career in publishing.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Topics Covered:

1. What it was like growing up in an Irish-American & Mexican household
2. Feeling self-conscious speaking Spanish
3. How Latinx heritage influences artwork in very personal ways
4. The struggles and realities of moving to a new middle school
5. How light and color heavily influence their work
6. Fan art as a legitimate art form
7. Working on their new picture book Jovita Wore Pants.
8. Practical advice for artists wanting to work in comics and graphic novels

Guest Info

Check out Molly’s latest work on Instagram, and their latest comic The Drake’s Sword for Shortbox Comics Fair.

Bonus Links:

• Shade of Fear: Horror Anthology Kickstarter
• SKIP - Molly’s Graphic Novel
• Molly’s insanely awesome portfolio

Special Offer

Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

Follow Me between Draws in Spanish episodes:

• Our Website
• Instagram
• Youtube
• TikTok

In this episode, I sit down with Natali Martinez to uncover where she draws inspiration for her cute illustration style, how her Venezuelan roots influence her work and perspective, and exactly what goes into getting started with an online shop.

Natali, who unexpectedly moved to Florida after Chavez took power in Venezuela, pursued a degree in animation only to realize she didn’t have the patience for the field. After graduation, she took a leap of faith and moved with her friends to NYC, where she began her freelance career.

During this time, she slowly began creating her own illustrations and developing her voice and style. Now, Natali has a loyal following of 180k Instagram followers who love her cute illustrations and buy into her world through prints, pins, apparel, and plushies.

Natali is already working on her next big project by launching an apparel line with her partner later this year.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Topics Covered:

1. Moving from Venezuela to the U.S.
2. Starting her Small Business from Scratch
3. Raising awareness of Latinx culture by depicting Latinx foods and desserts
4. What Inspires her Playful, Cute, and Unique Style
5. The Pros and Cons of Working with Manufacturers
6. Tips for Starting Your Own Online Shop

Guest Info

Connect with Natali on Instagram and check out her shop here.

Bonus Links:

• More About Mafalda
• Early Simpsons Colors
• Natali’s Spongebob Illustrations

Special Offer

Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

Follow Me between Draws in Spanish episodes:

• Our Website
• Instagram
• Youtube
• TikTok