Q: Tell us a little bit about your background?
A: I’m weird, but not an odd fit for Latinitas. My family is mostly Irish with some southern Europe ancestry – but I grew up within the Latina culture having “rumbas” (all-day, all-night parties) in Queens, salsa dancing and eating great “comidas.” Additionally, I volunteered as a big sister for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program for almost 20 years. My two littles are grown up with families now, but both struggled with their identity and race when they were younger. From the get-go, it was difficult to find publications for them to read that included their complexions and identities or magazines that validated them with images that reflected diversity. One of my little’s particularly struggled with lack of resources and low self -esteem, so I was not about to buy her a Teen magazine with “Go to the prom your Freshman year” as the cover article with a blonde haired blued eyed model. This lack of diversity had a significant influence on me in creating something just for girls of color.
I wanted to be a journalist again and returned to school in Texas. In a class at UT Austin, focused on providing media for Latinos, Latinitas, the first magazine made for and by young Latinas, was born with the collaboration, heart and soul of my co-founder Alicia Rascon and myself. We used classmates as staff and had one translator. We built the magazine online ourselves before professors even knew how to do web design (Dr. Royal was not a professor, yet). Since we wanted girls to be an authentic part of production, we started workshops using new labs and free wifi at the Oswaldo Cantu Pan Am Recreation center in East Austin, as well as other Austin public libraries. We also partnered with other organizations and grew reach from a few hundred to a few thousand young girls per year.
As a part of this organization, we wanted the girls to not only be a part of creating blogs, articles, photographs, videos, films and podcasts but also learn how to use the technology to do so.
As a result, we started to teach web and graphic design, film editing and keep up with Austin’s evolving technological growth such as virtual reality/360 filmmaking, augmented reality, wearable tech, robotics, coding, 3D printing and drone technology.
Q: Can you talk about some of the work you’ve previously done?
A: Latinitas empowers all girls to innovate using media and technology. I started as a computer science major in college, but unfortunately, there were no women in the department which had a serious impact on me and the lack of inclusion I unconsciously felt. I had great male professors who were supportive, but because there were no females and, unfortunately, some male professors who were straight up discouraging this had a greater wield over me and I ended up changing my major to writing, a predominately female field. However, that love of technology, logic and coding never left me, but it manifested in Latinitas.
Before returning to grad school at UT to start Latinitas, I was a book publicist promoting authors as famous as Maya Angelou and infamous as Johnny Cochran (O.J. Simpson’s lawyer). I met a lot of personalities and had access to some of the most brilliant artists – Michael Crichton, who wrote Jurassic Park, the TV show E.R. and a famous movie from the 70s called “Coma.” Maya Angelou was extraordinary but some of my most favorite experiences were lesser known authors breaking through. Publishing is managed by a lot of white males and I saw the significant lack of Latino narratives in that world. Sandra Cisneros was pioneering alone mostly. Other authors were selling like Esmeralda Santiago and Angela Cruz, Cristina Garcia – but weren’t getting the due diligence to their publicity campaigns as their Anglo peers. Young, well-known authors and best-sellers like Junot Diaz were still in workshopping their work. I suppose working in that industry was part of the inspiration for Latinitas also.
Q: What made you want to be on a panel at SXSW?
A: SXSW is a global forum. Latinitas serves over 2,000 girls a year in Austin plus 1,000 more in El Paso annually. We are teaching girls the basics of digital media, but also how to use everyday tech tools to publish and produce with the latest technologies.
Our mission is to fortify the pipeline of trained, inspired, talented and supported young Latinas and other girls of color into Austin and the rest of the worlds digital media and technology sectors, thereby diversifying the whole economic landscape.
We are presenting because getting kids of color into tech is not rocket science, but it is a recipe of inclusion, support and access. There needs to be an establishment of community and purpose. Kids want to code, but they also want a reason that is meaningful to their community to code. Kids love tech, however some kids leave high school in Austin without even having an email. Austin is a tech sector, yet a Latina girl in our state has more of a chance of getting pregnant before 20 than entering a digital media or technology job. That’s unacceptable. We are the agencies dedicated to moving the needle on this and for other kids of color.
Q: How did you get interested in this specific topic?
A: As I said, I was a computer geek. My dad is a wannabe computer scientist. He taught us to code and took us to coding classes. My mother on the other hand is the talker and writer. So I love that combo of digital media production and technology. I love that my whole family is included in the dialogue. I love interviewing also – it is a way to demystify everything.
Q: What key points do you want to discuss during your panel?
A: We want to talk about our own best practices – what’s working in the instruction of kids of color in technology. We want to address the good that is happening – kids and people of color are incredibly innovative, but also the lack of resources being thrown in this sector.
Q: What specific things are you hoping people learn from your panel?
A: That kids of color in tech are not sad, poor kids. While some might be impoverished – they are where the new ideas lie – whether necessity is the mother of invention or they provide unexplored reference points of Latinas, African American kids, young females, multi-racial youth – so many POVs that don’t get due diligence in media and tech development.
Q: Why do you believe this topic is important to discuss?
A: Media and technology are 2 of the most powerful platforms for social change, influencing attitudes and transcend all careers. I want the lens on us, too, because our specificity is what gives us power and has allowed us to empower youth of color. What we do is what everyone is trying to figure out with a very generic lens. So, they never will! I love that youth of color are our priority – without apology.
Q: What are you most excited for during SXSW?
A: I love it every year. Latinitas has used it as a forum for a spring break camp, we have covered SXSW as a magazine and lately we are benefitting from SXSW’s generosity with passes to use for staff and youth development. Even though it can seem homogenous in attendance – we are seeing things – like all female panels on virtual reality. It also brings the world of tech, cinema and music to our front door and I love the insights and creativity I can bring back to Latinitas programs. I like the happenstance of it – meeting influencers or how James Franco picked up my purse when i dropped it last year – or seeing documentaries premiere or meeting people using virtual reality to heal vets – so many amazing things happening at once!
Monday, March 12
9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Hilton Austin Downtown – Salon A
Find out more: Minority Report: Engaging Kids of Color in Tech
Featured image provided by SXSW