The Global Latin Factor Podcast

Send us Fan Mail  Santiago Díaz Urrea creció en Guatapé pensando que era un pueblo aburrido. Hoy trabaja en la Subsecretaría de Cultura para que el mundo lo conozca más allá de la Piedra del Peñol. Grabado en Guatapé, Colombia. Episode in Spanish.  Grabado en Guatapé, Antioquia, Colombia, este episodio de nuestra serie internacional nos presenta a Santiago Díaz Urrea, asistente administrativo en l...

Send us Fan Mail Karolina’s family left communist Poland when she was three. They lived as political refugees in a camp near Naples, then settled in a small village in the Italian Alps as the only immigrant family in town. Just as she finally felt Italian, her parents told her they were moving to Chicago. At 12, she packed her whole life into two suitcases. In this Exchanging Cultures episode, rec...

Send us Fan Mail De niña, Angelina no podía leer como los demás y nadie sabía por qué. Hoy es doctora en ciencias, coach de salud y bienestar certificada y fundadora de Ix-Ik Health & Wellness LLC. Grabamos este capítulo internacional en la finca de su familia en Guatapé, Colombia. Escucha los pájaros, el agua y la calma del lugar mientras Angelina cuenta su historia: nacida en Honduras, de pa...

Send us Fan Mail Part 2 of our conversation with Dre, known as FadesxDre, barber and owner of Ritual Barber Studio in Grapevine, Texas. We pick up with Dre's time working for the state. She opens up about CPS cases, the pressure on caseworkers to close cases by the numbers, and why she eventually walked away. Then it shifts. In 2020, working from home, she cut her son's hair with a clipp...

Send us Fan Mail He was a kid in Mexico wearing huaraches. He couldn't see what was coming: crossing into the U.S. undocumented at 11, serving in Iraq with the U.S. Army, fighting PTSD, and one day sitting behind a microphone telling Latino stories. In this solo episode of The Global Latin Factor Podcast, host Crispin Valentin tells his own immigrant story for the first time on the show. He g...

Send us Fan Mail Before she ever picked up the clippers, Andrea, known as FadesxDre, worked inside a male maximum security prison in Texas. In Part 1, Crispin sits down with Andrea for her second time on the show. She was one of the very first guests ever, but technical difficulties meant a redo. She grew up between Del Rio, Beeville, and New Mexico, raised mostly by her grandma after her parents...

Send us Fan Mail Before she was Sabor Puro, she was a girl in Webb Chapel, Dallas, walking past a trap house on her way to the bus stop, and dancing to Selena in her living room like nobody was watching. In this episode, Sylvia Paola of Sabor Puro sits down with The Global Latin Factor Podcast to talk about growing up Mexican-American in North Dallas, how a middle school Selena tribute became a tu...

Send us Fan Mail JD sat alone in an empty room for the first hour of his debut art show. Then the room filled up — and his pieces started selling. In this episode of The Global Latin Factor Podcast, host Crispín Valentín talks with JD, a self-taught Salvadoran American artist and Kava bartender from Irving, Texas. JD shares how he found music before painting, how he turned his parents' garage...

Send us Fan Mail There was a trap house across the street and prostitutes on the corner two blocks from her school bus stop — and Sylvia says she never felt scared, because that neighborhood also taught her who she is. In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, singer Sylvia of the band Sabor Puro opens up about growing up Mexican-American in Dallas's Webb Chapel neighborhood, the shame she onc...

Send us Fan Mail Mexico has 36 UNESCO World Heritage Sites — more than any other country in the Americas. In this solo episode of The Global Latino Factor Podcast, host Crispin Valentin explains what UNESCO World Heritage status actually means, why one Mexican site is currently on the endangered list, and Mexico's path from joining the World Heritage Convention in 1984 to its newest addition...

Send us Fan Mail A los 11 años, Julio cruzó la frontera sin papeles con su familia. Hoy es el creador detrás de Julio de Foodio, recorre Estados Unidos en su RV y ayudó a intentar salvar el restaurante de su mamá cuando las ventas cayeron de $85,000 a $18,000 al mes. ¿Alguna vez has tenido que ayudar a salvar el negocio de tu familia? Cuéntanos tu historia en los comentarios.  Julio de Foodio Rede...

Send us Fan Mail Before Coca-Cola and the FIFA World Cup, Paloma Díaz Rivas was crying through her first call center shift. In this episode, the Mexican content creator shares how an $80 first brand deal, a viral Shein haul video, and business books her dad paid her to read as a kid built a content career entirely in Spanish.  She also opens up about her mom crossing the border at 8, getting hacke...

Send us Fan Mail The first World Cup champion in history spoke Spanish — Uruguay, 1930. The Latino history of fútbol, from Aztec stone courts to the Estadio Azteca. Ask most people who won the very first World Cup and they'll say Brazil, Italy, or England. They're wrong. And the real answer says everything about us. This is a solo episode on the history of fútbol, the origins of the Worl...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to turn a candy stand in a nearly empty mall into a full Mexican gift shop with a loyal following? Giovana, owner of La Catrina Mexican Shop, walks through exactly how she did it — and the identity questions she had to work through along the way. Giovana was born in Tuxpan, Zacatecas, and crossed into the U.S. with her family as a toddler. She grew up in Haltom C...

Send us Fan Mail De limpiar casas y vender salsas y tortas… a construir alianzas de negocio y abrir puertas para los nuestros. Esta es la historia de Mayela García. 🇲🇽💧 De Chihuahua a Fort Worth, Mayela nos abre su vida sin filtros: su niñez, el banco donde vivió un asalto, la maquila, el salto a Estados Unidos, criar a sus tres hijas, empezar de cero limpiando casas, el divorcio, y cómo la fe y...

Send us Fan Mail The Carnaval de Barranquilla is the second-largest carnival on the planet, and it's alive and dancing in Dallas, Texas. In this special on-location episode, host Crispin Valentine takes you inside Carnaval de Barranquilla Dallas to experience the color, the cumbia, the champeta, the food, and the warmth of the Colombian community in North Texas. Crispin breaks down why this c...

Send us Fan Mail Angel didn't grow up dreaming about a restaurant. He studied programming and computers back home in Monterrey, Mexico — but the kitchen had been calling his whole life without him noticing. On this episode of The Global Latin Factor, we sit down on location at Los Guapos off 7th Street in Fort Worth to trace the whole journey: dishwasher to line cook, the Cuban bar chef'...

Send us Fan Mail Rice and beans isn't just a side dish — it's one of the most powerful cultural staples in Latino and Caribbean life. In this solo episode, Christine traces the real history behind the plate: how indigenous communities cultivated beans in the Americas centuries before colonization, how African knowledge and labor shaped rice cultivation across the Atlantic world, and how...

Send us Fan Mail ¿Qué pasa cuando llegas a un país sin papeles, sin familia cerca, con un hijo pequeño y un sueño que no puedes explicar con palabras? Laura Mejía lo vivió — y lo convirtió en To. Gather. En este episodio de The Global Lighting Factor en Español, Laura comparte su camino desde los barrios populares del sur de Bogotá hasta los escenarios culturales de Dallas, Texas. Actriz formada e...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when the #2 biggest carnival in the world lands in North Texas? We went live from the Carnaval de Barranquilla in Dallas to find out. In this bilingual (English/Spanish) episode, we hit the floor talking to vendors, performers, and community members who are keeping Colombian culture alive right here in DFW. 🍽️ Meet the vendors: Manarel Salsón Colombiano (Fort Worth) —...

Send us Fan Mail Jenny is the founder of Pasteles Y Más, makes custom cakes in DFW specializing in elevated Mexican-American-inspired desserts. Host Crispin Valentin sits down with Jenny to unpack her full journey — from Mexico City to Los Angeles, culture shock in Rowlett, Texas, at 17, dropping out of nursing school, working her way up through high-end Dallas restaurants, and launching her own b...

Send us Fan Mail Noemí Moreno llegó a Estados Unidos desde Morelia, Michoacán, con un inglés oxidado, una hija con necesidades especiales y la determinación de comenzar de cero. Hoy es fundadora de la Cámara de Comercio Hispana de Lewisville y creadora de Brava Foods, una salsa macha gourmet artesanal con aceite de aguacate que ya llega a Nueva York. En esta conversación con Crispín de The Global...

Send us Fan Mail Hispanic chambers of commerce can be valuable resources for Latino entrepreneurs, small business owners, and minority-owned businesses in the United States. In this episode of The Global Latin Factor Podcast , we explain how chambers of commerce work, what Hispanic chambers do, and how business owners can use them for networking, mentorship, business certifications, government con...

Send us Fan Mail In this special episode of The Global Latin Factor Podcast , host Crispin Valentin sits down with Claudia Tiffany Rodriguez, also known as Tiffany Folklore , for a powerful conversation on the Latino roots of hip-hop . Together, they explore the 4 elements of hip-hop—DJing, MCing, graffiti, and breaking—and highlight how Puerto Rican, Mexican American, and Latino pioneers helped s...

Send us Fan Mail Gabriela Deantoni joins The Global Latin Factor Podcast to share how she built Gdeantoni Social Co , a DFW event experience business known for interactive social bars, catering carts, workshops, and creative event experiences. In this episode, Gabriela talks about starting with cheesecakes from home, growing through referrals, creating unique food experiences, and building a brand...