Las Doctoras Podcast

In this new episode with Las Doctoras, we present to you, Dr. Alka Arora.  This is another exciting episode with a great mentor of Dr. Cristina‘s. Alka Arora was the chair of Cristina‘s dissertation committee. Alka continues to be a great inspiration in Cristina‘s life. In particular, Alka inspires conversations at the intersection of activism and spirituality as well as the crossroads of int...

  We first met Sara in person at a week long retreat in Joshua Tree. Her magnetic and inspiring energy made a huge impression on us. We are so excited to introduce her to our comunidad!!  Sara is a therapist and founder of Prospect Therapy.  Prospect Therapy is a queer + trans affirming therapy practice based in Long Beach, CA, with a focus on mental health for first-generation, imm...

Cristina first met Atava Garcia Swiecicki in a Curanderismo course in Los Angeles in 2014. This pivotal time in Cristina's life, guided her into a dream that would inspire her to name her child "Jaguar," and the time with Atava and other healers continues to encourage Cristina in her own healing practices. Atava's The Curanderx Toolkit is now a key text in Cristina's classes! Truly, inviting Atava...

Meet Nisha Mody! Nisha (she/her) is a Relational Healing & Life Coach, Speaker, and Writer. She loves to help changemakers who consider themselves helpers to help themselves so they can make an impact by working through burnout, perfectionism, and overgiving. Nisha speaks up and writes about disrupting norms and redefining success from being individualistic and inauthentic to being relational...

Join us as we speak about the CSU strike scheduled the first week of classes at our campuses.  We originally meant to record this live when the strike was in full force. Then, things shifted.  Yep, and even though the strike was over, we had things to say about it all.  In this episode, we break down the strike and the "tentative agreement."

This conversation is everything we needed. Come, meet Cinthya Silverstein if you have not already. Cinthya is a Mexican immigrant and visual activist whose work is deeply rooted in photography as a tool for the analysis of visual culture. Her work reflects a lived, intersectional experience that recognizes images as a social instrument that’s been used to reinforce race-making in the United States...

In this episode, we bring you the incomparable Pia Schiavo-Campo. Pia is a dear friend of ours. We were with Pia in a cohort of other amazing creatives led by @jumakae in 2022. And, we knew she had some magic to share. In this conversation, she gets real. Gratitude to Pia for helping us all truly articulate our priorities as we advocate to end the violence we are witnessing live on social media ri...

Welcome back brujas, scholars, mujeristas y mas! In this episode, Las Doctoras give a life update and share briefly what they hope to bring to the podcast this season. Season 6!!! We can hardly believe we’ve made it this far and still love having conversations about new and old things.

In this conversation, Cristina and Renee give a quick update on life AND THEN....dive right into the vulnerable and powerful topic of cults and cult culture. Inspired by Renee's new podcast La Feminista Chismosa, which highlights and critiques pop culture, this episode looks at recent documentaries focused on, specifically, Christian cults. Our goal? Freedom from false narratives that offer safety...

After I (Renee) was rejected from an academic job for the 5th time, and after over 10 years experience teaching at the college level, I am frustrated not just with the fact that I have not been able to land a permanent job. After going through the hiring process time and time again, I have strong feelings about the process itself and question why it is the way it is. We sat down with two experts,...

Join us as we bring motherhood and m/othering to the forefront of our discussion. Doctoras, academics, mothers. We are all these things combined ,and THIS IS OUR MAGIC. Sadly, in academia, this magic is often unrecognized. Community support and dialogue (like this conversation) is pivotal for us as we affirm our multidimensional gifts. May you feel, as we feel after this episode, a celebration of...

Join us as we step into an important conversation around trauma- informed responses that honor our experiences. Learn with us how we create safe and empowering spaces for those we care about. Mayana helps us understand that we can truly tend to our reasonable responses. And, in doing so, we can offer our children the validation that we all need. In this episode, we are reminded that we are only be...

In this vulnerable conversation, Dras Cristina and Renee interview Dra Yvette Martinez-Vu. The topic: disabilities and social justice. This episode is raw and real as we speak to our disabilities. Listen as we are reminded to name our strengths as well as areas of growth. And, hear us share the traumas we've experienced, particularly in academia. We grieve together, and we welcome you to join us i...

Wow!!!! In this episode we speak with our new amiga Dra. Hortencia Jimenez. She is a Chingona academic, breaking all the barriers, and dismantling diet culture. She talks with us about her academic journey, and all the struggles she faced to get where she is at today. Then we dive into a deep convo about our own relationship to diet culture, how it's a biproduct of colonization and white supremacy...

In this conversation we talk with Anjie Cho about how she has helped us to create better energy flow in our homes. She discussed her new book Mindful Homes: Create Healing Living Spaces with Mindfulness and Feng Shui. Learn more about Anjie: @anjiecho- https://www.instagram.com/anjiecho/ https://www.anjiecho.com/ Book- https://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Homes-Create-healing-mindfulness/dp/1800652119/r...

In this episode we talk you along with us as we head to Glen Ivy Spa for our Spring Break. We are talking all things parenting, from both the mundane to the in depth existential questions we constantly grapple with. And somehow we end up talking about Star Wars as a metaphor for life, and how we can use it to unpack toxic masculinity in the lives of our children. Who knew?

In this in-depth conversation, Renee and Cristina interview their friend Meenadchi, author of Decolonizing Non-Violent Communication (NVC) and faciliator of Family Constellation Therapy. Listen in to hear Las Dras share their own journey into NVC as well as hear Meenadchi's own story medicine. This episode brings up our parents, mother, ancestors, and children as we seek to answer the question "Ca...

Inspired by the quote from Frida, we explore how spiritual bypassing does not serve the healing process. We discuss Cristina's broken leg and how it's created an opportunity to both sit in the emotions of physical disability, while also confronting old narratives about the concept of "everything happens for a reason."

  Dr. Renee and Dr. Cristina welcome returning guest Danellia Arechiga to the show! Known as “The Multidimensional Mami”, Danellia is a birth worker, singer, songwriter, musician, speaker, and healer, She uses this medicine to heal her generation as well as past and future generations in her lineage. Through her offerings in birth work, childbirth education, traditional postpartum care, suppo...

Welcome to Season 5 of Las Doctoras! Today, Dr. Renee and Dr. Cristina go live as they celebrate four years of the podcast. Their conversation centers around the cycles of life, particularly as menstrual cycles and full moon (ovulation) energy, and how we can’t always be in that energy: We need to go into the depths of winter and be willing to burn—and then rise from the ashes into a new cycle. Dr...

Today, Dr. Renee and Dr. Cristina close Season 4 of Las Doctoras with a conversation with two special guests! Our first guest is Monica Simpson, queer Black activist, artist, and executive director of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. She takes us through her over 20 years of social justice work with a keen focus on sexual reproductive justice. Monica starts all of her tra...

Today, Dr. Renee and Dr. Cristina take the opportunity to analyze their Human Design Charts with life coach Elyse Preston, the founder of Be More Connected. Listen in as our hosts—both Emotional Generators—learn more about themselves and each other through this unique window into the soul! When you look at a Human Design Chart, you’re essentially looking at a map—a blueprint mapping out the streng...

Today, Dr. Renee and Dr. Cristina sit down with friend, political advocate, and fellow teacher Anna Lily. The three share an inspiring message of change and daily action, encouraging us to go beyond visualizing a utopian future and start creating a system of liberation today. To kick things off, Dr. Renee, Dr. Cristina, and Anna Lily go through a lightning round of fun questions around how they wo...

Today, Dr. Renee and Dr. Cristina sit down with their good friend and former student Bernice to discuss Mariposa de Barrio, the telenovela based on the life of Jenni Rivera. One of the most striking parts of Jenni’s story is the fact that she built a career in a man’s industry. She is a true trailblazer who single-handedly made other women who are fans of Banda—a male-dominated music genre—feel va...