🙋🏽👨🏻👱🏾👩🏾👱🏻‍♀️The Latinx Collective newsletter: Issue #54

Hey you,

I hope that you can use this newsletter as an escape as well as additional motivation, if that’s what you need, this year. I will always aim to leave you with positive and inspirational stories and news about the impact of the Latinx community.

I don’t know who needs to hear this but….. Mercury is in Retrograde (in Aquarius) starting today!! Mercury in Retrograde tends to scare people so I am personally leaning into the positive side of this —> here’s our checklist of how to take advantage of retrograde in our latest Instagram post!

P.S. As always, feel free to reply with feedback, thoughts, article submissions or anything at all. Appreciate your support!

Con cariño,

Elisabeth Rosario

When washing away a long day of stress with a glass of wine, do you ever think of the story behind that bottle? Hidden behind each bottle of wine is a story of its origin. For Edgar Torres, Mexican winemaker & owner of Bodega de Edgar (which he started in 2009) in Paso Robles, CA - his bottles represent the adversity he’s overcome in the wine industry. In this beautiful article, he shares his life story and how he broke into the wine industry in 2009. Now, he’s focused on educating and mentoring other Mexicans in the industry, and if you work in the industry too, wants you to join him.

Please go support Edgar, or other Latino winemakers, whenever possible by buying their wine. (Thank you to Wine Enthusiast editor Emily Saladino for submitting this story!).

In December, Netflix released a new biopic ‘Selena: The Series’, and with it there’s been heavy debate on the Latinx stories that get to be told in Hollywood. Granted, Selena Quintanilla is undoubtedly a treasure to the Latinx community. Whether it be her iconic fashion style, her music, or her nuanced bicultural, bilingual identity: Selena’s impact has continuously proven to be timeless. However, is it time we let the icon’s image rest and allow new stories to be in the spotlight? I thought this was a fascinating and unique perspective on the series and I know many people with opinions on both sides of this one. I certainly would LOVE to see more Latinx stories being told beyond Selena’s. I’d love to hear your thoughts too!

Robert Magiet, owner of TaKorea Cocina (a small cafe offering creative takes on Mexican-Korean fare) and members of his staff have been buying tamale street vendors’ entire supply so they can go home from the cold. Then, Magiet and his staff distribute the tamales to the homeless. He and other restaurant owners have watched the pandemic slowly destroy the restaurant industry, including the street vendors, and have teamed up to provide meals for those in need.

Beautiful story to read if you need a pick-me-up! And a gentle reminder that many small businesses are struggling due to the pandemic and any help you can provide is appreciated.

This is a CRUCIAL time for Latinx small businesses that have been hard-hit by the pandemic to receive support. In terms of her new role, Guzman will need to raise the SBA’s public profile in order to effectively reach businesses across the country and support the ongoing economic recovery.

Earlier this month, many celebrated the wins in the Georgia runoff — which led to Democrats taking back the house. Black voters were key to the wins as their turnout was higher than any other demographic group. White voter turnout dropped. And Latinos far outperformed their own turnout for other statewide runoffs and were part of a critical multicultural coalition and infrastructure.

We learned that the years-long struggle to turn out Latino voters for Democratic candidates yielded results. Moreover, ahead of upcoming congressional elections, it showed what’s possible.

We have minority organizations to thank for doing what it takes to mobilize multicultural communities.

According to this LDC GDP report released in late 2020: “U.S. Latinos had a gross domestic product of $2.6 trillion in 2018 -the eight largest in the world if Latinos were an independent country”. Latinos are one of the biggest and growing contributors to the U.S. ‘s GDP. Latinos are also spending more, earning better wages and salaries and more of us are obtaining college degrees.

On that note, let’s take action together and put money directly into our communities. The Latinx Collective has a growing business directory you can submit your company to, or use it to find other Latinx entrepreneurs to support.

In December, Disney released the first-look trailer for its new film Encanto, which is set to release in fall 2021. The animated film will take us to Colombia, where an extraordinary family, the Madrigals, live hidden in the mountains of Colombia, in a magical house, in a vibrant town, in a wondrous, charmed place called an Encanto. Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the film’s music. Can’t wait to see this one!

P.S. Special thanks to Arelybel Iniguez for helping me curate this one! 😘

Hey, I really appreciate you checking out this issue. Please forward this to friends or family so they can join you in celebrating the everyday contributions and stories by the Latinx community. Some other actions you can take: