It is the 72nd week of The Latino Newsletter, and we have hit another milestone.

For our entire first season of our podcast — plus a couple of extra episodes and the debut episode for our second season — it was pretty much just me and my producer, Joaquin Cotler.

That pretty much changed this week with the Thursday drop of our third episode for Season 2, where host Michelle Zacarias interviewed Katelina Eccleston, La Gata of Reggaeton con La Gata.

Before I share why I loved this conversation so much, I’ll admit — with some excitement — that although I am listed as the editor of this episode, the new team at The Latino Newsletter podcast really did it all. They made my week.

We are in the middle of a growth period, the first real one that The Latino Newsletter has ever experienced. What was once a team of one (hi!) and soon became a team of two (Joaquin) is now a team of five, with Joaquin leading as Senior Producer, Michelle as Host, Juan Diego Ramirez as Video Producer, Juan Escalante as Engagement Producer, and yes, me as Editor (for now).

I cannot emphasize enough how support from our individual donors (you can give at any time) and the Latino Media Consortium led us to this point. We are going to give this a try with at least 17 more episodes for Season 2. We plan to drop the audio version of each new episode every other Thursday and the video version every other Monday.

This production plan is directly tied to our growth strategy, as we ramp up for our release of American Colony in July of 2026.

By continuing Season 2 and consistently producing every two weeks, we will build on our distribution channel for our original series.

This is the podcast team The Latino Newsletter needs right now. As I saw them work on the Con La Gata episode, I knew this was the right decision.

Ok, enough startup talk.

This latest episode was unfiltered and energetic. What La Gata has accomplished since 2017 has been spectacular to follow. Independent creators just do it, and that is exactly what La Gata has done.

“If you’re not adamant about making it known that this is what you did, people will erase you. So I put my name in my platform because it’s never going to be a question of who did that? It’s going to be, she did that. I’m not playing those games,” La Gata says at one point.

Episode 3 was a joyful listen. I am incredibly grateful to the team for making this happen.

Here is the episode.

This episode of The Latino Newsletter podcast was produced by Joaquin Cotler, Juan Diego Ramirez, and Michelle Zacarias. I edited the conversation. The music is by Cast of Characters via Soundstripe. We also feature music from La Gata & Gaby Vibes.

Season 2 of The Latino Newsletter podcast was made possible through individual donations⁠ and ⁠the Latino Media Consortium⁠.

Making $ With ICE: From Block Club Chicago, “Chicago-area companies have made millions in lucrative contracts supporting Operation Midway Blitz’s immigration enforcement actions in the area.”

Julio Ricardo Varela is the founder of The Latino Newsletter. He is also its current part-time publisher and executive director.

Consider donating to The Latino Newsletter. Any contribution, no matter how small, helps keep this newsletter free and accessible to all. ¡Gracias mil!