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A month ago today, I was scrolling through my Instagram, taking a break, when a Ramones song started playing with a Reel from a profile called El Brief. It also showed up on my YouTube feed.
For those who know me, I always stop scrolling whenever I hear a Ramones song, and when I saw that El Brief said it was “the newest resource for American Latinos, Latinas, and Latinx” and that the team behind the Voto Latino Foundation was launching it, I gave it a follow.
Having been in the digital space for as long as The Ramones, it seems, there was something cool about seeing another social channel explaining the community to us. We need so many more of them.
During my early years at Latino Rebels back in 2011 and 2012, we always wanted to uplift new voices. We are trying to do the same here at The Latino Newsletter, so to celebrate its 1-month anniversary, I connected with El Brief’s Katherine Sotelo Gutierrez and Voto Latino Executive Director Beatriz Lopez.
I edited and condensed this conversation for length and clarity.
Julio Ricardo Varela: How has the month been as you build all this from scratch?
Katherine Sotelo Gutierrez: It’s been incredible. I think, as a creative, it's been really fun to come in, experiment, and make something happen. It’s been a lot of work, but it's been exciting, and it's work that I want to do. So I’m really excited to be building this.
I’m from San Antonio, Texas. So I looked at The Latino Newsletter, and I know there’s some punk influence there too. San Antonio’s very rock and roll. That’s the initial influence I had going into creating El Brief, was going back to my roots, my hometown, and what I love.
JRV: What are some examples of some of your early wins?
KSG: The Latina business owner interview stemmed from the national conversation about Latina Power with Rep. Brandon Gill and his remarks in Congress. And it aligned really well. That was right when we were deciding to launch.
If we’re going to build a platform, who can we also uplift? That’s how the street interviews started. We went to Chicago, and so we had our first round of Latina business owner interviews, and it was amazing to go out in the Pilsen neighborhood.
I walked around for hours, talking to people, hanging out at the Pilsen Community Art House, getting to know these women, and putting my journalism skills to the test.
JRV: Beatriz, did launching El Brief feel natural for Voto Latino, and was it a good risk to take?
Beatriz Lopez: I think it felt natural, and it felt almost too late. You have to have self-awareness of where the moment is going and where young people are going. That's why we have folks like Katherine and other folks here who check us on it, to keep us true to our mission.
Our mission has always been young Latinos, and that means that every generation is a little bit different, and so we have to follow them.
We’re doing our part to reach them online in a way that actually reaches them and speaks to them, right? So we’re breaking through those damn algorithms that are trying to actually prevent them from getting the information that they need.
So that’s one way. We also have our campus program, which works with Latino fraternities and sororities, and we really partner with them to engage in civic life.
We’re also learning from them. It’s like, what matters to you?
El Brief is one way we’re trying to share culturally competent information with young people in a way that doesn’t feel confusing, complicated, or wonky, but still true to their lives.
KSG: I think right now is a time when Latinos need to have the audacity, and I think that’s what we’re doing at El Brief.
JRV: This notion that we can’t wait, that we have to do this ourselves.
BL: Katherine is right. It’s the audacity to speak up and do things differently. The courage to be much more on the ground and to reflect our young generation.
It’s not about us, the institution, but rather about the people and amplifying their voices.
I still feel like people are sleeping on Latinos and the incredible power they have. Over the last few years, we have had over two million young Latinos who turned 18, and we’re still seen as this, as they like to say, that we are the sleeping giant, but they’re very much awake.
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What We’re Reading
Latinos and the American Dream: From Pew Research Center, “One-in-five Latinos say they’ve achieved the American dream, and 33% say they are on their way to achieving it. However, 18% say the American dream is out of reach for them — and 27% say it doesn’t exist at all.”
Julio Ricardo Varela is the founder of The Latino Newsletter. He is also its current part-time publisher and executive director. He wrote, edited, and published this edition.
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