The Space We Build

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Happy Friday. Let’s start with some good news. As of today, we are now at 924 newsletter subscribers, and I am hopeful that we will make it to 1,000 by the end of the year. Thank you to all our new subscribers!

As with any startup, good news is always welcome, but sometimes there is bad news, and on Thursday, we found out that our application to be part of the beehiiv Media Collective was denied. We were given a form letter email telling us that the competition was intense, etc. The team at beehiiv has been a great newsletter host, but I will be honest, getting the news sucked.

As with anything, I will process the disappointment and stay focused on getting The Latino Newsletter to Phase 2 of our strategic plan. We are committed to making it happen, and many of you agree. With 50 supporters, we are now at 48% of our year-end $10,000 goal. Thank you! The following link will take you directly to our donation page.

This is our 27th week as an outlet. Here are the four pieces we published over the past few days, including a couple by me:

Ok, on to today’s podcast episode.

Episode 20: The Space We Build

This latest episode of our podcast is a special one. Before the election, October 17, to be exact, we received the following question on Twitter (X) from Alisha Miranda:

I responded to Alisha via email, and she sent me a pitch for an episode. Once I saw it, I said yes and told her we would record after the election. Alisha is doing some interesting things in Philadelphia’s independent journalism scene, culminating in a “Latinx Industry Night” event series. I thought it would be a good time to talk about this space and the overall creator economy.

So that is what we did, and yes, there are several Alisha money quotes from the episode, including this one:

“This event [Latinx Industry Night] to me is another storytelling platform. Really full stop for me. It's like, I wanted to pitch the story about XYZ. I can't do that because, for whatever reason, the pitch wasn't accepted. This is a way to show that not all stories have to live in text only,” Alisha said.

“Some stories should be experiential. Some stories should be a podcast. Some stories should be a video,” she added. “So, for me, it's really about bringing my journalism work to life. These are all the people that I love, that I report on, that I support, that I want to lift up. Here, come meet them face to face. Let them make you a drink, sample their menu.”

My response to that?

“I freaking love this.”

This is the full show.

The Latino Newsletter podcast is also on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible, iHeart Radio, YouTube, and this site.

And now a word from our sponsor.

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What We’re Watching

Understanding the Latino Vote and Moving Forward Together: Our good friends at Latinos for Education invited Stephanie Valencia of Equis Research and me to unpack the Latino vote in 2024. The conversation was a lot of fun.

Happy weekend.

About the Author

Julio Ricardo Varela is the founder and interim publisher of The Latino Newsletter.

Do you believe in creating new journalism lanes for Latinos and Latinas? Do you believe that U.S. mainstream outlets will never understand our community? Consider donating to The Latino Newsletter. Any little bit helps to keep this newsletter free and accessible to all. ¡Gracias mil!