Issue #2: This Week's Five
Hola mi gente,
Welcome to issue #2 of The Latinx Collective, which exists to inspire, celebrate, and create thoughtful dialogue within the Latinx community. [Feel free to check out Issue #1 if you missed it]
Please continue to share your feedback and suggestions - especially for Latinx projects, creations and businesses you think should be highlighted.
Con cariño,
Elisabeth
THIS WEEK'S FIVE:
This Latina Olympic Athlete Won The Boston Marathon: Desiree Linden won this year’s Boston Marathon, making her the first American female to win in over 30 years! In 2012, Desiree was part of a small group of Latinos to compete in the London Olympics. And in 2016, she was only one of two Latinas at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics track and field team. (mitú)
Myrna Soto joins VC firm as first female partner: I'm not congratulating a VC firm for finally hiring its first female partner, but I know from experience how rare it is to be a Latina in the world of Silicon Valley VC firms. Myrna, who recently landed on the "50 Most Powerful Latinas in Business" list for the second year in a row, shared this empowering advice: "Follow the passion without focusing on the impossible. In other words, "I'll never get into venture capital because there's not enough women in venture capital." I say, you know what? My advice to you is to change that. Be part of that change. What is it that you need to do to be part of that, to position yourself for potential opportunity? Do not limit your desires based on what you may see today. You may see that the ecosystem doesn't look like you, but the tide is changing." (Fortune Term Sheet)
Hurricane Maria couldn't destroy Puerto Rico's spirit-lifting food: This heart-lifting article by reporter Rick Jervis made me smile and also made me hungry! A quote from the piece: "Restoring electricity and jobs remain top priorities for Puerto Ricans, as the island continues to recover from Maria. But their true happiness remains via their stomachs. And that, it appears, Maria couldn't touch." (USA Today)
The Silence: The Legacy of Childhood Trauma: Last week, Dominican-American writer Junot Diaz published an op-ed in The New Yorker in which he revealed that he'd been sexual assaulted as a child and openly discussed the trauma it's continued to cause him and his relationships. Due to societal and cultural norms, men don't often admit or discuss experiences of sexual assault so kudos to Junot for sharing his story and for sharing resources like 1in6 and RAINN with others dealing with the same. His op-ed is a powerful read for anyone that's been through any kind of childhood trauma and is still living with the aftermath. (The New Yorker)
Lessons from the Dominican-Haitian border: This weekend I went to BRIC for "Bordering the Imaginary: Art from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and their Diasporas" a free exhibition on view in Fort Greene, Brooklyn until April 29, 2018. I highly recommend it, especially to other Caribbean folks. It investigates the complicated relationship between two nations that share a single island. (Remezcla)
SPOTLIGHT SERIES (let's support up-and-coming & well-established Latinx-owned creators and businesses)
Woke Foods is a NYC based food business that makes vegan dishes inspired by its founders' Dominican roots. Ysanet Batista and Merelis Catalina Ortiz say their hope is to use the company as a platform to remind our people of the knowledge they already have within them, talk about our collective ancestral connection to food, and share vegan and vegetarian Dominican food practices with our community. I've recently been learning a lot about gut health and plant-based eating, so I've been dying to try some of their recipes. Anyone want to join me in cooking a dish? Check out their recipes here and their catering pricing here.
Sancocho is one of my favorite dishes from home + this is a vegan version!
Thank you for reading along!
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