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JD sat alone in an empty room for the first hour of his debut art show. Then the room filled up — and his pieces started selling.

In this episode of The Global Latin Factor Podcast, host Crispín Valentín talks with JD, a self-taught Salvadoran American artist and Kava bartender from Irving, Texas. JD shares how he found music before painting, how he turned his parents' garage into a home studio, and what pushed him to finally host his first art show, "My Inner Child In Me," in Deep Ellum.

JD talks through his abstract neo-expressionist style, why he prefers oil pastels and spray paint, the influence Jean-Michel Basquiat had on his approach, and how a recent trip to New York City museums reshaped how he thinks about color and technique. He also opens up about going 100 days without alcohol and how working at a Kava bar reshaped his relationship with going out and socializing.

Listeners will hear what it's like to sit with the nerves of hosting a first show, how JD describes entering a painter's "flow state" during late-night sessions, and why he believes connection — not recognition — is the real reason he creates.

JD on Instagram: [main account handle — verify exact spelling before publishing] and [art account handle — verify exact spelling before publishing]

The Global Latin Factor Podcast is a bilingual, weekly show based in the DFW area covering Latino culture, identity, entrepreneurship, and community stories.

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There was a trap house across the street and prostitutes on the corner two blocks from her school bus stop — and Sylvia says she never felt scared, because that neighborhood also taught her who she is.

In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, singer Sylvia of the band Sabor Puro opens up about growing up Mexican-American in Dallas's Webb Chapel neighborhood, the shame she once felt speaking Spanish in front of her white friends, and the seventh-grade talent show where dancing to Selena changed how she saw her own culture.

She talks about being raised largely by her older sisters while her dad battled leukemia, coming from a family of musicians going back to her grandparents' conjunto, and the anxiety that eventually sent her to therapy in college after it started affecting her performances. She also opens up, for the first time in this conversation, about being diagnosed with Graves' disease — an autoimmune disorder that attacks the thyroid — and the fear that she might lose her ability to sing altogether.

Listeners will hear about the years she spent going back and forth between shame and pride in her identity, the specific moment a sex worker in her neighborhood told her to keep getting good grades, and how she eventually found her people — and her voice — through a performing arts magnet school built around the same halls that shaped artists like Erykah Badu and Norah Jones.

This is a Mexican-American identity story, a family story, and a health story, told by someone who grew up two blocks from the streets she now sings about overcoming. Part 2 continues the story soon.

In this episode:

• How a Selena talent-show performance in 7th grade became the turning point in Sylvia's relationship with her own culture
• What it was like growing up near Harry Hines Blvd. in Webb Chapel, Dallas
• How being placed in different academic tracking groups in middle school shaped her sense of belonging
• Why Sylvia went to therapy for performance anxiety in college
• What it was like being diagnosed with Graves' disease mid-career, and why she chose daily medication over surgery to protect her voice

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Mexico has 36 UNESCO World Heritage Sites — more than any other country in the Americas. In this solo episode of The Global Latino Factor Podcast, host Crispin Valentin explains what UNESCO World Heritage status actually means, why one Mexican site is currently on the endangered list, and Mexico's path from joining the World Heritage Convention in 1984 to its newest addition in 2025.

Then the episode goes deep on five specific sites: Chichén Itzá, a Maya pyramid engineered so a serpent-shaped shadow appears to descend its staircase twice a year during the equinox; the Historical Center of Mexico City and Xochimilco, where a 1978 utility dig accidentally uncovered an Aztec moon goddess carving beneath the modern city; an abandoned pyramid city whose original builders remain unidentified to this day; Palenque, a Maya city still largely buried in the Chiapas jungle and home to King Pakal's jade burial mask; and Guanajuato, a former global silver-mining capital now known for its naturally mummified remains.

Before getting into the main topic, the episode also revisits a popular clip about the origin of the word "sock" (as in "hit" or "punch"), tracing it from 17th-century British slang through Mark Twain and Aretha Franklin.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• What "Outstanding Universal Value" means and why it matters for UNESCO listing
• How Mexico's 36 sites break down: 28 cultural, 6 natural, 2 mixed
• Why the Gulf of California is currently on UNESCO's endangered list
• The archaeology and engineering behind Chichén Itzá's equinox illusion
• How Mexico City's Templo Mayor was rediscovered by accident in 1978
• Why Palenque and one other major pyramid site still hold unanswered mysteries

This is a solo episode — no guest this time — so there are no guest links to share. For more from the show, including merchandise and updates, visit the podcast's website and social channels (linked in the show notes).

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show so you don't miss the next one, leave a quick rating or review, and share it with someone who's into history or planning a trip to Mexico.

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