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  • Kava Bartender and Sold-Out Artist: JD's Human Story

    Kava Bartender and Sold-Out Artist: JD's Human Story
    2026/08/28

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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.

    Follow the show and connect with us at info@thegloballatinfactor.com or @thegloballatinfactorpodcast.


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    56 分
  • From Webb Chapel to the Stage: Sylvia of Sabor Puro on Selena, Shame & Survival (Part 1)

    From Webb Chapel to the Stage: Sylvia of Sabor Puro on Selena, Shame & Survival (Part 1)
    2026/08/21

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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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    Or email: info@thegloballatinfactor.com

    Website: https://thegloballatinfactor.com/

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    46 分
  • Mexico's 36 UNESCO World Heritage Sites — More Than Any Country in the Americas

    Mexico's 36 UNESCO World Heritage Sites — More Than Any Country in the Americas
    2026/08/14

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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.

    Website/Shop: https://thegloballatinfactor.com

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    20 分
  • De Vender Gelatinas en la Calle a Recorrer EE.UU. en RV: La Historia de Julio The Foodio

    De Vender Gelatinas en la Calle a Recorrer EE.UU. en RV: La Historia de Julio The Foodio
    2026/08/07

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    A los 11 años, Julio cruzó la frontera sin papeles con su familia. Hoy es el creador detrás de Julio de Foodio, recorre Estados Unidos en su RV y ayudó a intentar salvar el restaurante de su mamá cuando las ventas cayeron de $85,000 a $18,000 al mes.

    ¿Alguna vez has tenido que ayudar a salvar el negocio de tu familia? Cuéntanos tu historia en los comentarios.

    Julio de Foodio Redes Sociales:
    📍Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@juliothefoodio
    📍 Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@juliothefoodio
    📍 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliothefoodio
    📍Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juliothefoodio
    📍Buy Me A Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/juliothefoodio

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    1 時間 43 分
  • From an $80 Brand Deal to Coca-Cola and the World Cup

    From an $80 Brand Deal to Coca-Cola and the World Cup
    2026/07/31

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    Before Coca-Cola and the FIFA World Cup, Paloma Díaz Rivas was crying through her first call center shift. In this episode, the Mexican content creator shares how an $80 first brand deal, a viral Shein haul video, and business books her dad paid her to read as a kid built a content career entirely in Spanish.

    She also opens up about her mom crossing the border at 8, getting hacked mid-vacation, and presenting the World Cup coin toss with her father by her side.

    Website https://thegloballatinfactor.com/

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    1 時間 24 分
  • The First World Cup Champion Spoke Spanish | The Latino History of Fútbol

    The First World Cup Champion Spoke Spanish | The Latino History of Fútbol
    2026/07/24
    Send us Fan MailThe first World Cup champion in history spoke Spanish — Uruguay, 1930. The Latino history of fútbol, from Aztec stone courts to the Estadio Azteca.Ask most people who won the very first World Cup and they'll say Brazil, Italy, or England. They're wrong. And the real answer says everything about us.This is a solo episode on the history of fútbol, the origins of the World Cup, and how deep Latino roots run in the biggest tournament on Earth.THE BALLGAME BEFORE THE BALLGAME Three thousand years before England wrote a single rule, our ancestors were already playing one of the oldest organized ball games on the planet. The Aztecs called it ōllamaliztli — from ōlli, their word for rubber. The Maya called it pok-ta-pok. They played with a solid rubber ball that could weigh up to nine pounds, in massive stone courts, with crowds in the stands. Mesoamericans invented the rubber ball. And this was no weekend kickaround — it was sacred, tied to how they understood the sun, life, and death. No hands, no feet. Hips, forearms, thighs. A version of that same game, ulama, is still played in Sinaloa, México, to this day.WHERE THE MODERN GAME REALLY CAME FROM England's original version was called mob football — entire villages dragging an inflated pig's bladder across miles of open country. Broken bones, brawls, deaths. Kings tried to ban it, and a preacher in the 1500s called it a bloody, murdering practice rather than a friendly sport. The most beautiful sport on the planet started as a legal riot between two towns. England's boarding schools — Eton, Harrow, Rugby — finally tamed it, and in 1863 they split the difference in a London tavern: the foot game became association football, the hands game became rugby. That's also where the word "soccer" comes from. Not America. England.DID FÚTBOL COME FROM CHINA? FIFA officially points to cuju, played in China more than two thousand years ago, as the oldest recorded version. Most historians call the connection a stretch. Their reasoning is simple: kicking a ball is just something humans do. It appeared independently in China, Greece, Rome, Japan — and right here in the Americas. Nobody handed the game down to us.HAS IT ALWAYS BEEN FIFA? No. For about forty years there was no global governing body at all. FIFA was founded in 1904 in Paris by seven European countries — and England, who wrote the rulebook, was too proud to join at first.URUGUAY 1930: THE FIRST WORLD CUP The first World Cup ever played wasn't in London, Rome, or Paris. It was in Uruguay. They were the best team on Earth, they were celebrating a hundred years of their constitution, they offered to pay for everything, and they built the Estadio Centenario from scratch. Thirteen teams played. Seven came from the Americas. The first goal in World Cup history was scored against México on opening day. And in the final, Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2 in front of 93,000 people to become the first world champions in history. The next day the whole country shut down for a national holiday.TEN TITLES Brazil has five World Cups, more than any nation on Earth. Argentina has three, including Maradona in 1986 and Messi in 2022. Uruguay has two, including the Maracanazo of 1950. Ten world championships in Latin America.AND AN HONEST LOOK AT FIFA FIFA's record off the field is ugly — the 2015 corruption arrests in Zürich, and right now, the ticket situation at the Estadio Azteca, with everyday Mexican fans priced out of watching their own national team on their own soil. That's not okay. But a boardroom in Switzerland doesn't get to rewrite what we built on the field.Follow the show, share this with somebody watching the games this summer, and leave a rating. Nos vemos en la próxima.Website: https://thegloballatinfactor.com/Support the showSocial Media:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGlobalLatinFactorPodcastTwitter: https://twitter.com/thegloballatin1Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegloballatinfactorpodcastTiktok: ...
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    26 分
  • La Catrina Mexican Shop Owner on Immigration and Business

    La Catrina Mexican Shop Owner on Immigration and Business
    2026/07/17
    Send us Fan MailWhat does it take to turn a candy stand in a nearly empty mall into a full Mexican gift shop with a loyal following? Giovana, owner of La Catrina Mexican Shop, walks through exactly how she did it — and the identity questions she had to work through along the way.Giovana was born in Tuxpan, Zacatecas, and crossed into the U.S. with her family as a toddler. She grew up in Haltom City, Texas, spent five years working in human resources at Canales Furniture, and never planned on entrepreneurship — until her father, a former Dr. Pepper Hispanic market manager, started his own distribution business during the pandemic and asked for her help. That request turned into La Catrina Mexican Shop, which opened inside Ridgmar Mall in November 2023.The strongest story here is how little of it was planned. The shop started as a straightforward candy store. Customers kept asking for gift baskets, pottery, and trending items they'd seen on TikTok — like chamoy pickle kits — and Giovana adjusted the business in real time. She also talks openly about being told for most of her life that she "doesn't look Mexican" or "doesn't sound Mexican," and why she's chosen to speak proudly about being an immigrant instead of downplaying it.This conversation is for anyone thinking about turning a side hustle into a storefront, anyone who has felt caught between two cultures, and anyone curious about what it actually takes to build trust at vendor markets and turn strangers into regulars.What You Will HearHow a father-daughter distribution business turned into a full retail storefrontWhy the shop's original name didn't work and how "La Catrina" was chosen insteadThe vendor-market mistakes that cost her sales, and what she changedHow social media and TikTok trends directly shaped what she stocksWhy she sources pottery and artisan goods directly from families in Mexico rather than through wholesalersTopics DiscussedCrossing the border as a child and the years-long path to citizenshipGrowing up bicultural in Haltom City and navigating questions about her identityHer father's career at Dr. Pepper and his pivot into his own distribution business during the pandemicLeaving a human resources career to help run a family businessHow the name La Catrina was chosen and what it representsTurning a candy store into a full Mexican gift shop based on customer demandLessons learned from vendor markets, including what not to bringSourcing artisan pottery and goods directly from MexicoHosting her own pop-up markets to support other small businessesWhat she'd tell her younger self about building a businessGuest Information Guest: Giovana Professional Title: Owner, La Catrina Mexican Shop Business/Organization: La Catrina Mexican Shop, located inside Ridgmar Mall, Fort Worth Website: Website: https://lacatrinamxshop.com/Before You Go Follow The Global Latin Factor Podcast so you never miss an episode, and if this story moved you, leave a rating or review — it helps other listeners find these conversations. Share this episode with someone building a small business of their own, and go connect with Giovana at @lacatrina_mxhop. For another Fort Worth small-business story, check out our episode with Eddie "Mr. Picoso."Follow the Global Latin Factor Podcast for more conversations with Latino entrepreneurs and community leaders.Support the showSocial Media:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGlobalLatinFactorPodcastTwitter: https://twitter.com/thegloballatin1Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegloballatinfactorpodcastTiktok: ...
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    1 時間 20 分
  • De limpiar casas y vender salsas a construir alianzas entre México y EE. UU. La historia de resiliencia y reinvención de Mayela García, de Chihuahua a Fort Worth

    De limpiar casas y vender salsas a construir alianzas entre México y EE. UU. La historia de resiliencia y reinvención de Mayela García, de Chihuahua a Fort Worth
    2026/07/10

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    De limpiar casas y vender salsas y tortas… a construir alianzas de negocio y abrir puertas para los nuestros. Esta es la historia de Mayela García. 🇲🇽💧

    De Chihuahua a Fort Worth, Mayela nos abre su vida sin filtros: su niñez, el banco donde vivió un asalto, la maquila, el salto a Estados Unidos, criar a sus tres hijas, empezar de cero limpiando casas, el divorcio, y cómo la fe y el trabajo la llevaron a representar una marca mexicana de agua que hoy conquista este lado de la frontera. Una plática sobre resiliencia, reinvención y por qué toda mujer debe tener su propio ingreso.

    — In English —

    From cleaning houses and selling salsas to building business alliances and opening doors for our community — this is Mayela García's story. From Chihuahua to Fort Worth, she opens up about growing up, a bank robbery she survived, the maquila, moving to the U.S., raising three daughters, starting over, divorce, faith, and building brand partnerships. A conversation about resilience, reinvention, and why every woman should have her own income.

    🔔 Sigue The Global Latin Factor / Follow for more real Latino stories. New episodes weekly.

    Invitada / Guest — Mayela García
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mayegarciafinanzas/
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mayela.garcia.262721

    Somos sabor y sazón en esta olla. Somos un Global Factor. 🔥

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    1 時間 11 分