In Season 2, Episode 3 of The Missing Book Podcast, Luz Maria Mack speaks with retired educator, mentor, and author Angela Arias, lovingly known by her students as “Dr. Mom.”

Angela shares her journey from the Dominican Republic to New York City, her 35-year career in education, and her passion for mentoring first-generation students and women of color. She also discusses her book Half a Century Ago, inspired by her childhood experience as a young immigrant growing up in New York during the 1970s.

Angela explains why she refused to change her story to fit the publishing industry’s expectation that Latino stories must always focus on trauma. Instead, she chose to believe in her voice and publish stories rooted in family, education, resilience, culture, and love.

This powerful conversation reminds us that our stories matter, our destinies belong to us, and we do not have to wait for permission to share our truth.

🎙️ Subscribe to The Missing Book Podcast for conversations with authors, illustrators, educators, poets, and storytellers whose voices deserve to be heard.

About The Missing Book Podcast:

Hosted by Luz Maria Mack, The Missing Book Podcast highlights authors, illustrators, educators, and creatives whose stories deserve to be seen, heard, and celebrated. Each episode explores the inspiration behind the work, the publishing journey, and the impact stories can have on readers, families, and communities.

#TheMissingBookPodcast #AngelaArias #LuzMariaMack #HalfACenturyAgo #DominicanAuthors #LatinoStories #ImmigrantStories #RepresentationMatters

What happens when someone who struggled with reading grows up to become an author and helps young people believe in themselves?

In Season 2, Episode 2 of The Missing Book Podcast, I sit down with author and educator Liza May Read for a beautiful and honest conversation about finding your purpose, believing in yourself, and having the courage to keep going even when you are afraid.

Liza shares how struggling with reading shaped her childhood and how that journey eventually led her to books, writing, and working with students in New York City schools. We also talk about her book Mirror: Meet Yourself, Become the Author of Your Life and the work she is doing to remind young people that they have the power to write their own story.

We get real about limiting beliefs, self-publishing, finding your voice, learning to ask for help, and doing the work even when everything is not perfect. We also talk about why our past is part of our story, but it does not have to decide what comes next.

One of my favorite reminders from this conversation is simple. You are the author of your life, and you are still writing your story. ✨

🎙️ Subscribe to The Missing Book Podcast for conversations with authors, illustrators, educators, poets, and storytellers whose voices deserve to be heard.

About The Missing Book Podcast:

Hosted by Luz Maria Mack, The Missing Book Podcast highlights authors, illustrators, educators, and creatives whose stories deserve to be seen, heard, and celebrated. Each episode explores the inspiration behind the work, the publishing journey, and the impact stories can have on readers, families, and communities.

#TheMissingBookPodcast #LizaMayRead #LuzMariaMack #AuthorOfYourLife #Mirror #LatinaAuthors #RepresentationMatters #SelfPublishing #LiteracyMatters #SocialEmotionalLearning #FindingYourPurpose #BelieveInYourself #NYCEducators

What happens when your child asks, “Why doesn’t anyone know we exist?”

In the first episode of Season 2 of The Missing Book Podcast, Luz Maria Mack sits down with her friend, author and entrepreneur Christine Osoria, for a deeply personal conversation about cultural identity, motherhood, representation, and creating the spaces we wish existed.

Christine shares the story behind her children's book, Rosalia the Honduran American, which was inspired by her daughter questioning why people knew about the Dominican Republic but did not know about Honduras. It was a moment that brought Christine back to her own childhood growing up Honduran American in the Bronx and ultimately inspired her to write a story that would help children feel proud of where they come from.

Christine also talks about her journey from self-published author to founder of Lavish Booktique, a pop-up bookstore created to give more visibility to women writers and stories that are too often overlooked.

Luz and Christine get personal about what it means to build something while also being mothers, working full time, raising children, supporting their dreams, and learning that success does not have to happen according to someone else's timeline.

At its heart, this episode is about being proud of who you are, making room for stories that are missing, supporting other women, and permitting yourself to enjoy the journey.

Because our children should never have to wonder whether their culture matters. Sometimes seeing Honduras, hearing Spanish, recognizing a baleada made by Abuelita, or reading about a family that looks like theirs can be the very thing that tells a child: I belong here too.

🎙️ Subscribe to The Missing Book Podcast for conversations with authors, illustrators, educators, poets, and storytellers whose voices deserve to be heard.

About The Missing Book Podcast:

Hosted by Luz Maria Mack, The Missing Book Podcast highlights authors, illustrators, educators, and creatives whose stories deserve to be seen, heard, and celebrated. Each episode explores the inspiration behind the work, the publishing journey, and the impact stories can have on readers, families, and communities.

#TheMissingBookPodcast #Season2 #ChristineOsoria #LuzMariaMack #LavishBooktique #RosaliaTheHonduranAmerican #HonduranAmerican #HonduranStories #LatinoStories #LatinaAuthors #LatinoAuthors #DiverseBooks #RepresentationMatters #CulturalIdentity #ChildrensBooks #WomenWriters #WomenSupportingWomen #IndependentAuthors #SelfPublishedAuthors #BronxWriters #BronxAuthors #OurStoriesMatter #PublishingDiversity #MotherhoodAndCreativity #BooksThatRepresent