LA LISTA: A Latinx Writers Podcast

AN ANIMATED GAY LATINX WRITER/PRODUCER James Eason-Garcia shares growing up Mexican-American in Colorado, coming out as the first openly gay student at his high school, rising from a PA for Elena of Avalor to co-executive producer for "Marvel's Iron Man and His Awesome Friends," and diving into preschool animation through visual storytelling and lessons in kindness! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A BUBBLY & COLORFUL SPOOKY LATINA WRITER Montserrat Luna-Ballantyne shares growing up between Monterrey and Ventura County, leaving the Mexican Consulate to break into TV with Mayans MC, surviving Zoom rooms and the strike, and finding new creative joy through Film Independent’s Project Involve with her horror/psychological thriller short In Sickness and in Health! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A SMART-ASS TEJANA WRITER Marcelina Chavira shares growing up in Texas with Mexican and white roots, moving from anthropology into sketch and voiceover, writing for Amazon’s Upload in the thick of our AI anxieties, bringing her Texas upbringing to the King of the Hill continuation, and shaping a voice grounded in magical realism and postcolonial identity in our current climate! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A PROUDLY FORMULAIC IMMIGRANT WRITER Jorge Molina shares growing up gay in Cuernavaca, Mexico and dreaming of Hollywood from afar, skipping the traditional assistant path after USC due to visa constraints, building a career curating shorts at top queer and Latino film festivals and demystifying the submission process for filmmakers, and channeling his whodunit obsession into the Gina Torres-led audio drama A Murder in Montecito! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A PROUD LATE-BLOOMER, DAUGHTER TO IMMIGRANTS, NOW TRAUMATIZED & SEARCHING FOR A HYPNOTIST Helen Fernandez shares her upbringing between Phoenix, San Antonio, and Mexico, navigating toxic assistant gigs and breaking through via the NBC TV Writers Program, how getting staffed on Happy’s Place and not being asked back taught her the highs and heartbreaks of working in TV, and creating the live comedy show Single Riders Only to explore the absurdity of modern dating! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A QUEER LATINO-INDIGENOUS DRAG QUEEN TURNED FILMMAKER Reuben Bernardo Qhapaq shares his journey from Ecuador to San Francisco, surviving chronic illness and a rigid adoptive home, finding community as a teenage runaway in the city’s underground Latino drag scene, going from high school dropout to AFI graduate, and why his upcoming short Esta Noche honors the queer elders who helped him survive. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A PROUD QUEER, AFRO-NUYORICAN WRITER, ACTOR, & PRODUCER Ronald Hinton shares growing up with his grandmother in NYC's Upper West Side, reclaiming pride in his roots through writing, launching his Queerty-nominated web series Natives to spotlight queer life in public housing, and building community through the Queer Voices: NYC Film Festival. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A TEXAN PERUVIAN LATINA WRITER OBSESSED WITH FANTASTICALLY FLAWED WOMEN Alessandra Jara Del Castillo shares growing up between Peru and Texas, discovering screenwriting at UT Austin after starting in journalism, breaking into writers’ rooms through Twitter and mentorship, channeling her love of messy family dynamics into her scripts, and gaining rare production access as an assistant thanks to generous showrunners. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A MIXED-RACE WANNABE RAPPER DIY LATINO FILMMAKER Kahlil Maskati shares growing up half Puerto Rican and half Indian in New Jersey, finding his creative voice through rapping and filmmaking, getting staffed on So Help Me Todd after the Paramount Writers Mentoring Program, and how making his indie feature Do I Shock You Like Lightning? led him to direct a new Chicano detective short set in Bakersfield. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A BOUNDLESS & LIMITLESS LATINX WRITER Yohanna Baez shares growing up Dominican in L.A., how a short doc on climate justice in her native DR sparked her storytelling path, her move to NYC to pursue the indie route, and turning All Night Deli—a genre-blending audio series about bodegas, designer drugs, and interdimensional portals—into a podcast, video game, and manga. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A QUEER ECUADORIAN WRITER FROM QUEENS Sebastián Rea shares his journey from Ecuador to Queens, his hustle as a teen party promoter, working with Tribeca and Jennifer Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions, and how the NBC TV Writers Program led him to his first staff job on Peacock’s upcoming limited series Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A BOSS BABE LATINX WRITER WHO BUILT HER OWN LADDER & HELPS OTHERS CLIMB UP IT Tawnya Benavides Bhattacharya shares what it was like growing up in a tiny farming town in Eastern Washington, how uncovering family secrets led her to embrace her Mexican roots later in life, why she founded the screenwriting school Script Anatomy, and how a relentless work ethic helped her staff on shows like Bel-Air, A Million Little Things, Ginny & Georgia, and My Life with the Walter Boys! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A QUIETLY CHAOTIC GENRE-BENDING INDIGENOUS/CHICANO WRITER Elijah Sariñana shares his upbringing in California’s Central Valley, his journey from progressive rocker to writing horror and sci-fi rooted in Mexican mythology, his reconnection with his Nahua heritage, and how a La Lista mixer landed him a gig on Nocturno: Tales From the Shadows, Sonoro’s Danny Trejo–narrated horror podcast! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A BIRACIAL BISEXUAL BIPOLAR LATINA WRITER Chynna Ladage shares her upbringing in Burbank with her Mexican and Indonesian family, her experience traveling the country while working on Catfish: The TV Show (MTV), her journey overcoming imposter syndrome to finally call herself a writer, and how she worked her way up from office PA to story editor on All American (CW)! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A PROUD CHUNTI WRITER STRIVING FOR MEXCELLENCE In our Season 6 premiere, Omar Ponce shares his upbringing in L.A. and Hermosillo, Mexico, his journey from advertising to TV writing, the art of talking sh*t about loved ones at the ofrenda, and the significance of bringing "Mexcellence" into the mainstream on Lopez vs. Lopez! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A DECOLONIALISH LATINX WRITER For our Season 5 finale, Kevin Madrigal Galindo shares his journey from his childhood in South San Francisco to Stanford University bioengineering student, food justice advocate, and chef, detailing how transformative experiences in nonprofit work inspired him to write poetry and publish his first chapbook, Hell/a Mexican! Season 6 of the pod starts back up March 2025! Instagram & Twitter/X - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A PROUD TEJANA HORROR-OBSESSED LATINA WRITER & DIRECTOR Marcella Ochoa shares her childhood in San Antonio, starting her career on the PR side of the industry, drawing writing inspiration from real life horror stories, and co-writing the social justice horror film, Madres, as part of Amazon’s ‘Welcome to the Blumhouse' series! Instagram & Twitter/X - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A SPIRITUAL CHICANO HORROR SURREALIST LATINO WRITER Jose Vicente Chavez shares his super Catholic upbringing in Santa Fe, building a community of horror writers with The Latinxorcists, diving into the fears of TV/film creatives on his podcast ‘Shared Nightmares’ and we preview our upcoming spooky writers mixer in DTLA! Instagram & Twitter/X - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A QUEER, MIXED, UNAPOLOGETIC, LIBRA WITH ONLY CHILD SYNDROME LATINX WRITER Kay Broch shares her rebellious childhood in West Michigan, her early start as a marketing maven, writing about the drag queens who raised her, and ‘She Said… Let’s!’ her podcast about shining a light on the women who’ve empowered us! Instagram & Twitter/X - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks

A SILLY LATINX WRITER Oscar Lemus shares his upbringing in South Florida, finding his love for sketch comedy at Florida State University, working his way up from TV support staff on multiple shows to staffing on the new season of 'Phineas and Ferb', and standing with the Animation Guild during their upcoming contract negotiations! Instagram & Twitter/X - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks