¿Quién Are We?

Obed Manuel remembers the best taco he ever had: the ones his parents sold, walking door-to-door in their Dallas neighborhood. With long drives, some sorrow, lots of joy and a little smoked meat, those memories shaped him into the father he is now.

Host and producer: May Ortega
Mixed by: Luis Antonio Perez
Editors: Erin Jones, Andrew Villegas
Project Manager: Rebekah Romberg
Additional editorial support: J...

Artist Jasmine Dillavou fights for space in a mostly-white profession, fueled her passion for art that highlights Latino joy.

Host and producer: May Ortega
Mixed by: Emily Williams
Editors: Erin Jones, Andrew Villegas
Project Manager: Rebekah Romberg
Additional editorial support: Jo Erickson, Kibwe Cooper, Luis Antonio Perez
Theme music by Pedro Lumbrano; additional music courtesy Universal Production ...

We'll be back next week with a new episode. In the meantime, we're excited that our friends at Off the Walls are taking over the feed this week – with the people and the stories behind Denver's street art.

Listen to all five episodes of Off the Walls on CPR.org or wherever you listen to podcasts.

To see photos of the mural “Huitzilopochtli,” visit CPR.org.

Credits for “The Hummingbird Warrior” from Off the Walls:

Hosts...

Jennifer Serrano and Veronica Vasques are former enemies, turned lovers and business owners of a design company called JZD. But being Latina and queer can come with both opportunities and obstacles – including from one of the biggest corporations of all: Target.

Host and producer: May Ortega
Mixed by: Emily Williams
Editors: Erin Jones, Andrew Villegas
Project Manager: Rebekah Romberg
Additional editorial ...

Growing up in beautiful, tropical Costa Rica led anthropologist Fernando Villanea to fall in love with the biology of nature. And it’s led him down a path of passion, success and a yearning for home as he studies one of the most interesting animals of all: us.

Host and producer: May Ortega
Mixed by: Emily Williams
Editors: Erin Jones, Andrew Villegas
Project Manager: Rebekah Romberg
Additional editorial su...

A family trauma expert, Mariel Buque, guides us through her own path of acceptance and healing. Her perspective was shaped by her family's difficult transition from the Dominican Republic to New Jersey.

Host and producer: May Ortega
Mixed by: Luis Antonio Perez
Editors: Erin Jones, Andrew Villegas
Project Manager: Rebekah Romberg
Additional editorial support: Jo Erickson, Kibwe Cooper, Emily Williams
T...

Get ready for a new season of ¿Quién Are We?, a podcast about being Latinx, Hispanic, Chicana – or however you identify – and the beautiful things that make us who we are.

Host and journalist May Ortega is back with more everyday stories of incredible people who are exploring their heritage through their personal passions.

You’ll hear from an artist, an anthropologist and a game-maker. You’ll hear about the relationship ...

When a teenager in Chicago had an unwanted pregnancy, she was ready to put her baby in the foster care system. Instead, that baby -- Dimitra Trejo -- was adopted by a family friend and came of age in South Texas. Dimitra's relationship with her adoptive mother, plus learning at an unexpected moment that she was adopted, made life hard. Now, she's a mother herself. And her experiences with her birth mother and adoptive moth...

As a child in front of the TV, at block parties, at school; Manuela Sanchez loved to dance. Then when she discovered she could pursue her passion as a career, her life changed. And even as her identity as an Afro Dominicana strengthened her love of dance, she struggled — as an arts pioneer in her family and in the largely white world of her profession.

Host and producer: May Ortega
Lead producer: Luis Antonio Perez

Growing up in Texas, Jose Borjon's mom raised him to love his community and help the people around him. He never would have guessed that his passion for serving others would take him all the way from the Rio Grande Valley to Washington, D.C.

Host: May Ortega
Lead producer: Luis Antonio Perez
Editors: Erin Jones, Andrew Villegas
Mixing: Luis Antonio Perez
Additional producers: Rebekah Romberg, Jo Erickson, ...

Victor Sosa always loved plants. But it wasn't until the Denver entrepreneur saw a post online that he realized he might be able to turn his passion into a business opportunity. He didn't just make the sale. He made houseplants accessible to his community in a whole new way.

Host and producer: May Ortega
Lead producer: Luis Antonio Perez
Editors: Erin Jones, Andrew Villegas
Mixing: Rebekah Romberg
Addition...

Brandon Vargas feels incredible pride when he thinks of his grandmother's green chile recipe. So he set out to recreate it for his friends and family. There was just one catch: She never wrote down the recipe.

Host and producer: May Ortega
Lead producer: Luis Antonio Perez
Editors: Andrew Villegas, Dennis Funk, Brad Turner
Mixing: Pedro Lumbrano
Additional producers: Rebekah Romberg, Jo Erickson, Erin Jone...

In this episode, it's our host's turn to tell her own story! Growing up in Texas, May Ortega thought she had a pretty good idea of who she was. But but when she became a journalist, she realized that to report on other people, she had to figure out her own story.

Host: May Ortega
Produced by: Erin Jones
Lead producer: Luis Antonio Perez
Editors: Rebekah Romberg, Ana Campbell
Mixing: Pedro Lumbrano<...

Denise Soler Cox was lonely growing up outside New York City. Her parents were Puerto Rican, and the dominant culture in her town was white. It wasn't until she grew up and moved away that she realized there was a whole community of people who feel just like her. She knew she had to share this community with others, and so the idea for a film was born. The only thing she needed to figure out was how to make a film.

Allan Benavides grew up in Southern California, in a family that loved baseball. Despite his family's wishes, he couldn't be a player. Still, he dreamed of working with the sport in some way. Eventually he landed his dream job — in a town that was much whiter than the one he was from. Could he create a new sense of community and pride there among Latino baseball fans?

Host and producer: May Ortega
Lead produce...

When Jon Baron's plan to attend college didn't work out, he realized something was missing from his life. So he worked his way into Denver’s vibrant brewing scene, where he grew to love the techniques behind brewing. Still, it took a special drink from his heritage, brewed with centuries of myth and meaning, to find what he'd been missing.

Host and producer: May Ortega
Lead producer and mixing: Luis Antonio Perez
...

This summer, get ready for a new podcast about being Latino, Hispanic or Chicana – or however you identify – and the beautiful things that make us who we are.

Host and journalist May Ortega will share the everyday stories of some incredible people, and explore how we connect with our heritage through our interests.

You'll hear from a brewer, a dancer, a baseball lover, a filmmaker and many others with moving stories. You...