CYLS 186: Amplifying & Empowering the Latina Voice with Rita Bautista

Description

Episode Summary

What is the most important thing for a podcast to have? An audience. Rita Bautista not only found an audience for her own podcast, she also found an audience for a network of podcasts. In this episode of the Create Your Life Series, the creator of the Latina Podcasters Network tells Kevin that no matter what your approach is to podcasting, the most important thing is to get out of your own way and get started.

Kevin Y. Brown

Kevin Y. Brown is a National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) Center For Public Trust (CPT) “Being A Difference” award recipient, international speaker, entrepreneur, and author. The former MTV Networks host and NYC fashion marketer has created an international following as a speaker on personal excellence, effective communication, and leadership. Kevin has been featured by Black Enterprise magazine as a “Modern Man of Distinction” and highlighted in various publications for his self-help speaking work and helping students graduate college debt-free. Recognized for his commitment to empowering foster care youth and as a foster care system alumnus, he has also delivered the keynote address at the International Foster Care Organizations Conference in Sydney, Australia and Osaka, Japan. Kevin is currently the creator/host of Sirius XM’s “Create Your Life” series, a fellow in the New York Chapter of the Startup Leadership Program, and an active member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

Rita Bautista

As founder and CEO of the Latina Podcasters Network, Bautista connects aspiring and established Mujeres Latinas and the Latinx community. She has been called a bold innovative thinker and cultural connector by her peers. She’s responsible for hosting the first Latina Podcasters meetup at any podcast convention.

Her passion and love for the podcasting industry came in 2019 when she launched her first podcast, Empowerment & All That. This podcast was dedicated solely to empowering women by delivering motivational interviews and episodes. Her desire to keep growing in the podcast community and finding cultural relevance was the driving force to develop Latina Podcasters Network.

Latina Podcasters is the first and only global podcast network committed solely to amplifying the voices of Latinas and Latinx mujeres.

Bautista is a graduate of the University of New Orleans and has over a decade of experience serving on civic and non-profit boards representing Latinx voices in education, government, business, and sports.

Insights From the Episode

Differences between Latino and LatinX, the necessity for the term, and how it gives space for everyone to be themselves.
Details on why Rita created the Latina Podcaster Network, the community it created, and the positive promotion of culture that has grown from the network.
Rita’s top tips for creating a great audio experience for listeners and how to build an audience.
Benefits that podcasting can provide such as a creative outlet, personal growth motivator, and bonus therapy.
How to navigate negative feedback, stay motivated, and overcome challenges.

Quotes From the Show

“I’m lucky. I think I’ve had the opportunity to live in some really dynamic and traditionally rich cities and then others, like Houston, that’s a commercial, thriving, business-development type city.” – Rita Bautista, Create Your Life Series, #186
“I started my podcast because I wanted to begin to empower women and basically give back the message that I had been given.” – Rita Bautista, Create Your Life Series, #186
On Rita’s experience starting a podcast: “It was like an additional layer to therapy.” – Rita Bautista, Create Your Life Series, #186
“What’s beautiful about leaving something uncut is you can always go back to it and see your growth.” – Rita Bautista, Create Your Life Series, #186
“We, fundamentally, are all pretty much the same on the inside.” – Rita Bautista, Create Your Life Series, #186
“It’s really okay to start where you are. I think a lot of people are really afraid of getting started because they don’t have or they lack and having that lack mentality makes more lack.” – Rita Bautista, Create Your Life Series, #186
“When you start the podcast, it’s for you, when you start the second episode, it’s no longer for you anymore.” – Rita Bautista, Create Your Life Series, #186
On building community: “it’s always just being authentic because the more authentic and more real you are as a person, the more chances are your community is going to build faster.” – Rita Bautista, Create Your Life Series, #186
“As much as people want to believe that our happiness belongs in somebody else, it really doesn’t.” – Rita Bautista, Create Your Life Series, #186
“We all have success amnesia, we forget how dope we are.” – Kevin Y. Brown, Create Your Life Series, #186

Resources Mentioned