Que Lo Que Podcast

Club Tipico Dominicano is more than just an anchor business in Miami’s Little Santo Domingo neighborhood of Allapattah. For nearly 35 years, it has been a community hub, local business booster and a cultural gatekeeper. The first and last stop where people could find authentic Dominican music and meals in a city that often forgets there is more than one island in the Caribbean.

It’s a responsibility of food and fun that founder Luis De La Cruz has passed down to his daughter Jasmely D. Jackson -- one that she has embraced by being equally dedicated to tradition and innovation.

As hipsters prepare to descend on Miami for Art Basel, we sit down and talk to Jasmely about Tipico’s legacy, its future amid a quickly gentrifying neighborhood and the challenge of keeping both the food and the music fresh for today’s audiences.

photo credit: the New Tropic

Miami's Gabriela “Gaby" Guzman is helping women see and own their power through connection, community, joy, and authenticity via "Las Comadres" network. She also hosts masterminds and other online experiences that enable women to achieve the clarity, support and courage that they need to start and grow their own businesses.

Ir's not the road that she anticipated moving from Santo Domingo at the age of 19. We talk about that journey, how the need to build community is baked in Dominicans' DNA and what it takes to grow a support network committed to uplifting one another in life and in business. Mix in some reflections on race, parenting and politics and you have the kind of "good" bochinche that we need to thrive.

WHO SHE WANTS TO PAY IT FORWARD:

Sus comadres of course. Check out the full directory of members at: https://www.lascomadres.club/directory

HOW TO FIND GABY

Best spot is on IG at @thegabyguzman

We couldn’t think of a better person to kick off our first season of interviews than South Florida based Afro-Dominican freelance writer and poet Topacio Marrero.

Marrero, whose writing has been featured in places like Blavity, HuffPost, and Ain't I Latina, brings the gift of mindfulness, conscious, and authentic transformation into the lives of those who attend her workshops and/or speaking engagements. Born and raised in Washington Heights, her writing focuses on her journey both as a parent and an Afro-Latina, exploring not only culture and identity, but also how communities can recognize and achieve their full potential. We sat down to talk with Topacio ahead of the mid-October publication of her first book of poetry to about her childhood, Domincana-Haitian relations, and the challenges of raising a bilingual, tricultural daughter in a place like Miami. We also asked her to pay it forward and suggest someone who might not be well known, but who she thought listeners should check out.

It’s a conversation rich with insights and thoughts to continue to explore as our first season rolls on.

Our families are such an important part of the work that we do. So what better way to head into Election Week that listen to the woman who inspired Boston City Council Member Julia Mejia to not just run for office, but to be a tireless advocate for her community. Her mother, Mirta Peña.

As fans recall, Mejia became the first Latina -- and Dominicana -- to win a seat on the Boston's City Council last year. It was a race that went down to the wire, ultimately being decided by 1 vote. But listening to her mother's story, its no secret from where Mejia gets her determination and dedication to public service. These are the people that are depending on our votes -- this and every Election season.

Tom Perez is the first Dominican to chair the Democratic National Committee, hoping to lead the party to success in national and local elections this November. It's the culmination of a career full of firsts. one that connects him with a family tradition of public service that stretches back decades to the DR.

Venus and El B sit down with the former Secretary of Labor to talk about family, his childhood in Buffalo, NY and what is at stake for all families on Nov. 3rd.