Join us for another interview of our Latina Entrepreneurship Series. Our guest is entrepreneur Kathy Maestes We'll continue to explore how Latinas are building, growing, and owning their spaces.

We’ve all had those times when we feel crushed and exhausted by emotionally draining times. And in those times, we might seek professional help from a therapist. But have you ever wondered how therapists process their internal struggles? How do they help solve another person’s problems when they’re fighting their own battles simultaneously? Dr. Cynthia Chen, my guest for today’s episode, comes out openly about dealing with one of the most challenging times of her life: losing her elder brother to lung cancer and how she’s chosen to process the various emotions that came with it.

Join us for the first interview of our Latina Entrepreneurship Series. Our first guest is Ana Hernandez COO of InScribe. We will be featuring an entrepreneur every month until the end of the year. We will continue to explore how Latinas are building, growing, and owning their spaces.

In this week’s episode, we are joined by Akasha Absher, the president of Syntrinsic Investment Counsel, a national investment consulting firm. Akasha and Marisol converse about:Akasha explains how she's not only the president of a firm but a Black woman, friend, boss, colleague, partner, finance professional, dreamer, human with capacity for greatness and with capacity to make monumental mistakes. We talk about how in order to be perceived as successful, you must leave certain “worlds” then decide whether you try to reintegrate back into those communities.

In this episode, we speak to Beth Robinson, an Employment Attorney in Denver, Colorado. We discussed:Bias and salary discrepancies for Women of Color in the workplace. The power of negotiation for women’s salary and how women often feel as though they cannot. In her research she has found that women often don’t negotiate their compensation packages, due to the fear of losing the job offer or being seen as confrontational, men on the other hand are more likely to negotiate their packages, even if they have less experience.

In this episode, we speak to Rosalind Page, Founder of Black Femicide US, an organization that tracks violence and murders of black women and girls across America. Rosalind is a nurse, researcher, advocate for the human rights of Black women and girls. We discussed: Every 6 hours a Black woman is killed. Rosalind elaborates on the term “Femicide” and how the resistance to categorize women's death as such is a form of deep rooted misogyny.How femicides in the Black community have increased over the past few years-from a femicide occurring every 19 hours in 2015 to 6 hours in 2022.

In this episode, we speak to Athena Baca-Chieza, Associate Professor, Clinical Director, and Training Coordinator at the University of Colorado Denver, about tran-racial identity, including: Speaking to her experiences as an adoptee and the struggles she faced being different from her family members. How understanding her trans-racial identity helped her more deeply understand herself and how her identity has shaped her experiences.

In this episode, we speak to Zaneta Kelsey, Founder at Delightsum, LLC, about her passion for elevating BIPOC voices in the tech field. We also discussed: Her work at IBM and many other tech companies in Seattle, Dallas and Denver. Zaneta shares her experiences being one of few, Black women in tech, and her struggles in battling the status quo of a White dominated industry. She also shared how the trauma that she experienced in childhood was mitigated by the love and stability she in her family.

Dr. Shaayestah Merchant (she/her/hers) is a practicing clinical psychologist and founder of Essential Dialogues LLC in Denver, Colorado. She has been a clinician for over 15 years and has a wealth of experience working with those in marginalized communities including immigrants, people of color, and those in the LGBTQ+ communities.

Rosita “Rosie” Myers lives in Los Angeles, CA with her husband and mini-Pitbull named Chance. She has always had a love for style, fashion, and helping others find clothing that makes them feel strong and powerful. She has had the opportunity to work as a personal shopper and wardrobe stylist on the sets of tv shows and commercial photoshoots.

Sueyeun Juliette Lee works as the Program Director at Chinook Fund, a social justice funder dedicated to supporting community led change across Colorado, where she directs a community leadership program in social justice philanthropy called The Giving Project. A writer, scholar, and video artist, she is a former Pew Fellow in the Arts and her fifth book of poems is forthcoming with Nightboat books in 2021.