Latina Talks About Feeling Embarrassed Working In Her Family’s Lunch Truck Growing Up: ‘It Was Like A Secret’
The latest episode of the show “Girl, Let Me Tell You” just dropped, giving a thought-provoking conversation on when la cultura tries to bring us down. The episode, which brings in Los Angeles artist Sand One, dives into a crucial, sometimes “messy” question. “Do you feel like your culture supported you growing up?”
Turns out, show hosts Jessica Flores, Glorelys Mora, and Ivana Rojas, as well as Sand One, had much to say about the topic. And we can relate.
The new episode goes into a wide-range of topics, including Bad Bunny and Kendall Jenner’s possible romance, Jenner’s controversial tequila brand 818, the difference between cultural appropriation and appreciation, and even dating outside your culture. It’s a wild ride, so grab a bowl of popcorn (or Flamin’ Hot Cheetos) and enjoy.
Still, the show’s conversation about our comunidad’s reaction to success, feeling brought down by other Latinos— and remembering where we come from— struck a chord. Here’s everything to know about the discussion, which you might identify with far too well.
The show talks about the culture being inspiring, but not always supportive
Around 20 minutes in, the new “Girl, Let Me Tell You” episode dives into “messy” questions for everyone to answer in a “vulnerable, open” way. Show host Mora asks Mexican-Guatemalan artist Sand One: “Do you feel like your culture supported you growing up?”
At that point, the L.A.-based artist replies with radical honesty. Her perspective? La cultura is always inspiring, but not always supportive.
“I feel like my culture inspired me. You know, to draw and to paint, [and] to be motivated from the murals I was seeing” Sand One replied. “But supported me in my career? No, because everybody around me was like, ‘Don’t forget where you come from.’” Oof… that phrase.
The artist then gave insight into what she feels about that ubiquitous, sometimes unnecessary comment. “I know where I come from. I don’t want to be here, trapped. I’m trying to leave.”
Sand One then put her feelings in the best way possible. “I’ll never forget my beginnings but I don’t want to be stuck in my beginnings forever.” Who else can relate?
The artist also spoke about her culture wanting her to sell her creations at a cheaper price, sometimes telling her, “You’re too expensive. You shouldn’t be selling your dolls for this much.” Frustrated, she asks, “What should I sell [them for]? $5? Like I create this.”
Still, in the show, Sand One clarifies that some people in her comunidad champion her art, too. “When it comes to my career, I feel like my culture kind of tries to bring me down, but I’m like ‘No, no, no.'”
“And then the other side of my culture that honors art, they’re like, ‘Sand, give me this bear for, I don’t know, $80.”
The show hosts also shared their own experiences with their cultura, and once feeling “embarrassed” about it
Meanwhile, Dominican host Mora opened up about not always feeling accepted by fellow Latinas, who were sometimes “mean” to her growing up.
“Growing up, I didn’t feel like I was always accepted by Latinas,” Mora recalled. “… a lot of my friends are Black, I’m in a Black sorority… Latina women were kind of mean to me growing up.”
“No shade… Sometimes Latinas can have mean girl energy,” she added. “It really broke my heart so… I don’t want anything to do with this.” So much so, that the host admitted that she didn’t deeply explore her Latinidad until recently with her comedy career.
“Comedy is an exploration of my identity and I can’t explore my identity if I can’t go back to my roots,” Mora shared. Speaking about how she has now “forgiven a lot of people” from her past and shaken off “resentment,” the host and comedian now feels tons of community support.
“I’m so proud to be a Dominican comedian and the way that culture rallies behind me.” Yas!
On the other hand, the show also opened up the conversation about feeling “embarrassed” by your culture growing up
Sand One spoke about her childhood “working in a lunch truck” with her family, sometimes working almost every single day in the summer. “It was like a secret,” she recalled. “But now I can be like, ‘Yeah, I grew up in a taco truck.”
And while the artist agreed that she once felt shame about her family’s work, she now puts it like this: “Now we’re in a time where being Mexican is dope,” she said. “We’re creating that world where we’re like ‘I’m here, honor me.’ Our generation is doing that.”
“Girl, Let Me Tell You” host Rojas, who is from Colombia, also chimed in about her own experience once feeling cultural shame. “For Colombians growing up, I was embarrassed that the only thing that we were known for at the time was like, drugs.”
“I’d be like, ‘I’m Colombian’… there was not one person that did not say the ‘C’ word,” she recalled. “There is so much more to our culture than that.”
“But now that we’re getting older, it’s changed a lot, luckily, [like] with music” Rojas added.
Even more, fellow host Flores, who is also of Colombian heritage, related to Rojas’ experience— and admitted to feeling “bullied” in a largely-Caucasian community growing up.
“I grew up also in an area where there wasn’t diversity at all… I was like super bullied,” she remembered. “Going to school up there was really hard for me. I had to, like, go to school, act completely different.”
Flores even remembered specific hurtful instances from her peers. “Girls would say such mean things about the culture, and say you look like a maid, gardeners are annoying.”
However, the host said that everything changed for her once she went to high school and met many fellow Latinos. “I felt a sense of shame in a sense until I went to high school and I started meeting so many more people that looked like me.”
“Depending on how you were raised, and the kind of people around you, it really seriously shapes how you see yourself, how you see your culture,” she added.
Still, as Mora replied, “You also have an opportunity to always learn about your culture.”
