July 2, 2025
Vanesa Carrillo: From the Border to Tech and the Start of Latinas & Lattes
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In this episode, I sit down with Vanessa Carrillo, a first-generation Latina, product marketing manager at Microsoft, and founder of Latinas and Lattes, before she gets too big. We talk about navigating college, showing up in professional spaces, and finding our way through career and identity shifts.
Our conversation made me reflect on my own early 20s—especially now as I turn 30. We talk about growing up bilingual, being ESL kids, dealing with imposter syndrome, finding faith, and learning how to ask for help. Vanessa shares her journey from El Paso to Georgetown to working in tech, and how her experiences led her to create Latinas and Lattes, a nonprofit helping Latinas in Seattle connect and support one another.
We also talk about rejection, rest, and what it means to choose yourself when the world often expects you to shrink. Whether you're figuring things out at 23 or starting over at 30, this episode is your reminder that you're not behind—and you're definitely not alone and every Latino has their own story.
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Okay, really quick, before we get into today's episode with Vanessa Carrillo, I want to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who reached out after the last episode.
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Your messages truly meant a lot to me, especially because, well, when I started this podcast, I really, really did not want to change my, and it's frying up right now as we speak, my tone of voice.
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Yeah, I didn't want to change the dialect.
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I didn't want to change much of it because, you know, that's usually what they kind of teach you in journalism school is, you know, work on your speech, work on this, you know, go up there and give us the best voice you have.
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And I love that.
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And I understand definitely why, you know, you need that.
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But to me, the Valley Girl accent was always very, very important.
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important especially because it was always kind of seen as like oh you're just not professional enough or you know they would kind of it would kind of seem as like they would make fun of us like we sounded dumb um And so I got a message that said, it was honestly refreshing listening to someone who sounds like me, especially living in a white city, talking about issues that directly affect us.
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And I think, honestly, when I read that, I, it was like, this is, this is, I don't know if she's talking about, you know, how passionate me and my friend are about this topic and conversation or just like our vocal, our vocals, right?
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This person's also from California.
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And so I was just like, Yeah, this is really important.
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This is why I did that.
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Like, because if you grow up in Los Angeles, and then you grow up in the surrounding of Los Angeles, well, then you know, if you know, you know, you know, if you're not from Los Angeles, you're not from California, then you have no idea if we're talking about you're basing everything off the media and off whatever Hollywood is showing you.
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And I'm gonna tell you that, like, it's, it's like, I don't know, it's beautiful.
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It's beautiful.
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And it's dirty.
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And it's at the same time, I don't know how to tell you this.
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Okay.
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But Yeah, that message really, it really meant a lot to me.
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And it was really funny.
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I adopted a Theo Rick here.
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He was one of the very few Latinos that would go into the bar when I was bartending.
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And yeah, we just got along because I just love connecting like with other Latinos who also just want to, you know, learn more about their story and their history, especially if they grew up in a state or in a town that was majorly white.
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And a lot of our history is hidden.
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And so, you know, I shared this episode with my Theo Rick and he's like, When I was listening to your guys' voice, I couldn't tell who was who.
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He's like, I had to remember.
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Okay, she's talking about the bar and she's talking about marketing.
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And so I thought it was really funny.
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And I'm like, I don't know.
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I love it.
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I love my accent.
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I don't want it to go anywhere.
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But I guess if I have to, it will have to.
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Regardless, that message really, really meant a lot to me and thank you but yeah i think that's just like a good example on you know why it's so important to find your voice and learn how to use it and not be afraid to use it you know your voice is so important even if it fries up and it cracks mine cracks all the time i also really really really really want to think because um you guys as you guys know why it's not a fun time for me right now i use actually if you guys can notice i have a new mic i I used my last couple of bucks to get myself a new mic because my last one broke.
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And with that said, I actually really, really want to thank those who helped contribute to La Chismosa del Valle through Buy Me a Coffee.
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You guys really helped keep this show going.
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Like, really, for real.
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One of the reasons that I could release this right now.
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And yeah, so a special shout out to my girls, Medium, Suli, and Hailey.
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You girls are all independent artists.
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You also get the struggle.
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You get it.
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You know, Hailey is an independent journalist as well.
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is an artisan artist I had to say it like that I'm so sorry I don't know why I have to like put in the little the little uh accent and then yeah you guys met my girl medium last week or two weeks ago so thank you girls um I really really appreciate that and I cannot wait to see what all of you all of us do and you know supporting each other girls supporting each other we love that another person I want to thank is Vanessa herself she's the guest on my show for this episode some of my personal friends may not know her yet but this is a girl i can feel like we're all going to be working for someday and i think that's why i felt a little rush to publish this episode as soon as possible vanessa is founder of latinas in lattes which is a non-profit organization that helps latinas connect with one another and empowers them by hosting events from coffee dates to workshops that could be anything from like real estate or you know how to get into grad school it's been a great way for people who are new to seattle to make friends because the seattle freeze is And it's very hard to meet people who are open to change, I guess.
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But this has been a really great way to find other, you know, fun, wonderful people who are also looking for other Latinas to connect.
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You know, not everybody in the chat is from out of town.
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A lot of people just grew up in Washington and are just generally wanting to connect with more Latinas.
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And I think that this chat has been great for that.
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It's also been great for small business owners.
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In fact, when I dropped that, I was going to be doing more independent things everyone was so supportive and Vanessa even reached out to see if I needed any help with marketing and I was like actually girl I was going to talk to you and see if you would be down to come on the show because I think you are a baddie in tech which I now know we can thank Raven-Symoné for it.
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And she was so kind and she said yes and took time out of her very busy schedule to have this interview and just give us her story on how she overcame some struggles in school and is now working in corporate marketing.
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But yes, this was recorded way back in May.
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And honestly, I should have asked her how she makes time for herself, actually, because as soon as I got out of the phone with her, my life just got extremely hectic.
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And very last minute, like a lot of things in entertainment.
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I, you know, had the opportunity to go and fly back to LA and help at Leleaf, which is a film festival for Latino filmmakers.
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Since leaving the industry, it can feel a little sad to not be so close to it anymore.
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So I try to find things that I can do to participate, but I did only have like one week to figure out like, how am I going to afford this?
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And how am I going to feed myself while I'm there?
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Luckily, I grew up in California and never had money.
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So it did not feel any different being there with very little money.
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And I already knew how to survive.
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And shout out to the film festival for feeding us because, well, that's how I survived my week.
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And I snuck into the after parties.
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And so I didn't have to pay for drinks.
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No, but on a serious note, thank you, Lalif, for the opportunity.
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And I hope to be welcome back next year.
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And I'm sorry to all the bartenders that I could not tip.
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I hope they tipped well.
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And then as soon as I got back, I got let go and then the ICE ratings happened and I was just kind of frozen.
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To be fair, I think I was also coming out of a bit of a hypomanic episode, and it has just kind of been a really weird time right now.
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Time is just weird.
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On top of that, I also had to make kind of an executive position.
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Eventually, I was like, wait, hold on.
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This is kind of my show.
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Because with everything going on with the ratings and everything, I was like, I have to bring on medium.
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This is timely when it comes to news.
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And honestly, I think it fits the format of my show now because I feel If I started off with this episode, I would have just come on here and sounded a little manic.
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And now that you have a little context about what happened in my last episode, I think you can listen to this episode and understand why I'm talking so fast, I guess.
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Also, at the end of the day, I really think Vanessa and I, we touched on faith in this episode.
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And I think God wanted me to listen to this episode again.
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I'm not gonna cry I'm not gonna cry um I'm not gonna cry because it's a good thing turning 30 is such a good thing you know and I think when I if I could go back and just like tell my 23 year olds sell something is um one uh do not be too quick to judge anybody who is 29 and not in a place where society expect them to be because life is gonna humble you girl but also do not be a afraid to ask questions and accept help maybe this will make sense to you guys uh towards the end of the episode but that was me if you know me i have ever since i was in you know a kid i have had a hard time asking for help and even asking questions because in my household i was already supposed to know that and if i didn't know that then you know and so yeah i look back at my early 20s like i feel like last week was a reflection of just looking back at my 20s and you know right now I'm not exactly in the place I want to be.
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You know, nobody wants to be 30 and unemployed.
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But it is also, I feel like the push that I had needed and always needed.
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And I also think about timing because, you know, when I was 23 years old, I was entry level in one of my dream corporate companies.
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And at the same time, I remember having to make a really hard decision, even just going into that dream company because I was going to take a pay cut.
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I was working at an attorney's office as a legal assistant and for once I was making money that I can actually like support myself and at least pay my rent and I just remember you know getting the job interview and then getting the job and being told one it's going to be temporary you know two we're not going to pay you that much but you know you have potential to grow and all that stuff and I remember being so torn because you know you grew up in an immigrant household you don't have money you know And so, you know that like taking a pay cut is like the dumbest thing you could fucking do.
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But at the same time, I, hold on, I'm gonna
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pause this.
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But at the same time, you know, I was working towards my dream and I knew that like how, this company would look on my resume, could open up the doors for the future, right?
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I guess I just was also just not expecting everything that kind of happens after you turn 25.
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And, you know, I finally did accept help and finally got the proper diagnosis.
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But with that, it was also, you know, hey, you have been overworking yourself.
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Like, congratulations.
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Like, you've been going to school, working two jobs, and doing an internship.
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But that's, like, actually what is killing you.
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And, uh, You know, sometimes it takes, unfortunately, something like that to also reflect and be like, oh, my God, yeah, I'm working so much.
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Y mi familia también está trabajando mucho.
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Que, like, now I'm not even enjoying it.
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I'm not even enjoying time with my friends.
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I don't even see my family.
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And, you know, like, I do want my dream.
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And I do.
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But at the same time, it's, like, taking such a toll on me.
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And that didn't say, like, I gave up, you know.
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Pero I had to learn how to rest.
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I had to learn how to rest.
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And it's something that in the Latino community we don't get taught you know and so I guess the last couple of years I have just been maybe not the best like my work ethic has not been the best but at the same time like like I just wanted to chill I still managed to get myself into the rooms I got myself into regardless I still had worked really hard I still got my degree even when everybody was like you shouldn't go to school this is so um just get into working something like you know and that was kind of my reflection last week still like that's kind of why I wanted to bring Vanessa on the show as well because I think it's really important to know and understand that every Latino has their own story every Latino has their own path and I think the United States are usually white people like to clutter us into one and we're not like we're all very very different and hopefully you guys can listen to this interview and you guys can see like we both had very different stories but we share the same struggles and you know at the end of the day like when they tell us no like we still push through you know we still find a way like i love you bestie my bestie bianca shout out to her too and she was like you know america like you've always had to strategize your entire life you know and girl i know i'm not saying like word by word like what you're saying but like this is what i took from it Because I was undocumented, I've always had to strategize my entire life.
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And so I've had to learn to either find the loopholes or find a way to get what I want when I'm being told no.
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And I think sometimes that can change my little attitude as well.
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Because something I learned is that I was just in survivor mode.
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And honestly, that stuff sucks.
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So honestly, thank you, Vanessa, for taking your time and speaking with me because I just want you to know that while I was asking these questions and just interviewing you.
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I almost felt like I needed to be mentored by you.
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I was like, this is my thing.
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I need to be mentored by her.
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And that's like, honestly, just something that like I was afraid to ask for in college.
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And so I look at you and the younger generation of people who are coming up and starting organizations and empowering other Latinos.
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And I love it.
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I mean, this is what I wish I could have been doing in my early 20s.
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It's just every time, you know, I tried to get into organizing, like the social justice anger would come out, which is a bipolar so it was a lot but I know that like if I you know had Vanessa's positive energy I probably wouldn't I probably would have been CEO of NBC and Disney by now just saying just saying just saying maybe I'm maybe I'm maybe I'm talking a little maybe that's the manic in me but one thing that I have really appreciated is you know my friends who have seen the hard work I have done because here I feel like I I'm just not working as hard but I know back home it was you know work work work which is also just the difference between LA and Seattle's mentality so yeah thank you Vanessa again for starting this organization and just speaking with me because you did actually made me get off my ass basically um and I really really needed that um and as far as for networking uh your space is also giving me a place to learn how to network because I was a kid at the family parties that like wasn't coming out of her room and often it was because I was always constantly being criticized by my mom's friends and I just didn't really want to deal with it and another word it's just like I was just really shy right and I hate that I brought that into my adulthood.
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Because growing up, networking is big, big, big.
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They emphasize that in school.
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And I was in an industry where I grew up with people who wanted to work in the entertainment industry.
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work in the entertainment industry or have family in the entertainment industry and when you grow up with hard-working parents who are janitors and they don't have any connections into the industry you know you have to work 10 times harder but then you also get put into these settings and then sometimes i don't know i personally feel like my manners just go out the window i know i'm like really excited to be talking to someone and be there but i'm also like freaking out on the inside and so i either like talk too much to kind of avoid that or don't and it just it's a thing and then i start like trying to pick up social cues and it's just not it's not fun when you're you know and you're a divergent baddie and on top of that i just feel like sometimes that industry gets toxic because they only care about names and money which i know that is everywhere but it really does ruin a lot of the arts sometimes i would say is why i feel like everybody's complaining about movies like we're not getting good movies and all that stuff there's a whole system that has made it very hard for very talented creators and people who have great ideas to just, you know, land there.
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So that's another reason why I was very excited when I heard about La Leaf, the film festival, because again, they match my values.
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They're also about helping Latinos reach their goals in a system that makes it very, very hard for us to move up.
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So I'm finally going to stop talking and we're going to get into our interview.
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I don't have any advice or mentoring things to tell you guys because I don't really feel like I'm the best to do that right now.
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So I will just, if you know anybody there is like freaking out about turning 30.
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I'm just going to tell you guys what my boss told me when I came up to her with my dilemma about, you know, leaving my legal assistant job to work for my dream corporate company.
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And, you know, she told me that my 20s are meant to be broke and that I was supposed to make really hard decisions, but that your 30s do get better.
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And for the most part, the money starts flowing and you have a better, clear sense of direction of what you want in life.
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And honestly, I just really needed that at that time, because again, I I was afraid to ask for help.
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So hearing that just gave me the ease I needed.
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And I just kept telling myself that every time I had to make a hard decision in my 20s.
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And now, yeah, I'm 30 and I have, you know, a much, much better direction of what I want.
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Something that I've always actually always wanted.
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I just didn't really even know how to get there.
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I've never been fired.
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And so maybe you do need to get fired to get to where you want to be.
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And yeah, the only thing I can say, guys, have fun.
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Enjoy your 20s.
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If you have money, like enjoy it.
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If you don't have money, enjoy that too.
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Because...
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It's not cute when you're 30 and broke.
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But yeah, just have fun, enjoy it, you know?
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And I would say always just choose you, I guess, because men come and go, but this is your life.
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This is your future, you know?
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And I also have like fallen in and out of love and made decisions based off that.
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And like at the end of the day, it's like, we're here, you know?
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So, and this is just to anybody.
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This isn't even to like Vanessa herself.
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If she wants to take it, she can take it.
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But I can't wait to see where you are when you are 30.
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I can see you doing great things and then you know what if you do need to rest that's cool too.
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By the way I remember the question I actually wanted to ask you kind of as a joke but also seriously when you told me what school you went to.
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Do you know Kara Swisher?
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Only asking because I love her and she's like one of my favorite tech journalists so...
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I don't know.
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I'm just kidding.
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I'm just kidding.
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I'm just going to share her story now.
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What made you want to start this podcast?
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Cause I, I love this idea.
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Like I haven't seen too many like Latina podcasts, but I don't know if I can get into it later.
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Yeah,
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no.
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Oh my God.
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Yes.
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Basically kind of like, I feel like you and I are gonna relate on the same reasons on why we started what we started.
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It was the same thing.
00:19:35.048 --> 00:20:42.419
I felt like growing up, I would hear or listen to a lot of of latino media and a lot of um english both english and spanish media i didn't feel well represented in english media though like i would see a lot of latinos but we were still kind of seen as like second class citizens in the media and so and then in spanish media there was people you know obviously like latinos but i didn't see them be like dark skin that much so yeah that kind of but the thing about me is like i always wanted to be radio anyways ah yeah yeah yeah yeah and so I never really wanted to be like on camera but it's just nice to know that like you know we just need more like just just taking up spaces which is I think something that I learned yesterday it was so nice to see you yesterday I know I loved it I went in I was kind of hoping to pitch something this year but I went I was dabbling between two business ideas that when it came down to it I was like let me just go go see how they're doing, see what they're doing.
00:20:42.598 --> 00:20:49.747
And then I actually walked out with a much better idea, something that kind of combines both of the things I want to do.
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And it was amazing because I got to talk to, I think she's on the board member.
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And so I don't know, it was amazing just talking and networking.
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And she was the one that was like, you should really branch out and actually start doing this.
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This is actually a really good idea.
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And I'm like, yeah, you're right.
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Why am I waiting for somebody else when I can just do it myself?
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So that's a lot.
00:21:14.953 --> 00:21:21.780
So right now, so I did want to start like a media company, like something along that side of media or a creative agency.
00:21:21.921 --> 00:21:27.067
But at the same time, another thing that I was kind of looking into was like a kind of a speakeasy bar.
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However, there was a lot of things once I got into the alcohol industry that I like learned that I was like, that's gonna make things so much difficult.
00:21:33.512 --> 00:21:39.319
But when I was talking to someone yesterday, they brought up I was talking to them about the situation that I was that was happening at work.
00:21:39.539 --> 00:22:08.049
And they were like no it makes sense what you're trying to say makes sense why don't you just make something why don't you make your own brand why don't you just make your own brand or something and i was i would so love to see that yeah and i was like yeah because i think there is like a lot of there's a good target audience for craft latino lovers and like there's just a whole thing there's we we got really into it and she walked out and she was like you i better see you pitching this uh this idea in october and i could see that wait
00:22:08.151 --> 00:22:23.666
i could see that the going to like support in any way yes that would be so cool to see you there like full circle moment like I know and then now you're like pitching are they doing another one in or are you going to the California
00:22:23.826 --> 00:22:24.268
I'm going to the
00:22:24.307 --> 00:22:24.607
Portland
00:22:24.688 --> 00:22:41.006
one I don't know when the LA one is but if I could because that's where originally if I wanted to do the speakeasy that's where I wanted it to be anyways but so okay about a year ago I moved to Washington and I refused to make any friends because I was so stubborn and And I'm also delusional.
00:22:41.066 --> 00:22:43.828
And I'm like, in my head, money is going to magically appear.
00:22:44.169 --> 00:22:45.450
And I'm going to move back to California.
00:22:45.470 --> 00:22:47.532
So there's no point in making friends.
00:22:47.653 --> 00:22:51.537
And then my mom was like, no, you need to get out of the house and start making friends.
00:22:51.616 --> 00:22:53.118
Go join a Facebook group.
00:22:53.318 --> 00:22:55.780
And I dabbled along some Facebook groups.
00:22:56.241 --> 00:23:02.929
In a Facebook group, someone dropped a chat and was like, hey, for any Latinas out there, we have this community, Latinos and Lattes.
00:23:02.989 --> 00:23:03.910
You guys should join.
00:23:04.069 --> 00:23:05.070
Follow us on Facebook.
00:23:05.211 --> 00:23:08.555
Follow us on our WhatsApp channel, which I thought was very interesting at the time.
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But now I'm like, oof.
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I love this.
00:23:11.018 --> 00:23:14.121
Now I'm here and I get to interview.
00:23:14.141 --> 00:23:15.241
Oh my God, this is exciting.
00:23:15.301 --> 00:23:21.568
Today I'm joined by Vanessa Carrillo, a first-gen Latina and a product marketing manager in tech.
00:23:22.009 --> 00:23:33.280
She's also the founders of Latinas and Lattes, a community created to build friendships, spark conversations, and uplift other Latinos through fun, empowering meetups and just shared experiences.
00:23:33.362 --> 00:23:39.407
So I'm really excited to just dive deep into your story today, Vanessa, and just get to know you a little bit.
00:23:39.407 --> 00:23:44.973
So tell us, Vanessa, how, tell us, where's your family from?
00:23:45.153 --> 00:23:45.654
Let's start with that.
00:23:45.674 --> 00:23:45.914
Where's
00:23:45.934 --> 00:23:46.536
your family from?
00:23:46.596 --> 00:23:46.935
Of course.
00:23:46.955 --> 00:23:50.220
No, first of all, thank you so much again, America, for inviting me.
00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:57.688
It's honestly truly an honor to be like also interviewed by another Latina who's trying to really make a mark on our community.
00:23:57.748 --> 00:24:02.251
Porque I feel like if we don't do it, if we don't, then who else is going to do it and represent?
00:24:02.311 --> 00:24:03.653
So to give you a little bit of background.
00:24:03.894 --> 00:24:05.596
So I was born in El Paso, Texas.
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I don't know if you know where El Paso, Texas is, but it's right near the border of Mexico.
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My parents are from there, from Mexico.
00:24:13.003 --> 00:24:16.948
I grew up kind of back and forth in both areas because my grandparents were from there.
00:24:16.968 --> 00:24:19.790
And so I grew up multicultural in the border.
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Speaking Spanglish, Spanish was my first language.
00:24:22.114 --> 00:24:23.234
So I was an ESL kid.
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I would say growing up in that border town region really exposed me to just like new ideas, but also like to see what our community experiences on a day-to-day basis.
00:24:33.945 --> 00:25:09.884
Porque es super different living in the border versus living in like Seattle or living in like other places outside of like the border region and I would just say I think like one thing that I got from living in El Paso is just like it really taught me my upbringing how to be resourceful to give back pero también to dream big porque living in the border you just see so many immigrants pero también o sea Latinos who are hustling day in day out I see people crossing the border like nosotros lo hacíamos to wake up let's just say at 5 a.m to cross the border for two hours stand in line and then to to go to school.
00:25:10.325 --> 00:25:11.987
And so it was a struggle.
00:25:12.366 --> 00:25:13.888
I grew up like humble beginnings.
00:25:13.909 --> 00:25:21.297
Papas were honestly like coming without any job, any like probably like$5 in their pockets and not knowing the language.
00:25:21.376 --> 00:25:22.498
I feel like that was a barrier.
00:25:22.538 --> 00:25:25.662
Grew up like translating legal documents from my mom.
00:25:25.781 --> 00:25:27.442
We lived in a one bedroom apartment.
00:25:27.763 --> 00:25:31.106
We also had like, I guess like financial assistance from like the government.
00:25:31.146 --> 00:25:38.035
And so it was just like, you didn't know where you're, I don't know, in like a week, if we would have a meal on the table, it was a struggle.
00:25:38.394 --> 00:26:10.809
And I guess like, I don't know, don't share that often um with a lot of people that don't know me but but yeah just not knowing if i don't know maybe like in two two years if you were going to stay in el paso or if we were going to go back to mexico and so yeah very humble beginnings but it really motivated me to want to do something out of my life and to do it for my parents but eventually to like i don't know do something in some shape or form i just felt like i needed to do something as a latina and like the daughter of my mom who has gone through so many trials and tribulations and has yet still not given up.
00:26:10.849 --> 00:26:12.872
But yeah, just that's a long form of answer.
00:26:12.912 --> 00:26:14.653
But yeah, let me know the answer to the question.
00:26:15.173 --> 00:26:16.095
No, it did.
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You said you were an ESL kid.
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