LA LISTA: A Latinx Writers Podcast

Join your host, Rubén Mendive, as he compiles a list of Latino/a/x/e writers you need to know. Each episode features an in-depth interview with a writer on where they've been and where they're headed. Follow us @lalistapodcast on Instagram! lalistapodcast.com

The Punch-Up: Minisode #10 - Thulio vs. The Bling Ring (Rubén’s Fault) 07/14/2026

The Punch-Up: Minisode #10 - Thulio vs. The Bling Ring (Rubén’s Fault) This week: Thulio survives The Abbey phone-theft industrial complex, Rubén’s office job turns him into a fluorescent-lit shell of a woman, Love Island signs off and World Cup brain rot clocks in, Erling Haaland becomes the internet’s strangest tall king, and The Great LA Exodus has everyone asking whether the dream is still worth the rent. Plus a Punch-Up on FIFA refs choosing favorites... and Riverside, the AI podcasting hellbox holding us hostage. La Lista Podcast host and writer ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream /episode/index/show/lalista/id/42065385

193. LISA QUINTELA 07/07/2026

193. LISA QUINTELA A CAN'T STOP, WON'T STOP LATINX WRITER Lisa Quintela shares growing up Cuban-American between New Jersey, Miami, and New York, how her parents’ harrowing escape from Cuba shaped her drive and storytelling, moving from Tisch-trained actor to journalist to lawyer before writing a pilot about her family that brought her to LA, breaking into TV on The L Word: Generation Q, and using her legal background and love of exposing hidden rot in shows like The Lincoln Lawyer and CBS’s Matlock. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/41968210

The Punch-Up: Minisode #9 - Rubén and Thulio Clam Slam Into Summer 06/30/2026

The Punch-Up: Minisode #9 - Rubén and Thulio Clam Slam Into Summer This week: Thulio returns from Gilmore Girls country and enters his World Cup Brazilian era, Rubén turns 35 and discovers his head is now extra-wide at Warby Parker, a queer vaquero fundraiser cracks the TikTok marketing code, Love Island takes over the algorithm, and the feed is fake but the clips are forever. Plus a Punch-Up on airlines forcing broke bitches to gate-check their carry-ons... and politicians letting data centers and toxic fires get way too comfortable in our neighborhoods. La Lista Podcast host and writer ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream /episode/index/show/lalista/id/41902120

192. EUGENE GARCIA-CROSS 06/23/2026

192. EUGENE GARCIA-CROSS A GRATEFUL, CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC, IN-HIS-HEAD, OCD LATINX WRITER shares growing up half Puerto Rican in Erie, Pennsylvania, feeling like the Latino kid in his hometown and the gringo cousin in Puerto Rico, trading a decade in academia for a last-chance leap into TV writing, breaking in through the NBC Writers Program and writer’s PA jobs, and finding his old-school sitcom dream on NBC’s Happy’s Place. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/41736435

The Punch-Up: Minisode #8 - Thulio Saves Y2K, Rubén Goes IMAX 06/16/2026

The Punch-Up: Minisode #8 - Thulio Saves Y2K, Rubén Goes IMAX This week: Corporate Pride is dead (but the Chase Sapphire rainbow logo lives in our hearts), Thulio dodges the WeHo Pride tax, Rubén hits Club Cobra and begs DJs to let a song breathe, the LA mayoral race takes a post-Spencer Pratt breath, and Unc cinema faces the rise of Gen Z excellence. Plus a Punch-Up on Y2K parties with no whimsy... and nosy gays turning open vs. monogamous relationship discourse into a courtroom drama. La Lista Podcast host and writer ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream /episode/index/show/lalista/id/41659665

191. MICHELLE SALCEDO 06/09/2026

191. MICHELLE SALCEDO A CUBADORIAN WRITER-ACTION DIRECTOR shares growing up Cuban and Ecuadorian in Miami, turning her parents’ immigrant love story into creative fuel, finding her voice through years of writing features at the library, making her Sundance-supported short 'Cinnamon Skin,' breaking into action with her feature 'Switch and Bait,' and exploring why her work keeps returning to underestimated heroes, complicated morality, and the cost of freedom. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/41582060

The Punch-Up: Minisode #7 - Rubén Is a Girls’ Girl, Thulio Moshes in the Backrooms 06/02/2026

The Punch-Up: Minisode #7 - Rubén Is a Girls’ Girl, Thulio Moshes in the Backrooms This week: Thulio gets spit-roasted by ailments, Brown & Out 8 has its final-final encore at the WeHo Pride Arts Festival, Akbar delivers DFMO antics, Gen Z boos AI and war criminals at commencement, and Gen Z filmmakers take over the box office with Obsession and Backrooms. Plus a Punch-Up on NPCs asking too damn much... and Spectrum, AT&T, and every other company failing to provide the service we’re literally paying for. La Lista Podcast host and writer ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream /episode/index/show/lalista/id/41489390

190. ALBERTO ROLDÁN 05/26/2026

190. ALBERTO ROLDÁN A LATINO WRITER WHO WOULD LIKE EVERYTHING TO BE 10% WEIRDER, THANK YOU Alberto Roldán shares growing up Puerto Rican in rural central Pennsylvania, having his artistic world cracked open by Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, detouring through Northwestern, NPR, and political work, navigating the long road to his first staff job, learning when to let the clown play before the professor takes over, and bringing his love of weird, thoughtful entertainment to Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/41421795

The Punch-Up: Minisode #6 - Thulio Wants Boy Broth, Rubén Loses Reception 05/19/2026

The Punch-Up: Minisode #6 - Thulio Wants Boy Broth, Rubén Loses Reception This week: Thulio gets fed and read at Courier Cumbia, Rubén goes full wilderness girlie at Point Mugu, Brown & Out 8 gets a free encore at the WeHo Pride Arts Festival, Instagram launches “Instants” for some reason, and AI discourse hits Hacks, The Comeback, and our last nerve. Plus a Punch-Up on the DACA renewal backlog... and a punch-around on bad beard lines, AI Met Gala delusion, and people checking their Apple Watches mid-conversation. La Lista Podcast host and writer ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream /episode/index/show/lalista/id/41345525

189. CHRISTINA PIÑA 05/12/2026

189. CHRISTINA PIÑA A DRIVEN LATINA WRITER shares growing up in a loud Cuban-American Miami household, secretly applying to USC against her dad’s wishes, cutting her teeth through years of assistant jobs before breaking in through the Paramount Writers Mentoring Program, rising from staff writer to supervising producer, breaking down strategies for how Latino writers can survive in a shifting industry, and writing on the new Miami-set NBC/Peacock series M.I.A.! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/41260445

The Punch-Up: Minisode #5 - Rubén Gets Face-Mogged at Sephora, Thulio Is TJ Maxxing 05/05/2026

The Punch-Up: Minisode #5 - Rubén Gets Face-Mogged at Sephora, Thulio Is TJ Maxxing This week: Thulio survives a UTI (Rat Beach will pay for its crimes), summer is coming (Lorde hive rise), The Devil Wears Prada 2 review, Beyoncé Act III conspiracy theories, and TV fellowship season is among us... let’s get in formation. Plus a Punch-Up on looksmaxxers... and immigrant stories that still treat us like set dressing. La Lista Podcast host and writer ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream /episode/index/show/lalista/id/41152815

188. PHILIPPE BOWGEN 04/28/2026

188. PHILIPPE BOWGEN A CHAOTIC AND RELENTLESS FIRST-GEN LATINO WRITER shares growing up between Peruvian and British cultures in wealthy, white Connecticut, hiding his sexuality at an all-boys prep school while striving to excel at everything, abandoning a path to diplomacy for acting and writing, and how his obsession with messy families, identity, and belonging inspired The Set Up, a scripted podcast from Sonoro and iHeartRadio. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/41042805

The Punch-Up: Minisode #4 - Thulio Quits the Chat, Rubén Goes to the Movies 04/21/2026

The Punch-Up: Minisode #4 - Thulio Quits the Chat, Rubén Goes to the Movies This week: Closing night of Brown & Out, defining Club Tempo trade, Sizzler hot bar theology, Alex-on-Alix podcast beef, and Ruben walks back his “cinema is dead” thesis. Plus a Punch-Up on flaky gay guy group chats... and influencers getting paid to tell you how to vote. La Lista Podcast host and writer ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream /episode/index/show/lalista/id/40951850

187. GLENÍS HUNTER 04/14/2026

187. GLENÍS HUNTER A VOCAL MULTIETHNIC MULTI-HYPHENATE WRITER shares growing up between the Bronx and the Dominican Republic, leaving behind a path in psychology to pursue acting and storytelling, exploring themes of identity and grief in her short films, and breaking through with the Netflix-sponsored LALIFF Inclusion Fellowship and the Mitú x Walmart Filmmaker Mentorship Program. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/40856265

The Punch-Up: Minisode #3 - Rubén Is Sick, Thulio Gets Bimbofied 04/07/2026

The Punch-Up: Minisode #3 - Rubén Is Sick, Thulio Gets Bimbofied This week: Opening night of Brown & Out (Thulio’s playwright era unlocked), theater audiences treating it like a group chat, bimbofication scandals, Sisters in Christ burritos, and the WGA staff strike exposing how unaffordable LA really is. Plus a Punch-Up on indie artists who won’t drop their music… and moderates who keep flopping. La Lista Podcast host and writer ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream /episode/index/show/lalista/id/40753940

186. ALEJANDRO MONTOYA MARÍN 03/31/2026

186. ALEJANDRO MONTOYA MARÍN A "VIVA INDIE" LATINO WRITER & FILMMAKER shares growing up between Laredo and Merida, opening a video store in Monterrey before taking the leap to film school in Vancouver, grinding for years in New Mexico before landing on Robert Rodriguez’s Rebel Without a Crew: The Series, and how betting on himself led to his latest action comedy The Unexpecteds on Tubi, backed by indie film champion Kevin Smith. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/40673585

The Punch-Up: Minisode #2 - Thulio Survives MomTok, Rubén Touches Grass 03/24/2026

The Punch-Up: Minisode #2 - Thulio Survives MomTok, Rubén Touches Grass This week: Fellowship rejection season is upon us (and the girls are coping), Thulio goes full Heated Rivalry at an LA Kings game, the male loneliness epidemic (but make it queer), Mormon MomTok chaos, and Ruben’s take on why AI in Hollywood is a very expensive nothing burger. Plus a Punch-Up on Hollywood’s lack of emotionally resonant TV... and the gays being way too horny in IG Reels comments. La Lista Podcast host and writer ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream /episode/index/show/lalista/id/40599955

185. MAOR 03/17/2026

185. MAOR A QUIRKY LATINA WRITER shares her upbringing in Miami between Honduran and Moroccan Jewish cultures, discovering improv and comedy as a way to channel her outsider perspective, moving to Los Angeles after studying screenwriting at UCLA, surviving the pandemic and strikes while building a creative life in Hollywood, and how years of writing, collaboration, and persistence led to her first TV writing credit on Peacock’s emerging creator series The Kouncil, Telemundo’s first English-language series. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/40503610

The Punch-Up: Minisode #1 - Rubén Is Vertical-Pilled, Thulio Wants Secret Friends 03/10/2026

The Punch-Up: Minisode #1 - Rubén Is Vertical-Pilled, Thulio Wants Secret Friends This week: Thulio’s Sniffies hookup story (including a brutal gym neg), writing plays at the LA LGBT Center, Selena Gomez foot-kissing discourse, a long-awaited job update (!!), and Rubén’s unhinged thesis that vertical micro-dramas are the next streaming revolution. La Lista Podcast host and writer ditch the formal interviews and hop on the mic for quick, unfiltered conversations about their chaotic creative lives — covering new writing projects, hot takes on industry trends, dating disasters, and whatever discourse the algorithm served them that morning. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Sunny Side - Airstream /episode/index/show/lalista/id/40371275

184. BERNARDO CUBRÍA 03/03/2026

184. BERNARDO CUBRÍA A MEXICAN PLAYWRIGHT RELUCTANTLY PARTICIPATING IN HOLLYWOOD In our Season 7 premiere, shares growing up between Mexico City and Houston in a fiercely Mexican household that resisted assimilation, discovering theater after a year in human rights activism, turning to satire to break away from narco stereotypes in American storytelling, writing authentically Latino stories on Acapulco (Apple TV), and why protecting your voice matters more than chasing the next job. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/40288685

183. ANNA SALINAS 10/28/2025

183. ANNA SALINAS AN INSECURE FREAKY LATINA WRITER For our Season 6 finale, shares growing up in the conservative retirement town of Sarasota, how teaching art gave her the confidence to pursue improv at UCB, building Latino community with her team Menudo and the show Feliz Hour, breaking into TV on Human Resources, Mo, and Loot, and how her webcomic Bad Comix by Anna and short films helped her break out as a filmmaker! Season 7 of the pod starts back up March 2026! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/38775690

182. YOSIMAR REYES RETURNS! 10/14/2025

182. YOSIMAR REYES RETURNS! A LATINO WRITER WHO WRITES ABOUT JOY & GRIEF (Ep. 113) is back to talk about bringing his solo show to its LA premiere (Nov 20–23), navigating the loss of his grandmother with the help of therapy, reflecting on undocumented life in a shifting political landscape, and creating theater rooted in joy, grief, and humor! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/38571970

181. STEPHANIE RODRIGUEZ 09/30/2025

181. STEPHANIE RODRIGUEZ AN AWKWARD DOMINICAN YORK WRITER shares growing up between the Bronx and Tampa, hustling her way into art school, creating her graphic novel , transitioning from comics to screenwriting, moving to LA with a New York hustle, and breaking into children’s media through the Fred Rogers Productions Writers' Neighborhood program! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/38400325

180. JAMES EASON-GARCIA 09/16/2025

180. JAMES EASON-GARCIA AN ANIMATED GAY LATINX WRITER/PRODUCER shares growing up Mexican-American in Colorado, coming out as the first openly gay student at his high school, rising from a PA for Elena of Avalor to co-executive producer for "Marvel's Iron Man and His Awesome Friends," and diving into preschool animation through visual storytelling and lessons in kindness! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/38182260

179. MONTSERRAT LUNA-BALLANTYNE 09/02/2025

179. MONTSERRAT LUNA-BALLANTYNE A BUBBLY & COLORFUL SPOOKY LATINA WRITER shares growing up between Monterrey and Ventura County, leaving the Mexican Consulate to break into TV with Mayans MC, surviving Zoom rooms and the strike, and finding new creative joy through Film Independent’s Project Involve with her horror/psychological thriller short ! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/38049995

178. MARCELINA CHAVIRA 08/19/2025

178. MARCELINA CHAVIRA A SMART-ASS TEJANA WRITER shares growing up in Texas with Mexican and white roots, moving from anthropology into sketch and voiceover, writing for Amazon’s Upload in the thick of our AI anxieties, bringing her Texas upbringing to the King of the Hill continuation, and shaping a voice grounded in magical realism and postcolonial identity in our current climate! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/37869755

177. JORGE MOLINA 08/05/2025

177. JORGE MOLINA A PROUDLY FORMULAIC IMMIGRANT WRITER shares growing up gay in Cuernavaca, Mexico and dreaming of Hollywood from afar, skipping the traditional assistant path after USC due to visa constraints, building a career curating shorts at top queer and Latino film festivals and demystifying the submission process for filmmakers, and channeling his whodunit obsession into the Gina Torres-led audio drama ! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/37673105

176. HELEN FERNANDEZ 07/22/2025

176. HELEN FERNANDEZ A PROUD LATE-BLOOMER, DAUGHTER TO IMMIGRANTS, NOW TRAUMATIZED & SEARCHING FOR A HYPNOTIST shares her upbringing between Phoenix, San Antonio, and Mexico, navigating toxic assistant gigs and breaking through via the NBC TV Writers Program, how getting staffed on Happy’s Place and not being asked back taught her the highs and heartbreaks of working in TV, and creating the live comedy show to explore the absurdity of modern dating! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/37468480

175. REUBEN BERNARDO QHAPAQ 07/08/2025

175. REUBEN BERNARDO QHAPAQ A QUEER LATINO-INDIGENOUS DRAG QUEEN TURNED FILMMAKER shares his journey from Ecuador to San Francisco, surviving chronic illness and a rigid adoptive home, finding community as a teenage runaway in the city’s underground Latino drag scene, going from high school dropout to AFI graduate, and why his upcoming short honors the queer elders who helped him survive. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/37329770

174. RONALD HINTON 06/24/2025

174. RONALD HINTON A PROUD QUEER, AFRO-NUYORICAN WRITER, ACTOR, & PRODUCER shares growing up with his grandmother in NYC's Upper West Side, reclaiming pride in his roots through writing, launching his Queerty-nominated web series to spotlight queer life in public housing, and building community through the . Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/37105110

LA LISTA: A Latinx Writers Podcast

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