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

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

173. ALESSANDRA JARA DEL CASTILLO 06/10/2025

173. ALESSANDRA JARA DEL CASTILLO A TEXAN PERUVIAN LATINA WRITER OBSESSED WITH FANTASTICALLY FLAWED WOMEN shares growing up between Peru and Texas, discovering screenwriting at UT Austin after starting in journalism, breaking into writers’ rooms through Twitter and mentorship, channeling her love of messy family dynamics into her scripts, and gaining rare production access as an assistant thanks to generous showrunners. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/36866545

172. KAHLIL MASKATI 05/27/2025

172. KAHLIL MASKATI A MIXED-RACE WANNABE RAPPER DIY LATINO FILMMAKER shares growing up half Puerto Rican and half Indian in New Jersey, finding his creative voice through rapping and filmmaking, getting staffed on So Help Me Todd after the Paramount Writers Mentoring Program, and how making his indie feature led him to direct a new Chicano detective short set in Bakersfield. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/36721970

171. YOHANNA BAEZ 05/13/2025

171. YOHANNA BAEZ A BOUNDLESS & LIMITLESS LATINX WRITER shares growing up Dominican in L.A., how a short doc on climate justice in her native DR sparked her storytelling path, her move to NYC to pursue the indie route, and turning —a genre-blending audio series about bodegas, designer drugs, and interdimensional portals—into a podcast, video game, and manga. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/36514205

170. SEBASTIÁN REA 04/29/2025

170. SEBASTIÁN REA A QUEER ECUADORIAN WRITER FROM QUEENS shares his journey from Ecuador to Queens, his hustle as a teen party promoter, working with Tribeca and Jennifer Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions, and how the NBC TV Writers Program led him to his first staff job on Peacock’s upcoming limited series Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy. Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/36323120

169. TAWNYA BENAVIDES BHATTACHARYA 04/15/2025

169. TAWNYA BENAVIDES BHATTACHARYA A BOSS BABE LATINX WRITER WHO BUILT HER OWN LADDER & HELPS OTHERS CLIMB UP IT shares what it was like growing up in a tiny farming town in Eastern Washington, how uncovering family secrets led her to embrace her Mexican roots later in life, why she founded the screenwriting school , and how a relentless work ethic helped her staff on shows like Bel-Air, A Million Little Things, Ginny & Georgia, and My Life with the Walter Boys! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/36135770

168. ELIJAH SARIÑANA 04/01/2025

168. ELIJAH SARIÑANA A QUIETLY CHAOTIC GENRE-BENDING INDIGENOUS/CHICANO WRITER shares his upbringing in California’s Central Valley, his journey from progressive rocker to writing horror and sci-fi rooted in Mexican mythology, his reconnection with his Nahua heritage, and how a La Lista mixer landed him a gig on Nocturno: Tales From the Shadows, Sonoro’s Danny Trejo–narrated horror podcast! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/35948815

167. CHYNNA LADAGE 03/18/2025

167. CHYNNA LADAGE A BIRACIAL BISEXUAL BIPOLAR LATINA WRITER shares her upbringing in Burbank with her Mexican and Indonesian family, her experience traveling the country while working on Catfish: The TV Show (MTV), her journey overcoming imposter syndrome to finally call herself a writer, and how she worked her way up from office PA to story editor on All American (CW)! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/35709440

166. OMAR PONCE 03/04/2025

166. OMAR PONCE A PROUD CHUNTI WRITER STRIVING FOR MEXCELLENCE In our Season 6 premiere, Omar Ponce shares his upbringing in L.A. and Hermosillo, Mexico, his journey from advertising to TV writing, the art of talking sh*t about loved ones at the ofrenda, and the significance of bringing "Mexcellence" into the mainstream on Lopez vs. Lopez! Instagram - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/35517215

165. KEVIN MADRIGAL GALINDO 10/29/2024

165. KEVIN MADRIGAL GALINDO A DECOLONIALISH LATINX WRITER For our Season 5 finale, shares his journey from his childhood in South San Francisco to Stanford University bioengineering student, food justice advocate, and chef, detailing how transformative experiences in nonprofit work inspired him to write poetry and publish his first chapbook, ! Season 6 of the pod starts back up March 2025! Instagram & Twitter/X - @lalistapodcast Music: Arriba Mami - Jingle Punks /episode/index/show/lalista/id/33650457

LA LISTA: A Latinx Writers Podcast

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