Latinos are driving the economy. The Chingona Chair teaches brands to connect and profit with culturally-rooted strategies, not clichés. Hosted by three Latina founders with decades of experience in brand marketing, corporate strategy, retail execution, and consumer insights, we highlight what companies are doing right and where they're missing the mark with Latino consumers—and why it matters to the bottom line.
The “Coco Effect”: Día de los Muertos, Tradition & a Changing Culture
What happens when a deeply rooted cultural tradition goes mainstream? In this episode of The Chingona Chair, Diana Leza Sheehan and Alex Garza sit down with Cesáreo Moreno, Chief Curator and Visual Arts Director at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, to explore the history, meaning, and evolution of Día de los Muertos.
From its Indigenous and Catholic influences to the role of art, family, memory, and community, Cesáreo Moreno shares how Día de los Muertos has evolved in Mexico and the United States. The conversation also dives into what he calls the“Coco effect”, including how the film helped introduce the tradition to a broader audience while raising questions about commercialization, cultural authenticity, and the growing crossover between Día de los Muertos and Halloween.
At the heart of the conversation is an even bigger question: How can traditions evolve and reach new audiences without losing the meaning that made them powerful in the first place?
8 Oct 2026
Latina sports fans don’t have a passion problem. They have a recognition problem
In this episode of The Chingona Chair, we sit down with Karina Martinez, founder of Drafted, the media platform putting Latina sports fans at the center of a booming women’s sports economy. In just three years, Karina has gone from launching Drafted with what she calls a “wild hair of an idea” to building a platform fueled by community, cultural insight and data. Her philosophy is refreshingly simple: stop deciding what audiences should care about and start listening to what they’re telling you. We talk about why Latina consumers have been undervalued, what their fandom actually means in dollars, and why brands hoping to reach them need to stop treating cultural relevance like a campaign and start building a relationship. Karina also gets candid about entrepreneurship, getting fired three times in one year, learning to trust her own instincts, and building a company from her personal truths. In This Episode:
Why Latina sports fans represent an overlooked economic opportunity
How Drafted turned community listening into a business strategy
Why representation starts with recognizing value
What brands get wrong when trying to reach Latina consumers
Why cultural relevance requires long-term investment, not a one-off campaign
Building intimacy and trust while scaling a community
Entrepreneurship, failure and finding power in your own truth
Why sometimes you have to be “so loud they can’t ignore us”
For marketers, brand leaders, sports executives and entrepreneurs, this is a conversation about much more than sports. It’s about who gets valued, who gets heard—and what happens when a community starts defining its value for itself.
16 Sept 2026
Leveling the Playing Field: How Leveling the Playing Field: How Clarissa Flores Is Building the Future of Women's SportsIs Building the Future of Women's Sports
Women's sports are no longer a niche movement. They are becoming a cultural and economic force.
In this episode of The Chingona Chair, we sit down with Clarissa Flores, former Northwestern basketball standout, Puerto Rican national team athlete, hospitality executive, and founder of Level Sporting Club, Chicago's premier destination dedicated to women's sports.
Clarissa shares her journey from the basketball court to entrepreneurship, the inspiration behind creating Level Sporting Club, and why visibility and infrastructure are key to the future of women's athletics. We also explore what brands, marketers, investors, and business leaders are missing when it comes to the rapidly growing women's sports ecosystem.
Whether you're a sports fan, entrepreneur, marketer, or community builder, this conversation offers powerful lessons on leadership, authenticity, belonging, and recognizing opportunity before it becomes obvious.
In This Episode:
Why women's sports is experiencing unprecedented growth
The business case for investing in women's sports
Building community through hospitality and experiences
Latina leadership and entrepreneurship
Creating spaces where everyone feels they belong
What brands need to know before investing in women's sports
The vision behind Chicago's Level Sporting Club
Who has been a guest on The Chingona Chair
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Dr Elena Gonzales
David Olivencia
Roxy Delgado
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Podcast Authority Score: 18 / 100
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Questions about The Chingona Chair
Who hosts The Chingona Chair?
Alex Garza and Diana Leza Sheehan and Lilia Arroyo Flores and Diana Sheehan host the show. Published by The Chingona Collective.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes monthly, based on its RSS feed.
Does The Chingona Chair take guests?
Yes. Guests have been identified in episode analyses.
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