Kasumi Quinlan of Lemontree on Building a Better System for Food Access

When Kasumi Quinlan joined Lemontree, she wasn’t starting something new, she was stepping into a vision first created by Alex Godin, who set out to make finding free food as simple and human as possible. Kasumi found a model grounded in empathy and human connection, and the opportunity to grow it …

Glenelys Jimenez is rewriting the rules of learning with Levanto Collective

When Glenelys Jimenez became a new mom in early 2020, she started thinking about all the things she wished she’d learned sooner. As the oldest daughter of Dominican immigrants, she’d spent years teaching herself how to navigate student loans, taxes, workplace culture, and mortgages… not just for he…

How The Friends Behind City Señoras Are Redefining Self-Care

City Señoras started as two friends looking for connection… a walk in the park, a cup of coffee, a space to slow down. But what began as a small gathering in Brooklyn has since grown into a self-care social club spanning New York and Los Angeles. Co-founders Alexis Mendias and Jaqueline Padilla ha…

How Karen Vidangos is building access for the underrepresented in the art world

The art world can feel intimidating, even elitist. But for Karen Vidangos, it’s also been a space to challenge those barriers and open doors for others. She built the Latinx Art Collective, a free, searchable database that helps curators, collectors, and fans discover artists across the U.S. She al…

Epicenter Helps Bring the Sari to Center Stage and Launches an AI Cohort

Today, we’re turning the mic inward, and sharing a couple of highlights from a recent conversation I had with Epicenter Co-founder and publisher Mitra Kalita on Los Herederos Radio. First, we discuss a sari exhibit that Epicenter has helped bring to life… reframing the sari as a cultural and artis…

Lucy Yu of Yu & Me Books on entrepreneurship, burnout, and the power of community

Lucy opened Yu & Me Books in December of 2021, bringing to life an idea she’d carried since childhood. After leaving a career in chemical engineering, she finally built the kind of space she’d always imagined: a community hub grounded in three pillars: championing writers of color, uplifting debut …

Lessons from Cindy Castro on Starting a Sustainable Fashion Brand

Cindy Castro New York is a sustainable luxury brand, producing locally in the city with responsible fabrics and a commitment to garment workers’ rights. The company was founded by Cindy Castro, who grew up in Ecuador and came to the U.S. as an au pair before putting herself through design school. S…

Van Sharma on growing Rupee Beer into a global brand

Brothers Van and Sumit Sharma launched Rupee Beer about six years ago. The idea grew out of their family’s long history in the Indian restaurant business, their parents opened the first Indian restaurants in Maine after immigrating from the UK, and Van saw early on the challenges of finding a consi…

How Barbara Anderson Turned Vacant Storefronts Into Art on the Ave NYC

At the height of Covid-19 In 2020, as storefronts across the city went vacant, some New Yorkers saw an opportunity. Art on the Ave NYC began filling empty windows with curated exhibitions, each paired with a QR code that let viewers hear directly from the artist. Since then, nearly a hundred spaces…

How a family recipe inspired Tiffany Campos to build Heritage Bread Pudding

Food often carries more than taste. It can bring back memories of family, traditions, and familiar places. That’s the response many people have to the dessert at the center of today’s episode. That dessert is Heritage Bread Pudding, the creation of Tiffany Campos. In less than a year, she has take…