5 Mujeres Teaching Latinas About Personal Finance

5 latina women

By now you’ve likely heard about a recent report that found Latinas and Black women have suffered immense financial losses over the course of the pandemic. The statistics don’t look much better when talking about retirement – in 2019, only 31% of Latinx workers contributed to an employer-sponsored retirement plan.

A combination of systemic oppression, xenophobia, and need for more widespread financial literacy, now paired with a pandemic that continues ravaging communities of color, has combusted into a severe economic downturn for the Latinx community, and particularly for Latinas. It’s a combination that feeds into the effects of generational trauma that some Latinas experience when addressing their finances.


But in the face of these reports and statistics are a growing group of Latinas who are making space for themselves and other women of color in the personal finance world. While the financial services industry has historically looked white and male, Latinas are showing up on social media platforms to teach other women how to build wealth not only for themselves but for generations to come.

From investing to eliminating debt, these mujeres are tackling a subject that remains taboo in many of our Latinx families out of fear that we’ll be considered greedy or too ambitious. Here are five Latinas who are creating financial literacy courses, using social media platforms to connect with their audience, and sharing their own personal finance stories along the way.

@investinglatina

Jully-Alma Taveras is the self-described JLo of personal finance. A Dominicana raised in New York, Taveras created Investing Latina in 2019 to teach Latinas how to start investing in the stock market. She began investing at age 19, becoming the first person in her family to open a retirement account. Initially putting away a monthly $50, Taveras is now on track to save $1 million by the time she decides to retire.

Her Youtube channel has over 60 videos of free content, including responses to questions that come directly from her followers, and she regularly breaks down complex financial topics into Instagram posts that are easy to understand.

@anjiekonte

Anna N’Jie-Konte is the founder of Dare to Dream, a fee-only financial planning firm serving women of color in their wealth-building journey. She is a certified financial planner and fiduciary who is ethically bound to provide advice that is in her clients’ best financial interest. N’Jie-Konte, who has roots in both The Gambia and Puerto Rico, is a native New Yorker who worked in the financial services industry before launching her own firm, blog, and podcast.

On her podcast, First-Gen Realness, she unpacks Afrolatinidad, talks about trailblazing in the financial services industry, and discusses how culture impacts our money. She hosts workshops such as “Become the Rich Aunty” and Instagram Lives answering questions about finances for small business owners.

@yoquierodineropodcast

Jannese Torres-Rodriguez is the host of Yo Quiero Dinero, a personal finance podcast created for Latinas and people of color. An engineer by day and self-described side hustle guru, she advises Latinas to build multiple streams of income and teaches her money-making strategies in her Side Hustle Moguls program. She might have a thing or two to teach us after earning $100k last year from her side hustles alone.

Torres-Rodriguez, a first-generation Puerto Rican mujer, is also a fierce advocate of investing with the goal of early retirement. Her content on Instagram, Tik Tok, and the podcast addresses topics from tackling debt to estate planning to financial independence and more.

@delyannethemoneycoach

Early into the pandemic, Delyanne Barros went from attorney to money coach, certified financial planning student, and attorney. Barros, who spent her early years in Brazil before growing up as an undocumented immigrant in Miami, first invested about $50K a few months before the pandemic led to a market crash in March of last year. She has since grown that amount to over $425K – all while paying off over $100K in student debt.

Now on track to retire by age 45, Barros advocates for investing for retirement with low-cost index funds. Her following has increased consistently on TikTok and Instagram, where she regularly shares brief videos and posts explaining the stock market, breaking down investing myths, and updating her audience on news that may affect their finances.

@luzwarrior

Linda Garcia, a Californian with roots in Mexico, began investing several years into her career as a marketing executive in television and film. Last summer, she launched “Wealth Rules Everything Around Me,” her first stock market beginner course, which has since sold out every time she has offered it.

The course soon led to a growing Latinx investing online community called “In Luz We Trust” and to collaborating with her daughter, who is a teacher, on a coloring book that teaches young children about the stock market. Garcia’s Instagram often features personal, inspirational stories about her investing journey and a focus on what she calls “spiritual development rooted in wealth building.”

These five mujeres are only a few among a growing community of Latinxs focused on creating generational wealth. But this wave of personal finance Latinidad comes at a time when Latinas and Black women across the United States are bearing the brunt of job losses and continue making cents on the dollar that white men earn.

Next time you find yourself feeling anxious about your finances, look them up to learn how to take control of your finances without the stress. And remember – the wage gap that Latinas and other women of color experience can only be narrowed if we talk about money. So let’s build our emergency savings funds, address our debt, and invest in the stock market so we can build the generational wealth that will help our families for years to come.

This Viral Video Game Is Changing the Face of Voter Outreach

In 2024, voting campaigns have evolved greatly, to say the least. Creativity is now the name of the game and tongue-in-cheek humor is expertly leveraged to drive action. One example of that is Bop the Bigot, a revival of a viral game created in 2016 by Bazta Arpaio, an Arizona activist group, as part of a campaign to unseat Maricopa County’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio lost his re-election to Paul Penzone that year.

The game has now been updated for the current election cycle and relaunched by On Point Studios, with new features added to enable players to find out what’s on their ballot, confirm voter status, and register to vote.

Much like its former 2016 version, the game allows users to take out their political frustrations by virtually “bopping” GOP candidates in the head. It’s very similar to whack-a-mole, except the mole is replaced by former President Donald Trump, Ohio’s Senator J. D. Vance, and Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation, which is spearheading Project 2025.

cartoon renditions of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance around a Bop the Bigot logoPromotional image provided by On Point Studios.

B. Loewe, Director of On Point Studios, came up with the concept for this game when working as the Communications Director at Bazta Arpaio in 2016, and is the executive producer of this revamped version. In the first version of the game, Bop the Bigot players used a chancla (flip flop) to “bop” the characters, tapping into Latino culture by leaning on the childhood experience of being set right by a flying chancla from a fed-up mother or grandmother.

This year, the chancla is replaced by a more current element, a green coconut, referencing Kamala Harris’ coconut tree meme. There are also side characters like “the couch,” cat ladies, and more coconuts. All references to jokes about Vice-Presidential candidate Vance, or insults Vance has made about women on the campaign trail.

Another new addition is that Harris’ laugh is immortalized as the game-over sound effect, an unexpected detail that adds even more humor and levity to the game.

cartoon renditions of Donald Trump, Kevin Roberts, and J.D. Vance around a Bop the Bigot logoPromotional image provided by On Point Studios.

Bop the Bigot, which is playable on desktop and mobile, is intended not just as a way to vent political frustrations, but also as a tool for activism and securing voter engagement.

For example, the game supports the work of Mexican Neidi Dominguez Zamorano, Founding Executive Director of the non-profit organization Organized Power in Numbers by using the “game over” screen to prompt players to donate to it and support their efforts.

Organized Power in Numbers is focused on empowering workers in the South and Southwest of the U.S. through collective action and comprehensive campaigns. Their mission is to create a large-scale movement that challenges the status quo and advocates for workers' rights, and racial and economic justice.

Currently, Dominguez Zamorano is leading worker outreach to 2 million working-class voters in the South and Southwest through doorknocking, texting, and calls with the help of local groups in North Carolina, Arizona, New Mexico, and more.

“We have been blown away by the enthusiastic reception for the video game. We knew we wanted to be part of its creative approach because our movement needs more fun and laughter. We need more ways to connect with nuestra gente so we can feel joy among all the absurdity we witness every day,” Dominguez Zamorano shared with Luz Media via email.

“Our people are gente trabajadora and we deserve to feel uplifted even in our toughest moments. We are deeply involved in the South and Southwest so we know what’s at stake in this election and we’re happy this can be a resource to mobilize, raise spirits, and get out the vote," she concluded.

Dominguez Zamorano is a committed activist for immigrants and workers' rights, known for her strategist skills and expertise. She played a key role in the campaign to win DACA and has also held roles in major campaigns, including as Deputy National States Director for Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign. In addition to her work with Organized Power in Numbers, Dominguez Zamorano is serving as a Senior Advisor to Mijente’s Fuera Trump Initiative.

Grassroots efforts like these have taken on new life in 2024, with Bop the Bigot adding to the larger, ongoing fight against political apathy and disinformation. Just as it did during the 2016 race, the video game uses humor to soften the serious task at hand—getting people to the polls.

"We want the game to be a fun and comical outlet for anyone who’s been insulted, frustrated, or harmed by Trump in the past and everyone who is ready to move forward as a country after election day," explained Loewe in a press release. "The proposals in Project 2025 and the beliefs of Trump and Vance aren’t just weird, they’re truly harmful. We wanted to give people a humorous and peaceful way to smack down their racism and sexism. We hope it makes people laugh and also feel empowered and motivated to get to the polls on or before election day."

With a mix of satire, sharp political critique, and nostalgia, the game is a call to action. The upcoming election, which is getting closer by the minute, has sparked fierce activism and creative yet grounded initiatives like these aim to ensure voters are engaged, especially young Latinos and disenfranchised groups.

hands holding up yellow protest signs that say Hands Off Our Bodies
Photo Credit: Gayatri Malhotra via Unsplash

Originally published in Common Dreams. Reprinted with permission.

The Latino electorate will prove decisive in securing reproductive freedom and abortion access through ballot measures around the country, particularly in states where Latinos are a significant portion of the electorate.

In November, abortion rights measures will appear on ballots across ten states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, and New York, where Latinos make up a significant portion of the electorate. For decades, pundits and politicians have recycled long-held misconceptions about Latino voters and abortion access, citing our conservative and religious beliefs.

Anti-abortion extremists have long fueled these misconceptions through misinformation and disinformation campaigns targeting Latino communities with egregious lies and inflammatory rhetoric about abortion. Yet, polling, focus groups, and direct interactions with Latino communities have debunked these outdated tropes.

The Latino electorate will prove decisive in securing reproductive freedom and abortion access through ballot measures around the country, particularly in states where Latinos are a significant portion of the electorate.

For Latinos, the freedom to decide, a pillar of our American democracy, is critical. Meanwhile, Latinos are being hit directly with anti-abortion efforts that take away that freedom such as the six-week abortion ban put into effect by the Florida Supreme Court and the 1864 abortion ban upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, people of color and Latinas have felt the impact of a lack of abortion access, an element of basic healthcare.

A 2023 report by the National Partnership for Women and Families estimated that nearly 6.5 million Latinas, or 42% of all Latinas of reproductive age in the country, live in a state that either had or was likely to ban abortion. Ironically, it will be abortion access and anti-choice efforts to restrict freedom of choice that will mobilize Latino voters this election.

In a poll conducted by three national reproductive justice organizations, 87% of Latinas named abortion and women’s rights as one of their top priorities as they head to the polls. Another battleground poll conducted by Somos PAC and BSP Research found that 61% of Latino registered voters expressed a more positive/favorable view of Kamala Harris after hearing that she will protect abortion rights, versus only 19% of Latinos who said they had a more negative view of Harris after hearing that.

In key states to secure the White House and both chambers, Latinos make up large chunks of the electorate: Arizona (25%), Colorado (15%), Florida (20%), Nevada (20%), and New York (12%). In the face of unprecedented attacks on basic healthcare access and targeted attempts by extremists to mislead and divide our community on this issue, this November Latinos will be key deciders on abortion access across the country.

Mari Urbina, Managing Director of Indivisible, Battleground Arizona Lead and former Harry Reid advisor.

Héctor Sánchez Barba is president and CEO of Mi Familia Vota (MFV).