Trap Latino's Leading Ladies: Vol. 1

From left to right: Latina singers and rappers Tokischa, Snow Tha Product, Villano Antillano and Farina.
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Trap Latino is a hip-hop subgenre that’s been gaining steam worldwide for the past few years. Originating in Puerto Rico during the late 2000s, this genre comes directly from southern U.S. hip-hop and rap music and is heavily influenced by reggaeton and dembow. It’s been slowly taking over the charts, with many Latina singer-songwriters taking the scene by storm.


With their unapologetic lyrics, these Latinas also lend their voices to the Latin American feminist movement, using their platforms to lift each other up any chance they get, creating new feminist anthems, constantly advocating for more women in the urban scene, and offering a fresh take on urban music, lyrics, and imagery from a woman’s perspective.

Don’t sleep on these women. Check out our first of two lists of women who should be on your trap playlist.

Tokischa

Tokischa

Source: Instagram

Source: Instagram

Her name is Noris Diaz, but she’s better known as Tokischa. Having studied fine arts and dramaturgy, Tokischa took up professional modeling at the age of sixteen before moving on to work in a call center. By the time she turned eighteen, she had turned to sex work to make ends meet.

During a photoshoot for a magazine in her hometown of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, at the age of twenty, she crossed paths with Raymi Paulus, a producer, who would eventually invite her to sign with his label.

Her lyrics are characterized by explicit expressions of sexual liberation and party culture, all set to the rhythms of trap, dembow, and reggaetón. This Afro-Dominican queen isn’t afraid to speak her mind, a trait that has often led to her being deemed, “ controversial,” something she doesn’t apologize for, even when she took heat for being a part of J Balvin’s use of Black women as dogs in the Perra video.

She told Rolling Stone,

"I understand the interpretation people had, and I’m truly sorry that people felt offended. But at the same time, art is expression. It’s creating a world.”

Tokischa has gained recognition as a feminist and queer icon, largely due to her unabashed bisexuality, candid discussions about her past work as a sex worker, and bold fashion choices. She uses her platform to promote and celebrate Afro-Latine culture, while also making sure her message of self-love and in-your-face confidence resonates with her fans all over the world.

While walking the magenta carpet at Premios Lo Nuestro, where she was nominated for Artista Revelación Femenina, she expressed her admiration for all the women dominating the urbano genre, saying, “I feel like we are all winners, because we are all representing our countries, our culture, showing that women are powerful.”

For Your Playlist:

Snow Tha Product

Snow Tha Product

Source: Instagram

Source: Instagram

The daughter of Mexican immigrants, 35-year-old Claudia Madriz became involved with music as young as 6 years old, participating in school talent shows and performing with her grandfather’s mariachi band. As a teen, Claudia started freestyling with her friends and eventually decided to go head-on into the urban music scene, releasing her first collab in 2007 and becoming an independent artist in 2018.

Another rapper/singer/songwriter, Snow is known for her rapid-fire rapping style and is influenced by artists from Missy Elliot and Aaliyah to Selena Quintanilla and Lupita D’Alessio. She is bilingual and records in both languages, has had several acting roles, has a podcast show, and has a YouTube channel. She also appeared in the video for "Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)" from "The Hamilton Mixtape."

Snow has called out the blatant gender wage gap not only in the urban music scene but in all jobs, stating, “I rap better than 90% of the male rappers who are popular right now, but I get paid much less. Whether we are cooks, doctors, or maids, it doesn't matter, I want men to take into account our talent, not our gender.”

For Your Playlist:

Villano Antillano

Villano Antillano

Source: Instagram

Source: Instagram

Villano Santiago Pacheco is a 27-year-old rapper, singer, and songwriter from Bayamon, Puerto Rico. She describes herself as non-binary, transfeminine, and bisexual. She’s the first transgender and non-binary artist to enter Spotify’s Global Top 50 list with her song “BZRP Music Sessions Vol. 51,” a collaboration with popular Argentinian producer Bizarrap.

Her lyrics revolve around sexual liberation, women’s empowerment, and fighting against transphobic rhetoric. Her beats are aggressive and catchy, with a touch of reggaeton and house music here and there.

Villano interchanges male and female pronouns in her songs, plays around with gender, and always shows her authentic self, completely uninterested in fitting into boring, conventional standards, which is part of why she calls herself a “villain.”

“I don't consider myself an activist or anything like that; I just exist. My existence ends up being activism,” she has said regarding her being seen as a pioneer of the Latino LGBTQIA+ movement. Villano has been very clear about being more interested in making music that reflects her life and experiences and resonates with other queer people, rather than being embraced by cis-hetero people.

She's also said she’s not striving for people's tolerance; she demands their respect.

For Your Playlist:

Farina

Farina

Source: Instagram

Source: Instagram

You might know her as "La Nena Fina" straight outta the colorful city of Medellin, Colombia. An Afro-Colombian icon, her music is a fusion of trap, hip-hop, reggaeton, and pop, with powerful vocals, catchy hooks, and socially conscious lyrics.

She was raised in a family where music was everything; her father's guitar playing, and her mother's singing inspired her to pursue her passion. Before becoming a music sensation, she ventured into modeling and acting, landing a role in the hit Colombian TV series "Sin Senos No Hay Paraíso" in 2008.

Fast forward to today, and Farina has become a bonafide star in the Latin music scene, winning countless accolades along the way, including a Latin Grammy nomination for Best New Artist in 2018.

Her talent and fierce commitment to female empowerment have earned her critical acclaim and a massive fan base. Her fierce talent and commitment to championing women's empowerment have won her legions of fans. "I feel like I have a massive responsibility in the rap world, and I want to kick open doors for other ladies," she declared in a recent interview with Notimerica.

For Your Playlist:

For far too long, the music industry has been a man's world, with Trap and Reggaeton often falling prey to misogynistic lyrics and male-dominated vocals. But there's a new wave of Latinas taking over and revolutionizing the game, creating a community where women can empower each other and inspire one another to reach new heights, and it's about time.

Keep an eye out for the upcoming part 2.

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Have you ever met someone who seems overly confident, self-centered, or even downright rude? Maybe they constantly talk about themselves, disregard your feelings, or even manipulate situations to their advantage. And, if you're anything like us and countless other Latinas, you might've thought, is this person just a purebred a**hole, or are they a narcissist?

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Image by Sayuri Jimenez.

Nathalie Molina Niño has never been one to shy away from breaking barriers, and now, she’s focusing her attention on a new mission: demystifying corporate boardrooms for women, especially Latinas. Molina Niño is the President of Known, an asset management and financial services firm, a veteran tech entrepreneur and builder capitalist, and a board member at the iconic lingerie Brand, Hanky Panky, and others.

Like many corporate boards, Hanky Panky hadn’t publicly disclosed its board composition until recently. After the brand survived the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Molina Niño decided it was time for more women, specifically more Latinas, to know what it means to be on corporate boards.

Coincidentally, the decision to finally be more vocal about this topic aligned with the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, which served as the perfect kick-off to the work.

"Something that rarely gets talked about and I think almost gets kept opaque by design is boards,” she explains in a recent Instagram announcement. “[This Latinx Heritage Month], that’s what I’ll be talking about.” Her goal? To equip more Latinas with the knowledge they need to navigate onto for-profit boards, where they can thrive and build multi-generational wealth.

For-profit corporate boards often feel like an exclusive club. And in many ways, they are, especially for Latinas, who hold the smallest percentage of board seats in Fortune 500 companies compared to other racial groups. According to the latest report from Latino Board Monitor, while Latinos hold 4.1% of these board seats (compared to 82.5% held by white people), only 1% go to Latinas. Molina Niño, a first-generation American of Ecuadorian and Colombian descent, is part of this boardroom minority.

When asked about her experience as a Latina board member during a recent Zoom interview, she said, “It’s been lonely. There’s not a lot of Latinas on boards.” She went on to explain that even serving on boards of Latina-founded businesses gets lonely because, “A lot of the times, people who serve on their boards represent their investors and, as a result, [...] you still don’t see a lot of Latinas on those boards.”

This lack of representation drives Molina Niño’s determination to increase Latina presence in corporate boardrooms. By sharing her insights, she hopes to give Latinas a roadmap to claim their seats at the table. “If you don’t know where to go, it’s impossible to figure out how to get there,” she says.

The Road to the Boardroom

Getting onto a for-profit corporate board isn’t an overnight achievement, but it’s not an unattainable dream either. People often think you need to be a CEO or have a certain type of background, but that’s one of the biggest myths about boards in Molina Niño’s experience. What they’re really looking for is expertise — whether that’s in finance, marketing, sustainability, or even technology. If you have that expertise, you’re already an asset. It’s simply a matter of which road you should take.

Understanding what boards are and how they operate is key to unlocking opportunities. For-profit boards serve as the governing body for companies, overseeing direction and financial stability, and guiding CEOs and executives in decision-making. But Molina Niño emphasizes that not all for-profit boards are created equal.

“There are two kinds [of for-profit boards] [...]. There’s the publicly traded business board and then, on the privately held side, there are, I would argue, two types of boards [...] the traditional business board and the venture-backed business board,” explains Molina Niño. Traditional businesses are often family-owned or long-established and may only form boards to meet requirements, like securing financing or transitioning through an ESOP. Venture-backed boards, on the other hand, are typically filled by investors who hold major stakes in the company.

According to Molina Niño, understanding the difference between them is how you can create a successful strategy. With publicly traded business boards, the whole world is privy to them, so, “The way that you get in there is a little bit more transparent. Sometimes those publicly traded companies will hire a recruiter to help them find new board members,” explains Molina Niño. For private companies, on the other hand, there’s no legal requirement to make announcements. As a result, most people don’t know anything about them or their inner workings.

“Usually what happens in traditional businesses that don’t have venture-capital investments is that the Founders, Executives, or the board members, if one existed already, they usually go to their friends,” and people they deem experienced to fill board seats. In other words, it’s the founder’s decision, and that’s an entirely different approach than hiring recruiters. When it comes to venture-backed business boards, the seats on the board are filled by whichever investor writes the biggest check.

This is why an understanding of the different types of boards and acknowledgment of their own strengths is what will help Latinas define a sound strategy. Whether that’s working with a recruiter, networking and connecting with founders to build trust, or making the biggest investment.

The Path for Latinas

For Molina Niño, the key to getting more Latinas into corporate boardrooms is education. Knowing what a board looks like and how it functions is how you can position yourself to get on it. In openly talking about this, without the mystique it’s usually shrouded in, Molina Niño is providing women, especially Latinas, with invaluable insights. “If we had Latinas understanding what are the three types of for-profit boards I think that, on their own, they would be able to figure out what their best chance is and adjust their careers to make themselves more competitive,” states Molina Niño.

When asked about the impact of increased Latina representation in boardrooms, Molina Niño flips the narrative. “Boards don’t help Latinas by offering them seats; Latinas help businesses thrive by being on their boards,” she says. “The whole point of sitting on a board is that you have experience and expertise, and as Latinas, you also have some cultural experience that everyone wants. [...] At the end of the day, we [Latinas] have to realize that we have a ton to offer and we have to be selective about where we put that expertise,” she explains.

As demand for access to the Latina consumer rises, Molina Niño predicts that more Latinas will find themselves recruited into boardrooms. But she’s not content to sit back and wait for that moment. By openly sharing her journey and insights, she’s making sure other Latinas know their worth and have the tools to claim their place at the table. “I realized that quietly being on boards that helped me personally is not helping other Latinas. [...] I was lucky enough to have friends who could advise me and share their experiences, so that’s why I’m doing this,” she stated.

With Hispanic Heritage Month as the backdrop, Nathalie Molina Niño’s mission is clear: “My goal is just to give Latinas enough information so they can make a plan for how to eventually get on a board that they’re paid to be on and that will eventually help them build generational wealth.”

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Ever noticed how September in Latin America is just one big celebration? As we wave goodbye to summer and avoid winter as long as we can, the streets come alive with parades, music, and festivities. Many Latin American countries celebrate their freedom this month, commemorating their hard-fought battles for independence from colonial domination. Let’s dive into these significant days and understand what makes each unique.

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