A Love Letter to the LVMC Listener

A gentle reminder that different doesn't mean wrong

Picture this: A room full of Toastmasters, three bottles of Australian wine deep, and me, talking about imposter syndrome.

That was the scene last night.

As I reflect back on that through a light hangover😌, I’m reminded that none of this is possible without you, the listener and supporter. So thank your for being a cheerleader.💗💗💗

Here’s a story about a different type of cheerleader, inspired by the Pitch Connect & Record workshop¹ I’m presenting tomorrow for Latinas In Podcasting. This is last night’s speech in written form:

“We’ve all heard of the inner critic, right? But have you discovered your inner cheerleader? Let me tell you about how I discovered mine.

In the spring of 2022, when I was just a little baby podcaster, I decided I wanted to interview guests. The goal, the “why,” was to prove that there's more than one way to design your best life. That following the quote-unquote life script, the blueprint we’ve all been sold, of “go to college, get a job, get married, buy a house, a dog, the white picket fence and 2.5 kids” isn't the only way to achieve happiness or success.

It was important to me that all my guests were childfree Latinas, because we have so few examples of women like that in pop culture already. I'm just one, but I know I'm not the only one. So that was the approach I built into my pitch:

I'm interviewing childfree Latinas to give listeners exposure and examples of women who have chosen a different lifestyle and are still happy and thriving, because we don't have enough examples of that in our lives already. Would you be a guest on my show and become one of those examples?

That's it! I received 2 memorable responses. Only 1 was a no:

Their reason was that they weren't ready to be “out” as a childfree person to their family yet, their words.

Despite having their tubes tied, they were still pretending that it might happen someday to avoid having the conversation with their parents and in-laws. And while I would never equate being childfree with the difficulty of coming out as gay or trans or any other gender identity, it did make me realize how much our communities need to hear these stories. People need to hear and see that being different isn't wrong. It’s just different.

The other memorable response, oh boy!

This was the hardest one to ask. I was following a woman on TikTok who was kind of famous. She's a former Broadway actress who at the time had about 130k followers on TikTok alone. After consuming her content for a while, I realized HEY! She’s a childfree Latina too!

I got excited…and then, I got scared. My inner critic started whispering all kinds of things like “why would a woman with hundreds of thousands of follower give little old me, with nothing more than 12 episodes out there, the time of day?” That perceived power imbalance did a number on me. I started to look for someone, anyone that we had in common that could make an intro for me.

As I sat at my desk, determined today was going to be the day I reached out but also drowning in sweat from the nerves, all of a sudden I heard a different voice in my head. My inner cheerleader suddenly rose up, and reminded me:

She's a person just like you! So put on your big girl panties and just ask her already. The worst she could say was no. And if she can’t do it, someone else will be available!

So I sent her an email and then I went to lunch with my husband. Here's a tip: if you ever have to send a scary email, do it right before you have to be engrossed in something else so you don't stay in the headspace obsessing over it.

Two hours later, I came back from lunch and guess what was waiting for me? Not only had she already booked her time, but this was her response:

Dear Paulette: I love what you're up to and anything that will support, empower, and encourage Latina women and women of color to do more, be more, and claim ourselves more deeply, I am a yes to. Thank you for asking me to be a part of this.

Real life image of me, reading the response

The cheerleading squad that was screaming inside my head in that moment!

Fast forward to now, guess which episode is my single most popular episode still to this day. Number 24: Choosing Yourself Is Sanity with Ana Del Castillo.

Even 3 years later, 60 episodes later, 20 entire interviews later, it’s still It has double the downloads of the second most popular episode ever. It’s still so impactful that people find it on Google! (Which is a hard thing to do with podcasts.)

Imagine if I had allowed my inner critic to continue letting me spiral in my thoughts about not being good enough. Imagine if I’d never put on those big girl panties.

I probably wouldn't be standing here sharing the story. In fact, I may not even have a show at all.

And that would be a damn shame for the scores people out there, who haven’t yet discovered their inner cheerleaders, and who are still looking for examples of women to show them there’s nothing wrong with them. They’re just different.”

💌

1. Wanna learn to pitch? Register for free here