We can no longer ignore these tough conversations about money. If you’re an entrepreneur, an immigrant, or first generation, money is one of the many ways we can protect ourselves and get ahead. With some key changes, we can set ourselves and our community up for greatness. And if we’re going to get serious about our money, we need to talk to a professional. 

Lyanne Alfaro is an award-winning journalist and storyteller shaping the conversation around technology, business, and entrepreneurship—especially through the lens of Latino impact. With the Latino GDP now at $3.6 trillion, she’s passionate about elevating this community’s influence via her platform, Moneda Moves, which includes a newsletter and podcast. Her work has been featured in Yahoo! Finance, Remezcla, and on global stages like the United Nations. Lyanne built her reporting career at CNBC, Business Insider, and NBC Latino, where she spotlighted underrepresented founders and helped her team earn the Best in Business Award. At Nasdaq, she hosted flagship shows, launched the company’s first podcast, and coached founders on media storytelling. Recognized as an Inspiring Fintech Female in 2020, she also serves on the boards of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists NYC and the Chicago Journalists Association. Based in her hometown of Chicago, she continues to amplify Latino business voices, shaping the future economy.

In this week’s episode, we talk about entrepreneurship, immigration &the economic truths we need to talk about. This conversation is incredible because we covered so many topics – the good, the bad, and the action items we need to build ourselves up. Lyanne is a journalist, which means she isn’t pulling any punches about the state of the country right now. It’s looking rough, but we can’t back down. There is so much we can do, and in this week’s episode, we’re going to cover how we can protect ourselves and use our collective power. 

Follow Lyanne on:
IG: @lyannealfaro

IG: @monedamoves

LinkedIn: Lyanne Alfaro

Website: https://www.monedamoves.com/ 

The Moneda Moves Podcast 

Follow Erika on:
Instagram @‌theerikacruz
TikTok @‌theerikacruz
LinkedIn

Website:
http://www.theerikacruz.com

How to work with Erika:

Join the waitlist for the Courage Driven Latina program here!

Join the waitlist for the Magnetic Mastermind here.

Podcast production for this episode was provided by CCST, an Afro-Latina-owned boutique podcast production and copywriting studio. 

Episode Transcript:

Erika: Hello. Hello. Welcome back to this week’s episode of Chino I Revolution Podcast. This is your host Erica Cruz, and today I have a very special guest.

So what does it take to build, pivot, and thrive, especially when the odds are stacked against you? In this episode of Ana Revolution, I am joined by the brilliant. Leanne Ro, who is a first generation Mexican American journalist, media founder, and host of the podcast, Monira moves from working at NASDAQ to covering economic power and media literacy for aida.

Leanne is on a mission to make sure we understand the weight of our contributions And how storytelling itself is a form of capital. We talk about everything from the impact of immigration policy on Latino businesses to what it means to advocate for yourself financially, to how we as a community can reclaim our narratives in a world that often misunderstands us.[00:02:00] 

Leanne keeps it real, grounded and powerful, sharing gems on economic resilience, collective power and media smarts that every Latina needs in her toolkit. Get ready for a thoughtful, spicy, and solution centered convo. Let’s get right into it.

Leanne, welcome to Chin Revolution podcast. How are you? Thank you, Erica. Thanks so much for having me on. I’ve been so looking forward to this conversation. I think, conversations you have are always so insightful. how am I, that’s a complicated question in today’s world, right? It sure 

is. Yeah. 

Lyanne: I mean, we were just talking about it.

How am I, I am a mix of, feeling, Feeling a lot of pain for our community. I am a mix of, gratitude. For, the people closest to me and also a mix of hopeful because I know how much strength there is in our community. That is the honest truth, the best I can say it. You. 

Erika: That was a beautiful response.

Yes, I feel the same way. You know, I really [00:03:00] do. I have a launch coming up, but it’s time. This episodes released that launch will be done, but I really had to sit with myself and like, how can I, how can I authentically show up? In a way that is aligned with me and how with, in spite of what’s going on with our community, right?

With all of the, the mass deportations and all the things that are happening in, in the Los Angeles area. And the thing that really like got me through is I was like, well, what if I donate a percentage of my launch to. One of the organizations that’s supporting immigrant children and actually they’re also based out of Chicago.

 so once I made that decision, it was like showing up became so much more intentional for me. So thank you for sharing your honest response about how you’re doing. I feel like this podcast is like a long time in the works because you and I. Back in 2019 at a We All Grow event. I didn’t even have a business.

You were at NASDAQ at the time and so much has changed. and then we reconnected when I was in Chicago. And of course you are such a badass doing such [00:04:00] badass things. so before as are you, as are you, we’re 

Lyanne: all, we’re all in a, in a circle of badassery. And it’s like, I, I love, I love doing things. I love seeing people do things and I love us going through our seasons.

It’s, it’s, it’s a beautiful thing to witness. 

Erika: Yeah, it is. And it’s beautiful to watch people go, like you said, through different seasons, because when we met, we were in such different phases, right? And it’s like we’re always kind of going through these transitions, like the growth never stops and it never ends.

Mm-hmm. And this cycle of like self-discovery is something that, that keeps happening. So with, what’s going on with our community, I mean, I, as I mentioned, I had a, a bunch of questions, but as soon as we started talking, I was like, we just need to record. So from your point of view. And everything that you know about the community as well as the Latino GDP, how are the current events affecting our community?

And one of the things we talked about before we started, recording was, you know, how tariffs are going to affect [00:05:00] our community, but also deportation. So what are your initial thoughts on all of this that’s going on when it comes to the Latino community? 

Lyanne: Yeah, absolutely. And Erica, let me be real real with you.

Like there are reports coming out every single day, so if I find any new reports between now and the time this publishes, I’ll send them over for the show notes so that folks can check it out. Perfect. Um, but net net, from the people I’ve spoken with, I did like a little bit of a re recap. I think of the word in Spanish, a recap article Uhhuh earlier this spring for Forbes about these trends that Latino entrepreneurs are facing in an unprecedented year.

And one of them absolutely has to do with the tariffs and the pendulum swing. That all businesses are facing when it comes to this administration stance on tariffs, will they, won’t they, how much to where? and while bigger businesses may have the expendable budget to deal with that pendulum swing a little bit better, it’s still, it’s still very [00:06:00] like hard spot for any business.

But they may have a little bit more, of, to be in a more financial position to explore options. Where are we gonna get, things, if we usually import them from a particular country? How can we pivot? How can we pivot to making them in the us? A small business does not have that expendable budget, so this, uh, pendulum swing for tariffs and the uncertainty around them.

What I keep hearing from economists, it makes it really hard for any business to make long-term investments and decisions. So a lot of people, business owners are in a way to out and see mentality, even at the highest levels. But when it comes to small businesses and running every day and you’re like looking at what your income is, and that’s what, if that’s your big investment, you don’t have like a portfolio of different businesses.

That is the one. That is so much harder to balance. And so what I see tariffs doing for smaller and mid-sized businesses, if they don’t have a diversified portfolio of income that could really take a toll on a business, really could [00:07:00] put a ding on, your ability to serve your customers, the products that you usually do, not knowing where you’re going to get them from in the next few months.

Erika: Yeah, or even just the mental capacity of like. The uncertainty and how can you make decisions as a business owner? Entrepreneurship is already difficult, but being a small business owner and then not knowing exactly what’s gonna happen and you know, like the news will say one thing one day and then different thing the other day, and then this administration will like make a bold statement and then they’ll like, oh, just kidding.

And just the amount of energy that that consumes on a business owner. It’s difficult to operate under 

Lyanne: that stance. A hundred percent right? Like in a, in a bigger team, maybe you could delegate those things out. It’s much harder now. And now you asked about how it’s affecting Latino, business owners at large, and I don’t think we have all the data yet.

 Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative, which a lot of you may be familiar with, puts out a report every spring and they have a summit in. Palo Alto to talk about the latest numbers, but the numbers that [00:08:00] were revealed this year would’ve been based on the previous years pre this administration.

And so when I talked to them, and I also recently talked to some smaller nonprofits that work with not just Latino business owners, but other. POC business owners expressed, a similar sentiment, to what I’m saying, which is that we don’t have the numbers yet. We have empirical evidence, we have empirical stories of folks, saying, Hey, it’s really hard out here, but we won’t know yet how this is going to impact some numbers, including new business creation.

Latinos have long been hailed since we’ve had these reports as. Top generative new business owners, immigrant businesses are a big part of that, right? Not taking into account whether they’re, what kind of, whether they’re documented immigrants or not, or like where they are in their immigration process.

Like immigrants are top generators of businesses, and startups at that too. So they’re also top adopters, and quick adopters of ai. Which are tools that are really expediting our ability to, [00:09:00] to enhance businesses, to grow businesses. Some of the biggest money making businesses that we’ll see in the years to come will be because they really took advantage of this AI wave and they, they exploited it to the fullest extent.

 so we won’t know how all of the administrative moves are going to impact the Latino community fully until we have those numbers, but clearly we’re seeing. We’re seeing things, we’re seeing how it affects big businesses. We’re seeing how the Latino community is faring. And so one of my concerns is that it will, that it could set us back, right?

Like I think that there is still a lot of, there’s still a lot of, like doubling down within the community, within the Latino community to serve, like from mm-hmm. From a, a lot of the. A lot of the, I think of the angel investing groups like an angel investors, of Slay Stanford, Latino entrepreneurship initiative in the networks.

I see a lot of like people doubling down. People are not ready to throw in the towel by any means. However, these are big changes, right? Like we don’t wanna normalize what’s happening. This is like [00:10:00] unprecedented changes that we’re seeing and so we’ll. W we need to take action now, but also to get those numbers, it’s gonna be a few more months until we see those numbers.

Erika: Yeah, and that’s such a good report. The SOLE report, I actually attended the SOLE summit, just ironically. Somebody posted they were gonna be speaking at it and I was like, oh, I should go. And I attended the summit and I was like, wow, this is such great information, especially. The, the stat that stood out to me, the most was how the businesses started by immigrants as well as children of immigrants are high performing and we’re just, we’re more risk takers.

And I was like, oh, that makes so much sense, right? Like this group. Really just had to leave everything behind, start a new life in a different country. And it makes so much sense that just from a values perspective and part of our actual, it’s built into our culture to have, you know, like this, this risk adversity.

And it makes sense that business is what kind of comes second nature to [00:11:00] us. What is something that you think that we get wrong when we talk about, Latino contributions to the US economy? Or that, you know, people get wrong? 

Lyanne: Yeah, I’ll, I’ll say what people get wrong because honestly, I feel like Latinos, that, especially the people that are in the Mindshare community of like really advocating for a community, we understand that we have a high impact, right?

But I think something that, communities outside. Of the Latino community don’t understand is just how much immigrants contribute to our economy. We are a force as an immigrant community. I have this stat, in 2023, undocumented immigrant households paid $89 billion in federal, state, and local taxes.

They held almost $300 billion in spending power. So big contribution to taxes. There tends to be this, rhetoric. false rhetoric, about how undocumented immigrants don’t contribute in taxes. That’s absolutely, not true by and large. there tends to be such a big [00:12:00] contribution. And then when it comes to businesses, like you said, and like, like I shared earlier, immigrants, and sons and daughters of immigrants are top business generators and they make big contributions in that way as well.

 I have this from the, from a previous SBA report, small business administration, even with the constraints that we have US-born Latino entrepreneurs. So this would include daughters and son of immigrants. Mm-hmm. Make important contributions to the economy, generating $26 billion in business income.

 That is a huge chunk. Yeah. undocumented immigrants themselves, 89 billion. and then contributions in terms of the economy. US-born Latino entrepreneurs generate $26 billion in business income. The other thing that I remember, I went, to Nasdaq to talk about this. It was just two years ago.

There was a Pew research report two years ago that was talking about the Latino community in the United States. And two years ago, this changed a lot with the incoming Venezuelan immigrants because of everything that was going Geopolitics [00:13:00] will always impact. Migration patterns, right? Right. But as of two years ago, pew Research had put out a report that showed that a lot of the Latinos in the US.

Were actually Latinos that had been here for quite some time, whether they’d become naturalized and immigrated, earlier on right. Eighties, nineties, we saw a, a lot of geopolitical movement, a lot of, economic, downturn in Latin American countries. Mm-hmm. Uh, and, and other issues happening. Right.

 so a, a lot of the Latinos were in the US were becoming more and more embedded into our society. So there was a less la latam immigration patterns. There were start, like the number of people that had been either naturalized or sons and daughters of immigrants was upturn versus immigrants. So like, you know, like the vision that, oh, all Latinos are, are immigrants, right?

Like the mm-hmm. The, the kind of like overgeneralization. Yeah. That was going to start becoming less and less true. Of course, every time that things happen in like, [00:14:00] we do not live in silos. Right? Right. Like things impact each other. The US has the power. to the US is a powerful country, has the power to destabilize and impact other economies.

And similarly, when other economies, go through things, go through hardships, migration patterns may happen. Right. So definitely that being said, like that was a pretty interesting finding because like, usually like there is a rhetoric that, oh, it’s like all Latinos are immigrants. It’s like not so.

Right. That, that changed in the last two years. So I think we were becoming a integral fabric and we are an integral fabric of us. And like when you think about, just a little bit more on sociological speak, growing up, how we saw, kind of like commercials and education about like an American being someone like that’s like multi-ethnic, multiracial.

This contributes to that narrative that that is the US that we’re heading towards, right. So it’s just such a contrast to think about all of that. To think about the stats, to think about like [00:15:00] the kind of rhetoric that we grew up with, and what we’re seeing right now. 

Erika: Yeah, and you know, obviously we don’t know the answer to this yet because we don’t, or at least we don’t have the data for this yet, but with everything that’s going on around immigration and the, the fear that has really.

I blanketed our community that has prevented people from really even wanting to be seen. Like how do you think this is going to affect not just Latinos, but the overall US economy and overall, and it’s not even just about the economy, right? But like how is this going to affect the US that we have? These raids going on in Los Angeles and people, and now it sounds like in other places as well, but how is this fear, what does that fear do to the community, and then how does that impact the United States?

Lyanne: Yeah, I mean, I, I ultimately don’t have a crystal ball. I can tell you what my hopes are. My [00:16:00] hopes are that.

What we’re going through right now is absolutely discrimination, right? Yep. It’s things that we had to work through during civil, the civil rights movement, and it’s poking at that. And if we’re being honest as a country, those issues had not in any way, I mean in 2020, we saw this with our black communities, like had not been in any way resolved.

Right. and so really it’s like coming apart at the seams and showing what was already there that needs resolution. it is a terrible to, to be witness to all of that, but I think it is a calling. And so my hope is that, people like us with privilege will step up to that challenge. Not everyone needs to be in front of the mic.

Right. And, and I think it is. Valid to hold fear in that. [00:17:00] Right? Like, it is not an easy thing to do. It’s easier to do when everybody’s celebrating it like we were four years ago. 

Erika: Right. 

Lyanne: it’s much harder to do. And if you think about it, this has been done though. Like, I, I always think like, what a privilege is it for us?

Like the Latino community is so tight knit, you know? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Like, um. I saw, uh, ES from Cafe, met with Becky G the other day. Yeah. Posted about it. That was amazing. I love to see that and I love that we know that about each other. Mm-hmm. Like how crazy is it? Like Esta, where is she? Is she in California?

Yeah. As well. Mm-hmm. Yeah. How crazy is it that I’m in Chicago and, and, and I, and she’s in California and we have different lines of work, but because we both touch the Latino community, I know what’s going on in her world. You know, like, or that you and I like, we’re connected and through that, through line and we met at, we all grow Latina, like the Latino hive mind.

When we are [00:18:00] value aligned and we are here for each other is like this. And so my hope is that we take this moment as a calling to step into that calling. However we can. Not everybody has to be the loudest person in the room. You don’t need to be at the front lines. There are so many ways to support.

 my hope is that we will also take all that economic power that we kept talking about. Mm-hmm. And then apply it, right? Because I don’t think we can assume that anyone’s going to come save us. I really don’t. and I, and then the other thing that I hope is that I, I’ve been hearing a lot of rhetoric around, the disappointment in the way that our.

Community, which is also very American in the way that we’re being treated in that country and, and, and questioning this country period. And I think we need to remember that, that this country is, has not been without fault before. Right? And that if, if we are in this country and we believe in this country, then, [00:19:00] then let’s have some, uh, we have, we can critique it, but let’s also have some, um, some faith in the fact.

That this is the powerful country that we said it is, that it is the country where we could come here and be an entrepreneur, right? Where you, Erica could have left your job to do and make all that impact that you could because we, we know that that’s not possible just anywhere. It was possible here. And I know that my trajectory was possible here.

So I am, I think that it’s a very complicated conversation to go, to, go somewhere else, go abroad and have the conversation of like, being like, oh, you’re, um. A Mexican American citizen living in the United States. How is that? Mm-hmm. It’s a complicated, it’s a layered conversation, but I think we need to take some pride and take some ownership in the fact that this is our country, and do we wanna fight for her and do we wanna fight for that, for that thesis statement of what that country could do for so many people, especially the people in our community.

Right. 

Erika: Yeah. Yeah, that’s so well [00:20:00] said. That’s so well said. Especially with, you know, 4th of July just having passed last week. Like I think that’s, um, that was something that was on my mind as well. It’s like, it’s okay to critique it, but like do, I mean, I don’t know if I’d feel at home anywhere else, so you’re right.

Like, how can we fight for this country that has given us these opportunities, but like is also our country. Like, we literally make up such a large portion of the population as well. yeah, 

Lyanne: go ahead. And, and, and the one thing I’ll add around that is I totally understand people who are also like, thanks, but no thanks.

I also, I also understand that, right? Like that’s a very natural response. Mm-hmm. It’s not meant to judge across the aisle. I, as a matter of fact, I think something that we could all really benefit from in the Latino community to tap into that economic power. Is to hold more space, to reach the arm across, to work together, because that power only works if we stand united.

 that is what politics is. Finding a [00:21:00] line values and then working together, right? Like if we cannot come together and if we’re pointing fingers across the line and no one’s right. I have less hope. So, so I think that that’s, that’s something to think about too.

It’s like finding alignment with, people, unexpected characters at times, but people that have value alignment. That’s, that’s, I think, I think that really does matter. Okay. 

Erika: That’s a great point. so you’ve interviewed a lot of Latino founders. I’m wondering what patterns do you see in the way that we build and then maybe where are there gaps?

Lyanne: Yeah. I think we are, we’re really resourceful. Right, like we can make that dollar stretch. we are early adopters of technology, top mobile users, AI adopters, big marketers as well, social media, our presence on social media. We’re really good at it. We just get it. We are social and I think it’s [00:22:00] because Latina culture, Latino culture is very so collectivist and social.

We wanna share things. Right. That makes 

Erika: so much sense. 

Lyanne: That is our urge. That is our urge. Like it, culturally speaking, and I think it does come from Latin countries because US culture. And Tanzina Vega, who’s used to be a journalist at the New York Times and writes about a lot about race and culture.

 she, she mentioned this in her podcast once we are in, and I was like, you, you hit it on the head. We are, in the US a very individualist culture. Latam collectivist, and I think that really helps us in our business, right? Like tap into the networks. Tap into the collectivism. I will admit to you like I have some individualism and collectivism in me and sometimes I need to figure out where to readjust, right?

Like where, where have I learned things that are good to keep? And where do I need to soften my rugged individualism? Because it’s actually hurting me, right? Like asking for help or like building right, the network that we need to succeed. now [00:23:00] where we can fail. not asking for what we’re worth, not asking for enough money.

 as collectivists as we are, we need to get collectivists about the money. When we talk about our spending power, like I see a lot of people share that, and it’s like, okay, great. Let’s take it a step further. how are you, using that spending power, right? Like, where are you spending your money?

Where are you making your investments? Who are you collaborating with when you’re putting together an event? Like, how are you thinking thoughtfully about if you’re doing a payout to something? Like how are you thinking thoughtfully about where that money’s going, who you’re working with? Follow the money.

And also ask for your worth. How do you ask for your worth? Well, you use that collectivist mindset to, to share what, what you make, like speaking engagements. we’re having a big moment over the last four years, especially for people like you and I that build a brand around our businesses. I would really implore people to continue, and if you haven’t yet to [00:24:00] share salaries, don’t hold.

Like, it is not illegal. To share a salary. And it is in a lot of states, we’re pushing to actually make it so that jobs would post their, their like salary range. And that is, that is a good thing. You don’t want people doing similar jobs. Similar. That is, that is how we’re prone to discrimination. right.

Like we’re prone to more unequal treatment. so where the systems don’t exist to make sure that there is. Fair compensation for same amount of labor. Mm-hmm. Start tapping into that collectivist mindset and sharing more information. 

Erika: Beautiful. What is one thing that you wish more Latinos understood about wealth?

And not just earning it, but also leveraging it? 

Lyanne: Yeah. I wish at a very basic, I’ll start with the basics and then I’ll build to more complicated and even things that I’m working on because I don’t know all, or, or rather. I know [00:25:00] a good chunk, but I don’t employ all of it yet, and I have aspirations to do so.

 at the very basic level, credit is so important. Do not be scared of credit cards. I talked to a friend two weeks ago who hadn’t, who I found out had not opened a credit card and she’s in my age range. And I think that that comes, sometimes out of fear. Mm-hmm. Right? Like that comes out of fear because I don’t wanna be in debt.

 Credit here in the United States really does matter. It tells other banks. so for when you’re opening a business, for when you’re buying a home, like how trustworthy you are with your money, and credit cards are a really important way to build it. So when you have a business, have a credit card for your business, build that credit score for that.

Build your personal credit, make sure you keep it healthy, your credit cards. Aren’t really loans they’re meant to be used, like your debit. And it’s a, it’s a revolving door. You pay it off as you go. Like don’t, don’t fall into the trap of building up debt in [00:26:00] that way. Now there is good debt, right? And that’s where I want to explore more of that.

We tend to be so scared of debt that we’re like no debt at all. There is such thing as good debt and a lot of wealthy people in this country leverage good debt to build their wealth. So. That, but that tends to be bigger investments, right? Like you’re buying multiple homes, multiple investment properties, so that’s not your credit card.

Uh, consumer credit cards. so those are two important things. I think the other thing is, this is less business owner, but it impacts every single person, including business owners, retirement plans. social security is set to run out. I wanna Google this because I don’t wanna get it wrong, but last I saw it was 20 35, 20 34 is what, what I’m reading here 

 I see CNBC reported it and CAPTRUST reported it. So 20 35, 20 34, that’s when social security sets are run out. So don’t, like, our parents may have talked to us about social [00:27:00] security, do not trust, like take it into your own hands to figure out what your retirement plan is going to be. Right.

And I, I have heard before from business owners, my business is my retirement plan. But you need some contingency plan, uh, as best you can. And I’m not saying we’re rolling around in dough and we have all this expendable income to do this, to do that. I recognize that like there, there are people out there living paycheck to paycheck, but please, please take matters into your own hands to, to look out for your future self.

Yeah. Don’t, don’t put it all on the line where you’re risk. You, you, you’re, um. Some of it has to do with level of comfortability and you can’t recommend, like legally, I do not take recommendations from me. I’m not a financial advisor. I need to say that, but, but please look out for your, for your later self in one way or another, right?

And so ways to do this investments, um, [00:28:00] more than ever. I see folks talk about, talk about this online, rightfully so, hopefully aligned investments with your values in companies that you believe in. But companies that are doing well, in, in different tech stacks, healthcare companies that are doing well, and having a high yield savings account.

 so then you, you are not in a checking savings account where your money’s literally deprecating day by day. So tho those are just things to, to watch out for. 

[00:29:00] [00:30:00] [00:31:00] 

Erika: Perfect. That was like actionable, easy to understand. I think people are gonna find that really helpful. it’s so crazy how our generation, or not, how our generation, how, our culture sometimes can look at debt as such a bad thing, but it’s also such a foundational, foundational thing.

So, I guess just another thing I would add to that is like read books on money, right? Like read books on money mindset, like there’s so many books written by amazing Latinas. A lot of them have been interviewed on the podcast. Such as like Gigi, the mentor, her Cultura and Cashbook. Jenny Torres has [00:32:00] also, um, been interviewed on the podcast and her book is called Financially Lit.

So, I feel like you gave great, great advice there. But there’s also additional interviews on the podcast if anybody wants to deep dive into that. And both of 

Lyanne: those, both of those authors are amazing. Mm-hmm. Uh, I also wanna recommend, Tiffany, Alicia. who, wrote the Buda, or is the, is the Buda on social media and I think her book’s called Get Good With Money.

Yes. It’s called Get Good With Money. But yeah, she’s, she’s amazing. I also think she was working, um, in New Jersey to pass some kind of laws that would help bring personal finance and education into classrooms at an earlier age, which like how amazing I would have loved. Right? Like talk about more applicable things taught at school.

Erika: Yeah, definitely. All right, so I wanna talk to you about storytelling because since I’ve known you like that has been, you’ve done so many different things. But I wanna say at the, at the core, you are such a great [00:33:00] storyteller and you really look at storytelling as you know. More than just stories, like you really believe that stories can be, can be movement.

So you’ve built this career on telling stories that really help shift narratives. Why does storytelling matter? Just as much as something like capital? 

Lyanne: storytelling is a kind of capital. Ooh, 

Erika: so good. 

Lyanne: Absolutely, absolutely. It, it’s a kind of capital. There’s different kinds of capital, right? Like you have, your network is your net worth, right?

Like your network capital, you have your phy, your physical money capital, you have your assets capital, right? Which is a combination of, of everything, the cash, the, the property, everything, the business. and I would say that storytelling is absolutely capital because. The idea is you build a strong enough of a narrative and a strong enough of a network that you’re sharing the story.

Other people are sharing that story that [00:34:00] you’re sharing, and it becomes true. I think one person that really understands this is, the Nora founder, Sandra Velazquez. She’s amazing. She gets it. 

Erika: Yeah, she 

Lyanne: gets it. I met Sandra when she was, the front woman for, uh, pi, which was the band, and they were performing out in Brooklyn, and that was her, that was her work.

She was, she, she did music. I was like, how cool is that woman? I didn’t know who know who she was, but like I became familiar with her then. And then I came back to her because I was writing a story on her and many years later and I was like, she looks so familiar. She was part of that ra and as a RA or front woman from ra, she got a lot of really great press.

And when I asked her about it, I was writing a story about her for time. I was like, listen, like. You’re so good at storytelling. I saw your Shark Tank pinch. Um, you’ve also got it funded by Lat vc, the $100 million fund funding Latinos. Um, what, what, what’s your secret sauce? What’s your superpower there?

And she’s just like, [00:35:00] listen. And, and it’s funny ’cause as a journalist, I, I wouldn’t agree with this as a flat line, but I get, I get her point. She’s like, you tell the media and they make it true. Like you’ll tell the media the narrative and they, and they, and they print it and it’s true. And I’m like, oh, wow.

Well, as a journal, as a journalist, hopefully a good journalist wouldn’t just print it. And it’s true, we would have plenty of background research, but. I’ll tell you that media at large, not just news media at large is a very, it’s a sociology thing. It’s a sociology experiment. and this is not news, you know, like news, like hardcore news, like, which is like a very particular set of, of news agencies, I would say, where it’s, they just report the news.

No opinion. but media is a very people influenced thing. Like living creature. Like if you think about social media, newsletters, personalities, talk shows, like it, it, she’s kind of right, like what people say and what you say. And if the story is the same, it becomes true. [00:36:00] Like you, you inc. You, you throw in some really hard, some hard work, some resonating story and a little bit of d lulu and like you have like a story that sticks and It does.

Yeah. And I’ve seen it happen. And so I think that storytelling can absolutely change your life, when used responsibly and when you have the right network to back you up on it. 

Erika: Yeah. Which then begs the question of what story are you telling then? Right. And like, what story are you telling yourself and what story are you telling on your social?

And like, are you using it in a way that’s that’s beneficial for you and for the greater good? Or are you, yeah, it just as you were saying that, you know, like you, you tell the media and they make it true. I’m like, whoa, what are we saying then? Because yeah, that’s a whole reflection. 

Lyanne: Oh my gosh. And there are some parts of the internet that, let me tell you, I don’t think do us a lot of favors.

Right. So I think that brings me to something else that I don’t know if it’s on the agenda for us to talk [00:37:00] about, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot. And that’s media literacy because who’s on the other end of that? And, I think media literacy is so, so important and I don’t think as a country we have it.

 by and large, there was a report that came up from Reuters, maybe two and a half weeks ago that showed that social media has officially overtaken any like, news network, in news delivery. Wow. And so Americans are consuming, their media, from social media. And there was, there was another country, I, I think it was like there was another country that had as high rates.

I’m gonna have to come back to you with what that country was, but it was not in the Americas. And I, and I’m just like, you know, for as powerful country as we are, we really need to get our media literacy down because if you have all that power and you’re not, your, your public is not informed. That’s a, that’s, that’s a dangerous combination.

Erika: Yeah. Or not accurately 

Lyanne: informed. [00:38:00] 

Erika: Who may not know what you mean when you say media literacy. Could you explain that? 

Lyanne: Yeah. Media literacy is, critically thinking about the media that you’re consuming. That can be, let’s talk about it in the context of social, right? Like the tiktoks, you’re consuming the Instagram reels.

We do a lot of video, right? Like any written content podcasts, like mm-hmm. A lot of our content is getting more. If we think about news consumption, a lot of our content is the most, is more and more fragmented, right? It’s not as owned up top, which it could be good, right? We could say, oh, well it’s democratizing media.

 but the flip side of that is how do we know, where’s the nutrition label on this? How do we know that what you’re listening to is vetted and verified? how do we know if something is, I think the other thing that people struggle with is knowing whether something is just news or opinion or op-ed.

Right. You know, or edit or editorial. And I’ll tell you what the difference is. [00:39:00] News is just like, here are the facts. Every, like, I think that one thing that I don’t agree with journalism teaching is that journalists shouldn’t have an opinion. Journalists are people, the day gets spit out by a machine.

Like they’re not, but like, but to be honest, even algorithms are crafted by people, so, right. I don’t know. Like I, journalists will have an opinion. I don’t think we should ever operate under the fact that humans don’t have opinions. But I think news, hard news will just tell you the facts and op-ed. As an opinion editorial piece, which will include facts, but it’s more of just like, it’s more of telling you, here’s a thesis statement and here’s all the supporting facts for this thesis.

It’s like a thesis paper and supporting facts. Right. that makes sense. An opinion piece doesn’t have to have, it doesn’t have, it doesn’t have like as a big barometer for facts. It could just be, this is my opinion. and so I think it’s very important for people to know the difference between the three.

Now, how do you know what you’re reading is verified or not? Like fact checking? And [00:40:00] unfortunately, you know, like when, when you pay journalists and you have journalists that are not, swayed by other economic incentives, you should expect news that you don’t have to fact check. But now that we have our news very fragmented and it’s individuals delivering the news, individuals that aren’t trained in.

Reporting. and that’s not to say you need to go to school, but like you need to know an ethical reporting so that you can perform it. Mm-hmm. you don’t, like, I find myself, Erica, I’ll tell you, as somebody who consumes the traditional media and also consumes online, like I absolutely will save something if something.

I’m like, no way. I will save it. I will go and check it against my, so I will, I will literally go to the original report and I’m just like, is this a think tank or is it bipartisan? People are not gonna be doing that. Also, that’s a luxury that I have to do that. So I am very concerned about the media that we’re consuming.

I think it’s very dangerous that there is [00:41:00] no fact-checkers. Mm-hmm. Um, and, and a lot of people don’t have time to do all that fact checking. But I, I would at least hope that they know what kind of media they’re consuming so that they can weigh, in a democratic society, you make important decisions.

You vote for your local office, you vote for national offices, so that you can make informed decisions. 

Erika: Yeah. Yeah, that’s such a important point that you bring up and it’s something that I’ve had in my personal life. I’ve also had conversations about this, especially with the, the friends that have a different upbringing, right.

And we’re consuming different things and we’ll, and, and we, then we begs the question of like, okay, well who wrote this? And like, where did they stand and how do we know that this is factual or just an opinion? And to your point, I think you being for a journalist, right, like you have. You can tell right away, but even you said you’re fact checking and if people don’t even have that knowledge, they’re taking content as true without having [00:42:00] any way of double checking it.

Right. Just like, oh, this is it. And now with ai, which is like, you know, that’s a, yep. AI is a really positive thing, but it can be used in a negative way as well. 

Lyanne: Absolutely any tool can be used in a nefarious way, so it absolutely needs a checker. Right. So to that end, that’s where I am working on a resource with some friends who are journalists about media literacy, and that is a project that I’m working on that I will share with you, Erica, when it’s ready.

But it just comes out of a need. It’s a concern like I and I, and I don’t think that. that all educators are ready to teach what modern media literacy looks like, but I don’t think only reporters should have a concept of what that is. I think every single American Yeah. Should have a concept of what that is.

Erika: Definitely, definitely. So Leanne, you are such a great person to, to speak with. I had just a few questions listed out if you’re okay with it. what’s going on with you? I would love to talk about you, your journey. Whenever we met, you were working at nasdaq. Now [00:43:00] you’re working in the tech industry.

So what, what’s next for you or how have you managed to like, let me take a step back. First, let me ask you, how have you managed the different pivots in your life? Because you’ve taken a lot of career pivots, you’ve moved, you were in New York when I met you, you moved, you’ve also shifted industries. You have your podcast, your newsletter.

So how have you managed different changes and shifts in your life? 

Lyanne: Oh my gosh. What a question. To be honest, it’s, it’s funny. So, so just some, for some context, some people may know or have deduced, but I am a first gen, Mexican American, proud daughter of, of two. Immigrants, and I am also, eldest daughter, which tends to have a set of associations with it.

But, but it just means, uh, definitely I think what I, what I, what I mean to say with that is like there’s a lot of firsts and I, I’m a very unconventional person when it comes to [00:44:00] what, uh, path I, I I take. Like when I graduated from college, I went to New York and I was 30 K in the red on student loans, and I.

And, and to be honest, I wasn’t equipped with all of the knowledge I have now. Right? Like, I didn’t even know how to set up a 401k. it, thank goodness that my job kind of force functioned me into it after my minimum wage, first minimum wage fellowship with Business Insider in New York. When I was at CNBC.

They’re like, you’re getting a 401k. And I was like, great, what is this? And I did not know how to negotiate. I definitely got, I think, at least 5K below what I could have asked for in that entry role. so I have learned, I’m a big fan, personally of the underdog story and taking the path less traveled, and I cannot tell you that I’ve known how to deal with every phase of my life as I’ve stepped into it.

I think the best way to deal with it has been like approaching it with a student mentality and being like, I don’t know, but I, but because of repetition, I trust myself [00:45:00] to to know how to, even if I mess it up at first, like I am so not. it despite all odds, even though sometimes I should be scared, I think I, I measure my risks, for sure.

But like, I’m just like, I, I started in the red, like, I don’t know, like, like try me, like try me world because, because, because there’s so much that my parents went through to put me where I am today, and I feel like I’ve absorbed their strength and resilience. And I’m like, there is no way in heck that I’m not gonna try and do, like, if, if there is something being spoken to you, there’s no way that I’m gonna not try and do it right.

And so that. I think that there’s a little bit of brazenness in, in me even selecting journalism as a career, which is not a guaranteed salary. And it’s funny that I talk about money, but I got, I got paid $18 an hour for the first six months when I was in New York. And then, um, I lived in New Jersey. I just figured it out.

I lived in [00:46:00] New Jersey. I commuted to New York until I could live in New York. but I think with every phase of life being a student, meeting, people that I could relate to and that also had that growth mindset. Has been super helpful. I am so, so lucky to have had, a sponsor in my life who has carried me over through multiple jobs.

Erika: Amazing. And that’s 

Lyanne: something that I, that I don’t hide because I think she has absolutely been critical to my, to, to my corporate success. and her name’s Anna Gonzalez. She’s, she’s incredible. And I, I realized that it’s just like whenever you get lucky, use that luck to propel it, to propel you to what’s next, right?

But I, there is no formula. I think I spent so many of my younger twenties putting a lot of pressure on myself, tying a lot of my work to labor, first of all, and then putting a lot of pressure on myself to to, to figure out the code, to crack the code. And I have come to the realization that for someone like me that has had a [00:47:00] totally unconventional upbringing and path to success, I don’t want to start following a formula like it is embedded within me.

 to be an underdog, even if I am underestimated in certain environments, to develop that self trust that I put in the reps. And I learn how to do things for the first time and I will continue to learn how to do things for the first time. And I think that I’m hoping that that is the kind of mentality that really gives me the fortitude through this time that we’re going through.

 and I think a lot of us have it in us, a lot of us, right? Like a lot of folks that are listening are probably first gen or, or you know, like first doing things in their families. Trust that you’ve put in the reps. Like, don’t, like feel the fear, but don’t, don’t back down. Don’t like, like take a rest, but don’t put your pencil down like we’ve got work to do.

 I say it because I also need to hype myself up in it. like the world needs [00:48:00] us. The world needs, needs us to come together. We need to like, to figure out mm-hmm. To, to really. To help the collective. 

Erika: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Is there anything I didn’t ask you about that you wanna share with the listeners?

Anything that’s been on your mind, or you already mentioned the media literacy thing that you’re working on. Is there anything else you’re working on? We should keep our eyes open for. 

Lyanne: Yeah. I had a season of one of the moves earlier this year, which ended with a live, episode at South by Southwest, which would be great for y’all to listen to if you wanna learn about how Latino business were dealing.

Amazing. With all of the changes happening in 2025, we heard, we worked with Anis Ventures on this one. they support a lot of Latinos building businesses. but it featured a, a lawyer, It featured a business owner, owning a startup, and it had, somebody in venture capital. So a nice spread of of people.

 amazing. And then we’ll have an, we’ll have a new season, uh, and that New Season’s all gonna be about [00:49:00] how are we building despite all of the things that are coming up right now in 2025, and how are we specifically searching for capital? So how are we getting resourceful, right? Like, and we’ll talk about different kinds of capital like we did here.

 so mm-hmm. That money, the networks and then other kinds of capital, right? Like storytelling is gonna be super important. So, definitely stay tuned. One of that moves is the name of the podcast, also the name of the newsletter. And then if you wanna check out that last episode, I can also send you the link so you can share with your folks.

 yeah, we can put all of that 

Erika: down in the show notes. 

Lyanne: Perfect. Yeah, it’s called Building Strong Startup Hubs. It was live with an, and the guests were Aida Roman, who, um, runs Amplify Latinx, Jessica Salinas from New Rising Ventures, and Maria Jose cio, who is owner over at Progeny Coffee.

Erika: Amazing. So if people want to connect with you, obviously they should follow the podcast, subscribe [00:50:00] to the newsletter, but where else do you hang out? Where do you spend your time? 

Lyanne: Yeah. Um. Instagram, I have it public. I share a pseudo mix of, uh, professional and personal. Uh, you can find me on the salsa floor, Erica.

I know we relate there. Uh, I lo I’m a big sal, big salsa bachata. You know, you gotta do what scares sometimes. And a lot of socials that have bacha, bachata have salsa and vice versa. So 

Erika: I’m learning 

Lyanne: always be a student. Um, and yeah, find me online, uh, or in Chicago. 

Erika: Beautiful. Leanne, thank you so much for your time.

This was a long time coming. I’m glad we got this. Yeah, this episode recorded and I’m sure we will have you back on, especially after we have more data around the impacts of what it is that’s going on now. So, um, stay tuned for another invite to be back. Sounds great. Thank you so much, Erica. Thank you.

Lyanne: Really appreciate the convo.

[00:51:00]