Posted on June 13, 2023

NYU Latinx Alumni Network & VECINOS hosted an interactive roundtable with Latine leaders from impactful communities, non-profits, employee resource groups, and affinity networks.

Watch the recording here.

NYU Latinx Alumni Network & VECINOS presented Breathe.Explore.Restore: Benefits of Latinx Affinity Networks to Advance Your Career livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Tuesday 13 June 2023 at 3 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 5 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 6 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

Latinx affinity networks are like a breath of fresh air, offering a space to explore your interests and restore your energy. They can also help you advance your career by providing access to resources, support, and opportunities.

This group of influential organizers talked about the foundations of their collectives and the significance of making spaces where our most genuine selves can be seen, celebrated, and advanced, even and especially if they do not already exist.

Together, we learned about current resources available to Latinx communities in various industries, including business, entertainment, law, and sports, to celebrate their collective impact and explore deeper avenues of value-aligned networking.

At the end of the session, you have access to broader networks and communities, so you can:

• Network with other professionals in your field
• Gain access to mentors and sponsors
• Learn about career opportunities
• Develop your professional skills
• Advocate for yourself and your community
• Feel a sense of belonging and community

Panelists

Christiamilda Correa, President of NYU Latinx Alumni Network & LiberArte

Jacqueline Flores, Producer, Latinx Theatre Commons

Kennedy Medina, Founding Member, VECINOS

Alana Meraz, Founder of Latinx In Sports

Patricia Diaz-Rodriguez, New York Region President, Hispanic National Bar Association

Amanda Sabater, Moderator & Board Member of NYU Latinx Alumni Network

Moderator

Josephine “Amanda” Sabater is a multidisciplinary storyteller, community organizer, and creative problem solver. From 2012 - 2022, she owned and operated a video production company collaborating with Condé Nast, Teen Vogue, AT&T, and more. Her essays have appeared in Elite Daily, Catapult, Remezcla, and Remembering Water: A Contemporary Anthology of Creative Nonfiction by Storytellers of Color.

As a fat person and mixed-race Latina, Amanda passionately advocates for intersectional body liberation. Today, she carefully curates immersive healing experiences for her communities through Power Plus Wellness, the NYU Latinx Alumni Network, and more. These events intentionally disrupt diet culture, decenter weight from wellness, and cultivate fat joy.

Her mission is to empower marginalized folks to take up space and to witness them lovingly when they do. She loves uplifting Latine voices and holding sacred space for the ancestral wisdom of our complex lineages. Her events are a hopeful invitation to collaboratively dream up new, wild, massive, sideways, tiny, sincere, diagonal, unimaginable systems of being and holding one another in compassion.

In 2023, Amanda created Breathe.Explore.Restore.: a community care initiative through the NYU Latinx Alumni Network. This series deepens the cultural conversations around wellness in Latinx/e communities by partnering with renowned subject matter experts to offer meaningful dialogues and restorative healing tools.

To stay current on Amanda’s events, writing, and journey, please visit www.josephineamanda.com or find her on IG: @jamanda27

Panelist Bios

Christiamilda Correa is an award-winning and seasoned community leader, event marketer and professional entertainer who is invested in improving racial equity, access, social and economic mobility for all. Her tenure as the inaugural President of NYU Latinx Alumni Network, has culminated in the group receiving the prestigious NYU Alumni Association Innovation of the Year Award. Ms. Correa is the Director of Development at Reel Works (training the next generation of diverse film and tv professionals), President and Chair of LiberArte (a U.S. non profit with a mission to build racial, social and climate justice worldwide), Jr. Board Member of Teatro SEA (premiere bilingual arts-in-education and latine children's theatre in the United States), and Founder of The Movement Theatre Company. She has performed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s World Culture Festival: Journeys. Ms. Correa is a first-generation Boricua and graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a B.F.A. in Drama. Learn more at www.christiamilda.com and IG: ms_somebody

Kennedy Medina is the Program Planning & Content Strategy Director for Cartoon Network and Boomerang. A Manhattan College graduate, Kennedy has 20 years of successful experience in the media & entertainment business working with such esteemed companies as Blair Television and Paramount Global (CBS Television Distribution and the Nickelodeon Kids & Family Group). Kennedy is an expert at understanding how kids represent an important demographic in the marketplace, for kids are trendsetters with considerable purchasing power, influence their parents’ buying decisions, and are the adult consumers of the future. This experience allows Kennedy to build targeted programming catering to the ever-evolving taste of kids (ages 2-17) across linear and non-linear platforms. With a strong belief in giving back to the community, Kennedy has helped create an alliance called VECINOS, comprised of over 50 Corporate Latinx Employee & Business Resources Groups in the NY/NJ metro area. The goal is to create a stronger connection between the corporate world and the local Latinx communities, while sharing best practices, collaborating on initiatives, networking, and furthering professional development.

Jacqueline Flores (she/her/ella) is a producer, theatremaker, and arts advocate. She is currently the Producer for the Latinx Theatre Commons and serves on the National Steering Committee for the Latinx Theater Initiative. Jacqueline spent two years at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, where she produced the theatre’s special events and led the Company Pool Fund, an internal initiative that provides grants to its company of artists. She has also worked at The Public Theater, in their Mobile Unit and Public Forum programs, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Ballet Austin, and Americans for the Arts. Jacqueline was selected as a member of Theatre Producers of Color’s inaugural cohort and is a two-time recipient of the National New Play Network’s Producer in Residence grant. She is passionate about theatre and the ways in which performance can be used as a means for social change. Jacqueline is a proud Texan and first-generation American, born to parents who emigrated from Honduras and Mexico. She holds a BA in Theater Arts from St. Edward’s University.

Alana Meraz: An Arizona native, Alana’s interest in sports originated watching Sunday soccer matches with her family and attending games to support their home baseball team, The Arizona Diamondbacks. Her love of sports carried over to her college education, where she graduated from Arizona State University with a B.A. in Sports Business, a minor in Event Management and a certificate in International Business. She interned at Phoenix Rising FC during their inaugural season as a community relations intern, was a game day presentation intern with Sun Devil Athletics and a game day operations and street team member for the AZ Diamondbacks. Upon graduating from ASU, she moved across the pond to attend Instituto Superior de Derecho y Economía (ISDE) in Barcelona, Spain to pursue a master’s degree in Sports Management and Law. Alana is a huge proponent of “If you can see them, you can be them.” And this is in the core of what Latinx In Sports is all about. Founded in October of 2020, Latinx In Sports is a growing community of current and future sports professionals whose goal is to further advance Latinx representation and influence in the sports industry beyond Hispanic Heritage Month. Its mission is amplifying voices and growing Latinx presence through mentorship, organic connection and love for the culture. Alana is confident that the Latinx in Sports community will empower its members and help pave the way for future generations. Today, Latinx in Sports has a social media following of over 2,000 on Twitter and LinkedIn, and has a database of over 600 members that range from industry veterans to college-aged members and industry hopefuls.

Patricia Diaz-Rodriguez is a Senior Director with Ankura’s New York Data & Technology team. As a licensed attorney in New York State, she brings 10 plus years of experience in eDiscovery, complex litigation, and other cyber-related matters. Patricia has a unique talent in crafting innovative legal solutions for complex matters that focus on the use of technology. Patricia is experienced in curating diverse teams of legal experts to not only support the needs of her clients but to also create an environment that fosters ideas, encourages conversation, and elevates the collective. Throughout her professional career, both in and out of the law, Patricia has zealously fought for initiatives that promoted and incentivized diversity. As an undergrad at The Ohio State University, Patricia noticed the lack of presence with the Latin community and decided to embark on chartering the first ever Latina sorority at Ohio State, which caught the eye of several local papers. Patricia has written numerous articles published by the American Bar Association regrading diversity in the law and minority recruiting. She continues to create content aimed at raising awareness and highlighting the disparities within the law and minority communities. She is a councilmember of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model- Global Advisory Council. Patricia is currently the New York Region President of the Hispanic National Bar Association. Patricia attended Baylor University Law School and received a Master of Law in eDiscovery with a focus on Litigation Management and eDiscovery. In addition, Patricia recently completed the Diversity and Inclusion program at Cornell University. Patricia is also a team member in Ankura’s recently created Brooklyn Cyber Center, which focuses on providing cybersecurity training and opportunities to underrepresented communities. Previously, she was a practicing attorney at Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett for 6 years out of their New York office. She is a wife and mother of three.

About HowlRound TV

HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based, peer-produced, open-access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world’s performing-arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and develop our knowledge commons collectively. Anyone can participate in a community of peer organizations revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field by becoming a producer and co-producing with us. Learn more by going to our participate page. 

Watch the livestream at www.howlround.com.