My Energy (Andrew Lopez): Latino Business Report

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Latino Business Report

The Latino Business Report makes its mark with mixed topics

Ranked in top 20 podcasts to keep an eye on in 2021

Anyone who thinks a podcast about business issues is all spreadsheets and risk management has never heard the Latino Business Report.

Brought to us by the Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce (TAMACC) and hosted by the organization’s executive vice chair, veteran Hispanic business and marketing guru J.R. Gonzales, the show’s topics have run the gamut by Feedspot, a national RSS feed reader.

No wonder it didn’t take long for the Latino Business Report to make its mark. Seven months, 18 episodes, and almost 1,000 streams after the first podcast in November, it has been ranked 18th in the top 45 Latino podcasts to follow in 2021.

Through TAMACC’s Latino Business Report, listeners learned that there is no such thing as chicken fajitas, got help applying for the government’s PPP forgivable loan program, and heard about the plight of Dreamers, or immigrants who came to this country as children and have deferred action protection. While there are mainstream business issues covered like outsourcing and press releases, there are some unexpected chats with Hispanics in different industries.

Whether it’s Miguel Vidal, owner of Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ, one of Austin’s most popular food trucks, sharing some kitchen secrets and plans to open a brick-and-mortar eatery, or comedian Shayla Rivera alternatively telling jokes and stories about surviving breast cancer and losing her son, these are conversations you don’t hear anywhere else.

The most recent episode features Samantha Najera and Nina Duran the dynamic duo that has the popular Bean and Chisme web show. The self-proclaimed hoodrats use their alter egos, Lil’ Frijolita and Lil’ Chismosa, and embrace the Chola vibe they create to spotlight the Mexican influence and culture in South Texas. They have more than 90,000 streams on YouTube.

“Their show uses humor to make social commentary on the Mexican American experience and it is the kind of out-of-the-box business thinking that we want to showcase on the Latino Business Report,” Gonzales said. “We want to have cutting-edge Latinos sharing their stories, their failures as well as their successes, their regrets, their joys, their fears, and their hopes.”

“That’s what Latino Business Report is all about,” Gonzales said of TAMACC’s newest resource. “We hope to educate and entertain, of course, but also provide a platform for the conversations that we need to be having today to move our people forward.”

Podcast episode 19 -- Bean and Chisme: Changing the Way We Look at Ourselves and Our Latino Culture -- can be found at www.latinobusinessreport.com along with the previous 18 episodes. You can also listen to Latino Business Report at www.latinobusinessreport.podbean.com, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or any of your favorite podcast platforms.