Meet the founders: Carolina Guerrero & Daniel Alarcón

Carolina Guerrero and Daniel Alarcón know that there are myriad Latin American and Latino stories to tell. The journalists co-founded Radio Ambulante – an award-winning, Spanish-language NPR podcast – to share them. Next came Lupa, an audio-centric app that teaches Spanish through Radio Ambulante stories. We spoke with the entrepreneurial couple about their own heritage, celebrating Latinx culture, and more.

Daniel Alarcón: I was born in Lima and raised in what I think of as a Peruvian bubble in the southern United States. In my neighborhood, there were a handful of Peruvian families, and we were all very close. I grew up in the 1980s, a difficult time in Peru. There was so much I didn’t understand about what was happening back home; a lot of who I am today was shaped by my desire to know more.

Carolina Guerrero: I was raised in Bogotá, and lived there into my early adulthood. When I think about who I am, I always think “Colombian first.” Latino or Latinx are important concepts, but not everyone fits neatly in those boxes. When I moved to New York, I began meeting Latin Americans from all over, and slowly, I realized I was becoming more Latin American every day. Not less Colombian. But definitely more Latin American.

CG: It has been really interesting to watch the month grow into the celebration it is today. It’s important to help raise the profile of so many Latin American and Latinx voices, and I see this month as an opportunity for that.

DA: Being Latinx, we celebrate it just by existing! I do think it addresses a blind spot that existed for many years, when it came to celebrating the value of our communities.

DA: Radio Ambulante came from a frustration with the mainstream media coverage of the Latinx and Latin American experience. There were two types of stories: the helpless victim, or the dangerous “other.” We wanted to tell nuanced, moving stories that embraced complexity and diversity.

CG: Lupa, in turn, came from a need that kept coming up in our audience surveys. From the start, we’ve had a lot of Spanish language learners among our strongest supporters. We knew if we built the right app for these listeners, we could supercharge their learning and make an even greater impact with our journalism.

DA: For me, the most important thing to understand is that there are so many different kinds of immigrant experiences. We try to showcase the diversity of Latin American and Latinx experiences at Radio Ambulante. Complexity is not a word that we’re afraid of, but one we embrace.

CG: I’d love Americans to know more history. Not just Latin American history, but the history of Latin people in the US. I think if they did, there would be a greater understanding of some of the issues and challenges we’re facing today.

DA: I love this Instagram feed called @Nuevayorkinos. It’s a collection of casual snapshots depicting daily life among New York’s vibrant Latino communities in the ’70s and ’80s. There are block parties and birthdays, graduations and days at the park. I just love how joyful these ordinary pictures can be. It’s a good reminder that life is made up of special moments whose value we might not recognize until many years later.

DA: One of the most interesting reads I’ve come across recently is Leila Cobo’s Decoding Despacito. It’s an oral history of Latin music, and I found it just fascinating.

A personal hero of mine is Alma Guillermoprieto, who wrote about Latin America for The New Yorker in the 1980s and 90s. Her book The Heart that Bleeds: Latin America Now is one of my all-time favorites.

Chilean poet and novelist Alejandro Zambra’s Multiple Choice is one of the most moving and daring books I’ve read in recent years. I can’t recommend it enough.

CG: Helena Urán Bidagaín’s Mi vida y el palacio (My life and the palace) is a vital book about the search for truth amid exile and grief. She describes what it was like to lose her father, and grow up in a country that refuses to confront the memory of its past.

I found Geografía Doméstica (Domestic geography) by Colombian author Margarita Cuellar Barona to be beautiful and fascinating. It’s part novel, part essay on ordinary household objects that take on a new significance during lockdown, opening up into intimate, moving stories.

Alarcón also writes about Latin America for The New Yorker and has published several books you can explore below.