An Interview With Latina Futures’ Cofounder
Sonja Diaz moderating a panel on the 2024 Presidential Election at the California Latino Legislative Caucus Foundation policy conference on December 6, 2024, with Fernando Guerra, Jean Guerrero, and Mike Madrid. Courtesy of Sonja Diaz.
The team at the Latina Futures 2050 Lab—housed at the Chicano Studies Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles—is taking on ambitious projects to address the systems that hinder Latinas from reaching their full potential. To learn more about the project, Intervenxions spoke to Sonja Diaz,¹ cofounder of the initiative, and why collaboration and intersectionality are at the heart of this work.
Intervenxions and Sonja Diaz edited this interview for concision and clarity.
Can you describe the Latina Futures Lab initiative at UCLA?
Latina Futures is a path-breaking intervention to disrupt long-standing inequities that hamper Latina workers' full economic, social, and political futures. We do this through research, trusted community partnerships, and storytelling about Latinas' contributions to the American story. We also invest in young people to unleash the radical imagination necessary to transform failed systems.
Another way to kind of think about it is Latina Futures is a testament of having a critical mass of enlightened leaders that seek to address the invisibility and disposability of Latinas, especially Latina essential workers, through cross-sectoral means. And the lab is an extension of the work of a cohort of Latina state legislators out of California during the first year of COVID-19.
Can you talk more about that and how it led to Latina Futures Lab?
The Latina legislators wanted to spotlight the incredible toll of the pandemic and failed public policies that predated a global public health crisis that essentially rendered Latino workers and their households disposable. And they created the Unseen Latinas Initiative through the Latino Legislative Caucus in California to increase awareness amongst policymakers but also the media and the public about the experiences of Latinas, namely that in the year 2020, in October when they launched, was Latina Equal Payday, which represented the number of additional days a Latina worker would have to work past December 31 of the previous year to match the salary of a white male peer.
Now these leaders also did something that was very sophisticated in that they utilized their governmental status and role to work with the legislature and create the first-ever select committee in the state assembly on Latina inequities. And they utilized that venue to create a government record of the experience of Latina workers across industries from low-wage sectors like retail and hospitality to Latinas in Hollywood to Latina lawyers, Latina doctors, Latina small business owners. And that was a bipartisan, multiracial, multi-ethnic, all-gender body that still exists to this day.
Through all of that work, these legislators entrusted me and my cofounder Veronica Terriquez with the next iteration of their contribution to addressing long-standing disparities. And that came in the form of a historic $15 million state appropriation in 2022 to evolve the work of the state legislature into what is now the Latina Futures 2050 Lab.
Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Dr. Berta Esperanza Hernández-Truyol, Bamby Salcedo, Alejandra Caraballo, and Dr. Veronica Terriquez on stage at the 2024 Latina Futures Law and Policy Symposium discussing LGBTQ+ rights through a Latina lens. Courtesy of Sonja Diaz.
Why is this initiative necessary at this moment in time?
Latinas continue to punch outside of their weight in American society. And I mean that not just in terms of the economy, but also social, cultural, and political participation. And we're at a breaking point without public policy decision-making that integrates and centers the very diverse needs of Latina workers into implementation and design. Latinas are the least-paid racial, ethnic group in this country. And that has been a fact that has defined my own professional experience in life, whereby when I graduated college during the Great Recession, Latinas in California made around 50 cents, like 51 or 52 cents per dollar compared to a white man.
COVID dropped that down below 50 cents. And depending on what estimates, what you're seeing is growing inequality that has not remained constant with inflation. And so Latinas are getting paid less today than they were 15, 20 years ago.
But there are a few things that are different. First, over the last 20 years, Latinas have dramatically increased their educational attainment, including college, degree completion, and post-college. They also have really enshrined their role in Latino households as the breadwinner because of their over-segmentation compared to Latino males in business and professional roles.
Now, the other thing that's happened is that you've seen widespread demographic change, not just in the growth of Latinos, who are the second fastest-growing demographic group in the U.S. after Asian Americans but the declining and aging of the majority, which is non-Hispanic whites. And as you're seeing these changes happen, the role of Latina workers in our labor force has only grown and will continue to do so in the years to come. And this economic subjugation that they, their households, and their ecosystems are plagued with is not just a Latino problem or an urban problem. It's an American policy problem. It's an American economic problem. It's an American political problem because of the role Latinas play in being the trusted messengers and being the breadwinners of multi-generational households, oftentimes sandwiched between taking care of elderly family members and younger family members and being subjected to such unequal pay for the same work.
It's so frustrating when you look at the stats and it doesn’t seem to be getting better.
It's not even staying constant, right? It's getting worse. And that is harder in the face of the continued promise, progress, and capacity of Latinas in this country and the barriers that exist that leave women of color on the periphery over decisions about their bodies, their homes, and ultimately their futures.
Ofrenda at Latina Futures’ Día de los Muertos celebration, “Latina Futures and the Environment,” UCLA, November 1, 2024, featuring original artwork by Kiara Aileen Machado, 2024. Courtesy of Sonja Diaz.
Are there any projects you’re particularly excited about?
Part of the invisibility and disposability that American society utilizes to subjugate Latinas and other similarly situated groups is a problem of narrative and storytelling that limits accurate portrayals of American life—past, present and future. Both the lack of stories that center on the Latina experience or originate from a Latina gaze means that the full humanity, a growing and consequential portion of our demographic in our population—our nation's population—is not understood.
Even worse, it's not even imagined. So one of the ways we get to healthy and inclusive futures where everybody thrives instead of struggling to survive, is understanding a shared humanity and ascribing dignity to everybody. That includes BIPOC populations, that includes people with different abilities, that includes people who are not English language dominant, that includes immigrants and mixed-status families. Until those stories are integrated in a meaningful way in our media, entertainment, and news, we will continue to be numb to discriminatory and sometimes violent decision-making from our government at the state, local, and federal level.
That’s why one of the projects of Latina Futures is to support Latinas to be able to tell their own story with the myriad of nuances that come with that. And so going into 2025, Latina Futures has worked with our senior journalism fellow, Jean Guerrero, to create a novel boot camp to train 15 participants on opinion and commentary for news outlets, digital outlets, daily newspapers, and other types of news mediums so they can opine about the first 100 days of the second Trump administration across issues from the environment to housing production, to historic and cultural preservation, and of course, immigration and immigrant rights.
Veronica Terriquez, Helen Torres, former Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo, Sonja Diaz, and Senator María Elena Durazo at HOPE’s 2024 Latina Action Day, Sacramento, California, May 7, 2024. Courtesy of Sonja Diaz.
There is such power in being able to tell and own your own story. And it’s especially important with what’s coming.
Part of the boot camp was to be broad in who was participating. Because when you think about the first 100 days, there are so many federal agencies and so many things outlined in Project 2025 that all require attention. But we also wanted to be clear that Latinos and Latinas are a very youthful demographic group. Six out of 10 are millennials or younger. And when we think about the future, the future isn't us, it's Gen Z. And the gender gap in the 2024 presidential election amongst Gen Z, the most racially diverse generational cohort in American history is cause for concern. And it requires all of us to ensure that Gen Z and Alpha girls can lead now and that their peers see them lead and that those of us who are older relinquish power to afford them new opportunities to lead.
On top of focusing on intersectionality, Latina Futures is collaborating with many others. How do you choose who you collaborate with? And can you describe the approach you’re cultivating?
We look at the sectors that make up society in critical decision-making capacities. In addition to the press, academia, and the government, you have philanthropy and private industry. Part of the role of Latina Futures is to ensure that influence and power exists across these sectors for historically disinvested groups, but beyond that, there also is a level of agency and power across all sectors.
Because of occupational segregation, so many Latina workers are overrepresented in retail and hospitality industries, in industries that are really difficult, that don't have pathways toward retirement, security, or basic fundamental benefits like healthcare and paid sick days. Part of our thinking is the role of unions and organized labor to improve working conditions. Recognizing how these workers are leaders and should be able to have decision-making authority over the contours of their work.
Similarly, in greedy professions like law and medicine, there are still egregious disparities when you take into account the experience of a Latina doctor or lawyer, both in terms of their representation based on the share of the population, based on graduation rates of that particular discipline, but also in practice of how much money they're making or whether they're in charge of a hospital or they're a partner at a law firm. Across sectors, there are similar issues whereby Latinas lack the necessary power and influence to thrive.
And it doesn't matter what sector you're in, but what is important is the strategy of Latina Futures, which is top-down and bottom-up—both are necessary. For too long, Latinas have been relegated to this promise of pipeline on the basis that we're not mature enough to lead when in fact Latinas have contributed to the formation of this country and its progress for generations. They're ready now in their most productive years, and they will continue to be ready for generations to come.
Yes, they are definitely ready but not given the chance.
That opportunity is really out of reach and is inaccessible because of perverse gender and racial/ethnic discrimination in this country and our economic system and its wants and needs as made possible by decision-makers that take into consideration the perspectives of the corporate elite. It's disingenuous as a society and as a democracy to continue to prescribe the message whether implicitly to “Wait because it's not your turn,” or explicitly that “You don't belong here; we're gonna do mass deportations.” Neither are smart or conducive to a forward-thinking society. And that requires activation by all of us currently, including substantial participation by younger cohorts that will be inheriting a future that is very grim and empowering them through resource-capacity building, through infrastructure that serves them, through transformation of existing institutions like universities and health care centers to actually meet the needs of Latino students is transformative work that is under siege now. But it doesn't negate the fact that there are opportunities where everybody can rise.
How does Latina Futures address this?
Latina Futures is responding to all of that by bridging all of these sectors with these shared disparities. It doesn't matter if you're talking to a female Latina worker who is making less than $50,000 a year or one that's making $125,000 a year. The research shows that their caretaking responsibilities only increased during COVID unlike other members of their household. They're not getting paid the same for the same work as their white male peers. And they didn't have the benefit of a public policy regime that afforded them generational wealth or accessible, affordable tuition to higher educational institutions, including public ones, or good jobs with security benefits.
All of the things that exist out in the ether for previous generations, namely those that have majority non-Hispanic white members, are out of reach, but still in the psyche. And there's this expectation that Latinas are just supposed to make do. We're supposed to take care of other people's families, we're supposed to take care of problems. But we can't lead, we can't be in charge, and we can't get the compensation that someone who looks different from us because of gender, or race, or ethnicity would get.
Ultimately, the only path forward is to reject all of those traditional archetypes and to meet the middle. So that's the top-down, bottom-up strategy and building back the middle. That middle is the middle of people who wake up every day and get to work and take care of their families and care about their communities, but they require democratic institutions to be responsive to their needs. And so that includes art and cultural institutions. It also includes very vulnerable populations like our partner, the TransLatin@ Coalition, which works to ensure that trans people can age with dignity and that threats under new federal government regimes don't erase some of the progress that has happened in first quarter of the 21st century.
Similarly, our work is focused on ensuring that we have the agency necessary to educate and support people where they are through our academic systems that again, are not popular with the American public and have not been accessible and are even less accessible after the SCOTUS decision on the use of affirmative action in admissions.
There's a role to play, but speaking personally, I'm not sure that that role is at elite institutions as much as it is around the universities and colleges that want to create sites of belonging by meeting students where they are and educating students instead of rejecting their inclusion and rejecting their capacity to become agents of those institutions as faculty or administrators, presidents or chancellors. The work of Latina Futures is really supporting community-focused endeavors. Even if they're within an academic setting, the focus is external to the campus. And that I think is how you start to build some centers of democracy amongst either regional or demographic- or issue-based groups. You need to be able to provide services that these groups actually have a say in so that they can redefine these institutions.
Is there anything else you want to add that we didn't get to cover?
When people are afforded genuine opportunities and are resourced to achieve their highest potential, we will see innovation and we will experience transformation. And so long as opportunities are relegated to non-Hispanic white men, our society, and I mean all aspects of our society—our cultural fabric, our political future, our economy—is going to be at a severe disadvantage. This threatens and undermines us because we are leaving out the proven human capital and potential of women of color, including Latinas, in their most productive years, and we're just wasting it.
I firmly believe that gender inclusion is not just necessary, but it's a solution in the face of grave challenges, including climate change, authoritarianism and othering that is only accelerated by AI. And so if we want to deal with those problems, hold things constant so that inequality doesn't exacerbate or actually try to remediate the structural and historical subjugation of people in this country because of their backgrounds, we're going to need everybody. Right now there are some people who are trying and able but are just relegated to obscurity. And that is a failure of all of us and it's a failure of society.
¹ Sonja Diaz is the Co-Founder of the Latina Futures, 2050 Lab, a pioneering initiative that envisions a society where Latinas have an equal opportunity to lead. Prior, Diaz served as the founding director of the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute, the University of California’s first comprehensive Latino think tank. Prior to UCLA, Diaz served as policy counsel to Vice President Kamala D. Harris during her first and second terms as California Attorney General. Diaz received her J.D. from UC Berkeley’s School of Law, holds a M.P.P. from UCLA, and a B.A. in politics from UC Santa Cruz.