In this podcast, host Lucia Rodriguez Cuevas is joined by her co-host, Shanti Lucia Rodriguez-Pedraza, to discuss their cultural backgrounds, how they grew up, and the impact their friendship has had on each other. Tune in to hear about the many differences and similarities that growing up in a Mexican versus a Puerto Rican and Peruvian environment has had on two teenage girls growing up in metro Atlanta.
Transcript (Edited for clarity and concision)
Lucia: Hey, everyone. My name is Lucia Rodriguez. Welcome to the first episode of Tocayas. I’m currently a journalism fellow at VOX ATL, and I’m in the middle of taking a gap year before I go abroad to study in Spain. Today, I’ll be joined by my co-host and friend, Shanti.
Shanti: Hi, I’m Shanti Rodriguez-Praza, a second-year student at Emory University studying political science and visual arts. Lucia is my best friend, and I’m mezcla. I’m super excited to be at VOX today and to discuss the importance of cultural diversity in friendship.
Lucia: Before we go further, I want to explain our podcast name, tocayas, which I’d never heard before meeting Shanti. Tocaya is a Spanish word for a person who shares the same name as you.
When Shanti and I first met, we realized we share the same name — my first name is her middle name — and we also share the same last name.
Shanti: This is all true. After learning the meaning of this term, it became defining for our friendship. We’re here to discuss how a slight difference in our understanding of the Spanish language — like whether we know the meaning of “tocaya” — has led us to appreciate our cultural differences.
While we are both Latinas and use that identity to connect, we’ve come to realise how distinct Lucia’s Mexican background and my Puerto Rican and Peruvian backgrounds are under this umbrella term.
Lucia: Yes. Let’s start by defining some key terms we’ll be using today. When we say Latinx or Hispanic, we’re talking about people with roots in Latin America or Spanish-speaking countries.
Being Latina and American aren’t opposites. Many of us are both, and that blend shapes our identity. Throughout this episode, we’ll talk about how our culture influences the way we see ourselves within the broader American experience.
Shanti: Lucia and I met when I was a sophomore in high school, and Lucia was a freshman. We both joined the girls’ tennis team. I actually met Andrea, Lucia’s older sister, before I met Lucia. Andrea’s a year older than I am.
I remember thinking, “Oh, this is a Latina girl on the tennis team. I want to be friends with her,” because before high school, all of my Hispanic or Latinx friends were family friends or my mom’s friends’ kids. It was refreshing to meet Latinas on a tennis team — a space I came into on my own and then happened to meet people with a similar identity.
When Lucia joined the team, we clicked instantly. I got along with Andrea again.
Lucia: Once I met Shanti, I was like, “This is my best friend.” We also found two of our other best friends, Sarah and Shea. The four of us work really well together, and Shanti and I, with our own friendship rooted in culture, have influenced the entire group.
Shanti: A few years ago, Lucia and I went out to dinner at a Latina restaurant. We ended up spending about an hour and a half talking about how our different identities within the Latinx umbrella shaped our experiences.
47% of the Hispanic population in Atlanta is Mexican, which is Lucia’s background. My experience has been different because whenever I tell someone I’m Hispanic, they automatically assume I’m Mexican. There’s no negative connotation — it’s just not my experience.
The first few times I hung out with her, I heard words like mano and thought, “What does that mean?” We both speak Spanish, and I can communicate with her parents in their native language and mine, but somehow we still had these differences.
Lucia: Definitely. Whenever I would go over to your house, I noticed your parents’ accents. Obviously, I knew there were different accents, but the biggest difference to me was the Argentinian accent.
That always stood out to me, especially because I watched Violetta growing up. When I first heard your dad’s accent — a mix of Puerto Rican and Argentinian because he spent so much time there — it really stood out. Your mom’s Peruvian accent did, too.
Even your Spanish accent is a mix of those two countries, which is so cool.
Shanti: It’s also cool how distinct Lucia’s accent is. When she speaks, you know she’s Mexican. I’ve always felt kind of the opposite. I’ve been insecure about my Spanish accent because it’s neutral. When I speak Spanish, people can’t tell where I’m from.
But I admire how strong your tie is to Mexican culture, and I’ve learned so much about it through our friendship. I think both of us, throughout our friendship, have learned a lot about the diversity within Latin American culture.
Lucia: I agree. Going back to when we talked about our childhoods, we grew up about 10 miles apart. We attended different elementary schools, but we grew up in the same metro Atlanta area.
I went to an elementary school that was much more diverse. There were many other Latino kids, mostly Mexican. Many of those families were from Guerrero, Puebla and Acapulco. My family is from Mexico City, which has a more urban vibe.
I never really connected with those kids. I didn’t feel like I fully fit in or that they accepted me as one of their own, and that was always a struggle. But it never impacted me deeply. I had my group of friends, and race was never a big part of my identity growing up.
Every summer, from May through August, I went to Mexico to spend time with my family — the culture, language and food. That experience makes up a big part of who I am today. Growing up, realizing that all that time in another country with my family shaped me. In elementary school, that divide with my Mexican classmates did impact who I am today. Shanti had a very different experience compared to what she had in elementary school.
Shanti: Yeah, my identity and how I experienced it were definitely very different. I didn’t even know that piece of it — that you felt so different, even though you mainly were surrounded by Mexican students. The specific origin, whether urban or rural, really did make a difference. That’s super interesting.
My experience was different. My elementary school wasn’t very diverse, but it wasn’t predominantly white either. I’d say it was about 40% white, 40% Black, and then maybe 20% Asian, Hispanic or mixed race. I remember that my family was one of only three Hispanic families at the school, which was isolating.
On top of that, most of my friends and classmates were white, so I always felt like I stood out. Race always stood out to me, which was the opposite of Lucia’s experience. It made me wish I had grown up surrounded by more people who looked like me.
I think this is common for kids of color in the U.S. because it’s such a diverse country, but some pockets are predominantly one race. I noticed race a lot as a kid and had the typical POC experience of spending a lot of time wishing I were white.
Once I got to middle and high school — which Lucia and I both attended — more Hispanic students surrounded me, but they were all Mexican and often not in my classes. It was usually just me and one or two other Hispanic kids, which created isolation from the Hispanic community even when they were physically present.
Whenever Lucia and I talked about our experiences, it was crazy how different they were. I couldn’t believe she grew up with the same identity and didn’t see race the same way.
Lucia: You helped me realize a lot about what was going on in our school — friendships, who we surrounded ourselves with, all of that. Yes, we grew up in the same place, but we’re also different because we come from different backgrounds.
Both of us are first-generation Americans, which makes a big difference. Our parents came to this country legally to work. That’s different from many of our predominantly white friends whose families have been here for generations.
All of my family lives outside the U.S. — mostly in Mexico, with some in Spain. Family plays such a huge role in my life. I have a ginormous family, which is one of the things I love most about myself.
When I compare that to some of my friends who have one cousin they’ve never met, it’s shocking to me. Family has always been a vital part of my life.
Shanti: I totally agree. In Hispanic culture, family is incredibly important. In the U.S., you turn 18 and move away from home. In Latin America, people usually live at home while attending college. College is about going to class, not separating from family.
That shared connection to family has always been something Lucia and I have had in common; spending time in each other’s family dynamics opened my eyes to some biases.
I remember the first time I had dinner with Lucia’s parents — and I want to preface this by saying I love them and have a great relationship with them. But it was an example of cultural bias.
One of them mentioned that Puerto Rican Spanish isn’t “real Spanish” or that it sounds unprofessional. That’s a common trope because of the accent. It might sound like slang to some people, but it’s real Spanish, and it’s professional in Puerto Rico.
Compared to Mexican Spanish, which has clearer enunciation—
Lucia: Structure.
Shanti: Yeah, it’s spoken differently. That moment was shocking because that’s my family. My dad had told me about the prejudice he faced, but that was the first time I saw it firsthand.
My parents have also told me the reverse — that people from Mexico City sometimes think they’re better than everyone else. We talked about how these biases get passed down and how cultures within Latin America judge one another.
Once we come to the U.S. and get grouped under the Latinx umbrella, we have to unlearn those biases to exist as a community and focus on what unites us rather than what once divided us back home.
That immigrant experience becomes even more noticeable in college. People reference things we didn’t grow up with. For example, I’ve never had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Lucia: That’s literally outrageous.
Shanti: I know.
Lucia: Another big part of uniting in the U.S. is community. Both of my parents worked in the entertainment industry — at The Weather Channel, CNN, and Cartoon Network — mainly in the Latin American divisions. They worked with people from all over Latin America.
One unique thing that came from that was my mom learning Portuguese. Her boss was Brazilian, and my mom loves languages. She even took Portuguese classes at work to help build community.
Shanti: My mom has extensive experience working with the Latinx community, specifically here in Georgia. She’s the CEO and founder of her nonprofit, Latino Community Fund, which focuses on serving Latinos throughout the state. She’s Peruvian, and so, throughout her work, obviously, she’s interacted with a lot of other Latinx people from all different origins, from all different places that they’ve immigrated from.
It is always nice to meet other Peruvian people. Her two best friends are also from Peru. It’s interesting how her work is for the whole community, yet it still means so much, like those little differences. And I think the Latinx or Latino—Latino, whatever you want to call it — identity within the U.S. is in such a unique position because of the diversity within it and the way that it kind of has to be grouped to be productive.
Lucia: I’m not going to lie, I was oblivious to so many things. I only really knew about Mexico and Mexican culture and all of that stuff, and the customs and beliefs. I wasn’t aware that every country in Latin America is so different and unique in their own way. They all have their own traditions, customs, holidays, and attire. They’re all so different. Like, every country is so different.
I remember when I first found out mariachi isn’t only Mexican, I was shocked. I was like, ‘Wait, what?!’ But that’s something I am super proud of.
Shanti: Yeah. My experience is also definitely Limited to my two identities, Peruvian and Puerto Rican. And I think something interesting that came up for me starting in middle school was which identity of those two was most palpable to the U.S. population and friends who didn’t know much about Latin culture. I’m equally Peruvian and Puerto Rican — mom’s Peruvian, dad’s Puerto Rican. I don’t prefer one over the other. I was taught and raised about both of them equally. But once I started getting into middle school and hearing about the connotations that came with both cultures, like the fact that Peru is physically farther away from the U.S., and Puerto Rico is a territory.
Although it has its own culture and identity, Puerto Rican culture — the music and the food — is much more palpable, understood, and heard about by the American population. So, telling people I was both Puerto Rican and Peruvian, most of the time, all they heard was Puerto Rican. And all they thought was, oh, I love Bad Bunny. Or they heard about their favourite influencer who’s Puerto Rican, really beautiful, and whatever.
No one really knew much about Peruvian culture. So I started talking about my Puerto Rican side because that’s what people understood and cared about, and that’s what they thought was cool. They thought all Puerto Ricans are baddie and sexy, so I was like, okay, yes, I’m Puerto Rican. I would claim that side hard and let the Peruvian side fade, which brought me a lot of sadness for a while.
And recently, since getting to college, I’ve tried to bring up both sides of my identity more because I got used to only talking about the Puerto Rican part. Americans just hear more about it and care more. Peru feels foreign to them. Like half of the people I’ve told I’m Peruvian, they’re like, I couldn’t even point that out on a map, which is its own separate problem that the U.S. has with geography.
It’s like we can never win the Latin identity. We’re all Latinas, yes, but then, within that, I have to pick the one more palpable to show people. I think being Latina would come off as less cool if I said I was Peruvian versus saying I’m Puerto Rican, because as soon as I’m Puerto Rican, everyone’s interested.
When I was growing up, they were equal parts of my heritage and cultural experience. I couldn’t imagine not being Caribbean. Puerto Rico and the other islands have a distinct culture from Mexico, Central and South America, and the SSA. And just the beaches — everything that comes with that — was a massive part of my Latin American experience.
Lucia came to Puerto Rico with my family last winter break, and she was like, wow, this is so cool, and it’s so different.
Lucia: I’m smiling just thinking about it.
Shanti: It was the best week of my entire life. It was so awesome. The whole Caribbean aspect of being Latinx and Caribbean — that’s a part of the culture that isn’t talked about and definitely informed my experience as well.
Lucia: I agree. But going off of what Shanti was saying about her being Puerto Rican and Peruvian, when people react to that, I feel like people have preconceived notions about Mexico. And I can’t even count, first off, the amount of racial jokes that have been made toward me, like, oh, go back to your country. Can you climb the wall? Make me some tacos?
Shanti: I’m not even Mexican, and I get so many jokes about, like, ‘Oh, make me some tamales.’ I remember in eighth grade, this one guy told me, ‘Oh, all you’re gonna do is grow up to sell paletas outside a car on Buford Highway.’
Lucia: Whenever I tell someone I’m from Mexico, they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve heard it’s not safe. I can’t, I’ve never gone, ’cause I heard the cartel is bad.” And it’s like, “Bro, you’re talking about my home, where my parents grew up, where my entire family is. That’s not something you talk about lightly.” It’s never that simple.
I remember getting made fun of racially a lot. It didn’t start happening until high school. When my whole thing happened freshman year, this guy called me the “b slur.” I discovered what that was in eighth grade. My other Mexican friend told me what that word meant, and I was like, “That’s ridiculous. It’s because we eat a lot of beans?! Like, really? That’s what y’all came up with?!”
So I thought it was a joke. Then, in freshman year, during the second semester, I had this huge group of friends, and this one guy was mad at me. It was because I had a friend older than me, and I guess he was just jealous. But he called me the slur. He was like, “You f— b—!” That’s when it hit me that this is a term used to describe Mexicans, and you’re negatively using that. You’re trying to be derogatory, and that’s not okay.
That was a huge turning point for me, in my connection to being Mexican and in coming into my identity. And Shanti played a vital role at that time because it was the freshman year, and during tennis season, so we were just starting to become friends.
I remember going to her and being like, I don’t know how to feel. This is so awful. I’ve never been ashamed of being Mexican, but I’ve also never put it on a pedestal. It’s always just been a part of who I am. I’ve never second-guessed it, but this made me think that, for the past few months, people have been making jokes about me because I’m Mexican. Now this person is insulting me and using my Mexicanness against me in a way I’ve never experienced before.
It was scary. We live in a world where we’re looked down upon, especially Mexicans, who receive a lot of hate today. Then they try to use our culture every single day. Oh, let’s go to Cancun for spring break. The guy who said this did go for spring break, so I’m confused.
It’s stuff like that. Let’s go to this Mexican restaurant, but I’m gonna vote for the guy calling us illegal aliens. It’s a slippery slope. That was a very hard time, but I’m very grateful for Shanti. She helped me come into my identity, be prouder of being Mexican, and put it at the forefront of who I am.
Before, I never really made it known that I was Mexican. Now I’m a lot prouder of my family, my home, the food, and the culture. I talk about it more, and it’s brought me a lot of joy. Looking back, I spent so many formative years with my family in Mexico, travelling throughout the country and realising its beauty.
So when someone says, ‘Oh, it’s so unsafe, aren’t you scared you’ll get kidnapped?’ I had that conversation last week in Miami with an Uber driver. He said he’s never been to Mexico because he’s scared. I honestly feel more scared walking alone here in the U.S. than I ever have in Mexico. That always rubs me the wrong way.
Shanti: When Lucia came to me after the boy said the slur, I was ready to square up. I was like, are we jumping him or what? And Lucia was like, I don’t know how to react. I don’t think he really meant it. She was clearly confused, and it wasn’t her fault. She’d never experienced something like that before.
Thank God, honestly. But once you do experience it, it’s hard to go back. Once someone uses a personal part of your identity against you, you realize you need to be proud of it and put it at the forefront. Sometimes it takes something you cherish being used against you to make you recognize its value.
If this is what people are gonna use against me, I’m gonna use it to present myself. I’m gonna introduce myself as a Mexican girl. Whatever people can use against me, I’ll show them I’m proud of it.
I think those experiences create the tough exterior people of color have in the U.S. There’s a stereotype that Black women are angry, that Latino women are spicy. Those stereotypes don’t come from nothing. They come from people generalizing groups they look down on. And when we’re mad about it, suddenly it’s our fault.
I’m happy I could help you through that.
Lucia: I’m happy you could, too.
Shanti: Coming into college, it’s crazy how many people are ignorant. Emory is a private school. There are a lot of rich kids, a lot of people from New York, people who grew up surrounded by one demographic. Going from our high school, which was very diverse, to Emory — it’s insane how unaware people can be. It’s not necessarily their fault, but the ignorance is wild.
Lucia: It’s so weird. After going through high school together and now hearing things people say in college, I’m like, how do you feel okay saying that out loud? I remember the first time I went to Emory, some girl said, “Oh, I think my grandpa owned slaves.” And I was like, “Hold the phone…”
Something I’m grateful for is our high school, Druid Hills High School, located on Emory’s campus. It’s so diverse racially and socioeconomically. It’s majority Black.
Shanti: And I think it’s a Title I school. That means more than half the students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Lucia: I looked it up. It’s 39.2% Black, 31% white, 15.9% Hispanic. 47% are economically disadvantaged, and 41% are on free lunch. Talking with friends who go to very privileged, predominantly white schools, they say they’re grateful they went to a school like ours because it’s a reality check. This is how most people live.
Shanti: I’m grateful I went to public school. I feel like a normal person. I could’ve gone to private school, but my life would’ve been so different. I’d be more ignorant and ungrateful.
Lucia: I don’t come from a super economically advantaged family. My parents worked two jobs. I’m taking a gap year, working two jobs, trying to save money and help my parents. I’m grateful for what I have. Seeing poverty in Mexico also shaped me. The difference is stark. I feel safer there sometimes than here.
Shanti: The fact that Lucia and I are best friends shows the importance of socioeconomic diversity in schools. Our backgrounds are different, but we went to the same high school and became best friends. That’s what I love about public school.
Lucia: I have many best friends, but with Shanti it’s different. You understand me in a way no one else can.
Shanti: We both speak Spanish. Our parents are immigrants. There are shows, music, and food we grew up with. Having that baseline is so special, especially growing up in the U.S. It makes friendships like this so meaningful.
Lucia: When it was my graduation this May, my aunts, uncles, and grandma came to visit me. You were the first person I booked. I was like, “You have to meet my family!”
It’s so much easier to connect when we all speak Spanish. We’re all eating dinner together. We’re all just talking about stories, like Shanti is telling them about her background, and then my grandma’s telling Shanti about her experience and everything. And it’s just so nice.
When we were in Puerto Rico, we were on the island of Vieques for New Year’s Eve. The power went out or something. We were waiting to board the ferry back to the mainland. We went to the smoothie shop, and I asked for a strawberry-banana smoothie, right? But I was like, okay, wait, let me say it in Spanish, because obviously we’re here.
And so I was like, “smoothie fresa y plátano.”
The meaning is debatable. Where I come from, plátano means banana. So I asked for a strawberry-banana smoothie. Little did I know that plátano is plantains in Puerto Rico.
He looked at me with a look because he was like, ‘What did you say?’ in disbelief. I was like, I’m confused. I was like, “plátano, like banana?” And he was like, ‘No, no, no.”
I also remember that when we went to Vieques, we took this island tour, which was so nice, and we got to talk to the people leading it. This one lady really impacted me. I spoke to your sister, Luca, and it had a significant impact on her, too. She was telling us how Hurricane Maria had completely devastated the island, and no one was talking about it because it had happened so long ago.
She was telling us about the aftermath of the hurricane and how they’ve slowly been rebuilding. Because that island, if I’m not mistaken, was destroyed?
Shanti: I mean, it was destroyed. Because Puerto Rico’s economy is boosted by tourism, the first things to be rebuilt are the tourist attractions, because that’s what gets the economy moving. But so much of the island has yet to be recovered, especially Vieques, which I just looked up — as of 2023, it only had a population of 8,147. So it’s a tiny island.
And so, if the mainland of Puerto Rico is struggling to recover, Vieques will struggle to recover even harder.
Lucia: Yeah. The hurricanes had a huge impact. I remember listening to her talk about this tiny island we’ve all heard of, like Puerto Rico, but we don’t necessarily know what’s going on in their day-to-day lives. And so that was a huge turning point for me.
I’ve always known I wanted to be a journalist. Still, after hearing her story and hearing her talk about the impact that the hurricane has had on their community, I decided, okay, this is kind of what I want to center my journalism studies on, and why I want to do political science — to understand what’s going on and fix it.
After that conversation, the trip we took to Puerto Rico, I had a lightning bolt moment. I was like, This is what I want to do. Go to communities, reach out, listen to their stories, write about them, and then make even a small impact on these communities, if I could help.
Shanti: That’s so cool. I didn’t know it had all that impact on you.
Thank you so much for having me. I’ve loved our conversation. It’s been so refreshing to chat candidly about our friendship, not just in a social context, but also considering the larger idea of Latinx identity. I’m really happy I got to come in today. This was such a good conversation, and we haven’t had time to sit down and talk for a long time. These conversations make our friendship so meaningful and special.
Lucia: I agree. I love you.
Shanti: I love you.
Lucia: Thank you, Shanti, for joining me today. I loved having you on the podcast and discussing so many topics that have helped shape our identities and our friendship. Thank you, VOX ATL, for giving us a platform, and thank you to all our listeners for tuning in. Have a great day!
