La Vida Yaya

When I look back on my time as a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers teenager, I wonder when it was that I decided to toss off the boxy look and accentuate my body to show that I actually had one. It had to have been right after my freshman year in college. I remember buying up every collegiate t-shirt ever printed to add to my wardrobe, and no, girl shirts hadn't been invented yet. Then one day, our dorm rooms got together to have a nice dinner. I donned on the one plain navy blue A-line dress that twirled up nicely when I spun around and wowed at the attention from the boys. That's when I thought, hey, dresses aren't half bad. I should wear them more often! After that it was a journey of discovery and budget balancing to find the looks that were right for me. I looked to other women who looked good on a daily basis and one of those women was my former coworker Nesly Palacios. Every day she had on a professional look that wasn't dumpy or covered in a shapeless blazer that

I'm usually the first one to knock down the gorgeous people of the earth that live a fantastic life, travel the world, and only socialize with other beautiful people while everyone else is still wiping up the drool from their shirts. It's just so superficial to ONLY admire them for their good genes and jeans. Even now, I hesitate to feature this adonis of a man because it's just too easy to see him for his superficial good looks (I have to look away he's so darn beautiful). But no, I have to write about him because aside from the obvious, I looked beyond the surface and found a unique soulful person on the inside. This weeks Latino Fashion-Listo is  . . . Quetzal Guerrero I suggest you click on his youtube channel and enjoy his American folk- soul- jazz- funk- samba- bossa nova- reggae- afrobeat- inspired music as you read this feature. Go to youtube.com/quetzalguerrero click back here and enjoy! Arizona native Quetzal Guerrero picked up the violi

I believe everyone has a story to tell. Some people are shy and reserved while others wear their past on their sleeves. My friend, George De Los Santos, aka Spider, aka Spiderflesh , not only wears his life on his tattoo sleeve, he shares his story with those that may benefit from learning about his past. He grew up in various cities south of LA from Bell Gardens to Compton and finally Huntington Park. " I’ve always known we were poor. That has been something I accepted and was humbled by. My mother has always been a worker. Not so much in a 'job' but more so in side-jobs that pay," said George as I asked about his childhood. " My 'real' dad was not around much and when he was it just lead to disappointment so I’ve not sought him out anymore. I have learned to appreciate my mother over the years as I became a parent but there were many years that I resented some of her actions as I was growing up. I later realized that she’s human and did t

Ladies (and gentlemen too), I promised to include fashionable men in my fashion feature and it didn't take much thought to come up with a list of appetizing amigos that have their look on point from head to toe! I'm calling this my Latino Fashion-Listo feature because these guys are always listos (ready/smart/on-point) when it comes to their fashion sense. Let the collective sighing begin with a beautiful soul of a man, actor/director/producer. . . Alex Ehecatl Chavez Those of us that know him from his work with Native Voices at the Autry or from the bar fight scene in the movie Frida , know him as Ehecatl. It took us plenty of time to get the pronunciation right so we got it and we're sticking to it. ;-) All joking aside, this descendant of Aztec blood-lies and chiseled good-looks makes an impression when he walks into a room. Quiet and understated in person and in his everyday wear, his peaceful energy makes people stop and take notice. Read on for a fashion Q&