Hey there, I'm Alicia Menendez. This is Latina to Latina. Each week we talk with Latinos on the rise.

And this week, we're doing something different. Today, we're talking about money. Here's why. November 1st is Latina equal pay day.

It's the day of the year that the average Latina has to work into the new year

to symbolically achieve the same pay a white non-Hispanic man earned the year before. It's a gap

that is barely budged in the past 30 years. This episode is a special collaboration between

Latina to Latina and phenomenal woman, a fundraising effort that supports

women's organizations. In studio with me today is Carmen Rita Wong. She is many things,

a writer, a mother, host of her own podcast, The Carmen Show, Life, Money, and No Apologies.

And today, she's going back to her roots as a personal finance expert to help us break down why this gap exists and how to get comfortable, really comfortable talking about money.

Hi, Carmen.

Hello, my love.

You know I like money.

Who doesn't?

Who doesn't?

54 cents for every dollar a white man makes

who or what is responsible for that gap. Oh my God. How many hours do we have? This is a graduate

thesis. It's so big. It's so huge. There's so many layers. And we hear about the pay gap.

We hear more the women, all women, that number versus men.

When you start breaking it down to African American, to Latinas, to age, then you get into

other layers.

You get into other history, the history of our people, how we're treated, our education,

all these things.

...