Hey, it's Alicia. As you know, we record these conversations weeks, sometimes months in advance. So know that the next few episodes were recorded before the protests we've seen across the country.

If we're not talking about them, it's because we spoke before they happened.

She says she never saw real girls like her on TV, and that girl protagonist rarely grew up to do something great.

So after rising up the Hollywood ranks from assistant to writer, Ilana Pena created a show

about a Latina who grows up to be president of the United States.

And today, Diary of a Future President streams on Disney Plus.

So thanks for doing this.

Thank you for having me.

I'm super excited to talk to you.

Likewise.

Growing up, what were you watching on TV?

What was I watching on TV?

I was actually just thinking about this

because I have a lot of, you know, TV writer friends

who are like, I was parked in front of the TV

and I watched, you know, every episode of

Malcolm in the middle or every episode of this. And there were shows that my family watched together.

Boy Meets World was one of them. And the Olson twins were huge for me. They had this show called

Two of a Kind where their dad was a professor and dated the babysitter and I loved it.

And Lizzie McGuire was also big.

But I was thinking about it and like besides Jeopardy, which my family also watched

religiously, the art that I was consuming the most was books, which is like such a typical me thing to say.

...