Welcome to Dreaming in Color, a show hosted by Darren Isom, a partner with The Bridgespan Group, that provides a space for social change leaders of color to reflect on how their life experiences, personal and professional, have prepared them to lead and drive the impact we all seek. 

In this episode, we welcome Frankie Miranda, the first openly gay President and CEO of the Hispanic Federation. During Frankie’s tenure at the Hispanic Federation, he has expanded operations to several states and Puerto Rico, launched disaster relief projects after Hurricanes Maria and Irma, and established the ACT Initiative to support Latinx LGBTQ+ communities. He also oversees their annual gala, raising over $3 million each year. Previously, he held senior roles at New York Univision TV stations and worked on several political campaigns. Frankie serves on the New York State MTA Board, Comcast's Corporate DEI Advisory Council, and is a trustee of Fundación Banco Popular. 

Join us for an engaging conversation with Frankie Miranda as he shares his personal and professional journey. Raised in a small town in Puerto Rico and educated at NYU, Frankie reflects on his upbringing, his family's sacrifices, and his experiences with his queer identity, and how these have shaped his work at the Hispanic Federation.

Tune in to hear about the importance of culturally competent voter outreach and the vital role of grassroots organizations in supporting Latinx communities. Frankie's story of perseverance, human rights advocacy, and his vision for an inclusive America underscore this insightful discussion.

This is Dreaming In Color. 

Jump straight into: 

(00:22.1) Introduction of Frankie Miranda, President and CEO of Hispanic Federation.

(01:54.2) Frankie starts the conversation with an invocation in Spanish and English.

(04:03.0) Frankie takes us back to his humble beginnings in a small mountain town in Puerto Rico.

(10:21.8) From Puerto Rico to New York: how Frankie’s background in theatre led him to one of the best theatre programs in the nation, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

(15:50.7) Post-grad life: the year is 1998 and Frankie lands a position as Production Coordinator for the Hispanic Federation where his queer identity is embraced and utilized to support their AIDS prevention and education program. 

(17:13.2) Frankie delves into the deportation of his life partner and how the Hispanic Federation encouraged him to fight back, leading him to the Supreme Court. 

(21:35.9) Frankie and Darren discuss the importance of mentorship in bringing about impactful change for generations to come

(26:32.3) Frankie discusses beauty in the complexity of Hispanic cultures and identities and how embracing those differences helps the organization promote civic engagement within the Latinx community. 

Episode Resources: 

• Connect with Frankie on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Hispanic Federation at their website.
• Learn more about United States vs. Windsor here.

Listen to the Dreaming In Color Spotify Playlist here.

Darren Isom:

Frankie also launched Advanced Change together initiative. Supporting Latinx, LGBTQ+ communities and has overseen Hispanic Federation's Annual Gala, raising over $3 million each year. Before his impressive tenure at Hispanic Federation, Frankie held senior roles in communications including director of communications for New York TV stations and working on prominent political campaigns. He currently serves on several boards including the New York State MTA board, and the Comcast corporate DEI advisory Council. With a BA in political science from the University of Puerto Rico and an MA in performance studies from NYU, Frankie lives in Queens with his husband Ricardo and their cat Valentina. It's a joy to welcome the incredible Frankie Miranda to the today's episode of Dreaming and Color.

Frankie, it's so wonderful to chat with you today. Great to have you here.

Frankie Miranda:

Thank you for having me.

Darren Isom:

Oh, my pleasure. I've been looking forward to this conversation. And so as you know, the conversation starts with you giving us an invitation so I'll pass it to you to tee that up.

Frankie Miranda:

Darren Isom:

Wow.

Frankie Miranda:

This is quote that has been inspiring me since I was very young when I was doing theater and learning more about these amazing playwrights. And the second quote, it's a little bit more of a modern quote or something that I heard recently and it's from the movie adaptation of the science fiction novel Dune. And the quote says, "A great man doesn't seek to lead, his called to it and he answers."

Darren Isom:

Both great quotes and a great way to start the conversation. Thank you for both of those, and I want to come back as well to both the quotes but also it was really powerful sharing in Spanish as well because our native languages can hold a different place for us and we can communicate in those languages differently, and I want to come back to that at some point in the conversation. So with that, I want to jump straight in and get a little bit of your origin story. I know that you were born and raised in Puerto Rico, not leaving until after college. You went to the University of Puerto Rico and then going on to your master's at NYU. But I would love to just get your thoughts on how your upbringing, your family context, your community context shaped who you are and gave you a goal in many ways to dedicate your life and your career to advocacy for Latinx communities?

Frankie Miranda:

I grew up in a small town in the mountains of Puerto Rico called Toa Alta. It was one of those towns where there was just one elementary school, one middle school, one high school. Everybody had to come to the center of the town to go to school and my parents came from a very poor background. They didn't have the opportunity to go to college, they were hard workers. My father came to New York when he was 16 to learn English, went back and started working in the tourist industry in Puerto Rico as a dishwasher and then continued to work all the ranks up in many aspects of the tourism industry in Puerto Rico. My mother worked at a factory and it was me, my older sister, and later, my younger brother but we were unable to do all the things that we wanted to do. It was a very strict household in the sense of always reminding us that we needed to have the best grades, that anything that we were having was not coming easily.

So that idea that my parents were sacrificing so much for us to have an education, although I went to public school and I went to State University of Puerto Rico but it was the most difficult one to get in. So it was always that idea that you will not have the opportunity to not do what you're supposed to do. That is go to college, have a degree, and the rest is a little bit of history, coming to New York and pursuing my education and then getting into the field of nonprofits. But it was very interesting upbringing because while I was targeted as a queer boy and suffer through a difficult childhood trying to understand my sexuality and my identity, I still was able to come home and be safe from that environment. I don't envy younger generations that are so connected that cannot sometimes escape some of that treatment. And the idea of also leaving that small town and coming to New York was also important to me because it was a way also to find myself and find my identity.

Darren Isom:

Yes. Really interesting and I joke all the time growing up in New Orleans, which is more progressive city when it comes to other issues obviously, but for me as a young, obviously queer kid I'm sure to my family, I was also a smart kid and as long as I focused on my studies, it would excuse all other things. "Why isn't Darren playing football?" "Oh, he's reading, of course." And so we take for granted how very often that attention to studies and academia and actually really doing well academically becomes a way of your family giving you a path out of that space. With that as well comes all types of obligations, I'm sure. Your parents were sacrificing in huge ways for you to be able to do great things. You shared that your life mission is to be an advocate and activist. I would love to hear a little bit more about the personal experiences that help you come to this realization growing up?

Frankie Miranda:

I think that growing up and being on the receiving end of people not understanding being more welcoming to all types of people, it's interesting because Darren, I feel that I am a better person because I am different, because I am queer, because I was bullied and I can empathize with all people when it comes to the struggle. As you said, I needed to excel academically in order to be protected from some of these bullies. And becoming the teacher's assistant in every single classroom also facilitated for me to be protected because for me, even though that I wanted to do sports, I was always afraid of moving my hands or my arms. It was always very restrictive of my body. I always thought that I was uncoordinated and then when I was an adult and I explored dancing and I explored sports and everything, it's like I'm pretty good at this. It's just like when I was a child, I was afraid of showing my body moving naturally.

So it's that idea that I, at some point said, there is a bigger world than my hometown. There's a bigger world than what these people said to me all the time. Sometimes that script is still in the back of my head of people saying that because you're queer, you'll never succeed. You will never be able to be successful and do anything productive with your life. It was a way of for me to just see, go to a very progressive college and then coming to New York, then I was able to just take all of this experience, piece it together and being able to say, "I'm going to make something out of it. I'm going to make a meaningful life out of all of this."

And while I'm 53 and sometimes when I am doing these type of interviews and my English as a second language kicks in and my brain is telling me, "Oh my God, Frankie, you are not speaking your native language." And I start making mistakes with the tenses because my consciousness is telling me, it's just, "You are not worth this time, you're not worth this space. You are queer." And those bullies voices, I need to just drown it in the back of my mind. I need to just still rewrite the script. And that is what is also my drive to continue doing what I am doing, is just to, in a way, prove that little boy that he was all right all along.

Darren Isom:

He was more than all right, he was perfect all along.

Frankie Miranda:

Thank you.

Darren Isom:

I want to jump in from a conversation perspective and come to your arrival in New York but also just want to stop and give a moment of thanks and gratitude for those teachers that gave us safe spaces. I joke all the time, there was a whole series of teachers that allowed you to be a teacher's pet, that allowed you to sit in the front row, that allowed you to come in during lunch and they really created safe spaces for so many of us queer kids and different kids and weird kids growing up. And so just giving them a quick thank you, I'm sure you'll agree with that one. I want to jump in and move to your time, your arrival in New York. And I would love for you just to share about how that gave you such an opening. You're finding your space in your people and how that transformed how you think about the world as well?

Frankie Miranda:

Darren Isom:

And Frankie, it's just worth noting, you're talking like you just fell into it. It's a pretty selective program that's really respected. So I just want to call that out.

Frankie Miranda:

Darren Isom:

You weren't fitting into the box that they had for you.

Frankie Miranda:

Exactly. And it was just, I call it the West side story syndrome that if you are not seeing me dancing and going like this with a knife in my hand, you will not recognize me. You didn't fit the mold. And for me, it was starting also to part of this journey of what is the Latinx experience, what is the Latinx identity? Who we are? Are we truly understood? We have been part of the United States... Puerto Rico has been a territory of the United States for more than a hundred years and still people said, "Puerto Rico, is that a town in Mexico?" It was all of these incredible challenging questions that were more, not only about my identity or my sexuality, but it was also now about being technically an immigrant in the United States because although I am an American citizen by birth, by being born in Puerto Rico, but still I was being treated as the other. You don't belong here. Where are you coming from? So it was an exciting time to have all of these questions at the perfect time coming to New York.

I didn't come that young, but I didn't come also that old. So I was in the mix of just being able to go to so many different amazing places and. Right now, sometimes I feel it's, "Oh my God, I was taking so many different risks." People used to get shocked of the places that we used to hang out but that was the scene. That was what we were doing back then.

Darren Isom:

I mean East Village and Village in New York in the late nineties, I mean that was a different world as well.

Frankie Miranda:

Completely different, but that's also part of New York constantly reinventing itself.

Darren Isom:

Well, there's also the wonderful quote on Whitehead quote in his homage, the city of New York, the class of New York where he says, "Everyone can be a New Yorker. You become a New Yorker when you remember what was there before what was there, was there."

Frankie Miranda:

Yes.

Darren Isom:

And so you see two iterations in New York and you're officially a New Yorker. There is something very interesting about your transition as well because I think your gayness and your queerness is probably more easily accepted and understood, but now you have to come out as a Puerto Rican, if that makes sense at all. This identity that you've never questioned. And I want to come back to this idea, you've been open about your experience at the Hispanic Federation as their first openly gay president and CEO. I would love to hear you talked about how these different experiences and identities are assets to some degree, to your work and your thinking. How has this aspect of your identity informed your work at the organization?

Frankie Miranda:

So people coming from all walks of lives and also having queer people around and having gatherings of queer people was normal. Was something that was not seen, it was seen as a priority for the organization to work in these service provision area that was heavily affecting people from our community, LGBTQ+ Latinx people. So from the very beginning, I was out at work which was not possible for some of my friends that probably were in other sectors that were probably in finance or other sectors where they have to keep their sexual identity in the closet. So for me, has always been being extremely lucky that I have been from the very beginning, that I had a formal introduction to the sector and to what became my career has been an incredible organization like the Hispanic Federation but the big transition happened when my life partner was deported in 2003.

At the same time, the leadership of the organization said to me, "This is something that we need to talk about because when people think about the Latinx community, they think that Latinx community are anti-gay. The community is anti-gay when the reality is that when you talk to our community about these issues from discrimination, family separation, they immediately click and they said no, this is not right." So the organization allowed me to use my story to start advocating and having more conversations about people that this is not about what politicians think should be right or wrong, this is what a human rights issue. This is about some two people that are fighting for their lives. So we continue to be a binational couple until the Supreme Court took a case that was not necessarily about marriage equality, it was about taxation. It was the Windsor case and it was about her getting married with her life partner in Canada and in New York.

Darren Isom:

Yes, beautiful story and congratulations on 10 years. My husband and I will get to 10 years in October this year and I like to say for the record as well that I think the Covid years count twice, so we should double those years as well. I do want to note David Thomas, the president at Morehouse talks all the time about for people of color and people from marginalized groups, what success looks like professionally speaking. And the first step is of course, understanding what makes you different and being proud of it. Secondly is finding yourself at an organization that sees your difference as critical to their success. Not just a nice to have, but critical to the success of the organization. And the third is surrounding yourself with people that encourage you to hold onto that difference and service of success. And with that, given your just long tenure at Hispanic Federation, 20 years coordinator, now president and CEO, how has mentorship played a role in your journey?

Frankie Miranda:

Incredible. At the very beginning, again, this was an opportunity given to me because I was in theater groups and working with nonprofits that were doing the arts, and then suddenly this opportunity comes along and I wasn't sure about what I wanted to do. If I wanted to stay in New York, wanted to maybe go back to Puerto Rico. My parents as well, they were very confused because you don't go to school unless you're going to become a teacher or a lawyer or a doctor. Because for them, those were the opportunities. So suddenly it was just like, "What? Nonprofit? What is that? Do you make a living?" So even today, I can tell you that sometimes when I had the opportunity to host the president of the United States after Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico and my parents saw that picture, they said like, "Oh, now I understand what you do but before, it has been for many years has being just nonprofit."

Darren Isom:

In all fairness, nonprofit is not a good sell. Already, the name itself is not-

Frankie Miranda:

I know, exactly.

Darren Isom:

Your parents.

Frankie Miranda:

Exactly. Poor... Both of my parents but the leadership at the organization from the founding president to the other presidents of the Hispanic Federation, I'm the fifth president, I had been mentored by each one of them. They had been side by side, this is being always an organization that we like to say that we don't hire to fire. We always take people and we make them understand the importance of taking that day to do civic engagement and be out there at 6:00 AM in the morning doing get out the vote for our community or doing all programs and working with people and working in teams and previous presidents and leadership of the organization that were a little bit of pushing you into the pool and hoping that you're going to come out on the other side and you're not going to drown. But it has always been a series of leaders that keep mentoring others and inspiring others.

And after working so intensely after Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, we needed to reactivate this network of care on this new emergency. And a few weeks later, is the lockdown in New York for Covid. So at that point I said, "Oh my God, what I have done? Where is the receipt? This is not what I purchased. I want to know the return policy on this." But it was the moment that I've been preparing for so long and in fact, the organization have grown. And then a blink of an eye, is almost four years and a half that I had been sitting on this chair when I thought that in those first few weeks of the pandemic said, "This is it. This is the end of everything that we know and this is going to be under my leadership that the organization is going to fail," but we have actually grown. So it's interesting thinking about how those series of people that have influenced my life have prepared me to probably one of the most challenging times.

Darren Isom:

Yes. And I say all the time, that none of us signed up for this world that we're in now, none of us. Nobody signed up for this but here we are. And my dad would always say, "This is why you went to school." We were all prepared for this moment, although we don't necessarily like to appreciate it and realize it and you're clearly doing great work there at the organization. So definitely appreciate it. I would like to just jump a little bit more into, given the uncertainty of our democracy and society as a whole, everyone in this present moment has the very unique opportunity to get involved in the fight to create a version of America that we can all be proud of. And as you know very well, there are no small players in this work or in this thinking. And I would love to get your thoughts on the role of Latinx grassroots organizations and why is this work so integral in this fight to create a better America for all?

Frankie Miranda:

For us at the Hispanic Federation, ensuring that Latinx-led, Latinx-serving organizations are viable, that they are organizations are able to continue doing the culturally competent, linguistically competent work that they do. They are, what I like to say, that for the African-American community is the black churches. For us, those community organizations in remote areas that start as a concerned group of people around a living room at a farm or in Washington Heights in New York continue to explore how to the betterment of their community, they're essential for anything that we want to accomplish. They were talking during the pandemic about who are those trusted messengers in community. For us, it's those Latinx serving organizations. The one that are in community, that are going to be inviting people to come in. And for us, right now that we're living right now in a moment in which our democracy is at jeopardy, everybody keeps questioning.

It's, "Well, we don't understand the Latinx community. It's not a monolith. It's so diverse. But at the same time, we are disappointed about what happened in one state and we don't want to do..." For us, it's about meet our community at the same level that these organizations are working with them. It is that, sure, I think that our diversity is our real superpower. And at the same time, in order to crack that code, you need to understand the community. You need to understand that if you are from the Caribbean, you're going to use the more personal way of talking. If you are from certain central American, south American country, you need to use a formal Spanish to communicate with them. That one flyer is not going to cut it. That one political ad a week before an election is not going to cut it.

Darren Isom:

That ain't it.

Frankie Miranda:

We need to make sure that we're engaging community and it's not going to be the same way that you do for Puerto Ricans in the Northeast or Cubans in Florida or Mexicans in Texas. We need to ensure that we are engaging those cultural translators, those cultural ambassadors, and those are the Latinx organizations, nonprofit organizations. So until we understand that, we are going to continue seeing the Latinx community with a question mark and we are only going to focus about, "Oh, but we thought that the trend was going this way but then it went this other way." But of course, some people are doing better engagement than others and we need to recognize that at the end of the day, if I'm being spoken to and I being talked in a way that I can really understand and that people are trying to just, even with misinformation, trying to meet some of my questions and answering some of my questions, I'm going to be responding to that.

So we are a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization doing civic engagement very intensely around the country. We want to make sure that every Latinx person that can register to vote, that is a citizen that can register to vote, register and those that are registered that go out and vote. But there is also another element in which the candidates, the parties and many other aspects of our society needs to be talking also to these communities that are so hungry for information and to be part of the conversation.

Darren Isom:

And I want to jump in there, Frankie, because you've noted that although Latinos make up some 15% of the US electorate and are the fastest growing racial and ethnic voting block, political campaigns are under-investing in culturally competent voter outreach to engage Latinx voters. And I would love for you, you've already started sharing this, just to talk a little bit more about what does culturally competent outreach look like and also what does it look like to engage voters strategically? Meaning, not just for the next election cycle but from a longer conversation perspective and supportive perspective?

Frankie Miranda:

Well, we're working on the first aspect of this which is making sure that when Latinx communities in the United States, even if they have been here for their third, fourth generation or newly arrived, understand the importance of participating in the election process. Making them understand that whatever are your experiences in your country of origin, that now in the United States, the elections are critical for the quality of life of yourself, your family, your loved ones, your communities. That here in the United States, you probably won't have the noise and the celebratory sense that in other countries you have during elections. That the only thing that you need to do for that day is to go and vote. Here it looks very different. Sometimes you have two or three jobs. You need to... So many responsibilities, you're struggling. You are trying to make ends meet and then I still have to find time to go out and vote but I... There was a congressional election this month and there was a primary election and there is another election.

So it takes an effort from many of our groups to do that type of education. But at the same time, when we are seeing many candidates or parties or people involved in the process that say, "Well, Latinx people are not voting at the rate that they should vote." There is a complete lack of real outreach to these communities. And when I say culturally competent, it's really understanding that communities can be very diverse and that they are overarching themes but there are themes that are going to be very different. If you talk to Venezuelans that newly arrived to the United States and you talk to them about the threat of communism, even if it is misled, you are going to see people coming back and say, "well, I just came escaping that. I don't want that. And you are talking to me is culturally competent and relevant but not necessarily is the right information, is misinformation."

So certain people are taking certain advantage of these cultural relevancy, but it has to be culturally relevant and accurate information and being able to weigh this and helping people understand the new realities of their life in the United States because they're working really hard and they're contributing to the economy and contributing to the society as a whole. But a lot of people will love for them to just stay in the shadows when it comes to a participatory process. And that's what we're trying as much as possible to educate people, educate funders. Some of the C3 nonpartisan efforts as being defunded. And for us, we see that for communities of color and for our community, the first base has to be nonprofit, nonpartisan education efforts. And after that, we can talk about other types of engagement but it has to start with this education aspect of it.

And we know what many people are doing and companies and social media companies are doing to curb misinformation in English but we're still not sure what they're doing when it comes to misinformation in Spanish. So we are also having a very tough moment trying to ensure that our community is receiving the right information and the culturally competent information.

Darren Isom:

And those are perfect marching orders for philanthropy, so thanks for throwing that out there. So they're listening, let's see if they respond. You powerfully stated in the past that you want society to reach the point in which we don't need to explain the importance of the Latinx community to the fabric and economy of this nation. I would love for you to give us a take on how we are in that fight. Are we close to that being a reality for you? And how do we get better at that?

Frankie Miranda:

I don't think so. I think that there's still so much to do and even the relevant questions that we are discussing here in this podcast continues to be a question mark for a lot of people when it comes to our community. The airwaves are filled with such hateful message for everybody that sounds like me, that looks like me, that people are right now so confused about who should be part of this country and who is contributing to this country. Recently, the Washington Post published an article saying that one of the reasons why the economy in the United States has been so strong in comparison with other world economies has been because of the influx of migrants. But this is creating right now such a polarized conversation about our community because the asylum seekers and the migrant situation in this country has a Latinx face although it's people coming from all around the world and they are coming in all shapes and colors but it's our face, the one that is being posted on everything that has a hateful message.

So we are still not understanding that this country thrives with these migrant workers, that these countries made by immigrants, that while we continue to create these confusing message and hateful message... Even in our community, people are starting to get scared about being able to participate out in the open. I don't want my kids to be subject of this type of bias attacked. So we are seeing a lot of work that needs to continue to be done around understanding the true Latinx experience in America. How we continue to contribute, how small businesses at a higher rate are being opened by Latinx members of our community. It is still a big question mark and while we continue to fight against all of these misinformation and hateful message, we're still a lot of work to do and we cannot do it alone.

We need to bring all allies to come and talk about that discrimination is discrimination and it doesn't matter which color, which community. We just need to come together and being able to talk about cultural misunderstandings and being able to move forward as a nation, not about the others or only a few of us can actually move up into the ladder.

Darren Isom:

Yes. And as a reminder, we all get free together, so we have to figure out how do we work together to get free. As we start to close up the conversation, I do want to give you space to share what is the America that you hope to build through your work with your organization?

Frankie Miranda:

I hope that one day, we don't need to explain to people why we're here, who we are. I hope that one day we can actually really care about equality. Not that certain people will get in first versus others, that we have this sense that when we're talking about dismantling racism and prejudice, that we are coming in together and that we are all participating together. And it's not about us versus them, that we are all in this conversation together. It's not about you are from one community, I'm from another community, I should be in some Olympics of suffering. Nobody suffering should be quantify and qualify better than other, we should be all in an allyship. That is what I hope that we can do through our work. Yes, I work to ensure that Latinx organizations are viable, that they have the capacity building, the technical assistance, the resources to be able to continue doing better but it's not as an exclusive club. This is about expecting that we're going to be helping all of us, all of our communities together.

The only difference is that we will be able to do that for certain members of our community, culturally competent and linguistically competent but the effort is that we are not in this struggle alone and that one day we don't have to explain that to anybody. That we are really focused on dismantling all of these inequities together.

Darren Isom:

Beautiful. And just a few closing questions for us to check through. First, a very easy one, I'm sure, sarcastically, what does freedom look like to you?

Frankie Miranda:

Freedom looks to me walking down any neighborhood in the United States, holding hands with my husband and not be worried that someone's going to say something or that will be worried about our personal safety.

Darren Isom:

Mm.

Frankie Miranda:

I think that that is freedom. Freedom is that you can be whoever you are and have the trust that your personal security or that your mental health is not threatened by anyone. That's what freedom looks like for me.

Darren Isom:

It's a beautiful view of freedom for sure. And we'd love for you to call out a mentor or a mentee, and we all define mentorship differently, who has been really impactful in your life and career. Who do you want to give a shout out to?

Frankie Miranda:

I have to say all previous presidents of the Hispanic Federation from our founding president, Luis Miranda, Lorraine Cortez Vasquez, Lillian Rodriguez Lopez, and my personal friend and previous president of the Hispanic Federation, the one that says, "You have to do this as well," Jose Calderon. I think that they have been people that I will not be where I am right now if they haven't said, "This kid is smart and he has a bright future." Even when I didn't see it.

Darren Isom:

As you said earlier, it's always more sincere in your native language. So you can feel free to give a shout out in Spanish if you like as well. We'll love to make space for that.

Frankie Miranda:

Darren Isom:

Perfect. And then finally, if you had to choose any song to walk out on stage using, what would that song be?

Frankie Miranda:

It's a song in Spanish called Boricua en la luna, which means that I will be Puerto Rican even if I was born on the moon. It's a beautiful poem that was adapted into a song by Roy Brown. It's my favorite song and every single time I hear it, I think about Puerto Rico and who I am and where I came from and my immigrant story back into the United States.

Darren Isom:

Yes, and what a beautiful story to tell. Thank you so much for your time here. This has been a fun conversation. It's been heartwarming for me. I hope you've enjoyed yourself.

Frankie Miranda:

I did. Thank you so much for this opportunity and thank you for also your insightful questions. I feel better now after this conversation and I have a better understanding of myself having the opportunity just to think about this question, so thank you, it's a gift.

Darren Isom:

Of course. And a huge gratitude for all the work that you do and the huge genius that you bring to that work. And look forward to talking with you again soon.

Frankie Miranda:

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Darren Isom:

I'm grateful for her lessons in fanciness, not as an act of Snobbery or pretension, but as a bold declaration of self-worth, the ultimate act of empowerment. I think so often of the words she offered me before sending me off to college. "Now remember," she said. "God's greatest gift to man is that of free will. If he wanted us all to be the same, he would've made us all the same. Our gift in return, is living our lives as beautifully as possible. We owe our a good maker that much." And with that, she implored me to live beautifully for sure but most importantly, to live fully. To do things, go places, learn a new language or two. Explore this great big, wonderful world. Read books that humanize communities others demonize. Learn to not just make but master your favorite dish. Stay curious, stay compassionate, charm them. They're going to talk about you anyway.

Give them something good to talk about. Call your mama with good news. Defend that cousin and everyone talks trash about. Tell your daddy you love him. Be a mentor. Take up space. But above all, to live. Generations have sacrificed not for you to live by the rules, but for you to make new ones, for you to be free. The Quakers teach us that there's a little bit of God in each of us. My conversation with Frankie reminded me of the beautiful world that awaits us when we honor that God within each of us, when we live freely and free others in doing so.

This season, we're putting some music with the magic and have collected the theme songs from all of our guests and collaborators to create a Spotify playlist for our listeners to enjoy. Find it on Spotify under dreaming in color, the playlist. Thanks for listening to Dreaming In Color, a special shout out to all the folks who make this magic happen. From Studio Pod Media, our wonderful producer, Denise Savas, audio engineer Theresa Buchanan and graphic designer Diana Jimenez. And from Reelworks, our video production team, Jenny Loo and Steven Czaja. A huge shout out to our ever brilliant Bridgepan production team, Cora Daniels, Christian Celeste Tate, Christina Pistorius, Ryan Wenzel. And this season's guest host, Jasmine Reliford, Nithin Iyengar, and Angela Maldonado. And of course, our fabulous creative director, Ami Diané. What a squad you all. Be sure to rate, subscribe, and review wherever you listen to podcasts. Catch you next time.