Enhancing Latinx Beauty with Refinery29 Senior Editor Thatiana Diaz

Dr. Torkian 00:04 Welcome to Beauty In Progress. This is Dr. Torkian and together Let's explore what it means to have an eye for beauty. Hi, it's Dr. Torkian in here don't miss our upcoming event on March 4th, 3:30 to 4:30 virtually on zoom with my best friend, my work partner, my life partner and my esteemed colleague, Dr. Adrienne Youdim. She and I will be sharing tips that we use to maintain health and beauty from the inside and out. Thanks for joining us today in progress. This is Dr. Torkian. And I'm really happy to have with me Thatiana Diaz today, who leads the editorial strategy and ideation and execution for Refinery29, Latin first Latinx cross platform cross channel called Somos. And I'm going to at 28 Tatiana, I gotta say you are quite an accomplished individual. But I want to hear it all from you. Because I don't think I can do it all justice. But I do want to hear about Refinery29.

Thatiana Diaz 01:06 Yeah, of course. So we are a woman's media company. We are under vice Media Group. And we've been around for years now. And we can be found across different platforms from social to an online kind of digital magazine, you could say it is that the best way I describe it to my grandma, and she was like what is refinery? It's like an online digital magazine that lives on a website. But also we live on social. And we have video extensions. So everywhere that you can tune in to anything absolutely digital, we are there. And we cover everything from news to politics, to fashion, beauty. We're like this once stop for everything for women. And yeah, it's it's really exciting to see its growth year by year. And for women to feel like they can come to our platform to find everything that they need on any topic. You've been a contributor to some us. Yeah, so I'm a beauty contributor to refinery 29 as a whole, so refinery 29 has its sub verticals, which is unbothered, which was created for a black woman, by black woman. And then we have somos, which is for Latina x woman with all led by electronics staff. So I'm the senior editor of somos. But also you can say I wear many hats. Because I also part of the beauty team as a contributor. For mentally I was a part of their team as a senior beauty writer. But I wanted to be involved with beauty, I love the way that we're able to cover beauty across different lens and look at it differently. So for me, I've always had that passion for beauty. So I wanted to stay involved somehow while still helping them launch somos. So I was able to hold on to both titles and still be involved on both ends and kind of have both a part of my life. And that's really exciting. Great,

Dr. Torkian 03:01 yeah, that is actually very exciting is when you can when you can blend in two passions together. Yes.

Thatiana Diaz 03:06 And you find that identity and culture also has such a big thing to do with beauty as well. So most was actually something that was a passion of mine that started when I was in the beauty team. And I was covering so many of these lateen x beauty brand founders or people who felt that they weren't being seen in the beauty industry. And from there, I really saw, you know, there's this lack of representation,

1 Transcribed by https://otter.ai or lack of TX people in media. And that's how somos came about. So it's like you find ways that they intersect. And now I'm finding that sometimes, I'm writing stories that are both almost in beauty. So it all works out. So forgive me for getting this, but can you explain what's next to me? Of course, so it is it is a gender inclusive term of Latino or Latina, um, you find that Latino male, and then Latinas for female. And this is a way to include everyone by adding the x at the end of lateen x. So yeah, it's it's an all inclusive term that's fairly new. And a lot of people are using it. And we're finding that it's really making everyone feel like they're a part of the community. And then when it comes to plural, or because when you do poro is usually masculine, so it's Latino. And there's just like, there's no reason when we have gender non conforming folks and people who want to feel included, they can with within this community

Dr. Torkian 04:25 understood. So I think what really stands out to me, is, I think as a beauty editor, I feel like you You brought together two things that you're passionate about, but at the same time I feel like there's a little bit of a dichotomy here. And this is the one thing that that really first stood out with me when I was reading about you Tatiana is that you write about beauty. you celebrate beauty, right? You have also been in the studio set usap And in the Dominican Republic pageant, which is a free adjunct to the Miss Universe. And so you're, you're kind of you get that you get the whole all aspects of beauty. Yeah, but at the same time you are in a role in a leadership role as a feminist as a gender is as how does this go now? But it's I'm just gonna say feminist for now until we figure that particular word out. How do you justify both of these aspects of yourself together one which sort of objectifies women. And I'm going to kind of go on a limb and say that about the about the pageants, I have been both a fan and also not a fan of pageants, in many different ways. But I think as as someone who works with women all the time, I think maybe I'm a male feminist. I mean, I stand for women. I work with women all the time. Almost all of my patients are women. I do have a lot of male patients. I do have a lot of non conforming patients, a patient's and lesbian patients, and it's all good. But how do you how do you work this in your mind together? How is it okay?

Thatiana Diaz 06:14 I think that's that's a, that's a really great question. And something that honestly I've, I've put so much thought into, because I've been asked this before. And, you know, there's, there's no not you cannot not acknowledge what the faults are of pageantry. And I think we've come really far. But when I was competing, I added that there was that non inclusive kind of beauty ideal. I would never have competed in my curly hair that I'm now embrace. And I was trying to fit this mold that was popular within beauty pageants. But I think that experience really fueled me to show women to feel beautiful, no matter who they are, I was trying to fit into these ideals that once were in pageants, now we're seeing, I need to acknowledge the fact that they are, you know, now being more inclusive, they're looking forward to the future and trying to improve, there's still work to be done. But at the time when I was competing, that really wasn't existing, and trying to fit into this mold and straightening my hair, wearing lots of makeup, which really wasn't me, I actually got into pageants because my parents wanted me to be more feminine. They wanted me to fit these Latina beauty ideals of being this this woman and showing my feminine side and to make them happy, because they really pushed me to do it, I did it. There's this obsession with the pageant culture, and that takes communities and it was a way for me to bond with them and kind of give them what they want, quote unquote, so but I was very what people called tomboy. And the fact that I was wearing hoodies, I loved basketball, I did like wearing makeup. And you

2 Transcribed by https://otter.ai know, I found myself not being myself at the end of the day, and putting on those of makeup, wearing false eyelashes, straightening my hair. wearing these tight dresses and heels, I can't stand heels, I own so many pairs of sneakers. And when you look at my closet, you'll see right away that i'm i'm not what you'd expect out of a pageant beauty queen. But in that that really inspired me to show women, you know that you can find beauty within yourself, whether that's curly hair, whether that's with no makeup, whether that's makeup on, I think there's so much power and beauty that people don't see, we talk so often about the no makeup, the makeup, the natural hair movement, and it's like I think the power is really in being able to do whatever the hell it is that you want. Whether that is being you know, creative with your makeup and doing three different eyeliner colors or wearing your hair naturally or not, you know, so I, I found it took a lot of time for me to find that power in me to embrace myself and what I loved to do when it comes to beauty. And I really wanted to show women that they can find that beauty and in that I found my voice and now I'm able to use it on a platform. So it kind of blends one into the other because I I went through that journey. And I find that I can now empower women with my words, via journalism and on social media and whatever platform I may have, where I can celebrate my voice and help them you know, because I've been there and I've been there on a main stage at that and I feel like it one led me to another at the end of the day and the end

Dr. Torkian 09:36 you're embracing your individuality. Yes. And empowering others to embrace there's I have a few I you know in the in the time we've been talking I can probably count five former pageant contestants winners in my practice. And one of them what is is a rep that was representing a skincare line for Alexandra was calling on us on our in our office. He was a former misspent as well as she walked in. I mean, super tall, I'm not a very tall person, and she's a super tall person. And back, when we could hug, the first thing she did is she kneeled down all the way down to my level gave me I was like, whoa. But I have to tell you, I think it's really refreshing what you're doing. And it's unique having the background that you have, because what I've seen a lot of times is that people in the beauty pageant industry, whether contestants or whether they're their winners, or wherever they really lay in a lion there, they really end up depending upon that conforming beauty for a long, long time. And that conforming beauty leads them to modeling acting, and then you know, they get a little bit older, and then they see me and then I have to do crinkles and wrinkles in there under eyes and Botox and, and then things start going downhill with their, with their careers, because their looks have changed now, right? And so it's really refreshing to see exactly how you've managed to sort of evolve your background into what you're doing now. I think it's really, really amazing. Thank you. And, and probably a huge, huge, I would say service that you're doing to younger women around you, not just Latin next. I'm gonna start saying that now. But all around you, all your woman who happened to read your publication?

Thatiana Diaz 11:40 Thank you.

Dr. Torkian 11:40 So I'm just imagining like a beauty article in in somos. Are there beauty articles that that focus on certain aspects like makeup, tutorials or anything like that? I know people can find a lot of that.

Thatiana Diaz 11:57

3 Transcribed by https://otter.ai We we really tried to look at how can we cover, you know, different stories? How can we cover stories differently? What can we look at when it comes to beauty trends? If you know there is this surge in, in Botox, or actually something that I'm working on right now? Is women taking out their implants? So why is that? What is what is this scare? Is there scare behind it? Is there a reason behind it is it's really looking at the diving into, you know, what are these trends where, where their lack of representation, we're trying to start conversations at the end of the day. And that's really important when it comes to our pieces, because we're not trying to give you something that you can get off of Instagram, or Twitter, we really want to also pass the mic to people. So it's getting these first person narrative, asking people, you know, how did it feel to do this? One story that I wrote was getting plastic surgery actually for pageants. And honestly, it was one of the best decisions that I got, I found empowerment. And my plastic surgeon, I think so often we don't hear that. And it was like, very interesting for people to read about how I was kind of given this plastic surgery as a part of this, you know, to fit this mold in this beauty pageant scene. But at the end of the day, I found my own empowerment in it feeling more comfortable in my body and using that as a way to look at it. But I think having those conversations and passing the mic and having those first personalities is what's really important to us and what makes us different. We're not just trying to cover with beauty tutorials or how to apply eyeliner, it's, you know, of course you have those stories, you need to cover trends at the end of the day. It's a deep dive, but it's deeper dives. Yeah, for us, it's more important to to have those conversations.

Dr. Torkian 13:37 What do you think is running the current trends, there seems to be a trend towards more natural appearing results. And as you said that there is a scare with the implants, but it's not every implant. And I think a lot of the people who are having implants removed are not really doing it unnecessarily for the scare or because they really think that something bad's gonna happen to them with the appliance. And but some of them just because they say, you know, I don't need that. I just don't need them to feel beautiful or to feel feminine. And I'm curious, what do you see as being the drive behind this trend?

Thatiana Diaz 14:12 We're seeing women prioritize, and you're seeing health be a priority for women. And I think that's important to look at. I know a lot of people get scared, but there are some health issues that women face that might require them to and I think that's important to take into consideration before someone panics and says, I have to take out my breasts in order for me to be quote unquote, healthy. But when you look at the stories of some celebrities that are coming forward, a lot of them are saying, you know, I might have this health issue or that health issue that required me to take them out. And I think that's a whole different scenario. But there's also what you've mentioned, which is, you know, natural, natural beauty and a lot of women feel again, that's what I love about beauty. It's that power. It's like one day I could decide to have breast one day I could this but I don't want breast anymore. I'm doing so safely Of course not up and down in surgery. But, you know, for me, it's I'm seeing that women are really looking and looking at the decisions that they've made, and really taking a hard look at what beauty means to them, especially now more than ever, as we're, in this pandemic, as we're in quarantine, you know, we're taking harder looks ourselves in the mirror, we're looking at herself on these zoom calls. We're looking at ourselves like actually at home and being able to really sit back and think about what is beauty means to me, some women are finding that that's wearing more makeup, that for some women, that means taking out their implants that they don't find that they need them or feel more feminine. And

4 Transcribed by https://otter.ai then some women find that it's doing their hair more often than they did before the pandemic. So it's really having a look at beauty completely different. And for so many women, that means different things. And I think that's where this trend really comes from.

Dr. Torkian 15:52 It's interesting, I see this trend in my practice. But at the same time, I have to say there's two different parts, every LASIK surgery practice, there's a younger generation, there's an older generation, the older generation is usually on the track of rejuvenation and restoration. So they're looking for eyelid surgeries or, you know, treatments to kind of bring back some of the youth that they had some of the beauty that they felt that they had in their youth that maybe they took for granted. In some cases, and they want to bring it back. In the younger generation, it's treatments are driven by different factors. A lack of is often what it is something that they want to have that they don't have. Everybody wants to have, what they don't have curly hair, wants to be straight hair, straight hair wants to be curly hair. And this is probably something backstage in the pageants you saw the time is this straight, straight hair, getting curls and getting, you know, some texture to their hair, you know, the big wavy curls or whatever, and then everybody else is getting blown out. But that's part of I think, what what we see is now being affected by what the the outside is kind of presenting, right. So what the outside is is always been publications that are in print, it's been Cosmo Vogue, glamour, Vanity Fair, so on. And that usually was curated and it was it was usually very carefully calculated, you know, and and there were stylists behind it. It was people who took a celebrity and made them look absolutely stunning. And you know, everybody wanted to have that look that Michelle Pfeiffer had on Vanity Fair, for example, you know, but now it's different. Now it's Tick Tock Instagram, there's a lot of Tick Tock and on Tick tock, there's a lot of a lot of bouncing body parts, that some people don't have the same way that these women on tik tok do, what they're doing, they're dancing. And on on Instagram, there's a lot of augmented lips, and augmented cheeks, and overly pulled eyebrows and so on. And we see that but even in there, there's two, two legs, where a younger generation is coming in. And they're looking for just maintenance. You know, they're coming in, and they're in their 20s. And they say, oh, Botox, oh my gosh, it used to be that your mom's age would be coming in for Botox. Now you're coming in what's going on. And, you know, I just want to prevent, I don't want my wrinkles to be like my mom's and like, my grandmother's, and I noticed that they both have small chins, too. And so their gel start to droop a little early. And I'd like to augment my chin a little bit to prevent jobs from looking like that. And it's really interesting, it's a preventive thing. And it's more natural. That's, that's where I see the natural movement kind of going, is that little things, little subtle things to prevent, and to maybe enhance a little bit are, are being steps are being taken rather than the big steps like, you know, going from a cup to a D cup, and that kind of thing. It's getting a little bit less than less, which is really interesting. And I think it's a really refreshing change personally, because I I kind of prefer personally, the more natural look, the more individualized appearances i think it's it's really refreshing to see that, you know,

Thatiana Diaz 19:18 I definitely grew up I was actually one of those people. When I went in for my breast augmentation. I told my surgeon I was like, if you go above a pickup, I will flip out. For me, I was like, I want it to look as natural as possible. And I think I'm seeing so many more people and I'm happy about that at the end day. There doesn't have to be a balance though because so many people want to live up to you mentioned the filters. And so many people want to live up to those filters or do something just because

5 Transcribed by https://otter.ai of what they've seen. So it's kind of knowing what are you doing this for? Is this gonna make you happier? Are you going to be happier with this in the long run and if you are all go off for it, but it's not Are you trying to live to certain beauty standards? Or are you actually doing something for yourself?

Dr. Torkian 20:05 Yeah, it's really individual. Yeah, you know,

Thatiana Diaz 20:08 it's everything is different for every person, every individual. Yeah, it's

Dr. Torkian 20:10 which one of the things that kind of is, is interesting when people come in and they say, and I say, How can I help? What's bugging you? And they say, Well, look at me. What do you think? What do you think I should do? And I go, you know, I can, I can make a ton of suggestions. But two things are gonna happen. Two things can happen. One, I hit the nail right on the head, even though and I get exactly what's bugging you, or I make a whole bunch of suggestions and make you feel like crap. And so, and I don't want to do that. So let's just kind of guide me somewhere. And then if there's other suggestions that I think can help to enhance that one aspect that bugs you, I'll go there. But, you know, let's start with what bugs you first, it's really a tough position to the end, sometimes the industry plastic surgery industry has for a long, long time, relied upon insecurity and, and pushed people's insecurities to the point of them pulling the trigger like wanting to buy, right, then they feel like they have a need to, to do this procedure or to buy a product or to do something to make themselves feel better because of that insecurity. And I don't believe that that's the way that it should be handled at all in the office. I think that it's unethical for us as physicians to play that role. We should be helping people in guiding through a process rather than making them feel and secure by something. Yeah. Which I'm curious to see, as you know, put yourself back into, you know, 2015, you're on stage at the pageant. There's a lot of insecurities that run through your mind. There's a lot of, there's a lot of talented, strong and beautiful women out there with a lot of substance. How does it feel?

Thatiana Diaz 21:54 It was I'm not gonna lie, it was really hard. Especially a lot of people don't know this. But behind the scenes, you have directors and trainers and people who tell you how to fix this or that about yourself. They had dyed my hair and dyed my hair to see what what works. Does, you know, lighter brown work? Does the dark black look good. And, you know, there are people who suggested crazy things like shaving down my thighs. So it wasn't so curvy. Some people talked about, you know, removing my gums because my smile was too gummy. And there's actually even Paget forums that I I shouldn't have and so many people suggested, but it's so hard not to go into them. And where people make predictions and make suggestions. And so many people talked about how curvy I was and how gummy my smile was and how little My eyes were and I consider certain eye surgeries or Botox to, you know, do lip filler or non toplet on get longer hair. And it's like reading all these things. On top of the fact that you're being judged not only on TV, but by judges, there's people like we are who are literally looking at you and say, Are you worth being the title holder? It's a lot. And there's so much. This is an emotional toll that goes behind that, that really stuck with me for so many years, even after I started in the fashion and beauty industry as a journalist that stuck with me. And I found myself using these filters to an

6 Transcribed by https://otter.ai extreme. You know, I was introduced to face tune while at Miss USA by fellow pageant contestants when I saw one of them using it. And I was like what is that she introduced me and I started getting kind of addicted to it all my all my photos, I would try to push in my thighs, I would try to remove certain you know, people sit on my cheeks are too big. And there was so much that people were nitpicking out of my body and my image that people don't take into consideration when they're watching these pageants. And I think that's what's really important. And I watch pageants so differently now i'm really looking at, you know, the whole woman like, how is she doing an interview? What does she do? You know, behind the scenes, what is she doing her day to day? What is she trying to do to change the world? What does she want to do with her platform? I'm really looking at that now. And I think that's so important for people to look at besides this like, Wow, she's so beautiful, like, what is beautiful? And who are who are we to say who's worthy of representing the world, the universe or the USA? Yeah, what

Dr. Torkian 24:29 people don't realize is that competing for one of these positions is a is a very, it's a rigorous preparation. There's a it's a full time job. There's a lot of work that these contestants have to do to be able to, as you said, represents the world that represents their community first and then their state and then their cities and then their countries and so on. But it's also to add to that how difficult that is. It's also not always something that women want to do on their own accord. You know, it, it is so often as you said, something that's pushed upon them by someone else. That's there's a pressure from the outside, whether it's parents, whether it's kind of reminds me of the old stories about the gymnast, you know, and how they got pushed the Olympic gymnast. And I mean, there's so many there's so many stories with pageant pageant contestants as well. And it's a it's a tough thing. And then, you know, you get on stage. And then it comes to this point where you have judges, and it's like, Whoa, and you're 23 at this point.

Thatiana Diaz 25:42 Yeah, I was, I actually started pageants as a six, I was 16 when I did miss me or Team USA. And I was competing pageants from 16 to 23, which is, it's such a developmental part of your life, you're this teenager turning into a young adult. And so this is when your body is actually like, the most, you know, added development. And you're being judged day by day.

Dr. Torkian 26:05 Yeah. And people are telling you shave your thighs down.

Thatiana Diaz 26:08 Yes, shave, you don't want any shaved, like shave the thighs, and also like taking off hair. And just like there was so many things that I'd even think about like, like, just the color of my lips, like just so many little things. Yes,

Dr. Torkian 26:22 that is something that a lot of people don't think about actually is the color of this, and the contrast that it has with their skin. That's very important aspect of beauty as well. And this is actually now improving, as you said, it's, it is something that there is a lot more, there's a lot more acceptance. And there is a lot more basically embracement of individuality and differences between people. And you know, that's

7 Transcribed by https://otter.ai really what one of the best things about watching I my grandmother used to watch the pageants, because she loved them. And I used to watch them with her because, you know, it was like such a big deal for her Miss USA and Miss Miss Universe, they were so huge for her. And God bless her soul. She used to watch them all the time. She always loved beauty and love women and always celebrated women. I used to watch it with her. And I used to think, Wow, this is great. Like, there's women from all different cultures here. You know, there's this Nigeria, and then here's Miss Venezuela. And then here's Miss USA, she's from Kentucky. It's like, all these different different aspects in the world. And it was kind of reminded me of It's a small world when I was a little kid.

Thatiana Diaz 27:34 Yeah, it's actually super. it aligns. Yeah, especially at the end when everybody's singing together. Yeah, they do the intro dance. I guess I see.

Dr. Torkian 27:44 A lot of a lot of people when they have this background, they're they're preparing themselves really for positions in which they're using that poise that they trained got trained for, like you said backstage, the trainers and the people who are helping you use that, that poise and use that knowledge of how to present yourself well. And you're in a position now where you're a curator really of information that helps people to to gain from this from you. Yeah, in a responsible fashion, which is awesome.

Thatiana Diaz 28:20 Thank you. No, it was it was there's so much to take out of pageants too. And and I'm happy to touch on that. Because as much as there are the negatives, as with anything, there are flaws and the room for improvement. But there was things that I walked away from, which was I'm able to walk into a room with more confidence. I have speaking skills that I acquired, I developed You know, this commitment to watching the news and being more updated on World News that you want to you practice for the interview portion. And things like my health, but looking at it from a more positive way afterwards and trying to look at it holistically, not just like let me lose weight for this pageant. Now I you know, I used to work out twice a day, every day during the pageant run, but now I'm like, Okay, let me have that termination still, but it's like not twice a day. It's, you know, at least trying once a day. And there were the pros that I took from it. And for me it was another pro was taking what I did learn and just my journey and self awareness to then putting it into writing and and also look in the halls I actually even covered the lack of Latina representation at Miss America. And I wouldn't have known that had I not been in the pageant scene, but I always said I was like, there's no Latinas compete for this pageant ever. And I wonder why. And I took a deep dive and it's just like, taking what you learned and what you've been through and then kind of trying to teach younger generations and or people who've been through it and just haven't, you don't really come to terms with it. And being like, wow, I feel that I aligned with that. And yeah, that's, it's been great.

Dr. Torkian 29:54 Yeah, that's something that a lot of people really didn't really realize or think about. Is what you pull away from it. As a pre medical student, I would take classes that like, people were like, why are you taking this class like I took a speech class, I'm taking this class, I don't know, I have to do some public speaking at some point, you know, I am podcast, you do actually as, as a resident, as a medical

8 Transcribed by https://otter.ai student, as a resident, you have to, you have to know how to write you have to publish into medical journals, and then you have to make presentations as well. And you have to show that you're committed to the, to the advanced field of medicine. And sometimes for people who haven't had that experience or haven't learned it, they'll go in and, and flop a bunch of times until they figure it out. They come in with a different perspective.

Thatiana Diaz 30:40 You can take anything away from any experience, I'd say, like even even your first job, and people don't think about that I sold CDs for my first job at when CDs were still a thing. And having to go out and having to go up to people and try to sell them CDs. Also interacting with people as I was like burning their CDs at the front desk, and having those conversations with them about like their musical interests. And navigating those conversations really helped me in the future to like build connections not only in pageantry, but work and I feel like people don't think about even like those little things I say, you walk out of every experience of something that lends to your your future experiences. Yeah, absolutely. I

Dr. Torkian 31:23 used to sell CD players. Oh, yeah. I'm not sure how that that helps me in my practice now, but I'm pretty tech savvy. So

Thatiana Diaz 31:31 you you don't even know it. But maybe when you were like interacting with customers, or whatever it is, there's like little things like definitely, absolutely. That you walk away with and you like learn about people and how to ask them questions.

Dr. Torkian 31:44 Absolutely. Yeah, just you know, breaking the ice. Actually, coming from a retail background breaking the ice is a very interesting pullback. pull away from that. Speaking of retail,

Thatiana Diaz 31:56 tell me about Chica. Chica, yes. So Chica was is a platform for Latina millennials, that really came off of this void, there was this empty space in the media, you know, within the media landscape for Latinas. So often, we see that there are these platforms for our aunts, our grandmas, our voices, or moms that are Spanish speaking. And I, me as a Latina, I want to take in things for my community, but I'm not my Spanish isn't my first time which I intake my media, in English. So if we really weren't thinking about how do we provide this, this platform of giving them things coming from their community, in English, and really pertaining to their interests? What are the what are they looking for. And it's amazing that I've been able to, I was able to do that there. I'm Meredith. And now I'm able to do that now her finery and gave me that platform because for me, it's like the more platforms the better. And it's never a competition. It's never something like, oh, wow, another lap being our platform. For me. It's just like, as many as we can get out there. And we can all support each other. I think that's, that's what's important. Because there was this, this gray or there was a lack of representation. When it came to the media landscape. I didn't see myself there. So often, you see Latinas as this monolith, and people covering us as this, this one look, you know, the dark brown hair, and the 10 skin and the Mexican background. And

9 Transcribed by https://otter.ai it's just there's so much more or less for so many. We're multifaceted. We come from so many different countries, we speak different languages. There's indigenous representation, black Latinas, and I think it's so important to show that and we don't have media that really does show that and for me, it's been important that no matter what newsroom I walk into, but I'm really providing that reality that is the Latin x, you know, like the image of what it is to be Latino, so there is no one image.

Dr. Torkian 34:05 I think that's awesome. You know, a lot of people don't really realize how many different images there are, to the Latin culture there. It's, I'll give you a little bit of a background for me. I mean, it's a little bit personal, but I guess that happens on these podcasts as well. I'm Persian. Our background is Jewish, which means that we probably had not not probably we definitely it has been documented is known that we had ancestry backing to the Spanish Inquisition. And so we had been, basically of Spanish background when we were sort of ousted from Spain or had to leave and then just wandering throughout Judea and eventually ended up in both some people in Iran and I believe some in Iraq, I think they had the same backgrounds there. So it's, it's kind of an interesting background. But what happened is when, you know, you forget all of that. And then you're now just Persian because it's been probably three or four generations before I was born, right. And so you just identify as a person and you happen to be Jewish. And that's kind of how it went right? Come here. And I learned a little bit more about it. And just kind of learning the background a little bit more, I meet some Spanish Jews who, who ended up in other areas, but happened to be Latin and Jewish, and learn a little bit more about those backgrounds and how we fit into those and how we had kind of evolved away from them. And then, fast forward a little bit more, my daughter who's 16, somehow just gravitates towards it, not something we really talked about, or anything at home, but she started a an online magazine, they call it z, these are the what younger people are doing to represent and to have a voice and to curate, you know, basically, it could sometimes be just art, it could sometimes be photography, it could be poetry, language, anything. But she starts a scene with some friends of hers from Argentina. That is a bilingual scene for young for young people. It's bilingual, English, Spanish. She is a young woman with textured hair and dark skin, she could pass for anything like me. You know, pretty much I can tell you, I'm Arab and you believe it. I could tell you I'm Hispanic and you believe it? You know, it could go either way. It's kind of an interesting, interesting little thing. But it really like, it struck me when she did this. She said, I'm doing this magazine, it's gonna be filing.

36:46 Wow.

Dr. Torkian 36:48 What is that all about? You know, I kind of like feel like, all that ancestry kind of comes out? You know, it's a really interesting thing. And you know, when you look back into history, the Latin is so strong in every culture, almost every culture is just kind of a prevailing, it's a really interesting thing. And so not surprising that Spanish is becoming the second language in the United States, all throughout the United States.

Thatiana Diaz 37:22

10 Transcribed by https://otter.ai Yeah, of course, of course. And it's so important for people to, to recognize that and understand that, but it's, it's that it's more than Spanish to because it's just, there's Portuguese, there's indigenous speaking languages. And I think that's what's important to remember when it comes to our representation. And it's not this one, this one image that we often see, and people look to JLo, and Sofia Vergara, and they think that's it. That's the Latina woman. And there's so much more to us and what my experience is, as I say this all the time, but as the minigun in New York, isn't the same as a Mexican in LA isn't the same as a Bolivian in Texas, or cumin in Miami, our experience a little different. And I think it's so important for not only all industries, but stuff, especially the beauty industry to recognize that because we need to start seeing more accurate representation and more diverse representation of what it means to be a Latina Latina x person in the US.

Dr. Torkian 38:21 Absolutely. Absolutely. So what's next for you? It sounds like you're gonna do something bigger. Thanks.

Thatiana Diaz 38:30 I hope so. No, I'm always working hard on somos. We're working on a few franchises under that to see you know, represent work and money also love and relationships, it's really important for us to continue covering beauty when it comes to the Latinx beauty standards. We're really trying to build somos out and make this a go to platform for anyone of all ages of any communities under the Latino umbrella, to the common feel seen heard represented, and continuing the beauty conversations that we're having our fighter 29 they're so important as the world continues to surprise us. And adapting to those conversations and being a place where people can come and feel like they're relating to our pieces. We're hoping to really extend so most out there socially, on video, anywhere that you can be hopefully the podcast soon enough. But yeah, we're really excited to grow this in 21.

Dr. Torkian 39:31 That's awesome. Yeah, sounds like you definitely will. It has been kind of interesting seeing how the pandemic we didn't even get into this, but how the pandemic has changed our vision of ourselves and what we consider beautiful as well. I mean, it's health is the number one priority. It's the number one priority right now for everybody. But at the same time when they're looking on zoom, and they see this and they can't help but to go like Maybe I should put my hand over here and see if my neck being a little tighter would look better on this. Just as we're talking, you know, I catch myself doing it. And I know other people do it. And so in our industry, this has been termed the zoom boom. In plastic surgery has been kind of a hush hush thing until recently where people were talking about it a little bit more where it really come in. And they say, first of all, I got time to heal a second of all, I look at myself on this little tiny screen this big, and I don't like what I see. And they want to take care of some rejuvenation, which is a really neat thing. And yes, things will keep changing. Things will keep changing. Yeah. And, and hopefully, with regard to and with an embracement. of, of humanity, and not a loss of it. You know, I think I love that. Yeah, for a few minutes it with almost scared me that things may have been going the wrong way. And now it seems like people are getting more rounded. They just want better versions of themselves, rather than to look like somebody else, which is a nice thing to see. Yeah, I

11 Transcribed by https://otter.ai Thatiana Diaz 41:10 think we're finally adapting. I think at first people were panicking. And as I mentioned earlier, we're having all this screen time Now, before we used to just have these meetings, and it used to be you know, we weren't looking at ourselves, we're looking at other people in the face. And now, we're like, right now I'm actually looking at myself, and I'm like, it's this, it's this new reality. And I feel like people are now Okay, I there was this panic moment, and you start thinking and looking at your face and what I have to fix. But now that we're getting used to this, it's kind of kind of accepting, which is a beautiful thing that's coming out of this too. Yeah,

Dr. Torkian 41:46 that's really neat. Yeah. Well, thank you so much, Tatiana, for talking to me. It's really awesome. seeing everything that you've accomplished, at 28 years old, which is really amazing. And there's a lot more to come. And you should definitely do your own podcast, you will meet some very cool people, you'll meet some really interesting people. And you'll you'll find some friends within your guests, actually, which will be kind of a nice thing. Yeah, you should

Thatiana Diaz 42:13 definitely do. It's on the wish list, a manifest, you know, on your podcast,

Dr. Torkian 42:17 you should do it. And you know what, I did it first i thought no one's gonna listen to this. And I really don't care if people listen to it or not. I just enjoy doing it.

Thatiana Diaz 42:24 That's what's important.

Dr. Torkian 42:25 Yeah, it got to that point. Initially, I was like, why am I doing?

Thatiana Diaz 42:29 No. And that's literally been a lot of what I've, that's pushed me that mentality of like, you know what I'm doing this. I know what my mission is behind this. And if whoever comes, comes with me, but we found that people really love the work that we're putting out there for our communities at the end of the day and trying to diversify the media landscape. So I very much relate to that is really cool. Thank you so much for having me.

Dr. Torkian 42:54 I'm gonna have my daughter reach out to her. Her magazine is called mighty fossa magazine. Always. You'll find it on Instagram. She's She's so it's exciting. There's a few things She's so excited about it. Well, she sells the merchandise and a magazine in it with a T shirt and a bag and they created like a really nice logo that goes on their t shirts and on their sweaters. And it's very exciting to see she's 16. And it's like a real big endeavor for her. It's a real endeavor for her, which is really cute.

Thatiana Diaz 43:26

12 Transcribed by https://otter.ai That's starting so young to that. That means

Dr. Torkian 43:29 I'm going to tell her I'm going to tell her to reach out to you and maybe contribute. ever write something for someone?

Thatiana Diaz 43:34 No tell her we always we've all we even feature like teens getting ready for prom during a pandemic. So for us, no voice is too young or too old. We want everyone to feel like we're passing them the mic and telling their stories. We never want to tell a story of a teenager or I would never tell the story of a 65 year old or 16 year old 28 year old. So that's what's really important I think needs to happen more in the media. Wow,

Dr. Torkian 44:03 that's awesome. I totally agree with you. So, refinery 29 can be found at www dot refinery 20 nine.com and then you will be searching for the Latin x or the somos section. And then Tatiana, for those of you interested please follow her actually on Instagram is Tatiana DS. It's th a Tia na dot d ay ay ay ay ay z. So don't forget the age everybody. And also on Twitter with the same tag name at th t i A and A di A z underscore and then we told you about somos. I'm Dr. torque and you can follow me at Dr. Torque in on Instagram and on Twitter and on Facebook. And of course don't forget to subscribe to podcasts on your Apple podcasts or on anywhere else that you get your podcasts Thanks, Tatyana. I really appreciate you joining me.

Thatiana Diaz 45:03 Thank you.

13 Transcribed by https://otter.ai