Content Note:

In this episode, we discuss mental health, therapy, generational trauma, and cultural stigma within Latino communities. Some topics may bring up personal or emotional experiences. Please take care of yourself while listening, and pause or step away if needed. This conversation is meant to inform and reduce stigma — not to replace professional mental health care

In this episode of Cafecito & Chaos, I sit down with my friend Gina — a Mexican American, Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Therapist — for an honest conversation about mental health and the unspoken rules many of us grew up with.

Raised by a single mother and now part of a military family, Gina shares her personal journey into therapy, why she chose this work, and how cultural expectations like “échale ganas” and “keep it in the family” can quietly impact our mental health. Together, we talk about the stigma around therapy in Latino communities, the pressure to always be strong, and what healing can look like when we allow ourselves to ask for help.

This episode is for anyone who’s ever been told to just push through, pray harder, or be grateful — even when they were exhausted inside. It’s a reminder that choosing therapy isn’t a betrayal of our culture, but an act of self-love and generational healing.

Grab your cafecito and join us for a conversation that’s real, reflective, and long overdue. ☕🤎

Send a text

Content Warning: This episode discusses ICE raids, undocumented status, family separation fears, and childhood trauma related to immigration.

In this episode of Cafecito & Chaos, I sit down with our Compa Hugo and our Comadre Vero for a deeply personal conversation about growing up in immigrant households during—and after—undocumented status.

With current ICE raids bringing old fears back to the surface, we reflect on what it was like to be kids carrying adult responsibilities: translating for our parents, staying hyper-alert, and learning early that safety was never guaranteed. We talk about our parents’ journeys to legalization, what changed, what didn’t, and why the fear often lingers long after the papers arrive.

This isn’t a political debate or legal advice—this is the human side of immigration. The emotional imprint it leaves on first-gen kids, especially the oldest, and how those early survival patterns show up in our lives today.

Grab your cafecito, take a breath, and join us for an honest conversation about family, survival, and healing.

Send us a text

This episode I’m sitting down with my amiguis Oscar Contreras — an artist, a corporate king, and someone who’s been navigating identity, culture, and creativity in a city that doesn’t always make space for all of it at once.

Oscar is first-gen, proudly gay, and living in Dallas — balancing a corporate career while staying true to his artistic voice. This conversation is about what it really looks like to exist between worlds: corporate professionalism and creative freedom, cultural expectations and personal truth, visibility and survival.

We’re talking about identity, resilience, and what it means to take up space when you were never taught that space was meant for you.

Check out Oscar’s art at: https://oscarcontrerasartist.com/

Send us a text

This episode on Cafecito & Chaos, I sat down with two women who have seen every version of me — from the awkward kid to the healing grown woman I am now.

We talk friendship, culture, family, and how we’re raising our kids differently.

If you love comadre energy, this one’s for you.

Send us a text

What’s it really like being the oldest kid in a First Gen Mexican-American home? I’m joined by two of my dearest amiguis - one compa, one comadre — to talk oldest-sibling chaos, family expectations, guilt, healing, and everything in between. If you’ve ever felt like you carried more than your fair share… pull up a cafecito and let’s talk about it — because surviving your childhood doesn’t make you crazy… it makes you a legend. 🫶✨

Send us a text

Hello my name is Isa and I’m the chaotic oldest daughter!

A little about me and why I started Cafecito and Chaos.

Send us a text

If you grew up raising your siblings, and holding in generational trauma this is the place for you!

Send us a text