'Si Se Puede Mija': The Language Of Our Legacies | Latina Leadership Podcast with Andrea Diaz

Andrea: Hola Amiga. Welcome to the Latina Leadership Podcast, a podcast by Latinas for all women. Get ready, because today’s conversation is really special. Hola amiga, and welcome to another episode of the Latina Leadership Podcast. I’m your host, Andrea, and thank you for being here today. And I’m going to apologize in advance, because my voice, I think it’s a little bit—is a little rough because I’ve been sick these past couple of days. So apologies. But I want to start this episode with a question that’s been on my mind. What is the language of our legacy? It is something we write in a will? Or is it something we whisper in an ear when someone needs to hear it most? You know, in our families and communities, we often inherit more than physical things. You know, we inherit ways of being, ways of persevering, and specific phrases that hold entire worlds of meaning—phrases like si se puede or échale ganas. And they’re not just words. They’re are compact packages of history, struggle, and faith passed from one generation to the next. And today’s story is a beautiful exploration of what happens when someone decides to take that inherited language—that compact package of belief—and translate it into a tangible action. It is from a listener named Yurisa Garcia, and it is about the scholarship she founded. So let us listen to her words. Well, let us listen and watch her story. So I put on my headphones here and let’s watch the video.

Yurisa: Hi, my name is Yurisa Garcia, and this is my story behind my Si Se Puede Scholarship. Born in Houston, Texas and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, I was fortunate enough to graduate from Texas A&M University debt-free with the help of scholarships and financial aid. I know firsthand what it’s like to face financial barriers in order to attend college, and that is why I decided to put my passion into action and create my own Si Se Puede scholarship in honor and in memory of my father, Sabato Garcia, who is no longer with us but would always say “Si Se Puede Mija”. Last year, I was able to give out three $500 scholarships, and this year my hope is to be able to double that amount and give out six $500 scholarships. In order to give back to our first-generation students and break those financial barriers. But in order for me to do this, I need the help of my community to be able to raise these funds and be able to continue to give back to our community one scholarship at a time. I am hoping that with your help, this year we’ll be able to give out our six scholarships to our recipients, and I’m excited to be able to see who our future scholars will be. Again, I’m asking that our community come together and be able to give back to our community one scholarship at a time. If you would like more information, please check out my website and my Instagram where you can find more information regarding the application and how you can partner and give back to our scholarship. Thank you again for—and como decía mi papá. Si se puede.

Andrea: What an amazing ending. And you know, she ends up with saying y como decía mi papá si se puede. And you know, in that simple closing, Yurisa shows us the entire shape of her mission. She connects our present work directly to her father’s voice and her past. And this is not a story about leaving her community behind to achieve individual success, you know; is a story about circular achievement. It is about taking the support she received, filtering it through the value she was raised with and, you know, returning it to the community in a new, empowered form. And she received financial support in the forms of scholarships. Right. She received emotional and cultural support in the form of her father’s belief. Her leadership lies in weaving those two strands together into a single, stronger rope that she can now throw back to help the next person climb. And Yurisa’s story resonates because it speaks to values and experiences that are significant with many of our Latino families and communities, though they are expressed in beautifully diverse ways. And it’s important to approach this not as a single story for all, but as an example that reflects certain shared principles. And first, we’re going to go first into the concept of “familismo extended”. And we’ve mentioned familismo. If you remember one over, I think in our first episode of our podcast, “familismo” it emphasizes loyalty, solidarity and reciprocity within our family. But oh, I’ll figure out the word within our family. So Yurisa’s work extends the circle. So her scholarship, born from her father’s belief, treats first-generation students as part of broader chosen family. So the support is not anonymous charity. It’s an investment in a mano a mano struggle. You know, it reframes giving back not as an obligation, but as a natural extension of familiar care. So when she says she needs her community’s help, she’s invoking this extended network, a reciprocal responsibility. You see me struggling with words right now.

Second, let’s go—in the second one, education as collective mobility. So, you know, for many immigrant and first-generation families as ours, education is not only an individual pursuit; it is often seen as primary vehicle for collective uplift. And it is a way to honor familiar sacrifices and improve circumstances for the whole family. So the financial barrier Yurisa identifies is a major point of shared concern. So by creating a dedicated resource to address it, she is directly working on a systemic challenge that holds back collective potential. And her work acknowledges that an individual’s educational journey is supported by and impacts the entire community.

And let’s go into the third one: legacy as active stewardship. So, you know, legacy is often discussed in terms of what is left behind. So Yurisa’s model presents legacy as active stewardship. She is a steward of her father’s words and of the opportunities she was given. The idea of stewardship—caring for resources, values, or knowledge responsibly—is a powerful form of leadership. It is less about individual authority and more about faithful continuity; and she is ensuring that the voice of her papá does not fade as a memory. She is making it thrive as a living funding principle. So let’s think about this. So how does this translate after the podcast? So how can we take these principles and build our own meaningful frameworks for support? And it starts for reflection and not with a giant checkbook.

First, identify your received gifts. So take a moment to reflect: what was a form of support—financial or social, emotional or knowledge-based—that was critical to your progress? So for Yurisa, it was clearly financial aid and her father’s encouragement. And for you, it might have been a family member’s network that gave you your first job lead. Or it could be the, you know, cultural wisdom of navigating two worlds that made you a keen problem solver, or access to a bilingual program or mentor who understood your background. So name this gift and understand its nature. And this is the seed of your framework.

Second, recognize a shared friction point. So look at your community—whether that is your professional field, your neighborhood, or your family network. Where is there a recurring, frustrating hurdle that others are facing? You know, Yurisa identified the financial aid gap for first-gen students. And your point of friction might be a lack of accessible, clear information about homeownership or investing. It might be the isolation of being one of the few in your workplace, or the difficulty of accessing specific professional certifications. So your personal experience with this friction is your expertise. You do not need to be an expert in everything. You need to be an expert in navigating this one thing.

And third, design a catalytic intervention. Oh, big words here, Andrea. Yeah, I know you do not need to solve the whole problem. Your goal is to create a catalyst—a small strategic action that reduces friction. So Yurisa’s $500 scholarship is a catalyst. It may not cover full tuition, but it can cover books, a laptop, or, you know, some of the semester fees. And that can fundamentally change the math of college for a student. And the catalytic intervention could be, you know, hosting a one-hour virtual office hours twice a month to demystify your career path. It could be creating a simple, shareable digital guide with five resources you used to buy your first home or starting a small private group chat for people in your company to share experiences and strategies. And the scale of this is not the point. The specificity and the sincerity is.

And when Yurisa invites her community to contribute, she’s doing something really important here: she is not just fundraising; she is community building. She is creating a shared project where many people can see their role. You know—the retiree who gives $20 to it, the college student who shares the application link, the professional who offers to mentor a recipient. And they all become co-stewards of this legacy. You know, this creates a resilient, multi-generational support system. It moves away from a model of single heroes and towards a model of collective ecosystems of support. It tells a new story. It says our progress is connected. It shows that our cultural strengths are practical tools for problem solving. It reminds us that the most powerful language of legacy is one that is spoken through our actions. And the invitation from Yurisa’s story is an invitation to be a translator—to look at the gifts you have received, the help, the cultural wisdom, the whispered words of encouragement. And ask yourself, how can I translate this into a form that someone else can use today? And your legacy is not a distant destination. It is the very next step you take to make the path behind you a little clearer, a little firmer for whoever’s coming next. It is understanding that si se puede is not just something we say. It is something we can actively build, fund and make real for each other. And thank you, Yurisa, for your beautiful example of stewardship. Thank you for showing us how our deepest values can shape our most impactful work, and for reminding us that our communities grow stronger when we invest in their dreams. So my final question for you all today. What phrase, what value, what piece of hard-won knowledge will you begin to translate? And I’m Andrea Diaz and hasta la próxima amigas bye!