Disney’s First Latina Princess Will Debut This Summer

Yes you read that right. Disney has a new princess they are debuting this summer, her name is Elena and she will be the franchise’s first official Latina princess. The Latina Disney princess first made headlines in 2015 when Disney announced that they were adding a new princess.

The news of a new Latina princess came years after the release of princess Sofia of ‘Sofia The First’ who was initially thought to be Disney’s first Latina princess. Disney took a lot of heat for it because many Latinas felt they did not identify with Sofia appearance wise who was fair-skinned with a red-auburn hair color.

This is a ground breaking move for Disney as once again they are expanding their brand as culturally diverse. The story will focus on princess Elena’s journey as a young heiress to throne and learning all she needs to know pertaining to her culture and kingdom.

Actress Aimee Carrero a Latina of Dominican heritage, voices the first Latina princess for Disney and could not be more proud. “By introducing a heroine whose background resembles their own — whose brown locks and brown eyes look like theirs — young girls can now properly identify with a princess.” Carrero said following a statement she made that it was a little harder for young Latinas to identify with the blonde hair blue-eyed Elsa in the mega-hit Frozen because they look nothing like her. Continuing her clear expression of pride she went on to say “They can quite literally see themselves in this new character of Elena, and that is monumental.”

Disney has been promoting and preparing for the launch of princess Elena Of Avalor this summer. She has her own series coming out soon in the earlier part of the summer, princess Elena dolls were released in February, and Princess Elena will debut in Disney parks in the later part of the summer to early fall.

Sesame Street Has a New Latina In Town

Sesame Street welcomes a new Latina character to the iconic children’s show and her name is Nina. The character is the latest in a number of new faces added to the long running children’s program. Nina is a college student working several jobs to fund her education. She is able to pay for school working at the shop, laundromat, and babysitting Elmo.

The young Latina character is bilingual and “uses her wit, compassion and charisma to help the furry residents of Sesame Street solve their daily dilemmas, providing a positive role model for preschoolers,” according to the Sesame Workshop.

“Sesame Street is constantly evolving and has a long-standing history of modeling a diverse community,” as stated on the character description for the official site. “As producers took note of changing demographics in the United States, it was important to represent this diversity in the new addition to the cast.”

Nina is portrayed by 26-year-old Miami born Cuban-American actress Miamian Suki Lopez who is no stranger to diversity in her life and filled with pride to represent Latinas in her role as Nina. “Its funny-you’re so proud to be Latina. I’ve never met somebody who’s so proud” Lopez recalled in a phone conversation with New Times. Lopez responded politely with confusion “Why wouldn’t I be?”

The Cuban-American hopes her Latin pride is clearly seen on the show. “I want to make sure that [my acting] comes cross that I’m proud to be Latina and [that if you’re Hispanic] you should be too,” Lopez said, according to the News Times. Lopez joined the cast for the 46th season. The new addition follows the departure of the beloved first Latina character Maria who exit in 2015 during the 45th season after being on Sesame Street for 44 years.

Clinical Psychologist Dr. Angelica Perez-Litwin who created the petition for Sesame Street to have a college attending Latina on the show said this when speaking of the positive affect it could have “a great opportunity to highlight a millenial Latina who is pursuing a college or graduate degree, or who’s running her own business.” Dr Perez-Litwin believes sending Nina to college will inspire an entire generation of children to do the same.

You can watch Suki Lopez as Nina on Sesame Street daily on PBS’s KLRN at 1pm and on HBO/HBO Latino Sundays at 9am.

Meet Nuvotv’s Chief Creative Officer: Jennifer Lopez

It was announced last week that the international music star would have a solidified role within the English-language Latin network, as it plans to relaunch in July.

Her connections with the network have lasted two years, after they first reached out to her to represent the network as its face. As she expressed her opinions of the programming on the network, it grew into something bigger.

Lopez will be directly involved with the channel’s advertising and marketing branding.

A 90-minute biographical specialon Lopez will also air on the network, but Lopez also wants the network to put the spotlight on other latin artists as well, not just use the channel as a vehicle for herself.

Ropa Vieja in New York City

The latest on the Latino food beat is that Ropa vieja, a Cuban dish that translated into English means “old clothes,”  is served in many restaurants throughout New York City.   My husband’s mother used to cook it and I do not know how to make it, since I am Puerto Rican.  But there are small, mom and pop restaurants in New York City that serve it, and this site published a recipe one can use to make this dish of shredded flank steak and other delicious ingredients.