Tools and Tales of Resilience

MODERATOR:

Vania Patino is a general assignment reporter at 23ABC in Bakersfield, CA. She has worked at NBC and Telemundo Los Angeles where she earned two Emmy awards. After her time as an assignment editor, she joined a CBS affiliate in Amarillo, Texas as a bilingual reporter. Se habla español!

She is happy to be back in her home state of California serving the communities in the Central Valley. When she’s not running around the newsroom, you can find her spending time with her pup, hiking, or trying new restaurants.
@vania_patino

SPEAKERS:

Erick Galindo is a five-time Telly Award-winning writer, director and producer originally from Southeast Los Angeles. He is the creator, head writer and host of the international hit podcast Idolo: The Ballad of Chalino Sanchez. He created, hosts and is the head writer for the award-winning immersive storytelling podcast WILD for LAist Studios and co-created Out of The Shadows for iHeart’s My Cultura Podcast Network. Erick is also the co-creator, writer and executive producer of the Mexican Beverly Hills, a sitcom currently in development at CBS. His just-announced co-written screenplay A Christmas to Remember was optioned by Broken English and is being made into a movie by Gradnav Studios. He has written essays on life and culture for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and LAist. He was the first managing editor of L.A. Taco, where his work won a James Beard Foundation award. Along with his business partner Patty Rodriguez, Erick recently launched Sin Miedo Productions, to write and produce Latinx Stories in podcasts, TV and film.
@ErickGEEE

Cheryl Aguilar, LICSW, LCSW, is the founding director and therapist at Hope Center for Wellness, a Washington, DC-based multicultural wellness practice focused on holistic healing of individuals and communities.

In her clinical practice, she addresses issues related to depression, anxiety, trauma, stress, grief and loss, adjustments, addictions, family separations/reunification, among others. While she works with people from all walks of life, she specializes in working with second-generation Latinos, immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees.

Cheryl has pioneered several initiatives geared towards improving the mental health of Latinos and immigrants, including co-launching one of the first TeleMental Health programs for Spanish speaking immigrants in Washington, DC in 2015 and designing, and implementing Emociones y Política, a support group and workshop for immigrants facing anxiety due to anti-immigrant rhetoric. Her practice’s work with immigrant families separated at the border and later reunified has been featured in Time Magazine, NBC News,Vanity Fair, among other media outlets.

In addition to her clinical work, Cheryl is a speaker and trainer on culturally responsive work with Latinos, Immigrants and Refugees, Trauma-Informed Care, TeleMental Health, Self-Care, Mindfulness, among other topics. Cheryl has trained hundreds of social workers, behavioral health professionals, teachers, organizers, among other professionals, and community members.

Cheryl combines her passion for micro, mezzo and macro work advocating for the communities she serves. In 2017, she founded Social Workers United for Immigration, a network of social workers committed to the well-being of immigrants and advancing immigrant rights. Because of this work, in 2019, Cheryl was selected by Social Work Today magazine as 1 of 10 dedicated and deserving social workers making an extraordinary impact across the country.