Kenny Luna: A fresh take on Latin pantry foods
Kenny Luna grew up hanging and working the shelves at his Dominican dad’s New York City supermarkets, also influenced by his Peruvian mom and his family’s visits to the Dominican Republic’s “campo,” or countryside, where his father came from. When both he and his college buddy Scott Hattis started young families of their own — Hattis’ wife is Dominican — they decided to combine their desire for healthier, fresher food products without artificial ingredients or fillers with Latin pantry staples used to make traditional Caribbean and Hispanic dishes. The result was Loisa, named for New York City’s iconic “Loisaida” (Lower East Side) neighborhood, with its rich Puerto Rican history. In 2017, they started selling online their organic, all-natural “adobo” and “sazón” seasonings, later pairing up with chef and educator Yadi Garcia to offer “sofrito” and “recaíto” cooking sauces used in Spanish Caribbean cooking. Their online fan base grew and they started expanding. “What I’m most proud of Loisa’s success,” Luna told NBC News, “is seeing the brand grow and be sold in larger retail stores,” including the Wegmans supermarket chain beginning in 2023 and also now nationwide this year at Whole Foods and Sprouts. “With young Latinos in the U.S.,” said Luna, “we’re seeing a lot of excitement with Loisa being in grocery store shelves.”
Ana Liz Pulido: The ‘Best Chef’ in Texas
The young Mexican American owner of a taquería in the small border town of Mission, Texas, Ana Liz Pulido took home the equivalent of a food “Oscar” when she won the James Beard Award for best chef in Texas. Since she opened Ana Liz Taqueria in 2021, she’s gotten rave reviews for her restaurant, where everything is made from scratch — even the organic corn masa for her tortillas. The native Texan’s business is a family affair, with her father grilling meat every day and her mother making flour tortillas. “My father, who had experience in the food industry, told me at first to do something else. … He said it’s too hard, it’s too much work, too many hours,” Pulido told NBC News. “But eventually he came around and has been super supportive.” Until recently, her small establishment had only five tables, but after her award, her food was in such high demand that the restaurant had to briefly shut down all takeout service. Since then, Pulido has expanded her dining area and her kitchen, she told NBC News. Some fans are urging her to expand her business into other locations in Texas, but for now she is content with her place in Mission. “We want to keep working and improving here,” Pulido said, “and to make the best food for our customers.”
Dr. Diana E. Ramos: California’s trailblazing surgeon general
As the top doctor overseeing the health of the nation’s most populous state, California’s surgeon general is harnessing her decades of experience in public health — and as a practicing OB-GYN. “The week that I was sworn in was the week that I delivered my last baby,” she told NBC News. Now as surgeon general, Ramos is spearheading a $4 billion initiative to bolster youth mental health and strengthening reproductive health care access and maternal health. “I see myself as a bridge, a connector between all parties, and a voice that can share some of the experiences that people are living,” Ramos said. This year, she was recognized with the 2024 Latino Spirit Award from the California Latino Legislative Caucus for her achievement in public service and health. Only a little over 2% of U.S. doctors are Latina women, and Ramos is aware of what her achievements represent: Raised in a one-bedroom apartment in South Central Los Angeles, her Mexican mother sometimes worked three jobs so Ramos could pursue her education. “When I share that I was the first person in my family to go to college, I have students come up to me and some of them are crying — they say they can see themselves in me,” she said, “and that has been the best gift of this job.”
Cristina Rivera Garza: The Pulitzer Prize winner
Author Cristina Rivera Garza won one of literature’s most esteemed awards this year when she took home the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in memoir or autobiography for “Liliana’s Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice.” The true story of her sister, a young woman who was murdered by her former boyfriend in 1990, was so personal to Rivera Garza — a professor at the University of Houston and the head of its creative writing program in Hispanic studies — that she wrote both the Spanish and English versions herself, without a translator. Relying on everything from her sister’s letters to police files, the Mexican author and former MacArthur “genius” recipient crafted a “remarkable and genre-defying memoir,” according to the Pulitzer committee. “I knew that this story was intimate, personal, painful and absolutely fundamental for me and my family,” she told NBC News, “but I didn’t really know that it would have such a generous, warm embrace with readers.” Noting that violence against women is still widespread in both the U.S. and her native Mexico, Rivera Garza said, “I wanted to convey my sister’s, Liliana’s, perspective on the world with the kind of sensitivity and freedom that she was always so keen on defending.”
