[Rula Ávila Muñoz]: Hello, a warning before we begin: this series contains sensitive content including violence, drugs, and sexual language. We recommend discretion.
After the funeral of Cecilia Gentili at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral; after the Archdiocese of New York said the event was an insult to the Catholic faith and that the audience’s behavior was «scandalous»; after a «reparation mass» was held… On a rainy day in February 2024, the whores returned to Saint Patrick’s to protest. But this time, the doors weren’t opened for them.
[Liaam Winslet]: We are not going to stay silent, and even if it’s hard, even if they try to silence us, we will not back down. This is the moment to make history, my friends. Sex workers deserve the same rights. Sex work…!
[Protesters]: …Is work!
[Rula Ávila Muñoz]: The one speaking and shouting is Liaam Winslet, director of the Intercultural Collective Transgrediendo. We’ve met her before. She was Lorena Borjas’s right hand and the one who called Cecilia «Saint Cecilia, mother of all whores.» Liaam led the protest in front of Saint Patrick’s.
[Liaam Winslet]: I, as a community leader, see every day how a hypocritical and moralistic society is scandalized by the word «whore.» But the word «whore» means powerful, unique, transcendent, and authentic. That is how we sex workers define ourselves.
[Rula Ávila Muñoz]: But, as so often happens in New York, the scandal came and went. The echo of the voices that shouted «Cecilia, Cecilia, Cecilia» that day at the funeral dissolved into the hum of the city.
But if we turn our backs to Saint Patrick’s and walk a few blocks towards southeast Manhattan, we’ll reach Grand Central, the station where several subway lines converge: the S, the 4, the 5, the 6, and the 7. If we get on a train on this line toward Queens, we’ll reach the second-to-last stop, Mets–Willets Point. There, in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, near the Mets baseball stadium and the US Open tennis courts, we’ll find the Queens Museum.
There, on Tuesday, April 7th of this year, we gathered with the community of trans Latina sex workers from Queens to celebrate the launch of the series we are listening to. And to honor their legacy.
That is why, in this special episode marking the halfway point of Las Reinas de Queens, we want to share with you what we experienced that night in front of more than 100 people.
We will hear from Liaam, heir to Lorena Borjas’s collective; from Cecilia Gentili’s children who continue to expand the theatrical legacy of this queen. Also, a new story about Cecilia, and a speech from the mother of a house that continues to thrive despite the decades.
We will hear, in short, a celebration at the living heart of our kingdom.
From Central Series and Radio Ambulante Studios, this is Las Reinas de Queens. I’m Rula Ávila Muñoz.
Episode 5. Another Tuesday in Queens.
[Rula, live]: And now I’d like to invite to the stage…
[Rula Ávila Muñoz]: We began that evening by talking with Liaam, director of the Intercultural Collective Transgrediendo, founded by Lorena Borjas.
[Rula, live]: Welcome, Liaam. Thank you so much for being here. We are very, very happy to have you here, and to have another space where we can chat for a bit.
[Rula Ávila Muñoz]: We had just heard the trailer for this series, where Lorena is heard saying this:
[Lorena Borjas]: I’m going to get wherever I need to get to like a bitch — fight with claws and nails…
[Rula Ávila Muñoz]: So we started there.
[Rula, live]: What do you feel when you hear Lorena say these iconic words of hers? «I’m going to fight like a bitch.»
[Liaam Winslet]: Well, that we’re all bitches. No, I think one of the things that causes me a lot of nostalgia, really… Talking about Lorena is hard for me, it’s still hard for the community, truly, because you ask yourself, like, why does it keep happening to us — to women and trans people and sex workers — that we lose our sisters? On top of the loss of another friend like Cecilia, right? These are things where you say, like, why one thing after another, why do we keep losing people from our movement? But it also leads us to a reflection, right? As a community, to understand that this is the moment to know that resistance depends on all of us — trans people, queer people, non-binary people. To value more the struggle of those who paved that way, right?
[Rula, live]: Speaking of that, I’d like to know — beyond the work done with the Collective and with the collectives and forms of activism that Cecilia and Lorena started — in what other ways can we keep their legacy alive?
[Liaam Winslet]: By supporting those who are paving the way, right? It makes me very happy to know when, for example, a trans woman is at a spot that for years we were told trans women couldn’t occupy, right? It has made me very happy to see how many friends from our community who have been and are sex workers have evolved. Many of us. And knowing that they are in those places to raise their voices for us also allows us to have an impact on those others who have always believed they won’t be able to achieve what they’ve been told: you can’t do this, you can’t accomplish that. Many times people told me, «trans women and immigrant sex workers will never be able to lead an organization.» And when someone tells you that, it’s harsh, because that’s when you say, «but why wouldn’t I be able to?» Why? Maybe because I don’t have a college degree, maybe because people don’t understand that trans women don’t drop out because they want to, but because doors are closed to them. Keeping Lorena’s legacy alive is not only about fighting against the system, it’s also about fighting against all those people who always told us we’re not capable. And it has been hard. It has been very hard. Just as I have known stories of trans friends, for example, who have been removed, who have been… How do I put it? Fired from a job, simply because maybe the project ended, maybe you don’t meet our expectations, or maybe we just put you there so people can see we have a trans person here. But that is not the goal; it’s about maintaining and providing opportunities to the community because they deserve it, because it’s a right. But it doesn’t always happen. Sometimes we have to beg after having survived so many difficult situations.
[Rula, live]: Is there any advice that Lorena gave you at some point that you carry with you today?
[Liaam Winslet]: I never forgot when Lorena wrote to us and said something like, «pájara, I don’t know what’s going to happen. These girls are going to be left alone. We’re going to have to figure out how to help them.» I’ll never forget the image from the call I had with her when she was in the hospital, and she was saying, «we have to figure out how to help the girls and find food and do…» And I was like, «Lorena, first recover fully and then we’ll figure out what to do.» But I never thought it would be the last call. But there are endless things I still remember about her. Sometimes I watch a lot of her documentaries and the things she says. Sometimes I listen to her voice messages. I still have her voice messages — WhatsApp messages, text messages. So I listen to them. It’s like… It’s like this moment to, I don’t know, connect with her too.
[Rula, live]: And… because you were also close to Ceci, in one way or another, being activists and everything. But for the people who didn’t get to know her, who didn’t get to know Cecilia personally — can you tell us a little about Cecilia Gentili?
[Liaam Winslet]: Look, Cecilia was a perfect complement. This was like a gang, honestly. The whores’ gang, truly. And I remember when I joined Lorena and Cecilia’s gang, it was exciting. I remember that when… In 2014, when we started talking about wanting to create an organization for the immigrant community in Jackson Heights, in Queens, to be led by Lorena, it was something unthinkable. But when we talked about it with Cecilia, Cecilia was like, «no, yes you can, let’s do it.» And Lorena and I were like, «ah, yes, let’s do it, we have to write…» Cecilia always told us: «take note of everything, make copies of everything, don’t just leave things like that because later we have to review all that happens.» And so it was that in 2015 the Collective was established. Cecilia was one of our driving forces along with Lorena so that we could maintain this space, right? Lorena’s dream was to have a space, a community center like the one we have now — but she never got to see it — because she always used to say, «imagine having a space like this. Imagine the girls coming to get food.» I mean, these were things that trans experience and most of us as immigrants live through, right? We know how hard it is to access food. We know how hard it is to not have a safe space. Many trans women still have to be out on the streets during the day because they don’t know where to go. There are no safe places, where they can provide you with that space, where you can go and talk and meet other trans people who maybe have the same stories. So the Collective has become that — a space that began as a dream with Lorena, Cecilia, who helped us so much. I remember so well that after her death, well, everything was going to just stop there, and Cecilia was the one who told us: «no, we’re going to keep going. We’re going to keep going. We have to keep doing it. Let’s keep alive the legacy of this old whore, Lorena.» And that was it. That is how we keep this legacy alive.
[Rula, live]: What was it like going out with Lorena? And I don’t know if Cecilia would join you at night when you went to hand out condoms and visit the girls to check in on them.
[Liaam Winslet]: Going out with Lorena meant helping her carry her car. Who here that knew Lorena ever lifted Lorena’s car? That was her office. I used to tell her, «Lorena, that’s a desk, a filing cabinet.» It was everything. But walking with Lorena in the street and distributing condoms was an adventure. It was a story where time… You’d look at the time and it was already four or five in the morning, and you’d say, «we’re still out here,» because Lorena would take you along for the ride, right? And it was exciting because she always looked for ways to connect us with the community, but also so that others out there would know we were there for them, that they would feel accompanied, right? I remember that Lorena was one of the driving forces behind getting organizations to go out to the streets to do HIV testing, because for many of our sisters it felt complicated and difficult… One of her phrases was: «Liaam, they have to understand that for whores, day is night and night is day. So you can’t expect a comrade to go get an HIV test between 9am and 5pm. It’s impossible, she’s never going to go.» So what Lorena did was exactly that — bring the syringes to where they already were, bring the HIV tests, connect the girls to set a clear date to go to their hormone treatment or see the doctor.
[Rula, live]: Is there any memory that stays with you, something specific about Lorena and Ceci, something that comes to mind right now?
[Liaam Winslet]: That you must not give up. That despite the circumstances and adversities, we have to stay alive. And for me that is also important: seeing new generations, seeing new sisters, because at some point I was there too. At some point I also fought, but there comes a moment when you say, «we have to make room, we have to allow… We have to let them also face the battles we are still seeing.» I mean, there are many situations that still keep us here, resisting and showing resilience in the face of all these difficult situations.
[Rula, live]: How beautiful. Thank you so much, Liaam. A big round of applause for Liaam Winslet, please!
[Rula Ávila Muñoz]: We’ll be right back.
[Viento]: Good evening everyone. I am Viento.
[Oscar]: My name is Oscar, Cecilia’s daughter, and we are here to share a little about her, about her legacy…
[Rula Ávila Muñoz]: After the conversation with Liaam, it was time to hear from two people we met in the previous episode: Oscar and Viento, Cecilia Gentili’s children. She is Oscar.
[Oscar]: Cecilia was a matriarch and architect of a constellation of much love, support, and resistance.
[Rula Ávila Muñoz]: They remembered her beyond her activism and beyond being Saint Cecilia, the mother of all whores.
[Oscar]: And she would want people to remember that she was very sexy. Very sexy. And to recognize her not only as this concept, this idea. She was very human, complicated.
[Viento]: Funny. Yes, very funny. I feel like she also used humor a lot to get through everything that happens to us, right?
[Rula Ávila Muñoz]: And they introduced another of Cecilia’s children and an incredibly talented artist who in recent years has been in charge of keeping her legacy alive in theater: Chiquitita.
[Oscar]: Chiquitita was born and raised in Queens.
[Viento]: She is an incredible artist. And we leave the stage here for her to come and dazzle you. Thank you very much. Good night.
[Oscar]: Good night.
[Rula Ávila Muñoz]: And she, Chiquitita, presented us with a fragment of the play «Red Ink.»
[Chiquitita]: I am an atheist, but I have received calls from God many, many times…
[Rula Ávila Muñoz]: «Red Ink» was written in English, and Chiquitita’s performance was in that language. But we thought it would be nice to use this space to get to know Cecilia better, during one of her darkest times.
To tell this story, here’s our producer Pablo.
[Pablo Argüelles]: I visited Estrellita because I was told she had a letter from Cecilia Gentili. And I wanted her to read it to me.
Estrellita and Cecilia were friends for many years — the kind of friends who have been through the good times and the bad. Who built and broke their relationship several times since they met in Miami in 1999.
When I asked Estrellita if she had the letter she said yes, of course. But that she didn’t know where it was. All of this with a smile. Half anxious, half mischievous. The thing is, Estrellita has a thousand diaries and notebooks and photos and videos from her past. And she started rummaging through all of them in search of the letter.
[Estrellita]: How lovely souvenirs are, right? They show so much history. Don’t you think?
[Pablo Argüelles]: She is a collector of memories.
[Estrellita]: Look at this…
[Pablo Argüelles]: What is it?
[Estrellita]: It’s one of the flyers from the show «Red Ink.» Look how beautiful.
[Pablo Argüelles]: But the letter wasn’t turning up…
[Estrellita]: I’ll find it, I swear, I’ll find it for you…
[Pablo Argüelles]: While she searched, Estrellita told me about her life. She’s from Buenos Aires. Today she lives on the 15th floor of an apartment building in Queens. In the living room of her apartment there is a small table with the image of the Virgin Mary, creams, perfumes, paper towels, and condoms, for her clients. Because since the early 1990s she has been a sex worker and drag queen.
[Estrellita]: I took the stage drag queen to Palermo, to work from 11 pm until 6 in the morning.
[Pablo Argüelles]: Palermo is a Buenos Aires neighborhood full of bars and clubs. Estrellita made her life there, dressed as a woman, receiving her clients on the streets, in cars, on the train tracks, wherever.
[Estrellita]: You have to be courageous. You have to feel confident. And you have to like it.
[Pablo Argüelles]: And in 1998, with the money she earned on the streets of Buenos Aires she bought herself a plane ticket to Miami. She wanted — and she told me this before we started recording — a loud life, full of scandal, lots of drag queens, lots of shows and stiletto heels and wigs.
And of course, she continued with sex work, always on the street. Not like some of her friends who would only stand in bars, well dressed, drinking champagne.
[Estrellita]: Ah, and the glamour, and the perfume, and the earrings, and the dress. Look. Look at the dress: $200 dollars. Sequins and glitter. Oh, let someone buy you a drink. Not me. I walked around. And well, really completely, a whore. Super super slutty. Tight skirts. High heels. Well shaved, all, all, all over. Heels, but really high heels. Lots of wigs, lots of makeup, my keys, a little purse with condoms and everything, and that’s it.
[Pablo Argüelles]: And it was there, on the streets of Miami, that she met Cecilia, who had just arrived from Argentina.
[Estrellita]: And it was super funny because before even saying hello, I said to her, «and do you also go around like this looking for little clients every now and then?» «Of course, obviously, absolutely.» «So be careful,» I tell her, «because I got arrested three days ago.» And she says, «oh, really?» «Yes.» And she gets arrested four or five days later, and she runs into me again somewhere, and says, «you bitch, what bad luck you brought me. I got arrested too, you faggot.» «Oh! Welcome to Miami!»
[Pablo Argüelles]: They started hanging out with a little group of Argentine trans and drag girls united by the night. And one day, just as they had met, they fell apart, each taking her own path.
Estrellita moved to New York. And there, in the early 2000s, she reconnected with Cecilia. But Cecilia was no longer the newly arrived immigrant. She was doing very well. She had an apartment in Nolita, a very expensive and fashionable neighborhood in Manhattan. She also wore luxury clothes. And she met many of her clients at private parties. Estrellita would see her there frequently.
[Estrellita]: The parties were super fabulous with girls who had incredible bodies and these dolls, all fabulously dressed: Louis Vuitton, one in Chanel, another in Prada, another in Versace. And full of men, full of admirers. And those men would spend the whole night there. One drink, $25 dollars. They’d buy you a drink. Then you could go into a little booth, a tiny little box with a small curtain. And there you would show them your things, your tricks of the trade. In one night you’d leave with an average of $4,000, $6,000, $7,000 dollars. In one night!
[Pablo Argüelles]: But of course, that lifestyle had a price.
[Estrellita]: Each of us had our tricks to feel better or maybe to accompany a client.
[Pablo Argüelles]: Tricks like using substances: alcohol, in Estrellita’s case…
[Estrellita]: Expensive wines, reds and whites and sparkling. I’ve always been so refined, totally refined. I’d rather be dead than be uncouth, right?
[Pablo Argüelles]: And Cecilia, heroin and cocaine. She entered that labyrinth we mentioned in the previous episode, and in which she began to lose everything: her income, her apartment in Manhattan, her health, her friends… So much so that she would go off radar frequently. Until one day, around 2009, she called Estrellita.
[Estrellita]: «Estrellita, I’m doing really badly and I have nowhere to sleep. And I’m very worried. Could you give me a few days to stay with you?» I said, «yes, of course, come over.»
[Pablo Argüelles]: She arrived with plastic bags, and inside she carried the few clothes she had left.
[Estrellita]: So I could see the decline, right? How badly off she already was.
[Pablo Argüelles]: They started living together and, of course, they had a great deal of fun. They collected a thousand anecdotes. But both of them were deep in their addictions. And over the months, friction overshadowed the good moments: that Cecilia was smoking in the house, that she was taking up too much space in the apartment…
[Estrellita]: I didn’t like it when she’d ask me if she could bring a client over to party. But she did it out of the great need of her addiction. I understand that.
[Pablo Argüelles]: Estrellita recounts that Cecilia ended up receiving clients who didn’t pay her with money, but just with drugs. It was a sign that Cecilia had hit rock bottom, that she no longer valued herself. And then, at night, Estrellita would hear her pacing back and forth in her room, as if tormented, making strange noises. Today she thinks it was probably because Cecilia was trying to quit the drugs and that the withdrawal pangs made her suffer enormously. And on they went. Until about six months in…
[Estrellita]: We had a very serious fight. I think it was over a client or something she did in the house. I don’t quite remember. I was furious, absolutely beside myself, and I confronted her, I said, «I’ve told you a thousand times not to do this and you keep doing it. I am exhausted. I can’t take it anymore.»
[Pablo Argüelles]: Estrellita told Cecilia to leave.
[Estrellita]: But I said it to her in a harsh way, right? And what I do remember is that she then says, «then keep those bags stored for me. I’ll come get them another time, because I can’t right now.» «No, take them now, take them now.» And I ended up throwing them down the staircase. How awful.
[Pablo Argüelles]: They lost track of each other again. And Cecilia continued with drugs and sex work, in an increasingly precarious way. She was a victim of a human trafficking network. She was arrested several times and locked up in the men’s section of Rikers Island, a prison with a terrible reputation for the violence that occurs inside. From there she was sent to an immigration detention center. She was saved from deportation, but was released with an ankle monitor, like the ones you see in movies. And that is how she entered a rehabilitation center in Queens.
[Estrellita]: Let me see, let’s find this famous letter. It’s around here somewhere…
[Pablo Argüelles]: And this is where the letter enters the story.
[Estrellita]: Here it is! Here it is! Oh, my God. I told you. I told you. I found it. I found it. I found it. I found it. Okay. Done. Everything else is secondary now. Here it is.
[Pablo Argüelles]: Can you read it?
[Estrellita]: Would you like me to read it?
[Pablo Argüelles]: Yes, please.
[Estrellita]: «April 16, 2010. Dear Estrellita…» I have to stop. Forgive me, I have to stop. It’s just that I, I don’t know if I can remember. I will never know if I replied to her. Even though we saw each other afterward, but this was very important to her. I will never know if I replied.
«April 16, 2010. Dear Estrellita. I hope that when you receive this you are well. As for me, I can tell you that I am very happy. In a couple of days I will be two months into my recovery. I am in an in-patient program that lasts a year. At first, I thought it would be too much, but today I think that perhaps it is not enough and I may need more time. Many things, deep, internal things, are coming to light and I have a great deal to work on. Among other news, I can tell you that they have already removed the ankle monitor from my leg, and I continue working on my legal status in the country. This letter has two purposes. First, to apologize to you for the inconveniences caused. I am infinitely grateful for all the help you gave me. My behavior truly left much to be desired. And second, due to a mistake of mine, my benefit card has your address. You may receive some letters for me. I know how much that bothers you. Sorry. On the envelope is the address where I am in treatment. I would love to hear from you. A big kiss. Cecilia.»
During the six years I lived in the home of my godmother, my father’s sister in Salta in northern Argentina, we communicated with my father by letter. My sister and I. Phones didn’t exist. I mean, in poor homes like ours with dirt floors. It was letters. So I have a great deal, a very great deal of experience in how to write, in how to respond. And sometimes you can feel all the emotions of the person in the letters. That’s why it bothers me not to know. It bothers me not to know if at some point I was able to respond to her, knowing that I am so good at that, at being reciprocal in a reply. No, I don’t remember, I don’t remember. Only time and space and the universe will know that.
[Pablo Argüelles]: And if you could respond to her now, what would you say?
[Estrellita]: If I had to respond to this letter I would say: «I am so glad, Ceci, that you are in a rehabilitation program and I want you to know that when you come out of there you will have my home again so you can stay here until you recover and until you get back on your feet and can reintegrate into society in a good way, and find a job, and get all that sorted out with your legal status. I will always be here. Even with the differences we had. And it’s okay, don’t worry, I won’t be angry anymore if some letters arrive in your name here at my house.» That’s all. Silly, right?
[Pablo Argüelles]: Silly, right?
This phrase caught me off guard a little. I thought Estrellita’s response would be, I don’t know, more emotional. But it was so simple and ordinary, so full of resignation too. I felt Estrellita’s pain. And at the same time I understood that perhaps she didn’t need to convey that pain with grand words. She knew, in exactly the right measure, how to respond to her friend, even though so many years had passed. She knew that one way or another, Cecilia was listening to her, and that she forgave her. Silly, right?
A break, and we’ll be back.
[Rula Ávila Muñoz]: Well, we are back at the Queens Museum for the last act of the evening.
[Rula, live]: So now we are going to welcome to the stage the one and only, the incomparable Queen, Laura Martínez. Please give her a big round of applause…
[Rula Ávila Muñoz]: Laura Martínez — we met her in episode 2. Before presenting us with her most famous number, the «Suavecito suavecito» by Laura León, she surprised us with a speech that I think is worth listening to.
[Rula, live]: Comadrita, how are you?
[Laura Martínez]: Thank you so much, darlings. Good Lord, how wonderful. Thank you. Happy, so happy to be here with all of you, truly.
[Rula, live]: Welcome to your home. I’d like you to tell us… Queen, exactly! Let’s hear it!! Let’s hear it! I’d like you to tell us, before you delight us with a musical number, if you remember when the first time you performed this musical number was and what it was like.
[Laura Martínez]: Well, this was when I began my career in 1989, and it was in Guadalajara, Jalisco. The club was called La Malinche. I was just starting out working in clubs and it was my very first steps in performing as Laura León, who opened doors for me in Mexico and in many places, and especially here in the United States. And I truly thank you all infinitely because we have a full house. That reminds us — us, because I am part of all of this — and our warrior, who was Lorena Borjas, who has already left us, and the second warrior was Cecilia. I understood that they truly are two very great figures of New York. Those struggles. And we must not forget it, because sometimes the new people forget where rights come from, where privileges come from. That is going to be a legacy for us, the Latinas, for the queens. The mother dies and the queens are born. They can be queens of the street, those queens who earn their living, who are criticized, who are pointed at. Because there is so much history. From the 80s, 90s, 2000s, and discrimination continues to this day. We criticize the alcoholics, we criticize the drug addicts. Do you know why they become drug addicts, why they are alcoholics, why they end up in a psychiatric clinic? No! Because every trans person has a book, has a story, that many don’t publish, because they don’t even have the energy to do so. Just like this government, so is the entire society with us. I am 62 years old, and when we, trans women, started out we were trampled on, literally, but that didn’t hurt us. Do you know what hurt us? Our emotions, our hearts, our feelings, and our thoughts. That is why you can look at your sister, your friend, whoever is beside you. Never criticize her because you don’t know what has happened in her life. Your own biological family rejects you, the very family that gave you life kicks you out. But when you make the decision to be a trans woman, it is very hard. And I urge the new generations: don’t stop working. Perhaps we will go, but we are leaving behind that legacy, those ideas, and that work that must keep moving forward, truly. I am going to keep on going, fighting alongside each and every one of you, because when we unify, we will progress. And to all these people behind the scenes who made this happen — my deepest respect. And thank you for being here, for this…
[Rula, live]: Thank you…
[Laura Martínez]: …this production. Thank you so much!
[Rula, live]: Thank you, Laurita. Now let’s go!
[Rula Ávila Muñoz]: And well, what came after is truly impossible to describe here. Laura giving herself completely, looking stunning, with tremendous energy. Cecilia’s children offering her bills as if she were a goddess… And then the rest of the audience, adoring her just the same.
[Laura Martínez]: Thank you, darlings!
[Rula, live]: A round of applause for Laura Martínez!
[Laura Martínez]: Thank you so much, my love! I carry this applause in my heart. My community, my people…
[Rula Ávila Muñoz]: And so we reached the end of the night, and of this episode.
In the coming weeks, we return to our story to go deeper into that world that Cecilia — and Lorena Borjas — defended with claws and nails: the world of the street. And there we will meet a group of women who are often criticized and misunderstood: the sex workers, the whores, of Roosevelt Avenue.
Las Reinas de Queens is a podcast from Central, the series channel of Radio Ambulante Studios, and is part of iHeart Radio’s My Cultura podcast network.
This series was produced by Diego Senior and Pablo Argüelles with additional production and reporting by Nikol Pizarro, Joana Toro, and Andrés Sanín.
The editors were Daniel Alarcón, Silvia Viñas, and myself.
Fact-checking is by Bruno Scelza and Nikol Pizarro.
Dmitri Barcomi was the event manager at the Queens Museum. Gianina Enriquez, community organizer at the museum, was our liaison with the Queens Museum. Thank you, Gianina.
Thanks also to Liaam Winslet, Oscar Díaz, Viento Izquierdo, Nic Cory, Chiquitita, and Laura Martínez for being part of the program. And to the Intercultural Collective Transgrediendo, HOPE, and Transmission for helping us spread the word about the event.
On the night of the show, simultaneous English translation was provided by Nayra Pacheco Guzmán and Jennifer Salgado from Rooted Language Justice.
María Linares did the sound design and mixing, as well as the original music. And Pablo Diez assisted with the live event recording.
The graphic design and art direction of the series are by Diego Corzo.
Product development for Las Reinas de Queens was handled by Natalia Ramírez. Digital production was done by Ana María Betancourt and Óscar Luna.
Business development and strategic partnerships were led by Camilo Jiménez Santofimio. And Julián Santos and Eric Spiegelman provided legal support.
Las Reinas de Queens is an original idea by Diego Senior, Joana Toro, and Andrés Sanín.
The executive producers are Diego Senior; and from Radio Ambulante Studios, Carolina Guerrero, our CEO.
At iHeart, the executive producers are Arlene Santana and Leo Gomez.
Part of the funding for this project was provided by the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, as part of their «Expanding Gratitude Through Media» initiative, with the support of the John Templeton Foundation.
You can follow us on social media as centralseriesRA and subscribe to our email newsletter at centralpodcast.audio.
I’m Rula Ávila Muñoz. Thank you for listening.