okay so when I was researching you're
starting to prep for this talk I put a
lot of research and I came across a lot
of stats I have a hate love relationship
with stats I hate the stats that are not
in my favor or that of my favorite
sports team those stats suck but I love
the stats they're like people that read
Harry Potter are nicer I guess that's me
people that are from California are
happier yes that's me those that I love
but then there are the stats that are
ones I hate but I become thankful for
I'll give you an example I'll give you
the example a lot of women I'm sure all
of us we know this that we hate this
that we groan at this that it's the
gender pay gap stat basically the one
that says a woman will make less than a
man at the same gig then why you delve
into this that a little bit more about
Nyssa t my Latinas in the house where my
Latinas I okay I love our efforts but we
also on this if this that was a totem
pole we're right at the bottom its likes
to be lucky now with this that compared
to a white non-hispanic male for every
dollar they make we will make even less
than an Asian American woman even less
than an African American woman than a
white non-hispanic woman then in a
Native American women well right there
at the bottom we make 53 cents for every
white man's dollar ocotilla that means
yuck if that's that wasn't enough
there's this other one that I read I'm
sorry that I'm going to share this if
you don't know it already but according
to the Institute of Women's policy
research Latinas will finally get equal
wages finally in the year 20 to 24 yay
that's like when I'm a fossil when my
daughter's daughters a fossil
that's that can't go mini and wait
I don't want to tell you what that's
about to mean but I do before I move on
I want to talk a little bit about myself
I'm a hip-hop head I love hip-hop like
it's it's unexplainable I look at
rappers like other people look at
philosophers rappers have taught me more
than some teachers have taught me and
take that how you will uh one of my
favorite rapper is his name is mos def
or ya seen Bain he has this song called
white Lightspeed bra and in this song he
raps 10% conditioned 90% response
survival mathematics the number of man
song and when I heard that I was like
hold on 10% condition 90% response
it's basically 10% what happens to you
90% what you do but it's different when
your favorite rapper says it it became
my motto and as I've learned and as I've
experienced more things in life I've
found that if that survival mathematics
some of the best and greatest
mathematicians in that field are Latinas
and I'll tell you why let's go back to
that dumb ol stat the gender pay gaps
that that often gets argued it's like
it's just a stat this is what I do with
the stats against my sports team it's
just a style it's not real it's just a
number okay whatever but until you real
life live it you don't know that it's
real and I have real life lived it so I
want to give you my context what is that
for the past decade in some change I
studied I pursued and I excelled in LA
hip-hop radio when I started 2008 I was
a teen mom another subset of women that
don't get too much recognition but get a
lot of negative stigma and bad
conditions bad stats perceptions of us
are not the greatest but 10% condition
90% response it's what you do with that
condition it's the fact that I did not
allow
that condition to be who I was but a
caterpillar motivation my child's birth
certificate was not a death certificate
to my dream and I had wanted to be in
radio since I was 8 so you're not gonna
stop me just because I have a child
he's on a ride with me and I became like
I said a very prominent figure in LA
radio I went from interning to board up
into overnight host to weekend hoes to
morning show Co to red carpet
interviewer to scouring the world when
my favorite rap artist J Cole and I did
all of that while also being my own
producer and editor and getting these
bunch of caps on my head right besides
that in radio and I feel like in every
field where your personality and you are
you have an audience or a clientele what
matters is how attached and how bonded
you are to your audience I was really
good at that with the LA audience in the
social media age of like Instagram
followers matter and Twitter followers
mattered I was killing it there too I
had oh I had more followers and even
some radio stations that I worked at and
not only did I have followers which
revealed by the way not but I also had a
great engagement so analytics engagement
skill set
tick-tick-tick I knocked it all out now
that came with time recently where I got
called on to be on a radio station in
Los Angeles and the pay was more than I
had ever received in my career it wasn't
me I was hype until and maybe this is
why we don't do this until I shared what
I got paid with my male co-host then I
saw how laughable what I was getting he
was making double what I was making
doing the same amount of work he's a
great on-air personality too
and so then I saw it firsthand like
man this is the stat in real time and
maybe how'd it be like okay I took I
should have negotiated more dummy like I
even had my boss
tell me Letty you are severely underpaid
what even you okay I'm gonna just take
it on a chin when it comes time to
renegotiate my contract I'm gonna ask
for more my boss is telling me I deserve
more my co-host is telling me like look
I'm getting paid double what you are
doing the same job
I even had a weekend I was full-time a
part-time weekend there dude was like I
get paid more than you and I'm not even
on half the time you are so I'm hearing
this contract my normal time I'm going
in and I'm getting my raise and my boss
when we're negotiating says you know
what let me you should just be happy to
be here I'm gonna keep you at this same
rate because you haven't done this right
or you didn't bet they'll find a reason
why you deserve the rate even though
they've told you this whole time you
deserve so much more and then it makes
you almost feel bad like for asking how
dare you feel entitled to your worth
right okay so 10 percent conditioned 90
percent response well it was my response
gonna be well they're gonna stay at my
dream job but feel less than half valued
as my co-host
I'll get the argument that if that's
your dream why do you care about payment
but it's not the payment it's the
principle that hurts it hurts all of us
but it's the payment that well being why
we're written on why we're like into our
arguments invalid however when we stay
in these situations it's kind of like a
toxic relationship it does more bad than
it does good because you start looking
at yourself different you start treating
others different you become difficult to
work with the final reason why you don't
deserve that position anymore
and I just could not do that something
about my stubborn
SiC inside that's just like no we're
gonna put up with this okay
so my response was I left I left for a
gig that paid me double and a half what
I was getting paid there before I moved
on to do this independently currently I
have my own podcast my own merch line
I'm setting up a new syndicated radio
show so that the next time I go into
radio it's not as an employee it's as a
partner 10% condition 90% response
survival mathematics what I also learned
while I was doing research for this TED
talk and this is one of the stats I love
is that I'm not alone in this is that
Latinas are facing this type of
condition and their response is the same
as mine according to a Stanford Graduate
Business study latina owned firms grew
from 2007 to 2015 by 87 percent
eclipsing even that of any other women
owned firm and these firms often are
individual Latinas self-employed or
running family businesses what that stat
showed me wasn't just that I was not
alone wasn't just that we're all doing
this together but what this showed me is
that another woman who may be in that
same crossroads of should I stay and
feel bad inside and feel unworthy inside
or should I leave and feel whole it
showed me they can it showed me you
should it showed me if it you feel it
please take that step take that step
because well J Cole has a line and he
says it's really simple
what's the cost to live your dream do
you feel me I fail you
because I know we hear the blood sweat
and tears we know that we're supposed to
sacrifice time
sacrifice money sacrifice gas in LA but
no one ever told us about sacrificing
integrity sacrificing morality
sacrificing principle and it's that that
is too pricey when we are in these
situations and so for that I ask and I
encourage anyone not just Latinos but
anyone to choose yourself and choose
your wholeness but y'all know that I do
want to shift to our upcoming
presidential election year 2020 and
another stat that I'm like oh yes okay
so in 2020 Latinos will be the largest
minority group eligible to vote and of
those Hispanics the Hispanic electorate
is going going to be led by Latinas it's
going to be us who will show up more as
history will repeat itself in 2016 we
showed up 35 percent versus the Latino
men at 30 percent and with our group
being so targeted it is such an
important time for us to show up
Telemundo had a report recently and they
said the most powerful person in America
is very latina consumer the Latina
businesswoman and the Latino voter
Latinas are unstoppable when they know
their value the problem is a lot of us
aren't told our value so that's what my
TED talk is about my TED talk if
anything if I hope it serves for
anything
it's let you know you're valuable your
value will be on the pay gap your
valuable beyond political attacks you
are so valuable
and you my fellow latina survival
mathematicians you I we are the future
uncle les guste Oh No thank you
[Applause]