Essential Voices with Wilmer Valderrama

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Essential Voices with Wilmer Valderrama Host Wilmer Valderrama hears from the people who kept this country running in & out of the pandemic. Tuesday’s on iHeart Radio & all platforms!

02/05/2022

Andres Almeida is a server at a restaurant in New York, along with being a graduate student and advocate for the organization, One Fair Wage. The restaurant he works at didn’t close during the pandemic, so Andres tells us all about what it was like working during all the different stages of the past couple years, including adapting to new safety regulations, but also adapting to the attitudes of different customers. Roundtable guests: chef and host of Broken Bread, , and author and President of One Fair Wage, Saru Jayaraman ().

07/04/2022

Miski Noor is an organizer and writer based in Minneapolis, MN where they are Co-Director with Black Visions, a power and base-building force for Black Q***r and Trans people and their families within the larger Movement for Black Lives. They were mere blocks from George Floyd when he was murdered in 2020 and can speak to what it was like protesting during a pandemic along with how transformative justice informs their vision for a brighter future in Minneapolis. Part 1 of a 2 part series.

In Part Two of HEAVY LIFTING, Journalist Christopher Mims breaks down how a product goes from production to our front d...
30/03/2022

In Part Two of HEAVY LIFTING, Journalist Christopher Mims breaks down how a product goes from production to our front door and how the pandemic and other factors have recently affected the productivity of this system. And alongside Mayor , we hear why the jobs linked to the supply chain are so essential to every single one of us.

22/03/2022

This week, we chat with not one but TWO essential workers that are directly keeping the country’s supply chain afloat!
It takes the work of many hands to get the products we all rely on from the factory to our homes. What to the consumer may just be the push of a button, requires the heavy lifting of factory workers, longshoreman, truck drivers and hundreds more. Longshoreman Nicole Salima (.310) and truck driver Armando Pacheco are two of the workers responsible for that heavy lifting. Nicole Salima is a longshoreman at the Port of Long Beach and Armando Pacheco has been a commercial truck driver for decades. Hear their stories and more in Part One of a two part series on America’s supply chain!

16/03/2022

This week, grief expert and psychotherapist Megan Devine () contextualizes what grief has been like on a larger scale throughout the pandemic for first responders like Anthony Almojera, our essential voice featured in Part One last week.

08/03/2022

This week Lieutenant EMS Paramedic Anthony Almojera shares with us what he and other paramedics saw and experienced at the height of the pandemic in NYC. Part 1 of a our 2-Part Series on one of the frontline workers that answer our calls in times of need.

This week’s episode: Shawn Troy is a family man whose commitment to care extends not just to his relatives, but his comm...
22/02/2022

This week’s episode: Shawn Troy is a family man whose commitment to care extends not just to his relatives, but his community as well. As funeral director at Troy’s Funeral Home in Mullins, South Carolina, he cares for the deceased and their loved ones. With the pandemic, Shawn had to grapple not only with a rising number of deaths due to COVID, but also how to properly honor those losses with social distancing in place.

Roundtable guests: Reporter, producer & host of the podcast, , and author and founder of the , !

Rachel Barstow works every day to provide quality and caring education to students with disabilities and while promoting...
30/11/2021

Rachel Barstow works every day to provide quality and caring education to students with disabilities and while promoting disability visibility. When the pandemic hit, Rachel’s center had to figure out how to adapt a tactile learning environment to a virtual setting. And when virtual learning wasn’t the only answer, Rachel and the center were able to work in person even before vaccines thanks to the extraordinary efforts they took to keep their students and staff safe. Round table guests: Model, producer and Deaf advocate Nyle DiMarco () and Shawn Ullman, Senior Director of National Initiatives at the Arc ().

Roundtable guests Lindsay Toczylowski ()and Emem DuPuis Maurus elaborate on part 1 of the “Casa de Arcoiris” series. As ...
11/11/2021

Roundtable guests Lindsay Toczylowski ()and Emem DuPuis Maurus elaborate on part 1 of the “Casa de Arcoiris” series. As immigration attorneys, Lindsay and Emem work together to support migrants on both sides of the US/Mexico border, often times working directly with migrants who have stayed at Casa Arcoiris () with director Cristina Franco Abundis, from part 1. When the pandemic hit and the border closed, Cristina, Emem, and Lindsay continued working to provide legal aid, safe housing, mental health resources, and joy to the migrants they support.

When the US/Mexico border closed during the pandemic, migrants were forced to wait indefinitely as their asylum cases we...
02/11/2021

When the US/Mexico border closed during the pandemic, migrants were forced to wait indefinitely as their asylum cases were put on hold. For LGBTQ+ migrants, finding safe, non-discriminatory housing while waiting at the border is a challenge. Then in 2018, Casa Arcoiris was founded in Tijuana to be a temporary, safe housing space for LGBTQ+ migrants. Director Cristina Franco Abundis takes care of her community members, providing medical care, legal aid, mental healthcare, and joy through the arts. During the pandemic, Cristina and her team found creative ways to continue bringing joy to their residents, and kept their residents healthy while the house was on lockdown. Here from Cristina in this week’s episode!

We’ve dove deep into the world of journalism with award-winning journalists Julio Ricardo Varela and Maria Hinojosa this...
29/10/2021

We’ve dove deep into the world of journalism with award-winning journalists Julio Ricardo Varela and Maria Hinojosa this week. Listen wherever you find your podcasts!

This week, our roundtable guests are award-winning journalists Maria Hinojosa () from on NPR and Julio Ricardo Varela )...
27/10/2021

This week, our roundtable guests are award-winning journalists Maria Hinojosa () from on NPR and Julio Ricardo Varela ) from Latino Rebels, and both from their podcast .

When the pandemic began, journalist Ashton Pittman began working at the Mississippi Free Press, a new nonprofit media outlet, not realizing what the future would hold. At a time when local, national, and global communities relied heavily on news outlets for an accurate portrayal of the Covid pandemic, Ashton’s work to provide fair and accurate journalism became essential. Not only reporting on Covid-19 but also on the Black Lives Matter protests in Mississippi, Ashton came face to face with combating misinformation and vaccine hesitancy, all the while uplifting stories of Mississipians in a media desert. Our roundtable follows as we take a deep dive into the future of journalism.

Joining Wilmer & MR this week are actress and activist Sophia Bush () and Jim Araby (), the Director of Strategic Campai...
19/10/2021

Joining Wilmer & MR this week are actress and activist Sophia Bush () and Jim Araby (), the Director of Strategic Campaigns at United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5 Union () to discuss grocery clerk Ben Hess’ story and the state of groceries in the height of the pandemic.

Ben and his grocery store co-workers did not know they would be on the frontlines of a pandemic when they took their jobs. Not only did they have to worry daily about getting sick, they also had to manage customers frustrated at following safety protocols and deal with empty shelves. While Ben continued working hard, the pandemic took a big toll on his physical and mental health.

Despite the risks, there is no place Dr. Lance Whitehair would rather be than the hospital. A family doctor for the Indi...
12/10/2021

Despite the risks, there is no place Dr. Lance Whitehair would rather be than the hospital. A family doctor for the Indian Health Service, Dr. Whitehair has been on the frontlines fighting COVID from the onset. As frightening as that fight has been, he has also borne witness to the incredible resilience of his Navajo community. On this week’s episode, Dr. Whitehair shares his passion for medicine along with the love he has for his patients. And we round of the conversation with Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and activist Allie Young of Protect the Sacred.

On this week’s episode, Chicago West Side-based business owner Liz Abunaw talks about her grocery pop-up and delivery se...
06/10/2021

On this week’s episode, Chicago West Side-based business owner Liz Abunaw talks about her grocery pop-up and delivery service Forty Acres Fresh Market and why supporting Black-owned businesses is essential to community building. Roundtable guests: Pinky Cole & Keshia Knight Pulliam
http://podcasts.iheartradio.com/NEjlneO2

06/10/2021

EPISODE 10: The majority of farm workers in the U.S. are migrant workers, many of whom are undocumented, and who were unable to stay home. Blanca, a farm worker in Monterey County California, kept working in the fields even when there was immense fear of bringing COVID home to her family. Blanca shares why this country needs to value the work she and her colleagues do every day, and reminds us all that she is essential in this country. Roundtable guests: Civil rights activist Dolores Huerta and Mónica Ramírez, founder of Justice for Migrant Women.

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