Hisplaining Encardos and Latinos traveling with additional baggage
Hisplaining: Encargos, A Rite of Passage for the Traveling Latino

Laura Martinez on why Latinos carry illegal cargo like 15-lb wheels of stinky cheese, prohibited fruits, and other “little” treats on flights

Hisplaining Vicks VaproRub
Hisplaining: Latinos’ Love Affair with Vicks VaporRub

In this month’s column, Laura Martinez hisplains why Latinos entrust their health and wellness to Vicks VapoRub, colita de rana, and—at some point—the doctor. This article is not sponsored by Vicks, but maybe it should be.

Hisplaining Gueros
Hisplaining: Why Most Mexican Telenovela Stars are Güeros

In this month’s column, Laura Martinez hisplains one of Mexico’s most famous exports—güeros—and the coded language perpetuating colorism in Latin America

you don't look mexican
Hisplaining: “You don’t look Mexican”

In her latest column, Laura Martinez explains how to tell if someone is a Latino or not. Pro tip: Ask if they own a sombrero.

Hisplaining: Día de Reyes

In her ninth Hisplaining column, Laura Martinez explains the improbable link between tamales and the Three Wise Men

About

Laura Martínez is bilingual writer and editor with over twenty-five years of experience writing about business, media, technology, and pop culture in Latin America and the US. As a journalist working in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and now the US, she has helped launch—and grow—several publications, both in print and digital.

Throughout her journalistic career, Martinez has worked as a reporter, writer, and editor in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama, Santiago, São Paulo, and Buenos Aires. She has been a keynote speaker at major events both in Latin America and the United States.

Martinez has a soft spot for Hispanic marketing and pop culture, especially when they’re taken to laughable extremes (something that is behind her fourteen-year-old blog). A native of Mexico City, she likes to call herself a “grammar nerd” and was able to combine her passion for language and humor in a book, Talk Dirty Spanish, cowritten with Alexis Munier.

Laura Martinez