In a world where the Latino community continues to be underrepresented in the big screen, with fewer than 7 percent of Latinos staring in major films and where Latinas are getting paid 54 cents for every dollar paid to their white male counterparts. There is one Latina who is paving her own path by creating a new web series that is all about the representation of women of color/Latinx.
Jacqueline Priego was born and raised on the south side of Chicago, to immigrant parents from Mexico, she is the writer and creator of the new web series called PinkSlipped. Priego was tired of seeing Latinas cast in stereotypical roles such as maids or seeing that often Latinas are hypersexualized, so she decided that it was time to change the narrative.
“I’d like to see representation across the board, we all live in different types of places, we eat a lot of different foods and we work in different types of jobs,” – Priego
PinkSlipped does just that, it follows three main characters, Jacqueline (played by Priego), Rosie (played by Ana Ayora) and Elena (played by Samantha Ramirez-Herrera) who tackle on three main topics, tokenism, equal pay in the modern workplace and immigration. Priego’s character Jacqueline is described as the overachiever of the three, while Rosie is the perfectionist and Elena the bad-ass rebel warrior that we all need in our lives.
The three characters who all work for different companies decide to make a drastic change and come together to create new opportunities and spaces for themselves. The show which is essentially layered with many messages and “little easter eggs”, is a show that you have to watch more than once according to Priego.
“You can’t just watch the show one time or else you won’t be able to pick up the cultural nuances of being a person of color in the workplace but particularly being a Latina in the workplace,” said Priego.
Adding that the show really is about power and how that power is used and often manipulated when in the hands of different people much like in real-life situations.
Watch it at Pinkslipped.org