As we commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month, we wanted to celebrate not only our partnership with ParaMi but also the rich and diverse culture that this month represents. We’re excited to bring you this special feature that not only unveils our United Way x ParaMi apparel collection, but also shares the voices and experiences of Latina women from Kansas City.
Founded by Veronica Alvidrez in 2020 with Nayelly Serrano-Dantzler, Erika Reza, and Silvia Marin, ParaMi is a Kansas City’s first Latino women-owned lifestyle brand. We created an apparel line designed for our donor network, Mujeres Unidas, Women United. This line will be available to shop soon in our United Way online store.
Maria Jose (Majo) Ramirez Braiz is from Venezuela and has been in the United States for 14 years, 12 years in Kansas City and is the Founder and CEO of Te Lo Cuento News. “I always say that [Kansas City] is the perfect place that shows that we really can live together, because Venezuela… we have people from all around the world there and we [were] able to live nice, happily and learning each other.”
When asked what Hispanic Heritage Month means to her, Maria says, “it’s a great opportunity to educate others and show others what we are, and what we are here and what we contribute to our cities.”
Maria started Te Lo Cuento News, a digital news outlet in Spanish, in 2012 as a Facebook page. Six years later, she was recognized by the Inter-American Press Association with Honorary Mention. Today, Te Lo Cuento News has 160 collaborators around the world and over 230K followers on Facebook alone.
Maria has been impressed with how warm and welcoming Kansas City has felt. “I think Kansas City’s embracing us and that is something super nice because sometimes people think in the Midwest is only about really white communities and Kansas City is doing an excellent job to really embrace what we are, where we came from, what we are doing here and what we can do here later on and growing together.”