Interview with Isabel Gonzalez Whitaker, May 24, 2022

Partial Transcript: It’s Tuesday, May 24th, 2022.

Segment Synopsis: Ellett introduces Whitaker and gives a brief overview of her career.

Partial Transcript: What led your parents to Georgia?

Segment Synopsis: Whitaker shares that both of her parents were exiles from Cuba. Prior to the Cuban Revolution, Whitaker’s grandparents sent her father to school in Atlanta at Georgia Tech, where a community of Cubans had settled.

Keywords: Georgia Institute of Technology; Georgia Military Academy

Partial Transcript: – she wanted to open up a Cuban sandwich shop.

Segment Synopsis: Whitaker talks about her mother’s dream of running her own restaurant; after it was opened, it had to be closed a few years later, which pushed her mother towards advocacy work. Whitaker describes her parents’ indifference towards politics in Cuba, as they were largely concerned with making sure they and their children were safe.

Keywords: American Dream; Cuban Revolution; Fidel Castro; Fulgencio Batista y Zadívar; Saritas; communism

Partial Transcript: I didn’t really feel myself attached to one community.

Segment Synopsis: Whitaker discusses feeling like she didn’t belong to a particular group of people growing up in Buckhead and compares it to the cultural plurality of today. Though she grew up in Buckhead, she describes the experience as growing up “on the periphery of affluence.” In college at Tulane, the diversity of New Orleans inspired her to explore culture.

Keywords: Tulane University; journalism; marine biology

Partial Transcript: – and then you take a job with the height of culture in the 1990s: Space Ghost Coast to Coast.

Segment Synopsis: Whitaker talks about her experience being a booker and subsequent producer of the show Space Ghost Coast to Coast. She says it was the most fun job she’s ever had, but that she knew it wasn’t sustainable for her in the long run.

Keywords: Adult Swim; Cartoon Network; Paul Westerberg; comedy

Partial Transcript: – that’s my dream job, to be the Michael Musto of Atlanta.

Segment Synopsis: Whitaker discusses working for Creative Loafing, where she covered all aspects of Atlanta life, including music, nightlife, and restaurants. She eventually moved to working for a smaller newspaper, where she could write on the people who were behind the activity from a more entrepreneurial perspective.

Keywords: LGBTQIA+; Tony Paris

Partial Transcript: What made you want to move to New York?

Segment Synopsis: Whitaker describes the appeal New York held for her and what the city meant to her. Because her mother settled in New York after emigrating from Cuba and because of its relation to ambition and success, Whitaker felt drawn to New York.

Keywords: Barbie; Barbra Streisand; TeamPeople; modeling

Partial Transcript: What sort of projects were you in charge of…

Segment Synopsis: Whitaker shares her first experience reporting “hard news,” as opposed to covering lifestyle, beauty, and fashion. Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Whitaker and her team were able to talk to people on the ground to document their experience.

Keywords: 9/11; TeamPeople; World Trade Center; trend spotter program

Partial Transcript: I wanted to write for Time magazine.

Segment Synopsis: Whitaker explains how she managed to write articles related to city life and teen trends for Time. She talks about publishing a cookbook with a Venezuelan colleague, and she describes the beginning of her move away from journalism.

Keywords: Billboard; Entertainment Weekly; Hollywood Reporter; Rolling Stone; Iron Chef; Time Inc.

Partial Transcript: I think I was pivoting regardless.

Segment Synopsis: Whitaker reflects on her mother’s influence on the Latíno community in the South by sharing her experience at her mother’s memorial. Whitaker became inspired to get more involved in advocacy work, and she was also determined to rename a park after her mother. She shares that only two parks were up for renaming at the time: a park she had no relation to, and the park that was across the street from her mother’s sandwich shop.

Keywords: parks

Partial Transcript: – you just tackle it incrementally, fifteen minutes a week, until you progress.

Segment Synopsis: Whitaker discusses implementing much of her mother’s network in order to get a park renamed. She says that after the park was officially named after her mother, she felt a sense of accomplishment, but knew that there was more to be done for the community. Whitaker admits that she learned afterwards that the park was the first Latíno memorial in the state of Georgia.

Keywords: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); Felecia Moore; NStyle Atlanta; Shirley Franklin; diversity; equity; experiential symmetry; recreation; sports

Partial Transcript: – what’s next for you?

Segment Synopsis: Whitaker reinstates the potential of her mother’s park for the surrounding area, particularly as it has become gentrified. She feels that it is her civic duty to support the involvement and remembrance of the Latíno community so that representation is fully realized.

Keywords: Edgar Flores; Emory University; childhood development; democracy; women