Watch the KCRA 3 special 'Californians Celebrating Hispanic & Latino Heritage'

On the field, love both of my cultures very deeply and behind the books. I actually don't remember finding books that represented me in California's Hispanic and Latino heritage. Nowadays, it's sort of an art that is dying on display *** really nice story, just how resiliency works tonight, community members on success. After years of hard work, we know what goes into *** glass of wine and finding the drive makes me feel like superwoman when I drive my car to reach their dreams, no matter how high. If you're willing to make that sacrifice, that commitment to yourself, you can do it right in *** KCR, *** three special Californians celebrating Hispanic and Latino heritage. Thank you for joining us as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. I'm Andrea Flores and I'm Lisa Gonzalez. We're excited to recognize the many contributions of the American Latino community. We're joining you from the patio of La Sacramento at the Cesar Chavez Plaza. It's just one of the many Hispanic owned businesses here in Northern California. And tonight, we bring you some powerful stories of Latinos in our area, making *** difference from the players on Sac Republic celebrating their culture through soccer to the woman behind the wheel in Modesto's Chica car club. And the couple raising *** glass to more Latino owned wineries were introducing you to community members, reaching their dreams through dedication, passion and *** lot of hard work. And we start with the Stockton native who made his way from migrant farm worker all the way to outer space. His life is also the subject of *** brand new movie. Jose Hernandez sat down with KCR three or yeah, Jose Hernandez's career is taking off in *** way. He never thought it would more than *** decade after he fulfilled his lifelong dream of going to space. *** new movie tells his life story. This is such *** special moment in your life. *** movie, I mean, it's just *** dream come true to think that you know, your story is being told on the big screen. I don't think it's *** dream come true because I'll tell you as *** kid. I never woke up and said, hey, I hope they make *** movie about me. Uh So it's not AAA dream come true. I think it's as *** result of uh my dream coming to life. Actor Michael Pena plays Hernandez in the prime movie. *** million miles away. Who the hell are you? Oh, I'm Jose Hernandez, sir. I'm an engineer 21 booster ignition and lift off of discovery. Hernandez's journey to space wasn't easy. NASA denied his application 11 times. It wasn't until the 12th time, the Stockton native was accepted. Hernandez says it's his perseverance and the fact that he never gave up that makes his life story worthy of *** movie. We grew up watching our people make sacrifices. They're going to see that there is an alternative to living and working in agriculture all their lives. His father who immigrated from Mexico was *** farm worker with only *** third grade education. I always say, you know, the biggest uh thing my father gave me was the license to dream. Hernandez says after years of sacrifices, he retired from NASA to be there for his wife and five kids. He's back to picking grapes with his father near Stockton. But this time he owns the vineyard and winery. I started working in agriculture and here I am working in agriculture albeit under different conditions now under my own terms now. And I really, really enjoy it. His advice for others with big dreams. The future is bright but sometimes it takes hard work. It's not easy, it's hard, but it's not impossible who better to leave this planet and dive into the unknown, *** migrant farm worker in Stockton, Leticia Orde Case three news, they're Sacramento stars but they represent countries from all around the world. Yes, they do. The players of Sac Republic FC showed me how their cultures impact their kick, fast feet, quick kicks, precise passes. Soccer is *** sport played around the world where different cultures come together on the pitch and on the Sacramento Republic FC Hispanic culture is diverse and spread across the field. 11 players represent six different Hispanic countries. It's very nice to get to know everyone's culture and to kind of see what their culture is like. Countries like Rodrigo Lopez is from Mexico but Arnold Lopez is from Venezuela. Sebastian Herrera is from Colombia and loves to share his culture with his teammates, Colombian. Most of the Hispanic players speak Spanish, English, maybe Spanglish. But Luis Felipe is from Brazil where they speak Portuguese. I've worked on my Spanish so I can talk to most of the guys I've worked on the um not the other way around. They didn't learn Portuguese on the field. What language do you guys speak with each other? Uh It just depends who it is in Spanish. Maybe just so maybe, you know, the other team won't, won't understand what we're saying. Spain and Argentina are also represented on the team. But the most Hispanic Republic players are Mexican with five including Golic, Carlos, Salana. We're just amazing people. We try to help each other. We try to help everyone else around us. Hispanic brothers from around the world brought together by *** ball. We speak the same language. But at the end of the day, we all bring just completely different cultures, completely different attitudes, different food, different music and just combine it and just keep growing as *** person and add your own spice to who you are. We know that Barbie is everywhere right now but not everyone looks like the dolls they see on the shelf. I met up with *** Sacramento artist who says that's why she learned how to make *** different kind of doll. These are traditional paper mache dolls from Mexico dolls, *** symbol of perfection. These Lupita are anything but I really found so much beauty in these dolls in the sense that they were not perfect, that did not have uh unrealistic proportions like Barbie dolls. Lupita artist Ramona Garcia was born in central Mexico. The dolls originated in the city of the daughter of farm workers moved to Sacramento when she was 12 years old, having migrated to the United States and um kind of not seeing me represented in my environment and also not in the toys that I was playing with. It was very important when I found this doll, it became kind of um *** healing for me. I actually picked up some bad habits and develop eating disorders. And um when I was in college, I was working with an art therapist. And so the reason I came to find the doll again is because she recommended that I find *** cultural object. Um because *** lot of what I was going through, which is that missing my culture and feeling, you know, that I'm not connected. These delicate Lupita represent Mexican history as *** symbol of strength the artisans of the area began making dolls. During the time of the Mexican revolution, Garcia traveled back to her hometown to learn the art of Lupita making from one of the few families still making them in Mexico today. This is my Romero. She is the artisan that I initially found and worked with. And the one that taught me everything about the paper mache dolls, the tradition where it comes from how it's made. Now, she's teaching young girls and women in Sacramento how to make the dolls and hopes they find beauty in their own imperfections. They have, they um the marks made by the artisans are not perfect lines. Um And so that's one, I think one of the things that this dolls teaches us that it's, you don't have to be perfect. Raising *** toast to success. K three S Maricela de La Cruz talked to an El Dorado County couple proud to run one of the few Latino owned wineries in California. It's not only *** picturesque view here on our property in Fair Play. We have gold mines that are overlooking our vineyard. So there is gold in this wine. Those ones are good. This 45 acre vineyard in Fair Play is also *** rare gem. It's really hard to get into the industry if it's not something that you um already had. I'm pouring some blanca here because while the wine making industry thrives on fruit picked by Latino farm workers they make just 1% of the 4500 producers across California. Dina Santos and John Avila are proud to be part of that group. It's been *** long road and it's been *** hard road. Um But I think we appreciate it. We know what goes into *** glass of wine. We know what it's like to be out there working in the field. Back in 2016, Santos Avila and their son Cruz started planting thousands of vines. But as you can see, even some of the clusters, you're still seeing some green clusters in there. Keeping in mind, California's population and different cultures to pair with their wines. We really wanted to kind of express wines that went with our food, our culture. So we thought, well, there's *** lot of Italian wines out there, there's of French wines. So the natural progression was the new Spanish wines. The family who works their own land says it hasn't always been easy, but it has given them *** new appreciation for California's unique blend that just gives us *** greater appreciation for, you know, uh immigrants that come to this country that start businesses new, that have *** language barrier, but just make it happen in fair play. Maricela de la Cruz, *** three news, discovering the magic of books, all with the comforts of home. Let Ordaz spoke with *** librarian on *** mission to get more Latino families into libraries. Veronica Ramirez didn't grow up with books in her home. But now she's surrounded by them as, as *** librarian in Sacramento, she hosts bilingual story time like at this library in El Paso Heights. So when parents come to the library and they check out books for their Children, they go home and they're going to be helping their Children to increase their vocabulary. It's *** mission close to her heart. When she was young, *** teacher told her she could check out all of the books she wanted at *** local library, we would check out stacks and stacks of books and just take them home and devour. Those books were critical in teaching Ramirez to read and helping her to get more familiar with the English language. I had just recently immigrated to the United States and so I was learning English completely from zero. I actually don't remember finding books that represented me and my culture. Uh I feel like it had to do with the fact that we were not familiar with the library being bilingual is this librarian superpower. It allows her to greet families in Spanish, making them feel more comfortable right away. Yeah, I want to show them that there are things here for them that they can enjoy that they can learn from um and things that they can relate to and then they can see themselves in. It's Veronica's mission that more Latino families will stop by the library. It only takes 20 seconds. To get *** card like this one card leading to thousands of books and *** lifetime of learning and adventure. *** library is *** welcoming space that is open to everyone with all backgrounds and languages. In Sacramento, Leticia words three news more than margaritas. The small business teaching women all about agave and how *** sip of tequila can be just like fine wine. OK? *** group of women in Modesto are taking the high road. They say the Chicana's Car club makes them feel like superheroes KC three photojournalist, Miguel Solorio introduces us to the women behind the wheel. It doesn't matter what color you are in today's world with the low rider. They're drawn to the cars because they're classics. It doesn't matter if they got the spokes on, if they got the hydraulics da It feels good to be able to sit in the car and just, you know, just, just drive. It makes me feel like super woman when I drive my car for the first time, we feel like we fit in. Most people have such *** huge misperception of who we are. They think that we're nothing but *** bunch of gang bangers and to and to and you know, we're just here causing trouble. My name is Alisa Cheri and I'm *** real estate agent Merced. What drew me to the Chicanos Car club. It was *** lot to do with giving back to the community, whether it was schools through the homeless uh volunteering. My name is uh Virginia Cortinas and I am *** first responder like you culture to me means more of like what you're used to seeing and what you're, what you were raised around. My name is Rebecca Masa and I'm an early childhood education, Chicana Car Club. To me means women coming together to empower themselves. I've always been into cars when I got my first car. It was ***, *** low rider. My name is Terry Estrada. And what do I do for *** living? I cruise cars. I have *** lot of when I drive my car. Um I'm *** female driving *** car that is normally in *** man's world. I want people to know um or recognize Chicana's car club for *** group of women who are there to empower other women, to empower men, to empower Children and to give back to the community the best way we can. So if you know you're *** woman and you like, you know the riding and you like the cars, then you know, let's do it. It makes you feel so proud of the culture and the culture today that we're all in. I feel like *** badass, bad ***. You got Mazda's out there cruising around. That was photojournalist Miguel Solorio and learning to appreciate tequila just like *** glass of fine wine. Yeah, it's very similar. *** Sacramento Latina is seeing big demand for her private tequila tastings. I sat in on one of her events at Zolo restaurant swirl. That's why it has kind of *** light color to it. Sip and tell me what you think. Savor this one. It's *** and heels. We're drinking very clean meat. Tequila today. And Rebecca Juarez is holding class means rested, this means rested in *** barrel. About six months. I decided I wanted to do *** tequila club for women by *** woman. So we can actually talk about tequila, share our experiences and I share everything that I've learned over the years. We have legs there that also shows that of the tequila, which also shows that there's *** really good amount of sugars in it. Yes. Tequila has legs just like wine, swirling it just like good wine. And if you didn't know agave is feminine, if you go back to the Aztec beliefs, the Aztec goddess of the agave plant is which is an act *** woman, the plant itself produces babies that are called. So it's *** girl. Tequila is popular with women. In fact, 50% of the is consumed by women in the United States. You may be wondering how one word margaritas, my dream and my hope is that uh as women, we all connect with this wonderful spirit and they can actually swirl sip and savor in this feminine way. Changing the way we drink one glass and class at *** time from her heart to your heart, the tequila sisterhood stretching their boundaries and trying something new. The Pilate shop, encouraging customers to get *** little uncomfortable in the name of help going to the gym can be *** little nerve wracking, especially if you're trying *** new workout. But as De La Cruz reports, *** new Pilates studio is all about being inclusive. Instead of intimidating, it has *** rhythm and beat of *** high intensity workout without the crowded gym. So I was looking for something more secluded. Pilates is on free ports boulevard in South Sacramento. We really have *** Pilates focus class for every single part of your body. Um And it just really is up to you. Which ones you want to take? Chris Monsanto was motivated by personal success. Pilates personally helped me physically mentally and it was something that really shifted my perspective and helps me in overall my mental health and physical health. But Pilates is out of reach for many. It can range from 2 to 300 *** month and that is for maybe 10 classes slashing down more than calories, fitness and movement should not be one of those things where it's *** burden where it's another stress added. Manzano has been able to bring in the Pilates curious, they were doing *** promotion, so they're doing the 30 days um for $30 unlimited classes. So I think that's what really pulled me to do it with staff that make them feel comfortable. All of our teachers here in our studio. They are women of color, all backgrounds, all sizes and um they also all are bilinguals and confident in their own skin. Being Latina. That is something that I wanted to bring back to my own mom, to my aunts, to my sisters, Maricela de La Cruz Case. Three news, bringing culture, dancing, food and arts to the Sacramento area. Yes. The Brazilian Center for Culture Exchange of Sacramento is celebrating almost 20 years dancing to the beat of the drum, fancy feathers and bright beaded costumes. We make the costumes. Actually here we do everything. Everything's handmade, the sound and sensation of samba are alive at the Brazilian Center for Culture Exchange of Sacramento. They have so many programs, so many things that helps everybody. The Brazilian music and dance is more than just *** hobby for Giovanna Brozi. She was born in Sacramento, but her parents are from Brazil getting to know our roots where we come from our culture, you know, just engaging with everything. It's just, I don't know, it makes you feel good. That's exactly why Sara Borja founded the center in 2004. Not only to share our culture, but I also learn about different culture and they wanted to teach me I was straight from the studio but I still gave it *** try and I got *** good laugh which is good for the soul. Culture doesn't die within. You know, you need to share the more you share the better. It will be. The center also offers classes on salsa dancing, Portuguese, drumming, cooking and thank you so much for joining us. As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. We love highlighting the diverse cultures in northern California and beyond.