Weekender #204

Inspirational quote by Rumi on a soft blue background with floral doodles: “Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.”

🤔 Brainteaser of the day: You see 10 birds on a wire. You scare one off. How many are left?

Click here to see the answer.

✅ Today’s Checklist:

Thania’s love letter to her Hispanic heritage
The emo pop punk playlist to stream
Pet of the week: Meet Mountain

QUICK LINKS

🧠 What the weight of leadership really feels like (and how to carry it with care).

🎁 HR deserves more than a thank-you email—find gifts they’ll actually appreciate.

🌱 Looking for permission to finally go for it? Here it is.

🛡️ Software that keeps enterprises and midsize orgs protected and prepared.

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH

Last year I wrote a spicier piece for Hispanic Heritage Month, but this year, I wanted to celebrate all the wonderful things about being Mexican and Spanish. Being Latino is a feeling, a vibe, a visceral experience that’s so hard to put into words—but I’m going to try.

1. Mariachi Music
I used to hate this as a kid, but now there’s nothing cooler than going anywhere in the world where everyone knows the lyrics to the same ballads. Mariachi music always tells a story about a girl, a journey, or heartbreak. It’s emotional and hits your soul. Whether the song is about death, life, or love, you feel it when it’s sung.

2. The Food (Obviously)
Dude. The food. There’s sopes, black beans with sour cream and cotija cheese, green salsa loaded with garlic and cilantro, candies made of dulce and cajeta, chilaquiles, tacos dorados, tamales! Basically, corn + cheese + meat + sour cream + salsa = pure magic. And there’s a food for everything: holidays, sickness, heartbreak. Mole! The variety gets even richer when you break it down by regions.

3. The Language
Everything sounds better in Spanish. Like…”I’m getting into bed to enjoy my clean sheets” sounds sterile compared to “Voy a mi cama a disfrutar mis sábanas limpias.” My favorites are expressions of love. With a boyfriend, you can say “te quiero” (I love you) without it meaning “I’m in love with you.” For soul-deep love, you say “te amo.” It makes expressing love easier and so much more nuanced than English allows.

4. The Parties
There’s nothing better than a Mexican party. Endless food, loud music, dancing, good vibes, and everyone’s in the same mood. It’s like Vegas—we’re all there to have a good time. They usually go late into the night with tequila shots and post-party food after. What more could you want?

5. Expressing Love
Latinos are affectionate. There’s nothing better than a big hug and kiss from a loved one or kind words from an elder. There’s a special sentiment that comes from expressing love in our culture. If you’ve seen Coco, they demonstrate this beautifully.

6. Greetings
You never enter or leave a room without greeting each person individually. There’s the Irish Goodbye, but there should also be a Mexican Hello and Goodbye because you’ll get in trouble if you don’t hug and kiss everyone. It shows that every person matters and deserves proper acknowledgment.

7. The Passion
Mexicans are passionate people. Whether it’s emotions, language, love, or sports teams, it’s intense, beautiful, and contagious!

8. Pastries + Café Out of a Jarrito
Café with a Mexican pastry? Yes please. There’s a chemical reaction that must happen when these combine. Plus, drinking from a jarrito (handmade clay mugs) keeps drinks cooler and gives them a distinctive earthy taste.

9. Being in Love and Heartbreak
Being in love with Spanish music and culture hits different. The serenades, the rituals, the grand gestures (like a man showing up with a mariachi band at your window at 1 a.m. to declare his love for you in song). And heartbreak is just as epic: singing your pain in a bar while everyone joins in your tears. It’s emotional, communal, and real.

Like Rocío Dúrcal’s “Amor Eterno,” a heart-wrenching ballad about eternal love written after she lost her son. Everyone gets emotional listening to that song because it captures the universal experience of loss while celebrating love that never dies. These micro-moments of profound emotion are what I f*cking love about my culture.

10. Everyone Is Family, and Loyalty Means Everything
Everyone is a tío/tía or cousin. We don’t distinguish second and third cousins—if they’re not immediate family, they’re still family. The dedication to family is beautiful. You’d do anything for family; they’d do anything for you. There’s a deep love and loyalty baked into it.

11. Paella
Spanish paella is fire. The time, dedication, and craftsmanship: the pan, the rice, the seafood, the saffron. All amazing.

12. Turrón
This Spanish candy is unreal. Like nougat but better. Almonds and honey pressed into a Christmas tradition that makes the holidays complete.

13. Sardanas
I got to experience this traditional Catalan circle dance in Barcelona a few years back. The melody is beautiful, the history centuries old. It made me proud remembering how I used to dance it with my grandpa at Spanish potlucks in LA. After his stroke, he couldn’t speak, but showing him my video from the Catedral de Barcelona made him so happy. It’s a core memory I’m so happy I had to have with him before he died.

As a daughter of Hispanic immigrants, there’s no greater pride in my heart than to be a descendant of my lineage. I love, love, love being Mexican and Spanish, and I’ll never take for granted the sacrifices my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents made to give me the life I live today. I’m crying as I write this because there truly are no words big enough to describe the pride, emotion, and gratitude I feel for this privilege.

circle image of Thania (TA Content Mgr) Thania (TA Content Mgr.)

TASK MANAGEMENT

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Let’s Get Your Week Under Control (for Real This Time)

If your Monday mornings feel like a scramble, we feel you.

🧠 Mental clutter
📅 Back-to-back meetings
📌 Sticky notes everywhere

But starting the week already behind? That’s optional.

This weekend, carve out 15 minutes to reset your task management setup—because the way you plan matters just as much as what’s on your list.

Here’s how to prep smarter (not harder):

🔹 Step 1: Get clarity on your true priorities

Start with one question: What actually needs to get done this week?

Then use a tool like monday.com to create a clear visual of your week. Its drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to see what’s urgent, what can wait, and where your time is really going.

📖 Bonus: Not sure where to start? This monday.com guide walks you through how to design a weekly board that actually helps, not overwhelms.

🔹 Step 2: Structure your workflow

Already working with spreadsheets or complex projects? Smartsheet gives you the power of Excel but with the flexibility of a modern project management system. Perfect for high-volume teams or anyone who loves a good formula.

Use it to track progress, assign roles, and get automated reminders—without piling on more admin work.

🔹 Step 3: Build in breathing room

Don’t plan every second. Plan for space. The best schedules leave room for deep work, short walks, and… real life.

Real productivity isn’t about getting everything done; it’s about getting the right things done.

🧘‍♀️ Your week deserves to feel less rushed and more intentional.

STAFF PICKS

Collage with three Polaroid-style frames: a pink book cover for Expectation by Anna Hope labeled "Read," a promotional image for The Sandman series labeled "Watch," and a black-and-white photo of a tattooed man labeled "Listen."

📚 Read: The Art of Letting Go by Nick Trenton

A practical guide for quieting your mind and releasing what no longer serves you. Trenton offers tools to stop overthinking, shed emotional baggage, and move forward with clarity, calm, and confidence.

📺 Watch: Love Island: Beyond The Villa (Peacock)

Catch up with fan-favorite Islanders after the cameras stopped rolling. This spinoff dives into their real lives, relationships, and post-villa drama. It’s all the romance and chaos you love, minus the recoupling ceremonies.

🎧 Listen: Nostalgic Emo Pop Punk Playlist curated by Thania

Thania’s throwback mix is packed with angsty anthems and sing-along classics from the golden age of emo and pop punk. Perfect for reliving the Warped Tour days and letting yourself feel every nostalgic moment.

MARKETING AUTOMATION

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If Marketing Feels Like a Grind, You’re Doing Too Much Manually

Marketing isn’t just writing clever captions and sending the occasional newsletter anymore. It’s emails, audience segments, social posts, automations, plus analytics, follow-ups, timing, and…yeah. It piles up fast.

And if you’re still doing all of that by hand or bouncing between a dozen disconnected tools, you’re not alone. But there’s a better way to manage it (and keep your sanity intact).

iContact was built for busy people who want to market smarter. It’s an all-in-one email and social marketing platform that helps you get organized, automate the right things, and actually understand what’s working.

With iContact, you can:

Create and schedule branded emails with drag-and-drop templates
Automate follow-ups, welcome flows, and promos (no coding required)
Segment your audience and personalize messages at scale
Track performance so you can stop guessing and start growing
Manage email and social campaigns from one simple dashboard

You don’t need to be a full-time marketer or tech wiz to set it up. iContact is intuitive, beginner-friendly, and powerful enough for small teams, solo founders, and side hustlers alike.

So if you’re heading into another week of copy-pasting content, manually scheduling posts, or sending last-minute campaigns—pause.

📬 Check out iContact and start automating your marketing with a tool that actually makes your life easier.

JUST FOR FUN

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PET OF THE WEEK

A brindle dog wearing a blue collar lies belly-up on a bright blue patterned blanket, completely relaxed. Above the photo is the title “Pet of the Week” surrounded by paw prints and bone icons.

Meet Mountain

Meet Mountain, an eight-year-old, 70-pound pup with a commanding presence. She’s a Staffordshire Terrier/German Shepherd mix with a bark that can stop any visitor in their tracks. But don’t be fooled, she’s a gentle giant who wouldn’t hurt a fly.

Her favorite food? Pizza. When the delivery person arrives, she gets so excited that she cries. She’s even been known to leap off the floor and snatch an entire slice from her dad’s hand.

Squeaky toys are her pride and joy, and she often sleeps with them. She doesn’t play catch and has never quite understood the concept of letting go of her beloved toys.

Her family absolutely adores her. Her mom and sisters have hundreds of photos on their phones because, to them, every little thing she does is photo-worthy.

🐾 Got a cute fur baby? Submit them to be our pet of the week in an upcoming issue.

JOB LEADS

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Your Next Gig = One Click Away

- - Briarlake Partners is hiring for a Strategic Sourcing Specialist (Oakland, CA).
  - LHH is hiring for a Human Resources Manager (San Francisco, CA).
  - Mercor is hiring for an Accounting & Audit Expert (Remote).
  - Optomi is hiring for a Product Manager (Hybrid).
  - XAquent Talent is hiring for a Content Production Specialist (Boston, MA).

⭐ View more jobs here >

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