Nine Months Behind, and Counting

Latina Equal Pay Day marks how far into the year a Latina has to work, on top of all of last year, just to catch up to what a white, non-Hispanic man earned by December 31 alone. This year, that day is October 8, more than nine months into 2026.

The number behind it is stark. Latinas working full-time, year-round are paid just 58 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men, according to the American Association of University Women. Widen that to include part-time and seasonal workers, and it drops to 54 cents on the dollar. Over the course of a career, a gap that size compounds into hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost earnings, lost savings, and lost opportunity.

At Modern Latina, we don’t think a day like this should pass with just a statistic and a hashtag. We think it deserves a real conversation, about what it actually takes to reclaim your worth at work, inside systems that weren’t built with us in mind.

The Conversation We Need Right Now

That’s exactly what we’re bringing you this Latina Equal Pay Day: Ignite & Reclaim, a candid conversation between two authors who’ve each spent their careers helping women navigate the space between ambition and burnout, between what the workplace expects of us and what we actually deserve from it.

Dr. Laurie Vázquez Scolari, author of Free Inside at Work: Reclaiming Joy at Work, A Memoir and Guide, and Jazmin Diaz, Founder & CEO of Flourish and author of Ignite Your Growth, sit down together for a conversation that pushes past theory and into what actually works: how to name your worth, protect your joy, and grow on your own terms, even when the numbers say the system wasn’t built for you to win.

Moderating the conversation is Sylvia Bonilla, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer of Cura, executive and career coach, and a Modern Latina contributing writer.

Meet the Speakers

Dr. Laurie Vázquez Scolari

Dr. Laurie Vázquez Scolari is an author, keynote speaker, and event emcee, and currently serves as Vice President of Student Services at Foothill College. Raised in California’s Salinas Valley by a single mother who immigrated from Mexico, she was the first in her family to attend college and built a career in higher education leadership without a roadmap or mentor to guide the way. She is the author of Free Inside at Work: Reclaiming Joy at Work — A Memoir and Guide, and hosts the podcast Hoop Earrings Conversations. Her work centers on what she calls the Liberation Framework, Recognize, Release, Reclaim, Rise, helping leaders and organizations build cultures where people don’t have to choose between professional success and being themselves. She holds an Ed.D. in Education from San Francisco State University, an M.A. in Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco, and a B.A. in Speech Communication from San Jose State University.

Jazmin Diaz

Jazmin Diaz is a speaker, facilitator, professional development coach, and author who partners with individuals and organizations to develop talent, strengthen leadership, and cultivate intentional growth. As the Founder & CEO of Flourish, she delivers engaging workshops, speaking experiences, and coaching that blend authentic storytelling, real-world experience, and practical strategies that inspire reflection and action. She is the author of Ignite Your Growth: Perspectives and Tactics to Flourish in Life and Career and its Spanish-language edition, Enciende tu Crecimiento. With more than twenty years of experience spanning public education and the technology industry, Jazmin brings a unique perspective that combines organizational strategy, people development, and executive leadership. Bilingual and bicultural, with deep family roots in Degollado, Jalisco, and a proud mother of four, she brings warmth, authenticity, and lived experience to every engagement.

Sylvia Bonilla   Moderator

Sylvia Bonilla is Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Cura, a career accelerator helping students launch and build their careers, and a certified Executive and Career Coach. Cura exists to close the wealth gap by helping first-generation graduates step into careers ready to build real, lasting impact, for themselves and the workforce they’re entering. Sylvia has built her career closing exactly that kind of gap for first-generation and underrepresented communities.

Mark Your Calendar

• What: Ignite & Reclaim: A Latina Equal Pay Day Conversation
• When: Premieres Thursday, October 8, 2026 at 11:00 AM PT
• Where: Modern Latina’s YouTube channel
• Format: A prerecorded conversation, available to watch anytime after it premieres

Your Invitation to Reclaim

This conversation is for every Latina who has ever done the math on her own paycheck and come up short, and decided to do something about it anyway. Set a reminder, tune in October 8, and bring someone with you who needs to hear it.

Join the conversation online using #LatinaEqualPay, and follow along with Modern Latina for the link when it goes live.

Sources

Equal Pay Day Calendar, AAUW, aauw.org/resources/article/equal-pay-day-calendar

Latina Equal Pay Day, Equal Pay Today, equalpay2day.org/equal-pay-days/latina-equal-pay-day