StudyLA welcomes Los Angeles Times culture columnist Suzy Exposito in conversation with Chicana/o Latina/o studies professor Vanessa Diaz to discuss Bad Bunny's cultural impact as a symbol of resistance in Puerto Rico.

Suzy Exposito is a Cuban-Belizean writer and artist based in Los Angeles. She is a cultural columnist at the L.A. Times, where she was first employed as a music reporter in October 2020. She was previously the founder and editor of Rolling Stone’s first Latin music section, through which she significantly expanded the legendary magazine’s coverage of Spanish- and Portuguese-language music. Exposito has profiled many groundbreaking acts including Rauw Alejandro, L.A.’s own Becky G and legendary group Los Bukis. Exposito has also reported on the rise of Latinx podcasters and on Rancho Humilde, a groundbreaking L.A.-based label that is shaping the future of Mexican regional music. In June 2020, Exposito landed a historic Rolling Stone cover story featuring Bad Bunny; conducted during the pandemic, the story became the first in the magazine’s history to be written by a Latina. Besides her extensive Latin music coverage, Exposito is also a dedicated beat reporter of all things alternative, offbeat and queer. Her work has been published in Vogue, Pitchfork and NPR Music.

Vanessa Diaz, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of Chicana/o Latina/o Studies at LMU. She teaches “Bad Bunny and Resistance in Puerto Rico,” a course where students explore the record-breaking artist's global impact and how his music echoes over a century of Puerto Rican history. She is also co-founder of the Bad Bunny Syllabus Project. Diaz has recently been featured on Univision, NBC, and NPR.

This event is brought to you by the Center for the Study of Los Angeles, the Chicana/o Latina/o Studies department, and the LMU chapter of the National Association for Hispanic Journalists. For more information, contact Alejandra Alarcon (StudyLA) at alejandra.alarcon@lmu.edu.