Proudly rocking curly hair, hoop earrings and red lipstick, the Honorable Judge Lucy Armendariz isn’t afraid to bring her whole self to work. She joins Tamarindo to talk about her journey growing up in Boyle Heights, her first interaction with a judge, and how she came to pursue a career in community service. Judge Armendariz bounced between homes before a long-term placement provided the stability that facilitated her pursuit of a college education. Her own experience overcoming tremendous challenges motivates her to pay it forward spending time mentoring others and reminding them that they are not powerless. Listen to the episode now!

 This episode is co-hosted by Benjamin-Shalom Rodriguez, a queer, Mexican-Israeli (Free Palestine!)-American writer, director, and comedian, who joins Brenda to reflect on the New Year, new love, and the movie Don’t Look Up. Ben and Brenda also chat about how over 5 million people signed a petition seeking justice for a Colorado truck driver named Rogel Aguilera-Moderos who received an outrageous 110-year sentence for a tragic accident.

Ben is currently developing a half hour animated show with Sony, just wrapped filming season 2 of STONED BREAKUPS, which he created and hosts, and is Program Director of the Blackmagic Design & Blackmagic Collective sponsored Film Your Feature Initiative in which he and four other first time feature filmmakers will shoot their projects this summer. Ben's also a filmmaker mentor with Edward James Olmos' Youth Cinema Project, and a charter member of the queer Latinx writers collective, The Clubhouse.