One of the beautiful things about the Latin X list is that you have 10 writers who all come from different experiences.

What drives you?

What's that push to me?

My culture represents a North Star that I can kind of follow it like I'm trying to be the artist.

Both my parents weren't allowed to be.

They know how complicated it is being Latin X in this country.

We've been here were indigenous.

This is our home.

I feel like now people are willing to pay attention.

Bienvenidos Joseph Dax Della Monta I'm one of the 10 writers selected for the Blacklists Inaugural Latin X TV list.

I'm here with my mom, Maria Pilar Dax D.

May a be to commit identity.

Peca's How do you identify them?

How do you feel about it?

I'm half Colombian from you.

You know I'm a Midwesterner.

I'm a Michigan Durst.

Specifically, people say its 1st 1st Gen you know.

But I guess I'd say I'm like first and a half generation because adds from Washington State, My line of for it is that you know, as American as apple empanada.

I remember when you were younger, during that time when you were kind of forming your identity.

You were very proud of in Latin because we grew up in a suburb.

That was like a lot of immigrant families.

And I remember some of them, definitely when I went to their house, felt that presence a lot.

And so it wasn't until maybe later that I realized that I was half Colombian.

That not everybody's mom is from South America, you know that.

It's like a little special later on in college, I feel when I tried toe, understand what it was for me to be Hispanic, Latino, where the other people that influenced your identity as a Latin I don't have the best memory.

But I remember kids being like, Oh, Dax, your Colombian, Can you get us some cocaine?

They were just razzing, but I was kind of, you know, I was pretty nice kid.

So I was like cocaine.

You know, how How would I get cocaine?

And also just say no to drugs.

We had the whole assembly, but they looked at me and treated me as Latino, and they didn't question it either.

Whereas I did question it through a certain period of my life in college.

When you're finding yourself, you know, that's when I kind of engage a little bit more and said, Okay, what is it for me?

You know, I was a film major and I was starting to do shorts and experiment with things and my first little short that I did I put Dax a Monta because that's my name.

But I just saw that Oh, I can Hispanic size Monta.

It works pretty well to kind of make the pen name Daxi Labonte and my mental self image is mawr that than it is Dax Monta.

I remember when you first road, that's the Lamont tonight.

Yeah, you know, that was really great.

That was really great.

People's names reflect things, history who they are.

You know, maybe this is a good opportunity for me to share a little bit about how I got where I'm at.

As a teenager, I was very into education politics, and I love to go to the riots in Bogota and protests protests.

When I graduated from high school, I left, Colombia came to the United States.

And maybe it's to say it was a big shock for me to find out that I was viewed different less than that was kind of the first awareness that we were looked at differently, that we were not like everybody else.

When I had Children, I made a decision that my kids are not going to be to the different than anybody else because I am less than definitely I was going to protect you.

I think that part of my wanting you to be part of the mainstream, But I did try to provide some cultural things for you.

I never hid from you that we were Latin.

I understand the choices that you made.

It's unfortunate the things like that happen, because I am proud of my culture.

Of course I'm I'm American citizen.

But if anyone asked me, you know what is your nationality?

I would say Colombia and I will that Colombia, what of all of that maybe has contributed to you becoming a writer.

Children are a product of their parents, no matter what.

So even if you can have it like front and center, we are from Columbia.

It's It's in the water.

It's in the DNA.

I became more interested in our background.

One of the first screenplays I wrote was all about using the genre of romantic comedy but using it to explore my two halves, you know, American and Latin American, like in the Latin X, uh, TV list to script that I submitted that a TV pilot is definitely like the most Latin X Forward thing that I've written.

The characters are Latin X and their rooted, and it's meant to be sort of this Pan Latin thing.

And there's a character that's kind of like a throwback to those old school, you know, American cartoons.

So you can kind of do a lot to do something new that reflects your own experience in background.

How do you see yourself now as a writer and contributing to the social movements within the writing itself?

You know, that's always kind of something that's on my mind.

And of course, we're in, You know, our historical moment.

But nothing's happening, like in the background.

It's happening to everybody, and thankfully, we have not been touched by Covic.

But Latinos have been disproportionately.

I'm actually still kind of grappling with what kind of narratives we need to help process what's happening and toe move us forward while also grieving the loss of life.

So it can't be for nothing.

Something has to change this big listening to you.

Sounds like maybe you have found your Latin voice and you're in the process of developing even greater.

Hopefully, yeah, with every script.

It's a new world to build.

And Latin X doesn't have to be one thing.

Of course, plenty of Latin X people you know will work only in English.

And it won't be like a central thing to their script.

So But that czar experience, and that s so we can do that too.

Okay, Mom.

Thank you so much for for doing this with me.

I learned something about you for sure.

Learn things about you.

I'm so glad I need that.

We could do it together.

This is really, really meaningful.

Yeah, I think so.

Yeah.