Hola welcome to our website!

I’m Alex Gutierrez host and creator of AFROSAYA The Afro-Latino Podcast. You might be wondering what it is AFROSAYA or What it stands for.

AFROSAYA is a compound word.

AFRO stands for the African diaspora and many of us, as Black Latinos, identify ourselves as Afros rather than African-Americans. We have chosen to identify ourselves as Afro + country of origin. I identify as Afro-Bolivian. Here in the U.S., I identify as Afro-Latino since I am part of the Latinidad.

SAYA is the word Afro-Bolivians gave to the music and culture we produced. However, our elders told us that SAYA was a word that meant “Working together in community” and SAYA dates back to slavery times when the first Blacks were enslaved in Bolivia could not communicate except through the SAYA or music.

I wanted to keep alive this part of my story and this part of my identity. Although, today AFROSAYA means heritage, story, culture, migration, identity, podcast, it still relies on the idea of Working Together in a Community because we will not achieve anything if we do not work TOGETHER.

I was born and raised in La Paz, Bolivia. I graduated in Communications from the Universidad Mayor de San Andres. The year of my graduation I was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to pursue a Master’s Degree in Political Science. I went to Arcadia University in Pennsylvania. Before getting there, I lived in Columbia, South Carolina, and then moved to Davis, California. I went to the University of Davis, California for a short, but valuable English – US cultural program. I had the best time of my life! Now I live in Sacramento, California. I am a husband, an educator, fitness instructor, podcaster.

My activism started in Bolivia when I was only 15 years old. I volunteered in numerous international organizations as well as national and local organizations. I learned the value of working together TEAM and helping my community to build a better tomorrow. Now, I am here and I still working for a better tomorrow!