Fighting Injustice with Acts of Love

“If you want to hear the voices of the people who don’t just talk about change but, without even recognizing the fierce determination of what they’re doing, just go about doing it, then you listen to Sheroics,” says Cruz Soto.

The podcast explores what female public servants, activists and citizens are doing to improve their corners of the world — with a dose of encouragement for listeners to find the strength to pursue their own paths toward change. Or, as Cruz Soto puts it, “We believe that these voices are the examples for people to begin their own transformation.”

There’s the woman who was held in a men’s prison for thirteen years in Uruguay in the 1970s and 80s, yet emerged as a powerful advocate for women’s rights. Then there are the women who lost children at the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016 and channeled their unimaginable tragedy into a campaign against gun violence and hate crimes.

Today, despite spending long hours in a sound booth recording what are sometimes heart-rending stories, Cruz Soto maintains an infectious sense of positivity. She is a leader nourished and energized not only by rolling up her sleeves and working hard, but also by listening to others’ stories — especially the stories of those who would not typically feature in news headlines or on a podcast.

“These women are not seeing rosy sunsets everywhere they go,” says Cruz Soto frankly. “But they know that if they don’t do what they’re doing, things will not change.”

Listeners are encouraged to acknowledge and extend appreciation to the sheroes around them. In this way, the podcast is intended not only to uplift the work of a few sheroes, but to express gratitude to many more who are working under the radar.

The podcast also invites listeners to consider what sheroics might be hiding within them.

“If you are about to give up on the world and you think that it’s not worth it, then you listen to Sheroics to understand that it’s worth it every day,” says Cruz Soto. The work of these sheroes, she says, is “a beautiful reminder of the power that we have innately.”