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Charese Fruge’ Talks To Geena The Latina
May 17, 2022
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Geena Aguilar is the host of “The Geena the Latina and Frankie V Morning Show” on iHeartMedia’s KHTS (Channel 933)/San Diego. She’s been there for over 15 years now. Before we get into her radio credentials, which are beyond impressive by the way, there are a few things you need to know about her. Geena has been through more than most in her young life, having had two teenage brothers killed due to gang violence, which is why she has such a strong passion for the inner-city youth of her community. Geena was also the first in her family to graduate from a 4-year university and was the founding president of the first-ever Latina based sorority Sigma Lambda Gamma at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles where she went to school on a softball scholarship. One other thing about her, April 17th is “Geena the Latina Day” in San Diego. It has been since 2018.
Geena’s impressive radio career began in market #2. “I started as an intern for Gary Spears at 102.7 KIIS-FM/Los Angeles during college,” she says. “A friend of mine was interning for him, and Gary told him that in order to leave he needed to find a replacement (probably as a joke), so my friend asked me if I wanted to intern at KIIS and I said sure! I started the next day. After a year of interning, I got hired on the promotions team where I worked on the street team throughout college and after. It's a very long story,” she explains. “Eventually, I started doing call-ins for the station from client/station events, then worked on the Friday night Party show with ODM, and eventually I became the red-carpet reporter for ‘JoJo on the Radio.’ After that, people started contacting me to audition for various morning shows. One of those shows was “Aj's Playhouse” on Channel 933. I auditioned, got hired and was moved out there within the week. I've now been doing mornings in San Diego for 16 years.”
One of Geena’s biggest accomplishments since she’s been there is a no brainer. “Well, I got a day named after me in San Diego which was pretty cool!” She says. “But I'm most proud of the work I have done with the Girls Empowerment Conference which has become one of the biggest conferences of its kind (non-religious) in the country. Every year we put on a conference for five hundred teen girls from across San Diego County. It's a day of empowerment, speakers, workshops, artist performances, music, art, everything. It's a day to inspire and encourage the girls to be all they want to be,” says Aguilar. “Most recently I am on the board of The Positive Movement Foundation where we work with kids from underserved communities. We are currently working with a school that has the most homeless students in the county. The programs we have put on for them and the staff/teachers at the school have been amazing. We raised $125,000+ at our inaugural fundraiser event and I'm excited to see what the future has in store for us.”
One of the biggest challenges for Geena during her radio career is sadly one we still struggle within the industry today. “The biggest challenge hands down has been being a woman in a male dominated industry. Especially for the first 12 years of my career,” she says. “Things have gotten better in the past few years, but we still have a long way to go to see true gender equality in radio. Still even in 2022, I'm sure when certain men read this, they will roll their eyes because they just don't understand the way women are treated in radio, and probably never will. Some of the things I've been told by males in the radio industry or just being treated as a ‘woman’ in a male dominated industry (by both males and females) is just ridiculous to even think it still exists in 2022.”
Geena’s advice for getting through the gender challenge: “Be bold. Stand up for what you believe in. Don't be afraid. Don't feel like you're less than because you're a woman,” she says. “Speak up. Tell them what you want/deserve. Command respect. I hope we will one day reach a point where we (as women) in this industry won't have to fight for what we have earned and deserve. Unfortunately, we aren't there yet. So, until then, you have to campaign for yourself because no one is going to do it for you.”
About her radio show with Frankie on Channel 933, according to Geena, one of the best things about it is that her PD, Haze, gives them complete creative control of their show. “He allows us to come up with everything on our show from start to finish,” she says. “Sure, he will give us his opinion/input on things from time to time but for the most part he lets us do our thing and I appreciate that. I don't know if I could work for a PD who had to have everything run by him/her every single day. I love having complete creative control of our show and support by our PD. He always just says/reminds us to, ‘keep him in the loop of things so he's not caught off guard by sales’.”
What keeps Geena up at night? “Napping during the day,” she says. “Also, I have a bad habit of going on TikTok every night before bed. It's the best form of show prep there has ever been (I'm dead serious) which is why I check it every night. From trending news stories, to trending celeb stories, to trending topics, discussions, products, etc., TikTok has it all. If any morning show isn't getting show prep from TikTok, then they are truly missing out on such an easy/most current resource. However, then I find myself going down rabbit holes on every subject and I go to sleep later than I ever wanted to.”
Something else you’d be surprised to know about Geena is that she is highly spiritual. “I meditate every single day and have practiced different healing modalities for more than 7 years now,” she says. “I am into every kind of non-traditional healing practice you can think of. If it exists, I've probably tried it or at least looked into it. I am a certified theta healer practitioner and truly feel that once I started healing myself, everything else came together, work, personal, family, etc. It's key to my overall success in the workplace and key to me becoming a better human being overall.”
Geena practices what she preaches not only in her professional life, but in her personal life as well. In her spare time, she meditates, does hot yoga, goes on spiritual retreats, reiki, chakra balance, cleansing of energy…. “Read- I read a lot too! Anything to better myself, that's what I spend my free time doing,” she says. “I also enjoy hanging out with a glass of wine, in my Jacuzzi in my backyard. I love all trash reality television too,” she says. “I just finished the latest season of Selling Sunset. I watch every season of the Real Housewives. I just finished Inventing Anna. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE 90-day fiancé and all the spinoffs. I'm obsessed!”
“I am a big advocate of not working yourself to death!” adds Aguilar. “Early on in our careers we are taught that we must put our radio careers as #1. WE have to work work work with no breaks. Well now, I just think that's just plain stupid. It is necessary to take time off, to put the phone down, not respond to emails, not look on social media. All of that is 100% necessary to staying a well-balanced human being. Look, work isn't going to be there when you're sick in the hospital because you never took a break. Work will just replace you at that point. So don't put work before your health/peace of mind, ever.”
There are a lot of moving parts in Geena’s future, so we’ll have plenty to look forward to. “I've been filming a podcast for the past year now and it's almost ready to launch,” she says. “We have taken it beyond just audio. It's going to be a complete video/audio/ social media experience. Think more like a show than even podcast that will launch on all platforms, which is why I have taken my time with it. We have a whole production team working behind the scenes on it. So, it won't be your average podcast. Also, the topics discussed will be NOTHING like anything I do on the radio. Let's just say, it will show a completely different side of me,” says Aguilar. “I also am launching a specific type of jewelry line this year. I don't want to give too much away but it's something that I've been talking about and working on for 10+ years now and something that is true to my heart. I've waited too long to do both. However, this year is the year.”
Follow @geenathelatina on Instagram, TikTok, & Twitter as well as www.geenathelatina.com
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