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Latina, something of a Cosmo for young Hispanic women, has been disproving one of the standard rules of marketing to Hispanics.
"One of the biggest myths is that you must do it in Spanish," says Betty Cortina, editorial director of the New York fashion magazine that in six years has built a mostly Hispanic/American audience of 265,000 subscribers by speaking to them in English.
Latina seized on the fact that the Hispanic population in the United States is very young (an average of 26.3 years old vs. 35 for the population as a whole) and very likely to have been born here (40 percent of the 18-to-29-year-old age group). It's a trend with a future. Going forward, the Census Bureau predicts one of every two children born in the United States will be in an Hispanic family.
"We are not monolithic group," Cortina says. "Growing up in Miami, I had more in common with a Mexican growing up in East Los Angeles than a young girl growing up in Cuba. We feel comfortable speaking English, but we often speak Spanish at home. Women who grew up tugged between these two worlds really want to be addressed directly by media because nobody else does."
Latina claims its readers like both flan and apple pie.
The voice may be English. But it's spiced with lines like "glam up pronto," "chicas" and "mujer on the move."
The magazine has its own set of celebrity icons. Jennifer Lopez currently tops the list.
"J-Lo is the face of this generation because she represents possibilities for us," Cortina says. "If she can do it, what about me?"