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95-year-old makes Grammy history after grandson records her first ever album

The world will now know the 'angelic and soulful' voice of Angela Alvarez.

grammy, angela alvarez, latin music

Gravitas Movies/YouTube

The album is simply titled "Angela Alvarez."

Clearly, music runs in the Alvarez family. Angela Alvarez, now 95, began writing songs at the age of 14 while growing up in 1930s Cuba. She might have not continued with professional ambitions, but the passion was kept well alive.

Her grandson, Carlos José Alvarez, then went on to become a composer in Los Angeles, combining his inherited talent with a love for cinema. Carlos José knew the huge impact his grandmother’s (aka Nana’s) music made on his life, and as Alvarez grew older, he wanted to encapsulate her legacy by creating an album of her songs.

Little did he or his gifted Nana know just how far the loving gesture would go—securing her a historic Latin Grammy win for 'Best New Artist.' Alvarez is the eldest winner of the award ever.

Carlos José told the The Washington Post that inspiration led him to bring a microphone over to his Nana’s house—now in Baton Rouge, Louisiana—to capture her “angelic and soulful” voice. Though he was no stranger to her singing, in the process of recording, Carlos José learned more about his Nana’s life than he had ever known before.

Alvarez had written more than 50 songs during her lifetime. With every piece, she coped with major milestones and obstacles in her life, like the grief of losing both her husband and daughter to cancer, and helping her young children flee alone into the U.S. as Fidel Castro took over their home country.

“I didn’t realize that these songs were like a diary of her life. It all made sense,” Carlos José told The Washington Post. “You can hear the life she has lived in her singing.”

This was as far as her love for music could ever go, as she was forbidden by her father to become a professional musician. Loving him dearly, she complied to sing only for her “family, and not the world.”

That would soon change, as Carlos José decided to not only record his Nana’s songs, but produce and release a full 15-track album, simply titled “Angela Alvarez.” The passion project became a labor of love for many of Carlos José’s creative friends, including not only fellow musicians, but Cuban American actor Andy Garcia, who was so moved by Carlos José’s act of kindness that he helped create “Miss Angela,” a documentary chronicling Alvarez's life and the songs inspired by it.

Alvarez’s long-lost dream had finally come to fruition. She even celebrated her 91st birthday by captivating audiences during her first live public concert at the historic Avalon in L.A, where Garcia gave her a glowing introduction. “She represents a generation, perhaps our greatest generation of Cubans,” he told viewers.

Then things got even better. Now Alvarez is nominated for a Latin Grammy award for Best New Artist. The lesson: It’s never too late for a dream to flourish. Magic can happen by continuing to do the things that make you come alive.

Perhaps the even greater lesson comes from Carlos José. As he shared with Billboard, “I hope this entire project inspires young people to sit down and talk to their elders. Ask them questions. Ask them about the dreams they had once upon a time. They will be surprised at what they will find. If we don’t ask them, they won’t tell us, and their wisdom and dreams will leave with them.”

Kudos to the grandma finally getting her long-awaited moment in the sun, and to the grandson whose love helped make it happen.

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Women working in Africa’s cocoa farms have received business education programs for 15 years. Here’s how that benefits the entire world.

All images provided by CARE & Cargill

The impact of the CARE and Cargill partnership goes beyond empowering cocoa farmers

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Cocoa, the key ingredient found in your favorite chocolate bar, has been a highly revered food product throughout human history. It’s been used for religious ceremonies in Peru, royal feasts in England and France, traded as currency for the ancient Mayans. And considering that many of us enjoy chocolate on a regular basis (mochas and candy bars, anyone?) it seems like that love is still going strong even today.

And if you are someone who looks forward to that sweet chocolate pick-me-up on a regular basis, you likely have the women of West Africa to thank.

Women like Barbara Sika Larweh, a mother of six who works as a cocoa farmer in Larwehkrom, a community located within the Sefwi Wiawso Municipality in the Western North Region of Ghana.

care, cargill Mama Cash now empowers other women to gain independence

Nearly 60% of the world’s cocoa comes from both Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, where Barbara and other mothers make up over half of the labor force. These female cocoa farmers shoulder the same physical burden as their male counterparts—all while also running households and paying for their children to go to school. And yet, they typically don’t receive equal income. Nor do they have access to the resources that could help them achieve financial independence.

Thankfully, positive changes are taking place. Barbara’s story exemplifies the impact of programs offered by CARE and Cargill, such as Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA), which are small groups that offer low-interest loans to individuals living in poverty, helping them to build savings without going into devastating debt.

Through these initiatives, women, like Barbara, are equipped with vital knowledge like financial literacy to improve household incomes, sustainable agriculture practices that improve yields, and nutrition education to diversify their family’s diets.

“They came and trained me on the VSLA. I dedicated myself and volunteered so that I would be able to train my people, too,” Barbara explains.

Within the first year of using the programs, Barbara and the people she trained profited—earning her the nickname of “Mama Cash.”

This is no isolated event. In cocoa-growing communities supported by CARE and Cargill programming between 2019-2022, the number of households living below the national poverty line decreased by nearly 32% in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana - as a direct result of increasing and diversifying income through using these programs.

Like Barbara, who today is an executive member of the Community Development Committee, more than 2.4 million women have used their success as entrepreneurs to transform into leaders and decision-makers within their communities. Whether it’s giving most of their earnings back to their families, reducing child labor, or exponentially increasing overall farm yields, the rippling effect is profound.

The impact of the CARE and Cargill partnership goes beyond empowering cocoa farmers. The joint initiatives have fostered progress on complex global issues related to social justice, such as gender equality, climate change, and food security. By improving access to quality nutrition, water, and hygiene, the joint programs have positively influenced the cocoa communities’ well-being.

Suddenly there’s a lot more to think about the next time you eat a candy bar.

Find out more about the important partnership between CARE and Cargill here.

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