(Gentle Music) There may not be a more prominent display of growth than a lush garden like the one I'm in right now.

Thank you for joining me here in this space I'm Liz Adeola.

Coming up on This Is Utah, we explore how seeds planted years ago have blossomed into art, action and advocacy.

You'll meet a few powerful women making their mark on this world, one stroke at a time.

From a wise artist whose colorful world amplifies the voices of women and struggling artists, to a media mogul whose craft creates new possibilities for women in Utah.

Plus, an award winning student who is already breaking barriers and leaving her mark in the field of science.

The.

This is Utah is made possible in part by the Willard L. Eccles Foundation.

The Lawrence T. and Janet T. Dee Foundation.

And by the contributions to PBS Utah from viewers like you.

Thank you!

(Upbeat Music) Now for a different perspective from the humanities building at the University of Utah, where local artist Pilar Pobil's largest piece of work hangs in the foyer.

This 12-foot painting is nearly three times the artist's size, yet its scale pales in comparison to the artist's reach and impact on Utah's art scene.

(peaceful music) - First I get my canvas.

You put colors in the background, you want to do sky or something.

The one idea that you have first bring you another idea, an idea, and you are never totally sure what the painting is going to be like.

Could be a disaster, you know?

(Pilar laughing) Everything has a story.

I was born from the sea with a paint brush in my hand.

My Spanish name is Pilar Pobil, and that is how I sign my paintings.

So I came to Salt Lake City in 1957.

I consider home this house.

You know, I, most of my life has been here, and my three children have been, were born here, and my husband was born here.

- It's a place where people can come and see and experience art and have fun, and it isn't, there isn't that kind of, that wall between being the viewer and being the artist.

- This is Pilar Pobil's home.

She is an artist that does painting and sculpture.

And what's really special about her house is that she has just like decorated everything.

- [Pilar] When I think something is boring or ugly, I just paint it.

Like my aunt used to say, "Never a dull moment."

- Did you make this one too?

- Yeah.

Everything like this is my work.

The mermaids, I used to paint, to do a lot of mermaids, and these kind of things, the "Pierrot y Colombina."

These were some street players.

- [Liz] That'll be good.

And this is?

- Well, all these are awards and I have many more than that, you know.

- [Liz] But this is the one from the king, right here?

- Yes, this is from the King of Spain.

And this is the highest award that they can give, is the Medalla de la Reina de Isabella Católica.

I am very proud of Spain.

- [Tour Guide] She grew up in Majorca.

She celebrates the Mediterranean, and the ocean, and all of the myths and stories that go with it.

- This is one of my favorite paintings.

(emotional piano music) I call it "The Submerged Cathedral."

Many of my paintings are inspired by things that I think they're not right or they are very, very light.

Somebody painted the knight of the round table, and that's fine with me, but I decided, well, I'm going to paint the dames of the round table.

- [Monica] She gets up every morning and comes downstairs, has her coffee, comes out in the garden, does some work here, goes in and paints.

It's such an example.

She just doesn't give up, ever.

- That's a darker blue.

- No, I want it.

- Here's a lighter one.

- Yeah.

- I think that what I've inherited from my mom is just art.

A lot of people have said that my music and mom's art are sort of symbiotic.

♪ Numbers and surveys I mean, it's kind of outsider art in a way, right?

There's a way in which she's just done what she cares about, what inspires her in the moment, including painting outside of the canvas and into the frames and just a way of seeing that, I think, has been inspiring to people.

♪ Like ink on parchment ♪ Written on me - I always have wanted to do my art the way that it comes out of me.

And so I bought books for me to read, and I learned from that.

This is a painting that I decided to do because there are so many people here, they don't like certain kind of people.

I call this painting "The Colors of Change" because everybody should be appreciated for what they are.

I believe in democracy.

I believe in people are supposed to be treated equally.

I come from Spain.

When we have the Civil War, I was nine years old.

And they killed my father.

Murdered with 40 of his officers when I were nine years old.

I adored him, you know, it was a terrible thing.

We were hiding in an attic and the cook would take me and my younger sister for a walk to give us a little bit of air, you know?

Since then, I have known how much damage people can do, just because of idiot opinions.

When my father was killed and we suffered very much, I was going to emancipate from my mother because she only wanted her daughters to stay home with her, or go to a convent to be nuns.

And I said, "I'm not going to do any of these things."

So this is when I decided to learn to speak English.

To pay for it, I was making greetings cards, and I was painting them and selling them to the shop in a place for tourists, and they wanted more and more and more.

- [Liz] How many paintings do you think you've done over the years?

- No way, no way to know.

I have sold a lot of paintings.

♪ Before I started ♪ I'm a bird that doesn't fly - But I heard you earlier talking about, did art in some ways save her from the tragedy of her early life, and I think so.

♪ Think am I out or am I in - Thank you.

- Uh-huh.

One of the biggest impacts has been Art in the Garden.

It's shared the space with a lot of artists who've had the chance to show to big audiences, but it's also a very democratic event.

- We have done some scholarships in the University of Utah, you know.

- [Tour Guide] Pilar, for years, has invited school children.

- Oh, really?

- Into her home.

She wants them to know that she came from another country, and she was able to create beauty, and they have beauty in their souls as well.

- It has been a challenge, you know, all these house and things, but I have enjoyed life doing that.

You know, I'm very happy.

(nostalgic music) It was going to be called a burial chamber, but then I changed it because what it is is not a burial chamber, it is a celebration of life.

This painting's my son.

He died at the beginning of COVID.

It has my father's sword.

It had photographs of my father.

I had books that my father bought to me that he have, even now, they inspire some of my paintings.

I hope they remember that I have a sense of humor, that I am a good worker, and that I love people who fight for themselves, you know, because all my life I tried to do the best I could.

I feel like I have been a very lucky person, you know, to be able to spend my life like that, and to help so many other artists to do it too.

A Utah teen plans to make her mark on the world in the field of breast cancer research.

While Utah has been known to have a low number of women participating in STEM, that stands for science, technology, engineering and math, she joins quite a few who aim to change that.

(group applauds) (group cheers) Mercedes Claire Randhahn.

Mercedes will be attending MIT.

My name is Mercedes Randhahn.

Many of you probably know about me, but very few of you actually know me.

Yeah, I'm going to MIT.

Well, Mercedes is gonna cure cancer for sure.

I already know that.

She's already done research trying to cure cancer.

Mercedes is an incredibly unique individual based upon the focus of her current project, which is really to help women in underdeveloped countries be able to treat breast cancer with plant extracts that are readily available with common everyday items In many places, some people say that Utah is 20 years behind the rest of the world, especially places like New England, which is part of why I'm excited to attend MIT.

Understanding that women have exactly the same capabilities as men, especially in regards to the STEM field, will only help further the fight for environmental justice and for healthcare reform.

Trying to figure out how to get more women into STEM is something that us teachers have been trying to do for years and years and years.

I found the best way is to like, let them show you how they can succeed.

And when they see themselves succeeding in a class that is typically male-dominated, they realize they can do it.

It may be difficult for some young women to see themselves pursuing a professional degree and having a family at the same time, but I think the number of of role models that maybe students, young women in Utah have is a little bit lower.

And so maybe they don't see that that's as much of a possibility as it really is.

I competed in the 2022 International Science and Engineering Fair, which was held in Atlanta, Georgia, and the project that I presented at that time was I compared two different efficient methods of extract methodology for the production of a Centella asiatica, which is a plant native to Central Asia extract.

And essentially what I did is I took those two different extracts that I created and I tested them on this strain of triple negative breast cancer cells to decipher which extract methodology was more potent and more able to induce death to those cancerous cells.

You know, you meet resistance as somebody who is a female scientist, and I feel that it's critical to support women who are interested in pursuing careers in the sciences.

In the purified extract procedure where I used a centrifuge and a crude extract procedure, I used a salad spinner to model centripetal acceleration.

So essentially, they both had the same procedure, but it was made using different equipment.

And after the culmination of my experiment and upon analyzing results, I found that the crude procedure was actually far more efficient at inducing demise to the cancerous cells than was the expensive one.

That sort of focus of her research leads me to believe that she'll continue in that sort of altruistic path to try to make the world a better place.

Whatever she does, it will be amazing.

I know it for sure.

Oh, I think the sky's the limit for Mercedes.

Yeah, well, Mercedes is pretty rocking, so.

(laughs) As a young child, Belia Paz learned the value of communication and the power it has to impact a community in a positive way.

As an activist, entrepreneur, and leader, Paz has redefined what it means to survive and thrive in Utah's growing Hispanic community.

(soft upbeat music) My name is Belia Paz and I am the general manager for Aerostar Media, two Hispanic radio stations here in Salt Lake City.

And I'm also the founder of Mujeres Unidas de Utah, which stands for United Women of Utah.

(bright upbeat music) My mother was a "contratista", which means she was a contractor for field work.

And so, every morning, me and my brother would have to go out to work with her so we wouldn't be alone but she'd also put us to work, which I'm very grateful for.

There was a lot of things that I saw but a lot of things that I've learned.

And that was, it wasn't fair not to have restrooms out in the fields for us, right?

And so, growing up in the years, I became an advocate for our Hispanic community, you know, when I was younger.

At 14, I became a police dispatcher, that's where I was able to see a lot more injustice.

I became like a little young leader in Idaho and that's where it all started in my youth.

You know, becoming a voice for the voiceless, is what I always say.

And the mission of Mujeres Unidas de Idaho was to advocate for women and advocate for social justice.

Being a little, young, feisty Latina, I had never been spanked or hit ever in my life until I got married, which caused a lot of fear.

But I'm also grateful that it did happen to me, that I was able to live that domestic violence because now I'm helping thousands of women live something that I lived.

And that is why Mujeres Unidas was, I was very passionate about helping women.

I became a radio DJ, I was able to talk about survivor stories, and that's what led other women calling me on air, calling me and saying, "I lived that."

(bright traditional music) I brought Mujeres Unidas de Utah, making a difference for hundreds of women.

One of the stories that I love to talk about is a lady from Guatemala with her kids, with no shoes living out in the streets and she found us.

She found Mujeres and I helped her with a food box, she went to the radio station, that's where we were running our office, our donations and stuff.

Now, just to see this woman as a business owner, now being a volunteer and helping us, that's the kind of help we wanna do and try and make a difference to help women.

(bright traditional music) (Belia speaking in foreign language) We have a Sunday program, it's called Woman to Woman, De mujer a mujer, and it's just issues that as women talk about on both stations, on 104.7 FM and 107.1 FM, we as a board of directors invite leaders from the community to come and talk.

Or if not, we have the conversation about what we go through and have that heart to heart talk.

(Belia speaking in Spanish) Wow, (speaking in Spanish).

(Elizabeth speaking in Spanish) [Belia] I think Elizabeth Cruz is a poet and an author in what she's lived through has become an amazing leader.

You know the work that I see her doing and what I've seen her growth, I'm so appreciative about that.

And I'm proud because I've tried to hold her hand to get to where she's at today.

(Elizabeth speaking in Spanish) (Elizabeth speaking in Spanish) (Elizabeth speaking in Spanish) (Elizabeth speaking in Spanish) (Elizabeth speaking in Spanish) (Elizabeth speaking in Spanish) (Elizabeth speaking in Spanish) (bright upbeat music) (Elizabeth speaking in Spanish) (Elizabeth speaking in Spanish) (Elizabeth speaking in Spanish) (bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat music) - It is a lot of work to be able to get so many people together and especially dress as Catrinas and get the altars.

'Cause really the Day of the Dead is to acknowledge our loved ones and with cultural and color and what we call it, fiesta, right?

(bright upbeat music) They're there with us.

And it's just beautiful to see all the work in the organization and getting United as a community to celebrate.

(bright upbeat music) I honor my family, my father who's passed, but I also live to honor the women that I don't wanna forget.

(bright upbeat music) We did Day of the Dead Celebration last year and we did an altar on domestic violence and the women that have passed.

And I think that that's what I look at is to see who are we honoring?

I mean, are we honoring the women that are forgotten?

You know, we should remember them even if it was 10, 12 years ago.

So I'm gonna open doors now and I just need the volunteers that are bringing the families in.

We do a lot of community outreach, whether it's workshops or family givebacks.

Usually, in November, we'll do Turkey giveaways and coat giveaways, blanket.

It's keeping families warm.

And August, we do another back to school.

And we always seek whether it's a backpack or a coat or something that might be able to help a family.

And that's why we're doing is, helping families.

But then also on a monthly basis, we're helping our women, but also women that reach out on a daily basis that might need a food box or some clothing or that have no place to stay and it saddens me.

It really saddens me when I cannot find a place for them.

There's times I can't even sleep thinking, "Oh my gosh, I couldn't help her, I had to say no."

So we have a mission and it's been my mission that I've been wanting to do for many years, to do a transitional housing, a six month transitional where the women will stay in the home for six months.

We're gonna be her family, we're gonna make her feel safe.

And so this place that we're gonna call their home is projected to be ready by 2025.

(soft upbeat music) (Elizabeth speaking in Spanish) (Elizabeth speaking in Spanish) (Elizabeth speaking in Spanish) (soft upbeat music) From coming from Idaho to Utah, wow, big difference.

There's so much Latin American culture, and what I mean is you're seeing Brazil, you're seeing Cuba, you're seeing Puerto Rico, you're seeing Venezuela, Mexico.

Here you're gonna find a restaurant that serves Bolivian food and restaurants that serve Venezolano food.

And you see it, and you're even seeing the Venezolano's Festival or the Bolivian Festival, you know the Peru Festival.

(soft upbeat music) Every culture, every color, everyone is important.

And so being able to see diversity in our state is beautiful.

I have this phrase that I say at all of our events when I get up and talk.

And in Spanish, it's "Unidas somos mas fuertes", which means United, we are stronger.

When we support each other, we become stronger.

We have to help each other.

And if we can help another woman, or even, I mean, another cultural event, I will do so.

I will be there 'cause you see a lot sometimes of separation and I wanna unite.

I wanna unite us.

Unidas somos mas fuertes.

You know what?

No matter what stage we're at in life, we are all growing in certain ways.

Won't you grow with us by becoming a part of the This Is Utah community on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

Share your favorite stories, hit the like button, and don't forget to subscribe!

Until next time, I'm Liz Adeola and This is Utah.

This is Utah is made possible in part by the Willard L. Eccles Foundation.

The Lawrence T. and Janet T. Dee Foundation.

And by the contributions to PBS Utah from viewers like you.

Thank you!

(Upbeat Music)