Latina Magazine Staff Reveal Their Surprising AncestryDNA Test Results

Entertainment
10 November 2016
by Ancestry Team

Jessica Alba. Rosario Dawson. Jennifer Lopez.

Even a quick look through the pages of Latina Magazine illustrates what a diverse group Latinos truly are.

And like the celebs they cover — and their 2 million readers — the Latina Magazine staff represent a vibrant mix of ethnicities.

Watch as they take us behind the scenes to share their surprising AncestryDNA test results:

DNA Testing Latina Magazine Staff

DNA tests have a funny way of confirming what you know and yet surprising you at the same time.

Jada Gomez, Latina’s Digital Deputy Director, for example, is Afro Latina. As she says in the video, her mom’s half black, half Honduran. And her dad’s Puerto Rican.

Her results showed she was 54% African, which was not unexpected. But her African diversity was a surprise:

“I am biracial…so I knew that I would be kind of a little bit of everything. But speaking to Anna at Ancestry, she was also really excited because she said I was one of the rare people who has African descent from every African region that they test!”

Jada had at least traces from all 9 regions in Africa shown in AncestryDNA test results.

Jada’s colleague Jesus Trivino, who’s Ecuadorian, also got some results he expected – 61% Native American. But he also was floored to find out he was 7% Irish:

“I always knew that [I was] Italian because my name, Trivino, is very Italian. But Irish definitely shocked me.”
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Priscilla Rodriguez, who is Dominican and Puerto Rican, was sitting right next to Jesus and also was totally surprised by some of her results:

“I had Middle East [2%], which I was not expecting. And then for Europe…Great Britain was my strongest, followed by Italy/Greece, and THEN it was Iberian Peninsula [which I expected to be strongest]. And…growing up you’re kind of like, ‘Oh Spain, Spain, Spain’…so that was…a shock.”

Latinos with Native American, African and European Roots

Latinos are historically a mix of ethnicities and cultures, particularly Native American, African, and European.

But what over 7 million people who’ve taken AncestryDNA tests have learned is that most of us, Latinos and non-Latinos, have more to our family stories than we think.

Uncover your own unique DNA story with an AncestryDNA test!