Every week, Gaby Natale hosts a Spanish-language talk show called SuperLatina. The North Texas-based show has featured the likes of Deepak Chopra and Carlos Santana, and it won two daytime Emmy Awards this spring. SuperLatina is syndicated in 43 U.S. markets, but when the show first began, it was filmed out of a carpet warehouse in Odessa.

Natale, an Argentinian native, talked with KERA’s Rick Holter about SuperLatina’s humble beginnings.

Interview Highlights: Gaby Natale…

On SuperLatina’s launch:

“I didn’t know we needed to have a pilot, I didn’t know we needed to have a lot of things that you traditionally need to have when you pitch a concept or an idea for a show. And in a way, it was a blessing that I didn’t know that much. I remember we pitched a story to the general manager of one of the TV stations in West Texas, and he looked at the presentation – it was a PowerPoint – and he said ‘yeah, I think this a good idea. Yeah guys, I’d put it on the air.’

My partner and I left the meeting and we said, ‘yes! We got a yes to put the show on the air!’ and then we looked at each other and [realized] we don’t have a camera, we don’t have a tripod, we don’t have a microphone, we don’t have anything to produce this show.”

…On filming early episodes in a carpet warehouse:

“[The owners] told us…’you can tape here, under one condition: the carpets need to come in and out of this set, so your TV set needs to be on wheels so we can push it to a side.’ We said, ‘yes, we can put some wheels on the set,’ and that’s how it worked.”

Want to hear know more about Natale’s non-traditional path to starting her own company? Click here.