Speaker 1: I put my thoughts together and I was like, I
Speaker 1: want to create a brand that's going to create a
Speaker 1: feeling of empowerment. The whole point of having Spanglish to
Speaker 1: me was just to show that it's okay be your
Speaker 1: loudest hypewoman, because at the end of the day, nobody's
Speaker 1: going to have your back the way that you have
Speaker 1: your back. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of
Speaker 1: cheek Ease and Chill. I'm your host, cheek Ease. I
Speaker 1: hope you're all doing great on this lovely cyber Monday.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for hanging out with me. I
Speaker 1: hope you were able to catch up with friends and
Speaker 1: family over the long holiday weekend. Alright, guys, enough small talk,
Speaker 1: let's get into the episode of Chicks and Chill. Today's
Speaker 1: episode is all about latinas in business. For those of
Speaker 1: you who don't know, I'm also a business owner. I
Speaker 1: have Beflawless Cosmetics. I have be Flawless Skin, which is skincare,
Speaker 1: and in reality, I started because I love skincare since
Speaker 1: I was sixteen years old and it just kind of
Speaker 1: brought me into the cosmetic world. I love both. My
Speaker 1: whole thing is just not only to make women look
Speaker 1: beautiful but also to feel beautiful, all from like the
Speaker 1: name to the names of the products everything. So I'm
Speaker 1: just really excited about today's episodes because I have um
Speaker 1: someone very special here and I want to introduce her.
Speaker 1: She's also a Latina. She's a businesswoman. Her name is
Speaker 1: Rachel go Miss and her business is one of my favorites.
Speaker 1: You guys, I love it. Viva La Anita. And if
Speaker 1: you guys do not know about La, I'm gonna put
Speaker 1: you up on game today. So Rachel, say hello to everyone. Hi. Everyone,
Speaker 1: so happy to be here. Yes, honestly, UM, I'm excited.
Speaker 1: I'm excited because I'm gonna be real with you. Everyone
Speaker 1: knows this is a space to say space to speak
Speaker 1: your mind, to say anything and everything. And I have
Speaker 1: been a follower for a couple of years now. UM,
Speaker 1: I did not know exactly who was behind the brand.
Speaker 1: UM I started following We're now friends girl on Instagram
Speaker 1: and who was Um? I was working. I was working
Speaker 1: on your Instagram earlier. And I have to say that
Speaker 1: I love your insightful mind. Every post is for something,
Speaker 1: It has a reason to help to inspire and I'm
Speaker 1: all about that. And I love that you use your
Speaker 1: space for that, So I just wanted to say that, UM.
Speaker 1: But we'll get more into the business aspect of it,
Speaker 1: but I did want to tell you that and also
Speaker 1: ask you, how are you doing, how do you feel today?
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for that. UM, I'm feeling good. Today.
Speaker 1: Is actually my birthday? Shut it happenethday? Oh my god. Look,
Speaker 1: this is just this goes to confirm what I was
Speaker 1: feeling about her. What a selfless woman to say, like,
Speaker 1: you know what, it's my birthday. I should take it off,
Speaker 1: I should do whatever. But she's on a podcast with me,
Speaker 1: you guys on her birthday. Oh my god, thank you,
Speaker 1: Mama ones happy, thank you. No, honestly, I was like,
Speaker 1: it's my birthday. It's cool, Like this is one of
Speaker 1: the greatest gifts to be able to just share space
Speaker 1: with you. So I'm honored and happy to be here.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Honestly, I have to tell you,
Speaker 1: as a fellow business woman, as a Latina, as UM,
Speaker 1: a woman that does my best to empower other women
Speaker 1: and just the world in any way that I can.
Speaker 1: I want to say that I admire you, that I'm
Speaker 1: proud of you, UM, and I want everyone to get
Speaker 1: to know you today. I want everyone to know because
Speaker 1: I feel that you can be an inspiration to many
Speaker 1: Latinas out there. And I don't know, I just I'm
Speaker 1: really excited about this. I'm excited about this. So I
Speaker 1: want to tell you I am your fan, girl, I
Speaker 1: am your fan as a woman. I love your your business,
Speaker 1: I love all your stuff. I just honestly, I'm not lying.
Speaker 1: You can go check. I bought like a few things
Speaker 1: right now on the website because I hadn't been on
Speaker 1: there for a minute, and I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: oh my god, so many cute things. A bucket hads
Speaker 1: like just everything. I even bought some mugs. Let me
Speaker 1: show you. Let me read to you you guys real quick.
Speaker 1: Some of her mugs. I love them too early for
Speaker 1: bed has absolutely okay, So I was like, yes, I
Speaker 1: need that. When I had that one, you had sent
Speaker 1: that one to me a while ago. But I bought
Speaker 1: a clear one Cansata, but I got I got shipped
Speaker 1: to do is another one allergic to pen the has?
Speaker 1: Who is not allergic to beIN the has? Dude? I
Speaker 1: love it, Thank you, thank you, So if you don't mind,
Speaker 1: I want to kind of get into your business and
Speaker 1: how it started. I would like to know how old
Speaker 1: you were when you when you started. Yeah, okay, so
Speaker 1: I started Viva la in. I want to say the
Speaker 1: idea came to my head right like in two thousand
Speaker 1: and ten. Um at that time, I was like gosh,
Speaker 1: and like my mid twenties and I was working retail, okay,
Speaker 1: I I was a manager in you know, retail fashion,
Speaker 1: and I just felt like the Latina community was only
Speaker 1: represented and presented in one way. And me as a Latina, right,
Speaker 1: I was born here, my parents were born here, but
Speaker 1: my grandmother migrated here from Durango, Mexico. Um I was
Speaker 1: raised very traditional, right, very very rooted in my grandma's
Speaker 1: traditions that you know, she really wanted to implement in
Speaker 1: the house. And I just felt like, I don't am
Speaker 1: I like, am I Latina enough? I don't look that way,
Speaker 1: I don't speak that way, Like I'm not a part
Speaker 1: of that culture. And that was like the one thing
Speaker 1: that I felt like was being presented, you know, for
Speaker 1: the Latina community. And working in retail, I would see
Speaker 1: my customers come into the stores that I was managing,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, okay, eighty percent of my clientele is
Speaker 1: the young Latina girl. I used to work at wet Seal. Okay,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're under wet Seal of I
Speaker 1: used to work at wet Seal. I love that store.
Speaker 1: We were like the most popping store in the mall.
Speaker 1: And I understand that because the mall that I worked
Speaker 1: at I worked at the Northridge Fashion Center and I
Speaker 1: know that that mall, right is like it was a
Speaker 1: main mall for the San Fernando Valley. So I understood
Speaker 1: why my clientele was almost eighty to ninetent Latina. But
Speaker 1: I was like, discorporate not understand that that is our clientele,
Speaker 1: Like why aren't these girls being represented in marketing? Why
Speaker 1: isn't there strategies that speak to our community? And I
Speaker 1: just saw that there was an issue. Okay, kept it pushing.
Speaker 1: I'm like, little hole me is not going to be
Speaker 1: able to change the world, change the store, sure of
Speaker 1: this company. So I switched companies and I started to
Speaker 1: work for Tillies. I don't know if you're familiar with Chilis.
Speaker 1: So Tilly has taught me a lot. They housed all
Speaker 1: these surf and skate brands and That's when I learned
Speaker 1: the power of creating community for your brands through storytelling,
Speaker 1: through um creating like a like minded community, through your products,
Speaker 1: through your campaigns, through you know, everything that you would
Speaker 1: pretty much implement into a brand. Yes, I saw the
Speaker 1: community that they were building, and I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: there has to be something for the Latina community. And
Speaker 1: I don't want to contribute to only catering to one
Speaker 1: type of Latina or one type of stereotype. So I
Speaker 1: put my thoughts together and I was like, I want
Speaker 1: to create a brand that's going to create a feeling
Speaker 1: of empowerment. Um, We're gonna embrace our spanglish. We're going
Speaker 1: to embrace our spanguish. We're going to communicate with each
Speaker 1: other just like home girls kicking it, just like girls
Speaker 1: giving each other advice. Taking everything that I've learned from
Speaker 1: my childhood and my upbringing and implementing it to the
Speaker 1: storytelling of my brand. Why do you like to highlight spanglish?
Speaker 1: The importance of spanglish in our products and just across
Speaker 1: all aspects of our brand? Was too approve a point
Speaker 1: that it's okay to be authentically your Latino self. Right, Um,
Speaker 1: I grew up in a home where Spanish was the
Speaker 1: dominant language. But my grandfather, he was born in el
Speaker 1: pass of the house and when he married my grandma,
Speaker 1: you know, he he knew because my my grandfather was
Speaker 1: my grandmother's second marriage, and he knew that she wanted
Speaker 1: to she was on her path to citizenship, right, so
Speaker 1: he would tell her, yeah, if you're gonna want to
Speaker 1: become a citizen, you have to learn how to speak
Speaker 1: some English, right. And also for her protection because she
Speaker 1: was cleaning houses for families that only spoke English. He
Speaker 1: wanted her to know the language that she would be
Speaker 1: safe because sometimes my grandmother was alone in these houses.
Speaker 1: So he was like, I just want you to understand
Speaker 1: what people are saying around you so that nobody takes
Speaker 1: advantage of you and that you feel good. So we
Speaker 1: had this rule in my house where it was like
Speaker 1: nobody could speak Spanish because grandma has to learn English.
Speaker 1: So my grandma picked up on the language when she
Speaker 1: was working with the families she was working with, so
Speaker 1: we wouldn't speak Spanish. But it became a habit and
Speaker 1: and this rule honestly started I believe when I was
Speaker 1: like three or four years old, from what my thea
Speaker 1: told me. So this is when I was developing, right,
Speaker 1: I was. I was starting to speak and starting to
Speaker 1: have conversations. So there were times where I would hear
Speaker 1: like my theist talking to my grandma and maybe my
Speaker 1: grandpa talking to my grandma, and they were talking in
Speaker 1: full on English, but they would have to throw in
Speaker 1: those Spanish words, and vice versa. Would be talking full
Speaker 1: Spanish and they throw in those English words, and it
Speaker 1: just became a language in my house. And it wasn't
Speaker 1: until I became older, maybe when I left high school,
Speaker 1: because in high school, I mean I went to a
Speaker 1: pretty like Lapino dominated school. I went to Stillmore High
Speaker 1: So I feel like, yeah, I feel like a lot
Speaker 1: of the kids they're like also kind of understood the
Speaker 1: whole Spanglish thing we had going on. But um, it
Speaker 1: wasn't until I got into a space, a professional space
Speaker 1: where when it was required for me to talk Spanish,
Speaker 1: when I would speak Spanglish, it was frowned upon and
Speaker 1: I was like yeah, and I was like, but this
Speaker 1: is me, this is who I am. I've never been
Speaker 1: told that this was wrong. This was a language that
Speaker 1: my grandparents spoke, that my parents spoke like my theist,
Speaker 1: my cousin's like, I'm confused. So it took, you know,
Speaker 1: it was it was an insecurity that I had for
Speaker 1: a very long time where I would not speak Spanish
Speaker 1: at all because I was so scared of it, because
Speaker 1: I was so scared of the opinion or what people
Speaker 1: were going to think of me. And you know, I
Speaker 1: did grow up with Selena music, and I did grow
Speaker 1: up with you know that that being the Selena thing.
Speaker 1: But then I was like, yeah, but it's not the
Speaker 1: Selina's being, Like there's a whole community of people who
Speaker 1: speaks English and who have those struggles of not knowing like, okay,
Speaker 1: am i supposed to be just one Mexican, But I'm
Speaker 1: also like I was born here, I'm American. Like. So
Speaker 1: the whole point of having Spanglish to me was just
Speaker 1: to show that it's okay. There is no right or
Speaker 1: wrong way for you to show up in spaces as
Speaker 1: a Latina, because I think that if we don't understand
Speaker 1: by now that Latinas are all different, we all come
Speaker 1: from different walks of life, we all see the world differently,
Speaker 1: We're not just one thing, then we need to read
Speaker 1: redirect our thoughts. So for me, just having Spanglish in
Speaker 1: the brand is a way to show to present myself
Speaker 1: to the world as who I am and this is
Speaker 1: you know, the creator Viva la Bonita, and just also
Speaker 1: another way to just show a part of the Latina community.
Speaker 1: Who knew that, like you know, was gonna turn into
Speaker 1: this online community space where I was gonna bring together
Speaker 1: women who were like, yeah, you know what, I don't
Speaker 1: look like the girl sitting next to me, but she's
Speaker 1: my fellow Latina. But we think the same, we have
Speaker 1: the same outlook on life, and we created a brand
Speaker 1: that honestly encourages women to accept who they are um
Speaker 1: first and then it's like, yes, I am me, but
Speaker 1: I am also I'm Latina, but this is what I
Speaker 1: want to do with my life. This is how I
Speaker 1: feel today, and this is how you see the future
Speaker 1: and I see that. I see that, and that's one
Speaker 1: of the things that I love the most because I
Speaker 1: can relate because I'm also Mexican American. I consider myself
Speaker 1: being like you you know, from the percent of Mehicana
Speaker 1: of Medicana, Like it's just it is what it is.
Speaker 1: I love the Spanglish in the brand Um, I love
Speaker 1: of your mission statement. Well this is what I read
Speaker 1: right on the website, A lifestyle and apparel brand inspired
Speaker 1: by them who are Fearless. I need to tell you.
Speaker 1: I was like, dude, I love that. I think you've
Speaker 1: done an amazing job. And um, I want to congratulate
Speaker 1: you for that, because dude, you guys they have over
Speaker 1: three thousand followers on Instagram. Now, did you come from
Speaker 1: a family, Rachel of entrepreneurs or business owners? Uh? No, No, Um.
Speaker 1: I did come from a family though, of big dreamers.
Speaker 1: And you know, I get asked the question a few
Speaker 1: times where it's like, oh, are you the first person
Speaker 1: in your family to dream big and make it happen?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, well, no, I think within my family,
Speaker 1: the first person who had a big dream and made
Speaker 1: it happen for herself was my grandma. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: she took a risk, she migrated vert to the US
Speaker 1: because like many of many of us, she was seeking
Speaker 1: the American dream. And my grandma had big dreams, not
Speaker 1: only for herself, but I think for her family and
Speaker 1: for her what could be right her? What could be
Speaker 1: was such a big dream of hers, and and she
Speaker 1: worked really hard to to really make her her dream
Speaker 1: life of here in America happened, and it took sacrifice,
Speaker 1: it took loss. My Grandma's been through so much, but
Speaker 1: when you meet her, you're just like, You're so like,
Speaker 1: how are you standing still? How are you so resilient
Speaker 1: and still have this positive outlook on life? And I
Speaker 1: think that, you know, seeing her and really just paying
Speaker 1: attention to her has really made me the person that
Speaker 1: I had today. Now that we're talking about your grand
Speaker 1: One of your shirts it says mind of a queen,
Speaker 1: heart of a warrior, reminded me of her, of your grandma.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I that's yes, Is that my right kind
Speaker 1: of or yeah for sure? Yeah. I mean a lot
Speaker 1: of my collections are beings that I would hear growing
Speaker 1: up and their takeaways from conversations that I've had with
Speaker 1: my grandma. Um. You know, and my mom passed away
Speaker 1: when I was eleven years old, and my grandma took
Speaker 1: me under her wing instantly, like so just to see
Speaker 1: how in a moment of her losing her daughter, and
Speaker 1: she never skipped a beat. Um, and I know that
Speaker 1: she she dealt with her grief in her own way.
Speaker 1: But to see my grandma not grieve for years because
Speaker 1: she put us first. Was something that I'm just like, dude,
Speaker 1: you're not human, You're like an angel. Like yes, like
Speaker 1: I don't understand how like what you're magic is, but
Speaker 1: it's it's something that's so inspiring. And yeah, the brand
Speaker 1: is takeaways from all these conversations and just all these
Speaker 1: observations that I have of my grandma. I honestly and
Speaker 1: I could feel it everything, even all your Instagram posts,
Speaker 1: it's all inspirational. For instance, you are too bombed to
Speaker 1: be doubting yourself. I mean there's so much you guys
Speaker 1: that I just can go on and on. I love
Speaker 1: every single piece. There is a reason behind it, and
Speaker 1: I truly believe in that, and not just bringing out
Speaker 1: things or or promoting things just to promote them to
Speaker 1: make money. Like I'm a huge firm believer in that.
Speaker 1: It's like I have to and a behind it, and
Speaker 1: there has to be a why and an inspiration behind it.
Speaker 1: And I can tell you guys right now, is just
Speaker 1: that um their Instagram, you guys, you guys have to
Speaker 1: follow them and even if you're gonna love the clothes,
Speaker 1: but just to feel inspired and say, okay, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's Monday. I need some motivation. Go to You're gonna
Speaker 1: be about motivated girls for real. I also wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you because I see you're a mother your mother.
Speaker 1: Are you a wife as well? Yes? Okay, so how
Speaker 1: do you how do you juggle that? How do you
Speaker 1: find the balance between your home life and your business.
Speaker 1: It's a struggle, I will tell you. Um it took
Speaker 1: a lot of discipline on on my end, because you know,
Speaker 1: when you have a business, and you you run a business,
Speaker 1: it's something that you created from nothing. It's going to
Speaker 1: consume your life. And as big as we may seem
Speaker 1: on the internet to some people, we are still a
Speaker 1: small business. So I still wear a ton of hats.
Speaker 1: We are a staff of seven, and within that seven
Speaker 1: it's my friends and my family. I hired my family first,
Speaker 1: and then I was like, all right, which friend wants
Speaker 1: to quit their job? But so you know, we're a
Speaker 1: small but mighty business. So when you run a small
Speaker 1: business like that, you wear all of the hats. I
Speaker 1: feel like you know me and my husband because my
Speaker 1: husband is a co founder of the brand. When I
Speaker 1: first brought to him the idea of he was like,
Speaker 1: all right, like, we're going to have to figure out
Speaker 1: a way to really stand out and and do what
Speaker 1: not a lot of people are doing. And that was
Speaker 1: the power of visual storytelling. And he shoots his career.
Speaker 1: He has his own company, He shoots music videos, he
Speaker 1: creates amazing content. So he was like, I'm gonna help you,
Speaker 1: like I want to really take your brand from zero
Speaker 1: to like a million. So I was like, okay, so
Speaker 1: us working together, right, We also now we're in a
Speaker 1: relationship at the time and now we're building a brand together.
Speaker 1: So it definitely I when I look back on my life,
Speaker 1: I'm like, Okay, at a point in my life consumed
Speaker 1: my seven and it started to become really hard on
Speaker 1: my mental health to where I was like, why do
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm not enjoying this anymore? And it
Speaker 1: was because I was experiencing burnout. So when I realized
Speaker 1: that when when a person experienced burnout, it's not because
Speaker 1: they're not made for this or you know, you don't
Speaker 1: know what you're doing. It's like no, it's your body
Speaker 1: literally telling you, like a bitch, stop, like stop, take
Speaker 1: a second, like the flowers. You know, it could be present, right,
Speaker 1: So learning the art of being present really helped me
Speaker 1: balance my mom, wife, work life. I had to have
Speaker 1: a conversation with not only myself but my team, because
Speaker 1: my team was so used to texting me out whatever time.
Speaker 1: Right again, it's my family. We all love the brand.
Speaker 1: They love the brand, probably even more than I do.
Speaker 1: So they're like, no, I'm down to work, like if
Speaker 1: they have ideas coming in at ten o'clock, like my
Speaker 1: sister's texting me, Hey, what do you think about this?
Speaker 1: So I really had to sit down and be like, listen, guys,
Speaker 1: we're only working from nine am to four pm because
Speaker 1: we need to take care of ourselves. Everything else can wait.
Speaker 1: And I learned, and I think like a lot of
Speaker 1: us in learned, that's so much of what we were
Speaker 1: doing to just chase a dollar didn't even matter anymore
Speaker 1: because it literally stopped overnight. And I feel like I
Speaker 1: was in this mindset around when I was like, no,
Speaker 1: from nine to four, I work after four o'clock. I'm
Speaker 1: no longer accessible. And it was something really hard for
Speaker 1: me to I think say out loud, because I've always
Speaker 1: been a people pleaser, like I've always been like no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I got you, I got you, don't worry like I
Speaker 1: put everybody else before me, and it was just something
Speaker 1: that I have been doing since I can remember. So
Speaker 1: for me to have this mindset where I was like,
Speaker 1: please do not contact me after four at four o'clock PM,
Speaker 1: I felt like people were going to be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: who do you want to I don't want to disappoint
Speaker 1: I don't want to. In my head, I thought I
Speaker 1: was going to offend my team, but no. It became
Speaker 1: a practice that we all do and it's so essential.
Speaker 1: Our mental health got better. You know. We learned how
Speaker 1: to appreciate our time so that when we clock in
Speaker 1: the next day, we're actually looking forward to the next
Speaker 1: day because we've had time to chill out, do whatever
Speaker 1: we wanted to do. You know. I hang out with
Speaker 1: my obviously, hang out with my son, take him to
Speaker 1: soccer practice. I'm just in a in a position where
Speaker 1: my son inspires me to be the greatest person that
Speaker 1: I can be. My family they're freaking amazing, and just
Speaker 1: spending time with them and having conversations with them honestly
Speaker 1: just feels me for for the next day. So UM,
Speaker 1: setting boundaries UM is honestly how I balance this wife
Speaker 1: mom life here's what I want you guys to get
Speaker 1: from this guy's she was working at you know, she
Speaker 1: was working retail. And when you want to start a business,
Speaker 1: it's like, what is missing on the market? What am
Speaker 1: I not getting? What am I what is? And that's
Speaker 1: where Nassa. You know you you plant this this seed
Speaker 1: and that's exactly what you did. And I feel like
Speaker 1: so many people are afraid you have to take that
Speaker 1: leap of faith. And right now that we're talking about
Speaker 1: time management, thank you so much Rachel for being vulnerable
Speaker 1: and sharing that with us, because a lot of people
Speaker 1: just say, oh no, it's bim boom boom boo my work,
Speaker 1: I work, But no, it is so important. And that's
Speaker 1: something that I have also implemented the past couple of
Speaker 1: years that it's I have to shut off. I need
Speaker 1: some time off. I will work my butt off until
Speaker 1: freaking the last day of November. I need December and
Speaker 1: January off where I could just do Lucas because if not,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna lose. Like you said, you were losing the
Speaker 1: passion of your brand and then you burn out. When
Speaker 1: you appreciate your team, your team works even more for
Speaker 1: you and they don't lose that love for the brand.
Speaker 1: So it's good that you implemented that in your own
Speaker 1: life and also your employees who are your family. And
Speaker 1: it's just you know what I mean. You hear, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm a hustler. I'm gonna go get it. I
Speaker 1: wor um, you're you're gonna bring yourself out. I've had
Speaker 1: two burnouts in my life where I have fallen on
Speaker 1: my face and it's just life and the universe telling you, hey,
Speaker 1: sit yours down, take a breath, and and look at
Speaker 1: look at look at the sun, look at the flowers. Enjoy,
Speaker 1: take a deep breath. Sometimes we just want to keep going.
Speaker 1: Like you said, it's the rat race of life. It's like,
Speaker 1: oh no, we gotta keep going, you know. And no,
Speaker 1: it's it's not. It's very unhealthy. And don't get me wrong,
Speaker 1: Like I know, like when you're building something right, like
Speaker 1: you gotta hustle, you've gotta sacrifice all your free time.
Speaker 1: Like I want to say, when I was building the brand,
Speaker 1: Fredo and I probably didn't go on a date, like
Speaker 1: a real date for like months months because it was like,
Speaker 1: all right, you're off of work, alright, cool, Like let's
Speaker 1: talk about this, Oh you're you have a closing shift, Okay,
Speaker 1: before you go into work, maybe we should shoot some content,
Speaker 1: you know. And we were on go go, go, go
Speaker 1: go mode. But I knew that at some point I
Speaker 1: was going to be able to enjoy the fruits of
Speaker 1: my labor and in the building of everything. And just
Speaker 1: like the fast, I guess progression that we had with
Speaker 1: the brand and just you know, time, you don't realize
Speaker 1: how crazy and how uncontrollable time can be, right, like,
Speaker 1: it's unpredictable. But if even obody that grew really fast.
Speaker 1: So I think that I just lost that that reminder
Speaker 1: or just lost that train of thought where it was like, hey, girl,
Speaker 1: like take a moment to stop and look at everything
Speaker 1: that you accomplished. Take a week off. But it wasn't
Speaker 1: until I reached the burnout that I was like, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, and I never want to feel like that again.
Speaker 1: I feel like when you experience burnout, you know exactly
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about. It is a terrible feeling. I
Speaker 1: think everything just falls on you and it's it's mentally,
Speaker 1: it's it's a lot um. So I learned from my
Speaker 1: I learned from those two experiences that I've had um.
Speaker 1: But if anybody who's listening is like, you know, building something,
Speaker 1: don't be afraid to helst so hard and sacrifice some
Speaker 1: of your time. But it's okay to put yourself first
Speaker 1: because I'm a very spiritual person. So when the universe
Speaker 1: sees me hustling, when the universe knows my thoughts, they
Speaker 1: know my intentions, they know my heart, the universe is
Speaker 1: going to have my back. And when I take a break,
Speaker 1: I know that the universe is not going to be like, oh,
Speaker 1: she doesn't want it, give it to the next person.
Speaker 1: The universe knows your intentions. Um, And if you're a
Speaker 1: spiritual person, you'll understand what I'm saying. If you're not,
Speaker 1: just believe in the magic of knowing that your journey
Speaker 1: is already mapped out for you. You just have to
Speaker 1: believe that you're onto greater things. So when you take
Speaker 1: a break, it's okay. Even if somebody tries to call
Speaker 1: you out and says, ah, like you're taking a day off,
Speaker 1: like you're not in it to win it, It's like, no,
Speaker 1: I'm taking a day off because I'm in it. You know,
Speaker 1: life isn't a race. I think that life is a marathon.
Speaker 1: You know, you've got to pace yourself and it's just
Speaker 1: really important too to understand that. See you guys, it
Speaker 1: was exactly what I'm talking about. And let me go
Speaker 1: back to her Instagram because something that I loved. Um
Speaker 1: she's wearing a sweatshirt that says balance, and she wrote
Speaker 1: in her caption finding balance is a lot. It's the
Speaker 1: in between living in peace and fighting for the right things,
Speaker 1: living my best life, and dealing with grief since I
Speaker 1: was a kid, finding stillness in a chaotic life, putting
Speaker 1: myself first, and being a mom. It goes on and on,
Speaker 1: but that in between moment has felt really good. I
Speaker 1: feel good. I know the universe listens and talks back.
Speaker 1: It's touched my heart as I was reading, because I'm like,
Speaker 1: I totally feel that and every and you're saying right now,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I can relate, and it's it's it's so
Speaker 1: I'm so happy that we're talking about this, and I'm
Speaker 1: glad that you cleared that up. That it's. Yes, in
Speaker 1: the beginning stages of any business, you're gonna work, and
Speaker 1: you have to like really probably work the first year
Speaker 1: seven if not twenty four, I don't know. Six something,
Speaker 1: But you have to put in the work. But then
Speaker 1: guess at a moment that we're like, hey, I have
Speaker 1: to at least a day off in the beginning because
Speaker 1: it takes a little while. You gotta nurture your baby,
Speaker 1: you know. But then yeah, when it's crawling and it's walking,
Speaker 1: let it and really take time, like Rachel said, to
Speaker 1: just breathe. I love that you appreciate your team. There's
Speaker 1: another post on on your Instagram that I saw that
Speaker 1: you said I started off alone, but now I have
Speaker 1: a team, the whole team that helps me, and that
Speaker 1: you wanted to highlight them. I'm such a firm believer
Speaker 1: in teamwork. If you don't have a team that sustains you,
Speaker 1: if you don't appreciate your team, those are the guy
Speaker 1: it could just fall. So talk to me a little
Speaker 1: bit about that about teamwork. Um, what the importance of
Speaker 1: it to you? Yeah, it's it's just really important for
Speaker 1: me to highlight my team whenever I can. Um, because
Speaker 1: you know, I think that when you think Viva la Bonita, Okay,
Speaker 1: you're like, who's the founder of Viva la Bonita? Let
Speaker 1: me connect with her, all right? Cool? And then the
Speaker 1: public only sees me and they might think like, you know, okay,
Speaker 1: so you know Rachel is Viva la Bonita, But to me,
Speaker 1: it's like, no, my team is Viva la Bonita. Like
Speaker 1: my sister who helps run the warehouse, she has created
Speaker 1: a machine at the warehouse. Um, you know my brother
Speaker 1: in law who handles, like you know, helps me with
Speaker 1: my digital marketing. And then we have one of my models, Marissa,
Speaker 1: who she was my very first model. We met through
Speaker 1: a friend and I was like, hey, are you down
Speaker 1: to like model some of my T shirts? She's like yeah,
Speaker 1: And she worked with grinded with me for about a
Speaker 1: year and a half until we got to the point
Speaker 1: where I was like, Hey, I'm actually gonna need some
Speaker 1: help on the content producing side. And I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm going to need you now to like, you know,
Speaker 1: get you know, you're gonna be not in front of
Speaker 1: the camera anymore. You're behind the camera, behind the scenes
Speaker 1: working it, and um, that was amazing. And then you
Speaker 1: have Fredo, who my partner, my my husband, who is
Speaker 1: the co founder of the brand, who all that dope
Speaker 1: content that you see all those videos that is him.
Speaker 1: You know, he sits down with me and he's like
Speaker 1: let's talk about the ideity you have, alright, cool, let
Speaker 1: me help you bring it to life while you go
Speaker 1: worry about the hundred things that you have to worry about.
Speaker 1: And yeah, and then we have my friend who I
Speaker 1: met work in retail. She now handles our wholesale relationships.
Speaker 1: She was doing customer service for about two years before
Speaker 1: you know, she got her promotion. So there's these seven
Speaker 1: people that work with me make Viva la Bonita, And
Speaker 1: if it was not for them, Viva la Bonita would
Speaker 1: honestly still be in stages A A through baker Z
Speaker 1: because or A through C because I know I could
Speaker 1: do A, B and C by myself, but I can't
Speaker 1: do D through Z by myself, you know. And I'm
Speaker 1: just very lucky that I had a family and friends
Speaker 1: who believed in my brand before I believed in it.
Speaker 1: And I appreciate that so much because there were times
Speaker 1: where I was like, you, guys, I don't think I
Speaker 1: can do this. No, let's just say no to that email.
Speaker 1: And my team was like, girl, we got this, say yes,
Speaker 1: you know. And I always take the time to tell
Speaker 1: them that I appreciate them because we do get in
Speaker 1: the day to day and I'm not saying that you
Speaker 1: have to baby your employees because I've I've heard conversations.
Speaker 1: I know people who are like, dude, my team knows
Speaker 1: that they're doing a good job because I'm in a
Speaker 1: good mood, I treat them good. And I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: but you gotta tell them. And it's not necessarily that
Speaker 1: you're babying them. It's just that reminder because your team
Speaker 1: is working probably just as hard or even harder than
Speaker 1: you at times, so you need to just check in
Speaker 1: and just say, hey, I really appreciate you, thank you.
Speaker 1: And you don't have to have like these, you know,
Speaker 1: thirty minute conversations a day with your team. But I
Speaker 1: think that quick check in being like, hey, are you okay,
Speaker 1: Like are you good? Yeah, all right? Thank you so much,
Speaker 1: like I really appreciate what you're doing, because at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, like you said, if we don't
Speaker 1: have our team, everything is going to fall. It's like
Speaker 1: building blocks, you know, and your team, there are those blocks.
Speaker 1: They're your foundation. And I think that some people don't
Speaker 1: understand the importance of team. And I've been approached by
Speaker 1: a lot of young women who are starting their brands,
Speaker 1: and you know, they're really afraid to do everything alone.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, listen, you have to do everything alone
Speaker 1: in the beginning, but I promise you you're gonna find
Speaker 1: your team, and your team is going to find you.
Speaker 1: It's like good karma, right if you treat your team
Speaker 1: well and your team is happy, like the karma that's
Speaker 1: gonna come for you, You're gonna those team members are
Speaker 1: going to find you as the years go by. And
Speaker 1: I've been very fortunate that we're in that position right now.
Speaker 1: But my team is everything to me because if it
Speaker 1: wasn't for them, I wouldn't be able to have conversations
Speaker 1: like today with you because I'd be too caught up
Speaker 1: in the I gotta send this email, I gotta send
Speaker 1: out these orders, I gotta design, I gotta do all this.
Speaker 1: So um, I'm just very very thankful for my team,
Speaker 1: and they're amazing, Like like they say, um, you know,
Speaker 1: teamwork makes the dream work, absolutely, you know, and and
Speaker 1: I love that you have And I always tell everyone
Speaker 1: here listening ing have an attitude of gratitude, and like
Speaker 1: Rachel said, you know, sometimes people are have too much
Speaker 1: of a big ego to say thank you to their
Speaker 1: employees to the people that help them, because it's like, no,
Speaker 1: if I'm too soft, um, they're not things aren't gonna
Speaker 1: get done. No, Like there has to be a balance
Speaker 1: in every area of your life. And I'm a firm
Speaker 1: believer in appreciating and valuing and showing your team that
Speaker 1: you value them and that you love them, um, and
Speaker 1: appreciate them. You know. It's it's very it's very difficult,
Speaker 1: you know, and and like like Rachel said in the beginning,
Speaker 1: it will be hard. You'll have to do it yourself.
Speaker 1: But then I'll get to a point where you're gonna
Speaker 1: have to delegate. And also know when that time is.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we want to take control of everything and not
Speaker 1: delegate enough. So delegating is a great thing, you guys,
Speaker 1: when you get to that point. Um, Rachel, Before I
Speaker 1: have a few more questions before before we end the conversation,
Speaker 1: I just want to know what would today's Rachel tell
Speaker 1: the Rachel when you first started. Like I know, I'm
Speaker 1: sure you know there's we all learned through trial and error,
Speaker 1: you know, Um, so I know the things that I
Speaker 1: could have done better. But is there anything that you
Speaker 1: would tell that Rachel when you were first starting. I
Speaker 1: would tell that Rachel, um that you're not going to
Speaker 1: have it all figured out, um, because you're gonna put
Speaker 1: yourself in a space of consistent growth. So when you
Speaker 1: hit those moments where you feel like you don't know
Speaker 1: what you're doing, it's okay. It's all part of the
Speaker 1: greater plan. You're on to the next level. The second
Speaker 1: thing that I would tell her is to let go
Speaker 1: of the mentality of give up, let it go, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. You need to do what makes you happy. Um.
Speaker 1: You need to make moves that are going to contribute
Speaker 1: to your happiness. You know, you're going to have an
Speaker 1: amazing baby boy that you're going to have to also
Speaker 1: map out a journey for, and you have to block
Speaker 1: out the opinions of other people who are not going
Speaker 1: to make it with you to the finish line. And
Speaker 1: everything is going to work out. Everything working. I love that. Well,
Speaker 1: what's next for you? What do you have? What do
Speaker 1: you have in the plans for like this upcoming year?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Like for you? I don't
Speaker 1: need that in your personal life, anything that you want
Speaker 1: to share with us. Yeah, all I know, I don't
Speaker 1: know what's next person. I mean, I think specifically because
Speaker 1: again that's one thing I learned in Things just change
Speaker 1: and you just have to learn to go with the flow.
Speaker 1: But honestly, like aside from specifics, I know that via
Speaker 1: A Bonita is going to continue to grow in places
Speaker 1: that I never thought we would get into. You know,
Speaker 1: I think that we have lots of seeds planted. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, we have our partnership with zoom Ees, we
Speaker 1: have our partnership with Lordstrom and foot Locker. So I
Speaker 1: know that these spaces, these spaces that we're in UM
Speaker 1: their true partnerships, and I know that that's going to
Speaker 1: continue to grow within the next five years. UM. So
Speaker 1: I'm really excited to see where that takes us. As
Speaker 1: far as you know, I, I just know that we're
Speaker 1: going to continue to figure out ways on how to
Speaker 1: navigate this new space that we're in right um, but
Speaker 1: figuring out ways to still stay true to who we
Speaker 1: are and our core values and continue to get more
Speaker 1: creative on how we can continue to tell all our stories. UM.
Speaker 1: And I just want to continue to focus on my
Speaker 1: health and my happiness because that has to come first
Speaker 1: because if I'm not in a good space, then everything
Speaker 1: kind of just hits a stop. But um, I see
Speaker 1: a lot of health, happiness and wealth in my future. Amen. Amen,
Speaker 1: I know there are a lot of women like you,
Speaker 1: like us that have this dream and don't know where
Speaker 1: to start. And in reality it's you know, you're an
Speaker 1: inspiration to them. So I wanna I want to thank
Speaker 1: you so much for taking the time to talk to
Speaker 1: us too, you know, for being vulnerable and sharing your
Speaker 1: story and sharing certain things that a lot of people
Speaker 1: wouldn't be um open to doing. So, so thank you.
Speaker 1: And before we wrap up, um, I want to do
Speaker 1: this new thing motivational Monday, and I want to share
Speaker 1: a quote with with all of you. Um and I
Speaker 1: thought it would be the perfect quote because we're speaking
Speaker 1: to a business owner here. Um, So this is my quote.
Speaker 1: Focus on being the happiest and hardest working woman who
Speaker 1: lives her life unapologetically doing what she loves. Tell me
Speaker 1: that ain't you girl? M unapologetic? Honestly, that is that
Speaker 1: is an art. Being unapologetic is an art and it
Speaker 1: won't happen overnight. But I promise with practice and consistency
Speaker 1: your life will change, just in all aspects personal and professionally.
Speaker 1: I just I learned that a few a few years
Speaker 1: back where it's like, you know what, this is what
Speaker 1: I do is what I want to do. I want
Speaker 1: to try it. I'm not gonna worry about getty and
Speaker 1: what are people going to say? So that is living unapologetically.
Speaker 1: But Rachel, thank you again. Is there anything that you
Speaker 1: want to tell our listeners? Do you have a quote
Speaker 1: that you want to share with them? Yeah? I will
Speaker 1: leave it with be your loudest hype woman. That's been
Speaker 1: my model for since um, because at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, nobody's going to have your back the way
Speaker 1: that you have your back. And if you haven't found
Speaker 1: like your inner home girl, it's a sign that you
Speaker 1: gotta do some self reflection, do do the self work,
Speaker 1: do the self healing, and you'll find her. And when
Speaker 1: you find her, you're going to realize how far you
Speaker 1: can take yourself. Yes, I think that's the best way
Speaker 1: to to to wrap up you guys. Um, be your
Speaker 1: biggest hype woman, your loudest hype woman, your cheerleader. That
Speaker 1: person is just like girl, get up. You could do this. Um,
Speaker 1: Rachel again, you have inspired me, you have I feel
Speaker 1: empowered after this conversation. UM, I applaud you and everyone
Speaker 1: follow check out their stuff their website. I love your website.
Speaker 1: By the way, it's so easy to use. Oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: that is you have you It is so easy to use.
Speaker 1: This straight to the point. But before you go, Rachel,
Speaker 1: share your handles Instagram. Where can we find you? Whatever
Speaker 1: you want, girl, this is your space. Yeah, so, you
Speaker 1: guys can find our website at ww dot dot com.
Speaker 1: We also have our official Viva La Bonita app where
Speaker 1: you guys download it. It's available for all iPhone and
Speaker 1: Android users. Um and on. Our socials were very active
Speaker 1: on Instagram and TikTok and you can find us under
Speaker 1: at viva love that and just by the way, I
Speaker 1: love Changana energy. I'm gonna be using that, girl, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna adopt that from me. So yes, yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you so much. Again. I hope that
Speaker 1: you enjoyed this podcast, and don't forget to listen to
Speaker 1: Cheeks and Chill every Monday on the I Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
Speaker 1: This is a production of I Heart Radio and Michael
Speaker 1: Dura podcast Network. Follow us on Instagram at Michael Dura
Speaker 1: Podcasts and follow me cheek Ease on Instagram at cheek
Speaker 1: ease and I'll see you guys next week. Lesban Combezo
Speaker 1: and remember condo Nana