WEBVTT - Capítulo 231: Done With The Hustle with Ana Flores 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:06.120 Look Radio, I'm Viosa and I'm a La. Look at 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:09.880 Ora Radio is a podcast dedicated to archiving our present 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:14.200 and shifting the culture forward. Today, we're skipping the chatter 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:19.279 because we have an exclusive interview with Anna Flores. She's 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:24.520 a writer, entrepreneur founder. You might recognize Anna Flores from 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:29.800 the digital platform and community space We All Grow. This 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:34.839 has been a thriving space for Latina entrepreneurs and it 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:38.559 was somewhat shocking when Anna Floores announced recently that she 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:39.919 sold the company. 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:43.199 We are really excited about this interview because this is 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:45.960 the first time that Anna is getting on a podcast 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:48.840 to talk about the decision to sell We All Grow, 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:52.880 how difficult that was, and how she's pivoting. This is 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:56.160 a really important conversation for any Latinas out there who 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:58.760 have a business, who want to go into business for 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:01.720 themselves and thinking about how you can have a mission 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:07.640 driven project while also surviving under capitalism. This interview has everything. 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:10.399 It's a lot of wisdom from Anna Flores from all 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:12.600 of her years of work, So you want to tune 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:13.720 into this conversation. 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.760 Hi am Anna Flores. I am a mom of a 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:22.760 teenage girl about to graduate. I am a daughter of 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:26.240 Salvadoran immigrants. Was born in Houston, Texas, grew up in 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:29.119 sad Bad, grew up by lingual, grew up by cultural, 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:34.520 and currently live in Idlewild. And I'm transitioning from my 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:38.360 stage of an entrepreneur to a writer and it feels 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:42.560 so good to finally allow myself to call myself that. 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:46.080 You know, if you're comfortable, I'd love to know more 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.480 about this transition that you're on and just the journey 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:52.480 of We All Grow, because as you know, look, I 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:55.240 thought our radio is an audio archive and would just 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:59.160 love to capture the journey that was We All Grow. 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:02.520 Yeah, I love that. First of all, I am so 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:06.720 grateful that We All Grow brought me to be in 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:09.639 circle with women like you. It was because of Wheel 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:12.000 Grow that I got to meet both of you, that 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:14.680 I got to meet Lokat that. I remember the first 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:17.000 time I met you. It was like at a pod 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:20.520 uh it was like a podcast Latino Podcasters. I beg 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:25.680 back then, but that's that festival. Yeah, and it was 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:27.560 like the beginning of podcast and I was like out 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:29.799 there doing my work. People don't know that would really 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:32.160 show up to places just to like scope out right 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:34.359 I was like, who am I Like, we're gonna get 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.560 podcasting into we all grow into the summit, Like who's 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:39.799 out there? Who are the Latinos doing this? And y'all 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:42.360 were there. You were like one of the first. So 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:46.400 congrats on your journey. And where do I even start? 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:49.799 I mean, yes, like you said, it started. It started 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:54.800 out as a as an extension of a blog. I 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:56.800 was a mom blogger. I was one of the OG 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:59.360 mom bloggers back in two thousand and nine, which is 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:01.639 so funny because so many of us are finding ourselves 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:04.960 now in substack because it feels like the og blogging days. 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:07.480 But yeah, I had a blog called Spanglish Baby for 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:12.080 parents racing bi lingual and bicultural kids. I co wrote 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:15.840 it with a friend and it was just life changing 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:18.600 for me to find this medium right that now has 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:21.240 given so much to so many of us on the 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:24.800 positive side, and what it allowed me was to understand 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:27.720 that I wanted to dedicate my life to really in 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:30.919 an unconventional way. At that moment, I had always been 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:34.320 creating for the Latino community. Asked to be producer for 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:37.560 major industry, for major companies like when We See You 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:40.200 on MTV, et cetera. And finding this place where I 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:44.400 felt that our voices could be democratized just felt like 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.120 a world of infinite possibilities to me. But to do that, 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:49.920 we had to monetize, and very few of us were monetizing. 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:52.560 But I was figuring out how to monetize thanks to 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:55.600 the black and white mom bloggers. They were the ones 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:57.760 really opening the doors for me and saying like, hey, 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.040 come here, I'll teach you. I'll teach you and you 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:04.160 take this to the Latino community. So was I a 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:09.240 token Latina? Yes? Did I make the best use of that? Hell? Yes? 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:12.520 I was like, you give me permission, Like, not permission, 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:14.600 you open that door, I will crack it open and 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:17.120 I will bring all of us with us. And that's 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.440 what I did when I launched Latina Bloggers Connect, which 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:23.200 is now we all grow. But it really started as 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:26.920 a blogger network, so before influencer marketing even existed. It 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:29.560 was like even hard to call it. People didn't understand 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:32.200 we were doing. I was like, I'm connecting bloggers with brands, 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:34.880 and we were the first ones in the world to 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:39.400 connect Latina bloggers with brands. So obviously it grew really quickly. 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:40.920 I mean I was on my own for like the 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:44.360 first ten months, and I had no idea what I 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:47.240 had got myself into. And that's why I think I 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:49.240 went from being a writer to office sadden. I'm like 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:52.040 an entrepreneur and I'm having to learn all these marketing 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:57.120 terms and I anyway, it was crazy and from early 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.599 on like it just became really big. But at the 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:02.200 heart of everything was always a community. For me, it 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:06.480 was supporting each other and that's why eventually our mission 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:10.920 became our our slogan to say was to elevate the 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:15.080 voices and stories of latinas. But the very first original 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:18.000 motto was when one grows, we all grow, because that 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:21.120 was what was at the heart of what I was doing. 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:23.120 I was like, if I'm going to learn, I'm going 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:25.320 to teach my fellow bloggers as well. And if I'm 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:27.760 going to monetize, I'm going to help them monetize. And 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:30.280 that has always been the spirit that has carried us 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:33.800 throughout all of the pivots, throughout all of the changes, 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:37.000 because what happened was that being at the forefront of 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:40.400 the digital media space back then meant that we were 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:42.560 like one of the first on Instagram, the first to 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:47.280 start I remember like for brands like Nutrigena, loreal or 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:51.320 we were creating their first Instagram campaigns with influencers. I mean, 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:54.719 think of how crazy that was way back then and 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:58.120 how things have changed. But no matter you know, how 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:02.479 the landscape has evolved, we've always made sure that we're 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:07.800 listening to where Latinas are and then joining them and 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:10.679 their journey and seeing how we could support So whether 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:16.120 bloggers became an entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs and podcasters, podcasters and then 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:19.080 career professionals, everything, we were just like, we just wanted 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:21.960 to make sure that we're supporting all. So eventually it 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:24.680 became the amigahood because at the end of the day, 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:27.839 it's about the friendships that we're creating. That's what makes 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:31.000 us powerful, is how we're supporting each other no matter 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:35.320 how we're approaching life and our growth. So that's the 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:39.640 we All Grow story. And yes, we sold it at 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:42.000 the beginning of this year. It was a bit of 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:43.640 a fire. So if you know me, you know I'm 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:45.880 always gonna be honest and might be here like woo girl, 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:50.559 I got millions for this. No, no, it was really 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.800 sad because we were a bit of not a bit 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:59.200 but not as victims, because I will you know, I 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:04.360 think it's important for all of us to recognize, recognize 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:09.120 where we can learn things right. But at the end 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:12.280 of the day, it was the Trump administration with the 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:17.120 DII executive orders coming in like rapid fire that pretty 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:19.880 much did us in. I was like, I cannot do 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:24.680 this anymore. We've sustained, right being in that mode of 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:29.160 constantly trying to get ahead because our business model was 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:33.520 very much being independent. We worked with brands, which was great. 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:36.320 It sustained us and we were like alchemists. We would 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.600 grab the brand's money and you know, transform it into 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:43.440 something beautiful for the community. But as you might, as 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:47.080 you know, it's getting harder to work with brands and 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:50.120 also be in a mission driven community space, right and 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:55.720 and for me being trying to stay congruent with my 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:59.800 personal values and what I support and then having to 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:03.360 take brand money where maybe they didn't align with my 0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:07.880 personal values. So that disalignment, that misalignment, that disconnect started 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:10.720 from me years ago. It was always there, but it 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:14.480 was just starting to grow more and I and it 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:18.240 was making it really hard to keep monetizing that in 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:23.880 that way. It was it was getting hard the last 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:27.320 year as well, because we made a decision to cancel 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:31.960 a new two day event because there was a big 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:35.320 hotel workers union strike happening in southern California. There was 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:38.280 like one hundred and sixty something hotels being affected, and 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:41.120 one of the top three hotels that they were targeting 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:44.520 was our lovely that new hotel Maya, which all had 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:46.880 been to a few years. And we found out six 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:51.119 weeks before the event, the majority of the union workers, 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:54.600 of the workers in the union, our Latino women, our 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:58.160 hotel workers, we could not cross that picket line, no 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:02.839 matter how much the financial pearl that actually put us in. 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.280 So we had to made the really difficult decision to 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:10.080 postpone it and then to mentally cancel it in communication 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:14.120 with the union and knowing at the end they did 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:16.200 send us a beautiful letter. I mean, it took almost 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:18.199 ten months after the event for them to finally come 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:20.120 to the table and negotiate and be able to come 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:22.720 to an agreement, and they sent us a beautiful letter 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:26.840 telling us how much us canceling had actually been supportive. 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:32.040 And it's really difficult when you're like, yes, this is 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:35.160 the only way, this is what's congruent for me and 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:39.600 at the same time seeing how it was sinking our company. Yeah, 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:42.520 we had to refund a lot of money. We had 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:46.880 to for most of the year last year work only 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:50.720 on make goods, and we kept up a really good front. 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:55.000 But it was very difficult. As you know, I transitioned 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:58.800 from as co CEO I had Barton and Coco three 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.640 years ago. Because yes, the redcrumbs were there. I was 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:04.199 already transitioning out and trying to do it in the 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:07.000 most graceful way and leaving the company in the most 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:12.079 beautiful hands with Vanessa Santos. But unfortunately, you know it 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:16.040 it the being an election year, having had to cancel 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.240 that conference. Election years are always difficult, and then having 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:23.839 the administration that we have the brands that you know, 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:30.760 we really depended on FROs. You've seen it either there 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:35.439 being boycott it and we can't touch or they have 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:39.040 frozen everything to the point where one of our really 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:45.760 big clients, No, unfortunately had to tell us that we 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:51.400 needed to change our proposal so that it wouldn't focus 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:55.720 on Latinas. That's when I knew that we were done. 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:59.120 Thank you so much for bringing this up, because this 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:01.719 is so much much of like the unseen labor that 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:05.599 goes into being a founder and entrepreneur and being this 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:10.240 like culture maker, this like community builder that you are, 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:15.839 and so many Latinas and women have benefited from. We 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:18.400 all grow as a digital community and then as an 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:22.200 in person community, and clearly, like a lot of us 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:24.800 didn't know what was going on behind the scenes. So 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:28.840 I really appreciate your vulnerability in sharing this so openly 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:31.760 with us, because it really puts so much into perspective 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:34.679 with and you know, we feel it on our end, 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:37.800 you know, in terms of having to say no to 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:41.679 doing maybe certain brand collabs or ad reads because our 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:46.679 community is fierce and they know, like if there's a boycott, 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:48.800 if there is a brand that we should not be 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:51.280 supporting right now, they don't want us to support it. 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.280 And I'm sure though we all grow, community is the same. 0:11:55.200 --> 0:12:00.959 Oh gosh, yes, absolutely. And I actually chosen to not 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:05.240 do to not record podcasts right now or like, I 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:07.680 just got an invitation to another LinkedIn live and I'm 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:10.559 pushing everything back because I'm focused on the manuscript, but 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:13.840 I really wanted to talk with you. I really felt 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.040 that this would be a good place to share a 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:19.000 little bit of the story that in. You know, I'm 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:21.319 writing a book and i'll and I'm writing on my 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:25.679 sub stack, and I am being there. But I wanted 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:28.760 to bring a deeper perspective and a deeper nuance. I 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:32.360 know that the community, one of the most beautiful things, 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:34.240 aside from all the women that it has brought to 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:38.680 my life, was really seeing that the level of trust 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:42.400 that we have, we had created and that for me 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.600 is the most valuable currency that exists. 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:45.880 Right. 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:48.400 We were not going to break that trust, and thankfully 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:52.240 in fourteen years we never really were called out, canceled, 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:56.400 et cetera, which is a lot to say in this environment, right, 0:12:56.960 --> 0:12:59.959 and it was because we always moved with our entire 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:03.599 as much as possible. But the sad part, and this 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:09.160 is where I don't know what the answer is, but 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:12.920 maybe it's about starting the conversation, is how much are 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:14.920 we all dying in the sword? 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:15.720 Right? 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:20.040 Are we putting ourselves there? For example, I'm all for 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:23.120 boycotting Amazon and Target and all this, and then I 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:26.960 think about all my friends that have businesses that rely 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:30.839 on us spending our dollars, and Target and Amazon that 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:36.640 have investors that they that are that have invested, have 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:39.640 betted in them, and they have taken really big risks 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:43.200 to have their products on these shelves, and removing their 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:45.560 products from the shelf is not like, oh, just stop 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:49.880 selling there. It's gonna cost them about a million dollars 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:54.959 just to remove their products from the shelf. So who 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:56.400 wins and who loses? 0:13:57.120 --> 0:13:59.559 Yeah, this is a I think a question that we've 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:03.640 asked internally along these lines, and I wonder if you 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:09.120 have reflections for our listeners about being mission driven, community 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:13.839 oriented and surviving capitalism. Can we do both at the 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:18.079 same time? Does capitalism allow for it? And are the 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:23.560 boycotts of today of ultra mega multinational conglomerates like Amazon. 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:25.960 Is this the same type of boycott that I think 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:28.800 maybe many of us are thinking of, like the UfW 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:31.680 and boycotting table grapes. These are not the same types 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:33.840 of boycotts and they do not have the same types 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:37.640 of impact if we think like historically and labor movements. Right, 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:41.880 So I just lob that over to you your reflections. 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:48.080 Let's start with the easy conversations. First. It was my fault. 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:48.840 I let us hear. 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:56.400 You know, it's definitely I feel such a sensitive subject. 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.880 But I think, first of all, I am a very 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:08.400 positive person grounded in reality. We're not going to bring 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:14.280 down capitalism in our generation. We're not. So if we 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:17.680 continue trying to do the impossible, what's going to happen 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:21.240 is that we're going to exhaust ourselves. We're going to 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:26.960 continue to affect our mental health, our physical health, our 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:33.520 financial health. And that's exactly what they want. They need 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:36.640 to see as poor, they need to see us fighting 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:39.320 with each other, et cetera, because that's how you manipulate. 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:46.600 And instead, I think it's how do we, like you said, 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:51.800 exist in this reality while really understanding what the possibilities 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:55.520 are and how it can shift when we start supporting 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:59.120 each other for fucking real, because the reality is that 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:02.360 we don't. As Latinos. We put up a really great 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:06.560 front that we do, but we do not show up 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:08.000 when it matters. Can you say? 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:09.920 Can you say more about that? And I don't mean 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:12.360 to interject, but I would love for you to expand 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:15.280 on that this kind of Manian optics that Latinos are 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:17.480 very supporting each other, but maybe we're not. 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:21.240 I mean, we are, like you know, in maybe in 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:23.720 small circles, right, like yes, you call me I'm going 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:25.680 to open a door for you, and it's sort and 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:30.120 that's just humanity and sisterhood as it is, right, there's 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:32.160 a negative the positive. It has to exist in those 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:36.160 both silos. So, but when I see the community as 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:40.720 a collective moving together, we have a really hard time 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:43.320 coming together for one objective. And I'm not even going 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:46.360 to get into politics, because that's a whole conversation, but 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:49.600 that's a reflection and the mirror of what happens that say, 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:55.920 we're talking about these boycotts or about consumer power. Again 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:59.520 and again, we keep seeing from the entertainment industry, our 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:03.320 movies come out, Are we gonna go and support them? No, 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:07.119 I'm an Argentinian and that Dominican movie doesn't speak to me. No, 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:10.240 I'm a Dominican in that Argentina movie doesn't speak to me. 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:13.720 Or you know, so why should I go? You don't 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:16.160 see that happening in the Asian community. You don't see 0:17:16.200 --> 0:17:19.160 that happening in the black community. That's why you see 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:22.920 movies like Crazy, Ritation, like Boom. If y'all know, it's 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:27.800 because rich Asians came together to buy out theaters. That 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:31.280 same model has been trying to replicate in the Latino industry, 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:36.800 and we can't do it. Bring it down to the 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:41.359 consumer level. If you're saying I am going to boycott Target, Okay, 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:44.119 boycott Target, then turn around and go to bloom Me, 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.400 go to Ritel's curls, go to and buy directly from 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:52.800 their website like Transition, move it over. No, don't just boycott. 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:57.000 Understand what the implications are the whole new ones because 0:17:57.040 --> 0:17:59.160 we stay in the fighting mentality and we think we're 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:01.640 bringing down Bizz, so we're not fucking bringing him down. 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:08.080 That is a whole other level, right, But instead can 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:09.480 I support mm. 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:13.320 Hmm, yeah, yeah. And I think that unless you're in 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:15.720 like the product space. And I only know this because 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:18.280 I've heard from Rebecca blue Me, I've heard you Liisa, 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:20.240 but I'll talk about this. But if you're not in 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:23.440 the product space, like you don't know what it takes 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:26.280 to actually get your products sold at Target, you have 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:28.720 like a guarantee that you're going to sell this out. 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:30.720 And if you don't sell it out, right. 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:34.040 So make you remove it and you have to pay 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:37.800 to remove it. Yes, And so as I've seen that, like, oh, 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:39.879 why don't you just take your product out like you 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:41.399 should be boycotting him to It's. 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:45.159 It's not that simple. Yeah, these are they think the 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:47.959 nuances that may be a broader community that really has 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:50.200 no way of knowing because they're not in that space, 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:52.560 right And so this is this is a good point 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:54.480 that you bring up. Okay, if you're going to boycott, 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:57.360 how are you investing then your dollars back into maybe 0:18:57.440 --> 0:18:59.280 these brands that are at the targets or are at 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:00.600 Amazon mm hmm. 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:02.680 And And it's simple, you know, at the end of 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:06.120 the day, it's like it's it's really choosing who you're 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:08.320 going to be supporting with even with your likes or 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:13.000 comments or engagements your shares, as simple as that. Yes, 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:15.600 as simple as that, Like it really like how much 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:17.359 is it sh that? Does it help? Every time you 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:18.440 girls get a download? 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:19.080 Right? 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:24.159 Like do people truly understand how much that helps and 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:27.320 how supportive that is? Absolutely, I'm going to go and 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:30.200 download all your episodes around like I'm here, I'm like 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:33.119 be congrowing you download their episodes right now? 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:36.320 Thank you. I think it's it's easy to forget and 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:38.800 I'm sure you can speak to this with we all grow. 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:43.960 I think sometimes that our community maybe sees the figurehead 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:46.080 the face of the brand, the face of the company, 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:48.919 and thinks like, oh well, it's just dollars in your pocket. 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:52.560 But for every successful company or brand, there's a whole team. 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:55.879 There's a staff, there are folks getting paid, who have 0:19:56.040 --> 0:19:59.639 health insurance, who are able to save for retirement. And 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:04.560 when we're willy nilly like trying to shut folks down, 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:08.960 there's like a whole cascade of people whose livelihoods are 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:11.040 on the line. And I'm sure on your end you've 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:12.080 seen that yourself. 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:17.720 With we all grow Oh absolutely, you know. I'll tell 0:20:17.720 --> 0:20:25.160 you even I think any conference organizer or artist manager 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:28.520 or artist you know, a musician or Etcaida, I can 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:30.639 tell you that one of the biggest I think one 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:33.680 of the most hurtful, not hurtful, not hurtful personally, but 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:37.200 for the industry is people asking for tickets for free. 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:41.359 You wouldn't go and ask because we mentioned blue mey right, 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:43.320 like he give me your product for free, right, just 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:46.280 because why do you think that us putting together a 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:50.080 conference or an event and having to sell a ticket? 0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:52.159 What do you think that a ticket, because it doesn't 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:56.840 feel tangible, is an actual money that we need to 0:20:56.920 --> 0:21:00.399 recover to actually be able to put on a beautiful event, 0:21:00.840 --> 0:21:04.240 a concert, a festival, et cetera. That's another way to 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:09.960 support they see. It feels very easy to do that. 0:21:10.240 --> 0:21:12.320 Those were one of the things that was really hard 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:14.960 for us to manage because I think we really overdid 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:16.919 it with the compying everybody because we went at all 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:18.840 of our friends there and et cetera. But at the 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:21.400 end of the day, that the ticket is the revenue, 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:24.680 or or people complaining right when ticket prices had to 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:27.800 go up, when you're like everything has gone up, and 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:30.960 ticket prices have to go up, and that didn't even 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:33.600 go into our pockets, like you said, it went into 0:21:34.400 --> 0:21:37.800 actual payroll. I mean, I was so happy when we 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:42.880 were able to finally get the team on on health 0:21:42.920 --> 0:21:46.760 insurance like it was the last four years. It was 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:50.399 so expensive to have people on benefits like it really was. 0:21:50.640 --> 0:21:53.080 It really was a hard thing to do. And for 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:55.720 those of you that don't have businesses in California, things 0:21:55.840 --> 0:21:58.800 really changed for us. When was the aby one bill, 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:01.480 I'm so bad to remember the names that was pasted. 0:22:01.520 --> 0:22:04.440 I think like two thousand and nine, eighteen nineteen, where 0:22:04.480 --> 0:22:06.440 we couldn't that was the Uber bill. They called it 0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:10.000 the gig economy bill because we couldn't. We really can't. 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:13.720 It's really hard to have contractors full time. So we 0:22:13.800 --> 0:22:16.000 had to put people in payroll. And guess what, payroll 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:20.040 is really expensive expensive. Yeah, and it's the right thing 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:21.480 to do at the end of the day. Like I'm 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:24.600 glad right now that we were on payroll because you know, 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:27.439 people could get an employment benefits now that the company 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:29.480 closed and we had to lay everybody off, et cetera. 0:22:29.840 --> 0:22:31.840 But at the end of the day, those those are 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:33.840 all the news is in the reality of managing. And 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:39.760 again those of us that exist to elevate to be 0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:45.000 to be very focused in our DEI and the right 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:49.760 communities DEI businesses that used to be called multi cultural. 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:55.400 We're also existing with much smaller budgets, but we're put 0:22:56.720 --> 0:23:00.320 and the same metrics, like we have to prom and 0:23:00.520 --> 0:23:05.119 overperform for the for ten percent of the dollar, the 0:23:05.200 --> 0:23:10.000