The Hustle
Years in Tampa Bay
4 months!
Hustle (job)
Wellness in Color.
What do you do?
I help wellness brands increase their brand awareness among women of color. I connect brands to talent that helps tell their stories. Often times, women of color are not owners of their own stories and brands tend to profit off of their stories, and often don’t include women of color when they share their stories. So through my work I give back the ownership of stories to women of color.
Why do you do it?
I do this work because it’s needed. I think we live in a time that’s very divisive and people often feel like brands should know how to do this work by now, it’s 2018. But the truth is you can only give people what you have. And if you don’t know how to have these conversations, if you’ve never had someone have this conversation with you, you can’t give that to other people. And I want to extend a hand to bridge that gap and become that gatekeeper with them so that they’re not finding themselves in spaces where they don’t have the talent, or they don’t know how to talk to people, or they don’t know how to do the work without coming off racist or offensive or whatever the terms are.
What was your Catalyst? (How did you get started?)
Representation matters. If eel that a lot of women of color don’t see themselves represented and it’s something that we’ve dealt with forever. We’ve always purchased products that weren’t made for us because that’s what was available. Now there are all these movements going on, this is the time to show that you can have representation. A lot of brands say, “If we only had the talent or if we knew how to do this work, we would do it.” And I’m here to extend a hand and say, if you really want to do this work, I can help you do this work.
What’s a common misconception or unknown aspect of what you do?
That women of color don’t buy, that they don’t have money to purchase things. When in reality Nielsen put out a report last year that women of color actually have a huge buying power. They spend billions of dollars every year. Often they get overlooked because they don’t think products will sell.
What’s the most challenging part of your Hustle?
People talk about it but they don’t want to be about it. When it’s time for brands to put money behind what they say, they hold back.
What’s the most valuable piece of business advice/insight that’s helped you?
Learn about yourself. Since I became an entrepreneur, I’ve learned so much about me. About what makes me who I am and the person that I want to become. I’ve learned about the challenges I face on a constant basis that I face within myself. I don’t believe that you have issues in business, I believe that you have things that manifest within yourself in your business. If you have an issue with tending to things on time, with deadlines, you have that issue in your personal life as well, it’s just manifesting in your business.
Why St. Pete?
The beach, hello. Weather, oh my god. How we selected St. Pete – and this is really not a lie – is how many sunny days St. Pete averages every year. I’m originally from Honduras, I grew up by the water so having the beach very close to me was important because it reminds me of home.
