The Future is Latina But We're Packaged Wrong ft. Claudia Romo Edelman
On a Banking on Cultura exclusive, we talked with Claudia Romo Edelman, a global mobilization expert who is fluent in 6 languages, a social activist, marketer, and her new title, entrepreneur, who is on the trajectory of taking the tequila industry by storm. Claudia announces her new venture, a health centered stotol tequila brand, catered to the health conscious consumer with a yearning for experiencing latino culture.
What you will love about this episode is the vulnerable and candid stories of how Claudia is thinking about bringing her brand to market. We get a behind the scenes look into her business plan, her thought process, how she is utilizing her social capital, and all the self-doubt she fights off on a daily basis.
You will be blown away by her story and passion for pursuing entrepreneurship, especially if you're thinking about leaving your 9-5, but unsure how to strategically make your exit.
Follow Our Guest:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/claudiaromoedelman
Website: WeAreAllHuman.org
Podcast: ALaLatina.com
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Full Transcript
Welcome back to Banking on Cultura where we talk about the vibrancy and complexity of our Latino culture entrepreneurship and of course all the bonchinche in between now today I have a very very special guest I actually first saw her doing her thing on stage I believe it was a alpha of woman event shout out to Alpha and she was just Dynamite like literally she like blew up the room as soon as she opened her mouth and I was like who is this woman and I was just so intrigued because she was so passionate about Latinas and about moving the Latino agenda forward and you can tell how genuine it was you know some people get on stage and they do a really good performative act but you can literally hear in her tone in her body language in her passion the stories the way she was communicating you could tell that she was the real deal and that's what we like to present to our community here on Banking and Cultura so let me introduce my guests so Gloria Romo Edelman she is a global mobilization expert Catalyst for social change and marketer for social causes she is a recognized speaker media contributor and an inspiring activist she is the founder of the we are all human foundation and co-host of the podcast Ala Latina she is a Mexican Swiss Diplomat with more than 25 years experience and get this y'all she speaks six different languages okay that is just insane and in my opinion she is a true bad ass with class and the perfect amount of sass Gloria welcome to Banking on Cultura I love that a class bad ass with enough sass I love that I never got that but I am going to you know like I'm going to memorize it and use it it is you that is that's how I would identify your persona that's how I I was like oh she's such a badass classy because you're very like put together and you represent us very well but you got this like you know spicy too you know you're Latina so hello we got to we got to keep it authentic in that way so very excited to have you on the show thank you so much for joining us muchas gracias thank you so very much really excited to be here me too so we like to start this show with some so tell us give us give us something we can't Google about Gloria well I would think that I um I mean like you know a lot about my activism I think that you know um or or at least the community have been talking about how much I believe that we can make a change um but I think that you don't know that my father married 11 times for example oh wow I did not know that yes I I never say this because it just happens to be that my dad was looking for true love okay and he died actually looking for true love he was like you know convinced that he could do it I was a witness on three of his weddings so there you go 11 times I know the Mexican Elizabeth Taylor W I love that I love that and something that we discussed when we were prepping for this conversation that I was really interested in having us talk about was the fact that you represent our Cultura so well and you are all about the Latino agenda and educating the world Corporate America about why they need to pay attention to us and why most importantly you have to invest in us because we are the bag like we are the future right but what I noticed is that you are married to a white man and I thought that was interesting for someone to be so in love with the cultura but choose to marry outside the cultura so can you talk to us about why to be honest the this was also this is my second marriage and I was also married to a non-mexican before so look I think that this time around um when I moved to America 10 years ago almost 10 years ago in Cinco de Mayo is going to be my 10th anniversary I'm so to start celebrating I moved to the states without knowing anything about this new group that I was going to be part of so when I moved I came with the United Nations to continue in my Global mobilization circuit I had a very precise agenda which is to create and advanc the sustainable development goals and so very International and multilateral if you want and I started hearing on the side when I moved to New York like you're Latina and I was like what do you mean Latina you're Hispanic what do you mean Hispanic what is that and who invented that world because award because I'm a happy Mexican that's what I know I never heard that word before Hispanic and I know that for Latinos and for everybody living in the States you forget that that's an invention it doesn't exist anywhere else in the world to be all of a sudden Associated whether you're Mexican Colombian Venezuelan all of a sudden you're Hispanic and so I started getting curious about that new group that I was going to belong to but it is when I Married An American that I really said like wait a second this is personal now this agenda because of my choice now my daughter is going to be making 50% of the salary she's predetermined because of my choice to have all the limitations that she doesn't earn like it just like happened to be that she's absorbing um massive overlap on her choices because Latinas are the most underpaid least respected and most undervalued group in the entire country and that's when it really became clear to me that I needed to be all about Latinos I didn't know anything about Latinos until seven years ago I didn't even know that that word existed so it is because I Married An American that I was going to forget about my diplomatic life moving from one country to the other like the last 25 years of my life where I was in Europe that I um that I decided to vest my uh my time and my effort and my passion in what I think it is totally possible which is to make sure that every Latino is seen and heard and valued so this was strategic no no it was not strategic I mean like I I I happen to fall in love with my husband you know like like that was not strategic it just like happened to be that love is love but no no no not not at all it was not strategic it was that look I'm a marketer and I been a marketer my entire life for social causes so I've been trying to win the hearts and minds of people to do the right thing the things that are good for you personally but also for the planet and for the people and for our communities I've done that for refugees for health uh for maternal mortality for tobacco for all kinds of social causes and when I moved to America and I started realizing this community that I was going to belong to I realized wait a second this is the first time in my life that I have a reverse marketing problem it's not the product that is wrong is the packaging Latinos are wonderful we're beautiful look at the data I mean we keep on making this country move we're growing like crazy we're producing we're paying our taxes we're like we're the youth we're everything but our packaging puts us in a very different light so whomever is doing the marketing for the Latino Community I thought is doing everything possible to hide our attributes to hide that we are entrepreneurs that we are job creators that we pay our taxes that we're hard workers that we care so that's when it became for me fundamental to say like I would literally bang my head on the walls if knowing what I know if I am able to if I've been able to mobilize millions and millions of people country after country to do things that I wouldn't invest that into the Latino community so it was more than anything it was one of those in which you know you have to do it because it's our time I love that so you are in an interesting space right now you are about to embark on becoming a entrepreneur and you are launching a liquor line right right right okay and I love this because I love when we come from a background of corporate America or public service or organizing activism and then we choose to bet on ourselves in such a way where I feel is the ultimate true ownership of your life and I would love for you to talk to us about why you decided to make this decision and as a new founder about to embark on this tremendous Endeavor like what are the thoughts going on in your head so I was always an entrepreneur I work for the United Nations UNICEF the world economic form the largest and most prestigious organizations Forever The Mexican government and so on and I was always the one causing disruption within and I was actually recognized for that and put into the creation of masterpieces that could disrupt the industries where we are so that we can make make change faster from moving from an entrepreneur to a social entrepreneur which is what I am today took a while it it really panicked me because I didn't know how to be without an organization behind me and there was one story that all of a sudden popped in my mind when I was like trying to decide on moving towards the Latino agenda as opposed to the UN Agenda which is I saw my resume and it just all of a sudden hit me I was the right hand of someone my entire life and great guys by the way but all of a sudden I started thinking about my dad was a civil engineer and he built highways in Mexico so he always took me from Mexico to Acapulco Mexico to xapa and so on to check his highways and he all always told me like what a great co-pilot you are because I knew how to do the maps there was no GPS at the time and so it was the maps and you folded it I was like very good at like to the right to the left and folded the papers so well and he always told me like I'll take you to my next trip with me because you're such a great co-pilot and without any intention he basically imprinted that voice in my head that was my role is to be a co-pilot the right hand of someone so when all of a sudden five seven years ago I decided what about I want to be the pilot of my Latino agenda M
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it took me a lot to change my root belief that my father gave me and just like simply say thanks but I do want to move into being a pilot but that takes a lot of while like moving the personal barrier the discovering of the voice and then the social barriers and then the cultural barriers that all Latinas are facing it's quite an effort to become an entrepreneur so I left the UN set up the world human foundation with a lot of determination and not without fear but I I was not going to let fear taking the decisions of my life and I saw that with my mom my mom decided she was a basketball player she had three kids and then she you know like couldn't be a basketball player anymore two of my siblings died and so she she was a single mother with me and decided to become an economist and so 5 years while she was an economist serious job she said you know what honestly I want to be an actress so at 45 everybody told her are you crazy no no no no and I saw her go and try her luck and be an actress and I saw firsthand that she was doing it and it's not that she was not scared she was petrified but it was not she was not going to let fear take the decisions of her life it's not that she was fear free but she was she was not Fearless but she was fear free and so for me it was similar by moving towards creating the world human foundation and the same principle of being able to say I'm going to be the pilot of my own destiny and I'm going to do it fear free not Fearless but fear free is what I'm jumping on to becoming an entrepreneur in a very male dominated industry in an industry that I have no idea of and I start commercializing the Sotol that my family has been producing for the last 40 years why I think that I America has a lot to do with it the entire idea of the American dream seeing how I think that the very thing that I'm selling if you want as the image of Latinos is that we are entrepreneurs every one in every five small businesses in America is a Latino we have 45% of the small businesses in this country the very image that I would like everyone to have about you know like Latino is the small business is entrepreneur and there's something that is very liberating to be a Latina in this country as opposed to to Mexico or Colombia or Venezuela which is you can do it here we're 50% of the Latino population 32 million Latinas we take 85% of the purchasing decisions of our families we produce more than $500 billion dollar as entrepreneurs and I took a decision like I want to be one of them I want to be able to control my wealth I want to be able to produce I want to be able to use my entrepreneurial Spirit to bring it to Market but also I think that I have an obligation to my family and to my country my family has been leading this new category of alcohol that is going to be the next big thing for sure after tequila and Mezcal the the story of the family is wonderful and I I want to be doing the Legacy for my family and with that set an example for the many Latinas young Latinas that have to have every time more Role Models about how can you break it into into into Industries where we're normally not present and do it well a lot of our viewers audience members listeners they are aspiring or current entrepreneurs and can relate to wanting to build a legacy to wanting to put your family on the map to wanting to be fear free but we know that preconditioning can sometimes stand in our way or sometimes we are Our Own Worst Enemy so can you talk about some of the internal thoughts that were kind of perhaps shying you away from taking on this risk or making you doubt like can you really do it did you experience those kind of thoughts oh I keep on doing that I am going for it with a shaking legs understanding that I I have been my entire life just one thing just an activist that's everything I know I've been doing you know same wine different bottle my entire life but I've been I'm marketer for social causes and I know how to do really well I know how to build Brands I know how to mobilize people I know how to convey a dream and have people see it and follow it and and make social change now that's very different than than you know like selling alcohol and bottles and so on but at the end of the day I also want to make sure that we take control of our own Destinies that we empower the more Latinas are wealthy and successful the more we can invest in the other entrepreneurs that are out there that lack the very preconditions that entrepreneurs have in this country we don't have access to Capital we don't have access to navigation skills we don't have the bankers that have been friends of our family Forevers we don't have the friends and family capital and knowledge that most entrepreneurs that make in this country are because while there's an American Dream a lot of it is status quo a lot of the entrepreneurs and small and like and businesses that make it are coming from the same entrepreneurs that have made it for generations and like we need to make sure that if we have an idea we can transform it into the next level which is the friends and family round by people like you that get you and I want to be able to be in a position where I am making it not only to give an example and to make it myself but also to be able to pass it Forward because that's how we're going to be able to elevate who we are the success of an entrepreneur in a large degree depends on the network you have and I think that that's 40% of it as a fact so the more Latinas are successful as entrepreneur the more we're going to be able to tie and to bring everybody forward so I'm trusting that Latina entrepreneurs out there are going to support Latinas like me getting into an entrepreneur position and saying like kill kill the fear come on don't have the Imposter syndrome go for it if you have an idea develop it properly um know what the steps are because we are so entrepreneurial but we don't scale up we remain in two to three employees if at all we have a side gig and we're unable to generate more than $1 million in Revenue like only 3% of all the Latino entrepreneurs generate more than $1 million Revenue how do we break that down how do we make more than you know like that 3% make it 10% and that comes from you know like access to Capital Access to understanding access to uh networks and that's what I hope that I can you know like I can see and I can do and then I can share so you touched on a couple of things that I want to take a deeper dive in but first I want to start with you are choosing to do it scared you said with shaking legs what what is your process what is your your formula or your toolkit that you're using to help you combat some of that self-doubt or fear so first is understanding I did go through the Latino business like LBAN and the slay course that um is available for entrepreneurs so I did some sort of training on on on how to build the world human Foundation once I got I I was advocating hard for myself to be able to be in a training course for entrepreneurs even though I was not one so that I could build the world human foundation and scale it so that it could really live the the the the the mission that we were set to accomplish so some sort of training allowed me to believe allowed me to believe that I can do it I am not taking unnecessary risks that could jeopardize um either my activities my reputation my Capital I am doing so so like because knowledge is so key information is so key and I'm surrounding myself by people that are entrepreneurs that are able to share some advice that is clearer and better for me to understand that what I hear from people that are like what what I just went to a webinar I I didn't understand 10% of what everybody said but talking to a friend that has gone through the same probably gives me more information in half the time so I think that being informed allows me to feel more confident I think that having access access to Capital At the beginning of your journey really really helps and I am building up a network of the people that will help me scale but also of the of the people that I can learn from and uh sell to so I think that that's sort of like the key but but but in in reality is the voices in your head that we need to what that we need to procure for so while it's like once you have the hard core like okay access to Capital Access to Networks access to information now the reality is like I'm still afraid I'm still self-doubt I've never done this I'm the first woman in my family that gets into the alcohol business I am taking calculated risks but since I have a podcast myself called Ala Latina The Playbook to succeed being your authentic self I've learned a lot from trailblazers I have made it and I say you need to take risks at the end of the day you need to take calculated risks and uh those are the voices that I try to make bigger than mine describe what is a calculated risk to you so right now I would say I'm in getting into the alcohol category and um I am looking at the consumer data that says there's more than 600 million bottles of tequila sold every month um and that um that growth of uh tequila That is a $9 billion dollar industry is followed by Mezcal which is a much lower volume category but is growing 14% And is calculated to be growing 14% a year for the next 10 years so if I look at that I'm like okay I'm in the winning category because Mexican Spirits are attractive to people um because if I look at the rest which is I'm very data driven and I think that I recommend to every entrepreneur to be data driven and to understand what is it because data turns on lights and when you're like seeing what's happening you're able to take decisions with more clarity so that your your few like the few dollars that we have we can invest properly um I'm looking at beer going down I'm looking at wine going down people are tired of consuming sugar so they want healthier they want more authentic they want more Mexico more Latino Latino is in brand you know like number one beer in the country is Modelo not because we drink a lot but because everybody wants to a little Latino and they like Latino products so I'm looking at that data and saying like Okay I'm in a winning category and so is um is rare it's almost like a tequila but healthier and more rare to find the cactus is different it's called Dasylirion and so while Agave while Agave is really popular and people understand it so to is a male and a female and it's very hard to pollinate and so you need Wings which don't happen happen in the desert in Mexico and then there's bad so the fact that you have already like babies of these SS makes it almost like a miracle drink and then you put that that is in the Sierra and the mountains of the Sierra in the desert is really hard to get these so these is going to be a precious and very selective thing so it's almost like for for people that care about Mexican spirits but know that there's very exclusive very rare uh drinks so being a marketer dreaming I literally am listening to you and I'm like look at this marketer go you are just spitting it out I love it exactly so I'm excited uh on the risk I'm taking because I know I'm in the right category that I can build a story based on not only my family 40 Years of family but I'm in the winning category and I'm not going to invest more or I'm not going to hire more than what I know I can be building little by little so even like the risk that I'm taking is I'm not going to go crazy and put everything in I'm going to see for the F for the first couple of years the growth organic and then uh find the partners that can help me scale you have made the decision to use your own money to I guess plant the seed and start this thing why did you make that decision
Mi gente I need your help look the real game behind podcast is we need to really understand our demo AKA you our audience so that when we go out to sponsors who help us put on this amazing show and deliver this content to you that they can clearly understand who we serve and what is significant to you and what you value and the only way for us to get that information is for you to give it to us so we just created this survey I'll put it in the show notes it will take you less than 3 minutes literally but it will be so helpful for us to get a better understanding of what it is that you care about what's important to you what do you value so that when we're out in these streets trying to secure the big bag and get sponsors for this show they know exactly who our audience is and what you care about so we can bring you the best products we can bring you the best organizations that are out here serving the Cultura the community you so please take a moment and fill out the survey I'll link it in the show notes appreciate you
control I think that a lot of the a lot of the times um Latinos we don't have the fortune to be in control we don't have the fortune to have our own media organization so someone else is telling our story we don't have the fortune to be in control of our finance so someone else is determining how much are we going to make or not in money no I am I have been working and I have the the the incredible privilege to be able to have Capital to deploy and if I trust myself and I look at the data correctly I don't want to dilute my control I don't want to dilute my power until I need it and until it's strategic it's not that I'm not going to take any money at the beginning but the majority of the money will be mine and I will allow my friends and family that want to trust me and want to support me to put little pieces but I want to be in control as much as I can so that I can make more right and also make the decisions make take the decisions yeah right so a lot of noise is made around raising funds you see the headlines where people are like oh this entrepreneur just raised 5 million in this round and they're about to go into their second round and you see headlines like that and you're like oh wow that's incredible they're doing so incredible and I find that entrepreneurs don't understand the control piece they don't understand what happens when you do accept money from somebody else and allow them to kind of come into your space because now they have a voice in what happens in that company because you're using their money what is really interesting about your story and I'm so excited that you're here because I'm learning more and more about you as we continue to chat is you are choosing to self-invest but you do have access to a lot of capital like you have an incredible Network and you're still making the decision to be like no I'm good I'm going to do this on my own what do you have to say to people who have this misconception that if you have a network with people with money and you have some money because you've had a very lucrative career that you are dumb for using your own money to build a project it depends look I I wouldn't want to judge everybody's decision I just know that for me the most important thing that I have is Clarity clarity about where I stand where I need to do where to do it every one of us have limited resources and I my entire life I've been on the on the Poor Side of Life right like for all the organizations that I worked for they had no resources very few dollars we needed to work with nothing and it taught me to be very disciplined about my interventions and my investments so if I was working for Unicef and I needed you know 190 countries to mobilize and say yes we're going to do a campaign for vaccines how do you do that when you have no money that's the kind of thinking that gives you when you're like when you're like when you're restricting resources you have to be very clear about where to go so that you don't spend it wrongly and I know that the data that I just shared about like I am clear about the category is growing my own product is really good I have very limited capacity I don't have thousands of bottles I have very few bottles that my family produces and I don't want to go beyond that because it would require a a dramatic amount of investment of something that I don't know if it's going to be well received to the market that's my calculated risk now what do I have I have a great Network I also know that I can build Brands and create buzz and make things like emotional I I am able to create cool because of my my marketing material my marketing background so what do I do with that then I say like all right so for me it would make no sense to go through the entire chain of uh investing a lot to produce more without knowing to go to the market I'm going to use my network and sell the little bottles that I have and place them as exclusive I'm going to going to private events I'm going to be serving the jet set of uh America that wants to try and taste the Mexican Modern Luxury to build my business model and there's many other business models that's why I want to keep my own control and say like okay what do I have and how do I make it work all right if I hit the 1% of the population with my Sotol because I can because of my network then I think that I'm going to be saving 50% of the money that I would be spending that I can use to produce more that I can use later on to bring more Investments at some point I'm going to need a lot of a lot of investment to scale but not right now so I wouldn't challenge anybody getting their own strategy about like whether they need investment or not what I know is that for me having the clarity of why what I need money do I need it no I can't I can't loophole it like like when you don't have a lot of resources you're very trained to find loopholes and see where you are and I'm trying to find them in order to scale with our low of risks M that Scrappy yes you're like Scrappy you're like going through what you have I love it this sounds amazing did you come up with this plan on your own like what was the process of you getting here to now having the Strategic Vision okay this is what I'm going to do I'm going to Jet Set this is what I'm going to focus on like how did you get here I I've been working on this two years I've been learning and studying and data and doing a lot of homework on numbers and again is data understanding how do you make margin what what is it like is there a volume play game that I want to play or is it a margin game that I want to play I never knew that there was a word called margin or volume I've been a social entrepreneur never having any money so I'm learning and sitting down and watching podcast and understanding a little bit more because I was never an entrepreneur I'm not even an entrepreneur but I am learning as much as I can as fast as I can got to own that title I am an entrepreneur ladies and gentlemen Gloria Romo entrepreneur thank you very much uh it's the first time I say that ever in my life punto um so I'm learning a lot I'm also getting into places where people are because the network again matters dramatically and I would say again using my latinidad as my superpower to build the business model that will help me not the gringos and the distributors or the stores no I want to favor me my country my Farmers my my bartenders like the people that and I'm building that in and I'm definitely going to build my business plan looking at my country the sustainability of the plants taking care of the farmers so that there's no way that a family in Mexico is suffering from the exploitation of Sotol and the Dasylirion I'm going to make sure that a profit of the Sotol that I'm building is going to the people that serve it because the bartenders and the waiters are going to be my sales force I'm not going to use like like gringos to sell my product I'm going to use my waiters the people that are like moving this country because we deserve that type of mentality of I'm going to grow if everybody grows Mexican woman that cares about Latinos and cares about you and you're going to have a profit of this a piece of the ownership of my company which one do you think are going to sell which one are they going to push this is the mentality of unity this is where you bring that Genuine Voice to make your brand appealing and something that people want to be part of what I think is so critical to highlight In This Moment is your skill set of social activism and mobility and collaboration and understanding the social components of humans is going to serve you so well in this endeavor like there's so many transferable skill sets that you are going to be able to apply to this almost like you have been training yourself for this moment I love it you've been training yourself for this moment and all those skill sets are now going to amplify your movement and listen you guys are hearing it first I'm Banking on Cultura because Gloria has never spoken about this publicly in this way anywhere else so you guys are hearing it first and we got to have you back once we like reach the next phase we're going to have some Sotol over here we're going to have some drinks um so make sure you guys follow along on the journey and support what is happening here because this this is like the roots like you're planting the roots and the seeds and now we're going to watch it come to fruition which I love there's one more piece that I failed to say so my first group of investors outside friends and family I will devote a a trunk because I think that as Latinas we don't have chances to invest small pieces in in pieces that you know like things that are either interesting or that you're like I want to be part of this because I believe in it and I want to give money and I want to say I'm an investor I want to hear more and more Latinas that are like all the things that you said like badass and sassy and classy and all that saying like I'm an investor in something and we don't have enough opportunities because all of those opportunities to invest in the things that are good are given to the same group of people it's like the social the the status quo like you know continuing in in their growth and I want to make sure that that's like that's a piece so yeah stay tuned because I'll open it up at some point I love it I'm going to open it up here on Banking on there's one thing I want to touch on and then we'll move into the Talk That Talk segment you have a full-time job you're a wife you're a mom you are a friend all the things where did you find the time to think about this plan for Sotol did you commit to okay I'm going to dedicate 5 hours a week to working on this plan cuz you've been doing this for 2 years you said so how did you discipline yourself to make sure that this is happening so it's it's um it's a question that I think that a lot of my team would like to me to be more disciplined on and about so I had two years of Exploration with all flirting and saying so I I brought 500 bottles to see how they performed I did a lot of parties I saw how my friends committed to it and how literally I was like Wow people don't this at all like once you start they never change for an entire night and I started making jokes and games like okay drink half a bottle and if you have a headache I'll pay you money the day after and things like that and I started bringing to places and so I felt I know the product I can relate to it I feel proud about my family story I feel proud about how this behaves in people's minds so once I stop doing the flirting if you want I needed to move to a commitment time and that's when my I I dance like a Mexican but I work as a Swiss so I pretty much I was like okay so I'm going to give myself this amount of hours a week so that I can start thinking about it um I have a very non- ambitious uh plan for Sotol so it's like how do I take it forward for the next 24 months because I know that I have other obligations so I have to constantly you know like this is exciting so I'd love to like devote 20 hours a day to it but I have to discipline myself because I have a found that is going to is going through a transition now and the leadership team they have a a massive and Senior uh leadership team the C-suite of the world human Foundation is taking over and is is growing is killing but you can't drop the baby it's too fast so I am putting hours to transition I'm putting hours to enter into the Sotol I'm putting hours I'm just like very clear about like what needs to happen now what needs to happen later what needs to happen here and there but it's a matter of this discipline which I I'm trying to exercise because this is very exciting like I'm I'm clear what needs to happen and then I'm planning accordingly which is again something that I know that my team would like me to do even more you say You dance like a Mexican but work like a Swiss what does that mean I you don't want to see my calendar like I literally have everything I am so routinary like I have routines I have you know like I I dream it plan it do it re-plan it do it so and I check on how do I do that constantly I am a planning B so I I know my minutes are the most precious commodity that I have to care for so I don't leave a lot of space for anything else that is not planned so I I in that way I am very like structured in what is not in my calendar doesn't happen in my life so I plan everything routine what does that look like like today what's your routine well every day is the same day in a way is the same so I wake up every day at 6:15 at 6:30 I'm exercising at 7:30 I'm taking a shower at 7:45 I have uh breakfast with my daughter at 8:00 I drive her to her school I come back and while I'm coming back because I drive uh I know people don't drive in New York I love driving there's the Mexican in me um at 8:15 I'm having my first call every day with the uh with a CEO of the world human Foundation at 8:45 I have a te like an organizing meeting with my team and then the day moves on I cannot tell you how much exercise means to me how much uh this structure it gives me um I am a very quarter driven person so I have dinner every Tuesday with my daughter I have every Wednesday I go out with my husband um we do culture most of the time with a dinner and I um most of the time I try to you know like see the pieces like okay so what needs I have weekly uh I have weekly meetings with the people that I need to check in whether it's my family or my son or my work on on C progress very dashboard driven if you want like how are you are you exercising are you okay it's like doctor's okay let's move on how are you how are they exercising and so that's pretty much my my day my weekends now are very very filled with my daughter's volleyball she's a volleyball player and I have been traveling the country going with her um and so I I'm very routinary values um and principles driven so if I say family first it looks like that's the way it looks in my routine as well is there ever opportunity to be spontaneous so I think that I have the 80/20 uh rule for all my life where I try to have 80% of everything I do in control and allowing that 20% for the things I try to eat 80% of the time healthy and 20% of the time not so I have to choose what is that 20% and how do I use it and and so on so if I overdo it or I underdo it so it's a 90/10 so you adjust so so the same I try to have my life in 80% plan and then 20% of the time that I can say like look I didn't think of this but why don't we go to this or I'd like to I'd like to now that my daughter is going to college I'd like to add more space I think that for spontaneous things but I I do like the routine I have to say I do like feeling confident on that that I have a structure where I stand and in control that that allows me to have the drive and the discipline that I need to achieve the things that I want to and if one of the things that I want to achieve is to have fun it pulls into that as well schedule it schedule it pretty much I mean like pretty much yeah I love it so let's move into the Talk That Talk segment so you mentioned your father would often say you're like a great co-pilot you're an amazing like teammate to have and a lot of Latinas find themselves in positions where they are the number two or the number three depending on what's Happening and are very comfortable in that space what are your thoughts about Latina's choosing to no longer be the co-pilot move to being the pilot what is your advice for those who are looking to make that transition but are struggling because culturally they've been taught that this is how you should be and this is okay this is your Norm there are for for changes like that from moving to copilot from copilot to Pilot um which I 1,000% is the case for many people uh that you want to be a pilot there's not if you want to be a co-pilot it's all great right like it's it's a perfectly fine role I'm not criticizing it I I actually loved it for many many years I think that we have to recognize and be able to bring to the awareness the barriers that we face and I find them in three categories cultural social and then personal cultural barriers are the ones that are easier to shake off although it's hard because they are ingrained in our culture and our environments that we don't have the enabling environments enough to shake them off for example culturally you're not prone to be successful you're prone to be the wife or the accompanying person of someone so that's a cultural expectation and so I think that a methodology that works for me is to understand the root belief and G put it in three categories do I take you do I change you do I give you back so do I take you um really uh no I'll change you Calladita Bonita sometimes for me sometimes it's good to be Calladita Bonita because honestly I just don't want to get engaged in certain conversations where I know I have a much better winning strategy than just talking so I do that a lot with my husband for example and that kind of thing where he's like la la la and I'm like M can we go there then you know like it's pretty much you know like I think that we know we know yes so but you have to to make those choices and say like let me bring to the awareness those cultural barriers that are stopping me from jumping into things and do I take it do I change it do I reject it and say like no honestly I just don't want thank you grandmother for all your wisdom that was great at that time not anymore and I'm giving it back to you with love the social barriers are the ones that we see constantly through others like the media where we are portrayed and that is crazy for me we're portrayed TR in the perception of Latina is so negative for us and people don't even realize it I just did a for my social media I did an interview on the streets of New York and I went with a paper saying like Latina are um and I I listed a number of attributes beautiful sexy loud hard workers entrepreneurs uh homeowners and then hard workers and so on so uh physical competence and values everybody to my face said Latinas are beautiful sexy and fire and I was like as a compliment people think that it is great that we're associated with that what what doesn't come to life is understanding not only that we're the job Creator number one in the country that Latinas generates small businesses six times faster than any other group in America and that if we're not seen as intelligent hard workers or potential homeowners our salary depends on that our because the unconscious biases of companies are like okay I'll put you in the reception I guess because you're so beautiful and sexy and so it's that social stereotyping that it's it's like it's really evil hidden on a precious thing so we need to make sure as Latinas that we are aware that we might look beautiful but we need to talk smart we need to be sexy and deliver homeowner Del job creators and we need to repeat that again and again hi I'm Gloria Romo Edelman and my group generates six times faster than any other group in America small businesses we have to say it because that brings the conscious of people and so those social barriers need to be brought to the attention like brought brought to our awareness that we have that perception and then try to combat it by not hiding that we're beautiful or sexy but just like pushing the other elements as well it's almost like if a brand would be only it's it's attribute like for example I don't know like a toothpaste and you're like oh yeah it has acid fluoride you're like yeah yeah but you want more this provides you a smile and this gives you more right like we have to push that brand and the last piece I think is the personal voices what I just said about my dad and the pilot and the co-pilot every one of us has a story every one of us has been told something that puts us in a bucket where you have to take a take conscious and say like wait Dad thank you so much for allowing me to believe that I was a great co-pilot as a kid I know I was a great co-pilot in managing the map I want to be a pilot and I'm sure that you're fine with that because you never intended to limit me with that belief but I want to change it to a new belief that allows me to believe that I could be the pilot of my own story and with that then you can start backing it with evidence we create more small businesses than anyone else once we reach a million dollars the likelihood is we're going to get to 10 and if you start looking at the data you have everything to believe that this is our time and that Latinas can make it I'm I'm so like inspired right now I'm so ready to like take over the world uh and this is why I wanted to introduce Gloria to this community because this is exactly how I felt when I saw you speak on that stage it literally is like every single time and as I'm listening to you I'm observing and I'm like wow like the the communication style the Clarity the authenticity and the competence in how you present and how you speak is so powerful and and I'm just like literally a student right now as I'm listening to you so thank you so so much so tell the people about Ala Latina which is your podcast so that they can tune in and then also what are you doing with the foundation Ala Latina The Playbook to succeed being your authentic self came about through the understand understanding that we are getting stuck in Corporate America we're not getting promoted to the C-suite so we're getting entry jobs we're managing to get to middle level but we're not getting higher and so therefore there's no pip like for corporate boards and so on so we started looking at why why are we getting stuck at the at the higher level why are we not senior and leaders why are we not more in the C-suite and we started counting and the from The Fortune 500 companies uh there's only 50 Latinas that are in the C-suite which is a disgrace we're 30 million Latinas only 50 in the C-suite so we wanted to change that it doesn't mean that there's only 50 but we could only find 50 um many Latinas hide their names and change their names and so it's impossible to see unless they and unless you push them and they're ready to to uh to tell their stories which is what happened a couple of times already in the podcast but so here's what we found we found that there are three main reasons why this is happening number one is because Latinas do not have Role Models number two is because they don't have networks that support them in the promotion that means no network no mentors no sponsors and so on no one guiding you and number three we don't have the Playbook and this is an important one because most of us are the first gen the first generation to get to College the first generation that is making this amount of money the first generation that is getting to the positions where we are so we don't come with manuals it's not that your grandfather told you this is how you do this is how you manage your Millions dollars Amiga like you don't have that so we need the playbooks because we get into an environment and we're like how do I navigate this how do I navigate being senior how do I behave how do I what are the what are the things that I need to know so that I can get promoted so we created the podcast very specifically to get the stories and the playbooks from those 50 women that have made it to Corporate America and it's not only how they made it but made it your authentic self because the other piece of us is that we suppress our Latinidad, that if you're Jorge you pretend to be George uh you come to work with someone you don't even know and that is so bad for our soul it's like we start bleeding and cutting ourselves little little by little and then and then your soul is so fragmented and sad that it's hard to recover from that and then you're going to move immediately to a place where you feel welcome so we needed to make sure that we understand how to get more us to the top in half the time with he the bruises and that's why we created the world the the Ala Latina podcast we moved the Ala Latina podcast from season one to season two and also we created the Ala Latina Network which is the network of those Trailblazers those 50 women so that they can get to know each other exchange with each other be better leaders but also give it back to the next the next gen so that we can create a pipeline of young people that want to be there so we had Ala Latina podcast Ala Latina network with dinners that we started doing so we had our Al Ala Latina Network a la Latina dinner in New York where we had this incredible group of Trailblazers 10 Trailblazers 50 Hispanic star Rising that created that Network and at some point the Latina Trailblazer started talking to them about like this is what I would have done if I would be like talking to myself 30 years uh my myself in 30 years it was moving it was powerful and I know that that Ala Latina as a podcast will grow into a network that will have events and conferences so that we can create that infrastructure that we need it's almost like the YPO for Latinas that want to make it to the top and have the time we have the bruises I love that and then with the foundation the work that you are doing there the foundation is very much set up to mobilize Corporate America and equip Corporate America so we are a little bit like the pepero that goes and talks to the corporate American say like hey did you know that with Latinos you can grow your businesses more did you know that if you hire Latinos you're going to be able to attract more that do you know that there's no way you can sell or hire without our community do you know who to partner here's a list of all the partners that you can have so we work as a strategic advisor to companies to mobilize them we work with 320 companies and on the other side we're working with the Latino Community to elevate the self-regard and the self-recognition so that means we're working on Latino Unity pride and access so that we can be in the places where we need to be and we we do it together so that we can advance more I love it so where can folks learn more about you and all the incredible work that you're doing social media I am Gloria Romo Edelman the foundation is worldhuman.org or Hispanicstar.org and I would love to invite all your guest to join Ala Latina podcast we have a LinkedIn community that is growing and listen to the podcast is really a very straightforward and concrete type of advice if you want to again make it to the top and make it being your authentic self we love it well I'll make sure to include in the show notes where you can find Gloria thank you so much for joining us today I learned so much so I know our community has as well and I can't wait to have you back on the podcast and also join you on this new adventure with Sotol and this new chapter I'm so so so excited for you and know that I'm here to support you in any way that I can and Banking on Cultura and all that jazz because you said you're looking for Latinas to help and to invest and to take it to the next level so here you go you got your first Latina let's go thank you so much for being the platform where I for the first time ever spoke about this I know so amazing I didn't even know that that's amazing I love it all right guys thank you so much for being here I'll see you in the next episode.