The Power of Reinvention and Pursuing Happiness ft. Rachel Strauss
This week we welcome the multi-talented, corporate executive turned comedic genius, Rachel “La Loca” to the @bankingoncultura podcast. Rachel wears many hats, but one thing she will always rep for is putting Latinos on the map and making sure our creative impact is never overshadowed by traditional norms.
In this episode:
09:06 - Navigating The Challenges Of Reinvention
18:00 - Addressing Infertility Misconceptions In Latina Culture
27:22 - The Importance Of Choosing Yourself And Embracing Self-Fulfillment
35:07 - How Can You Define Your Goal And Evaluate What Makes You Happy
44:06 - Understanding Jlo's Impact On Latino Representation
In this episode:
How to reinvent yourself without losing yourself in the process
Infertility misconceptions in the Latino community and how Latinas can seek help
How to find your happy and live in purposeful life
Why it’s important to have more Latino representation in Hollywood
Follow Our Guest:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachellaloca
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When is the Right Time to Pivot and Prioritize Your Happiness?
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Full Transcript:
Welcome back to Banking on Cultura I am your host Victoria Jenn Rodriguez and I'm very excited about today's guest because you're going to laugh your ass off like she has this energy she has this aura about her she actually is really a comedian she wears so many hats so let's get right into it shall we so she's an actor producer Professor writer philanthropist podcaster voiceover artist and marketer she's a member of the entertainment creative collaborative outreach program bringing her to the US Senate and White House advising officials on key issues and initiatives in the entertainment industry driving policy and legislation as a producer her short film the swimmers has been featured in the 2021 official Latino film festival and the 2023 Dominican Film Festival oh she produces custom content for premium Brands such as Wendy's Frito-Lay McDonald's Dior Beauty the US Census latina.com and the list goes on prior to her creative Journey she was a marketing executive at Latina people in Espanol as well as Heineken USA and I'm talking about none other than the Miss Rachel Strauss Rachel la loca welcome to Banking oh my God hello what an intro is that recorded I guess it is can I play that over and over again like every morning to get me like up and at 'em thank you make it a part of morning routine hi Sis hi babe you know what this is so like Angelic right now because the way that we met you were actually hosting can we call it a showcase go for it so it was a Showcase in Napa Valley with a whole bunch of well educated influenced latinos with Edge cuz we got swaggy out there and you hosted this showcase and you were looking for a volunteer and of course me I raised my hand immediately and I was like me me me put me on stage yo that was the best so I was doing a popup podcast Latinos out loud style and I was doing this like improv activity where I was pretending to do the first Latina late night show yes and I needed like a fake director a fake person to hold up the Applause sign and like a fake script supervisor and you volunteered for all three things the multitasker that you are period it was so great and like I went out to like put on my costume or like my change of outfit and you really got the crowd hyped you that was like your foray into podcasting and you ain't even know it you might be right darling because I felt alive when I was up there okay and I was like just give me a mic and this is where I belong and we just played like off each other so well it was like we planned it yo girl I could not have planned that better meanwhile it wasn't really planned it was like all improv God I hope this goes well and you nailed it for me and for us and for everyone in the audience and Napa and now we're here and now we're here here and know you're like a sister to me I'm like a thank you I appreciate that cuz you need fellow Latina sisters okay because there's too many of us that are catty towards one of another and we need to like do more love you know what I'm saying more Amore Elevate each other more Amore I love what you're doing and I'm so proud of you this is so beautiful congratulations welcome to my beautiful set you know I mean no this is so great this is a real fake wall yes it is yes it is oh for those who are listen hop over on the YouTube street so you can see what we're talking about so we like to start this show with some so give us something we we cannot Google about you right now oh my goodness well you know okay here's something I a lot of changes going on in my life uh in the last couple of years I was married for a long time and now I'm getting divorced M how does that feel do you feel like you're a brand new woman do you feel like you're entering a new chapter like girl I do what are you going through um it's been a like years in the making you know uh we came to terms with it he's the father of my two children and I really appreciate his status and what he does for these kids but I do feel like a new woman I want to say and his sperm so bad yo I said that mad times shout out to his sperm his semen you know what I'm saying the swimmers is based on his sperm so there's a story there yeah shout out to everybody who's got semen okay you know I see you men um but yeah you know just changes in my life I met him so young so I was just out of high school in college and I've grown I've evolved I haven't changed cuz I don't think we change but we evolve for sure and just after so many years a career change a religion change you know a change from not being a mom to being a mom I really love who I am today and I have to put her first and putting her first means I have to move on from this marriage I love that that must feel so like powerful and like freeing to like be like it's happening years in the making better it is happening now so congratulations thank you now when I hear somebody's getting divorced I say congratulations because it's like it's a lot to go through and even though it might be sad because it's the routine of it all comfortable you might have really loved this person and it's the end of something you thought was going to last forever it's congratulations because now you have the opportunity to reinvent yourself and how exciting is that I really didn't look at it that way but thank you for shedding that light because it truly is I'm still like unpacking all of this you know even though it's been years and we're going through paperwork and everything I have two children so that's sort of the sad part of it all for a while I felt like the disruptor like I'm shaking the apple cart I'm like making this family go different directions but I think it's the right direction and if mommy's happy then the children will be happy and the household will be happy and I feel happy girl I love that H what a blessing to find your happy that's what I've been on this crusade to find my happy you know every step of this Crusade you know everywhere like my soul has traveled I've been updating you and you've been giving me so much encouragement again Latina to Latina I love you girl thank you for all that uplifting and empowerment cuz yeah I am finding my happy I found a lot of it I'm still looking for some more I don't know if you can get it at Walmart Target I do find my happy at Target actually I find my happy at retail um o I found this new store it's called home sense have you ever been to it no girl it is like you know how Marshalls has like the home I am such a Marshall's girl yes so home sense is like that times 10 and super affordable say what now it's called home sense my boo put me on to wait uh this past weekend obsessed I'm on it sense locking it in lock in home sense any who so we're getting divorced entering this new chapter and you are no stranger to reinvention because you actually was able to transition out of corporate into this creative space make a name for yourself Rebrand yourself and really tap into what fulfills you and makes your heart smile and I want to talk about that because a lot of the folks who tune into banking on Cultura are in this space of either reinvention they're thinking about the next chapter they're making the transition from the 9 to 5 grind to entrepreneurship or they're thinking about it so I think your story is going to resonate well so talk to us about that Journey how was the transition to corporate to this creative space what brought about it and walk us through the process of it all wow girl I'm going to try to be as concise as possible cuz that also took years in the making I went to school got my bachelor's degree in business management Finance with a minor Latino studies and when I was in school I said to myself I'm going to do something for my people I want to be a marketer but I also want to so I wanted to sort of marry that and that like Multicultural marketing department didn't exist when I graduated so somehow some way I landed a job at Latina U this was years after I graduated I had to work in like you know for other people first in order to make my entrance into the like Multicultural segment ENT shout out to shal Castillo who gave me my first uh in in this like space and I loved it I loved it I love doing events and putting together Advertiser based programs for our people because there was always these projects with purpose you know it wasn't just me like doing things that I didn't believe in I was working for brands that I read and consume myself I read Latina Magazine like clockwork okay throughout like my last years of high school and college so it was like my dream job to be there working at people espanol the same thing I'm like working for the number one brand that serves our community for fashion and beauty and lifestyle and celebrity but and like doing these amazing Red Carpet Events and I really love being there at the center at the epicenter of it and providing it to the community but there was always something like a box that wasn't checked and I felt it every night and that's when I would go do my comedy on the side I'd be doing the shows I'd be doing you know the content you know submitting self taping doing all the acting stuff the grind but all of that as like my side hustle and I just kept feeling like this snowball of like make the side hustle your main Hustle but I'm like yeah but the side hustle ain't going to give me the main hustle paycheck you know so I kept just doing both I mean people at the office I was like the office comedian I felt like my office was like the deli counter like people would put their stuff to print at the printer and then knock on my office door like make me laugh and I'm like I got a deck to do also right now I'm also working on PowerPoint but okay we go you know and I would just like deliver these jokes and I really was the office clown people came to me for that like you know oh I just had a crappy meeting like what could you do to make me feel better be like come on in I got the redo you know like the freaking comedy curandera of the office I love it yeah I loved it too but I was like you know why am I not making money for my funny you know oo I like that line why not making money for my funny and it was time so years later years and years and different jobs later you know I landed a great gig get Heineken and I was pregnant and nobody knew I'm working at a beer company pregnant you know this it's a Dutch owned company family-owned business and so people are like really familial and like going out for beers after work and even during work you know I'm saying like trying the new products in the in the boardrooms and I'd like Sip and spit and like nobody would know like it's really good you know and like spit it back in um cuz I also you know was diagnosed infertile and it was really hard for me to get pregnant so when I finally got pregnant and it was sticking I'm like oh I'm going to take care of this baby this belly like if it were a baby does that make sense yeah okay so like I was really very cautious no drinking no nothing I was in a bubble and again this like now enter motherhood this other box that I really wanted to check so badly I was like some you know you can't juggle everything you know you have to put at least one ball down right so let's talk about this because this is a pivotal part of your story of what transitioned you out to corporate and really doubled down on you was actually your infertility Journey yeah so can you talk to us because Latinas do not talk about this enough about where it started so it started where you had to make a difficult decision and then you had all of these uh events that followed that led you to now this place of happy so run us through the events everybody get comfortable okay if you didn't already and grab a Kleenex maybe or use your sleeve it's fine um so I did get pregnant the Natural Way shout out to semen again and I had to terminate that pregnancy at 16 weeks this is in 2012 because of a genetic abnormality the pregnancy was going so smooth and we were celebrating it was a girl I was going to name her Luna um and I have her a moon tattooed on my wrist just as a daily reminder she's sleeping here she is um just as uh it's it's not so much to be reminded of sadness it's to be reminded of the strength that it took to get to that point and I just want to honor her um and I'm still honoring her and you know figuring that out but it was a very difficult decision as you mentioned you know you get pregnant you're like great this is wonderful let me share the news I told people at work I started showing and then I had to terminate because I got educated on what this genetic abnormality could lead to and that's the other thing that there's just this miseducation on you know we think oh go through with a pregnancy take the chance but I would have put so much at risk had I moved forward with that pregnancy girl like heart deformation the requirement of open heart surgery upon birth a stillborn me getting sick from it so I decided to terminate went through a very really dark period of my life you know for about a year you know if I had to like put a time frame on it where I really didn't think I would ever make people laugh again cuz here I was not laughing myself just crying all the time and weeping and woe is me and you know that abnormality affected one in 1,000 women and I'm like why why am I the one why why am I the one in 1,000 what about the other 999 batches like what happened there but I'll tell you how I came to terms with that it's like God chose me God chose me to be that one cuz he knew I would make it cuz you knew I would persevere and maybe go through oh oh God where are the kleenex um hold it together hold it together I am not wearing waterproof mascara you don't want to see that look it's like the Instagram filter with like the black underneath you don't want to see it God chose me because he knew deep down and I didn't even know that I'd have the strength oh God oh God okay he knew I would have the strength to make it to make the right choices you know to not drink my way into a depression to not do any kind of drogas I don't do drugs you know crazy but I did entertain it I was like I'm going to do every single drug that exists to get me out of this depression but then my friends and close ones were like girl you don't do drugs you like chicken [ __ ] like why would you ever can I curse is that okay like I am mad chicken um like you know so I just got through it um and comedy actually helped me cuz I was able to pick everything back up and be like hold up let me check myself real quick cuz know I was put on this Earth to shift mindsets to make people's days brighter and so what am I going to look like chickening out from that and not doing what I was meant to be and meant to do so I got my act together literally got my act together you know wrote a one woman show about it wrote a film about it started taking all that sadness and redirecting it and putting it towards creative use which I think we can all do you know whether you blog or you keep a diary or you just talk to people which is a great gem like when you're going through something that traumatic and something where you find yourself in this black hole find the creative Outlet yeah I think that's like a key strategy to drive home for people so you got your act together your resilience kicked in you held it down and then you decided to try again yeah I decided to try again but it was really really hard um I had a few miscarriages and so I decided to seek out some help you know we're also talk like we're not taught actually about infertility in this community I mean I'm half Russian Jewish and half Dominican and I have like all the fertile myrtles on one side and all the fertile myrtles on the other you know like cousins popping out six seven kids and they're like like raita to not too I mean they told me I had a broken Toto and I was like wait a minutes she looks good to me we've gotten pregnant before her and I so what's happening now so like yeah I came to terms with this like semi toto roto and I went to see a reproductive endocrinologist and she's like we can help you so I started with Clomid which is sort of the non-invasive route just popping pills to make your eggs fluffier um and that didn't work but it gave me terrible headaches um and then after that I graduated to IUI intrauterine insemination I did three rounds of that and then I went on to IVF I did IUI IVF i i i ion you all the eyes to get pregnant and I did four rounds of IVF two of them stuck and actually interestingly enough one of the rounds I got pregnant with twins cuz the levels were like doubling tripling quadrupling really fast and I was called at my first Latino Hive in Napa I was driving around and my endocrinologist called me she's like I'm so sorry but the levels are dropping and you're going to miscarry and it was terrible I was like dang like here I was like building up all this excitement twins two in one shot Bang Bang you know like I was like that's it we'll close up shop after that it'd be wonderful and then everything came to a crashing halt so lost the twins did two more rounds that did not stick and that was when I needed another break I was like the the the drugs the injections the crazy mood swings the money okay all of it was just like how much does it cost IVF usually cost like 10,000 a round and they like insurance will cover up to a certain percentage and thankfully I was working in corporate at the time but they don't cover the drugs and the drugs are thousands tens of thousands depending on what the approach is and each round of IVF and this is something they also don't tell you each round of IVF according to like what's going on in your body I have polycystic ovarian syndrome PCOS they want to take a different approach each time like one round we suppressed my immune system cuz they thought maybe I had an autoimmune disorder and I was like okay okay let's try so like you know intravenously they they suppressed my immune system I couldn't go near any anybody coughing sneezing hay fever I sound like the commercial for like freaking DayQuil um but I couldn't go near like I couldn't go anywhere near people with you know that kind of uh anything and uh that didn't work then I was going to switch practices cuz I was with one practice I'm like okay I'll try again but again you know I'm a womb Warrior but like we needed a break I also am one to recognize when I need to stop red light collect myself and I think it's okay to stop you know we're taught to keep going women no no no you can't stop can't stop won't stop like no sometimes we need a little like breaks literally breaks on for a break and during that time I also started seeing signs like literal like and figurative signs to like evaluate where I was religiously and spiritually and I became Catholic against my father's will like he was really not happy about it um so you were raised Jewish I was raised Jewish I was raised mixed I have to say like I wasn't Bat Mitzvah but like really deep in the culture okay but also there was this Dominican side and I was going to the like holy communions and always took an interest in like you know the Catholic religious beliefs and practices so I took RCI classes the right of Christian initiation for adults it was mad cool every Wednesday we would bring our little timon's cakes and like it was like like mad people like my age talking exchanging stories and and then we would read the Bible together and I was like what Joseph did what like I was so hyped you know the Book of Job was like what I was it was Mary Magdalene did what like Gangsta I was just like interpreting these stories and making not making them my own but like really connecting with them and being like there's some present day stuff that kind of happens just like this and I also felt like I was getting closer and closer to God you know praying on the on the rosaries and going to church and it just felt right so I received all my holy sacraments in one day I had a sponsor I went about it the good old-fashioned way and I became a Roman Catholic and I just felt like I knew how to pray better like I felt like not that there's any right or wrong way to pray but I wanted my own method I wanted something systematic something that I can go to in the morning in the afternoon at night when I wake up when I'm in the shower when I needed to talk to God like I'd be like hey God yeah different kind of conversation this is this is feels good feels good how you doing today you know and just really connect with God and Jesus and I tell you no lie I got pregnant the good old-fashioned way three months almost to the date like I found out three months later that I got pregnant from the day that you became a Catholic yeah girl and you know the power of three three is the Holy Trinity and just the number three exists a lot in the Bible and I was just like whoa uh coupled with something else that I did I did something something called embo which literally translates a pregnancy in a bottle um like my Uncle brought me but like somebody gave it to him in DR it was like his neighbor like my Tia's friend who's daughter's you know Godmother's cousin made some kind of concoction of like I don't even know what was in it but it was like a big like water bottle from DR wrapped in in aluminum foil so they could bring it through customs and it had a bunch of stuff floating around it like eye of newt like from Macbeth like you know cow testicles I don't know what the hell was in it it tasted like armpit but I had to do a shot of it every night coupled with ra laa um and molasses and I got pregnant you know but I also think okay you could do everything in the world but the key ingredient is Faith and I had this renewed Faith this time around and so that's Donovan eight years later had my baby boy and I was working at Heineken and this ties back to the question you asked me before that was when I made the transition the shift that pivot it was a hard pivot from corporate to Comedy cuz I'm like you know what I'm going to do everything that makes me happy I am a mom now and I'm going to pursue my passion for comedy no matter what it takes no matter the pay cut no matter the questions from my family like hold on wait you're going to go from being a marketing executive to a [Music] comedian does that even make sense
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make sense and it didn't you know and I was already in my mid-30s this is like a jump that you make maybe like in your 20s like the you know like according to the stories and the textbooks but no I was like I'm doing everything that's going to fulfill me and have me live this long life filled with Glee bars Stars okay and and that's when it happened so that's when I never went back you know I took my maternity leave and I I also was diagnosed with postpartum anxiety I needed to deal with that too and going back to corporate would have been a barrier I felt instinctually I would not have been able to take care of my mental working this high stress job and traveling always in the car or in a plane carrying beers on my back and in the trunk everywhere activating these amazing Brands which you know working I worked on some really like iconic programs for the brand the inaugural season of the nycfc like the New York City foot football club that was so dope like activating the brand at Yankee Stadium and like things like that I had to let go cuz that was also fulfilling as a marketer there's these fun programs that you sort of see from Soup To Nuts like from concept to fruition and you see the consumers enjoying it and that gives me such a sense of just Pride and like I did that I did that I helped do that you know I was part of a team and I love being part of a team that can like accomplish goals like that no pun intended goals you know and uh can not with you I know it just comes out and I can't turn it off I love it sorry but it was so fulfilling so I started I got management you know uh and I got management organically I was just out there performing doing my sketch comedy at the people's improv theater and like this wonderful manager came up to me after and was like are you represented and I was like No And so she started to represent me and send me out on self on auditions and a bunch of self tape opportunities and I booked some really great things one of which I'm still in production for which is the Tuttle twins where I play Mrs Tuttle um I voice the character of a Latina mom and it's based on a very successful book series and I'm in season 3 production for that it is so much fun shout out to everyone at Angel Studios you can catch that on the angel Studios app and on YouTube YouTube and on Amazon um and it's so fun um you know I I booked like a great crime reenactment show you can catch me on diabolical season two on Investigation Discovery where I get to murder a senior citizen for TV it was so great but again learning how to kill somebody on TV was so fun um and there's a whole bunch of other stuff some commercials and things that I book that I won't like be so braggadocious on your show about but no Banking on Cultura is about celebrating you thank you and bringing that to light because there aren't enough platforms that are sharing those highlights and those stories and allowing our community to talk their [ __ ] to toot their own horn okay beep beep uh you can go to my IMDb it's Rachel Strauss i i i there's a bunch of Rachel strauss's out there some Rachel Strauss the Third on IMDb if you want to see my credits and stuff but I also took a strong um liking to writing and this goes to like the under representation of us in the media I just saw like all these auditions and all these roles that I was going out for that I wasn't booking and I'm like oh I don't look Latina enough what are you kidding me like I have to look a part I sound her like I sound like her but what what do you mean what does a Latina even look like what what does that even mean cuz we look so different we're like this Myriad of beautiful colors and shapes and sizes and vernacular and accents and hair textures like what how could you e how dare you put us in a box and classify us as one type and then at the time I was gordita like I was I was a thick mama you know I'm still a thick Mama but I went through this like Health you know this health Journey um and I was going out when I was gordita I was going out for like the uh girlfriend of the convict you know the like SVU of like the girl who was like knock knock knock J quick and cutting up the cocaine and dumping it in the toilet I'm like yo I don't even want to do this like but I want to be on television so this is what I got to do to be on television I got to cut the bag of cocaine and dump it in the toilet with my boyfriend or like the girl who was like coming home from a long day of work and having to like go under the crime scene and her projects like I don't want to do that what if I want to be a biologist what if I want to be the writer on a TV show you know what I'm saying so I started writing and I wrote this short film called the swimmers among other things you know a bunch of pilots and scripts and stuff but I really wanted to again take this sadness in my life and turn that frown upside down and have other people laugh so I wrote this dramedy called the swimmers and it got accepted into the national Hispanic media coalition's Latinx scene writers showcase where it was produced out in Hollywood and they got this amazing director shout out to Michael Martinez and these amazing actors shout out to Cesar Carmona and Ariana and these incredible the an amazing casting crew that I would never be able to pay for and they paid for everything I really like if there are any writers out there or actors that just want to level up go to the nhmc dorg uh there are so many opportunities and incubator programs I got to work with uh development Executives at NBC that took my little PDF and turned it into a film and now the film is going through its film circuit run uh I'm sorry Film Festival circuit run um I just got accepted into another one woohoo it's going to be in the glass ceiling Breakers showcase uh film festival happening the weekend of June 15th which is an all female Film Festival yeah which I love so much um I love being part of this like you know P power uh like this power P power is so real bro like so it's part of that Festival coming up and I'm just excited to like further this this craft you know this this like knack for storytelling and telling of the stories like you mentioned that were not necessarily told yes and that we're also told to about so let's get back to the Happy piece because I want to make sure that we drive this home for people if there's somebody out there who is contemplating leaving corporate but they're scared because of the check because of the benefits and because of the hustle of having to like go after your checks What would would be your advice to them because you had shared with me that what do you call yourself Rachel la loca what do you there are times that Rachel la loca is Rachel La broca okay cuz I'm like again Paper Chasing now that I'm on my own I have my own company and I got a paper chase I got to like invoice clients and get my paper and sometimes you know you don't have that steady paycheck of every two weeks where you know you're going to get that salary mhm so what is your advice because although and you know I know your journey is and flows so you be up up I know and then it be down so I get it so you're not always you know Rachel la loca I will say that you're rich in happiness right and that is priceless so what is your advice to someone who is staying in their 9 to 5 in their situation it could be relationship wi because of money and because of the security blanket that they believe exist in the situation that they're in a couple things Victoria I just think that you really need to evaluate what makes you happy and I'm pretty sure it's not going to be money when you really think about it money was buying me the bags that I loved and you know sending me on trips I was traveling the world you know South Africa Zimbabwe Australia Egypt yeah girl okay shout out to the passport stamps you know what I'm saying well sidebar every time I miscarried I needed to travel somewhere where there was a wonder of the world and that was how I found my destinations I wanted to see either a natural or a man-made wonder of the world to put things in perspective like just when I thought it was the end of my world I would see like Victoria Falls the longest cascading waterfall on the planet in Zimbabwe and just be reminded that my [ __ ] is small Pebbles you know these are Boulders these are God's creations and like I need to just get back home and dust myself off and get back to it but my advice would be to do some really strong and hard evaluation of what makes you happy the trips are making me happy yes but like I could save for a trip as an independent contractor or freelancer or owner of a small business that could be more of a long-term goal whereas with that paycheck I was able to book it like two weeks and call my home girls that I travel with like we going to Australia you you know that's okay though that's just that's just there's a longer amount of time that I have to wait or anticipation of a trip budgeting is so key Q4 last year I was Rachel La broker.com I had no gigs coming in my bank accounts were looking real sad you know they were calling me like are you still alive cuz no deposits are coming in so we just want to make sure you still out there and I'm like yeah I'm out here but yeah you know what I'm saying if you could give me a line of credit or something real quick wave the service fees right and that is a great point because I called AMX and I called TD Bank and I called Citizens Bank and I was like I've been rocking with y'all for a while what can you do for me right now and yes they waved some of the fees yes that's a I'm so glad you brought that up um because I wouldn't have thank you um after an evaluation of what what you can and can't do then take action put it on paper and also so your village is so important shout out to my Village I would not be able to do this without my mom and dad with there's the voice getting shaky again my mom and dad my kids father like everybody who's in my life who is wanting to see me advance they are the they have to be there and you have to bank on them and I was not like I guess I could be a Leo sometimes where I'm like no I could do this on my own I don't need nobody but yes I do and I'm okay waving the White Flag you know like surrender so so and that's okay I need babysitting sometimes so I'll call my home girls what you doing I'll cook for you you know and and that's okay too to just ask for help and then Define the goals that's really important like what were my goals what are my goals my goals are to establish these three pillars of my business Latinos out loud the hilarious show and Rachel la loca those are my three business units those are my three revenue streams and that's very clear to me now whereas when I first started I'm like how am I going to make money on my I don't know what I'm so all these things were down on paper and then the bank accounts and the LLC's and the lawyers and all of that you know that falls into budgeting but you need these people and they are part of the village too shout out to all the abogadas on my team okay shout out to everybody who's like knowing my business and again wanting to see it move forward and are still times where I'm like okay I cannot go out to eat for like a month okay it's going to be salami Ina and maybe and you know eggs all day or like oat meal like we can't go out for the steaks M and that's okay cuz the stakes are high and I cannot afford the actual filet Mignon right now but that's okay I get the filet Mignon next month okay I think that's really what it takes just knowing like you said there's going to be these valleys these these lows and then the highs you know where you where I score a new client and like yes I could like go out to eat and like buy myself the makeup that I need or like like when the US Census hires you to do a whole podcast during the election like yeah how cool is that and this is what is so inspiring about your story and thank you for your transparency cuz people will come on a platform and act as if they're making all this money and they're doing this and it's all happy times and everything is great Dandy Etc and I love that you have the strength and the P power to speak so vulnerably and transparently about your situation because you understand that when the highs are high honey they is high and when the lows are low they're low that's just what it is so I appreciate you for for being that I would say resilient and strong and dope as hell to be able to do that cuz a lot of people out here fronting so appreciate you bringing that to banking on Cultura because I want people to hear the truth behind the journey and like what it takes like you have been able to work on some incredible projects work with some incredible people and you found your happy you are constantly evolving you found God you're like in this creative Utopia that people Envy but they'll still get up and go to work because they're making six figures yeah but every day they hate their life like that's freaking dope I was there I was her every day I would like be so stressed and now that I think about it maybe I was losing all them babies because I brought that anxiety and stress on myself your body knows when you're happy your reproductive system knows the same yeah so maybe it was Faith coupled with confidence coupled with just dismissing the toxicity in my life I work with some crazy bosses that had Targets on my back and I would go to work and I would feel the target be like get it off get it off like why I'm a good person what's happening here but like I would take that home with me and the sperm was probably like nah we ain't going to fertilize [ __ ] because she's not happy and we're not going to penetrate the walls of her eggs because she's not happy right now maybe just like I I needed to like talk to the sperm and talk to the eggs become one with the sperm right my eggs were scrambling they were like no we out we are out we're going to fall through your ovaries and fall through your fallopian tubes every month and not fertilize [ __ ] because you ain't happy how you going to be a happy Mom how you going to bring this child to this planet if you're not even happy with yourself what do you want a miserable kid no señor no señora mhm I love it so let's get into the Talk That Talk segment because you are a perfect person to talk about that so earlier this week I went on kind of like a mini rant about Jennifer Lopez and the media hate train that is coming out and just literally tarnishing all her work trying to come at her for funding her own project like hello that's super badass like how dare you insinuate that that's like a form of weakness or whatever and I started to really think about like what harm is this doing to the macro Community like it might yeah whatever feelings you have towards JLo let it be but if you look at it like logically and think about like what is the impact of having one of the top Latina entertainers in the world being ridiculed and literally being on this media hate train like what does that really mean for the community and so in this UCLA Hollywood report that you had sent me with which was really super interesting which basically spoke about uh the current state of Latinos in Hollywood the statistic is only 4.4% of TV leads are Latino and there are absolutely zero Latino CEOs or chairs of major Studios and TV networks so what does that mean that means that the fact that JLo is where she is given the statistics and given that there aren't any Latinos that are putting her on she had to like fight tooth and nail herself herself what benefit does it add for our community coming at her the way that we are I'm so glad you said that and that was so educated shout out again to the National Hispanic media Coalition who did the research who put this media guide together if you go to nhmc the state of the industry real quick our girl from New York from the Bronx is out here with multiple revenue streams and businesses yet our own people which we're known to do are bringing her down so we have some debunking of myths and also some challenges among our community and it starts here it starts at home let's just cut it out okay first of all she is such a businesswoman she's such a great dancer she's an actress she's a singer she's a multifaceted Talent who's doing it and showing little girls little Latina girls that they could do it too she's showing me that I can do it and I'm 40 something years old okay like this is someone we should be putting on a platform on a pedestal I started watching JLo when she was a Fly Girl on a Living Color trying to replicate her moves and stuff I seen her in the That's the Way Love Goes video shout out Janet Jackson and I was just like trying to replicate and I'm like that's all it takes is elevating and showcasing and retweeting and reposting and going to see her films Money Train is like one of my like most-watched I Love Money Train enough you know she did a The Wedding Planner The Wedding Planner she did her whole documentary about the Super Bowl which I thought was fascinating and that was screened at Tribeca and I had the luxury of being three rows behind her and watching it at the Tribeca film fun flex Flex okay that was incredible to she like she showcased what the NFL put her through when all she wanted was the allotted time to her show and they tried to take some away from her and then they told her that she needed to bring in a secondary act so she brought on her home girl Shakira but like the the barriers that they put in place again why NFL this woman is bringing you a show and a half and I'm just like and they were actually the highest viewed Super Bowl act but then we had Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl and they trying to make it seem like Usher is the reason why they had the most viewers but I mean not to take away from Usher cuz he fine and he did his thing and he did his thing yes he did roller that was crazy more people were definitely tuning in to football period because of Taylor Swift like let's be for real but prior to that it was the JLo and Shakira halftime show yeah and you're right that had the most viewers I talked to some of my peers and they hate on her and I really can't understand why so let's just keep advocating for her is my advice let's get educated on what this woman is really doing cuz I feel like the haters look at her facade and like they ridicule and pick at the things that we really shouldn't be picking at like her relationships let her girl that's her private business we can't relate to that like all of us got things in our relationships that we're not proud of we're embarrassed by that we wish we never did that we regret like let's get it together like people putting themselves on a pedestal she's a whole business case but I want to get into the stats of the state of the industry because again this is bigger than JLo so talk to me real quickly about the state of the industry and then we'll let people know where they can find you well basically if you go to see this report you'll see that Latino's over index like as movie goers we over index in like the liking and loving of franchises like Fast and Furious you know Disney got the message Disney's putting out all this content for us by us but also it's for everyone it's Universal like I think there's a a statistic in there that says that we're a fourth of all movie goers yet less than 10% of us are on screen and behind the cameras and zero CEOs of major like Studios so okay here's what I'm doing to make a difference okay I'll share that case study because I think we can all make a difference I always say to myself look I'm trying to move the needle and whether I move the needle a tenth of a degree it's still in the right direction so if more of us start podcasts and write and share stories and submit to these incubator programs and try to cross over and get these mainstream Executives these non-latino Executives to like pay attention we can do it together we need to unite and do this and and just keep being creative I think we'll be able to do it and I'm already seeing a shift I have a good friend of mine my former boss from people in Espanol shout out to Fabian Castro he's the Executive Vice President of Multicultural marketing at Universal Pictures he's making a difference shout out to Christian a Latino a Puerto Rican director who's killing it right now who there was a film that he's got out now that he injected salsa music into it's those little things that are moving the needle in the right direction so here's how I'm doing it I'm doing the Latinos out loud podcast and I'm interviewing Latino entertainment Pros that are making strides so that they can share what they're doing on set behind the cameras like Chris Marcato and those stories are going to be heard you know I don't have a I don't have Joe Rogan listenership but I feel like there are people listening that are like oh snap I didn't know I could do that college students who are like hm I'll maybe shift my career shift my career trajectory rather or maybe declare a major in film making because now I'm seeing some of me doing it so I feel like we need to think long-term and also get more of us in the pipeline get more of us in the funnel you know because if you get you know how a funnel is if we're on top a lot of us are going to make it to the bottom of that funnel and get out there and produce and create the films for us by us so there's a process here writing to me is really important right now because I want to write the characters that I want to see on television you know in films on podcasts in books I don't care where my writing goes yeah I just want to see you and me and I want to see the non-size 4 girl I was a size 14 for a really long time and that's like the average size of women in the US Marilyn Monroe is a size 14 but yet we don't see her depicted on screen we need to see more of her was a size 14 wow so what I'm hearing from you and this is a takeaway from the audience and then I want you to tell folks like where they can find you and be obsessed with you like I so the takeaway here is that in order to move the needle ahead you need to produce like you need to get your creative juices running you need to take the risk bet on yourself get to writing get to producing start the podcast write the book you know start your talk show whatever it is that you want to do just start and do it because that's going to continuously push the needle forward and if you're not a creative support those that are doing it yes I love that buy movie tickets go to film festivals listen to the podcast share it all the things all the things okay Rachel so tell people where they can find you sure you can follow me at Rachel la loca r a c h e la loca and Latinos out loud the podcast is on every platform we're on YouTube iHeart Spotify everywhere Alexa you can even ask Alexa for us um and yeah I have shows I have an upcoming show at the people's improv theater if you're in New York on June 15th also the film festival the glass ceiling Breakers Film Festival is that weekend but I think Instagram is probably the way to go that's where I'm it's like my billboard that's where I put everything but I'm on Twitter the Tik Tok the this the the LinkedIn all of it all the things yeah well Mi gente thank you so much for being on Banking on Cultura for your Spirit your vibrancy your energy your resilience and exemplifying that there is no low of lows you can always find your high so thank you for that appreciate you and thank you for tuning in to this episode and I'll see you on the next one I hope you enjoyed today's episode make sure to leave me a comment make sure to subscribe if you're listening on the audio streets make sure to leave us a review and I can't wait to see you on the next episode till next time guys.