Building Community and Overcoming Social Media Backlash with Kayelani Vasquez
In this episode, we explore the highs and lows of entrepreneurship, the journey of building a community of women, and the challenges that come with creating a successful event series. Expect candid conversations about the behind-the-scenes realities of entrepreneurship, including the challenges of maintaining authenticity and resilience in the face of public criticism.
Kayelani Vazquez, CEO of Boss Babes & Brunch shares her inspiring story of leaving her corporate job to pursue her passion full-time and the realities of making it happen. Whether you're an established business owner or just starting your journey, this episode is packed with insights, inspiration, and a bit of bochinche to keep it real.
In this episode:
05:12 - Streamlining Women's Event Planning
09:49 - Entrepreneurial Challenges: Managing Customer Satisfaction
19:33 - Controversy Boosts Business Growth
31:09 - How To Start An Event Planning Business
42:04 - Morning Routine And School Run
48:55 - How To Replace Mean Girl Energy With Empowered Leadership
Full Transcript:
What's up everybody welcome back to Banking on Cultura I am your esteemed host Victoria Jenn Rodriguez and I'm so excited to have you back here on the show and today I have a guest that I'm pretty sure will be doing a lot of kinging we'll be doing a lot of laughing but most importantly which is my favorite part when I have amazing gases we're going to keep it so real and so raw um and talk about something that is thriving in the community right now but not in a good way so without further Ado I want to introduce Kayelani Vasquez welcome to banking on cultura thank you so much for having me Jenn it is absolutely a pleasure to be here um and yeah we're going to do a lot of keying like literally when you're with me girl you know the Vibes I I I know the Vibes so tell the folks what it is that you do yeah so I'm the CEO and founder of Boss babes and brunch and we are a female identifying networking experience not only traveling um across the globe um internationally really so yes across across the globe right all over we worldwide out here we worldwide baby um to bring communities of women to together to uplift them and Empower them or bring out the power that they already have within right elevating them and making sure that they're setting the tone for themselves and making sure that they're just creating the dream life that they want um both professionally personally um in life and in communities I love that and it's basically like brunch sty right it's like a brunch sty experience where you just bring ladies together different walks of lives to Kiki eat some good food have a good time I actually had the pleasure of going to one of the experiences in Miami which was a lot of fun it was hot that day girl right it was so hot girl it the humity had my curls popping though that's the only good thing that I like about it yeah it was so hot that day and yeah it is over brunch um but we talk about business too right like we get stuff done and we're giving women the foundational work that they need to be able to take this idea that's maybe planted in their heart and in their minds and literally Elevate that right um in a space where sometimes they feel like when you go to corporate Summits or you go to um conferences you feel like maybe you can't really be um so we're going to be talking a little bit about that and and how we do that at boss babes and brunch I love it so okay so boss babes and brunch has been around how long now um so we will turn two in May wow congratulations than and did you start doing it fulltime or did you start doing it part-time um I went full force like full force like I'm all in let's do it so what were you doing before I was a working as a pediatric care coordinator um at a nonprofit okay and I got married in 21 I've been with my husband for 16 years now oh wow congratulations to you I would say something but you know I want to keep it PG no we do rate it our I to say you know I've been with the same Pei forever listen but I love him and he's so supportive and all of that to say that we got married in 21 and right after my wedding I said listen babe I think I'm leaving this job and as supportive as he's always been he was like babe do it like if it's in your heart to do something I got you I support and so ever after our wedding it was June I gave myself 6 months and I left corporate and I was like Deuces like I'm out um and just started you know ruffling a couple feathers along the way but here we are I love that and we love a supportive partner a supportive zatty shout out to all the supportive daddies out there we love and appreciate you guys uh okay so two years in so let's talk about what that journey is like the beginning Journey cuz sometimes I have guests on and you know they're way ahead of me they're like like in it they're doing it but like I love to talk about the beginning because the beginning is when you truly are able to like shape yourself as a leader uh as a business person um as a I would say a well seasoned oiled machine you kind of like set the foundation at the beginning so two years in so how have you been able to create this experience internationally two years because I know that must be an investment that you put up front right when you are hosting these events absolutely yeah I mean where do we start yeah let's start at how much it costs to actually host like cuz I know we got a lot of people who love to host experiences so how much realistically should you be thinking about if you want to host an event literally anywhere between 25 to 30k yeah and we're doing this I'm doing this every 3 months wow literally selling out every single three months right so I do one quarterly um and I do them in different states and so that's the challenge right because it's like how do you even bring out these women to the different states or internationally how do you travel with this um and it's a lot of like being tenacious it's a lot of plug andplay I literally copy and paste what I do in every state right to make sure that the community feels heard and seen and these are women who are who've never connected with each other before um so I keep that in mind and Word of Mouth goes a very very very long way but it's also hard because some of the times I take take away from family right I take away from my daughter I'm a mom I'm a wife um so I have to wear all the hats and I'm taking away from that to have to also invest in Boss babes and brunch yeah um and when I am doing that right like driving distances two hours to get here let's just say for example I think that's a lot of the things that people don't see yeah um how much it takes to really invest in your business and when you are starting up right you know it it's like you are making a name for yourself you are Paving the way so that you can make sure that as you continue in your journey this is something that is reputable um something that you're passionate about that people believe in as well that they want to support that they're happy to support and it really does show as who that person is right so for me it's like my face is everything so where did you get the money to like host your first event through ticket sales okay but you had to put money down no first on the venue no no no so a lot of it is through relationship building um and going into the venues and speaking to the venues and saying Hey listen this is what I'm doing do you support this idea and with that being said a lot of venues are like yeah let's make it happen and then I just start selling you know for women to come and I wouldn't want to say selling because that's like that's not what it all is about but telling women this is what I'm doing are you interested are you behind this do you want to sit in a high Vibe um Community cuz that's what it's about Community for me is everything and a lot of women have said yes um not once really tackling a corporate sponsor so a lot of what I do is just the women in the room so you are bootstrapping a lot right now but wait so when you go into these venues you say like is there like a contract say I can guarantee I can bring in this much money but I can't pay you up front I can pay you like after yeah so I do a deposit I do a deposit I do a deposit and then everything else that's paid is through the revenue that I'm getting like whatever's coming in um and then I guarantee yes a certain amount of women so depending on the space And depending on the city right never very rarely do I get less than 100 um normally I get over 100 women to join and I mean so now knock on wood has been working um so I think that it's it's been very successful and again it's the relationships that I'm forming with these venues and just putting it out there this is what I'm doing are you open to this yeah yeah yeah it's hard because I know I do my annual women's event every year and we have like just under 200 women and I can't even think about doing that multiple times a year because it is so much work that goes into it but what I'm hearing from you and what is cool and I think also has helped you save some time is you kind of have the same framework that you just reintroducing into each city which which is helpful I'm sure so planning these events New to the game hosting events for women from all different walks of life what's some boniche that comes with this because I know I knew there's so much that comes with not only being a new entrepreneur two years in the game trying to figure it all out but also like making a promise to deliver a specific type of experience like that's not easy so so what's a about this yeah oh girl where do I even start with that right like you tell me what the B is cuz we both go through this um I think it is that right making a promise definitely to deliver something and then not having it pan out exactly how you anticipated um I have had this happen to me and it has been very hard for me to navigate because you don't want to make anybody upset right you don't want anybody to have a bad taste in their mouth about your business especially when you are a new entrepreneur you want people to believe and come and be happy and excited but when [ __ ] don't go exactly how it's supposed to go guess what you're getting you're getting the backlash um and you're getting it fast and it's coming at a at a rate that you sometimes feel like you can't even control because people are always going to talk they're always going to have an opinion about something yet they're not the ones doing the work um so for me personally what I've experienced has been just that right having people talk and not be happy um and the way I've tackled that is I've said I'm sorry multiple times a multitude of times um and I just keep going I keep pushing because if I allow that to keep me stagnant guess what's going to happen I'll never host another Bunch experience again totally right so it's knowing okay what battle are you gonna fight um how are you going to push forward how are you going to move forward as an entrepreneur because everybody goes through this [ __ ] like everybody goes through this hardship especially when you're in like um I mean service based product based it doesn't matter you're always going to have customers clients who are not 100% satisfied and you're never going to be able to do that for everyone all the time every time but it is a hard pill to swallow when you do disappoint someone that has invested in you like that's not easy and listen with today's environment like people are so quick to let the world know about their experiences like it is just this is why people don't become entrepreneurs because they're scared of putting themselves out there and they're scared of possibly like the backlash that can come with that so what I heard was that you had an experience where a customer wasn't completely satisfied so what happened like what how did you manage it I just kept it pushing right so yeah the the backlash came on social media and it came fast and remember I'm planning right so they went to social media they took to social media and told them like about what they experience yeah absolutely like multiple videos and like let's talk about that ugly like that's the ugly part right um and so I just like completely turned a blind eye and it's not that I don't want to address the situation at hand um it's always been that why should I give energy to that whatever you feed energy to grows right and as an entrepreneur people at the top people who are growing huge companies huge organizations aren't really worried about negativity right they take it they take the feedback they say thank you and then they keep on moving and for me I like I said I've apologized that is not how I wanted things to go that experience back in Puerto Rico it's literally cost me oh this happened in Puerto R happened in Puerto Rico okay on the Homeland on the
Homeland and it has just it has at me to date right behind the scenes it has broken me it has literally made me feel like you start kind of believing right like you start that imposture syndrome and I've literally through the support again of my community of people who are like absolutely not you're doing such an incredible job not that I seek validation but there is to credit to be given to the work that I am doing and I've just said to myself I can't do anything more than what I've already already done and I have to be okay with the decisions that I've made and while it may look messy to some and some may have an opinion on it guess what it's my business yeah right and not everybody's going to agree and that is okay but how do you navigate that M I had to come to terms with it and I had to just say what else can I do what else can be done in this situation because I have to stick to my policies and procedures yeah yeah it's difficult because you know what you bring to the marketplace you know what you're offering you have the dream you have the vision and something doesn't go according to plan and instead of somebody coming to you directly and saying hey this is my experience like what can we do about it they go public with it and then it's like a Snowball Effect and then other people start tuning in and listen people love the W chin right so they're like kiking about it they're like talking about it and then I'm sure for you you're like [ __ ] like who else is hearing about this like how am I being perceived now outside in the marketplace so I know I've had that happen to me like I've had um experiences where I've had people buy into my programs and I remember this one um this one instance where this woman bought into my program and she went through the entire program so I have on demand learning she went through the entire curriculum access every single thing and then came back to me and asked me for a refund I said sweetie sweetheart darling like do you go and get a master's and say to the university I'm sorry I didn't like the curriculum so can I get my money back on a master that I just completed exactly and it sucks because it happens a lot to small business owners like they will try you they will try you but they won't try Louis Vuitton they won't try Delta they won't try any of these other organizations but they will try you absolutely knowing that you just out here trying to like feed your family right you don't have this corporate backing but it's almost like they take advantage it's like they know that they might get the refund and so they try it they try it and the cancel culture right it's about okay well we see somebody who is thriving somebody who is doing putting in the work every single day and it's not that the person can't it's just that they won't and so instead of saying to that person Hey listen you know this these are areas that maybe you can button up on and give some feedback no it's like cancel culture is real let's try to cancel this person and if you are weak-minded if you have the mentality of like you know that imposture syndrome and your mindsets not right to be able to deal with these tough situations you will you literally will fold you you will because you you're human you have those feelings right um so yeah it's it's been hard listen upas it is time to take ownership of our because if we don't who will did you know that only 45% of Latinas have a savings account and 83% of Hispanic Millennials have no retirement savings whatsoever D and what's even more alarming in Manas is that even though we're the second largest ethnic group in the United States there's a $200 billion lending gap between Latino owned businesses and their white counterparts this is why Fortuna Latina exist a free program designed to help Latinas build wealth manage money and secure their financial Independence this is about controlling your future and letting go of your money trauma M the wealth Gap is in tricking it is growing and unless we take control of our finances right now we risk passing down struggle instead of security so don't join Fortuna Latina the only financial literacy program designed specifically by Latina for Latinas get access to expert mentorship an amazing community and the tools that you need to thrive your financial Independence begins right now join the movement today at Fortuna latin. whenever somebody says that they're not happy with whatever you do you never you never want to digest that it never feels good but then you also have to be mindful of the situations where people are miserable and they will try to instill their misery on you and we can't lie like jealousy is not a thing Envy is not a thing like people want to be you especially when you're like in the spotlight when you're doing it when you are loved by the community like they want to be a part of that and not everybody knows how to do that in a way where it's actually like positive they they only know negative because that's what they know right and that's so okay so I'm like right like every time I I feel like every time I walk into a room and anyone who knows me knows I'm all smiles and um I will say though that this has happened to me since I was a a child like we could talk we could we could talk for days about podcasting right like traumas and things that have come with me since young right since I was I feel like born um you don't want to come across as being too conceited or too confident or too kak um but or was one of the things that I was always told as a child right and now as an adult it's like am I still that but absolutely not I'm running a whole business that I'm confident about that I'm happy to have and people just aren't receptive to that because they see that and they're like oh there she goes it's that mean girl energy that they give off so you said it's been difficult to manage this and they went to social media so isn't that like defamation like should we start suing people out here like I don't know like if somebody's coming at me with video video I'm be like listen don't make me call my lawyers yeah okay don't make me make the call listen I mean do what you want right what would you do do what you want do as you wish um defamation cancel culture uh we can go for infringement we can go forar campaign I mean we could go for anything but again where do I want to put my energy my energy does not need to be invested on what somebody else is saying because let's talk about it you think JLo is on social media every single time looking at a negative comment and who wants to cancel her there's how many pages absolutely not and that's you know I do want to compare myself I love J that sounds like a strategy what would JLo do what would JLo do well I say I love Kim K so I'm like what would Kim Kardashian do right yeah there's definitely smar campaigns around there t there's tons you know that's a really good topic to dive into because you know one of the things that I think about is like as I continue to build my career as I continue to build my brand like I do consider I'm like damn do I want all this attention cuz I know what comes with that attention right and there's always going to be hate but the hate actually it's almost like right now we're in this moment of controversy it's almost like you want people talking about you whether it's good or bad because at the end of the day it's still going to help your business grow that's like what I'm learning like you know what I mean like obviously you don't want it to be so negative but I mean look at Trump there that's our example there you have it of how bad press can work in your favor baby hello let's talk about that like the fact that you just said I waited I was waiting cuz girl I was like can we just say who we have as a president of the United States listen and if that is the example and he's still up there kaani has nothing to worry about okay because it's real like it's real good or bad people are going to talk right and you can't please everybody and again like I said you look at things and you say okay what could I have changed right what could have gone differently um and you adjust one of my mentors once said to me when you are starting a business you're going to lose a lot of money that is the first thing right you're going to invest tons of money um and then you always find yourself doing [ __ ] messy and cleaning it up later not that you want to put out messy work but it's not going to be perfect yeah it is going to be messy it is going to be ugly it is not going to look pristine and and that is okay and I feel like a lot of people don't start something cuz they go in with this idea of I need everything to be perfect Perfection is played out period Perfection is played out and I'm always about progress over Perfection that's like my thing and I agree like it holds people back they need to be perfect and it is going to be messy it's going to be super messy and you almost want it to be messy because that's when you learn yeah like I'm pretty sure you've learned so much from this experience absolutely and have thought about okay now how am I going to make sure the next time I don't make these mistakes or how am I going to make sure that I handle this situation in this way like I know well shout out to every single client that I've had and everyone who hasn't invested in me because I know I've made mistakes along the way and I know that I probably disappointed some people along the way like but that is how you get better and that is how you grow like there is no other way around it it's like with anything new that you start like if you're a new mom you're going to make some mistakes if you're a new girlfriend you're going to make some mistakes like that just is what it is and we have to accept that and we have to also extend some Grace exactly and and that part right extend some Grace and I would say also too button up on those contracts right making sure that you're dotting your eyes and crossing your tees along the way knowing that you're going to fail but you're going to fail forward you're not going to step back right you're going to make sure that you are evaluating all the scenarios as an entrepreneur and you're moving forward with it because if you stay stagnant if you you stay stuck in the things that should have could have would have you're not going to push forward as an entrepreneur and I will say too you need to be prepared for this kind of stuff to happen to you as an entrepreneur if you see yourself growing in your business because it's going to come it's going to happen no matter what yeah I remember after one of my events um I had someone go to social media and I didn't even know I had people calling me like my people's being like hey um did you did did you see this and I'm like no and then I saw it and I was like wow I [ __ ] made it yeah yes I mean nobody wants to have that type of attention but it's like wow like okay like this is I feel like all right it's just going to get can't nobody stop bigger from here more people are going to complain from here you know because again you can't satisfy anyone and you almost again you want to welcome those things like it sucks in the moment and it's like oh like it doesn't feel good it doesn't feel good it doesn't feel good nobody likes to be spoken about in a negative way I don't care what anybody says but if you do look at it from a perspective of okay like what is God trying to teach me in this moment what can I learn from this how can I improve and also how can I make sure that my community knows the real me and just continue to show up like in that way as my authentic self exactly exactly that and and I put that out a lot of what I do all of my businesses run primarily on social media connecting with the women is all on social media um and so I just continue to have these conversations I mean you know when you get DMS right from your speakers who are saying Hey listen we got a message a private DM from somebody with this it kind of hits you you're kind of like what is happening she reached out to the speakers oh hell no oh hell no taking it too far yeah like individually reaching out to speakers um that calls for cyber bullying in my opinion and call it what you will say what you want perhaps it isn't some people view it differently everybody has an opinion but if you go in depth with that then absolutely that's cyber bullying wow and that is unacceptable so what we did we we called up the lawyer and we were like so no I did again I did contact an attorney um and the best advice was how far do you want to go with this and do I want to give my energy there this is actually the first time that I'm speaking about it publicly so you're welcome oh faking out Cultura exclusive you're welcome not only how much energy but money money cuz you got to pay the lawyers exactly for somebody's experience um that does not dictate right my entire organization it does not dictate the work that I am doing it does not dictate how I am still supporting women and how I am still making sure that I'm traveling from state to state to give women my experience on what I've gone through like listen this is happening to to Me 2 years in and if it's happening to me 2 years in mi keep going because you haven't even cracked the surface yet you don't even know what's about to come for you yeah that's it f the rest and if you think about it like the higher you go the more heat you're going to get I mean people are suing each other left and right like you see it on social media you reading about it in the blogs like Kim K got lawsuits up the woo people don't like the skims gave them a skin like all the things like it happened you know what I mean like it comes with the territory when you make the decision that you're no longer going to play small exactly and you're going to be do it in the public eye right yes you're going to be scrutinized no matter what yes as long as we keep that in mind like the scrutiny is going to come but don't let that deter you from like shining all the way bright and making sure that it doesn't like halt you like it doesn't like stop you like in your tracks even though I'm pretty sure when this happened to you you were like your world collapses your world collapses for that second for that moment in time you feel like what is the point of continuing right you feel a lot of people if we're going to talk about the social media piece of it that [ __ ] will [ __ ] with your mental to the point have you not seen a lot of people commit suicide for this for things like this because mentally they're not prepared to be able to say you know what all of this is going to come but I come from a lineage of strong women MH who pave the way for me to get to where I am right now right my ancestors I have my mother-in-law who's absolutely incredible and I say that because if it wasn't for those women if it wasn't for the women telling me Miha you keep on going no matter what I would have been broken a long time ago girl a long time ago but I have a mission and I also feel like too my mission more so is I have a daughter and I want to teach her lo no matter what you keep going you never quit yeah you keep going I love that that's so so important and kudos to you for keep going and coming out on the other side and not letting it like stop you and also it's really Brave and courageous to talk about this stuff publicly so thank you for making that decision because we don't talk about this stuff enough like we everybody sees the glitz everybody sees the glams everybody sees the after product but nobody sees like what it's like when you're like in the trenches and people are coming you or you're doubting yourself impostor syndrome is playing a part like nobody really talks about that stuff cuz perception is everything perception is everything social media especially IG you see it in squares that is what you see whatever the person decides to put there is what you see you don't know them personally you have no idea what walk or how much it took them to get there so when you're looking at their page you're like oh my gosh aesthetically this is so amazing she must do such great work which I do but girl you didn't see me when I was just ugly crying 20 minutes ago in the shower cuz I can't cry in front of my daughter without her asking me mommy are you okay you know what I mean because if I'm crying over cooking dinner for my husband he's like babe chin up people don't see those things and so it's quick to say yeah yeah yeah she's traveling from here to there like I'll be in LA in what 17 less than 17 days on the 9th I don't know when this is going to come out but yeah yeah yeah yeah so you know knowing that I'm traveling and leaving my family leaving them behind to pursue this dream that I have it's like can you give me props for that cuz you could do it too baby let's do it together let's do it together the more women I want to send that elevator down for more women to come up yeah what is your advice for someone who has this type of experience someone who you know going out on their dreams following their dreams giving it their all and they have this hate that comes their way like what would be your advice don't give up don't quit right like keep on going it's going to happen but lean into your community also too and when I say community you're starting five right I have a friend of mine and she always talks about the starting five who are those five people in your life that you can identify that literally are so supportive of you all the time that no matter what you're going through they're listening and they're not judging that they're telling you you can keep keep on going because when stuff gets really really hard when you feel like why am I even doing this cuz you're going to do it rich you're going to do it poor you're going to do it happy you're going to do it sad the point is is that you do it and that sets you apart you're you doing the thing that you want you're part of that 1% crew and that 1% crew baby it's 500 a.m. it is late nights it is blood sweat tears it is driving two hours to come you know be on a podcast it is inviting new things in your life but ultimately it's like the end goal what is that end goal for you right and what does success look like for you keep on going keep on going first of all I feel very important that you drove all that way thank you so much I don't call it the starting five but I call it your badassery committee there you go right it's your Committee of people that you can call that can basically Speak Life back into you like light the fire under your ass when you're like feeling a little like doubtful and like the impostor syndrome is kicking in so I love that so let's talk a little bit about um if somebody wants to start like a business where they're hosting events like where do they start so first identify what type of community you want to build right I mean there's a community for everything there's events for everything so I think you first need to identify what type of community it is that you want who it is that you're impacting um Shameless plug you can join my master class right that I do host on a monthly basis where we talk about the foundational work that needs to go into starting a networking experience and utilize your community that you have now Word of Mouth goes a long way you want to connect with connectors people who are going to mention you in rooms that you aren't even in and you know this right you want to start creating that buzz Hey listen I am doing this a room of five a party of five is great three in a room amazing and that's how it starts it doesn't always have to start you know I was fortunate enough to start with 250 women and it just took off after after that literally it took off boss bab and brunch has taken off but identifying that piece of it and knowing where you want to go where do you see yourself doing the work that you're going to do to create so let's break this down a little bit so first of all I love that you said connect with connectors I love that yeah you do actually a really good job it was one of the things that attracted me to you of building Community like you have this way of just like galvanizing women and mobilizing so give us some tips like how do you do this because building Community is hard it's really hard so how do you do this it's me it's kaani I I say I have the gift of gather um if the gift of gather the gift of gather so my necklace says it's Mark 11:24 um and it's whatever you ask for in prayer believe that you have it and it shall be yours and with that I literally if I see somebody on social media and I love you know anything about her I'm going to send her a ZM I want to know what it is that you're doing and I'm seriously invested I'm seriously interested right take the time to build that relationship take the time to get to know that woman and now you become her connector so you connector to somebody else and it just is like a ripple effect right think about the bo Ino right if if hanana knows something about Maria guess what's going to happen they're going to start talking about it and Chim spreads fast so I look at boss babes and brunch as great Chim right let's talk about it let's create this community together and women it's just a ripple effect okay but what if they're not you if they're not me call me what if we're not Kanani and we want to build community how do we do it Mi I've got the perfect freebie for you so I just dropped a 17-page workbook to help you get your mind right especially in this climate of so much uncertainty so if you are an aspiring or current entrepreneur and you're just feeling stuck you're not feeling too good about what the future holds and all the turmoil the politics all of it is just throwing you off your game this workbook is actually going to act as a journal for you it covers goal setting efficiency tips how to manage your time financial management tips strategies on how to wrap your head around the next big thing that's coming down the pipeline to bring you consistent Revenue in your business it covers what you should be doubling down on in terms of your well-being and it is just my favorite jam-packed Journal full of marketing and sales strategy to help you get clarity but most importantly to help you secure the big bag so make sure to tap on the link in the show notes I've linked it there so that you guys can get really clear on the top hacks that you can put into play to set yourself up for success I hope you love it figure out where you're going to start okay so we figured out where we're going to start yeah now we actually need to build the community how do we do that go on Instagram mhm you're going to find five women that you want to connect with you're going to interact with them meaning you're going to comment you are going to like you're going to start being like their besties and you're going to send them a DM okay what do you say in the DM hey girl I mean I'm not responding to a hey girl I do but you did but you did we connected in the DMS but I don't think you just said hey girl I said hey girl I love what you're doing okay hey girl I love what you're doing okay yeah let's do it more cuz thisen some people be like hay girl and I'll be like uh no right I'm like but like hey girl hey girl like I love what you're doing or hey girl tell tell me about yourself or hey girl let like something that attracted you to that page right commenting on a post that they have this is the strategy that I use okay um and it is a lot about being authentic right coming from a space where you genuinely are interested in this person because people can tell the fake right they can tell what how do you have the time to be genuinely interested in so many people at the same time people I do and you know this about me J I know I love people listen I grew up this is my stomping grounds like literally I grew up like maybe 10 blocks from here right so I'm Time Square house kitchen people who don't know where we are right we're in Midtown Manhattan um and I growing up in a city people are everywhere culture is huge okay okay okay okay so we're genuinely interested and you're the only one I let call me Jenn it's Victoria Jenn there we go again you're the only one but so you're generally interested you're reaching out to them in the DM and you're like hey girl I find this really interesting about you or you have something going on that I'm interested in ETC so okay then what and then you invite them to your experience and then you invite them to the experience here's the link if you're interested you can purchase a ticket to join what are they getting at that experience right and you break it down to them okay you're getting this this this that and the third so for Boss babes and brunch example you are getting the woman empower you are listening to multiple panel discussions you're getting mocktails you're getting cocktails you're getting brunch which is the food aspect Swag Bags vendors um think of it like a gathering for you and your girlfriends and it's fun it isn't a conference it isn't a summit but it's more than that and so crafting something that is similar in in that feels good for you right in the community that you're choosing to build so how do you keep the community engaged like after the brunch within their same that's why I travel from state to state right so I do have an online membership that is free where we have conversations um I utilize social media to create a channel so I talk in there a lot to women um if they have something going on in their businesses I do promote and I share plug people in where I see things okay hold on cuz these are good plays right here hold on so what I'm hearing is you create a place where people can gather virtually y outside of the event so that you're keeping the community and Vibe going and then what I also heard is you're helping promote what they are doing correct okay without getting paid correct okay got it that goes a long way like people don't understand like re-sharing something on social like when you see somebody pushing something you see somebody they're really passionate about and you reshare like they pay attention to that [ __ ] like they pay attention and they remember you know what I mean they remember they do they do and it's like in a world where marketing is everything sharing somebody else's um event or experience or whatever it is that they have going on goes a very long way and so it is a community page right the social media that I use the platform that I use it's it's a community page I'm going to share it I'm if I'm attending if I'm speaking if I have interested in yeah I will definitely share it because I think other women will have value okay so what else what else I'm so excited this is good okay so we share we're having a community master class right now so Rel you're getting all the tea all the tea so you share it um yeah so we have the the online membership we share it and then when they're at the experience in person women talk to each other right they love to be surrounded by other women so everything else happens organically it it really is that simple and I know that you're probably like okay is there like a real science there really isn't it's I think it's me honestly and I think that it's something that can't necessarily be taught cuz you do have to be like I'm a very social person um but I do understand that there are people who aren't social and want to be in spaces like a boss babes and brunch or host their own communities as well um maybe it's a virtual a faceless page right these are all things that I feel like you just need to find what feels right for you yeah and do you like dedicate time like do you say okay from like 1: to 300 p.m. I am investing into my online community I'm sharing I'm commenting I'm doing all the things you do okay absolutely there's pillars right there's things that you need to focus on as an entrepreneur because if not I'd be dedicating all day every day to boss babes and brunch and being a mom being a wife I need to strategically plan my day so there is a lot of planning um so give us like an example an example of that is when you post on social media one of the things that you should not be doing is closing out of the app automatically a lot of people go to social media they'll post something and then they're like okay duces by no engage with it train the algorithm to knowing what it is that you're doing on there that you're you're actively um connecting so we're making a post make a post and then what are you doing and then you're going to like your post okay and then you're going to comment on your post okay and then you're going to share your post okay and you're going to share it with people in your community that you're already engaging with okay and then once you do that you're going to see those people are interacting back with it okay right send it to people and say hey can you share this can you like this don't be afraid to ask do not be afraid to ask them so you're sending them a DM like hey can you like this can absolutely yeah yeah and do not get out of the app as soon as you post don't leave the app because what happens is that then that's it like you're not following up it's all in the follow through it's all in the followup right you know when you go to a conference or a summit or an event 24 hours that is the fast action you should be connecting within 24 hours 48 maybe if you're really tired the next day but 24 hours if not that connection's gone they they're on to the next thing our minds right are absorbing at such a fast pace right that we need to be able to do things quick and act fast I love that I usually do close out of the app after I post cuz I'm like okay I'm done with that on to the next thing but I'm going to try that cuz you you find that it works with the algorithm like it does okay I'm going to try yourself at least 10 minutes after at least 10 minutes at least 10 minutes that's it um and then you you close out once you're interacting you close out and then go back in later on in the day okay right wait you're supposed to give us an example of your day sorry oh yeah of my day of what I do in a day okay so I wake up okay wake up in the morning I put my robe on dry what time you waking up girl okay so usually like 6 okay six cuz I got to prepare my daughter for school right um and the hubs leaves the home already by these are these moments where I'm happy that I ain't got no kids cuz I don't got to be up at six to prepare no car any he is out he is literally up and out like a aarm clock okay so I'm already out off the bed right um usually like 5:30 out the door by 6:00 I wake up at 600 in the morning do my morning routine Lo we won't get into detail throw on a robe and I drive her to school and once I drive her to school my day starts um I spend the first I want to say 15 to 20 minutes uh praying in the morning right so I take a lot of time I lead everything through prayer and this is new for me I want to say in the last maybe six seven years years um for me so it hasn't always been that way even though I do come from a family that did attend church and things like that but you know as you grow older you find your own Jive yeah um so yeah I I pray in the morning and then I have my coffee and um set my intention for the day what it is not every day is going to be perfect get on my computer read my emails then I log into Instagram answer any questions that anyone has interact with social media and then the first post goes out I want to say by 11:00 a.m. by 11 11 a. by 11: a.m. is the first post that goes out um get into stories kind of kiky in the stories right intera in the stories with people put up a couple of polls um that's another great thing make sure you're putting up polls that are interactive with your audience ask questions yeah yeah um so that it's intriguing and then um the rest of my day I wish I want to say that I go to the gym and I don't I know right I want to you want to say you do all the things you're supposed to do and I'm like yeah I'm not a gym rat I wish I wish I am B I'd be lying to you if I told that's got to be part of your morning prayer please help me take my ass to the gym take my ass to the gym um but no by 11: and then we're at 12 so now I'm having um one thing I do is I skip breakfast which is a no no um but I do have lunch I have a really great Hefty lunch um and then it's already 2 o'clock and I got to get the the baby again I got to get my daughter okay um and so throughout the day yes I'm interacting on social I I use a lot more than most people um but a lot of people can't or don't have the time the flexibility right and again boss babes and brunch is all that I do it's my full-time right now so I do have the time dedicated to that um I host a couple of IG lives with people throughout the day um especially when I'm promoting an experience um in a different state I'm having conversations about it a lot what's your backup of like there's no Instagram um I have email email list right so I have a a really great email list how many people on your email list 1,500 okay in in like what two years so I started growing it last year really um and we've connected with 2,000 women to date who have come to boss babes and brunch experiences so I think I'm not too bad right I think I can definitely grow it more um but yeah it's through email marketing I'm sending them any kind what do you use for email marketing so I have Wix oh you use yeah I use Wix I I mean I house everything on there yeah that's it okay so you get the baby you're back home and then you do the mommy wife the mommy wife things I go to grocery store with her get her something to eat make dinner and let me tell you in my house we're making dinner okay okay he likes a like the way to a man's stomach I mean heart is to his stomach exactly so it's like 16 years girl that's the play talk about it it's like it's literally like or like heavy meals so I have to prepare those okay um all while simultaneously working on the business I do spend time on canva also to to draft my post and stuff and that's the thing I wear all the hats in the business right so I do a multitude of things so when you going to hire help girl when I make the money for it right when I'm I feel like when I'm at of place that I'm like okay now I'm generating the revenue to be able to okay to do that okay yeah so what's the plan to keep on growing okay right to keep on growing to button up on everything that's another thing I needed to learn all aspects of the business because I didn't have a business background um to be able to then teach It Forward yeah if I don't know what I'm doing or I don't know what needs to be done how can I possibly hire somebody for that position and do you think like the multi- city model I mean I know you're still kind of like in the weeds of it but like I don't know I think about like is that feasible to do like longterm cuz it cuz you're not only paying for the venue and all that but now you're travel you're paying for team to TR like I know in Miami you had like a whole Cru of people that was there for you and I was like oh wow okay and you was paying them and I was like okay I was like all right like you know so imagine going across the country to LA to host so so the goal the end goal is um when you want to come out with what I'm thinking of doing is the boss Bay blueprint right and so that not necessarily is a franchise but it is like a franchise model and so but again I need to walk it to be able to teach it right to be able to say to a woman here is what we do and here is everything that you can do in this city take boss babes and brunch and run with it I need to know what that's like what are the logistics in that City every city has different rules and regulations especially around alcohol food and beverage yeah so that's what I'm doing now that's interesting so the vision is this is going to be a franchise model where people can copy and paste it and then they pay you to use the model you get a kickback fee kind of like white labeling oh okay very cool again you're getting all the all the boen all the bo I love it I love it you know I'm beinging on that we're very much about like the behind the scenes like walk us through the thought process walk us through the strategy walk us through like the tangibles like what this really takes you know what I mean for people to do because we want to inspire you to do your own [ __ ] make your own money follow your dreams all the things so we have amazing guests on who are doing incredible work who are betting on themselves who are doing it scared doing it loud and they're doing it you know some are still in the trenches others have advanced they've sold off their things like we're going to have you back once this becomes a franchise model and then we're going to talk about the franchise model yeah you going to educate us on that so let's get into the Talk That Talk segment where we address something in the Cultura that's taboo or something in the Cultura that we would like to see improved more of what do you think in the Cultura I want to say let's stop the mean girl talking about each other right like that especially as Latinas especially as I'm Puerto Rican and Dominican as a Latina I feel like what you get a lot of is that cancel culture like we're going to just eliminate her we're going to toss her to the trash because it's so easy to do that um and I think that's really taboo I think that that that mentality that mean girl spirit that um cattiness we should definitely eliminate that because if you're really doing it to support one another if you're if you're in a business that you want to see other people grow then you shouldn't be doing that I mean you're in the empowerment business and I feel like there's a lot of women in the empowerment business who aren't empowering [ __ ] but themselves right and it is kind of something that really sucks that I wish we we could shift I don't know I don't know how I don't know how we can shift it aside from you just finding your tribe and just vibing with your tribe that's exactly what I was going to say with you you know uh weed out the people that aren't meant for you and I say that very intentionally right or they they're going to start weeding themselves out right um and so knowing your purpose knowing what it is that you're doing setting your eye on that that mission um because that cancel culture in our culta that we have like that competencia almost that competition that we have with one another is so ugly it's so ugly and if you think about it back in the days like our families didn't have that competencia they all lived together you had husbands that had two wives that lived across the street from each other and they were happy they were well maybe you never know but I mean you have families that had 16 kids from we could talk about that the point is is that there wasn't that same there wasn't that competition um like of crabs in a barrel mentality correct I think it also has to do with just like American culture yeah and just like what we're taught and how it almost you know systemically we are positioned to be pitted against each other correct correct and so it just flows from generation to generation you know so that competition yeah exactly so essentially we got to be the change we want to see there you go is what I'm hearing mama so tell the people where they can follow you where they can learn more about you where they can go to the next brunch all the things yeah yeah so the next brunch is coming up in Los Angeles um and and I'm just so excited to be there if you can't catch that one you can catch us in Miami you can also follow me on Boss babes and brunch with an underscore at the end on Instagram our website is bossbabes and brunch. comom um all the things all the things I love that well thank you so much thank you for sharing for being candid for being a badass for leading a charge for not quitting thank you um and for driving 2 hours I appreciate you that part thank you for having me you welcome I'm and shout out to all of you for joining us I'll see you in the next episode ciao listen up Latinas it is time to take ownership of our at all because if we don't who will did you know that only 45% of Latinas have a savings account and 83% of Hispanic Millennials have no retirement savings whatsoever and what's even more alarming in my is that even though we're the second largest ethnic group in the United States there's a 200 billion dollar lending gap between Latino owned businesses and their white counterparts this is why Fortuna Latina exists a free program designed to help Latinas build wealth manage money and secure their financial Independence this is about controlling your future and letting go of your money trauma M the wealth Gap isn't streaking it is growing and unless we take control of our finances right now we risk passing down struggle instead of security so don't hesitate her join for Latina the only financial literacy program designed specifically by Latina for Latina get access to expert mentorship an amazing community and the tools that you need to thrive your financial Independence begins right now join the movement today at Fortuna latin. net hey guys if you enjoyed this video I'm pretty sure you're going to love the next one so make sure to click right here and tap in to the next episode.
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