251 - Creating for Future You with Ana Flores

Apr 17

251 - Creating for Future You with Ana Flores

Listeners, we're back this week with Ana Flores

A community builder and soul-centered entrepreneur, Ana Flores is the founder and CEO of #WeAllGrow Latina, the first network of Latina influencers founded in 2010 with a mission to elevate the voices and stories of Latinas through the power of community. #WeAllGrow has evolved into the go-to community for Latinas driving social and economic impact. The company’s annual #WeAllGrow Summit was named by Forbes.com as one of “19 Conferences Every Creative Should Attend.”

A sought-out speaker and thought leader in the areas of representation, Latinx identity, community building and gender equality, Ana has been recognized by the United Nations Women’s L.A. chapter as a Champion of Change and by People en Español as one of “Las 25 Mujeres Más Poderosas”, amongst numerous other accolades. In 2016 she was invited to speak on two occasions at the White House, including the United States of Women Summit on gender diversity and women empowerment issues. Ana also sits on NALIP’s Diverse Women in Media Initiative Advisory Committee and the HACE (Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement) Advisory Council.

Born in Houston, Texas, raised in El Salvador and a graduate of the University of Florida, Ana is now settled in Los Angeles, where she lives with her daughter.

During our conversation, we talked about:

06:27 - Growing up in El Salvador
07:53 - Being odd
12:01 - El Salvador’s civil war
18:39 - Her relationship with Mexico
20:23 - Getting to work at Univision
27:15 - Impostor syndrome
33:32 - Mexico is duality
38:12 - The beginning of Latina Bloggers Connect
42:12 - Intuition
47:12 - Bringing partners

Pam: Hello everyone. This is Pam, de Cafe con Pam, the bi-lingual podcasts that features Latine and people of the global majority who break barriers, change lives and make this world a better place. Welcome to episode 251 of Cafe con Pam. Today we have a conversation with Ana Flores.
Ana is a community builder and soul-centered entrepreneur. She's the founder and CEO of #WeAllGrow Latina, the first network of Latina influencers founded in 2010 with a mission to elevate the voices and stories of Latinas through the power of community. #WeAllGrow has evolved into the go-to community for Latinas driving social and economic impact. The company’s annual #WeAllGrow Summit was named by Forbes.com as one of “19 Conferences Every Creative Should Attend.”
A sought-out speaker and thought leader in the areas of representation, Latinx identity, community building and gender equality, Ana has been recognized by the United Nations Women’s L.A. chapter as a Champion of Change and by People en Español as one of “Las 25 Mujeres Más Poderosas”, amongst numerous other accolades. In 2016 she was invited to speak on two occasions at the White House, including the United States of Women Summit on gender diversity and women empowerment issues. Ana also sits on NALIP’s Diverse Women in Media Initiative Advisory Committee and the HACE (Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement) Advisory Council.
Ana was born in Houston, Texas, and raised in El Salvador and she's a graduate of the University of Florida. Now, Ana is now settled in Los Angeles, where she lives with her daughter.
Listeners, it only took 250 episodes to bring Ana. This conversation was so fun. I really think you're going to enjoy it because we went way back before We All Grow, before she even started blogging. And it was super fun to hear her be like, why am I telling you this, Pam? You know, normally happens in Cafe con Pam. People are like, I don't know why I'm sharing this, but I'm sharing it with you. And so you get to hear that conversation.
***
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***
Pam: It was amazing to really talk about Ana's upbringing, to really dive into her process and her thinking and how she is such a connector. And I think one of Anna's superpowers is to see the future, is to have a futuristic mind, to look at trends and to see what's happening in the present and how it's going to map out in the future. It's something that I think Ana possesses as a super power, and I think you're going to enjoy it. So I will stop talking so you can enjoy this conversation. And here comes my combo Ana Flores.
***
Pam: Ana Flores, welcome to Cafe con Pam.
Ana: I am so happy to be here, finally.
Pam: It only took six years. [laughs]
Ana: But we both had the intention always.
Pam: Always. Yes. It was always like, you need to come to Cafe con Pam. Yes! Just send me the thing, you know. But we made it happen when it was supposed to happen. So here we are.
Ana: Exactly.
Pam: 2022. Ana, the question that we always ask is what is your heritage?
Ana: My heritage. I am salvadoreña americana. I was born in Houston, grew up in El Salvador.
Pam: I know, you're similar to me. I was born in LA and grew up in Mexico city. People like us are not common.
Ana: Not very common. You're right. Yeah. You're right. And then we come back.
Pam: Right. How long were you in Houston?
Ana: Six years. My parents got divorced and I always say that that was the best thing that could have happened. My mom moved back to El Salvador. My dad is still in Houston, and it definitely was the best thing because it defined everything. It defined everything growing up in El Salvador, going to a bilingual school, the American school, heading over to visit my dad every year in Houston with my sister, living that experience of being a Latino in the United States, a Latina in the United States was very different from the experience I had as a privileged girl in El Salvador.
Pam: Yeah.
Ana: It was a very, very different life experience. Yeah.
Pam: Did you ever question your identity? Was it like weird for you to come back and forth? Because we have a similar experience, I think it's different than the first generations who... or even the one and a half. Do you know about the one and a half?
Ana: The one and a half? Actually no. Now that you say it like that.
Pam: So the one and a half generation are those who came here in their teens or tweens or early in their lifetime. Basically, they were in their country of origin. There's a range, like somewhere in their teens. And then they grew up here, their whole life they've made their life, they became American, but they're actually from their country of origin. So they're not necessarily first generation, but they're not immigrants either because they grew up here. So they're the one and a half. And so it's different. We are different because we do have the privilege of having been born here. So, was that ever something for you?
Ana: So it's funny because even the question of questioning my identity was not a question back then. There was no language for that. I was just odd. I just never fit in. I always understood the north American pop culture, you know, spending summers in front of the TV, watching MTV, watching the Halloween movies and Friday the 13th, then HBO and Showtime and whatever. And then going back to El Salvador where we didn't have access to that because I grew up in the seventies and eighties during the civil war. So I had like this, this part of me that nobody understood in a way, because very few I did go to an American school. So I wasn't the only one traveling to the United States during her summer vacation. But I was the one living a life because my dad remarried and his wife had four other kids. They had two more. So it was six kids, was my sister and I. So we were like in a full house in Houston, right. And I would go visit and there wasn't, we were just stuck at home all day. I was living a life. I wasn't, the summer vacation was like being with these other kids, stuck in this house for a month. When I would go back to El Salvador to this other reality of like this privileged life. My mom remarried with a very wealthy man. So it wasn't even my life, that was borrowed to, right. That was the life of, of him. And he had four kids of two other marriages and whatever. So it was always like, none of this is me. It really, I think when I, started understanding, but I wasn't even able to process it that way then, it was in senior year. You know, we do the senior superlatives and I tell the story a lot because, you know, we all vote to like, class cutest, class most likely to succeed, class... all of that fun stuff. I, for sure thought I would be class cutest or like nicest or something like that. But they decided that I was class non-conformist.
Pam: Wow!
Ana: And I hated it. I hated. Cause I was like, non conformist? It's like, I'm nice. Like I never got like, no! Like non-conformists are people that are always grouchy. That that was my perception. Right. So I was like, no, a non-conformist is a person that just is always complaining or just like, that's not me. But obviously now that I look back, I'm like that non-conformist badge was because they didn't really have the words to explain what the hell I was. I didn't fit in. And of course now I wear it with, with the badge of honor. I'm like, yes, non-conformist.
Pam: Yes, yes, yes. I'm with you. And this was high school in the U S or in El Salvador?
Ana: This was high school in El Salvador, I went to the American school.
Pam: Oh. So it was a similar curriculum than the U S.
Ana: Yeah. Completely. Completely, that's where like the kids from the embassy and all that went. By the time we had moved back to El Salvador, I had already done kindergarten and all that. So I already spoke both languages fluently. I don't remember learning them. She wanted to make sure that, you know, I continued on that and she was a single mom and she was working at a hotel and all this, but she was making those sacrifices and then she got married and then it wasn't a sacrifice anymore. But yeah, it was, it was important for her to do that.
Pam: You were the class non-conformist, that's awesome. Did you fight it?
Ana: I have the picture. If you want to show it later. It was three of us. And the picture where like the pouty, like grouchy, like we're, non-conformist, that's obviously not what non-conformance means. It just means like, I see something different.
Pam: For sure. And it's so interesting that that was voted there in the American school, but there in El Salvador. Because I don't know, I'm thinking all the kids that went to the American school were potentially American or born in the US maybe?

Ana: No, no, it was privileged kids. It was like, [inaudible] like the private school. Right. So either went to that one, or you went to the British school. Those were the two competing schools.

Pam: Oh, interesting. My cousins went to a British school. There were a ton of in Mexico, a lot of Europeans.

Ana: Yeah. Yeah. So for sure, it's the default, but you know, during our time, it was a civil war. So even like our teachers were like crazy hippies, we did not get the best education, let's put it that way, because who wanted to accept a job to go teach in a country torn in in the middle of the civil war?

Pam: Yeah, for sure. How was that for you? Do you remember what was going on?

Ana: Oh, absolutely. Because the peace treaty was signed in 1991. And I graduated class of 90. So, for me, I keep saying I was in a bubble. There is no way that I can equate my experience growing up in El Salvador to many of the people that actually, actually suffered the war and had to migrate, leave their country, flee, have people murdered, killed. I did have an experience when I was seven. We were, we had just moved to El Salvador. We were living in my grandfather's house, my grandfather and my grandmother. And he was a retired general. My other grandfather was a retired Colonel. So I was in the military side, et cetera, and my family. So a lot of like my never living there, not going back it's because once I left, I was able to see the full picture, which is not the picture that was given to me when I was living there. Right. But when I was seven, for some reason, I was sick that day and I didn't go to school and I was, you know, 11 o'clock in the morning, whatever watching TV my mom was getting, or it was early. My mom was getting ready to go to work. And my grandparents were there and there was a lot of construction happening in the house. And all of a sudden, I see these guys come up with my grandmother, to the second floor where I was with a gun to her head. They see me and they freak out and one of the guys grabs me and puts a gun to my head and they took, my, my grandfather was in the bedroom and they were taking my grandmother to his room and be like, tell him to open, tell him to open. And the whole time there were just, you know, they've had me and my mom was in the room. Like, you know, they can tell she had just gotten there. My mom comes out and she's like, you know, let go of the girl, whatever. And I remember very clearly and I don't know if it's memory, actual recall or my dream or whatever, but I remember very clearly that I turned to the guy and I'm like, "¿me vas a matar?" And I just asked him, are you going to kill me? And he looks at me, he's like, no.

Pam: Oh my gosh.

Ana: A little kid. But I'm seeing this whole scene of like my mom coming out, and she's like, no, let, let the girl go, take me. And she's just like super calm. She was like, "Hola, ¿cómo están? Pero, ¿qué quieren?, ¿qué es lo que necesitan? And you know, she was just like, okay, let's appeal to the human here. Right. Let's not create a huge drama. My, my grandfather comes out. So basically what they wanted, somehow they knew, right? So they came in and they stole all his uniforms and all the, he had like a collection of old rifles and they stole all of that. And the next day there, there had been like people that have been stopped in the middle of the road.

Pam: With them?

Ana: With those uniforms and et cetera. So obviously, completely scary situation, but that's really nothing compared to like what the majority of the country was living. It was a shame because definitely I grew up, I didn't know my country. It was super secluded where we could travel, where we could go. It was just certain areas and the capital, because everything else was taken or in the middle of the war. And then in 1989, they invade it infiltrated the Capital. That definitely was scary. One of our teachers died from one of the bombs because they were firing inside of the capital. So that was like a week later, seeing actual planes with bombs. Targeting, you know, we could see the bombs coming out of the planes and hitting places that we knew and talking to your friends and be like, are you okay? And everybody said, I lived little glimpses and things, moments of like, what it can imagine. Like when I see the news right now and see Ukraine, and I can imagine like that feeling of everything around me is getting bombed right now. And at any moment it can come here. So, I did live those moments, but thankfully, like I said, I was in a bubble. I was privileged. I was protected. I was able to, I left in a, in a plane from the embassy. My dad was freaking out. He, my sister and I were put on a plane in the embassy and we were able to leave.

Pam: And that's how you made it back to the U S?

Ana: No. Well, that was during that time, but this was my senior year. So I was like, I'm going back. I had my boyfriend, I had my thing. I was like, I'm not going to graduate from high school in Humble, Texas. No, that's not happening.

Pam: So how did that work? So you were put on a plane with your sister.

Ana: Yeah. So this was November of 1989. So we spent Christmas there and then basically, um, by then things had like settled down, calm down. They wanted to take over the capital, basically the FMLN, which was the guerilla group. Things settled down so we were able to, you know, school renewed and all of that. So we came back. I graduated and then after graduation, after that summer, I moved to Houston.

Pam: Because of the situation in the country, or you just thought it was...

Ana: No, I always knew I wanted to go to college in the states. And so funny because many of my friends went to college in the states and they were like, from everybody that left, we knew that everybody, except you was probably going to come back.

Pam: They knew!

Ana: Yeah. They knew like, okay, she's gone, she's gone. You know, I don't own land there. I don't own business. Like I don't have a business that is going to be inherited to me. I don't have land that's going to be inherited to me. I don't have, I didn't have a lot holding me back. And even like the boyfriends that I had during that time were all the foreigners. [laughs]

Pam: Really?

Ana: Dutch guy. For some reason, I was, I was like, I'm rooted, you know? And I love my country. Amo El Salvador. I visit every time I can. My mom is there. And this one, when you asked me where I'm from, yo soy salvadoreña. That's, that's what made me, that's why I am. I'm glad that that's what, that's a place that formed me. I'm very, very grateful that that's a place that formed me.

Pam: Yeah, I haven't been, but I've seen pictures and it's beautiful. Even though I hear that you were in a way in a bubble where you weren't living the whole dangers of war. I mean, you were still living during a civil war, entonces quieras o no, como que te dan ganas de irte if you can.

Ana: I didn't feel like ganas de irme.

Pam: No?

Ana: Because I was comfortable. Right. I wasn't being threatened. And it's a beautiful life at the end of the day. It's a very chill, like los salvadoreños son de la fiesta, el mar, el agua, we still like the salvadoreños here reflect that as well. Right. That's just how we are. We like to live like a nice, no worry kind of life. Like weekends are sacred, la fiesta de agosto is a whole week that is sacred, Semana Santa is sacred, you know, in the sense of like sacred, because we're going to go party, we're going to go to the beach y no me molesten and I'm not working. And like that mentality. That honoring of what really matters, right. The family, the community. That's what I value so much, and why I'm so happy I was able to grow there and take that root with me. Continue, you know, like being able to nurture those roots.

Pam: For sure. Do you feel that when you go back to El Salvador o, I think it happens in Latin America, time just expands? To where it's not the rush of the US

Ana: Oh yeah. I've told you before that my soul thinks it's Mexican. Right? So I was born in Texas, but I grew up in El Salvador, but my soul has always been like mexicano, like from the first time I pisé tierra Azteca y el DF back then, [inaudible] I knew, I was like, oh, this is where I need to be. I don't know what it was, but that I was completely pulled and I redid my life, quit everything I had at the moment, my job at Univision, Miami Beach y todo I was like I'm moving to Mexico City. ¿Qué vas a ir a hacer? Estás loca. I'm like cashing 401k girl, like two year old 401k, but I was like cashing it in and moving out. And it's that like Mexico for me is my healing place.

Pam: Y el tiempo para, no? Do you feel that?

Ana: El tiempo para. Time extends and you can do so much more where it's like, your rhythm is different, you know, those lunches that lasts four hours and they could keep going. There's no stress about what you're not doing. Otro tequilita, otro mezcal por favor.

Pam: O sea, eso lo he notado en Mexico, en Puerto Rico, like time just expands so much more in Latin-America and it's so lovely because it alive, it's expansive and it's replenishing and supportive. And so when you talk about El Salvador y la fiesta, vamos al lago y la fiesta de agosto, yeah, it's so replenishing for the body.

Ana: That's how it is and nothing to do, nothing. The best.

Pam: Mmmhh. Mi mamá siempre dice "siempre hay algo que hacer". So, go to sleep. [laughs] Porque siempre va a haber algo que hacer, you know. I was like I guess.

Okay, so you make it back to Texas to go to college and then you go to college. I'm curious. How did you make it to Mexico city? ¿Fue un día que dijiste "de aquí soy"?

Ana: Yeah, I went from Texas to the University of Florida and I always knew that I was, that I wanted to work in like the Latino, Hispanic television, but back then, there was Univision and Univision because Telemundo was still like a patito feo. Like you worked at Telemundo if you weren't accepted at Univision. It's not the case anymore. But back then, because Univision was Sábado Gigante, Cristina, it wasn't even Despierta América, it was like those times, right? Like Sábado Gigante, Cristina and Primer Impacto and Jorge Ramos, which is the best. So I made my way into Univision as an intern and it, the way I found my, because again, let's set it straight right now, I'm 49. I'm about to turn 50 in two months. So it's not that I started really young, ya los años pasaron. There wasn't internet really. And for me to like, who do I, like, I want an internship. I want to get in there pero, like, who do I even talk to? So I would sit down and write the credits from the show. So like Cristina, [inaudible] okay, executive producer and I would write their names and send them the snail mail that I wanted to be an intern. And then finally one guy responded, [inaudible] Izquierdo. So I remember he responded and he's like, okay, I don't know, got on the phone. I mean, it wasn't cell phone. Like, I don't know how we communicate it back then. And we made things happen, but somehow he found me, you know, he left a message on my answering machine or something. And the thing is that we talked and he's like, I'll interview you y veremos and I, you know, drove down there, whatever. I took a day off, drove down to Miami and they didn't even have an internship program. And he was like, I don't know what I'm going to do with you, pero si quieres venir we'll give you a badge and okay. Start. And it was like that. They gave me a badge and I went down there for a whole month. So I told you, my mom had remarried a wealthy guy, so I had an access to an apartment because we have to be clear about privilege. Right? I had access to an apartment because not everybody can take an unpaid internship in Miami, but it wasn't handed to me like the apartment I did have, but the internship wasn't handed to me and I made it happen. And I was there all day. I would get there at nine o'clock in the morning. I wouldn't leave until the last noticiero, like it was 11:30. They didn't know what to do with me, but I was like in every control room. I remember one day Jorge Ramos was like, you want me to teach you how to use the camera? I'm like, okay. From the noticiero, he was telling the camera guys, like, let her do the camera and I'm like, okay, like grabbing those huge ass cameras. I was fascinated to be in that world. So I would just go to all the sets until one producer was, one camera guy was like, [inaudible] this producer that's who she actually wants you to do something. I'm like, yeah. And this producer Sara Millan gave me a job. She was from Mexico city and she gave me an internship. And then when I graduated, well, I was doing my internship like the last few weeks I did it with her directly with her, directly with her show. And I just, I had one more year to go. And as soon as I graduated, she called me up and work before I was graduated, she said when you graduate? I'm like this month, she said I have a position just opened up with me on my show. Will you come? I'm like what? She's like, it's straight out of college. I had a job. And that was very rare and in my dream place. So I was like, I will be there working with her. She took me to Mexico city the first time so we did a production there and I just fell in love with the food, with the people, the culture. I think what really hit me about Mexico city was the all these cultures coexisting. So like going to El Zócalo and seeing los aztecas there like dancing, right? Because they're there every day, keeping that alive, keeping that beat and that heart alive there, because it was colonized. Right. So seeing still there, like the remnants of what used to be la gran Tenochtitlán next to the palacio, la catedral. And next to la iglesia, and next to like, el edificio, like modern buildings...

Pam: La Torre Latina

Ana: La torre latina, these three cultures just here, existing it, and they bellas artes and... It was just all of it just came to me like all this rush of culture that, an art and love and, that I hadn't felt because El Salvador doesn't have that strong indigenous culture and Miami no tiene cultura, bueno, ahora, pero you know, imagine in the nineties, you know what I mean, nada de cultura. And I felt this like, wait, I can, I can actually work in what I love, in TV production in the city, because I couldn't see that in El Salvador.

Pam: Claro.

Ana: That I could do that in Mexico. En México sí podía hacer, I could have a career that I dreamed in this beautiful city after a few months, whatever, or a year later, a lot of things happened and I talked to one of my bosses and I was like, listen, instead of me hiring freelancers in Mexico and me going all the time to Mexico city to, to record with all these artists and talent and stuff, I'm like, why don't I just move there? And I am your freelancer. So that was like my first big movement to entrepreneurship. And they were like, cool, you'll have to quit. I'm like, I'll quit. And you hire me over there. So I quit. I cashed in my 401k. And with that, I moved to Mexico. Within three months, I had hired two girls working with me. I had a little office in my room and my clients were Despierta América, el Gordo y la Flaca, another show that's not here anymore. Sábado Gigante. I was your local producer because I knew all the shows really well.

Pam: That's awesome.

Ana: And they didn't have production offices in Mexico yet.

Pam: You started them.

Ana: I could have stayed, like once they, they were starting to build the, the, the beautiful building that they have now and the whole offices and all that. I was kind of being prepped to like kind of lead that. But I, by then I went into my spiritual, I left everything.

Pam: I see. Okay. We'll explore that part.

***
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***

Pam: Okay. This is awesome. Did you ever feel imposter because you were young?

Ana: Yeah.

Pam: Like, I mean, you were doing positions that didn't exist.

Ana: I was opening a position that didn't exist. I'm always like in the startup of something. Porque me hago eso, I don't know. I can never be like when it's easy and flowing and people are just in their cubicles happy with life. No.

Pam: That's where the non-conformance comes in.

Ana: Ahí está. Always showing up the non-conformance I'm like, no, there's more, there's more!

Pam: Right. Did the imposter ever come or no? You were so focused.

Ana: When I look back and I can label it now, of course, imposter was always there. Always there, always there, always there, and it still is and shows up in different ways, but I guess it's a different type of imposter, especially back then, because I don't even know how to explain it. I just, it was imposter in the sense of like, I don't fit into what I'm seeing, what I need to fit in the mold. I need to fit in to be successful in this career. So I'm just going to create something else.

Pam: Hmm. Ooh, so good. It's almost like the imposter pushed you to create something that didn't exist because what you didn't see yourself anyway. So let's create a new mold.

Ana: Yeah.

Pam: I love it.

Ana: Yeah. At the end of the day, and the reason why obvious that I know that when I discovered the world of blogging and digital media was that it was limitless. It was fluid, we can continue creating. If you want to close Cafe con Pam tomorrow, it's fine. You keep going with something like it's so fluid. It's so limitless and like that expensiveness. That's what I enjoy, knowing that I have possibilities and not like, okay, this is it. And you're capped and you're managed.

Pam: For sure. You're a rebel. Well, that's where the non-conformist [inaudible]

Ana: I'm a non-conformist.

Pam: Yes, yes. Okay. Let's take a quick coffee break and then we'll come back.

***

Pam: Ana do you drink coffee?

Ana: I do every morning. Café salvadoreño.

Pam: I love it. How do you drink your coffee?

Ana: Um, it's drip coffee and I pour a little bit of oat milk. Just like a splash.

Pam: Sin azúcar, así.

Ana: Nada, sin azúcar.

Pam: Nice, nice. I'm still on my black coffee, drip, French press, pour overs, pour overs are my favorite. El café salvadoreño es buenísimo. My favorite is Ethiopian coffee. I don't know if you've ever had.

Ana: Yeah, I had it. It's very similar. I feel like it's soft. It's like..

Pam: It has that fruitiness.

Today I'm giving a shout out to the sponsor of the show, which is Magic Mind. And it is the first productivity drink that has been created, like purposefully for productivity and focus. Like computer work. This is not an energy drink. It's a focus drink. And for my ADHD brain, it works great because the energy drinks, what they do is they make me jittery and I don't need any more jitters. So what I do need is the cognitive part of me to get like focused and Magic Mind is great. Because it has the nootropics, it has mushrooms. And it's one of my favorite things, it has matcha and honey, and all of those combined, they make this awesome, awesome drink. And the founder actually went into this like health challenge for drinking too much coffee. And he was like, wait, he's in tech. And so he was like, I can't not drink coffee cause I need it for work, you know, but I need something that is going to remove all of the jitters that coffee gives me.
And so then that's how he got like kind of obsessed with mushrooms and I'm obsessed with mushrooms. So it's super fun. So shout out to Magic Mind. All right. Let's get back to the show.

***

Pam: Okay. When do you leave?

Ana: Univision?

Pam: What's the catalyst?

Ana: Oh, that's like a really long story and I hope to one day included in a book. They actually betrayed me. It was kind of bad. They betrayed me, they hacked my email and well, you've got to understand something. One thing that I did learn in Mexico is that it was especially back then, it was really difficult as an outsider, as a foreigner. So, salvadoreña, gringa, whatever, to come in. And all of a sudden they felt like I was taking their jobs instead of thinking that I was creating jobs. So they saw me as a threat. And there was this core team of Univision employees there that were doing news and sports and et cetera. And they were actually, the offices were in a house, but this was in the team I was working with, I had hire two girls from Televisa because Televisa gave me a badge. When I moved there, they were like, you don't work for us, but you have a [inaudible] cameraman. I wasn't in front. I've always been behind the scenes. They're like, you can come and roam our halls whenever you want to, to just you know, record interviews and et cetera with artists and all that. So I had like three axes and from there, like I started meeting these girls and then they came to work for me, et cetera. And yeah, they hacked into my email. So we didn't have Whatsapp and it was [inaudible] Right. And we, I don't know if you did, but we used to like write emails with my friends that were letters. Like it was like the life, right? Like the phone was still expensive, you know? So like email's real and my best, I had my best friend. I don't think I've shared this out loud, but I had like my best friend that was still in Miami and him, and I would just like, go on like, talk about everything. And they found all those emails. And in one of those emails, I was complaining about one of the bosses in Mexico in Univision, who was making it very difficult for me. So they hacked and they shared those emails to all of those people. So, yeah, so he was like, I'm going to deport you. And I'm like, but then I learned about this because one of the, and she's amazing. She's... I think she's still there so I'm not going to name names, but the most bad ass woman in Univisión at the moment. she was a top executive producer. Everybody feared her. I thought she was really nice. She was the one that called me. She called me and she's like, I don't know. I don't know if you know what's happening, but these emails are circulating. I think you need to be very careful. I know who you are. And I know what they're trying to do. So I'm just like warning you. she's like, do not worry, like do not worry about me. Do not worry about anybody else, we've got your back. Right. And that was amazing. Like that allyship from that place, right. That there it's like, this is illegal. They're hacking my email.

Pam: Right.

Ana: And spreading it out to defame me. Right. So it was a horrible situation. I had only been in Mexico for six months. That was just one of many things that happened. But I think it was actually my awakening. It was my moment of awakening. I went into like a depression after that, but it was a deep moment of awakening, like this place that called me that I needed to be. And I actually needed to be in because the little girl needed to wake up. And it didn't make me like untrustworthy. Right. Because that was the last thing I'm like, I don't want to become, like, I don't want to be naive because I was naive, but I also don't want to be, you know, untrustworthy or think that people are always bitter, bitter or anything like that. I'm like, that's when I went into like more of my spiritual awakening, my journey, and then understanding that I needed that yang that Mexico was, and that Mexico is full duality. That's why it's still my healing place. Mexico is a hundred percent duality, so you're going to face that. And that was the first thing that I needed to face there. That to then discover the deeper, like the beauty, the reason why I was actually, you know, the journey that it needed to take me through, it destroyed me. It was horrible.

Pam: And then what happened?

Ana: Oh. And then it went into my whole journey. Um, I met a guy and his dad had just passed away. This is so funny. Why am I telling you all this?

Pam: This happens at Cafe con Pam.

Ana: I know, I see, damn. No tengo café pero tengo cocktail. I work in a co-work space and industrious and they do happy hours on Thursdays. And I was like, okay!

Pam: Perfect.

Ana: He was actually, his dad was the creative producer of Aventurera.

Pam: Oh, how fun!

Ana: So Carmen Salinas was, I knew Carmen Salinas really well because I worked with her. So he, his dad has just passed. So he had inherited Aventurera. There's that. So when I met him, he was also like, his dad had just died. And so we were both in a really dark place. And I think he provides solids for me. He provides safety for me because this was when I met him, was with this thing, happened with these girls and I, they, they were threatening me. It was horrible. I couldn't go back to Miami. I was getting job offers to when the Latin Grammys [inaudible] was opening up. They were recruiting me to work with them. I had a lot of job options in Miami, but there was something that was telling me like, no, you stay here. And I threw myself in, he offered me to move in with him and I was like, okay. Super cute apartment in Colonia Roma. I moved in, you know, and I just kind of allowed myself to like fall apart and heal. And he was in that same moment. So I think, and financially we were sustained. So we just kinda went, we went really deep, we just went really in, and then I had an ectopic pregnancy, which basically that, I almost died. All of that happened within a year. So coming out of that, you know, that the healing of the ectopic pregnancy was so hard. That that was my connection with my body. You know, I was cut in half. I was cut in half with an emergency C-section basically like when you have an ectopic pregnancy, you start bleeding internally. So you have like 15 minutes. Basically.

Pam: Wow.

Ana: And I survived, but the healing and the recovering was really difficult. And that's when I just started really exploring, you know, yoga and ayurveda and nutrition and became vegetarian, just like everything was like, how am I going to heal my body? And I just went deep into that world. And thankfully I had, I was able to, because I didn't have to work. We were okay. And then I started working with Aventurera when they went on tour. But yeah, that was a really like it, that whole connection. And I was like, I'm never going back to TV. I'm never going back to that world. Like I was, I was scared. I had tremendous PTSD. I was really scared, but it really led me to a beautiful place. I ended up moving to Tepoztlan with him and were there for like four months. And I know, and now Tepoz is like Tulum Tulum [?]

Pam: Yeah, yeah.

Ana: [inaudible] Why do we ruin everything? But yeah, I lived in Tepoz for like four months. It was beautiful. And I was managing an aromatherapy store. Like it was my full hippie days. And then I started just feeling like a lot of things happen. And I started just to feel like after a few years, like this pull to go back into the real world. A few things happened that shouldn't have happened. And I think also like led, pushed me back into like, okay, it's time to come back. And it was crazy because I was like, okay, if I'm going to come back, who do I want to work for? Like, I don't, I don't, I'm not going to go with Televisa. And they immediately recruited me, like call me to do, Big Brother when it was premiering in Televisa in Mexico. And I was like, like, they gave me the whole tour of the place and everything, and like they were offering me a job on the spot. I'm like, I know I cannot do this. This is the horrible, it's a rat's maze. And then the place I wanted to work was MTV. I was like, I, you know, the only place where I think I would feel good [inaudible], but they didn't even have production offices there. They worked with like an external team, with contractors. It was like, how can I get in there, how can I get in there? Within a month I got a call from one of my best friends in Miami. He didn't know, I hadn't told him, but he had had dinner with the VP of production of MTV Latin America in Miami, one of his good friends. And he was like, Hey, I was just with Michelle yesterday and she's looking, she's hiring a producer in Mexico. I'm like, what? He's like, would you be interested? I know you're not working right now. I'm like, no, yes, that's my, that's my job. It landed like didn't land on my lap because they flew me to Miami. I had to like do all the rounds of interviews and whatever, but I got the job.

Pam: That's awesome.

Ana: I got the job. And we started the production team in Mexico and we launched a, a really beautiful show. And that's where I met who's now my ex-husband. But yeah, that's what I, I went back into the, into the world.

Pam: Somewhere in there you started blogging.

Ana: After.

Pam: And that's kind of like the beginning of Latina Bloggers Connect, right?

Ana: Yeah.

Pam: The beginning beginning of We All Grow.

Ana: Beginning. Beginning. Yeah. So I'll be quick because this story everybody has heard.

Pam: Yeah. I know. That's when like let's keep digging to the [laughs]

Ana: Yeah, no, that was in 2009 that I launched the Spanglish Baby. I had quit my job by then. I was back in LA from Mexico. Then we moved to Playa del Carmen for a year. And then, Playa, both my husband, now ex husband, and I both got job offers in LA at the same, the same company to open up Mundos, which is now NBC Universal. It was a whole bunch of ex MTVers, et cetera. So it was fun. But, um, I had my daughter and when I had my daughter. We had no family here. So I knew I wanted to be full-time with her. I didn't want to just hand her over to a nanny. And my husband was doing well. He had his, all his, he was an editor, who had a lot of clients so we were okay. So anyway, I quit my job. I was a stay at home mom and within a year, the recession hit and he lost all of his clients and we had no income coming in and it was horrible. And it was back to square one, with the baby at home with no help. We know how difficult it is for moms. Right. It's even, I was like, I'll work at Gap. Like I will do anything, but it was more expensive to have to hire help. That was my reality in caregiving. I was stuck in living like it's even like the, the, the standard of life that you have even like moving is expensive. So moving, getting new housing, putting three months down for deposit, I mean, you're stuck, you're stuck when you get into this financial moments. So anyway, it was in those moments that I discovered blogging and I discovered mom bloggers and they started becoming my lifeline, but I wasn't finding bloggers that talked about what mattered to me, which was raising bilingual, bicultural kids, or like Latinidad, et cetera. So I just decided that, you know, I knew how to create content. My best friend from college who's on Emmy award-winning journalist también estaba en Univision and all that. She was going through the exact same thing as I was, she was living in Denver by then, had a baby same thing, had to quit everything and, you know, recession hit, all that. And we just both say like, we know how to do this. We know how to create content and we don't need money to start a blog and the girls nap, right? Like we can do it in between that. And we launched Spanglish Baby, but by then I was hooked. I was hooked because that's when I saw these limitless possibilities in the digital space. And slowly but surely I started getting freelance gigs, fun gigs, like MTV movie awards, People's Choice awards. But I swear to God, I would sit there and I'd have like named celebrity next to me performing. And I'm like, I need to go back to my blog. I need like, when is this done? I need to go. Like, I need to go check comments and I need to go to. It was about that. That's where I wanted to be. So I decided that we needed to monetize to be able to do it. And I saw the general market mom and black mom bloggers were amazing at opening doors for me. I was a token Latina, and I was like, make me the token Latina, invite me to all the places. I will figure this out. And I'm going to do the same things y'all are doing and are making money. We're going to do the same here. So, and they, and they motivated and pushed me actually. And I launched Latina Bloggers Connect in 2010 as the first network of Latina bloggers. Before that we actually had a blog Hermanas on Facebook when Facebook was just Facebook groups. And we had a blog Hermanas there where we were just all supporting and helping each other. So I had started blog Hermanas, it was just like, you know, our Facebook group. And then it grew into, okay, I'm going to launch Latina Bloggers Connect into a bonafide business, which was just a blog with a Google form that said, if you're a blogger or YouTuber and you want to work with brands sign up here, and I make the promise that I will find you work. And I did within a month Sprint signed up as a client. We launched a campaign with six bloggers, then Kellogg's and [inaudible] McDonald's it just started like really growing from there. And we were the only ones in the space for like a year.

Pam: For sure. And one thing that I know, and we can gather from this is you're very collaborative. And so even like teamwork. We All Grow Latina, it's all based on, on the collaboration and the upbringing. After la traición from the people, how did you kind of get back to the collaboration piece, like trusting people again?

Ana: I was saying earlier, like that was the part that I wanted to make sure that I, I learned from. You know what? It comes down to intuition. Like honoring those gut moments, honoring those gut feelings of like this person... And it still has happened to me with the team in the last 12 years. Right. There's people that, I love my team, but there's moments where you're like, it's just time for her, and it's time for me, you know? And it's hard to navigate through those things, when your team becomes your family and you want to be collaborative and all that, it really is in more and more honoring my intuition, more and more putting up those safe boundaries, not walls, because that's a whole other conversation that we can have about the conversation about boundaries, and how I don't, you know, I, I think people are taking them out of context because a lot of walls are being created now. But yeah, it, it is, it is right now all my tuition and I actually like working alone, like I do thrive working alone, but for somehow I think I continue building community around me, I think, because I am such like, I like being alone for some reason. Like I like creating community. But I don't belong to a lot of communities. Like I don't go to church. I don't like you, you know what I mean? Like I'm not, I'm not a belonger.

Pam: Right. I am a bouncer, the same. So I have like different groups of people that I bounce between, but I'm not like, I don't have ride or dies. You know, that it's always the same people. I'm a bouncer too. And I don't know, like now, as we're having this conversation, I don't know if it's a, we were born in a different place and kind of grew up in different... I don't know if that has anything to do with it, maybe, maybe so.

Ana: I do think so because like I can morph, not, it used to be in an unhealthy way. I think now it's in a very healthy way. Like I can morph it to very different situations.

Pam: Yes.

Ana: In very different environments. Right. And understand it, but not in a "I'm faking it" way, but like I can actually understand many different situations, groups, environment, for sure.

Pam: 100%. And I remember when I was in corporate, my former boss used to tell me, I'll send you to CEO rooms because you can adapt to those. I'll send you to the shipping team because you can adapt to it. In my young years I was like F off, like, are you telling me that I'm like, you know, but now I understand that it's that not everyone is able to adapt. And by doing my Clifton strengths, I have individualistic, is one of my top strengths, which is my ability to see people as individuals, instead of me showing up and saying, this is what I believe in. It's like, no, let me see you first. So you might have some individualism.

Ana: Oh, I like that. What is that test?

Pam: The Clifton strengths,

Ana: The Clifton strengths. Okay. I don't think I've done that one.

Pam: Yeah. It's like 40 bucks, totally worth it because it's super fun to explore how you work. So for me, my top five are, I don't remember all of them, but connectedness, individualism, futuristic, um, belief, the sort of the top, like in the very top and all of them like show me that I need to, like, I talk to people and for me, my work as a coach now is, and as an EFT practitioner, I show up to be the person that the person needs me to be. So I don't show up to say, this is what I teach you. I show up with whatever you need me to show up with.

Ana: Without letting go of your authenticity and who you are and not just conform me to the other person.

Pam: Yes, yes, yes. So I'm curious to take it and let us know what you get.

Ana: I will! I just wrote it down.

Pam: Totally. I have a funny story. When I was a photographer years ago, I did an event in La Joya in San Diego, and they had brought two different photographers. So they brought me and then they brought, creo que se llama Jane. Ay, no me acuerdo.

Ana: Jane Maynard?

Pam: Yes!

Ana: Jane Maynard, she's a mom blogger, food blogger.

Pam: Yeah. Yeah.

Ana: Yeah. She, we went to Malawi together.

Pam: So, I don't remember how, and maybe because I'm brown, she was like, do you know Ana Flores? And I'm like, of course. We All Grow. You know, like, yeah, I know Ana Flores. And she's like, oh my gosh, she's one of my friends. And I was like, wow, this is so random. And I was like, one day, I'm going to tell Ana. I met someone that knew her like years and years ago. Like this is years ago. Like, I don't know, maybe five years ago.

Ana: Oh, that's hilarious.

Pam: Like we have that. I don't do pictures anymore. I took pictures with her a couple of times, but it was her side thing because she did the food. Yeah.

Ana: The food, yeah, the food blogging. I don't think she's doing food blogging anymore, but yeah, we went on a trip to Malawi together as bloggers. We were invited by one, One.org, [inaudible] organization. People [inaudible] for like read and all that. They do beautiful work at, in Africa and they would do trips where they take, well, they do trips where they take like politicians, celebrities, et cetera. But then they were also doing these with, I think they did three different groups throughout the years with, with mom bloggers.
And I got lucky to be on like the last one. I think.

Pam: That's awesome.

Ana: It was beautiful.

Pam: I have so many questions, but we're running out of time. We'll see what comes up. So, I mean, we've heard the story. You've shared it everywhere, so we don't need to explore how We All Grow happened. We know it, but I I'm interested in like the details.
So you always had partners. Yeah?

Ana: No, I didn't have partners for the first seven years.

Pam: Okay. How did you make the decision that it was time to bring in partners?

Ana: By necessity. It was 2017. I had to fire the whole team and almost, actually my first partner, sorry, was actually Roxanna that came in in 2015. She was already working with us as, um, I had an external agency, that it was the first agency that was representing influencers bloggers. The very first one was called Sway Group. They worked for me as an employee, when I still had Spanglish Baby, because for a while I was doing both and they were both exploding and I had to really commit to it. I still think that if I would've kept Spanglish Baby, I would have sold it to Disney. That was my goal. But I had to decide between one or the other. And my partner in Spanglish Baby had a full-time job. She wasn't committed to it anymore. So, I had to let go of that. So my first partner came on board because she was working with that, with that group. Then she was leaving them and then I really needed somebody to continue helping me with sales because by then we were launching the summit in 2015. So it was more of a decision of, I don't, I can't pay you the salary you deserve, but I can give you equity. So while I have not brought in investors and I haven't diluted my equity through investors, I've diluted my equity by bringing in partners. It was just more of a strategic move. Roxanna was bought out two years ago, we bought her out. Um, she was, you know, just doing other things as well. She's very dedicated to her family and her writing, and the company continues to evolve and morph into so many different things. So we brought Patty Arvielo, came on board as a partner and bought out. By then we had two partners. It was Pat, it was Roxanna and Melissa, Melissa is our event director, Melissa is still with us. Melissa is still kind of like a symbolic partner. And I did like, I'm always going to take care of her. She had come on board in 2017 when we were going to close the company because influencer marketing had completely changed. We didn't love it anymore. We hated it because it had become super transactional. But it was really hard to let go of it when it was bringing in all the revenue, and paying the bills and paying payroll. So it just basically was pulled under our rugs when it was, uh, it all went in house. All the agencies that we worked with were so big that they eventually brought in marketing influencers, marketing teams in house and didn't really need us anymore. So that was a moment where I was going to have to close the company. And then both Roxanna and Melissa said like, well, we'll stay on board with you because we know that you're going to come back. Ana we want to be with you the moment that you do. So then, and they're like, it's summer. We want to spend the summer with our kids. So don't pay us, we'll work when we can, and let's bring back the company, you know? And I was like, okay, if you do that, then I have to make you partners. Like we will, you know, we'll figure this out. So I'm, I made the partners and the three of us really work to, to bring it back.

Pam: Okay. There's more in there, but I have so many questions.

Ana: There's so more in there. Yeah.

Pam: Yeah. Then the pandemic happened, you did the events and they're awesome. But then the pandemic happens. How do you decide to cancel an event that's sold out?

Ana: You don't decide. You don't decide. That was horrible. No, I had, actually our friend Linda [inaudible] Reyes, she is a good friendirlfriend and she was already, she was working with us that she was curating all the wellness sessions for that one. So she had started early on. She was already obsessed with the stock market. She was starting to get into it, no? And she was seeing the trends, what was happening. And I had also know, she's like, are you noticing what's going on? I'm like, she's like, I think you really need to pay really good attention. I'm like, I know I'm paying attention because I'm supposed to be going to Austin for South by Southwest and all this. So this is March, the conference is in May. And like, she really pushed me to be like, eyes open, pay attention, what's going on. And so we were prepared. Like I was already preparing the team. I was already talking to the hotel. It's like, okay, what's going to have like very early on. So we already had a lot of plans set in place, but it was, the hard part was to say no when we were still in deep, in deep talks with all of the sponsors, because what people don't understand about running events is that we never have the money upfront.

Pam: Right.

Ana: Like, it's all a risk. Right now we just sold out the, the summit, but we're not even a third of the money that we need to actually make the event happen. Yeah. So the sponsorships don't come in until like super late. So it's March and we're still closing, like our title sponsor. Thankfully not a lot of that sponsorship money had come in yet because we didn't owe that much. But, um, it was, I remember clearly I was on the phone with Unilever, with my [inaudible] clients trying to close the title sponsorship with them. It was already a done deal. But we were in, in that process when the WHO declared it a pandemic. So that's what we were waiting for. Like the moment that they declared a pandemic, we have to like activate this. So the first thing we did was postpone it, but I always knew that it was gonna eventually be canceled. So we sent out a like it's postponed, but that bought us time to figure out what the hell we were going to do. If we had to do refunds and we had to do everything else. And because nobody really knew, and everybody was postponing because nobody knew. And the hotels were flexible, people like, we were all in it together. Right. So by the moment we decided to cancel, it was when, by the second time we were going to have to postpone, and we were like that's it. There's no way, this is not happening for awhile. Right? The canceling, the hard part what are we going to do with $200,000 in tickets that we don't have?

Pam: Yeah.

Ana: It was the community and the SBA loan. So we, you were one of the ones that helped us through because, so we came up with the structure of like, okay, the community wants to help each other too, not everybody needs this money, but for some people $444 is going to be rent money, is going to be grocery money. I can owe at Disney, but I'm not going to, owe Lupita.

Pam: Right.

Ana: Right. Like I can't. So whatever happened, at that moment, we were thinking of closing the company. I mean, all of it, but I'm like, before we go down, we need to figure out how to do this. So we sent out an email to all the people that had, by the way, this was the first year we were doubling the conference to a thousand people. So we had a lot more people. And we put out three options. If you need the money now, tier one, urgent, now, I need my money now. If you can wait a little bit longer, tier two, if you want to transfer it to the next summit and trust us that one day we will be back. And by that moment, I didn't know if we were going to be back or not, but we had to take that chance.

Pam: And here we are.

Ana: Yeah, we had to take that chance. And we're back. We had to take that chance. We didn't know, but if we were going to have to close it completely, we were going to figure out how to pay that money back anyway. So the community rally, we had over like 120 people that transferred their tickets over, some, you know, that, that tier, because we're like, if you can hold on a little bit longer, allow us to refund the ones that need it now. And that was a beautiful show of testament, also to how the community understood it. And it was that video that I also put up, like explaining what we were going through and asking for grace and patience that, um, my now partner Patty Arvielo, who's an incredible human being, but she's also one of the biggest millionaires, Latina millionaires in the country. She owns a mortgage lending company called New American Funding. She saw it and I had met her the previous year and she immediately called me. She's like, I received a DM from her, like at midnight. And she's like, let's talk tomorrow. I'm going to help you.

Pam: Oh! And that's when the conversation started with Patty?

Ana: That video, right? It's like, because I have a hard time asking for help. Right. And constantly, you know, my guides, [inaudible] reaffirm me, like, ask, and I wasn't even asking for her help. I was just being honest and authentic, vulnerable with like, this is what's going on. This is not easy for us. And it's hard to come in and say, it's not easy for us when it's not easy for anybody.

Pam: Right. For sure. And so then now Patty is partner.

Ana: A partner.

Pam: También, now you have a co C, you're co-CEOs?

Ana: Yeah. So Patty is partner and chairwoman. So she's not involved in the day-to-day, she's our biggest cheerleader, provides resources and provides networks. She didn't do an investment in the company. She just bought out our previous partners, but she has access to resources that we don't, like she sits on the boards of banks that can now give us loans just based off, you know, thankfully her. And then we brought on board Vanessa Santos as a co-CEO in November, she's a partner and co-CEO because we are going very big places. And one thing I learned was that we can not put all of our eggs in one basket and the events, the summit and what we already do so well, we do so well. And it's gotten us up until this point, but everything, and I can continue managing that, but our growth pattern needs to be led by somebody else, you know, together with the vision that we have together, helping us. Plus there's the whole, there's a lot of like startup models where the ten-year-old star startup, 11 year old now, that have the co-sale model where it's like internal, external CEO. Because managing a team is a full-time job. And our team is now with paid interns and contractors. We're like at 26. So just managing a team, a team culture is a lot.

Pam: For sure. How exciting! So congrats on selling out, that was expected. So, it had no doubts, so that, it was going to sell out [inaudible]

Ana: It was double the price in a more luxurious hotel. So we had our doubts, but we knew that all of you have leveled up.

Pam: También.

Ana: So many. I mean the news cycle once it's, yeah. The new cycle obviously talks about the negative and yes, yes, yes, yes. There's been a lot of, you know, obviously job losses and all of that. Yes. But at the same time we've been kicking, like the woman, the stories that I see talking about Linda, like where is she now? Where she was two years ago. And there's so many of those stories and those, and that's what we wanted to celebrate. Right. We're were like, okay, we're ready for this. Because for us, it was also, we needed this to, you know, to actually run a more healthy, sustainable business.

Pam: Hm. So important. Okay. I have so many questions. Maybe we'll bring it back to us. All the questions. Maybe we'll bring all three of you back, with Patty and Vanessa.

Ana: Getting into Patty's calendar is a thing though.

Pam: I, I, yes, I, I think so. What's next for We All Grow? That you can share

Ana: We're launching an editorial platform. We're super excited about that. I think that is going to be our big 360 moment. The big piece that had been missing from the puzzle. So we have an incredible director of digital content, Priscilla Castro. She comes from Planoly, before that she was in Create and Cultivate and launched their social media and editorial. And before that BeautyCon, launched their editorial. So she's got amazing background and talent and she's leading and spearheading that. And we're launching a ver... I think you're really gonna like our merge line. It's a very, it's not t-shirts, it's not [inaudible]. It's not it's, it's like a very intentional product that just reflects the community and the community values that we have. So hoping that launches in August, but with all these products supply issues and the [inaudible] supply issues, we're having a hard time with that.

Pam: Yeah, I hear you. Thank you for sharing all the stories. This was super fun. Last two questions. What's your remedio? Do you have a remedio you want to share?

Ana: Yeah, so my, my mom's eucalyptus tea is awesome. I love my daughter asks for it now. So it's just like, and it's hard to find eucalyptus leaves, but I, growing up in El Salvador, we used to live in front of this field of eucalyptus trees. So, so you eucalyptus con canela, raja de canela, la raja, a lot of lime or lemon and a lot of honey and ginger, if you want to, you can add some ginger in there and it cures everything. Thankfully I haven't had COVID so I don't know if it helps with COVID or not, because I haven't had it, so I hadn't, I haven't tried it, but I will.

Pam: And what's your quote or mantra that you live by today?

Ana: Es que the one that I, that I've always had in, like, I just always carry with me as a reminder is "la hora más oscura del día es justo antes del amanecer".

Pam: I love that.

Ana: Yeah. I put it into my yearbook, in my high school yearbook. And like, I still kind of carry with it. Like it's not dark it's it's, it's the sense that there's always some, there's always that silver lining. I think I'm always looking for the silver... I'm that annoying person that's always looking for the silver lining.

Pam: Yes. That's the non-conforming part of you. See it's full circle.

Ana: There you go. It's all there.

Pam: Ana thank you so much for coming to Cafe con Pam. This was awesome. We could stay talking and I could stay asking all the questions because I have so many, but this was so lovely. Thank you for coming after all these years.

Ana: Thank you for the invitation. I know, this was nice. I'm happy to be here anytime. And thank you for all the love and wisdom that you've shared with Amigas throughout the years as well. You've always shown up.

Pam: Yeah, I need to show up back again, because you know, I've been trying to get, stay away from social media, but it's pulling me back.

Ana: It's good to follow that. You know, that those moments where like, okay, I'm done. Okay. I need to come back. Okay. I'm done.

Pam: Always, always. Thank you so much for being such an inspiration for all of us and doing all the things that bring us together. I mean, We All Grow is magical. So I can't wait to see you in September. Thank you. Thank you.

Ana: Gracias. Thank you!

***

Pam: All right listeners. That was my conversation with Ana. I hope you found new things that you didn't know about her. For me as a host, when I talk to people that are well-known in the space, in the online space, whether they're a public figure or someone who has been around and they've shared about their life, it's a fun challenge for me to ask questions, to kind of uncover things that we didn't know or that we had not heard them share before, because I think that a lot of times we kind of become known for something and that's where people place us. But as human beings, we are so layered and we are so multifaceted, and we are so full of different things that makes us us. And I think it's important to explore also all of those other aspects that we are not known for, because they're part of our story and it's important. And so I hope you enjoy this conversation. I had a lot of fun. I've been waiting a long time to interview Ana and it happened when it was supposed to happen. And I've been going to We all Grow for, I don't know. I think I've missed one or two, maybe. So I've known her for a minute and I've done work with We All Grow. I've been a guest coach there. So it's been super amazing because Ana is also one that gives opportunities. One that says, hey, I see you. And I see you working, come over. And I love that about her. And so if you were to ask me, how did this happen? 250 episodes later, 251 episodes later. I don't know. I think it just kind of things aligned in a way that was like, all right, it's time. Let's make it happen. And it just happened. So I'm glad it did because we got to talk to this chapter of Ana. And it's also fun because everyone goes through chapters. So outside of the layers that we, each have inside it's also the different chapters that we live, depending on where we are in our life. I'll stop rambling, but I hope you enjoyed it.
If you're new here welcome to Cafe con Pam. I hope you feel at home. This is my little casita on the internet, and I love having conversations with fun people doing amazing things. And if you like this little corner, I hope you come back, subscribe, rate, and review, if you haven't already. Leave us some stars, five, preferably. A nice review is also very much welcome and I so appreciate you taking the time. I've said it before, and I will always say, I don't take your time for granted. I know there's one hour or sometimes a little over of your time, is precious and valuable. And the fact that you're choosing to listen to me, it's such an honor for me to get to speak in front of this microphone and have this now role of sharing our stories. It's amazing. What once started as a selfish project of like, I want to hear how people made it. I want to hear their story. Now it's the stories that I get to share with you all. And, oh, it's a dream. So I'm so grateful for you. I'm so grateful that you're here and that you continue to listen because look, the moment you stop listening, Cafe con Pam doesn't exist. So thank you for continuing to plug in. I so appreciate you and for sharing with others as well. Because the more you share the show with other people, the more our stories get a longer, farther reach. And that's the goal. It's for our stories to be told, for our stories to be shared, for our stories to touch those people who are waiting to get that little push, to get that little inspiration, to get the modeling that maybe they didn't see in their immediate family or in their immediate circle. However, the power of technology allows us to share these stories like this, and then be like, look, someone that looks and sounds like you is doing it. Therefore it's possible.
I would love to stay connected. Let's connect on the socials on social media I am all over as Cafe con Pam podcast @cafeconpampodcast. On Instagram and Facebook, those are the platforms where you can find me. I'm kind of hanging out on TikTok a little bit as cobiux though, and I'm doing more tapping in there. We're playing with that platform. We'll see. We'll see what happens. But Instagram and Facebook is where you can find me as Cafe con Pam Podcast. I'm happy to hang out there with you. Screenshot the show, share it with me, tag me on your stories. Tell me what you think about this episode. Super fun to read you, super fun to connect. And if I owe you stickers. I know I got your message. You know, who I'm talking to. I got your message. So I'm sending them to you. Thank you for reminding me. I also have an online space, an online community where we can connect, is Discord server. Very easy to join head over to stayshining.club, stayshining.club. You can join in there. We do, that's where I do giveaways. That's where we do lots more connection. That's where I share about events that are coming up, and it's a nice place to hang out that's outside of the social medias. So if you're looking for that, come over to stayshining.club, I would love to have you there and introduce yourself. Tell me who you are. Where'd you come from? How did you hear about us?
If you would like to learn about my work as the coach that I became, I became the business coach my mother needed. I support women and fems who own businesses who are looking to dismantle the damages of Calladita culture, we do this from a lens of liberation, cyclical businesses and we use tapping us a tool to support our nervous system, because I believe supporting your nervous system is crucial to make sure that your success is sustainable.

Next week. I'll give you some updates about what's going on in my life, but if you attended the workshop this week about community quarterly planning, thank you so much for coming. It was such a pleasure recording it. And it's kind of weird because I'm recording this before the workshop happens. So I kind of have to talk in the past as if this already happened. So it's a trip, but if you're going to be listening to this after the workshop, so if you came, thank you so much. I'm so glad you attended and I'll stop talking because I'll let you get back to your day. Thank you so much for being here. Y como siempre, stay shining!