257 - Taking Over a Family Business with Sarah Perez Jarett and Hilda Perez

May 29

Sarah Perez Jarett and Hilda Perez in Cafe con Pam

257 - Taking Over a Family Business with Sarah Perez Jarett and Hilda Perez

Listeners, we're back this week with Sarah Perez Jarrett & Hilda Perez

Sarah Pérez-Jarrett is an entrepreneur and small business owner with over ten years of experience in operations, business management, natural medicine, and health advocacy.

Hilda Perez is an entrepreneur. She earned her Master’s Degree in Social Entrepreneurship - making her one of the 4 percent of graduate degree holders in the US, who is Latina. She’s Dominican-American and honors her family and Latin community through her role as Chief Operating Officer at SALUD. In 2014, Hilda co-founded Savvy - Marketing for Good, to grow social ventures, boosting their positive impact by creating, implementing, and measuring marketing activities.

During our conversation, we talked about:

06:38 - On being Dominican and Dominican-American
11:06 - Their father’s career
14:35 - Getting into the business
23:31 - Taking over after the recession
24:41 - How challenging it can be when you care
27:10 - Emotional intelligence and creating culture
38:55 - How do you present yourself as a professional woman
34:21 - Growing pains
41:39 - Prepping for an upcoming recession
And more...

Hello everyone. This is Pam, de Cafe con Pam, the bilingual podcast that features Latinas, Latinos, Latine, and people of the global majority who break barriers, change lives and make this world a better place. Welcome to episode 257 of Cafe con Pam. Today we have a conversation with Sarah Perez Jarret and Hilda Perez.

These Dominican sisters are committed to creating healthier Latino communities through their company Salud, a family owned and operated business, creating all natural high quality health and wellness products. With a combined 18 years of executive experience, Sarah and Hilda inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs by sharing expert advice on their platform, Las Entrepreneurs and their podcast, The Savvy Sector. Now, more than ever free resources in support of entrepreneurs and business owners are crucial.

Listeners, my conversation with Sarah and Hilda was so fun because first I don't think I've ever done an interview with two people. Have I? You tell me. I don't remember. I don't think so. And if I did, I think it was in person. And so this was my first, I guess in this year, at least interview that I did with two people, with co-owners, and it was amazing, especially sisters. So not only are they co-owners of the business, they took over the business from their father and they're also sisters. So this was a fascinating conversation. I truly had a lot of fun asking them questions, not only about themselves and their upbringing and their family, but also about how they run their business and what happens when they don't agree. And how do they manage employees and how do they handle the growth of a business? And most importantly, how do you take over a family business? How do you take over a business that your father started?

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***
So you're in for a treat. I believe this was great. And they're both amazing. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it, so I will let you just jump in and listen. Sin más, here's my conversation with Hilda and Sarah.

***
Pam: Sarah and Hilda, welcome to Cafe con Pam! So happy to have you.

Sarah: Thank you so much.

Hilda: So nice to be here.

Pam: Yes. So to let the listeners know, this is kind of like, I don't know if we've had a two person episode in a, in a while, so this one's gonna be fun. So to start, you're sisters.

Sarah: Yep. That's right.

Pam: And the question that I always ask is what is your heritage? So who's the oldest?

Sarah: I am, she looks younger. We always joke about that.

Pam: Yeah. And actually, Hilda is taller too? No?

Hilda: I am taller.

Sarah: Somehow she even manages to be taller on video. How is that possible?

Hilda: I don't know! [laughs] I gotta keep my brand up. Cause I am the taller Perez sister.

Pam: How funny. So what's your heritage? And Sarah, if you wanna go, since you're the oldest.

Sarah: I am Dominican.

Pam: And did you grow up in, in DR?

Sarah: No. So I was born in the Dominican Republic and then when, uh, I was two years old, we immigrated to the United States. We started Florida and then ended up in New York.

Pam: And how much older than Hilda are you?

Sarah: Four years.

Pam: So, Hilda, you were born and raised in the US then?

Hilda: Yes, I was. I was born in New York. So I consider myself Dominican American.

Pam: So how is it for you as sisters to have, like, even though Sarah, you came in like, like little, little, but is there a different dynamic, have you ever talked about how being born in the US and not, has that made you feel different?

Sarah: I would say so. Absolutely. I think that I was raised a lot more Dominican than my sister. And I think that maybe I played a part in, in helping her be more American.

Hilda: A thousand percent. [laughs]

Pam: Tell me more about that.

Sarah: So my parents, we came here, but they never stopped being Dominican. So like we brought plantains and spaghetti to for lunch. Like it was very, very Dominican. And so I faced a lot of, you know, I guess lashback [sic] in school because of it. So when it was time for her to go through the process, I already knew like, what would happen if she presented in a certain way. So I would help her change and, you know, looking back, it's like why, but as a child, you don't, you know, you're just, I wanna stop her from being embarrassed or something like that. So I helped her in that way.

Pam: For sure. And it's something that we talk about in Cafe con Pam a lot, is assimilation and identity, you know, and how, a lot of times in your case, Sarah, it's like, it was a byproduct of safety. How can I make you be more safe? And with that internally, it was like, let's just help you assimilate a little more, you know? And so as adults, we grew up and we're like, why did we do that? But really, if we look back it's it was a matter of safety.

Sarah: No, you're absolutely right.

Pam: Hilda, how do you feel about that?

Hilda: I mean, I appreciate all the trauma she took for me. There's always like this thing going around now of like being the first born Latina, the immigrant child and how they have really. And I think it took almost like, it coming popular into the [inaudible] for me to really recognize it. Right. Becoming more aware, going to therapy, doing all these things. I'm like, she dealt with a lot that I didn't have to deal with. And it's down to the point that we talk about things. I'm like, I don't remember that, she's like this happened, you know, like this is what I shielded you from. And it was a lot of things even down to like school things. So I do, I appreciate you for doing that, but now, I'm trying to pay back. [laughs]
Pam: Yay! I love this. Is it just you two or do you have more siblings?

Sarah: Just the two of us.

Pam: So yeah, it makes sense. I'm the oldest. So I'm with you, Sarah.

Sarah: Yeah. Of how many?

Pam: Three.

Sarah: So you get it.

Pam: I get it 100%, a hundred percent. There's a, a TikTok going around. I don't know if you've seen it, that it's like the oldest child. And I think it's very specific to Latinas. It's like, who takes care of you? You know, the text, like the oldest child and then the voice is like "myself".

Sarah: Yeah, no, really. Like I remember doing homework and it was always just me. Like, my parents couldn't help me 'cause they didn't speak the language and I was just like trying to figure it out. And then when it came times for my sister to do homework, my mom would be like help her. And one day I like lost it and I was like, no, I'm not helping her. She's gotta figure this out.

Pam: Nobody helped me!

Hilda: ...the division [laughs]

Sarah: yeah, for sure.

Pam: Totally. So four years older, I mean, I'm sure now as you are grownups, there's no difference. But when you were younger, do you know? Because I'm six years older than my sister and seven years older than my brother. And so now we don't see the difference, but before like we were little, I was like, oh. These little kids.

Sarah: Yeah. I mean, I don't know if it was like little kids. It was more like we didn't overlap in school, so we didn't see each other, like in high school. So we didn't get like that chance to bond. We all, we each formed our own friends, so we didn't really connect until after, um, I guess like college, but we were always very close. It's just that we didn't like hang out in public together, I guess.

Hilda: Yeah. Don't be seen with me. No, that was never the case. Yeah. We just never had to. That's true. And I really thought about that.

Pam: For sure. Did you borrow clothes from each other?

Hilda: I'm too tall. [laughs]

Pam: Were you always the taller?

Hilda: I'm always taller. I hit my tall streak at 12.

Pam: Oh my gosh.

Sarah: I know. Yeah, I've always been small, so.

Pam: How interesting.

Hilda: I mean, I wanted to, it was cute, but it just never fit. [laughs] those are too tiny. It'd be like, crop tops are cool now, they were not cool in the thousands, I guess a little bit, but. Not how I was allowed to leave the house, so.

Pam: For sure. Yeah. No, my sister still steals clothes for me and I would get so mad. That's why I ask this question. Cause I'm like, every time I get sisters, I'm like, did you experience this too?

Sarah: I steal her clothes now. I just recently stole a dress that she's never getting back, so.

Hilda: Yeah. Cuz now like the sizes kind of match a little bit. [inaudible] She literally sent me a photo saying you're not getting this back. I'm fine. It's okay.

Pam: So, so you grew up in New York city and New York is very Dominican, Puerto Rican. Like there's a lot of Latino population in there. So tell me about your dad.

Sarah: What do you wanna know?

Pam: So he's a naturopath.

Sarah: He is.

Pam: And he is a radio personality. Did that happen in New York or in DR?

Sarah: In New York, he's trained as a regular Western medicine physician in the Dominican Republic. And when he came to New York city, he learned about Chinese traditional therapies and learned about naturopathy and decided to, you know, go down that path and got all his licensing for that. And then in that same, like gear was given the opportunity to be a guest on a radio show. And the public loved him so much they kept calling him back, and one thing led to another and he's been on the radio now for 30...

Hilda: 34 years. It was before I was born.

Pam: Oh my gosh. And how was it for you two to grow up with someone like trained as a Western medicine doctor and then kind of like, I don't know, is it a transition?

Sarah: Um, I mean, we had a lot of home remedies that were very odd to other people.

Hilda: Having friends over and be like, don't worry about the weird concoctions in the fridge. Just move it, get the Capri Sun. It's fine. That's supposed to help with like diabetes and we're like 12. So just having to explain that it was very normal for us to be raised with homeopathic and kind of like natural care. Like I never went, I used to play basketball. I used to twist my ankle left and right. And I never went to the hospital. That wasn't a thing. My dad would just kind of like figure out ways to heal it. And then I guess, again, it's so normal for us. And then we would go into the outside world and be like, your dad doesn't make you drink this kind of tea? We thought it was normal.

Pam: What's the weirdest thing that he ever gave you, that your friends were like, what?

Hilda: Oh, snap. That's a good question.

Sarah: There's so much. I know my, my father is so weird. Like, he's so weird. Like there's no.. Everything-- if you were our friend, you knew that coming to our house is gonna be an experience because he's just, he's out there. But one of most memorable things was when we, when he brought in for the first time from Peru the sangre de drago, which is the tree sap that basically helps you heal wounds, right. So it'll clot blood. And my sister used to constantly bust her head open every morning.

Hilda: All the time.

Sarah: Like she just, I don't know why. Interesting. Yeah. I don't know.

Hilda: I was clumsy.

Sarah: Every morning she would go up climb on the cupboard and like, not every morning, but like, it happened like three times.

Hilda: More than once.

Sarah: So one time it happened and it was like a lot of blood. And so my mom remembered that my dad, my dad had, was already at work and my mom remembered that that gallon of stuff in the corner was to clot blood. So she literally dropped it like all over her head, to get it. And she's like in a panic, rushing to the emergency room. She's calling my dad throws us in the car. My sister, now that it's red, by the way, I should mention.

Pam: Yes, I've seen it.

Sarah: So she's drenched in red and we show up there and she's like, she caught her head and this and that. So like we get there and they think that she's like profusely bleeding from her head.

Pam: All of that is blood. Yeah.

Sarah: Yeah. It's not. Anyway, long story short. It healed by the time we got to the hospital. She was just covered in tree sap. So they definitely thought we were insane.

[laughs]

Hilda: Which is, but now is one of those things, it's one of our best selling products. And I tell every parent to have one in their house.

Sarah: Yeah.

Hilda: Like every parent that I know I've gifted it to them. I'm like, this is gonna save you so many trips to the hospital for unnecessary things. Like you don't need stitches. You might, I don't know. But like use this first. Trust me. I am testament.

Pam: That's awesome. Oh my gosh. And your dad wasn't even there. So this was your mom, like going through the things like, what can I use?

Hilda: Exactly.

Pam: What does your mom do?

Sarah: She was a stay at home mom. She also supported my father in the business, like with different things, like managing the business, but for the most part, she was at home with us.

Pam: And at what point do you like get into the business?

Sarah: In 2010? I mean, I would say we were always in the business because right after school, we would go straight to the office. Like we were always there stocking shelves or doing something to that capacity. Um, but when we really, really immersed ourselves in there, it was in 2010.
Pam: You all come, he gets into, cómo se dice, nat...

Sarah: Naturopatía

Pam: Naturopatía. I can say that better. So he gets into that and then he goes into the radio. He like, people start loving him. Is that when he decides to start creating products or was that before?

Sarah: It was before. So he had his practice and as he was learning, he was learning that different plants and herbs helped with different things. And so he was actually, we had a health food store, like before health food stores were cool. So we, we used to sell like the spirulina and all that stuff that's very trendy now, we used to sell that.

Pam: And nobody knew what it was.

Sarah: Nobody. Yeah. Nobody knew what it was. We were like hip to things before--

Hilda: We were hippies in Queens basically. That's how I like to think about it. Cause that's where our store was in the beginning.

Pam: Yeah. And this is in New York city.

Sarah: In Queens. Yeah. Yeah.

Pam: How fun!

Sarah: And so when he was, you know, selling these products, someone was like, Hey, you know that you can create your own concoctions of things, cuz like he would suggest for people to take this, this and this. And then that person said, well, you can put that all in one product. And they told him how to do that. And our brand was born.

Pam: How old were you both when this happened?

Sarah: I was probably like six, six or seven. It was a long time ago. He's been doing this for a long time.

Hilda: So I must have been three.

Pam: Wow. So you literally grew up in like the store.

Sarah: Yeah.

Pam: And this is like before online stores existed, right? Like it's people going to it. And physical products and inventory management is a lot.

Hilda: Yeah. We were doing that at a very young age.

Sarah: Yes, that was my job.

Pam: Really?

Sarah: Yes.

Hilda: Child labor laws are a thing and we respect them, but we would help, you know, it's very normal, I guess also, especially in Latino culture, like it was really normal to go help your entrepreneurial parents.

Pam: For sure.

Hilda: In their businesses.

Pam: Si, porque what else do you do?

Hilda: Exactly. No. How, who else is gonna watch the kid, right? You're here and you're helping.

Pam: Yes.

Hilda: And if you had to make a sale, make a sale.

Pam: Totally. My mom had a craft store.

Hilda: Oh, cool.

Pam: And I grew up in Mexico city. And so I do remember like after school, we would literally like go to the store. And so there was always something to do, you know?

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Hilda: I love it.

Pam: Yes. Child labor, but it's like, you know, part of the family business.

Sarah: Yeah. It, it wasn't. [laughs] Now it is. Back then it wasn't.

Hilda: Exactly. I mean, we weren't abused. It's like. It was a chore, which is funny, cuz now when I see my nephews and they get, it's a chore, right. It's something, you're not doing anything that's out of your capacity that's harmful, that's dangerous. You're just helping organize.

Pam: Right. I mean it's like, I'm always like siempre hay algo que hacer.

Sarah: Yeah.

Pam: So like.

Hilda: Yeah, siempre, siempre.

Pam: So might as well go, go ahead.

Okay. So he starts creating his own products, but you both take on kind of like your own path. Like while you're still product of an entrepreneurial family, you still kinda like take on your own lives. So tell me, what did you both like go to school for?

Sarah: I, uh, ended up going to a biomedical school. So Sophie Davis biomedical school, where you sort of get on track to do medicine, because I've always like tell, I've always been very interested in that. And as I was in that, you know, we had a aunt that passed away and it was one of those things where it like consumes your life. So it made me really reconsider what I wanted to do and I didn't wanna continue. And then at the same tandem, my dad lost the person who was managing all of his operations. And so when I got out of that, after I graduated, I was sort of like not knowing what to do. And he was like, well, you can't not know what to do. So come to work with me. So while you figure it out, you know, so I was like, okay, fine, whatever. And I went in there and I started to see like all of the things that I could improve. And he gave me the opportunity to sort of implement change, you know? So the things that I suggested, he was like, okay, you know, let's just do it, let's try it. And then I fell in love with it. I fell in love with the people, I fell in love with the changes that we were creating in our employees' lives. And I just started to see like how we could expand this thing and how we could grow it. And the rest is history.

Pam: I mean, I have a lot of questions, so tell me more.

Hilda: I have questions too. I was like, how are you feeling? We love having these conversations. Um, yeah, well, at that time when Sarah was taking over, I was still in school. I was still in university. I went to a Delphi university and I studied international relations, political science and Italian. I very much thought I was gonna go into the NGO space, nonprofit space, work abroad. I was trying to work in Guatemala, like all of these different things and then had a brief internship. Then I decided to do my master's degree in San Francisco in social, um, social entrepreneurship, cuz I fell in love with social entrepreneurship and seeing how we can be entrepreneurs, how we can do things, but better. No, social impact, thinking of all the externalities, while we're doing that. I then started my own marketing company called Savvy Marketing with, uh, my co-founders from Mexico city, Diana, which is incredible. So that, and a fellow co-founder Isabelle who was from Portugal. So that was really beautiful. Ran that company for four years. And then that was kind of when I was finishing, cuz I lived in San Francisco at the time. I black sheeped, I left, I left to the other coast completely.

Pam: Ooh.

Hilda: Sarah was not happy, there were tears. When she went to go drop me off, like a good older sister, she literally flew with me to drop me off. And then I came back and I started coming back into the business. Because I was also at a space, I'm like, okay, I'm closing my company. What do I do? And then I kind of like clicked to me. I'm like, you have a social enterprise in your backyard. It's right here. It's been here for 30+ years. How can we make it to the next level? Which is now what we're doing.

Pam: Mm. Myself being the daughter of also entrepreneurs. I'm curious about your experience. My parents didn't want me to do it. Like they wanted me to like, go on your own path, explore what you wanna do. Like you don't have to be in the business because we want you to like, don't stay in it because you're, it's here, you know, go explore. Is that your experience as well?

Sarah: Um, I would say yes and no, cuz I think he always wanted us to find a way to keep it alive.

Hilda: Hmm. That's true.

Sarah: But he didn't want us to do it if we didn't wanna do it.

Hilda: We were never pressured to do it. He was always like, this is for you, if you want it. Like, I built this for our family, if you want it there. And that's why I was like, no, I need to go find my path and do all of this. And then it just leads you back to kind of your roots. Right. That was really beautiful. Cause there was no pressure. My mom has always been the same way. She was very much like, go try everything. She's also the mom that like, wherever you move, I'm gonna show up. So don't worry about it. Of course. I'll be around. So. [laughs] They've always been really supportive.

Pam: That's awesome. Hilda, when did you decide to close your company? Was there a reason why you were like, this is time?

Hilda: Yeah, honestly, it just got hard. It got entrepreneurialy hard. I started it with two other co-founders who were international, literally visa law. It was a whole thing. We had incredible clients from a major bank to a major foundation. And then I ended up, I kind of sit with me in this co-working space in San Francisco, surrounded by all these tech people. And I'm here by myself and I'm like depressed. I was like, I don't wanna do this alone. I don't wanna be a solo founder. And I ended up being a solo founder. That also tied into a time that my mother had a little bit of a health scare. So I flew to New York and I'm like, you know what? Like SF feels like I, I did my time. I was here for four years. It's like college. Like I think I, I finished this, I got my learning. So then I just left. I closed the company. We call it baptism by fire. Cuz my sister was having her second child at the time. She's like, well this is what needs to happen, so. [laughs] And I'm gonna have a kid. So here we are now you're interim CEO plus COO and then these are all the processes, but it was kind of cool. It's like a super intense internship. I learned everything that year that I needed to learn. And I was able to then implement everything I learned from finding my own, like starting my own company and implementing that and seeing those changes too, and seeing how the company has grown has been such a, such a blessing for me.

Pam: Mm. And so from the time when Sarah takes over, how big is the company? How many employees?

Sarah: I think that we were 12 at that time. Mm-hmm.

Pam: And then when Hilda comes over, when you're, you're like I'm having a baby. Bye.

Hilda: Well, she had grown it, she had grown it then, but now we've definitely.

Pam: I figured, yeah.

Hilda: Yeah.

Sarah: I would say like 15. So it wasn't like a, a huge growth in terms of, um, numbers of people, because we did let go of some people. So there was sort of like a withdrawal and then we rehired other people. So there was some change in there because in 2012, you know, we were sort of recuperating from the market going down and all of that. So it was an interesting time to start to, to to try to run a business.

Hilda: Baptism by fire.

Pam: I know. Well, especially taking over in 2010 recession was 08. Right. And so it, it almost like the way that I imagine it taking over a business in 2010 is like, let's like rebuild. Because I don't know. I feel like chaotic things could happen during a recession in a business.

Sarah: Exactly.

Pam: Great that it survived. And what was the biggest like process overhaul that you had to do, Sarah? When you took over?

Sarah: Getting rid of people, I think. That was really, really challenging because it was a very difficult decision. Cuz some people had been there for many years, but we just couldn't keep the doors open. So I sort of came in and had to make that really difficult decision. And it was one of those things like baptism by fire, like what she just said, my father was like, all right, well, you know, if you feel like that's what needs to happen, then let's do it.

Pam: Te toca.

Sarah: Exactly.

Hilda: Te toca. Go in there and learn.

Sarah: And it was hard. It was.

Hilda: It's never fun.

Sarah: Yeah.

Pam: Yeah. I actually had a conversation this week with a client about people. Like, I don't know, I would say, and you tell me what you think, managing people is one of the hardest things in a business.

Hilda: Absolutely.

Pam: Dealing with finances, dealing with operations. All that's fixable, but people.

Sarah: Absolutely. It's the most challenging if you care, because if you don't care, you can treat it like finances and it's just like, whatever. But when you care and you know that, you know, Susie has a son who's in college, and all of these things like, you're so invested in their lives that it's difficult to make that, that differentiation of, you know, I care about you and I want you to succeed, but I also need to be sure that the business is doing well. And you know, so. I think that now we've arrived at a place where they understand, you know, what, what the goal is and where we come from with our plan. So I think everyone is on the same page, but to get to this point was a challenge because there was a lot of mistrust, you know, why are you doing that? Or what does she really mean by that? You know, so.

Hilda: Absolutely. Especially because to be frank, like some of the people have known us since we were kids. And then now they're like, who's this little 20 year old bossing me around. Yeah, exactly. But like, we went to your quince, what are you talking about? You know, nothing. So it's, it was a huge challenge. And that was my challenge for me when I came in, because then it was a team of 15. I was used to managing myself. And managing myself from a culture of I've always worked in startups. It was very like fluid. Cool. Like it wasn't this. And I'm like, oh, this is like a little tiny corporation. So there, I have to present myself in a certain way. Not that I was ever unprofessional, but if I'm working and I have headphones on, I'm listening to whatever music I'm listening to, and an employee walks in with a question. I have to like physically attend to what's happening. And that was just a change. I'm like, oh, people are looking for me for direction. And then in the bathroom, I'm like I don't know what I'm doing, but then like, everything's fine. I did, I did. It's like the little imposter syndrome as they call it, or whatever that term of, you need to trust yourself in managing these people. Because like Sarah said, if you care, because we do care, we have employees that have messaged us and said, thank you because they were able to buy a house. There are also like times where we had to let people go and it's never, it's never easy, cuz it's a small business. We know about their lives.

Pam: And how do you discern when it's time to let someone go? Especially, I'm thinking about like taking over the company and there's already a culture that's been created and then you come in and you're like, there's change that needs to happen. Potentially operationally, maybe financially, maybe pricing, I don't know. And then adjustment of people. So how do you update the culture in a way that's gentle, caring, and also in the best interest for the business? And then how do you come in and take that over? Sarah's like I'm [inaudible].

Sarah: The most important thing for me is emotional intelligence. So like whenever I think that any skill for the most part, especially what we do can be taught, but I can't teach you to be respectful. And I can't teach you to have a good work ethic, like that needs to come from you. And if you don't have those things, or if you start now, you know, prioritizing something else. And I sit down and I have a conversation and I'm very frank with them. I'm like, so what's going on? Cuz this is changing. You're different. So what's happening? Like, is there something that I can help you with because in those times you see, you know, well actually, you know, my mother's sick and I'm very focused on that, you know? And it's like things that people don't feel comfortable just outwardly saying, unless you sit them down and ask them what's going on. So if that doesn't change, you know, if, if they're someone who's like toxic in the environment, which you've had, you gotta go, like you can't be the person who is, you know, bringing toxicity into the office. So.

Hilda: Yeah, I would agree. And I think when I went in and Sarah was gonna have my beautiful new, my second nephew, it was a very exciting time. I was doing that. Because I brought in that kind of startup culture. Right. The thing that people say, like, you know, culture is everything. So I create culture that I liked because I'm like, I need to be in this office every day. If we're gonna be listening to music, let's all listen to the music. If we're gonna, like, during that time, if now we've gotten to a place and the pandemic kind of helped with that of like, I would say, I'm like, you wanna go work at a cafe go, and they would be like, what do you mean? I'm like, if you don't wanna work here today, go like, go, just do your work. Right. So I think that helped me shape the culture a lot. The pandemic also expedited that. Honestly, I tried to make it fun because I wanted to make it fun for myself. Cuz I was scared. I was nervous. And I'm like, how can I? Like, so Friday is cake day? Like I would just do all of these random things because one, I like to make the comradery.
I agree with what Sarah was saying. Like it, it helped me kind of almost have an icebreaker of getting to know my employees because I had to get to know them and introduce myself as a professional. Not only just your boss, but now I'm a woman, right? I'm a woman professional who has all of this experience. So now I'm trying to showcase to you that I know what I'm doing and that you can trust me. And that trust needed to be both. It needed to be built like any relationship.

Pam: Mm, so many more questions. Let's take a quick coffee break.

***
Pam: Do you drink coffee? You're Dominican.

Sarah: Oh yeah, absolutely.

Pam: Don't tell me you don't.

Hilda: So much coffee. Like, no, I don't. I need coffee. I need coffee.

Pam: What's your brewing choice, Sarah?

Sarah: Well, actually I just got like this espresso machine maker, automatic espresso machine maker, which I'm really, really loving cuz it like froths the milk and everything.

Pam: Oh nice.

Sarah: Yeah. And like it's awesome. So it depends. Most times I'm just taking it with half and half, and cafe Bustelo, that's what I drink.

Pam: Very Dominican.

Hilda: Yeah.

Sarah: If not that then a Greca, but other than that, that's that's how we make it.

Pam: Nice. Hilda, how do you drink coffee?

Hilda: Same, honestly, I think it's also part of my mood. If I feel like it's a dark coffee day. I'm very mood oriented. I'm like, if I just need a black coffee, cuz I'm like straight to the source and I kind of do that if I'm in a rush, but if I have time, I do the same thing. I froth the milk. I add like oat milk. I also use café Bustelo religiously, the brand marketing there is very strong. [inaudible] Exactly. You should. Please do this. Support small businesses. Yeah. And then I kind of just sit there and that's where I have like my mindfulness session over my cafecito.

Pam: Mm. I love that. I love making coffee as a ritual. I do as well. Drink it plain. I wouldn't say plain. Cuz the purists would be like, no, you drink coffee here, you're supposed to drink coffee [inaudible]

Hilda: Exactly.

Pam: And so speaking of purists, I'm in Denver, Colorado today and I'm drinking Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters. And I actually just finished evidence that the bag is empty. And this is from Moshi, Tanzania and the notes is black currant, pomelo and brown sugar notes.

Hilda: Delicious.

Pam: Yeah. And so funny story about Sweet Bloom. They're great. They roast amazing coffee. They're very purist. And so I'll share this story because I went with my partner, David, and he was like rolling his eyes, like the whole time, because I didn't have a grinder in Denver. And so we went because I'm always, you know, supporting local coffee shops.
And so I was like, hey, could-- I don't have a grinder, so could you grind it for me? And the guy was like, ugh. I highly recommend you getting a grinder because, and I'm like, I know, I know it. I have to grind it daily and you know, fresh grinded coffee. It's how you're supposed. I just want like my, like, I don't have time. I'm leaving on Monday. I'm going back to San Diego on Monday. Like, can you just grind it for me? And he just like, threw, like, it was just like internal fit until like, he was like, I don't wanna grind it for you because it's like, and I was like, oh my gosh, I'm going, I'll go get a grinder. Thank you very much. And David's like, Pam, did you really just allow him to manipulate him that way?

Hilda: They're very serious about their coffee.

Pam: Very.

Sarah: We have a cousin, who's a coffee purist. Then whenever he comes to my house, he is like, you gotta get a grinder, you gotta do this. And I'm like, this is all wonderful. And a hundred percent, the coffee is 10,000 times better, but I have no time. Like I have zero time.

Pam: Exactly.

[laughs]

Sarah: [inaudible] what is the fastest way for me to get coffee in the morning?

Pam: I know I, I make the ritual as I'm drinking it.

Sarah: Exactly.

Pam: Cause I used to like do pour overs and other thing. Yeah, I have no time. I'm trying to, I'm like running a business here. I can't. Yeah. Like 20 minutes making coffee. Anyway, shout out to Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters.

Hilda: Gotta check them out.

Pam: Yeah. And they do, they do ship. And they do have a beautiful roast. Like I will give them like, because they're so serious about their coffee. So I'll give 'em that. And I have a, a grinder in Denver now, PS, I did go get a grinder.

Hilda: A travel grinder.

Pam: Yes.

Hilda: That's how you know you're really dedicated--

Sarah: That's actually a thing by the way, a travel grinder is a thing. I looked it up.

Pam: Yeah. It's a manual one. I have a friend who has one. I'm not that serious again, time. Like I can't be having calls and grind, you know, like mm-hmm one day when I, I don't know retire and I don't have to be on calls all the time.
I'll grind my coffee. Take super seriously.

Sarah: So, what's your life goal? To be able to grind my coffee every morning.

Hilda: Yeah, to do these are the small retirement things. Yes.

Pam: Like, I want to spend 30 minutes brewing my coffee every morning.

Hilda: Work-life balance.

Sarah: That's how you know you've arrived. I think. Yeah. I'm gonna make that my life goal.

Pam: Right. Okay. Let's get back to the show.

***
Pam: Okay. So we've talked about culture, we've talked about people. What was another growing pain? I think cuz I'm a business coach and I often when people have like one of the biggest growing pains is people. And so when people are dealing with like either difficult employees or hiring or firing or, you know, whatever, that's a big kinda like flag of like it's a growing pain. And so both I'm sure, because you kinda like arrived in the business in different times and like taken over, having a baby, all the things. What was your growing pain that you can call out?

Hilda: Oh my god, I have like five. One immediate one that comes up. And this was even from before cuz I did a little stint, like right after college. And I helped in the business and that's when like peak recession, like all the stuff. Honestly, and this is kind of what triggered also my passion of social entrepreneurship and trying to go into entrepreneurship is the lack of resources. There was so much lack of resources, one in Spanish, cuz I was like, oh my employee doesn't know this, let me get a, you know, professional development course like things that I would do for myself that my mentors were giving to me. And I'm like, nothing's in Spanish, she's Colombian, she only speak Spanish. Right? That little thing, lack of resources for my employees that were in that realm, lack of resources financially for our business. Like there were so many closed doors. Anytime that we were trying to learn something, it was such a gated experience, to the point that I'm, I'm frustrated, how do I change this? Right? Like it, it led to that that was the biggest growing pain because we just had to suck it up. Like, well, there there's a way other people do this, but it just, it wasn't, and I know this is like an adage, I'm always saying I'm like, it was like four times harder. Right? We're Latinas. We were, uh, just coming in and it wasn't a startup because there's a lot of startup resources, but there weren't resources for people who are taking over family businesses that at are at this revenue stream, da, da, da, da, like for scaling, right. There was nothing there. Which is honestly why we even launched our Savvy Sector Podcast, cuz we're like, we did it! Here, here, learn from us, like this is ridiculous.

Sarah: I also have to say it, like things have changed and I'm trying, as you're speaking, I'm trying to figure out where they changed. Cuz I really don't know. Cause I feel like social media was around, but it just wasn't like, I guess as prominent.

Hilda: It's a lot of food pictures.

Sarah: But there was, you know, back then, to get those resources, we had to do the networking and like go to these things where I was the only woman in the room or the only person of color in the room, like so many different things that you have to go through. And it's just like, now we don't have to do that. Like now I can, you know, meet you through social media or there's just. I don't know. Maybe if I just didn't know about it then, or if things changed, I don't know. But back then, that's how I was doing things. I was going to a lot of different, um, conferences and you have to like dress the part and put on the suit and all this stuff. And it's just like, oh--

Hilda: But as a woman not dress too much in a certain way...

Sarah: I know, you'd have to be, oh my goodness. Yeah. So I be like, you have to look professional, but not provocative. And it's just like, you know, can, can we just have a conversation? Like I remember I was pregnant with my first son and I had to give a presentation and I gave the entire presentation and I then asked, does anyone have any questions?
And the question was, how are you feeling? How far along are you? Or do you have any like morning sickness? And I was just like, was anybody listening to anything I just said?

Hilda: Hours, hours of prepping this presentation, right?

Pam: Yeah. Managing a business as a woman and especially a Latina, one thing, and I'm curious to see if you've experienced it, that I often have to overcome is one, I look young, I sound young. So like, if you only hear my voice, I sound like I'm 13 and I'm also little, I'm also short. There's a lot of intersections that I have faced in the business world. And the other day, one of my friends, who's an older white man. Obviously. He was like, I don't think you have enough experience for that. And I was like, no, no, no. I don't think you think I have enough experience for that because of the way I look, if I show you all the things that I've done, I have enough experience for that. He was like, well, tell me more. And so we talked about it and he was like, okay. And I'm like, if I had been an old white man, would you have told me the same thing? Do you get that?

Sarah: Oh my gosh, all the time. And like, I also still to this day, I'm so self-conscious of going outside in flats. Because people are always looking down on me, I'm 4' 11". So like I'm extremely short. And I feel like just to even be acknowledged, right? You gotta like meet people eye to eye somewhat. But what you just said is so true. Like, I, I completely stopped doing that. When people ask me what I do, I'm just like, I run my family business. And I get that you have to like, you know, you gotta like pump it up. You gotta tell people. I'm like, no, if they care, they'll figure it out and they'll look for it, because I'm so tired of being in those same situations where it'll be like, oh, and how long has it been running? And how much do you guys make and how many products do you sell? And this and this and that. And then Joe Schmo walks in and is like, I, I have a airplane, a toy airplane company. And they're like, oh my God, that's fantastic. Da, da, da. Then you speak to him more. And it's like, I actually am considering starting a toy airplane company. And it's just like, no one questions him. Nobody's questioning him.

Hilda: And he gets funding. That's where I [inaudible].

Sarah: Exactly!

Hilda: I was like how? Where's proof of concept?

Pam: Totally.

Hilda: I get minimum viable, but an idea. Come on. Let's work. Not knocking other people's endeavors, but it can get frustrated.

Pam: It's real. It's real.

Sarah: You just don't question it.

Pam: Yeah. It's and it's one of the things that I'm like, how do we overcome it? And I have a, a really good friend of mine, who's a white woman and she's always like remember to brag. Like you have to, as a woman of color, you have to do it. And I hear you say like, it's exhausting. I don't wanna have to prove myself. Just believe me. Just listen to me. And like do, as I say.

Sarah: My mentor actually said the same thing to me about remember to brag. And I had a lot of issues with, you know, being humble, right. We were kind of always--

Pam: That's how we grow up.

Sarah: We grew up like, you gotta, you can't bring too much attention to yourself, be humble, but it's not bragging if it's true. Right? So it's not me making things up. It's true. I have a master's degree. I am on the board of my university because I am a board of trustee at 30 years old. Like these are truths. Again, it may sound as bragging, but I'm telling you this because I wanna help you. Right. I'm telling you this because I do have the experience and yes, pay me.
Pay me what that's worth at the same time.

Pam: Oh, the pay me the pay me that one. That one's painful too, because like I actually called out a big company. Last year, because they brought me on for Hispanic heritage month to do a talk. And obviously there wasn't any budget allocated for it. And then like the most like offensive thing is that she was like, yeah, we have a discretionary budget of 50 to $100 Amazon gift card.
And I was like, Hmm, you have to decide if I'm worth your $50 gift card. that's insane. I'm so sorry. Right. I know. And then of course, because it's a huge company, huge corporation. They're like, I don't remember the exact wording, but the way that they made a scene was like, you need to be grateful that we're bringing you in because exposure and like it's 20, 21 and people are still doing it.
It's baffling. Mm-hmm that happens a lot. It happens so much. And it's so upsetting. And I remember actually I was looking at your Instagram, not stalking or anything. I was just like, checking it out. And I saw that you posted something and like remove the Hispanic woman. And like I'm a woman and I'm a professional, I'm this.
And I agree with that so much because I'm like, don't just give me exposure because like, Sue Latina. You know what I mean? Like give me exposure because my products work, right. My things and all of these things. It's true. I have the proof of concept. I have all of that. They kind of treat us as token. You can't see me like, yeah.
Tokens, like tap your on your head here. Look, we gave you this month. We gave you this. And it's just so frustrating. And I'm sorry that happened to you. You're way worth more than a $50 gift they never sent it. Oh my God. yeah. Wow. Not even. Wow. Not even, even. Yeah. But yeah. So going back to, to running a business and social entrepreneurship and caring about people and culture, what other lesson, especially, so one thing that I'm thinking now, it's, you know, there's a lot of conversation about like an upcoming recession.
Is there something that you as business owners are, are you prepping for? So what we're looking to do is really. Launch this new rebrand and really position the company in a place where it'll be able to sort of run, you know, like run itself on like online and things like that. The pandemic really did allow us to be able to cut back on a lot of things.
So we do have like an office space, but if we couldn't continue having one, it would be okay, you know, mm-hmm so it's like things like that where people are now very comfortable to work from home. So where we will be able to hold back are in like those big fixed expenses that aren't that necessary anymore because we've all learned to work in other places.
And I think that a lot of them are, you know, happier for it. I remember a few months back, we were like, well, you know, if you guys wanna come back to the office, you can, we're gonna sort of. Put it on the table, like, what do you guys want? And they all kind of like, they're like, no, thanks. Um, like, do we have to, you know, feel like you don't like, well, we don't want to, we really don't want to
Yeah. Working from home like changed or the pandemic changed a lot of dynamics in the workplace. I love working from home. I realize, I think it's excellent. And I think what it did, it really forced everyone to up their game because mm-hmm, , you're working from home and that's fine and you can take it and, you know, be laxed with it and you could not put your best foot forward.
But now as an employer, I realize that. I don't need like for you to be here. So if I find someone who is going to be better at this position in Columbia or Guatemala or something, I can fill that position with someone else, you know? So I think that in that way, it's, it's had the employee up their game.
And then as the employer, same thing, now that person can go and work anywhere else. And they know that. So it's like, I need to be sure that I'm providing the same thing that they can get from somewhere else. And that I'm giving them the space to, you know, have the freedom that they need and providing the resources that they need to, to succeed.
So I think it, it has forces both to really just up our game. Oh yes. 100%. Everything that you said is very true. And, and one thing that came to mind. As an employer, you can also tell like, work, because I feel like when we were in office, like things were masked with being in office mm-hmm , you know, but when you're at home, you really see the work that's being done, because that's all you see.
Like you're not like talking to people or like, you know, distracted, like you really truly see what's being worked, done. It opened up a lot of possibilities and new ways of working that I'm pretty okay with it. Yeah. I love it. I don't have any problem with it. And I think that we have a. Good core set of team members that they care they're invested.
Like we don't worry about whether you're we weaned all those people out because before we've always had a very, I guess, hippie culture, right. When Hilda brought that in. And like, when I did the, um, fellowship in Stanford, I learned a lot of how, like Netflix does their, their work environment in Google.
And that was when that was like really new to me. Mm-hmm and you know, it was very like, you need to clock in and clock out. And then I came back and I was like, screw the clock, you know, . So when I brought that into the workplace, everyone was like, is she. Like, is she losing her mind? What did you talking about?
What's California once, like what exactly. And at first they were like, what? Like this isn't gonna work. No, one's gonna show up to work. You can't just give people indefinite time off. What's wrong with you. Right. So I was like, let's just try it. It works for them. Let's just try it. I feel like it could work.
And you quickly found the people who were gonna work the system and be like, I can't come to work because this and that. And I found the people who would be like, listen, I just gotta go out. My daughter has a dentist appointment and then I gotta come right back. I'll be back. And I can make up those hours, this, this and that.
And, you know, we kept. The latter. So it, it shows people's work ethic. Like people's colors were, were shown when you give people freedom to do what they want, they're gonna do what they want. And you're gonna see who fits. Mm mm-hmm. . As long as they're mission aligned. Mm-hmm, totally, when I was in corporate, I used to work with a micromanager and I promised myself that I would never be that person.
And. Like my first employee, I was like, I only need you to do this and you can do it. Like you can work at midnight if you need to. Because all I need to do is for this to be done at this time, I experienced the same. So I had one person who's still with me to this day. And another person who was like, I don't know, the power went out and like the neighbor's cat died and , and look, I'm trusting you with the work.
If you are not able to give that like reciprocated, then I can't, then I can't trust it when it comes to trust. I'm that person that shows up with a bag full of trust. And I start. Taking out the trust. And so when you run outta trust, then we're done. Yep. And so , so this person ran outta trust and I'm, I think this is kind of like what happened to your people too?
Like, it's just not gonna work because there's no trust behind it. Yep, exactly. I love that. My bag full of trust. I like it. that should be a tote bag. Yes. My bag full of trust. So who does, what in the company? Well, technically, technically right now, Hilda is doing everything because I'm in grad school. So I come in and I get informed.
I get reports. And if there's something that like, I need to do something for decisions. Yeah. I'll help provide some input. I do some meetings right now and if she goes on vacation, then I'll take everything on. But right now I'm in a two year master's program. And so it is extremely time consuming and I don't have any time to do much of anything else.
Your mom? Yeah, I am. I'm a mom. Yes. and a wife, a whole other work. Sister's a whole other job. So she's doing everything right now. And like, she deserves like all the acclaim in the world, because if it wasn't for her, I don't know where we would be. I'm so vouching for a, the day. I know we had mother's day important.
I get that, but I want a, the day very specific the, or Theo day has not been a thing. 100%. Yeah, actually, I, I was talking to, because I'm also at the end and I was talking to a friend of mine and we were, I don't know if you, maybe your sisters as you do as sisters, but this one friend of mine, we, every time we have a conversation, we come up with a businesses idea, like every time
And so we have opted to not talk once a week because every week we would have a new business, you know? And so now we just text and after mother's day, we were. We need to have a Thena Theo day. Yeah. Because I think like mothers and mothers and, you know, parents are like important, but thes and theos are key to children.
Like absolutely. Absolutely like thes and theos provide things that parents can't, you know, like we baby them and we spoil them and my sister could not do the way, like the things that I do with my niece and nephew, like, just because she's their mom, she can't get away with that, but I can cause I'm the, the, no, I made so many words.
It's, that's no a hundred percent. And I think that it's a very, um, unique place for thes because like grandparents spoil, they spoil with zero discipline at all. Right. Parents are very disciplined and like almost no spoiling unless it's like a special occasion, but the Thea is like spoiling until you get outta line.
And then it's like, discipl. Right. So it's like, they're like the perfect mixture of everything. Cause they have a lot of fun, but like once if you're coming outta pocket, you know, she will like flip her, her voice, her the voice. And they're like, okay, okay, just kidding. get back into the pillow Fort. Yeah.
And like, I don't know. It's I love being at the end. I'm with you. We, we should like start a petition. Oh yeah. Let's do it official. The, the day change.org used to happen. My sister called my mom the other day and she was like, Ian just told me that you let them do whatever they want with a radio. Cuz I guess they were on, they were driving somewhere and like my nephew wanted to change the station and my sister was like, excuse me, it's my radio.
you know? And he. Let's just do whatever we want. And so she called my, my mom and she was like, what? And my mom was like, no, I give them options and whatever. And I'm like, mom, just like, you'd let them do whatever they want to your point. Yes. Mm-hmm Aita is in Aita, spoil them to the core. And my kids' favorite thing to me is, well, Thea said, and the lets me, I'm like, well, Thea's not here.
So I also get phone calls. I'll get phone calls. I'm like, did you say this? I'm like, no, I did not. like this. Right. I did not agree with this. Or I'm like, this is what it is. Cuz I just got onto, I was telling my sister, I got onto listening to podcasts with my nephew cuz I take him to soccer practice and I'm starting to lose it cuz we're not agreeing on music choices.
And there's this amazing podcast that I love. That's really educational for kids. And I'm also learning stuff cuz I like to learn. So it's like we found a happy medium. Nice. So Sophia's out. Try podcasts. right. Yes. Yes. A hundred percent. I've listened to podcasts S interview. Okay. Oh my gosh. We can stay talking forever.
This has been super fun. Tell us where we can find you, your business. Other things what's coming up. What's new. That was like 15 questions in one, but tell us we can, you , you could find us on Instagram. Let's do that. I think it's the easiest at salute by Dr. Dorigo Dr. Rigo. That's what it's called. We have another Instagram called at Las entrepreneurs.
That's kind of me and Sarah's little brand and at savvy sector, that's our own podcast that we do that we talk about how to help micro entrepreneurs kind of thrive. And we can find our products@saluted.bz
, like boy zebra. Um, we're gonna have a huge launch coming in the fall, which we're very excited about.
And I think that that's all the things, right. We have a lot of things . Yes. How do you manage all the things we hire the right people? Mm, great answer. I love that answer. We can totally get into like multi passioned, because it's a whole thing. It's a whole thing that the world tells you not to be multi-pasionate but that's a whole other podcast.
Yeah. I don't know how to not be that way. right. I know. I got tired of people introducing me. Like Pam does a lot of things and now I'm like, you know what? And I do a lot of things. Well, because I do hire the right people. exactly, exactly. It is possible. 100% it's needed. Like, you need to have different things, I think.
Yeah. Because help boring with life. Be just like doing one thing and I don't have kids, so maybe that's why even still, I think you need your own thing. And I think with entrepreneurs, what happens is that you are a problem solver and like, you know, that you have the ability to create solutions to problems.
And if, and if you come up with something, then why not do it? Mm-hmm so you just do it. That's why I don't have a disco talks with my friend, cuz then. Every week we would have. Yeah. so what's next. So next is the rebrand. Yes. We're so excited for that. That has been such a long time coming, like supply chain issues, the pandemic, you name it.
It has happened, but it, it is going to happen this year. Mm-hmm and we are so excited. We are going to be, you know, we're aiming to be more sustainable. We're aiming to be more, um, bilingual. The website's gonna be more user friendly. I mean, it's going to be amazing. I can't wait. Yeah, absolutely. And just highlight also the community initiatives that we're doing, because we support a local community garden in Dyckman that we've been supporting for over almost two years now.
Really bringing all of that into the forefront and expanding that here in south Miami where we're located. You're Miami now. Yeah. Yes. Both of you. Everyone is in Miami. Yeah. South Florida, south Florida, Miami adjacent. Miami light and your parents are in Miami that man? No, they're in New York. We're working on it.
We're like dragging them down. So get there. We think, I don't know. My father is like ingrained in being in New York. It's hard. Like he's a new Yorker and there's so many people who know him, you know, and like, it's gonna be hard to like walk down. And it was hard for me when I moved down here to walk down the street and for people not to be like, Hey, good morning, da, da, da.
I'm gonna watch your car like this, this, you know? Yeah. Miss bodega, like a missile, all the bodegas, know your coffee, you know? Yeah. That's, it's hard to start over. Yeah. There's no place like near York. I will say that as a Californian. yes. I love it. I love New York. It, it has all of its little quirks, but it has my heart.
Mm-hmm so what does your dad do in the company now? He does the TV show. He still does the radio show. And he does see patients from time to time in terms of like the actual running of the company. He, he doesn't nice. Yeah. How fun. Yeah, but he loves that. He loves doing that. He loves to be on TV and, and talking and things like that.
So that's amazing. For each of you, which one's your favorite product? For me? It's the Maria cream. It's a formula that my grandmother made. And then we were able to mass produce it. And there's nothing like it. And anyone who tries it falls in love with it so much. So this is a true story. My cream was ending, right?
Like I had one that was like this much and one that was empty, but I had both bottles on my dresser and then I go to pump it and it's empty. And I'm like, where did my other bottle go? My husband went away. He stole my cream. I called him. I was like, did you take my cream? yes. Like he's like, yes, yes I did.
I was like, aha. Yes. So that you're not paying attention. so it's for your, for your skin, for your face, for your face? Yeah. It's face screen. Nice. We can send you one so you can try it. I would love to. I'm all about like, you know, the face stuff mm-hmm yeah. The one that I like live by is called Triton, which is our energy supplement, because I'm really active.
I'm athletic. I like to do different workouts. I've, you know, run, I have done marathons and that's kind of like the little energy boost that I need as a pre-workout or anything. It's a, it's amazing. Trigo tri and it's great. Cuz I travel. I'm a massive traveler. So jet lag, like gone. It's incredible. It's like I, anybody kind of like how I tell parents the second day that I go for your kid, if you're an entrepreneur, I'm like, I get ego.
Like your life will be better. Like it's just easier. I shall order some . Yay. Okay. So the last two questions, like, I don't know if I can ask you for, like, you lived your life in EDOs we did. what's your favorite Edo besides the sang? My favorite. And I tell this to anybody, especially if you have like, if you're active or you're non entrepreneur, you're always sitting all day is the mango tea.
It's an anti-inflammatory mango tea that you take the mango peel a right mango, mango peel in the pit and you boil it with like, I'm gonna throw a number eight course of water. So like AK. Yeah, exactly. Like your Cho same thing. Just make your tea. And three cinnamon sticks, boil that drink the water throughout the day.
My mentor is sworn by it. She had like crazy back pain and just really helps flush out your system and it tastes delicious. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I just threw away some mango peel. I know don't throw it away. And there's the other cool thing about, at least our culture sustainability. We use everything.
Everything, everything. Ugh. I have stories about my mom, like even washing the paper plates. That's like such an immigrant thing. or washing plastic bags, zip walk bags. Oh my gosh. Still do it. not ashamed. Yeah. Mm-hmm actually, I've gotten the new fancy, like non Zipp non-plastic ones to be the Silicon ones.
The Silicon ones bought the game. Yes. That's that's my come up. That's how I know people want coffee grinders. I'm like, I wanna afford Silicon . Yes. Reusable topware Ausable parts. That's my next, my next, um, purchase reusable Silicon. Cuz I have, I mean shamelessly. So I washed someone some zip like, oh yeah, definitely.
Sarah. What's your Edo for me, the one that I just recently used, and I don't know if it's a Romeo, but this just happened at, on the soccer fields. A kid got kicked in the face with the ball and got a nose bleed. And so what we do is that we tie a hair tie around the Palm of the hand of the side of the nostril that's bleeding.
So like, if it's your right nostril, then your right Palm and you tie it as tight as you possibly can. It'll stop the bleeding within a minute. Wow. Mm-hmm okay. I'm so like, thinking about that one that one's interesting. Yeah. I don't know the, uh, physiology behind that. I just know that it works and, you know, try it back in the day they call Abhi, but it works.
It's not it works. I know
there's science involved. 100%. And do you have a quote or mantra that you live by Beto? Did you pray? I don't know if that's a mantra, but. If we forget and when you're overwhelmed and when you're, you know, really like, sort of beaten down and I'm sort of venting to my sister, she's like, but did you pray about it?
And it's like, no, I didn't, I didn't pray about this yet. I'll be right back. mm-hmm mm-hmm nice. Have you ever fought with each other, like in the business? I mean, as sisters, of course, but like business decisions, I wouldn't say fought. Yeah. Maybe disagreed. Definitely not fought. Mm-hmm I think we're very good at like expressing why we think we need to do something and where we stand on things.
And, and we also know where that, where the intention is of what's being said. So we know to decipher like definitely, you know, I, I can come off very snippy and very short, so you need to know my intention. So yeah, I think knowing the intention behind what what's being said is, is definitely helpful in not exploding on one another.
Who breaks a tie? Do you have a third person that kinda like buffers or no, you usually come to a pretty easy agreement. Yeah. I can't think of anything that we've been like really at odds with, if not, we go prey on it and be like, okay, let me forgive this. Or like, let me see this perspective. Well, and I think that's the power of being aligned in the, in this, with the same vision.
Absolutely. Yes. Ultimately, if you come to, what is the bigger vision and what you wanna build, then it's like, okay, I will say, I guess not tiebreaker things, but we bring it to our employees. We have like our admin team and we're like, Hey, this decision needs to be made. If it's something that's of course appropriate.
Like it's not anything that's gonna cause any issue, but it's like, like, do you wanna go back to the office? Mm. She says, yes. I say not like, what, what do you do? Right. So we bring it to them and we're like, this is the perspective. So that's really helpful. Nice. I have many questions, but we'll stop here.
Fine. Okay. this was so much fun. Thank you. Thank you. It was such a pleasure. Thank you. Yeah, it was super fun talking to you. Stay, stay, stay.
All right, listeners. What did you think about my conversation with ILA and Tara? I hope you had a lot of fun listening to us. Laugh that Edo, listen, I think we could have a whole episode on remedies because I mean, just imagine as I was talking to them, I'm like, I could not even imagine all the things that you grew up with as kids and with a, a father who's a naturopath, like how.
And so I think we could totally bring them back and do a whole episode on remedies and like things that were not usual in any other household. And also, I think as Latinos, this is why I ask for this question all the time. Right? Like we often come to the resources from the house, from the <foreign>s I grew outside.
So , I am always so curious about the remedies and one day I'm going to we're actually have I. We have 250 plus remedies, I guess. So we actually have lists on lists of remedies. I think one day I'm working on it. It's just been a long time coming. I wanna create a book of the remedies that all the guests have shared.
And it's one of those things that I'm like, I mean, when do I choose to stop? You know, because at first I'm like, okay, the first a hundred remedies. And then I'm like, okay, this is too good. I had 105 and then we just kept going to the one 50 and now we have two 50 over two 50. And I'm like, I mean, they just keep getting better.
So I don't know. You tell me what do you think? And if this is your first time, welcome to go GOBA. I am so happy and grateful. You chose to listen today. If you are listening in a platform that allows you to leave reviews and ratings, I so appreciate it. If you are listening on Spotify, you won't be able to leave me a review.
So. Screenshot it, you know, tag me on Instagram. You can do that. That's also appreciated. And tell me what you think. I mean, one of the things that I love about the show and about you listener is that you tell me, I get your messages all the time and you tell me how you feel and you tell me what you agree on.
And you tell me what you don't. And I love that we can have candid conversations and listen to each other and support each other because the world is combined of people that think in different ways. How boring would it be if we all agreed on one thing, right. To bring it back to remedies, how boring would it be?
That there was only one used for VIX? I mean, it would not be VIX . If you are able to leave a rating. I so appreciate it. Thank you so much. If you would like to follow me on the socials. I am on the social media platforms at cafe pump podcast on Instagram and Facebook. I have a discord server that you can join to have conversations with us, all the listeners with my clients, with myself, I hang out and discord every day.
It's stay shining.club and. You can join it at any time, you do have to create an account. So I know it's one more thing, but I promise you it's a lot of fun. And as a business owner, I would love for you to check out what I do. I am a business coach. I became a business coach. My mom needed, and I am passionate to support women owned businesses and dismantling of the damages of Kaita culture.
And so I hope that you feel called to that. Explore what I do. Goum bum.com, go bum. Remember B a M and check out all the things. Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate your time. I will let you go, go on with your day. Be safe, stay driving safe. The world is in shambles. I hope you are nurturing your nervous system and let's at least try to stay shining.