Can Reclaiming Your Roots Help to Propel Purpose? My Guest: Alejandra Amegin

I’m always talking about my start as an immigrant's kid. 
Despite my lack of accent, or so I think, my birthplace in New York City and my American audacity to claim what’s mine- my heart beats in a different language sometimes.

And nuance matters. And so does me being the first in my family, to do some things, along with the importance of reaching back to pull the next person behind me up.

But what about culture that has historically divided us can we use to unite and inspire us?
And that’s what we’re going to tackle today...

Ever felt like you're hiding parts of yourself for fear of not fitting in? Join me as I navigate through the inspiring journey of my guest, Alejandra Amegin, who grappled with this inner struggle after migrating from Mexico. Diving headfirst into a new country, Alejandra hid her Mexican culture in her pursuit to blend in, which led to a journey of self-discovery where she reclaimed her Latina identity and heritage.

In this episode, we peel back the layers of Alejandra's transformation. She takes us through her personal evolution, breaking the barriers she built around her identity and reconnecting with her Mexican roots. Her journey offers a window into the intricate tapestry of the American Dream, reminding us of the power of culture and identity in forging our paths. This isn’t just Alejandra’s story - it’s an exploration of how we can find our purpose and redefine our self-concept.

But that’s not all. Alejandra used her experiences to create pioneering wellness programs for minority communities, tackling accessibility and affordability barriers through her initiative, Vive Yoga. So, tune in for an enlightening chat and a chance to reflect on your own journey.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

I'm always talking about my start as an immigrant, despite my lack of accent, or so I think my birthplace in New York City and my American audacity to claim what's mine. My heart sometimes beats in a different language, and nuance matters somehow differently to me, and so does being the first in my family to do a lot of things here. Along with the importance of reaching forward to get ahead is reaching back behind me to pull up the next person who's experiencing the same unique or not so unique experience that I did. But what about culture that has historically divided us Can we use to unite and inspire us, and that's what we're going to tackle today. Hi, I'm Sue's here with your weekly dose of culture, values and identity and where we tackle those topics others may consider off limits. A little about me I'm a busy Gen X mom who, quite frankly, wanted to grow up like the Brady Bunch but how could I, being raised in the shadow of Schindler's list? So this means I've spent a lifetime navigating these mixed messages we get hit with daily. You know those conversations where we wonder if it's safe to speak our minds. Can we share our experiences, voice our fears and concerns, or should we just keep our mouths shut. Well, too bad. I need to know, but I'm no expert, so I'm going to schmooze the experts and get their thoughts. Why? So? When we engage with our kids, colleagues or the countless committees we interact with, we can do it with competence, kindness, confidence and maybe a bit of humor. If this sounds like your cup of coffee, welcome to schmooze with Sue's.

Speaker 1: 1:49

Last year, I attended a community building event. It was a collaboration between Vive and 904 were Jack's. It was called Race Cards. I willingly walked into an environment where I was going to challenge my thinking and knew that I was going to feel extremely uncomfortable. But here's the secret, my friends you can't heal what you don't feel. And thanks to my guests today, we're desiloing our communities, our cities and the world.

Speaker 1: 2:28

Alejandra Amagin is a Latina business owner, a veteran, a cultural relevance advocate, a healing centered wellness advocate, a yoga instructor, a wellness event director, speaker, producer and a community activist. And, most importantly, she's my new friend, because that's what I do. Hi Alejandra, hi Susie, thank you so much for having me, thank you for being here today. So a lot of what I talk about is how I'm building the plane, as we're flying it, because I don't know what I don't know right Right, and because I wasn't raised in a traditional three generations American household, I don't even know what's available to me to learn about and get more information from. So similar to my background, you weren't born in this country. This season is called Personal Story to Public Impact. Can you share your personal story? Can you tell us a little bit about how you got here?

Speaker 2: 3:33

Yes, yes, absolutely. I was reflecting about this all weekend long and my personal story begins. I had to uncover something, the truth, a really ugly truth. You know I am a proud Latina now, but I wasn't at one point when I came here as an immigrant as a five year old. You know there's this desire to want to fit in, to want to belong, and you know our parents, they want that for us too. They want something better, they want to escape from.

Speaker 2: 4:05

You know the poverty that we were in, and for me it was Mexico, and so there was a lot of hiding of my culture. There was the wanting to speak English. So bad, to want to have to first so that I could have friends, that so that I, you know, could relate to the other kids, so that I could be like them. I kind of hated what I was because the environment was so different, and so I had this inner conflict for most of my childhood years, because I was made fun of, you know, for what I ate, for what, how I spoke, for how I dressed, because I didn't have, you know, the latest fashions. You know what was it back then? It was the Cavarici.

Speaker 1: 4:46

Oh my gosh, you're giving me flashbacks. Yes, the Z Cavarici and I, yes, so I want to talk about what you just said about the food. Okay, so are you saying that you didn't come in with the peanut butter jelly sandwiches and Kraft macaroni and cheese?

Speaker 2: 4:58

I came in with burritos de frijoles burritos bean burritos.

Speaker 1: 5:03

Are you saying gefilte fish and Jala sandwiches?

Speaker 2: 5:06

Correct, and we're not among the norm, right, I was so embarrassed, which now I think God, that was so dumb. It was like the food that now everybody would want. But I fought it, I tried to hide it, and so I wouldn't eat sometimes, so that I wouldn't show what I was, what I was eating. And I would prefer to eat in the school cafeteria, which I didn't, which now I know wasn't the cool thing.

Speaker 1: 5:29

Same, same. I wanted hot lunches, and I remember begging my parents to scrape together the money that they barely had to be able to pay for those school lunches that were such garbage because it was plain American common what everyone else had, and so I felt like I fit in.

Speaker 2: 5:51

Yeah, I still, to this day, go to Ikea because they have those terrible meatballs I don't even know what kind of meat they are and the mashed potatoes, and it reminds me of my school cafeteria. So I go to Ikea just to get that nostalgia.

Speaker 1: 6:04

That's where you get your nostalgia from the finger painting and from the Ikea cafeteria. Food Right, unbelievable yeah.

Speaker 2: 6:12

So it's interesting because I actually didn't know a lot about my, a lot of my culture, because my parents weren't teaching it to me, because we were trying to hide it. I was trying to be somebody else. So, you know, we come here and search for this American dream that I then started chasing, and so you know my English. A lot of people hear me speak English and they think, wow, you don't have an accent because I fought so hard to not have the accent, because I was ridiculed, you know, as a child, so bad that I was like I'm going to speak English better than you. And then you, and then you. I went on to win spelling bees when I was little.

Speaker 1: 6:51

Same, yeah, I was the fourth grade spelling bee champion. I still talk about that because I didn't occur to me so right this minute when you said it. It probably mattered more to me, absolutely, than other kids. Yeah, I needed to prove that I was American.

Speaker 2: 7:05

Yes, when.

Speaker 1: 7:05

English.

Speaker 2: 7:06

it was English speaking, Isn't that awful too, as a child, be like so determined to win at the spelling bee, not because you love to spell and because you're good at it, but because you're trying to be like somebody else, or you're trying to fit in or you're just trying to be accepted. So I, you know it. Just they say that. I've read before that you know, going through cultural trauma, generational trauma and sexual abuse as a child is like fighting a war as a child, and we're not equipped for war at. You know, in fifth grade and sixth grade and seventh grade.

Speaker 2: 7:44

So so yeah, that was my childhood. On into high school I even changed my name. I said no, my name's not going to be Alejandra anymore, it's going to be Ali.

Speaker 1: 7:55

A-L-I, were you A-L-I, with a heart over the eye. Was there a bubble over?

Speaker 2: 8:00

the eye. Oh gosh, of course of course, and everywhere it was Ali. I would never give my whole name, because that was another form for me of acceptance, because I didn't want to hear somebody try to pronounce my name and end up always calling me Alejandro. Oh gosh.

Speaker 1: 8:17

Right, yeah, right. I would have said had that name on it back then. Yeah, no, but there were Ali.

Speaker 2: 8:23

There was a key chain that was Ali. Yeah, so I changed my name I wouldn't let anybody call me by my whole name and go on to college, join the Navy, which is how I ended up out here in Florida, and there was just always this conflict and this inner struggle of trying to hide and run from my culture. And actually coming to Florida, where people just liked me just because it was me and I no longer, it was no longer the kids I grew up with, so it was like a new start. Yeah, so you know, people just liked me and it was funny because in the military they don't call you by your first name, they call you by your last name, and my last name was Campos Franco, so hyphenated. So I was like, oh, new identity, I can now be Latina.

Speaker 1: 9:18

So let's talk about reclaiming your heritage, right? That's what it sounds like. Absolutely. You woke up and part of it was having, I guess, maybe the discipline and the confidence that being in the military possibly gives you right when you're younger, like you said, you're not fit for war, but one day when you put on a uniform and they give you the weapons and you feel a little bit more like you could protect yourself, and that you know the fragility of my emotions. Right Now you're wearing a uniform Right and Campos Franco is pretty cultural right and not just wearing a uniform, but part of something bigger.

Speaker 2: 9:59

I am part of something that defends the US and defends our rights. Like, how important am I now?

Speaker 1: 10:06

Very and thank you for your service. You're welcome. I gave you the confidence to reclaim your Mexican heritage.

Speaker 2: 10:13

That's the point where I was like things started to turn for me. And then, you know, going down to Miami and seeing that, ooh, being Latina is the cool thing, yeah.

Speaker 1: 10:24

Yes, it's like being Jewish in New York City is different than being Jewish almost anywhere else in the world. When I grew up in New York City, I was surrounded by people who were like me. In fact, until middle school I didn't know there were grandparents that didn't have Holocaust numbers tattooed on their arms. Every kid was an immigrant kid where I grew up and it didn't matter if they were from my background and culture. It could be one from every single country culture on my block and we had a black party where we knew and understood that our parents spoke in different languages. So talk to me about how that works. You reclaim your culture, you go back to your parents, I'm assuming, and you say what, why, how?

Speaker 2: 11:07

No, you don't face off. No, how does that work? No, there was still a lot of cultural not cultural, yes, cultural trauma in the sense of the things that we as Hispanics, as Latinos, as Mexicans do because we don't know better, and so I didn't go home to reclaim it, I created sort of this new culture.

Speaker 1: 11:33

Like a 2.0. Yes.

Speaker 2: 11:34

Yes, and actually, yes, I have my Instagram, alejandra 2.0, which is when I reclaim my name. And then I started correcting people. No, actually my name is Alejandra. And now I cringe when I see like an old Yahoo account that pops up and it's Ali at Yahoo and I'm like, oh, that's not me, that was never me.

Speaker 2: 11:57

So there was always this conflict, this running from my culture, and actually it was my culture, my pains and my struggles and the searching for acceptance and belonging. It was that that has given me my purpose, that has given me who I am today. So it's funny. I was always trying to be. I'm going to be military, I'm going to go to college, I'm going to become a respiratory therapist they help fit in. Then I'm the American dream and I'm going to buy a house and I'm driving a nice car. The American dream, but it still didn't like it. Just I wasn't home, it didn't land. There was always this struggle, this inner struggle of who am I? Until I came back to my roots, until I accepted my latinidad, my Hispanic side, and embraced it. And that has given me my purpose. That is where the birth of my company has, that's where it came from. And now culture is.

Speaker 1: 12:57

So they say that home is where you finally stop running. Right, and that's what it sounds like. And so once you stopped running and you came home to yourself, alejandra 2.0, you started to live again. Yes, hence Vive, hence, vive. Yes, talk to me about Vive.

Speaker 2: 13:16

Yes, so I started practicing yoga late in my youth and what I learned was that I was so disconnected from myself, not just from who I was, but my body, sensations. People would ask me questions like you know, this dialogue that you and I are having right now. There was no way I could have had that before, because we don't talk like this, we don't ask each other dreams, aspirations. You know about our history, about our you know where do we want to end up? We just don't talk like that. Sometimes in Hispanic households, you know, and especially when you're an immigrant household, it's about survival, it's about get out of my way, kid, because I've got things to do and I'm busy. So I had never developed the skill of like, going inward. And how does this feel? How do I feel?

Speaker 2: 14:09

Until I started yoga and you know I would get, my go-to was defense and anger.

Speaker 2: 14:18

And because of that go-to I was in three marriages that were, you know, ended up in divorce, and it was always like that person he's, it's his fault, it's his fault. But then I realized when I started doing yoga, oh, the finger came pointing back to me. It was never about them, it was always with me, it was always about me and I was so hard I'd built these walls around me to protect myself. But in that protection it was actually keeping me from experience experiencing life and love and what it had to offer. Yes, and I was like I don't deserve that, that's not for me. That wasn't in my, in my, in my vision of you know, this, this of you know you have these images, as a child, of what you're destined for and unfortunately, you know my mom, not really knowing any better and what I was going to be capable of, you know, just wanted me to get married and wanted me to be a good Catholic girl and, you know, maybe school and get a job as a secretary.

Speaker 1: 15:18

That was like. I know exactly that that's literally what my mother wanted. There's an expression in Hebrew and be a good mom, shmona asra la chupah, 18 to the marriage canopy. And that was her dream for me. And I remember thinking, oh my gosh, there's so much more out there. That was a be a teacher, be a teacher with such a like calling. I remember and, yes, I have such admiration for teachers. And eventually I did stumble into education when I realized I was pregnant and discovered I wasn't really sure if I like children, so I should probably learn a little bit about what they need. Yeah, but ultimately I think that's what what you're talking about.

Speaker 1: 15:54

Okay, generational trauma right, I don't blame my mother for what experiences happened to me, because now what you said earlier touched me deeply. In my twenties and thirties I was very defensive. It was somebody else's fault that I got to this situation. And then somewhere I took the personal responsibility of saying, okay, nobody makes me do anything since I've left my parents home. These are all the decisions that I have to really face in the mirror and say was it my best choice? Could I have thought this through better? And that's where I learned what it sounds like in yoga for you pause, process, plan and proceed.

Speaker 1: 16:35

And a lot of what we talk about with generational trauma is that you feel the effects of it physiologically. So, going back to yoga, when people say, okay, well, where do you feel that pain, that discomfort, that emotional abuse, neglect, survival instincts that are triggered right, right, you weren't able to. Because, I'll be honest with you, the reason I can't do yoga and I say this, I have and I have to sit with you and maybe try again is because every time I shut my mouth long enough and I, my mind is open First, it's the uncomfortable stuff that floods in, and so I am so scared of that silence in my head. Yeah, that I'm busy fighting for purpose, fighting for, for commitments, and I'm fighting for community and I'm fighting for advocacy. How did you?

Speaker 2: 17:26

do that how did you, the hardest part was sitting there, not busy doing something, just sitting there and letting it calm, letting those waves of you know, of emotions, of triggers, of memories that I had gotten really good at hiding and you know at at disassocating. Oh my gosh, I'm starting to feel something. Let me go cook, let me go wash the dishes, let me go buy a plant I don't know.

Speaker 1: 17:51

I thought I had ADHD for a very long time. It turned out it was just generational trauma.

Speaker 2: 17:56

Usually running from something, yes, some kind of sadness or or anxiety about the future. Yeah, for me, that's where my ADHD comes from. I have to sit down and pay attention. Okay, what am I running from right now?

Speaker 1: 18:10

Right, now this moment, okay.

Speaker 2: 18:12

So yeah, I go, I do the yoga. You know start to learn a lot about myself that I was pretty unbearable, I was not a joy to be around.

Speaker 1: 18:26

I find that hard to believe. You have a smile that lights up a room and a spirit that energizes community.

Speaker 2: 18:34

I was the most judgmental person, like, really, people didn't stand a chance with me because I was so closed off and inaccessible and or I was fake, super fake, and then so people didn't really know what who really are you, how do I? And so I never had these genuine connections or genuine friends. It was all like what can you do for me, what can I do for you? Transactional, yeah, yeah, super transactional, okay, very superficial, it sounds like. So then I embraced my latinidad even more, and, you know, I get this desire to start wanting to share this with other women like me, specifically brown women, because it did so much for me that I thought you know, I look around these spaces, the yoga spaces that I was in, and there weren't very many women that looked like me, yeah, and so I thought, how do I reach them? Oh, I'll learn how to teach in Spanish and they'll come. And they didn't come. Oh well, I'll have a special class and I'll play Spanish music, and they didn't come. I don't understand.

Speaker 1: 19:41

They have all these fancy yoga retreats in Costa Rica and in Honduras, and they have them all over in these Spanish speaking countries. How is that possible that, despite all of the Latin infusion into the yoga culture, you're telling me that you weren't seeing Latin bodies? Correct, yeah, explain that.

Speaker 2: 20:02

And so I realized I looked at the space. Okay, the space looks super expensive. I considered where I was teaching and asking people to come. I'm in Panavidra, oh, oh. And you know those two things alone, no matter how much I was putting myself out on Facebook and you know doing the things, you're still coming in. I'm asking them to come into a space where, typically, you know, maybe we I think it's gotten better now but typically we don't go to Panavidra. There's nothing there that's alluring, that's inviting, that that, you know, the branding marketing looks like something inviting for people who speak Spanish, or any other language for that matter. And so I realized, okay, well, if they won't come to me here, let me go do it different and see if, if that, that changes anything.

Speaker 2: 20:59

So that's when the birth of Jackson, natural healing and Viva Yoga came about. Because, you know, even though this was an important mission for me, for the business owner at the time, perhaps it wasn't so important. And so I felt like I was like this loud microphone that you know, nobody was this loud voice, that nobody was really hearing, Gotcha. So I thought, let me go just do it by myself and then trying it this way, I'll figure out. If it works, if there's even a need, maybe they'll come and now you're building the plane while you're flying it, correct.

Speaker 1: 21:37

So I figured out I'm going to go for yoga practicing booty to an area where people are mostly, or larger than Pantavidra, spanish speaking, or Hispanic or Latina.

Speaker 2: 21:52

Not so much San Marco, san Marco.

Speaker 1: 21:55

Okay, so you're going to downtown Jacksonville? Yes, but it's more accessible. You're getting more accessible, yeah, okay.

Speaker 2: 22:00

Yeah. So I thought, okay, I can make this a very like modern, beautiful, like breathtaking space, or I can make it inviting, I can make it like what my home used to look like. I tell this story about our decor, and our decor at Vive is not, you know, it's not beautiful, matching aesthetic pieces, but it's a little bit hodgepodgey. It's a little bit a reminder of we call that eclectic.

Speaker 1: 22:31

Oh, eclectic.

Speaker 2: 22:33

It's a little bit reminiscent of my mom going through garage sales, and that was basically our living room. Shabby chic, yes, garage sales or things on the side of the street that people were throwing away, yeah, but it was comfortable, it was home, I thought it was nice, and so I wanted Vive to have that same feel of just inviting homey, and so the colors inside of Vive, yes.

Speaker 1: 23:01

And so what Vive feels to me lived in. The very first time I stepped foot in there, it felt as though I had been there. But you know, like deja vu, right, right. Is that the intention? You want me to feel like like I'm and I did. I felt like I slipped my shoes off and I looked around. Everything was easy to spot. I didn't have to ask for assistance. You offered assistance, which was so gracious because you knew that you didn't know me from before. But, wow, so intentional. Everything that you've designed was done intentionally. Share with me how you then transition to grow that community so almost immediately I um and keep in mind this was, uh, 2020.

Speaker 2: 23:45

So, during COVID, and and you know, everybody told me don't do this, don't do this terrible time. And I thought, no, this is the time I was working at the hospital as a respiratory therapist and what I was seeing was the need. Because what? Who was it affecting? You know, black and Hispanic primarily. And it wasn't because of COVID, it was because we were not taking care of our health, we weren't prioritizing wellness to the extent that non Hispanics had been for years. You know, they were proactive about their wellness, proactive about their health. We are not.

Speaker 1: 24:23

We took care of ourselves when we got Right, my parents did not want to go to the doctor. I go for an annual checkup and when I say baseline, my parents used to laugh. We like it's a scam. It's a big scam. They just want your money. They just want your money until I realized that over the years, all of those conditions that could have been preventatively treated, they're hereditary, that science and technology is not all bad in a scam. That's so curious. So that goes back to that immigrant culture, right, and that's the thing that's not from here that distrust of people who had maybe more education and more information. You felt like they were holding it over you. So you introduced to your entire community and BIPOC communities essentially Correct this wellness philosophy, right, right and making it accessible.

Speaker 2: 25:12

So the biggest issue was Wow, price? Price, obviously yeah, and so we. You know, somebody said oh, you're like the mother Teresa of wellness.

Speaker 1: 25:23

You are.

Speaker 2: 25:24

I was like no, but yeah, so I figured what is the biggest obstacle? Why do people not get proactive about their health? Well, it's the price. So we created different packages and programming and we never turn anybody away for lack of you know money or financial, you know, ability to pay. So you know, we have classes $2 Tuesdays. We have membership sliding scale. So, yeah, so we have. You know, we go as low as $35 a month for some people If they come to me and express there's a need, but there's also a deep desire to get better emotionally, physically, spiritually. So you know, our doors are always open. So that was one obstacle, that that we removed.

Speaker 2: 26:11

And then we looked at our marketing and our branding. Okay, who do we want to attract? Okay, well, how does our marketing, how does our branding, how does our messaging need to reflect that? How does it need to look, how does it need to sound? So, um, so that's always been at the forefront.

Speaker 2: 26:26

Um, you know, if, if there's something that's created that doesn't meet that, that expectation or that set of requirements and we don't even run it, and so we've wasted money on marketing because we've hired, um, you know, videographers and content creators that don't quite get that the vision, yeah, and so because they don't quite and it's not important to them. So I also had to figure out who I could work with and who I couldn't. I also understood that, so that I wouldn't waste time, money, energy, um, so our marketing, our branding, and then I looked at our team. Okay, well, what does our team need to reflect? I can't be the only Latina in here.

Speaker 2: 27:03

So then our teachers, our yoga teaching, um team became, you know, black, brown, all different demographics. So, you know, I've got somebody from um Russia, um, they speak, they all speak multiple languages, yeah, um, so we've got a diverse um community, um, we've got a diverse team that reflects who we want in the space. And so, because of that, in all three of those things you know, the financial, the marketing, the branding, and who our team is made up of, or, at 78%, people of color in the space.

Speaker 2: 27:36

Yeah, mostly men, which is really even bizarre, for for yoga it's unseen, it's not typical, but um, we're probably 50, 50, sometimes maybe 55, 50. We heard predominantly.

Speaker 1: 27:52

So you infused the market with your values and your culture, correct, okay. And when we talk about culture, that word is very special to me because it could mean a number of things, right? Shmoos with Seuss was designed as a platform to discuss culture values in global citizenship, and when I say culture, it could be culture as a Jewish person, culture as a Jacksonvillian culture, as an American culture as a woman, culture as a mom. So you're very heavily involved in culture, correct, correct?

Speaker 2: 28:24

Even when, as we started, you know, with the studio and I was, we were growing and I was adding classes and I was needing more instructors, I realized there's not a lot of instructors that are from the BIPOC communities. So then we created a curriculum and became certified to be at a school a yoga certification, yes. So now we offer that, a 200 hour yoga certification. And then we encountered another problem. Well, people in the BIPOC community can't always afford the $3,000 for the certification. So then I had to go look for money so that I could pull in financial assistance, so that I could then create the opportunities so that I could have more BIPOC instructors. So, luckily, Goodwill of North Florida partnered with us. Wow, have been so gracious. This is our second cohort and for the second time they've given us financial assistance for five people who want to come in and get certified, so creating opportunities. So it's like problem after problem after problem, but also like finding the solution, Solution after solution after solution.

Speaker 1: 29:36

So here at Schmooz with SUSE, we find two solutions for every problem and we don't like to find the people who find problems for every solution. And it sounds to me like that's how you're working. You're backing your way into. Yes, If somebody wants to attend a yoga class, yes, you can, we'll figure it out. Someone wants to be a yoga instructor and give back to their community? Yes, we'll figure that out. Somebody, and I'll tell you this. While I was looking at your social media, I saw that some of your yoga instructor students had their babies there, because you accommodated the childcare and there was a little baby sleeping while their mother. So you solved the problem. You're a problem solver.

Speaker 2: 30:14

Yes, yes, yes. And it's looking at all the challenges that culturally and this is the thing that this is where a culturist was born Not understanding these challenges that come with a culture, a specific demographic you've got to understand that all you need is one person to tell you, to offer you a way to your greatness. That's all you need. And if you know, as companies, as entrepreneurs, as corporations, we don't make, create solution for people to step in and seize their greatness, what are we missing out on? Wow?

Speaker 1: 30:52

that is such a great way of framing it. You're creating the opportunities and, as soon as we see those opportunities available, the likelihood that the exposure and someone to grasp that opportunity. So back to the beginning. For immigrants, it's not enough that I succeed. It's important to me that I reach back behind me and I say to the person it doesn't matter what community that they're involved with, but if they're with me, next to me, beside me, part of America, part of this place that I'm raising my children in, is supposed to be the land of opportunity. We forgot that for a second. We thought it was just seeking opportunities for ourselves. But now, when we create opportunities for each other, we're exponentially growing our communities and our platforms. So tell me, if you had your wish, what would be the next step in Alejandra 2.0?

Speaker 2: 32:00

If I had my wish, my next step, I think my next step, would be to be able to fully pull away from not fully, I would still be involved to an extent but to really just land in culture and devote my time and probably get a financial sponsor or some kind of financial backing to really launch that in a big way.

Speaker 2: 32:29

I grew Viva and it was very much bootstrapping and I painted the walls when the money came in to be able to afford the paint. I bought more mats when the money came in to be able, and I would love to do this one differently. So my wish would be to get some sort of funding, some sort of grants, some sort of something, and I'll find it. I'll find it, I'm confident that you will, I have no doubt. But this one, this one, I just want to do different with Cultrists, just so that I make sure that I because it's not just going to be me, it has to be a full team to service these key partners that we're going after. So probably, yeah, financial stability there, with Cultrists, to have that already in hand, to be able to fully go forward and launch it and really create major impact by going after the corporations, after the businesses, after the major brands who are still not representing the Hispanics here in the US.

Speaker 1: 33:33

That is unbelievable. As a Jackson Villian now, I applaud everything that you contribute back to the city that I raised my kids in. I think that I thank women and people like you for not shying away from telling your story, because the more you tell your story, the more you encourage others to share their stories, and when we do that we really learn about each other's cultures so that we can culture us.

Speaker 2: 34:01

I learned a fun fact yesterday. Did you know that tortilla the flour tortilla came actually from the Jews who were in Mexico, who were in hiding, and it was basically unleavened bread, and so that's where the tortilla came from, the flour tortilla, stop it.

Speaker 1: 34:20

Moranos they were called the hidden Jews, were moranos after the Spanish Inquisition, and that was something that was very fascinating to me. My cousin did that genealogy search and my family actually stems back to the Spanish Inquisition in Spain, which is why we still practice Sephardic Judaism in that capacity. But that is such a wonderful yes, there was a phenomenal Mexican Jewish community and I'm so glad that you shared that tidbit with me.

Speaker 2: 34:50

There's still a lot in the state of Monterrey in Mexico, which is just across the border from Texas. There's still a big community there and a big influence, and they've got a museum and yeah, you'll have to read about all this.

Speaker 1: 35:06

I look forward to it and I'm so excited that it was you that shared that with me, because that's what we're talking about. It's the assumption that I must know everything about my community because I'm my community, but there's no way that I know more about Mexico than you do, right?

Speaker 2: 35:23

Although you did share with me about the Eva Longoria story with the Cheetos. Did you watch that movie? We haven't, yet it's on my list to do Flaming Hot, flaming Hot. I knew the story, I just didn't know she had made a movie on it.

Speaker 1: 35:35

Yes, it's so important that we tell the stories and that we expose what you just said. When we develop opportunity, it gives the next person who's coming up the opportunity to seize it Correct. So thank you for sharing your vision, your values and your viva Absolutely With us. You're so welcome, and now it's time for our honorable mention. Mench is the Yiddish word for a person of integrity and honor, with a sense of doing what is right and responsible.

Speaker 1: 36:06

This week's honorable mention is Hope McMath. I think I've said Hope McMath once before, but after this weekend where I attended Vigil, after Commemoration, after Memorial, it is really hope that I seek. And this week I launched my first artistic endeavor called Chasing with Hope, where I capture the framework of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's famous face and the expression Sedeck, sedeck, tirdof, justice, justice. Some say Tirdof means pursue, but as a native Hebrew speaker, I know that Tirdof means to chase. It is our obligation to chase, chase justice, chase community and chase hope. If you know of someone who is the kind of mensch who should get an honorable mention, send me a note at shmusewithsuesorg or drop me a line on Instagram that's going to do it for us today. Thanks for sticking around. Make sure to subscribe to Shmuse with Sues on YouTube and follow me on Instagram to get your daily dose of chutzpah. I'm Sue's, your well-informed smartass who's not afraid to stand up and speak out, because what's an envelope if not for pushing? Hey, stay inspired and inspiring.