So many of us are going through a very difficult time right now. Whether you’re a woman, an immigrant, a member of the LGBT+ community, or even an ally watching all your loved ones go through this, I want you to know that I’m here for you. We’re all going through this together. To make sure that we, myself included, don’t fall into despair I wanted to dedicate this episode to what we can do in times like these. 
Now is not the time to take steps back or doubt ourselves. Now is the time to lean in. Even though everything feels like it’s all going wrong, it has never been more important to go after your dreams. There is so much that we can’t control. Let’s focus our attention on what we can control. 

In this week’s episode, we’re discussing why it is more important now than ever for women to start their dream projects and go after their dreams. This is our act of self-care in these unprecedented times. We need to advocate for ourselves – financially and socially. We cannot fall into despair because we have to protect ourselves and the generation after us. It’s time to give yourself the life you’ve always wanted. 

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Join the waitlist for Courage Driven Latina here.

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Podcast production for this episode was provided by CCST.

Episode Transcript

Erika: Hello, hello! Welcome back to Ch*ngona Revolution podcast. I am your host, Erika Cruz. I realized I never say that at the beginning of my podcast episode. I am your host, Erika Cruz. Oh man, I think I’m just trying to be a little lighthearted because it has been a very, very heavy week for me. Um, being that my entire brand is about supporting women and supporting women of color and my parents are immigrants, it should come as no surprise that the results of the presidential election made me very sad and worried for for women’s rights and for immigrants and for the LGBTQ community.

And I just first want to say that you are entitled to your own opinion. Just like I am entitled to my own opinion, right? And I am not here to convince anyone, um, to believe what I believe or anything like that. But What this presidential election did for me was it really fueled something in me. It fueled me to advocate for the communities that I care about so hard.

Obviously, my entire brand is about women empowerment, right? But, with the potential risks of women, Losing rights, whether it is reproductive rights, access to contraception, maybe health care services, and just overall having. What’s the word I’m looking for? Autonomy over our body or being treated differently because of our gender.

That makes me upset. And nothing has happened yet, right? I think it can be really easy to be sad and be reactive. And let me tell you, I had quite the day yesterday. I spent most of the day in bed. My mom was like, get out of bed. We’re going to go for a walk. I’ve never seen you like this. And it weighed heavy on me.

It grieved on me because. Mexico has elected their first women president and they have legalized abortion nationwide, right? And I’m not telling you, oh my gosh, yes, go abortion. I’m just saying having the ability to decide what you want to do with your body. I mean, Mexico is ahead of the United States at this point.

And what it really did for me is It motivated me. It motivated me because I could sit here and be sad and I, in no way, shape, or form, am telling you not to be sad. Let yourself feel whatever you are feeling. But at some point we have to ask ourselves, well, what can I do? Because honestly, even if the election had gone a different way, that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t be sad.

Anybody was going to come save us as women or save us as women of color. It is up to us what we do. Obviously with the results and with our rights being threatened, everything’s amplified. If you do not have a bank account in your name, go get that shit locked in. If you do not have a prenup or a postnup, get that locked in as well.

Now is the time to step up. Now is not the time to take steps back, to be really Quiet about what we want or question ourselves. Now is the time to lean in It has never been more important to go after your dreams than right now And again, we don’t know what’s going to happen. But

How do we want to show up? Who do we want to be? in this time when Our rights are at risk

because we can’t control other people’s opinions, right? I said at the beginning, you’re allowed to have your opinions just like I’m allowed to have mine. I cannot go change the opinions of every American, but I can change how I show up. I can change how I spend my time. I can change how I spend my money.

I can change. I can decide who I spend time with, what I give my thoughts to, and I can decide how I want to react to this. And I think we as women really need to support one another to step into our innate power. Women are some intuitive divine creatures. Men are scared of women a lot more than we think.

And it’s really sad that our culture, especially if you come from like a Latina Latino culture, the whole machismo that we grew up with, I mean, there was sexism literally in my immediate family. I was treated so differently than my brother, simply because I was a girl. And that is the anger I felt as a kid is what led me to starting my business today.

It’s what led me to start a business that focuses on women and women of color and women empowerment. So the anger that I’m feeling with our rights being threatened and the posts that I’ve already seen by these misogynist men talking about how they own our bodies. I mean, I could sit here and cry and be angry, but that doesn’t do anything to them, right?

That’s like drinking poison and expecting other people to, for it to have an effect on them. And that’s not going to happen.

So what can I do to push back? I mean, the country has spoken that money is who has money has power. So what we need to do as women is we need. To grow our bank accounts, we need to grow, expand our minds. We need to go from this lack mentality to abundant mentality. There’s enough room for all of us women.

And it is more important now than ever that we stick together. And it’s more important now than ever for you to stop thinking about the things that you’ve been wanting to do and to actually go after it. We cannot wait any longer. The truth is y’all, there is no perfect time to go after the thing that you want to do.

There is no perfect time and there are no perfect conditions either.

I have no script for this podcast.

I have no specific action points or journal prompts for you all. The purpose of this episode is to validate whatever it is that you are feeling. regardless of your views, if you are a woman. We need to fight for our rights

There is something that I teach in my programs So for those of you who don’t know Courage driven Latina started off as a program that was titled purpose driven Latina And it was all focused on helping you find your purpose and helping you find your thing and one of the big lessons that I had in this program when it was called purpose driven Latina is that a lot of times Our pain becomes our purpose And what I mean by this is that the things that hurt us or the things that challenge us when we’ve had to go through them, we typically want to help other people overcome them as well.

So, how can you utilize the anger or the sadness or anything that you are feeling? in a more productive way. So for me, as I’m thinking about what I can do, I’ve been wanting to create Courage Driven Latina Scholarships for a while, right? But one of the most more specific things I can do is I can create Courage Driven Latina Scholarships and ensure that they are open to anyone, regardless of their residential status.

That is a way that I can help women, I can help women of color, and I can help immigrants. So really thinking through whatever your goal is that you’ve been wanting to do, how does it help the greater collective? And how can you acting on your dreams or on your goals help make the world a better place?

How can you leverage whatever you’re feeling right now as fuel? Because the world is unfair and people are going to keep pushing women out and people of color out. This is not new.

This racism and sexism has always been there. We just suddenly have a party that’s speaking about it very openly. This is the same country built on slavery.

This is the same country, right? Built with the Bracero program, bringing in immigrants to work.

Something that I teach inside of Magnetic Mastermind, that’s very similar to what I just talked about with the pain equals purpose. When I help my clients inside of Magnetic Mastermind figure out what their mission is, we take into consideration the challenges they’ve had to overcome, the strengths that they have and their interests.

So as you think about what it is that you want to do and how it is that you want to use. whatever it is that you’re feeling, how can you take into consideration whatever struggles you’re overcoming, right? Maybe having access to reproductive rights really saved your life, or maybe having access to contraceptives ensured that you were able to get through law school.

I mean, who knows, you know, your life.

And then how can you take into consideration what you’re good at? What do you like doing? Are you good at talking to people? Is your goal starting a podcast? Is your goal to maybe start creating content to help women with becoming more financially free and savvy?

So whatever your project or goal, like whatever dream project you have or whatever goal you have, it is essential for women at this time with this political and social landscape To follow what it is that they want to do. When you allow yourself to start the side hustle or learn the new skill, you are allowing yourself to build financial independence and empowerment. 

Hey. If you don’t want another year to go by where you are just thinking about your goals and dreams, then listen up. I’m hosting a free webinar titled How to Make 2025 Your Courage Year. How to create massive change in 90 days without overthinking. This is happening on Monday, December 9th at five o’clock Pacific time.

And this is 5 p. m. Pacific time. So if you are in central time, this is going to be seven o’clock your time. If you’re on Eastern time, eight o’clock your time, all p. m. In this webinar, you will learn why 2025 is the year to step into your courage and why the decisions that you make today are Dictate your 2025 you’re going to learn why fear has kept you feeling stuck in your life and in your business and you’re going to go from thinking about your dream project to actually starting version one and completing version one in just 90 days.

You’re going to learn the three strategies that have helped me and my clients step into courage to start the business, launch the podcast, level up in their career, negotiate their salary, show up more confidently in dating and so much more.

This webinar is for you if you are ready to discover your purpose and go after it. Maybe you’re already successful on paper, but you feel like something is missing or you feel like you’re being called for more. This is for you if you are ready to lead with courage, build confidence, and maybe you want to create content or start a business or pivot in your career.

It’s also for you if your dreams are currently only living in your head or in your journal, but you are ready to make them a reality. This is for you. If you’ve been putting everybody else’s needs before your own and you’re ready to work on you, it’s you time. You’re like, it is me season.

There has never been a more important time for women to step into their courage, to step into their power. Tell your friends, make sure that you register for this webinar. Again, it is happening on Monday, December 9th at 5 p. m. Pacific time. This webinar is completely free and it is sponsored by Courage Driven Latina.

At the end of the webinar, you are going to learn more about my program, Courage Driven Latina, which is a transformational 12 month group coaching program to help you gain clarity, build confidence and community. And in this program, you are going to learn how to execute not just one courage project. I mean, on average, the people that have been in this program for a year work on four to five courage projects in that year.

Again, you’ll learn all about it at the webinar. There will be a special 48 hour bonus for those of you who attend the webinar.I’m going to say this again, there has never been a more important time for women to take ownership of their lives. We cannot continue to live in fear. I want to remind you that courage doesn’t mean that you don’t feel fear. Okay. We all feel fear. We’re all human beings, but courage means that you take action despite feeling the fear.

What we need as women right now is to exercise our courage muscle. We cannot keep letting fear stop us from taking action. We have to take the action even if we are scared. And in this webinar, I’m going to teach you the mindset that you need to have as well as the three strategies, again, that have helped me over 200 clients go from thinking about this idea to holding it in their hands.

I can’t wait to see you there. Be sure to tell a friend and let’s do this. 

So I know I mentioned that I don’t have an outline for this, but I took the time just to just write out five reasons why it is more important now than ever for women to start their dream projects and to go after their dreams. So the first one is because the world now more than ever needs women’s voices and perspectives.

Okay, so women’s voices obviously are essential in today’s world. We are half of the freaking population and whether you are have a goal of starting a podcast or launching a business or do some type of advocacy work as a woman, you are bringing in this diverse perspective that can really influence change.

Two,

it’s important for you to follow your dreams so that you can build financial independence and freedom. If you end up starting a side business or content creation, it can really open the doors for financial independence with so many things shifting in our economy. And with the, you know, the uncertainties of what women’s rights will look like, having additional income, especially income that you control is really going to give us women control over our finances and it’s almost taking that security and putting it in our own hands. Financial empowerment provides freedom, resiliency. It doesn’t allow us to put up with bullshit and be in toxic situations. It really is the path to freedom. It’s also important for us women to really take action on the things that are calling us right now because we need to set an example to inspire the next generation.

My niche should not have less rights than I have, or my future daughter shouldn’t have less rights than I have. So being able to take courageous action to really show the women in our lives, to show the younger women in our lives what’s possible whenever you pursue your dreams and you overcome these societal expectations, that is what’s going to inspire the new generation to embrace ambition, to challenge limitations, and to take bold steps.

Towards their dreams. The fourth reason is because we really need to challenge the fear of failure and build resiliency. The people in power want us to fear, fear failure. They want us against each other. They want to divide us. They want us to let our fear lead our lives so that they can stay in power and so that they can claim opportunities and money. I know that fear of failure is big in our community, especially with this thought of what are people going to think?

But when you give yourself the permission to try,

even if you fail, you are closer to your dreams because failure is redirection. Failure teaches us what not to do. We actually learn so much more from failure than we do from succeeding. Every time we take a little failure, it is leading us to the path that’s going to get to our goal. If we know option a didn’t work, okay, well let’s try option B now.

We cannot let the fear of failure continue to hold us back because the ultimate failure is actually not trying. I was talking to a client who was telling me that she started the Instagram page, but she was really having a hard time posting on the Instagram page. And I said, well, what’s the worst that can happen?

She was like, well, I could post something. And like, what if nobody likes it or nothing happens? I was like, okay, well, what’s happening right now by you not posting. And she was like, nothing’s happening. I’m like, exactly. So you mean to tell me you’re already in the worst possible situation? And she was mind blown, right?

So it’s like, we’re feeling, fearing failure, but what if the real failure is not even trying? What if making an attempt is actually getting you way closer to what it is that you want to do? 

And the fifth reason. Why our dreams cannot wait is because we cannot keep waiting for permission too often Women are waiting for these this external approval or for the right time to really start on their dreams But waiting is only going to hold you back from experiencing Fulfillment and from experiencing purpose and from starting that dream project That empowers you to live authentically and maybe empowers other people as well Because there is no such thing as a right time or right conditions. When we stop asking for permission, and we start living the life that we want to live, and we really prioritize our dreams, that is when things are going to change for us. That is when you are living your purpose. That is when you feel freedom. That is when you empower the next generation. Your dreams cannot wait, and the actions that you take right now are going to dictate the following year. If you’ve been wanting to learn a new hobby, if you’ve been wanting to start a podcast, if you’ve been wanting to create content, it is not the time to lean back. It is the time to lean forward and lean in and rely on community and remember that you are in control of your life.

And just like no politician is going to come save us, they also can’t destroy us.

It is up to us how we show up during this time.

I encourage you to reach out to your friends, share your ideas, come to my free webinar, do whatever it is that you need to do to hold yourself accountable so that you are not playing small during the time that we need to step up and play big and play massive. and take a seat at the table.

All right, y’all. Thank you for sitting with me through this podcast episode. I am sending you so much love and I will see you next week.