Here’s the thing: no matter what your catalyst is, whether it’s a layoff or you quit and pivoted, you’ll always end up where you need to be. Take our guest, Lucia, for example. She was laid off during the pandemic, and soon after, she realized her dream wasn’t to be an art director for Amazon. That company, by the way, laid off her entire team as soon as things got rough. Now that she had the freedom to take a breath and think about what she actually wanted to do, Lucia knew she wanted to work for herself and be an illustrator. Now, she’s a successful working artist who has partnered with some of the biggest brands in the world. 

Lucia Diaz is a published illustrator and co-author of Viva Latina, created in collaboration with Sandra Velasquez, the visionary CEO of Nopalera. As a sought-after public speaker, she has delivered impactful talks for prestigious brands, including American Express, Target, WBENC, We All Grow Latina, and Latinas in Tech. In her work as an illustrator, she has partnered with iconic global brands such as DIOR, Tiffany & Co., CHANEL, Giorgio Armani, SAKS, DVF, and Carolina Herrera, elevating events through live sketching and art that captures the essence of culture and elegance. Lucia Diaz’s passion for illustration stems from a deep desire to ensure Latinas see themselves authentically represented. 

Growing up, the only Latina she encountered in history books was Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. This lack of visibility inspired her to take action. Studies indicate that Latinas constitute only 3-5% of the figures featured in U.S. history textbooks—a statistic that does not reflect their profound contributions to America’s legacy. Through her art and storytelling, she illuminates the power of representation. Whether creating inspiring illustrations or leading dynamic workshops, her mission is to celebrate Latinas, amplify their voices, and ensure young girls—like her goddaughter—see themselves in stories of wisdom, strength, and achievement.

In this week’s episode, she shares her story of how she went from being a child of a low-income family to working with luxury brands and having an extremely coveted mentor. She went from being laid off to creating a successful business that works with some of the biggest brands in the world. She now shares her story and encourages other artists to start working for themselves rather than relying on corporate entities that don’t care about them. Listen to Lucia’s episode for incredible entrepreneurial tips, real-life experiences, and heartfelt connections now. 

Follow Lucia on:
Instagram: @holaluciadiaz

LinkedIn: Lucia Diaz LLC

Book Link + Subscribe: https://fearlessyaya.com/subscribe/

Check out Lucia’s services here: https://byluciadiaz.com/services 

Follow Erika on:
Instagram @‌theerikacruz
TikTok @‌theerikacruz
LinkedIn

Website:
http://www.theerikacruz.com

How to work with Erika:

Join the waitlist for the Courage Driven Latina program here.

Join the waitlist for the Magnetic Mastermind here.

Podcast production for this episode was provided by CCST.

Episode Transcript:

Erika: Hello. Hello. Welcome back to this week’s episode of Chingona Revolution Revolution podcast. This is your host, Erika Cruz, and today I am joined by a guest who is super talented, super creative, is an artist, is all about giving back to the community. And I had the honor of meeting this individual at a conference that I spoke at, and we had a very.

Meaningful conversation one of the days towards the end of the [00:02:00] conference, and I’m just so proud of everything that she’s accomplished. And this person is Lucia Diaz, who is on a mission to make sure that every Latina sees themselves in art and history and in every room that matters. She is actually a published.

Illustrator and co-author of Viva Latina, which is a beautiful collaboration with Sandra Velazquez, who’s the powerhouse behind Nora and her life. Sketching talents have brought Cultura and elegance to events hosted by iconic brands like Dior, Tiffany and Co Chanel, Armani, and so much more. 

 Lucia has also shared her story on stages for Target AmErikan Express, Latinas in tech, and we all grow Latina. 

but let’s keep it real. Growing up, the only Latina that Lucia saw in her history books was Sonya.

So today she is rewriting the narrative, one sketch, one workshop, one Nina at a time because every [00:03:00] young girl deserves to see herself as the main character. And that’s exactly what Lucia is doing. Alright, let’s get into this interview because it is a good one.

Lucia, welcome to Chin Revolution podcast. How are you? Uh, 

Lucia: first of all, I’m so honored to be here, Erika. I listened to this podcast, you know, and it’s like a dream come true to be on it, actually. So thank you so much for inviting me. 

Erika: Oh my gosh. It is an honor to have you here. Um, we’re gonna get into all of these details as well throughout the interview, but, um, to, actually, before I jump in there, for the people who don’t know who you are yet.

Can you tell us what you do, who you are, and what you do? 

Lucia: Yeah, my name is Lucia Diaz and I am a live illustrator. I work with big brands like Dior, Tiffany and Co, uh, Armani to do live ex, you know, brand activations. So basically I sit in these boutiques and I sketch clients, um, and it’s [00:04:00] a dream come true.

It’s something that I’ve been, you know. Working towards for the last, like four years, and it’s been just fantastic to be able to do what I love to do. And on top of that, um, be a published illustrator. So I’m just so grateful to be here. 

Erika: Yes. So I remember when we met in Puerto Rico years ago. It must’ve been at least three years ago at this point.

Yeah. And you and I talked, we, we had a little conversation and we can talk about that. But I remember you, you came to me and you seem like you were just so lost. And then a few months later I see this AmErikan Express commercial with your face on it and then like Dior and like all of the, and I.

In the most beautiful way. Right. And I think sometimes we don’t recognize how far we actually are. Um, until, and yeah, until we really look back. So, and I just, I think that’s so funny because yeah, I [00:05:00] remember just seeing your face and I was like, AmErikan Express. I was like, go, Lucia, I was so excited for you.

Um, we can talk about our meeting in Puerto Rico in a second, but. Um, you actually illustrated these, these, uh, for those of you who are watching the YouTube version or the video version, I’m showing a, um, illustration that Lucia did of me. She gave it to all of the speakers that were in Puerto Rico. We were there for Jenny Torres’s event.

Um, our money, our power. And for all of the speakers, you got us that beautiful gift. And I, I remember I brought it back home and my mom was like, whoa. She, everybody was so blown away by the image and I ha we have it up in our living room. So I’m always reminded of you and your work and I feel so honored to have an illustration from you, so thank you.

Lucia: Thank you so much, Erika. Oh, that was such a, that conference, that whole conference, uh, completely changed my life because, like you said, coming into it, I was doing too much. I was not focused [00:06:00] on the one thing that I’m good at, which is drawing, which is illustrating, and for me, illustrating Latinas is so important because growing up I didn’t see that many of us in history books or in media, and it felt like.

You know, there there’s more. There’s, there’s more than just the Judge Sonya, right? Like there’s so many more women in history that were able to do big things, and why aren’t these portraits being recorded? So my big focus is to make sure that Latinas feel celebrated and seen. And so I was so honored when Denise asked me to do the portraits for the speakers.

I was like, yeah, of course. Like it was something that. You need to know that you deserve to be celebrated. You deserve to be captured in that way. Um, so you could remember for the rest of your life, like how powerful you are, like how powerful you were getting onto that stage, and how much you inspired your whole audience, how [00:07:00] much you inspired me with your story.

And so I think it’s really important for people to step back and start to look at like. What is it that they were born to do and not try to do everything, like, not try to do all the things just because Al is doing, you know, a podcast or Al is doing, uh, a store and selling products or courses like. Do what’s best for you, do what’s works for you and work on the highest ROI item, like don’t try to do all the things at once.

So I think you giving me that advice and you really like sitting me down and saying, look, you have a lot going on, but is it what you wanna do? It was so eye-opening. ’cause I was ready to basically launch grading cards with a mass retail company and. Thank God it didn’t because, uh, what’s been happening in the last couple of months, uh, with just retail and [00:08:00] DEI, I’m just happy that I just focused on just the illustrations and focus focused on working with brands one-on-one instead of trying to develop a product because the product is making the customer, making the client.

Feel excited and happy to receive a portrait of themselves, so thank you for sharing that and showing me. I’ll never forget, yours was one of my favorite portraits because of your curly hair. Oh, wow. I was just like noodling in there. I was like, yeah. Gotta get these curls. Right. 

Erika: I think you did the curls justice.

You, you did beautiful work. So, I mean, we, we kind of jumped right into it, but I wanna know, you told me, um, or I kind of already know your story, right? But you mentioned that you were working at Amazon and tell me what happened with Amazon. 

Lucia: So I was climbing the corporate ladder for like, I don’t know, six, seven years.

And in tech, um, [00:09:00] I wanted to become a art director. And so my whole focus was I need to become an art director. I need to do this because this is a stable job and it’s gonna give me everything that I need. So turns out those were just all lies. Those are all lies of fairytales because as I became a visual designer, then was promoted to art director, at Prime video, the pandemic hit.

And so I launched Prime video in Mexico and that was a great success. But now we were gear gearing up to launch in Brazil and the whole international team was just let go like that. And so then I started realizing that I was wrapping up my identity with something that wasn’t even my dream. It was my parents’ dream.

Erika: Oh, I literally got chills all over my body. As soon as you said that. Damn. That is so good 

Lucia: because like honestly, my mom and my dad were super [00:10:00] happy to tell everybody, oh, meet how she works at Amazon. She’s an art director. But I was miserable. I hated it. It was. S everybody around me was so depressed, sad, and just like overworked and burnt out.

Um, and when you’re creative in a tech industry, like they wanna, they wanna figure out how to like automate what you do. And as an artist, as a creative, like you can’t automate creativity. Like even though I AI is out there and, and trying to do it, it’s. You know, there’s something about being an artist like that is very special to your creation, to your soul, and I think, you know, being at Amazon getting laid off, that was like the biggest wake up call for me because I.

I wasn’t born to be that. I wasn’t born to be an art director. I wasn’t born to stay small. Uh, I wasn’t born to be a little cog in a big [00:11:00] machine that, you know, currently to me is a company that doesn’t really, I. Even see that Latinos exist. So at the end of the day, I’m so grateful that I did go through that experience, that I did go and, and, you know, kind of risk myself and, and going into a company like that.

But, uh, I found out who I was and I was an illustrator. And so every day after work, um, the two or three hours before I slept, I would draw, I would just sketch, I would whatever inspired me, anything from. Like Selena or like whoever I was listening to Bad Bunny at the time. I would just sketch portraits of ’em and just start posting on Instagram.

And then people just started reaching out to me, like for commission portraits. And then I realized like maybe, maybe I could do a business side of this. Maybe just, maybe I could do something. Um. And just having such a supportive partner. My husband, [00:12:00] Jonathan Diaz, like, he was literally like, okay, we, you know, Seattle was not for us.

Like, let’s just move to Maryland and you figure out your business. Don’t rush into trying to get another job right now. Just focus on doing you and don’t. Worry about, you know, bringing in another paycheck, just focused on doing what you gotta do. And we were in a such a good position because I saved like a year’s worth of, of my paycheck because around like December, I went to Bali with my husband before Covid, and we started seeing people were getting sick over there and we realized, oh, that’s gonna come to the us.

Yeah. Or what it is. And so I just started saving every single paycheck. Um, and then we just lived off his paycheck for a while and see if we could kind of reduce expenses, cut everything, cut all the fat, unsubscribe for everything. Mm-hmm. Just really, really focused on building that emergency [00:13:00] fund. Um, so when I did get laid off and I did get severance, I was able to, you know, take that and just.

Slowly build my business. Um, but then I started going in too many different directions. 

Erika: I mean, I think that’s part of you as a creative though, right? Yeah. And, and we’ll get into that in a second. So I, people fear being laid off so much and it makes sense because at some level it’s a form of rejection.

It’s a form of quote unquote failure, right? Mm-hmm. But. Do you think you would’ve left that job if you weren’t let go? 

Lucia: No. I And now, 

Erika: are you grateful that you were let go? 

Lucia: Yes. So, so hell yes. Like I can’t believe how many talented, incredible human beings are. Working in these corporations thinking that they’re not enough, thinking that they have to, you know, work until, you know, two in the morning to get the, the latest campaign out.

Like it, like they don’t, you don’t have to kill [00:14:00] yourself for your worth like you are worthy already, um, of being successful and, and chasing what you wanted. Chase, to me, I thought that having this safe job was gonna help me. You know, buy a house and do all those things in society, have kids and all this stuff.

And then I realized like that dream is my parents’ dream. Like, I don’t need to do this because I am not, I’m not like them. Like I am a creative. Uh, luckily my mom was really supportive of this, uh. And you know, I’ve had people on my dad’s side not be as supportive, but it’s okay. Like there’s some people that are gonna be there and gonna cheer for you and then others, they’re just gonna be the reason why the fuel that you do what you do.

Erika: Yeah, exactly. And now, I mean you probably, when you were at Amazon, you probably didn’t even imagine, oh yeah, I’m gonna illustrate for iconic brands like Dior and [00:15:00] Tiffany and Chanel, 

Lucia: right? Like no, never. I had zero expectations that I would do something like this, and I honestly felt so blessed that I had this push because I know a lot of creatives that stay stuck in these.

Safe jobs thinking that they’re gonna get paid and always gonna have a, you know, security, but you don’t. The only way you can form security is creating it yourself. 

Erika: Ooh, that was so good. So many gems. I’m already thinking about all the little quote posts we’re gonna do from this interview. Oh, and this has led you to beautiful connections working with brands, not just these big brands, but also, you know, working with Janice, working with We All Grow, working with other Latina communities.

And um, now you also have published your first. Book, which is so exciting. And this is a collaboration with the founder of Nora, and she’s also just such a great leader in the community as well. [00:16:00] Um, and your illustrations helped this book come to life. So my question is, um, yeah, like what was that experience like and what do you hope that the readers, especially Latinas, take away from this book?

Lucia: Well, Latina is my. First published illustration book. Um, 

Erika: beautiful. It’s 

Lucia: a collection of incredible stories from really badass wise women, Latinas that have gone through very similar experiences to get to where they’re at. And to me, like when I had Sandra Velasquez from Knock On My Door and is like, Hey, I need an illustrator for my book.

I’m like, are you kidding me? Me like, I’m gonna be your illustrator. Um, and she was just. The best, one of the best mentors I could ever ask for. And so I wanted to make sure I captured each and every single one of these incredible women [00:17:00] in a way where I was kind of like a detective and I would stalk their Instagrams, I would watch the videos of them, and I did the same thing for you when I illustrated your portrait, because I really want these women to feel proud to be in this book and to, you know, understand that.

They’re part of history and they have been published, and this is a story that they’re gonna be able to share with not only, you know, their family, but future generations are gonna be able to read these quotes. And I’m actually in, in the book as well, I don’t have illustration on myself, but, uh, my, uh, little passage is called Familia.

And it’s an homage to my mom because when we were younger, my mom used to make APAs and she was very much. Always a champion of my art. She would flip in order for me to be able to buy a little more art supplies. Oh, I love it. And so she’s always been super proud of me and [00:18:00] obviously my grandmother, Lucia, um, she never had the opportunity to chase her dreams like she wanted to be a teacher.

My mom wanted to be a fashion designer. And so to be able to take the stories from my family and be able to publish ’em in a book is so wild to me. Like, I don’t, I still, like, when I look at it, I’m like, it’s not real. It’s like a, a figment of my imagination. But I, I’m just really proud that Sandra picked me and.

It’s funny because, uh, when I saw Sandra for the first time in on Shark Tank mm-hmm. I turned to my husband and I’m like, I am gonna meet this woman. I’m gonna reach out to her. I don’t know how it’s gonna happen. Uh, but we’re gonna, I’m gonna collaborate with her somehow some way. And luckily we were both in an accelerator program for a mass retail company and they hooked us up together.

Tahi, she is. One of [00:19:00] the program managers that saw how much representation meant to me. 

Erika: Yeah. 

Lucia: And when she told me that Sandra Velasquez was gonna be my mentor and I got to like, chat with her for four sessions, like, it just was mind blowing because she really, you know, helped me, you know, further clarify the direction of what I wanna do, um, and be able being able to collaborate with somebody like Sandra that is out there.

Creating a brand for Latinas, um, based on her heritage is absolutely beautiful. So, again, I’m very lucky that I’m, I was able to collaborate with her and many of the women in these, in the book as well are friends of mine. People that I, you know, I’ve followed as well, or have been following their journeys from far.

Mm-hmm. And so to be able to illustrate some of my favorite people is just, it’s crazy. It’s so beautiful to be able to do that. So it’s, it, it is lit, literally a dream project. 

Erika: That’s beautiful. And it’s only the beginning too. [00:20:00] You’re just getting started. So this is very aligned with what we just talked about.

So I’ll ask this next que next question that I had, um, written down. There’s so many girls and women that are growing up and they still aren’t seeing themselves reflected in our media or leadership, and I feel like you’re doing. A phenomenal job of, of changing that. But what would you say to a fellow Latina creative who’s feeling imposter syndrome right now?

And I think the first answer is get this book, but what else would you say? 

Lucia: I say just keep illustrating and you know, start to figure out what is it that you love to do and what is it that society or the world needs right now? And try to kind of. Hyper-focused on your vision, not what your parents want, not what society wants, but really what is it that you love to do, um, and create sample projects like as an artist, like you could create a whole portfolio [00:21:00] of different artwork.

Why does Sandra pick me? Because she saw I could draw portraits. Mm-hmm. How did she see that? She saw the work that I did for Janice? Yeah, she saw the work that I have done for brands, and so when you start to develop. Your portfolio. For example, like I remember when I first approached a brand at a very fancy mall in Miami called Bar Har Ball Harbor.

I brought my business card and I brought a prototype of my work, like a little card showing them, Hey, I know Mother’s Day is coming up. Here’s an an example of what. I could do for you. So if you are an artist, if you’re creative and you dream about working with a specific brand, start to look at what this brand needs.

Like what is it that you could do to serve them? I know a lot of artists sometimes just focus on what they wanna draw only. But you have to treat, especially if you’re creative, you have to treat it as a business and you have to make sure that whenever you do [00:22:00] start to work as a creative, you file as as an LLC and you know, save some of that money that you get for taxes because those things are super important in order for you to grow and continue to flourish.

Right. Also, um, don’t. To share this vision of what you wanna do with everybody. Only share it with the people that really love you and care and see that you are capable of this because many people are gonna sell you that you’re gonna starve to death, that you’re not gonna make it, that you know, because they have limitations on themselves and they’re gonna project those to you.

So I had to. I had to, you know, prove myself right versus trying to prove them wrong. Because at the end of the day, you don’t wanna surround yourself with people that are gonna try to drag you down or, or keep you down. So being able to show, for example, being able to show a brand where you’re capable of, you can also even [00:23:00] illustrate yourself, uh, illustrate, um, using a video like.

Bringing either your iPhone or, or any single device, little contraption, like one of those goosenecks and showing people how you draw live as well. Like there’s so many ways of approaching it. And you could do so many things as an artist. Like you don’t have to just do portraits. You could be a pattern maker.

You can license your work to bigger brands. Um, you don’t have to do production all on your own like I wanted to. Explore that kind of like greeting card side. But then I realized that that is just a lot of work for one person, and in order to scale you’re gonna need to have a team and all of these things.

So I decided not to kind of go that down that route anymore and just really focus on. Just my illustration. So like I said, if you are feeling imposter syndrome or if you feel like you can’t do it, just know that this takes time like art and your portfolio and your style takes [00:24:00] time. I didn’t wake up one day and just become a fabulous illustrator.

This is like a lifelong journey of trying to get here. 

Erika: Yeah. I love what you, what you’ve described. I have a concept in my programs. It’s called The Magnetic Method, and it’s all about. How you’re in charge of building your own influence. And you can do it in so many ways. So it wasn’t like you waited for these brands, you didn’t wait for Chanel or Tiffany or Dior or we all grow to come knock on your door and be like, Hey, we, we heard you’re a great artist.

Like, come and do some stuff for us. No, you. We’re already showing up online, right? Like there’s, there’s a reason Janice even knew what you did. So with this whole concept of the magnetic method, it’s that you have to decide who you are and then show up as that person, and then people will see you as that, right?

So rather than waiting for an outside person to validate you, you have to validate yourself. And then other people will see you that way. And I feel like what you just [00:25:00] shared. Is a perfect example of that. You mentioned, right? You were already drawing portraits, you were sharing them. How else would people have known?

They don’t know if you’re living under a rock, they don’t know what you’re up to. And I think a lot of people delay their dreams waiting for somebody outside of them to come and be like, do it. And you know, maybe we all have a supportive partner or community like your mom and and your husband, but that’s not always the case and you still have to bet on yourself.

Lucia: A hundred percent. And just to add to that, I think a lot of artists, a lot of creatives. Have these, these daydreams like, oh, this is gonna happen to me once I do X, Y, and Z. Don’t worry about a website, don’t worry about a logo. Worry about a body of work like that. You could show that you can, you can literally show them your Instagram, like you don’t Yes.

Necessarily have to have. All the pieces together. Actually, I prefer that you don’t do a website yet, because then you’re gonna have to redo that website once you start learning exactly what [00:26:00] clients need. So, I mean, doesn’t matter how much you pay for it, because at the end of the day, don’t have to redo it anyway, so I say.

Focus on the things that you can control and do one thing at a time. You know, don’t think you have to have all the pieces ready to, to go. I’m a Virgo, so I’m telling you as a recovering perfectionist that you do not have to have everything set, you know, in order to approach a brand or approach a project, and you have to constantly do outreach.

Like every week I send out at least 50 proposals. To different brands I hear, no, I would say 98% of the time, you know, 2% of those are yeses. Mm-hmm. So imagine if you just like, send out a proposal or talk to somebody and they’re like, oh, we don’t have the budget right now. But then you, you re, you know, [00:27:00] continue to kind of speak to them.

Maybe a couple months down the line you send them another like idea or another proposal. They’re like, oh, it’s perfect timing actually. We’re gonna do a holiday activation and we we’re gonna need you to do X, Y, and Z. So do not wait for somebody to give you permission. I’m giving you permission right now to go do what you need to do.

And I love that you talk about your program, Erika, when it comes to that magnetic, you know, being able to kind of attract things to yourself, because a lot of us. You know, come from households, at least for me, I grew up very low income. I didn’t see that much luxury, that much wealth. And so even to me, just like being able to sketch at some of these places.

Still feels like a little out of body to me sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. And I, and I think it’s like, you know, we, uh, have an opportunity. We are the first in our lineage to have the opportunity [00:28:00] to go out and chase our dreams and do what we wanna do. Like our parents, our mothers, our grandmothers, and great-grandmothers society already had a plan for them.

Yeah. So now we have the opportunity to go out and do what we wanna do in order to come to make these dreams come into fruition. But they’re not gonna happen if you’re just sitting there. So find mentors. Find mentors like Erika, you know, because if you need that push, if you need a little shove. Then you have programs like hers that are gonna help you get to where you want to go.

Just speak, just speaking to you in Puerto Rico for like five minutes gave me like all the clarity I need. Like I just needed to go to Puerto Rico to talk to you, Erika. So 

Erika: I remember you were like, wait, can I record this? And you did a, a voice recording of it and I was like, sure. And I actually remember the greeting cards.

I remember we briefly talked about greeting cards, and I don’t even remember exactly what I said to you, but I remember how I felt and I [00:29:00] remember how I felt that you were just like this talented artist. And at that time, we didn’t even have the portraits yet. But I knew you had done the mockups of them, that because they were up on the screen.

Right. And they were, um, Janice had used them in some graphics, so I had already seen them. I hadn’t seen the physical one yet, but I remember just like looking at you and uh, or talking to you and looking. Into your eyes and being like, damn, like you are this talented ass person and you have so many options, but what do you wanna do?

Yeah. And I don’t remember the details of the conversation, but I, again, I remember the feeling. And then again, next thing I know you’re on the AmErikan Express commercial. So tell us about that. How, what, like how did it feel to be this visible face of Latina entrepreneurship for like a major campaign for a major brand?

Lucia: That was another dream come true. I’ve been, I’ve been using AmErikan Express for my business since like the beginning. Um, I couldn’t get a loan from the [00:30:00] bank because I didn’t have enough history or enough or whatever they wanna call it, you know? So I was able to get an AmErikan Express card, and I just started by buying my printer and buying paper, buying ink, getting my iPad, and slowly but surely just building up my business with AmErikan Express.

I became a, um, I basically had this fellowship with AmErikan Express through Luminary, which is a coworking space in New York City, and it was so fabulous to be able to talk to that team, and I talked to them about, I. You know, I liter, I went up to the representatives whenever they, they came and talked to us, um, at Luminary and also was invited to an amazing conference called Latitude in Miami, uh, which I think you went to, I think I saw you.

Yes. I, I 

Erika: was a, I was a, I moderated a panel for the Latitude Venture side. 

Lucia: [00:31:00] That’s perfect. Yes. Yeah, so I, I was there as a, as a business owner and then again, I meet again more AmErikan Express representatives and I talk to them about my experience with Business Blueprint. I talk to them about my experience with my credit cards.

I literally tell, tell them. Play by play exactly how my business has grown with AmErikan Express. And they’re like, Hey, you know, I would like to present you to our media team. They wanna like, you know, jump on Zoom with you and talk to you. I was like, great. Awesome. Again, I am putting myself out there. Yep.

Myself. I am making sure that they understand that I am a consumer, I’m a customer of theirs, and I have a great testimonial to give. So I thought myself, oh, they’re probably just gonna put this on a website, like a little like quote and that’s it, right? Um, I think six months after that they reached out and they said, [00:32:00] Hey, we’re interested in having you be part of how you made it with AmErikan Express, and we wanna send a whole team to your apartment to record you and talk about your story.

I was like, I love it. I was floored. I was like, yes, absolutely you can come. And so, um, Joel, which is, he is such a sweetheart, he was like the one person that kept introducing me to the different AmErikan Express and also Greg. Um. And Dina, they, they like just a whole team, just loved the way I spoke about my business and about who I am, about, just the inspiration of, of my brand, which is Lucia Diaz is actually an homage to my grandmother.

She, um, like I said before, she didn’t have the opportunity to chase her dreams. So this is her. This is the vision that I have for her. I want [00:33:00] her name to be famous all over the world. Because you know, I am so fortunate and I am able to be who I am because of her, because of her sacrifices. And same with my mother.

And just being able to be surrounded by a whole team of creatives from AmErikan Express in my apartment, which is tiny by the way. It’s like a two bedroom apartment. We had like 20 people show up. 

Erika: Oh my gosh. A whole commercial production, 

Lucia: a whole commercial production. And my husband. Such a sweetheart. He was ready.

He was like, how can I help? Like, what can I do? Like, can I be, he would just bounce around with all the teams from like, you know, the, the people that helped set up the camera guy, the creative director. He would offer water. He would be like, I’m gonna go back here, help the makeup artist, like, organize the stuff.

And so he was just floored. And, um, I don’t know, it was just like, it’s just really beautiful to be able to. [00:34:00] Be myself mm-hmm. And authentically and understand that like my story is worth it. You know who I am, the person that I am, and the this business that I’ve built is successful because of just that story and my, you know, my tenacity of, no matter how many people say no.

Yeah. Continue to reach out and continue to to partner. So. I think one of the clips from the commercial, I wanted to talk about how when I had a very, like how I made it, like what moment was it where I felt like I made it for me. It’s when I booked my biggest activation, which was like 20 grand, and it was with CorVel and Latinas in tech, and I was able to give a small percentage of.

Stat, uh, well, not small. It was like five grand to a Colombian orphan. [00:35:00] And to me, being able to give back to my community in Columbia and South AmErika, me, Jean was super important to me because my grandfather was an orphan. And my grandfather, Jose Manel, was someone that was a leader in his community and did so much in order to give back to the neighbors around him.

And as he succeeded as a farmer, as he started to see these big brands like Starbucks and Juan Valdez come. And tried to rip him off with the price of the coffee. Like, he’s like, no, this is how much my coffee is worth and this is how much you’re gonna pay for this region’s coffee. So being able to see people like my grandfather, um, just, you know, even though he was an orphan, just grow into such a leader.

Like, I decided whenever I can, I’m gonna give back to an orphanage because. I have so much privilege that my family came here from Columbia and I had the opportunity to be in [00:36:00] an AmErikan Express commercial or to be working with Tiffany and Dior and all these big major companies. But imagine how much more successful he would’ve been if he even had half those opportunities.

So being able to talk about that story and the legacy of my family, the legacy of my mom and my grandparents, and how much. As a Latina, I’m so proud to do what I do. Mm-hmm. And not have to, you know, code switch or, or feel like I have to be somebody else in order to be successful. Like I made my whole, my own God table.

You did. And I don’t, and I don’t care like what other people say in society. Like I’m living my life. I’m living the truest life that I have. And I just wanna be that rich auntie that could give back, not only to my nephews, but also to other children, especially in South AmErika because, um. The situation.

I mean, everywhere is crazy right now. Yeah. And so being able [00:37:00] to just step back and as you succeed, be able to get back or do what what you feel is right, uh, it’s just a huge blessing. So yeah, the AmErikan Express conventional was a dream come true. I had no idea that it was gonna be such a big production.

Um, and since then, they’ve invited me to headquarters to speak, uh, for the Ola. Organization, which is the Hispanic, uh, leaders in AmErikan Express. Um, so she is the one who invited me to speak for Hispanic Heritage Month last, last year. And being able to be there and talk to ’em about my story was. So beautiful because they, again, other Latinas started to see that, well, if she could do it, then maybe I could pursue my own business.

And I’m gonna tell you right now, start, even if you have a side hustle, uh, even if you have a, a full-time job right now, you could start on the side. You don’t have to do it. Don’t quit cold [00:38:00] Turkey. Like, make sure that you do things at your pace. This is not a race, this is not a competition. Um, and know that all these opportunities will come to you if you are ready to attract them.

Erika: I couldn’t agree with that more. Wow, you said so many beautiful things. I’m like, which one do I wanna follow up on? Um, I just wanna say that the. You know, kudos to you for, for landing a big opportunity, but then to be able to give like a quarter of that back to the community that you care so much about that speaks so highly of who you are as a person and, um, you deserve the AmErikan Express commercial and so much more.

I’m not kidding. You’re literally just getting started and I’m wondering what is next for you? What, what do you want to create and how can the listeners be, um, supportive? Like maybe if somebody out there [00:39:00] listening to this podcast episode can help you in that next step, tell us like what the vision is.

How can I support you? How can the listeners support you? What’s next for you? 

Lucia: So my hyper focus right now is to do as many brand activations.

So if you could follow me on Instagram, Ola Lucia Diaz, that’d be amazing. Also, next time you go to a big, like fancy mall in your area. Take your, take your phone, show ’em my Instagram, show ’em my illustrations, and let them know that I am a sketching artist, a live sketching artist. And that way that any business that comes through you, I definitely want to make sure that I, I pay that person a commission fee in order if they find something.

So if you reach out, you contact someone. Uh, for example, if there is a hiring, uh, like a brand. Like manager or anybody that is like a, an events person within that brand. Mm-hmm. [00:40:00] Uh, and you send me their contact and I book the event. I definitely will send you some commission for that. And then also just make sure to introduce my names in rooms of opportunity, like if you know of somebody in a different industry.

’cause I definitely want to not just do fashion, but go into, you know. Go into as many different industries, uh, including like conventions. Uh, if anybody knows any other, you know, speaking. Uh, when it comes to speaking, I. Opportunities, things like that. I would be much more appreciative of those. And if there’s anything I could do to help my community, I’m always there.

So you could follow me at Ola Lucia Diaz on Instagram and also on LinkedIn. Reach out to me if you have questions, let me know. Um, I definitely wanna develop up a series where people could like ask me anything, like a workshop. Um, and then kind of go from there. So just wanna say, Erika, [00:41:00] thank you so much for having me.

Of course. This has been such a dream come true. I could like die now ’cause I’ve been on your podcast. And just thank you for all the work that you do because you did change my life with your words. Like you literally said, focus like this. The exact conversation was focus on the highest ROI item. Stop spreading yourself too thin because you literally like looked at me and like, stop spreading yourself too thin.

You’re doing way too much. And I was like, yes ma’am. 

Erika: And well, kudos to you, right? For sometimes people ask for advice and then they don’t, they don’t take it, or they just kind of dismiss it. So kudos to you for. Listening to the advice being discerning, like, does this actually apply to me? If it does let me implement it, and then doing it and then hitting the ground running.

So kudos to you and ever all the links that you [00:42:00] mentioned, your Instagram, we’re gonna link all of that down below, including your website, your email, all of that. We’ll put that down below in the show notes. Is there anything I didn’t ask you that you want to be sure that the, uh, listeners hear? 

Lucia: I actually wanna ask you like, how can I support you, Erika?

Like, what, what do you have going on that we could, I. Make sure that my audience knows as well. 

Erika: Oh, thank you for that question. What do I have going on? So this year I’m really focusing a lot more on speaking engagements and getting back into content creation, but I have had a goal of either doing, um, like affirmation cards or journal.

So I’ll be in touch with you. I’ll be in touch with you about how we can possibly work together. I feel like I’ve been resistant to a product for a long time and I’m trying to figure out when the, the right time is, and of course, there’s no right time, but being that I gave you the advice of focus on whatever’s like working and whatever’s giving you the R-O-I-R-O-I, I feel like I’ve been doing that.

But [00:43:00] now I’m like, okay, well what else can I do? Like, how else can I impact people? Obviously there’s the podcast. Um, but yeah, I will, I’ll definitely let you know. 

Lucia: Well, I’m just gonna say if you’re listening to this podcast right now and you have not left a review for Erika, please leave a a five star review.

Let us know what you liked about this episode because those reviews are gonna help boost her podcast. Definitely. And more Latinas are gonna be able to listen to this episode if you just leave a quick five minute review. Like it doesn’t even take that long to write it. So Erika, thank you so much for having me.

This has been a dream come true. Thank you for all the work that you do, and you really have inspired a whole generation of Latinas. Thank you. 

Erika: I appreciate you so much. Thank you for coming on, and thank you for sharing your wisdom with us. You have a lot of wisdom to share. I had a lot of questions and you were already answering things.

I was like, all right, we’re just gonna let her go. Yeah. You did a phenomenal job. Thank you for sharing your story. Thank [00:44:00] you for. Being vulnerable, right? Sharing everything from the layoff to the, the challenges that you had to overcome. Um, you have definitely impacted people’s lives, so thank you. Thank you, and we will be in touch.

Lucia: Thank you, Erika. Have a good day. Bye 

[00:45:00]