One of the things I’ve been working on with my clients is helping them figure out who they are outside of their careers. As Latina women living in the US, we often feel like our worth is dependent on what we do for work because we need it to be worth the trauma of immigration. But living only for our jobs and tying our worth to our career is not only unhealthy – it’s a trauma response. So how do we break away from this way of thinking and find a more peaceful path to success? 

Ann Dunning is the co-author of Radical Señora Era, and co-founder of Señora Era, a newsletter celebrating slow living, beauty, and Latina identity, and the former co-founder of Latina beauty line Vamigas, at Target and Whole Foods. A Chilean-American, she lives in the campo with her family and her chickens. She thinks that you’ll be surprised at how much your life will improve if you take up the habits and routines of your tias and bisabuelas. 

In this week’s episode, we’re talking about the peaceful path to success. Welcome to your Señora Era! It’s time we stop thinking about success in a purely American way and start looking into what our ancestors did. A totally different mindset brought them so much peace, and it could be the thing that allows you to bring balance into your life while still honoring your ambition. Tune in to hear how our people found balance in their lives and how you can embody these practices by stepping into your Señora Era today! 

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Website: www.senoraera.com   

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Podcast production for this episode was provided by CCST, an Afro-Latina-owned boutique podcast production and copywriting studio. 

Episode Transcript:

If you have ever tied your worth to your productivity, or if you’ve ever thought that if you slow down, then you won’t get ahead or things will fall apart, or maybe you feel like you should just be happy because. You are so much further than maybe your parents ever got, but you still feel like something is missing than today’s [00:01:00] episode is for you.

Erika: I want you to know that you are not alone. I have felt this, my guest today has felt this, so much so that she wrote a book on it. So we are going to talk about the identity crisis that occurs whenever we tie our worthiness to our work. whenever there is the pressure to hustle.

Even when you’re tired and exhausted, and how you can connect with a softer, more grounded version of yourself without losing your ambition, which I think is so key. In this episode, I am joined by Anne Marie Dunning, who is the co-author of Radical Ra Era, and we’re diving into what really, what it really does mean to be ambitious and at peace.

At the same time, we talk about why so many of us Don Dunno, who we are outside of our careers, how hustle culture is. Actually rooted in survival and why it’s so hard to let go of, even when we’re no longer in sur in survival and we redefine success.

We talk about the [00:02:00] hidden trauma behind needing to do more all the time, and how to redefine success using both your ambition but also your ancestral wisdom. So if you’re ready to step into your more peaceful URA era, this podcast episode is for you. Let’s get into it. 

 welcome to Ana Revolution podcast. How are you? I’m 

Ann: good. Thank you so much for having me. I’m, I’m honored. 

Erika: I am excited for this conversation. I feel like we have so much that we can touch on and talk about between the book, between entrepreneurship, between being Latina in this country, so many different ways we can go with this.

But for the people who, may not know who you are, would you mind just giving us a quick intro? Okay, 

Ann: sure. So my name is Anne. I’m a, a Chilena American writer. my book right now is called A Radical Synta Era, Latin American Secrets for a Healthier, happier, life, which I co-wrote with my bestie, Christina Kelman, who’s a third generation, Mexican American.

And the book is a guide to basically reclaiming rest, joy, and wellness [00:03:00] by looking to the daily routines and traditions of, you know, abuela, essentially the s of the past. With a eye, with a eye towards and being ambitious, but with a eye towards balance. 

Erika: Ooh, I love that. Yes. So before we get into the book, I wanna ask, why did you write the book?

And then we’ll start there because then I have questions about how do, how you managed it with the bestie. 

Ann: Yeah. Yes, yes. So yes, it’s a, it’s a story that started for, like, it did for I think many people, many brands. It started during the pandemic. So during the pandemic I was living in San Francisco. 

 I was a startup marketer. My, my friend, Christina was in the finance space also of, in San Francisco. I was a first time older mom. The world shut down and like many people at their time, but at the time I felt like, I didn’t sort of like have any client work. Like I wasn’t sure what, like, I, I almost like when I was left without having to do like this sort of hustle, um, I kind [00:04:00] of started feeling a little lost and sort of started to realize that like our identities were sort of.

Like, why was my identity so tied to my work that I felt like I was like, worth, like, like what, what was my identity if I didn’t, have this like startup job where I was like, busy 24 7 and like I was a, mm-hmm. And I was, and I, I had a baby and like, oh my God, I can’t do anything, anything else? Uh, you know, I had figured I could work with a baby, but then COVID came, right?

Mm-hmm. So everything just kind of went haywire, um, during this pause from work. Is when we started a beauty brand called Amiga and like give it to two type type A Latinas who are like lost to think, okay, let’s just start a beauty, a beauty brand, right? Let’s just start a beauty brand. So that’s where Amiga was, born.

and essentially with this brand, because of the brand, we started documenting our senior lives on, um, on TikTok. We opened up a TikTok. It was like a sad little TikTok with 200 followers and kind of in a funny way, we went viral. [00:05:00] Funny enough, uh, our products, like, we didn’t go viral with our product videos.

We went viral with our synta content. So basically we were like documenting like my garden and like, you know, uh, just home life. And Christina’s big on like design and like home design and, and furniture and, and sales. And so it, people really wanted to talk about being in their santo eras too and being in their gardens and slowing down.

 and so we like. We started getting like millions, we got like millions of views on, um, multiple videos. we quickly climbed to like 60,000 followers on TikTok and like 20,000 on Instagram. We’re like, we got something here. Like we’ve got these, you know, millions of views and this sort of little community started.

 so we essentially then went all in into our SDA era. and we started, creating content around that and we started talking to, to the community and, and writing the news. The newsletter came from from that too. Our blog came from, from that just sort of talking about what our community wanted us [00:06:00] to talk about, and that turned into a book.

 we went to, we sort of pitched it as like more, more of like a recipe book to um, uh, or, uh, to a publisher. And they were like, we, we love the idea, but we want more of your story and we want more of the background. And what is SDA era? What is a radical SDA era? and that is, that turned into a, a book.

That’s where that idea came from. 

Erika: That is wonderful. So before we get further into how creative, I think the book is with, because there’s still recipes in there and there’s still beauty tips in there and there’s still all of this amazing stuff in there. when you talked about you couldn’t work and then your identity was wrapped up in there, I think something that’s happening so much present day is there’s a bunch of tech layoffs.

There are so many shifts and changes and I don’t think we realize culturally how, how connected we are from an identity perspective. Two our job. So what would you say to the person that is going through that right now? Maybe they were just laid off and now they’re having this identity crisis of [00:07:00] who am I if I’m not my job title that I work so hard to get.

Ann: Yeah, that’s a really hard one. ’cause Yes, and I have, uh, many friends who sort of are going through that transition. I think that what I would tell them is you are so much more than your, than your output and what you produce at work and what your day-to-day job is. And if that were to all end right now, um, what would that mean for you?

What would that, what, who would you be? And that is a true person that you are right now. And even if you continue to have this amazing job and you don’t get laid off and you end up being the CEO of your company, you should still sort of retain this idea of who you are outside of work. What you love outside of, you know, creating reports, right?

Or like getting media press or doing the marketing analytics, right? You have to truly figure out who you are outside of that, what you love to do, what helps you slow down? What helps you feel good? Because honestly, if, you know, if you don’t sort of get laid off now. [00:08:00] What’s gonna happen is you’re gonna get older and you’re gonna end up retiring.

You’re not gonna know what the heck you’re doing, who the heck you are, and you’re just gonna have the worst retirement and the worst sort of aging era ever. So I think it’s not, not only it’s good for you to, to sort of, it’s good for you to separate yourself from your job now because of your own mental health now, but also in the future when you know when, um, your life is gonna change after, you know, after you, um, after you, uh, retire.

Erika: That is such a good point. So even if you are working a job that may not be replaced by AI or may not be directly affected, at some point you will need to retire. You can’t work the rest of your life. So why not learn those skills now 

Ann: Exactly. 

Erika: Rather than later in life. when it’s, it’s inevitable.

You’ll have to at some point. So what does it mean? For us to really embrace our URA era. 

Ann: So it, it really kind of, it’s very similar to what, when people, uh, talk about, um, slowing their, their, [00:09:00] um, like their slow living era, or some women sometimes talk about their, on social media, their soft life. We’re a little bit different than that sort of, that, that concept.

But it’s, it’s about, Personal balance. It’s about knowing that sometimes you can just like having these strategies that you can, engage with that, that you can create for when maybe times are tough or when maybe you’re feeling stressed or when you’re overwhelmed. 

These sort of strategies that are as simple as what our Aela and ELA did and ELA did, which is you go sit outside and have some, and help and, and, and, you know, have things like that that make you feel good without having to, I dunno, spend like $500 at a, for a gym membership, right? Or like something that doesn’t require money, something that doesn’t require effort, something that is just there in your house.

And that you can easily go back to and, um, you know, when, uh, during times when you’re, you’re challenged or when there’s obstacles or when you’re particularly stressed. So it [00:10:00] really is about like balance, understanding who you’re outside of work and having these strategies, these simple strategies that you’re borrowing from, Latin American women of the past to slow down, to soothe yourself and just to feel good, simple ways to feel good.

Erika: So what I find so fascinating is that, looking at our abuelas and how they were able to slow down, but somewhere along the line, that same culture.

Has taught us that we need to work hard, be humble, try to get the best job possible. So it, it’s very fascinating to me how we’re like reclaiming culture, but yet, because you were, you were born in Chile, right? And then you immigrated so at what, what’s happening once we get to the United States that’s making us lose connection with this, that’s already ingrained in our culture and it’s almost like this ancestral wisdom that’s there, but we somehow lose it.

Once we come to, once we’re in a different country, [00:11:00] striving for a better life. And then that’s, that’s kind of lost. 

Ann: Yeah, exactly. And that’s, I couldn’t have put it better myself. So essentially what happens is when we come here. You may be an immigrant. I was in elementary school when I came here with my parents, but if you’re an immigrant or your parents were immigrants, you come here and the, you know, uh, in general, you’re gonna struggle.

Your parents are gonna struggle. They may have, a hard time getting jobs. my parents had, were young. They had just graduated from college, but, you know, college degrees don’t transfer, uh, when you come here. Uh, or at least they didn’t in the eighties. And so essentially like.

Your parents have to come here and hustle as hard as it can to put, literally put food on the table, right? So you sort of like, get this, and I’ve actually talked to Latina therapists a uh, about this too for the book. So you sort of get this, you end up connecting, life with working hard and working 24 7 because that’s what our parents had to do, to take care of us.

And so when you grow up, it’s really like. This sort of hustle culture, this idea [00:12:00] of like, go, go, go. Always working, never resting. You know, you’re lazy if you’re resting. That follows us for the rest of our lives. And many of us go on to college. You know, we go on to get the grad, the graduate degrees, some go on to to be lawyers and doctors and marketing and finance.

And we don’t lose that. And, and like we’re sort of no longer like in our struggle eras like we were when we were growing up, but we still have the mentality as though we were so, it, I feel, and many therapists have told, told me this too, who, who I’ve talked to for my, my work is that we, we, we retain this sort of idea of like, oh my God, we’re still struggling.

If I don’t, if I stop right now, if I stop working right now, if I take a break, if I feel relaxed, I’m gonna lose everything. Everything that I’ve worked hard for. I need to continue working. And I think that is part of it. And that is why we’ve lost a lot of the sort of like slow, gentle, like calm, uh, ancestral like traditions and routines that, um, our family had back home right before we left, or many [00:13:00] generations maybe have had.

And it’s also very Latin American culture is also very different than American culture in that, it’s like. Here there’s this idea of, there’s always been this idea since the sixties, since like the era of mad men of workaholism. Like there’s this problem that some folks are workaholics.

We don’t really have that problem, or at least we didn’t in Latin America. So it’s like a very sort of, also, I guess that’s part two very different sort of cultural idea around work here. Work is your life and and your identity in Latin America and in most other places of the world. Work is just something you do.

To just, you know, to rent, to, to buy your house. Right? Right. It, it’s just something that you do and then you stop at the end of the, of the day. So I think those are the two reasons why we sort of end up with this, with this, with like, end up stuck in like this sort of idea that we’re still struggling and like, oh my gosh, how dare we rest?

Like, how dare we like, relax and feel like, not be productive. 

Erika: Yes. Oh, you’re so right. And [00:14:00] you know, especially culturally when you’re in Europe or when you’re in Latin America, it’s not uncommon for stores to be closed on Sunday. It’s not uncommon for them to be closed from two to four so they could go have lunch or take a nap.

Right. If Spain to do their siesta, and it’s so ingrained in the culture, but yet. In the States, it’s like, oh, what stores open the longest? Right. And which one can produce the most? And yeah, the, the values there. I love your explanation there, how we are no longer in the survival, but we’re still acting like we’re in it.

And yeah, this shows up, especially as you, you mentioned earlier, you and your bestie, type a Latina as I can relate, also a fellow entrepreneur here. And, I think even when, whenever we leave the, the rat race of, you know, working in corporate and then you work for yourself, you kind of create your own little rat race and that’s when you burn out and that’s when you realize, wait, I really do need to embody what’s in this book.

And what I [00:15:00] love about the way this book is written, it’s a self-help book, but it’s very practical where you share both of your stories. You also share, um. Tips for wellness, tips for beauty, and also just,productivity. I don’t wanna even wanna use a productivity. I forgot exactly what you called them.

Boss lessons. That’s what it is. and one of the lessons that I bookmarked because I wanted to ask you about, because I think it’s so ingrained in our culture and sometimes. Can be used against us. And that is the radical boss. Lesson number 13, nothing is a life or death emergency. Yes, but yet.

For some reason when you’re an entrepreneur or even when you’re working for something else, for somebody else, if something’s not going your way, it feels like an emergency, right? It feels like if we don’t fix it right now, everything’s going to fall apart. So can you tell us more about that? Because I was like, I have to ask about this one.

Ann: Yeah, so I particularly had a hard time with that, um, because, [00:16:00] so my, um, in my, my day job, I’m a pub, um, I do public relations and media relations for, um, for startups, for women, for black, uh, women and Latinx led uh, startups, particularly tech startups. So, you know, it’s like sometimes I have to take calls from media and it’s.

Like, sometimes it gets chaotic and I have to do things like last, last minute and I have deadlines. So sometimes I forget that sort of like, if I don’t, um, if, if I don’t answer an email on like, let’s say a Friday, I feel like, you know, the world’s gonna end right? And I’m gonna lose my, my client and oh my God, I’m not gonna have any money and I’m gonna have to go, go back to Chile.

Right? So, but what I learned from my. From Christina and she also, she sort of picks, picked that up, uh, picked this, uh, um, strategy up. Long before I did in finance is that, um, essentially what, what she told me is, um, uh, corporates want you to have this sort of fake idea of, uh, deadlines, uh, because it’s [00:17:00] good for their bottom lines, but it has nothing to do with you.

So it’s not urgent for you. It’s essentially just urgent for. The corporates or the boss of the boss or the, the corporation that owns your CEO’s company. Um, it’s just mm-hmm. Good for their bottom line to have you do something as soon as possible. And so she says it can always wait till Monday. Two days is not gonna make a difference.

No one’s gonna fire you, you know, you’re not gonna lose that client. Um, it’s, it’s, it really is never as, as, um, sort of like urgent as the corporates. Wanna want you to think. So it’s really always just about the bottom line. And you have to always kind of keep that in in mind, like, whose deadline is this really, you know?

Erika: Yeah. So 

Ann: I think that’s what one of the things I learned from her that was really interesting. 

Erika: Yeah. It really puts things into, into perspective. So you mentioned Christina’s, your bestie. And you started a beauty line together, and you also wrote a book together. So how did you manage, um, do you find that your, your, your personalities just compliment one another or 

Ann: Sure.

Erika: How [00:18:00] would you suggest There’s probably friends who listen to this podcast, right? And maybe they’ve had ideas. So how did you go from idea to execution and then work together on that? 

Ann: So I think what, what’s key is like, what is key in building a company? It could be anything. It could be a podcast, it could be a startup, it could be a beauty brand, a clothing brand.

A small business is to have a business partner that doesn’t have the same skills and the same uh, sort of personality type that you do sometimes that may be, uh, by accident. You may run a, you know, your friend may be, uh, may have the skills that you don’t have. and that is always gonna work out. Better than if you sort of both had the same, the same weaknesses and the same strengths.

So in my case, I’m very much like a, kind of like a bigger pic, bigger, picture person. I don’t, I don’t implement well. I just think about and I just kind of wanna do, but I dunno how to do it. Christina, on the other hand, is. Very detail oriented. She’s very operations, operations focused. I think [00:19:00] that is why I think Amiga took off so quickly and it only took us like a few months just to launch at Nordstrom and then like Target and stuff is because our skillset were so complimentary.

Um, and also she had different. A different background. Mm-hmm. Different, stronger experience, uh, stronger sort of like background in the beauty business than I did. So I had the marketing background, she had the sort of like finances and beauty industry experience. So it, it would’ve been so much harder had I done it by myself or if.

Me and her were both like marketers or if we didn’t have any beauty experience. So always try as best as you can, um, to find someone with complimentary skills and a complimentary industry background. It’s just, it’s always gonna work better. 

Erika: That makes so much sense. So as people are listening, right, and you’re mentioning big retailers that are competitive to get into and it’s difficult.

Yeah. So I think a question that can come up for people is how in the world do you embody your San your RA era when you have to be in your hustle mode era. Yes. And I think [00:20:00] RA era doesn’t mean sit around and don’t do anything and don’t be productive. Yes. So tell us what the difference is, like how do you embody your RA era but still be.

And still live your life. Right? And still do the things that bring you fulfillment. 

Ann: Yes. Yes. And I, I think that’s particularly the question is particularly important right now because we. As Latinos, we cannot take our foot off the gas pedal right now because we are, we have to succeed. We have to keep going because the right now, the world is against us.

It’s throwing us a lot of challenges and obstacles. It’s throwing our community a lot of obstacles and challenges. So. I think the biggest concept is, balance. So balance is what, comes between hustling for just for the sake of hustling and, doing a job that you really love, but understanding that, you also need to have your own life and you also need to have your own strategies for.

Taking yourself out of that life, like out of that sort of like career mode, [00:21:00] career mindset, whenever you can. So it’s, it’s all about being. Um, so it really is all about being, uh, like ambitious. You can be as ambitious as you can. You can climb up the, the ladder. You can, um, you know, go into as many retailers as you can, but you always have to have in your mind the idea of balance and who am I outside of this, 

Goal, who am I outside of this success? Who am I outside of this press stuff that I’m getting?Who am I as a person? Who am I authentically and what helps me, slow down? What helps me feel happy? outside of like, oh, great, we got into target. That makes me so happy. That is my happiness in life.

That should not be your happiness in life. You should have another type of happiness in life where you’re like, I love going for walks. I love walking my dog. I love making this latte. You know that? 

Erika: Mm-hmm. 

Ann: That sort of aspect is very, very important. And I think, I think that all goes that like. All that to say that balance is a most important thing that you need if you want to, if, if you’re very ambitious.

But you also want to, [00:22:00] honor and embody this idea of being in your STO era. 

Erika: Yeah, that makes so much sense. And with with Target, right? You never know when they’re gonna suddenly cut 50% of products from that shelf that you’re on. Right? Like it can be taken away like that. Exactly. So if your worthiness is tied into that, your worthiness is going to shatter.

Yeah, totally. So, yeah. And right now I’ve also, I know you talked about how. Your TikTok really took off, not even just with the the beauty brand with Amiga, but through this RA era concept, and I think a big thing that we’re seeing on social media. Right now is also these parties that are happening and they’re happening at coffee shops and during the day.

And I think that’s very aligned with it’s people are prioritizing their wellness in a different way. And the younger generation is like, Nope, don’t wanna burn out, don’t wanna, right. Like, I wanna get my eight hours of sleep. I wanna go to a coffee shop instead of get hammered in the evening. Yeah. So it’s definitely something that’s taken [00:23:00] over over the, the internet.

Um, but it’s not just for Latinas and for women, right? So like who can embody this RA era? 

Ann: Yeah. Yes. I mean, really being a ra, anyone can be a RA and radical ra. It could be for men, for women, for, you know, um, L-G-B-T-Q folks, uh, for older folks, for younger folks, gen Z to, you know, Jen Boomer, right? Um, and it’s just a mindset.

It’s like there’s this sort of been, there’s always this misconception that being a eota is, oh, just like, you know, you’re an older woman and you have to be married and you have to have kids and you have to just sweep the floors of your kitchen. Right? There’s, it’s a lot more than that and it’s really just a concept of like balance and, and knowing how to slow down and knowing how to separate your work life from your, your personal life.

So because of that, because of it, that it’s a mindset. Anyone can be a sda, anybody can enter their s eras. 

Erika: Love it. Yeah, I love it. And you [00:24:00] mentioned earlier that you talked to a lot of Latina therapists actually before recording this, uh, getting on this podcast recording. I was, I was in my therapy session and my therapist doesn’t usually ask me this, but she was like, oh, what do you have after?

I was like, oh, I’m actually, and I was telling her about the book and I was like, it’s perfect timing. Her and I were just talking about the importance of, I just finished an enrollment for my business. And I was telling her how you know things are going well and it’s asking a lot of me. I’m grateful for it, but at the same time, I’m prioritizing my sleep.

At the same time, I’m ensuring I still go to my workouts and I get to what I can get to. And like you were saying, not everything’s an emergency. And I’m like, I can respond to that email tomorrow and if that client is really interested, tomorrow’s going to be okay. So it was like divine timing that, you know, I happen to be talking to you right after.

Yeah. But I’m curious, as you spoke to multiple therapists, what was, maybe what were some of the trends that you heard or things that were really surprising to you? Yeah. From, yeah. Talking to Latina [00:25:00] therapists might either about our culture or about the gen first gen generation or the immigrant generation here in the States.

Ann: That’s a great question that nobody’s asked, but it’s very interesting because I think one of the most surprising things that I heard from, um, multiple therapists, and actually, so one in particular that I’m thinking about Dr. Mariel Bke, who wrote our Forward, is that. The thing that we talked about earlier, which was like the fact that we’re stuck in our constant, like we’re still stuck in our struggle eras, even though many of us may not be in our struggle eras, is a trauma response.

And I never thought about it like that, that, that, you know, I, I had several conversations with ’em about how immigration, if, if you’re a kid, immigration in particular is traumatic, you know, no matter what, um, you know, uh. Like, no matter how you got here, it’s always gonna be traumatic because you’re, you left people you love in, you know, in your homeland, you know, thousands and thousands of miles away.

And it’s traumatic because it, it’s almost like, um, [00:26:00] like a experiencing death as a child. So that was one of the very surprising things that, that I heard. And that makes sense. And that sort of helped me think, that made me think differently about. How, like how I grew up and some of the quirks that I have that maybe go back to, but the fact that I’m, I was an immigrant kid, you know, so that was a very, very interesting, idea that I heard from the therapists.

Erika: Yeah. And it makes so, so much sense, right? Because it was like. A death of everything you knew from hearing Spanish everywhere, to suddenly a different language to knowing what the street signs look like, to knowing that your friend was down the street and now like you, who are your friends here? Are you ever going to fit in?

Yeah. Yeah. It makes sense that it would be such a traumatic experience. 

Ann: Yeah. Yeah. 

Erika: What is, um, your favorite part of, of the book? I’m sure you have many, but is there either a specific recipe or chapter that you guide people to whenever Yeah. You recommend your book? 

Ann: Yeah, so there’s, there’s one sort of like philosophical,concept that I love and.

Very, really practical [00:27:00] one. So the practical one is the, uh, the rosewater recipe. A rosa, and essentially like, the reason why we had that rosewater recipe in there is because it’s a staple. In our, in our, in the Ros of the past, hundreds of it goes back hundreds of years back in Latin America. Their, it was their perfume.

You know, the rosewater was the. The, the core of their beauty routine of RA’s beauty routine, you know, um, from, you know, Latin America pre Colombian, a, uh, like era, it’s just like a, sort of a very important concept and, it’s fun because doing it now kind of can connect you to, having this, this recipe can connect you to what your great-grandmother may have created, on a random weekend.

And so we thought that was really beautiful. And then secondly, I really love the history chapter. and that came sort of like as a surprise. we didn’t expect for it to. Be history chapter, but essentially we talked about RAs [00:28:00] through history and what their lives were like, starting with indigenous people, the original people of this land, of, south America and Central America, and what their lives were like, uh, how they.

Uh, like as kids, as young women as, you know, es as, um, you know, midwives and then going through the sort of going into like, um, post, uh, you know, conquistas, right? Like after they, um, subjugated the indigenous people, and going through what the, colonial women’s lives were like, what, how strong they were, like how they all had businesses.

 and then just kind of going through like pre-war up until today. Um, so that was a very, very unique thing for me to research because I really, I found that a lot of really interesting things that I didn’t know, um, about women of Latin America. And one of those is, I, like I just mentioned that, there’s this sort of idea that, 

Latin American women were just sort of like very always, very traditional. You know, [00:29:00] there’s this whole idea of like Mariani Mo and ma Mamo, and of course that was very much part of that world. But they were very, very strong women. They had businesses, they had, uh, real estate. They, they managed their husband’s, uh, like ho houses.

They were like, accountants, indigenous women, had, these amazing small businesses where they, they sold, like they sold products and they made products. So Latin American women. Have are just have, you know, they’ve always been so powerful that I think we often, in history, they often get shortchange is just like, oh, they’re just these tra traditional ladies.

We have nothing to learn from them, but we have a lot to learn from them. And I, I realized that as I was writing the book. 

Erika: Ooh, I love that take. Yeah. And in chapter one, it says, stepping into your great-grandmother’s era, just the good parts. Tell us what you mean by just the good parts that caught my attention right away.

Ann: Yeah. Yes. So, you know, there’s this concept of [00:30:00] marmo machismo, right? In all of our countries, which, made many of our great-grandparents, lives great-Grandmothers great, great grandmother’s, lives very difficult, right? They had no rights, they couldn’t vote.And so when we say we want to borrow their traditions and their routines, we want to borrow only the good parts, meaning the things that made them feel good.

 the things they made with their hands that can help us now, the things they cook that we can learn from now. But not, being subjugated by your husband and not being unequal and your ma and your relationship, not having any rights, and, just sort of having this sort of like, uh, meek role in your marriage, right?

So I think that’s what, that’s what we meant by, um, not just calling, calling this a SDA era book, but a radical SDA era book. That’s where the sort of radical concept comes in. 

Erika: Definitely. What about the woman who maybe wants more? She feels, I think this is a [00:31:00] common thing. I have a group coaching program, so I’ve coached over 300 mostly Latina women, so this is something I see that happens over and over.

Yeah. They are ambitious. They work really hard, they get good grades, they get the job, and then they get there and then they’re like, wait. I’m not happy. I, this isn’t exactly what I thought I wanted to do, right? It’s such a common experience and typically what they are lacking is purpose connection, right?

It’s not that they don’t wanna work, right? It’s not like they just wanna be a what, what they call now the Pilates princesses and just like stay at home. We’re too driven for that, right? We actually wanna do something. So if they are feeling like they want more income, more visibility, And they feel like in order to do that, they just have to hustle.

Hustle, hustle. 

Ann: Yeah. 

Erika: What would you say to that person? Because I feel like you and I have been that person at some point. Yeah. So you can talk from experience, but what would you say to that person who wants to do more, but they feel like they need to just [00:32:00] burn out or go hard or pull all nighters in order to do this?

Ann: in many ways, we internalize this American idea of, you are only successful if you succeed at. In certain ways, like in making money, and being productive. Right? But that’s a, that’s a lens that, that your culture,  doesn’t have. And so sometimes what you have to do is just sort of like take the lens from your culture, which has a lot to do with family, community, good food, having a good time, having a feeling good.

Connecting with, people, getting outta the house. and, and so it’s really sort of like, you know, just remember that you have two, that you can use two lenses to figure out what makes you successful. You don’t have to use the American lens all the, all of the time to feel successful and to reach your goals.

You can also use your sort of Latin American ancestral lens, which, um, you know, which in, in many ways gives you di a different set of [00:33:00] goals to be happy. I hope that makes sense. 

Erika: Definitely. Okay. Yeah. Yes, definitely makes sense. And one of the, the patterns that I’ve seen in, in clients that have come to me, this is a repeated thing.

I’ve seen some people may go off and start businesses, but other people might just do something creative, like creating content or learn to make tortillas with like the, the flour tortillas right. With their hands. And like, that becomes so fun. And I, I feel like what we are missing sometimes is just.

Connection and you’re, what I love about the book is that it supports you in connecting to what our ancestors knew, and we just lost somewhere along the way. 

Ann: Yeah. 

Erika: This is a beautiful cover of a very strong woman. So what’s the story behind the cover? Behind the cover? 

Ann: Yeah. So, um, what happened is our publisher sent us three book cover ideas and we loved all of them, but.

[00:34:00] You know, at first we weren’t sure about that particular one because she sort of seemed like to Christina, she thought she seemed a little angry, like a little aggressive or assertive. Is she angry? And I was like, no, I don’t think she’s angry. I think she’s just like sexy. Like, she’s just like cool.

Right? And so we sort of had these different ideas of this woman. The other covers were very sort of like calm and. You know, grounded in your garden. But what we really liked about that cover is that it really is a woman who is confident in herself and in yeah, her goals, and knows what she’s doing and knows what she doesn’t like and has a strong sense of identity.

I think that’s why we like that cover and we get a lot of, a lot of. Talk about the cover. They’re like, oh my God, this is the most colorful, coolest cover that I, that I’ve, I I’ve seen lately. So 

Erika: yeah, when I first looked at it, I immediately thought, quiet confidence and just like, yeah. Yes. Inherent worthiness rather than looking for it from others.

Ann: Yes. I 

Erika: love that. Um, [00:35:00] yeah. That’s definitely what stood out to me. Is there anything, Anne, that I haven’t asked you that you wanna share with the, the listeners or anything I should have asked? 

Ann: Yeah, I’d love to share. Um, so we have a, we, no, no longer have Amiga. We sort of let that go. Um. What we ended up doing is now we have a newsletter called SDA Era, uh, alongside our blog in our big social media community.

We are a social media community of a hundred thousand Amiga. we like to talk about, any like home and garden topics and reading. we’re gonna be doing a book club, um, and. That is a great sort of way for you to find a community if you wanna find other ESS or Sanitas.

 and you could find that@ra.com. and, you can sign up to that newsletter. We, we have a newsletter that goes out every Friday too, with just a bunch of like, fun stuff on how to use, traditions and routines of the s of the past. But also, you know, maybe some cool deals on beauty [00:36:00] and maybe we, you know, we have, we, we might find like fun news about, you know, favorite.

Celebrities and home and garden stuff. So it’s really like a cool newsletter, um, that they can sign up for. 

Erika: Wonderful. So we will have that linked down below. And if you don’t mind me asking, how did you come to the decision of closing, amiga? 

Ann: Yes. Uh, that, that is a, that’s a big story because what happened is, um, so it is hard to have a beauty line, um.

We, but in many ways there were obstacles that we didn’t, uh, see coming. and one in particular was, so being in retail was really difficult, right? We had a funding partner. I was so glad to have Christina, take over the sort of, operations and finance, section because she knew exactly what to do and how to fund it, but.

Target and Nordstrom’s and things like that, it can get very, very expensive and you end up getting charged, a lot more than you expect and just things happen that you’re not ready for. And [00:37:00] we said, you know what? We made the sort of joint decision, that it just being in retail completely, like being all of these retailers wasn’t serving us and it was just mm-hmm.

Um, taking more money than it should have. And so we pulled out. but what really sort of made us, leave the brand is, uh, there are, I guess what I like to call ambulance chasers. When you have a small business that starts getting press, you’ve got people that target you, um, with sort of like, you know, almost like, shake down threats, right?

 you’re gonna have people targeting you and telling you like, oh,you, send me $40,000, or I’m gonna do a class action lawsuit over some teeny tiny like, name, I don’t know. Like you have the same copyright as my copyright. And like people start going after you and Oh 

Erika: geez.

That’s 

Ann: horrible. It was just, the risk was just way too big. And we were like, let’s get out. Because it’s gotten worse too since, since COVID. we, our, our lawyers like, yeah. It’s like, that is like a very common thing for small business owners now to get targeted for [00:38:00] shakedowns, you know, and for like by ambulance chasers.

So we’re like, no, it’s, it’s not worth it. We’re just gonna exit. So, 

Erika: yeah. And that’s horrible, right? Because as a small business owner, you are probably under resourced it really doing something because it’s your passion and you really want to solve a problem for people. Yeah. That’s horrible. So, um, I ask because.

Business isn’t always up and not everything is going to be, not everything is going to turn into like. A blockbuster and that’s okay. It’s not supposed to, right. It’s really not supposed to, but I’m sure there’s so much you learned through the beauty brand and it directed you to writing a book and you, the book probably wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the beauty brand.

Ann: Totally. A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. It led to other things that we would’ve never, never thought, and we couldn’t be happier. You know, so the universe will guide you, you know, no matter what, what happens. That’s how we sort of look at it. 

Erika: Yeah. That’s beautiful. Well, thank you so much, Anne, for coming on and sharing your story and talking to us about [00:39:00] all the research you did for the book.

Obviously, we will put the link down below, for people to, get their hands on the book and then any other links that you would like us to include down below. We’ll do that in the show notes. where can people follow you? 

Ann: Um, so if you’re on TikTok, you can go to, SDA era, and on Instagram we are at official SDA era and also at, um, on Instagram we’re also at Radical SDA book.

Erika: Wonderful. Great. Well, if you are listening to this podcast episode and you took anything away from this, or if you get your hands on the book, we wanna see that. So take a photo and tag both myself as well as, the Radical Scene app book, Instagram or TikTok, wherever it is that you post, because we definitely wanna see.

And then, send us dms if there’s anything that really stood out to you from this interview. We also wanna know what that was, and thank you so much. If you’re in the Bay Area again. Please let me know. I’d love to have coffee with you or whenever I’m out in your area I will let you know. 

Ann: Okay. For sure.[00:40:00] 

Erika: And uh, I’m sure we will speak again. Thank you so much for coming on. 

Ann: Absolutely. Thank you so much. Really appreciate everything.