Why Playing Small Was Never My Calling: Reclaiming Power As A Latina Entrepreneur

They tell you to be quiet.

To be nice.

To not make waves.

Especially when you’re a girl. Especially when you’re a minority. Especially when your culture praises humility but confuses it with invisibility.

From a young age, I was taught to shrink. Taught to blend in, keep my voice down, and be grateful for any opportunity, even when it didn’t feel aligned. Even when it meant silencing myself.

But deep down, I knew I wasn’t made to shrink.

I was made to build. To speak. To lead.

I didn’t start out in business. I started in corporate America, checking the boxes, following the “safe” path, doing what I was told would lead to success. But it never felt like freedom. It felt like surviving. It felt like slowly erasing myself. It felt like a box. And I was suffocating in it.

I didn’t see people like me, young Latina women, mothers, visionaries, at the decision-making tables. I saw the grind, the burnout, the pretending. I saw so many of us with brilliant ideas and bigger dreams being overlooked, undervalued, or stuck in roles that didn’t honor who we truly were.

So, I rebelled.

I started my first business in the beauty industry, lashing out of my home in between work and real-life responsibilities. I didn’t have the perfect setup or the perfect timing, but I had a vision. And I knew I wanted more.

Later, I launched a virtual assistance business to help other entrepreneurs stay organized and grow their impact. That business has since evolved into a boutique agency supporting heart-led brands with strategy, operations, and visibility. And both? Both businesses hit six figures, built from the ground up with no funding, no team at the start, and no road map. Just grit, strategy, and a whole lot of faith.

Then came divorce.

In the midst of scaling my business, navigating a major life transition, and stepping into new territory, I was also ending a marriage. I was unlearning patterns that kept me small. I was grieving, healing, and choosing myself.

And I still showed up.

Not perfectly. Not always with a smile. But with honesty, integrity, and a deep knowing that I was meant for more. I told the truth. I let people in. I kept building. And somewhere in the middle of all that, I became a mother.

That part changed everything.

My son didn’t slow me down, he became my reason to keep going. I want him to grow up knowing what it looks like when a woman chooses herself, speaks up, and leads from a place of wholeness. I want him to see that softness and strength can coexist. That motherhood and ambition aren’t opposites, they’re fuel.

Later this year, I’m launching a coaching program to help women stand in their power, in business, online, and in their personal lives. Because I’ve lived it: the unlearning, the rising, the returning to yourself.

It’s about showing up boldly online and in real life. Saying the thing. Taking up space. Setting boundaries. Asking for more. Living fully. Being seen, without apology.

I’ve seen too many brilliant women hide their gifts out of fear. I’ve seen them shrink in rooms they were meant to lead. I’ve seen them underprice, overdeliver, and apologize for their brilliance.

I’ve been that woman. And I’ve become the woman who no longer settles for that version of herself.

So, if you’re reading this and you feel like you’re starting over, I want you to know this:

You’re not starting over. You’re starting from truth.

You’re starting from strength.

You’re starting from you.

Because success isn’t just about money or milestones. It’s about becoming whole. It’s about reclaiming the parts of yourself you buried just to survive. It’s about doing the inner work and the strategy work. That’s the kind of business I want to build. That’s the kind of impact I want to leave behind.

I didn’t come this far just to keep quiet.

And neither did you.