This post was previously published by @KatBaggins
I have been an avid follower of Shop Latinx since the very, very beginning! When I first discovered it, it was an extensive directory for Latinx businesses of all kinds. They could sign-up their small businesses to the directory so others could find them in a centralized location and it happened to be a very appealing and engaging Instagram account that I really appreciated.
Fast forward a few years and Shop Latinx is the first curated marketplace for Latinx brands in the market. They are making incredible strides in the industry and building a team internally that is as charismatic, fun and brilliant as their CEO and founder Brittany Chavez!
I got the opportunity to speak to Brittany earlier this year and it was like talking to one of my homegirls that I have known my whole life. She is extremely humble, passionate about her work, community driven and – my all time favorite quality – transparent. She was incredibly open throughout our interview about her community and the obstacles and successes of starting a marketplace. Her tenacity and resilience continue to push her forward, which is very infectious and inspiring for folks like myself and I hope other BIPOC entrepreneurs out there.
I hope you enjoy reading the interview I did with her below and learning about how amazing she is. I also hope this interview will help you reflect and be more gentle with your own respective journeys. Most Importantly I hope this interview will motivate you to support her business by making a purchase on Shop Latinx!
Congratulations Brittany and team on your re-launch, keep shining! Happy Shopping and reading folks!
Can you tell me about yourself and your upbringing?
My name is Brittany, I was born in Koreatown and raised in the Valley. My dad is from Nicaragua and my mom is from Guatemala. They met as teenagers in the same apartment complex in Los Angeles. My mom was seventeen when she became pregnant with me and raised me as a single mother. My mom is a second generation Guatemalan-American, so I grew up in a predominantly English-speaking household. My grandma was my direct connection with Spanish. I would speak to her in English and she would respond in Spanish and that was our dynamic. She’s the one person I would sit down with and watch novelas with and dance to SELENA with. I lived the best of both worlds at home.
However, outside of my home I grew up with people that didn’t look like me. Being Latina wasn’t something that I was always super proud of. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, a community that is predominantly Latinx but I went to school in Sherman Oaks that was predominantly Black and Jewish folks. My closest friends were Jewish girls, my mom was always working full time so I would spend a lot of time after school at their houses, go to Hebrew School with them and go to their nice houses with their housekeepers that would happen to be Guatemalan like myself. It was just really weird I think for me growing up. I had a lot of built up internalized shame of who I was.
Now looking back, you know I am very proud of my culture and my people and like all that but it was just interesting growing up one way but at the same time being around other people who grew up differently than me.
As you got older when did that internalized shame start to shift? When did you start to feel curious about your culture and you wanted to learn about your community?
Honestly, it was around the time that I started Shop Latinx. Prior to that I didn’t really have much pride in my background but right before starting Shop Latinx I took a trip to Peru and Nicaragua; visiting those countries made me feel a deep connection to my community and suddenly I felt really proud of where I was from. Seeing where my family is from and just seeing how rich and diverse my background is, is what helped spark this business.
Also before Shop Latinx, I didn’t have Latinx friends. While I was attending Cal Poly Pomona I looked into school clubs but they were and still are very Chicano Centric, so I couldn’t identify with them but fast forward to 2016 and Shop Latinx I started meeting other Latinas that grew up in multicultural homes like myself and there was no pressure of not feeling “Latina” enough.
Shop Latinx has been around for over 3 years but has recently garnered more traction since transforming into the first curated marketplace for Latinx brands! What has been the biggest surprise since launching and the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest surprise has come from the validation and outpouring support from brands, a lot of them already featured on our marketplace. Brands like Brujita Skin Care and Hija De Tu Madre are brands that I admire dearly and when I pitched creating the marketplace to them they agreed right away to participate without any hesitation because they believed in the vision. Most importantly they trusted for their brands to be featured on Shop Latinx. They understood that being affiliated with Shop Latinx is like a stamp of approval in the community and that has been very gratifying knowing that our brand is so strong and people want to be a part of it.
I put in four years of work building relationships and being transparent with others about my journey. It has just been so surprising reaching out to people and brands that I admire instantly saying yes and asking right away “Yes, how can I upload my product?!” – without even having looked at the contract first. I love that there is an established trust and that is very validating.
The biggest challenge has been going from a platform to running a business. There was so much that I didn’t know in my first month of running a business, like going from an LLC to a corporation and making sure operations were organized in the back end. The first couple of months it was just me running the marketplace and it was very difficult, and I am not an expert at e-commerce but I take a lot of pride in not putting out shitty products because I think our community is deserving of great products and a great customer experience.
Thankfully, I have a really great network and just recently brought on a co-founder who is the head of operations/products, who brings expertise from his time at a Fortune 100 company, a graphic designer, head of marketing, and two writers. And in order to fill in any other challenging gaps in learning to run an ecommerce business I have joined accelerated programs and leverage my mentors for advice and recommendations.
Big brands try to appeal to the Latinx community by reinforcing stereotypical images. You tweeted that a big brand had reached out to you about a potential collaboration, a partnership that you said you would never pursue. Can you explain how Shop Latinx is rising above that and why?
Brand trust is everything. Corporations spend millions of dollars on their marketing budgets to do what Shop Latinx has done organically with zero marketing over the last four years. I would never want to compromise that by doing something that’s outside of what we have been doing and what we pride ourselves on. Collaborating with a large brand that is going to hurt the brand is a risk I am not willing to take. Yeah, that big check is nice, but big checks don’t faze me because I know what it’s like not to have those big checks. I trust myself and my brand enough to make the right decision and I won’t ever let a check get in the way of my integrity.
I am fortunate that Shop Latinx creates content that is so vast and celebrates the diversity of the Latinx community: Asian, White, Black, West Coast, East Coast, Carribean, and Middle America. I try my best to make sure that all those nuances are represented in our marketplace. However, I know I could always do better, but when corporations reach out to me for some sombrero Cinco De Mayo thing, it is clear that they didn’t do their research about what we are all about and what we do, and I am not going to put their beer shit on my site because it is not what we represent. I put so much time and effort into my brand so if brands are not willing to meet me halfway I don’t want it.
I thought I would ask that because I thought it was super interesting when you had tweeted that cause I was like “No! It’s already starting.” I’m like, “Is she gonna do it?” And then I saw that you didn’t do it. I was like, “good for her!”
Yeah! I think that’s what great about our platform. I am a second-generation Central American and I used to think that it made me less Latina, especially in Los Angeles, but now I see that it is my superpower. There are a lot of Mexican centered publications and at Shop Latinx we have our own twist on things and our own version on what representation is. I think it resonates with a lot of people, especially young folks.
Last year you hosted your own workshop via Shop Latinx, have participated in countless panels and have led workshops via your dynamic trio Las Jefas Crew. As Shop Latinx continues to grow and garner more success, how do you aspire to continue to give back to young BIPOC professionals like yourself?
Yes, we did have a lot of events in the works that are temporarily on hold. I think the priority right now is just trying to perfect Shop Latinx as much as possible and leveraging our social media platform to shed light on other businesses. But it’s all just about leading by example and showing that a Latina from Los Angeles that didn’t come from money can build something that generates impact in their community, and most importantly, sharing what I have learned, and continue to learn on this journey with others whenever I can. I also believe in investing in our people. It’s really important for me that we give people in our communities a chance, period. Leveraging the talent pool in my community has been an integral part of our success. There are even some great full circle moments like the person who wrote the first article about Shop Latinx and myself has written a few articles for Shop Latinx!
I caught up with Brittany a few months into the year after our initial interview. Specifically on this question, check out her update below:
Tell me about your partnership with Shopify.
In partnership with Shopify, Shop Latinx created a free 5-week workshop for folks to level up their e-commerce knowledge and confidence! Shopify was a great partner especially because they are so committed to community.
What was the best part about the workshop series?
The best part of the series was how invested people were in the workshops but, most importantly, in themselves and their businesses enough to participate. We had one thousand participants join us throughout the series but 50 people in particular showed up consistently to every single workshop. I also really enjoyed folks posting about workshops afterwards showcasing their notebooks filled with so many notes with their key takeaways.
You use the expression “Manifest” often on your social media platforms. Can you explain that motto for us more and what it means to you?
Manifestation means you have that conviction that you can do anything, that your thoughts can become things, trusting yourself and feeling worthy of also receiving and then acting on it.
I have personally always been an empath. I get it from both my mom and dad’s side. I have always felt intune and protected but have felt it more now in my late 20s. In the last reading I had the reader told me that I was destined for great things and that I channel it through my work. If for some reason Shop Latinx were to fail or shut down tomorrow, I can look back and be like, “I did that! I put in work and gave it my 120%.” There could have been so many moments I could have shut it down or I could have just settled for Shop Latinx to be a fire Instagram account forever with a lot of followers. But tapping into that inner-visionary and coming to terms with the fact that any journey isn’t easy and requires a lot of sacrifice, financial instability, and stress has been a very important part of my own growth. You can’t always change your circumstances but you can change your perception and when you say you can do something you are already putting it out into the universe that you can do it. It’s important to shift that self-talk and trust yourself.
A quote I stand by is by Nipsey Hussle, “Luck is just bein’ prepared at all times, so when the door opens you’re ready.”
What does it mean for you to be authentic and how are you bringing that to your business?
I think to just stand in oneself, to stand in your own truth, but also giving other people the platform to do so as well. Shop Latinx is a community platform that has grown into something that is just bigger than myself so giving other folks in the community that representation, that sense of community, is really important. And what better way to showcase authenticy than by bringing on diverse voices to the team to showcase diverse voices and humans and help promote inclusivity? This platform isn’t about me, it’s for everybody who wants to be a part of our community!
Lastly, where do you hope to be in the next few years mentally, spiritually, and professionally?
First, just be happy and successful, and I want to be at my highest spiritual self. There have been a lot of highs and lows in my 20s. I just want to invite stability, love, and family into my life.
Keep up with Brittany and Shop Latinx here:
- Instagram: @chavezbrit
- Instagram: @ShopLatinx
- Website: Shop Latinx