Welcome to the Community Affairs Show. My name is Priscilla Ornellas and I host
the morning show on Mix ninety six to nine, Priscilla and Joey in the
Morning, and I'm so excited to host this week. We have so many
great nonprofits coming up, but I did want to take a quick minute to
naturally talk about my nonprofit very quickly. I have a nonprofit called Community Go
Madres and basically our mission is to create personal and professional development for women that's
accessible, that's affordable, and removes all barriers. So we're really excited with
the work that we're doing. In fact, we have our inaugural charity gala
coming up on March eighth, and it's going to provide scholarship money to a
young recipient that was nominated through a nomination process and it's called the Community quin
Signeta. We're so excited. It's for everyone. We would love to have
you there and it's just a fun night out, a fun date night,
girls' night out, co workers, brothers, sisters. Everyone is welcome and
it'll have all the fun traditional elements of a quin signetta and also give back
to the community. So if you're interested, go to our Instagram. You
can go to my Instagram actually and go to at Priscilla on air. All
right, let's get started with our first organization. I'm so excited to introduce
Kayla and Priscilla from the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Good morning, good
afternoon, Hello ladies, helloo great, we were just chatting before we got
on air. We have the same name and normally we don't meet people that
have the name Priscilla. I know, Pracilla. How do you pronounce it
to people? Praca? I know, I got to dive into that.
I always say Priscilla, but I've been called to pronounce it the way that
I was born to pronounce it. So you've inspired me to work loud and
proud. Yes, loud and proud. So thank you ladies so much for
being here. So for those that aren't aware, can you please tell me
about the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and like just like an umbrella statement of
what it does or what you guys offer. Yeah. So, the Hispanic
Chamber of Commerce has been around for over seventy five years and we're here in
the valley serving Arizona at large, and we do have grants that allow us
to go into spaces like Nevada and Utah, parts of California. We also
do a lot with our Native American and Hawaiian America, Hawaiian Native and Pacific
Native groups. And really what we do is we serve the small business owner.
And that's not just Hispanic but all minority businesses here in Arizona. And
so while we're here in Phoenix, we are our wings expand wide. I
love it. We have different resources for every facet of a small business owner's
life. So whether that's they just had an idea and they want to know
how to turn that into you know, a small business, or they have
a side hustle, we call them and they want to make that their actual
chamba, their actual job, their actual you know, uh profession female entrepreneurs.
We serve them in different capacities. So whether that's access to capital or
just resources, tools, webinars, you name it, we have it.
We want to be as accessible as possible to our minority small businesses. I
always say, we don't want to be Arizona's best kept secret for small businesses
because we have a lot to offer, and you know, both in Spanish
and English, we do a lot of community collaborations as well, and so
if we don't always have the answers we connect with our community to to serve,
that's amazing. Say that, what was it about the Arizona Hispanic Chamber
of Commerce that made you want to be a part of it? What was
it that pulled you? I guess yeah, of course, definitely. The
mission has a lot to do with what aligns to my beliefs. My parents
are entrepreneurs, so it just felt right to also give a little back to
the community and help and serve the best we can to help the small business
owners you know, reach their goals, because we always say their success is
our success. Yes, so we completely understand the struggles and how how hard
it takes, you know, to get to where you want to be,
and we want to be a part of the of those goals and facilitate those
opportunities that you know might align with your initiatives as your small business. So
we and especially me i as being a Latina in Arizona, it's very important
for me to also be in those spaces, be in those communities and help
others that look like me. So definitely was really aligned to you know,
my vision and the culture of the organization is amazing. I love you know,
that's beautiful. We're empowering women. We have a CEO representing for us.
So definitely, I was very very happy and more than excited to be
a part of this organization. Well, tell me about the event that you
guys have coming up that you're really excited about. Yeah, we we have
six signature events throughout the year, and we're going to kick off this year
with our Power of the Purse, where we celebrate and honor women in business
leadership in Arizona that have really paid the way, paid the way for others
and that are really using their voice and their talents to spark a generation of
entrepreneurs and leaders. That's amazing, and so that's very exciting for us.
And you know every year we do it, and this year it'll be at
Desert Botanical Garden and we have a really good lineup of strong speakers as panelists
and keynote speakers, and so yeah, very excited for that. That's amazing.
Okay, So if people want to be a part of your organization,
maybe seek resources, go to your event, like just do all these things
right. Where can people go? Yes, of course you can go to
our website at AZHCC dot com. You can find all the information there for
any programs, any you know, workshops that we have coming up, any
networking events. We always say to come see you know what we're all about.
We think that if those initiatives aligned with you, right, I feel
like it would be a great fit for us to, you know, help
you along your way, be a pull of support for you. So definitely
feel free to reach out to us. Like Kayla said, if we can't
help you, we'll find a way and we'll make a way to to allow
them with us. Those things social Facebook X, the new Twitter, and
of course Instagram, so follow us EHDC. Well, thank you guys so
much for being here with me today. Okay, let's move on to our
next organization, Rooted Soul. I have the founders Rico and Nancy here with
me. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, whenever you're listening to
this, How are you guys? All right? Good? Good? Thank
you so much for joining us. I'm so excited to learn about your cause
and your organization. So why not let's get started. Tell us exactly what
your organization is. To sum it up, Rooted Soul is its purpose is
to empower teens. Okay, and how do you do that? So,
like explain to me, Like when you say empowered teenagers, is it through
activations? Through education? What are some examples of that? We provide experiences
and then we teach them the tools that they carry around themselves every day,
like their breath, like silence, like nature, play, voice, dance,
so more. Through empowering through self care and well well health is certainly
our primary one of the things we want to accomplish. Our primary focus is
for them to see and feel their power, but we teach them how to
be healthy holistically their body, mind, heart, spirit. They all play
together and you can't do one without the other. So all of our events
are focused around offering them the tools and only a couple ideas that we invite
them to play with, like they are good. Yeah, the power is
in them to create the reality they want to create. That's really cool because
those are things that we probably I don't know about you guys, but those
are things I did not learn until I became an adult. It's like I
would have been much more value to me if I would have learned them as
a teenager. Yeah, So let me ask you this what So you guys
are the creators of this organization? What made you guys start? Nancy may
ask you what made you start the organization? I think for me, the
key thing is I haven't forgotten what it's like to be a teenager. Sorry,
if I get a little emotional, it's okay. I haven't forgotten.
And I look around and I see people my age, and I see them
parenting in the same way that we were parented, which does include a lot
of guilt, shame, and fear. And I don't see a universal way
to get parents to see that and all be on board at the same time.
And so instead, let's teach teenagers. Let's teach kids how to handle
these situations, how to understand that they are powerful, and that they're powerful,
and that they are able to have life thrown at them. It's not
the world against them. That they have the power to be able to recognize
and to self apply be empathetic towards others, including their parents. Yeah,
that's beautiful. It's helping teenagers break those generational cycles. That is exactly it.
Yeah, it's a lot of work. It's a lot of work,
it's doable, it's very doable. Yeah, So it's a lot of work,
and you'll be surprised teens in youth actually feel the impact of these practices,
oftentimes a lot faster than adults. They have a lot less baggage that
they're working with, and they're not quite convinced or it hasn't shifted into their
subconscious that they need to constant, constantly protect themselves and their value and their
safety. And so we definitely want to act as surrogate parents as a sort
where like we can reinforce that these kids that they're powerful, that they're safe,
and the events we create reinforce those things. That's beautiful. Is there
an inspiration specifically that like, obviously I know why you started this cause,
right, but is there some and a team that you've impacted or a story
about your organization that you're in your head you're like, this is why we
do this? Absolutely, I'm going to start with my teens. Yeah.
I've been very intentional in the way that I've raised them. It's been very
hard because we naturally teach the way that we were taught, and so a
lot of lessons were learned while they were growing. And really the conclusion I
came to is removing fear. I don't want my kids to be afraid of
me, and so I have been able to do that to where my kids
come to me about everything that's beautiful their friends do. I've tried to create
a safe space in my home where kids walk in and judgment, fear,
all of those things stop at the door. And I want to be able
to provide that for the rest of the teens, for my kids friends and
their friends and their friends. Yeah, that's amazing. It's you're right when
you say that we do what we're taught right exactly. I've learned that when
you become a parent, you have a toolbox of tools that your parents gave
you, and if you don't have intervention or somebody to teach you otherwise,
you just pull from that toolbox. Right, So, in a situation where
you might need a hammer, you pull a screw and you're like, Okay,
this is a mess because I don't have the right tool exactly. And
I really believe that parents love their children. Oh they love their children.
They just don't have the right tools to do it effectively. And it's hard
and it's hard to break that. Like you said, when you're an adult.
So why not at least if you can't change parents' perspectives, help kids
have their fill their toolbox before they get to a point in adulthood, right
exactly. So that's that's incredible. So let me ask you this, what
are some things that are coming up in your organization that you want people to
know about or maybe like an event that you want to encourage teens to be
a part of. I'll take this one. Gosh, we're so excited.
It's like you you all, you got to use like spark, the spark
and it goes. We have after school programs right now. We have offerings
and the evenings for teens like breath work, yoga, smash houses, anything
anything that will like provide them on opportunity to access these tools. We're really
excited about getting into Durango and we'll be in Durango four days a week,
and those who are coming out of DURINGO we're working out a plan where they
can help facilitate some of our program our offerings for the teens and younger.
We're doing a lot of stuff with community gardening that we're kicking off, and
so those are just a few things. So yeah, definitely follow rooted soul
to find out exactly when they're coming up and if teens like are interested in
being a part of the program them specifically, what is social media the best
way? Like, for example, you say you have after school programs,
right, how do teens know about this? How do they get access to
it? How can they be a part of it? You know? Yeah,
currently we're posting everything on social media. That's our primary platform. But
we're in the evolution, so that'll continue to change. But social media is
definitely the place, and all of our offerings are free for teens, okay.
And we also we're creating a program where we want to bring teens and
teachers together. Teens kids spend most of their time at school, yeah,
and are around a lot of different types of adults, and so if we
can provide something where we can bring teachers, you know, there's like this
respect in balance between teens and teachers, and so if we can create something
where teachers are giving to teens just how teachers that teens are giving to teachers,
just how teachers are teaching teens, we can help build a better community
in the school systems as well. Have you ever heard of the million dollar
Teacher Project. No, okay, So I feel like this is the perfect
sign to connect you to. So the Million Dollar Teacher Project is a nonprofit
organization that helps elevate the teaching profession and give the teachers the tools and the
resource is to be better for their students. And then the fact that you
want to help students be better with their teachers. It feels like the perfect
merge of like a collapse in the making. Absolutely, we got to make
this happen for you, guys. Definitely. Our plan is to hire some
of the teachers as facilitators so they can they can intern extra money and facilitate
some of these classes with our facilitator. All right, We're going to make
this happen because I see, because I'm sure you have big dreams and big
plans for rooted soul. Absolutely, what is something that you that feels scary
to say out loud, But you're like, we're going to get there,
We're going to do that. Nothing feels scary. Feel sorry. I love
that. That's so amazing. I truly believe that this is where heart is,
it's where passion is, and it's going to happen. Absolutely. That
manifests that you're all yes, so okay, So before we wrap, if
people want to donate or contribute to your organization, how can they do that.
They can find all the information on our website rootedsoul dot org or on
our instagram which is rooted dot soul. Well yes soul like espanel in Espanola.
Well, thank you very so much for being here today. That you
guys are doing so much good in the community and our youth is going to
be so much more better because of you guys. So thank you, thank
you, thank you so much for having us. Okay, it is time
to introduce our next guest. I'm so excited. Paulina Flores, the founder
of She Thrives Foundation, is here to join me. She she Thrives Foundation
is committed to arming women with the tools to rebuild their lives and reclaim independence.
Through education, mentorship, and vital resources, we empower women to rewrite
their own narratives and forge a path of brighter to a brighter future. Thank
you so much, Paulina for joining us. How are you, Oh,
I'm doing great. Thank you for having me. Of course, So before
we get into your organization, like people like to know, like, how
do you know people. How do you get to know them? And it's
so funny that this is the way we met is a statement of this organization
that you're trying to or that you've created, right, it's through the networking
world, through these events. How did we meet? Is it on social
media? Was it an event? And try to remember. I think it
was a combination of both. We were already talking on social media and then
I came to the your community Coal Madrais event, Yes, pickoff, and
that's where we met face to face. And then we have mutual friends in
common as well, and we've run into each other at a couple networking events
as well. Yeah, so it's been really great to see you grow and
see the events that you've put on and attend them and then now onto this
nonprofit. So let me ask you this. You have created events in the
past, and what is different about your nonprofit versus those events, or what
are you doing with your nonprofit that's a little bit different or is it kind
of the same mission? It is a similar mission. Whereas before the events
were fostered around women empowerment, teaching women how to get out in the workforce
and be entrepreneurs. We're still going to have a little bit of that flavor
to it, Okay. I think the biggest difference is now where the events
before we're free for anybody to come, and we were getting sponsorships to pay
for food and drink. Now there will be a small cost to it,
where the funding will go to women's shelters, scholarships, other nonprofits. Essentially,
the five year plan of this foundation is to be able to start up
Latina women's shelters. It's beautiful, So that's the goal, Okay, to
get there. So then I was gonna say, let's reel it back just
a little bit, and as the founder, what was your inspiration for starting
this organization? Like I know your mission and what you want to do with
it, but like, what was that spark that made you think I have
to do this? And this is why? Well, this has been on
the vision board for about ten years. I was in a relationship where I
was with somebody who was the main breadwinner. I had no control of finances
or anything else. So when that relationship ended and I decided to leave,
I literally left with what I can fit in my four door Scion XBI at
the time, and the clothes on my back. I had no career,
I had no exposure to making money or to providing for myself and my children,
And it was I struggled for so many years being a single mom because
I didn't have the resources or I didn't have the community that I could,
you know, go to to get advice, Because it really comes down to
you know, it's important to who you know, right, who you know,
who opens those doors, who gets you jobs, things like that.
So for me, it was like, how can I create an environment where
women can come together and collaborate and meet other women that otherwise they would not
run into on their daily lives. Because when you're a single mom and you're
just working, you're nine to five, going home to care the kids,
and then back at it again, there's no space for you to meet other
women you know that are entrepreneurs or corporate baddies at your regular workplace. Perhaps,
so I wanted to always create these environments where women felt supported to ask
for help. Yes, that's beautiful, because it's so important. Like you
said, when you were a single mom and on your own, you didn't
have that, so you didn't know who to turn to. I bet you
now I know your husband's there and God forbid that anything go wrong. But
if you found yourself in a similar situation where you had to separate, you
now have built that community and those resources and those women that you're closely connected
to, that you would feel that support. Yes, oh no, one
hundred percent. And like even now, like I do real estate, but
if I ever decide not to do real estate, I know so many women
they would be like, yes, we'd hire you, Come work with us,
Come work with us at our company, Come help us do this startup.
Like I have the connections that I've met through these networking events that I
otherwise would not have. So is there someone in your organization or somebody that
you've come in contact with specifically that has benefited from this or they have a
story that you're like, this is exactly why we do this? Well,
I think well, first of all, my board members are amazing. I
think each of them have that story where they help each other out. I
have one board member, Teresa. She used to work for chicanos Port La
Causa and now she works at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, and she has
met so many connections through her journey that has helped us through the foundation and
building the foundation. We have a lot of board members that they are now
getting to meet other people to open themselves up. Yeah, you know,
it's giving them that opportunity and that exposure that maybe, like you said,
they wouldn't have gotten otherwise. Yes, correct, and exposures to like other
industries too, because sometimes people are doing something and they don't want to necessarily
keep doing it. Well, also, you don't think you can do anything
different, right, Like I'm in radio. I love it and for a
long time I thought radio is so niche I what else would I do?
There's nothing else for me out there. I've built my entire experience in my
career in radio. But then as a network and get to know people,
I'm like, wait, these skills can be used for this, that,
and the other. And unless you meet with people and are exposed to other
things, you don't know that, right, Yes, no, exactly,
And I mean that was a great connect. So I met Teresa through networking
event too, and she's been part of the pillar of helping me, you
know, create this foundation because she was kind of planned the seat, like,
hey, she went to a few events and she said, what have
you thought of maybe doing a nonprofit that incorporates these events. And I was
like, you know what, I hadn't thought about that, but we kind
of took the idea and we ran with it. Yeah, you know,
Teresa, me, and so yeah, we just kind of ran with the
idea and then started asking other people to join the board to help us.
That's beautiful. I love that. So what is something that you have,
like an event or a fundraising opportunity that's on the horizon that you're really excited
about. Oh my gosh, I think I'm really excited about the Prom Dress
Drive. So we have about fifteen businesses who have said yes to doing drop
off locations or we're going to have boxes where they can drop off you can
drop off used a prom dress that you no longer have any use for,
okay, And then we're going to have the event March twenty third where we'll
bring all the dresses together and young ladies that can't afford a prom dress or
a graduation dress can come and pick out a dress for them to take home
free of charge. We are working on some sponsorships to do like makeup packages,
cressage packages for prom That's amazing. For that event, that one,
I'm super excited about the other one that's coming up is going to be in
April, and it's going to be a Latina entrepreneurship panel, okay, where
we're going to have seven Latina entrepreneurs their own storefronts, love it, and
we're going to ask them questions on how they got there, like how did
they finance it, how do they get funding, how are they doing their
social media, where are they getting their clients from, and different questions that
people are interested in knowing, like Okay, she can do it, I
can do it, but how is she doing it? Because nobody asks that?
Yeah, and nobody wants and sometimes like when you don't ask, these
people don't give up information to and then you feel like is it okay for
me to ask? So that's a really great thing because I think there are
a lot of things in this world that people don't realize are easy. Now
I don't want to say easier, but more attainable than you'd think, right,
Like for examp, I don't know about you, but I never in
a million years thought I could start a nonprofit. I was like, I
don't know anything about business, I don't know anything about legalities, I don't
know anything about the irs, and then I did it, and then I
was like, wait, I wonder how many other women out there don't do
something because they think it's harder or unattainable, you know what I mean.
And so it's cool that you're doing that panel because it's showing women like you
can also be this yes, and I think it it also like makes that
safe zone to ask questions yes, because I feel like I myself know a
lot of women that I see on social media, I'm like, oh my
god, I wonder how she does it, But I don't have the courage
to just, you know, call her up and be like, hey,
how are you doing this? How much are you making how are you making
this work exactly because you don't have those relationships to where you feel comfortable saying
that. You know, and I know in the Hispanic culture, it's always
like, don't ask about money, don't talk about money, don't do this.
But it's really doing us a disservice because well, that's how we stay
the most unpaid like demographic of women in the entire world, or at least
the US, you know what I mean. So that we got to elevate
that, we got to get paid more you know. So let me ask
you this. You've mentioned that your nonprofit is membership based. What does that
mean? So what that means is similar to some of the other nonprofits you
can join. There is a membership fee, and that membership fee allows them
a discounted price for events. For larger events, it gives them merchandise.
It gives them access to committees, and it gives them access to board meetings.
Oh, okay, to be an observer, Yes, to be an
observer at the board meeting. It also gives them access to showcase their business
at one event. So let's say somebody wants to become a member and they
own, I don't know, a beauty salon. They can come to the
event, bring their banners, bring their flyers, whatever they have, and
they have speaking time at the beginning of the event. This is my event.
Follow me on these social media platforms, this is what I do,
and they would get that speaking ability. That's wonderful. And is it like
a monthly membership or is it yearly membership. It's a yearly membership. Is
a year membership. We do have monthly plans, okay to break it down
in payments, but it is a yearly. Is that information on your website
now or is that still being built? We are building it right now.
We're building the website. We do have the forms, the interest forms on
the Instagram link, perfect if people are interested in becoming members. So let
me ask again, So the prom is what day is? Or the prom
dress drive? What day is that? I know they can drop off at
all the locations now, but what is the date and time and location of
that drive? That will be March twenty third. It's a Saturday, okay,
from eleven to four. Okay, we're at It's going to be at
the Arizona Center. Arizona Center, okay, cool, So they can just
go there and then they'll be signage to help direct people if they're out,
there will be a signage. We're going to launch the social media advertising on
February first. Okay, do you have to RSVP or is that something that
you can just show up to? You can just show up to it,
okay, beautiful to RSVP. Now the panel of women that date, can
you give me the time, day and location for that and then how people
can be a part of it. We have the date as April twenty first,
eleven to two we are on location on to be determined. Because of
the location that we had we might have to switch. Okay, so we
are looking for a location for that, but yes, that will be eleven
to two on a Saturday. And we are also scouting for speakers okay,
perfect, and then for the panel, correct for women with storefront that are
entrepreneurs that started from the bottom. Now I'm here, yes, yes,
yes, that you that could be a part of this that want to give
back to women. So if people want to reach out either be a part
of this, maybe donate or offer any advice or help or be a part
of the panel, where can they do that? They could reach out to
us at the Instagram She Thrives Foundation. Okay, there is an Instagram setup
right now. I myself personally monitor the messages, so if they can send
me a message through there. Okay. Is there anything else you wanted to
mention or bring up or talk about before we end? I think the biggest
thing is we are worth starting right so we are starting from ground zero in
January. We are trying to build this up, and right now we really
are looking for board members that can come on. Okay, I am actually
looking for three more board members. The board members have a little bit more
responsibility than the members. There's meeting times, there's planning and all of this.
So I am looking for three board members that can come on who are
either entrepreneurs or corporate baddies, who have connections in the community, and who
are not afraid to ask for sponsorships, are not afraid to step up,
and you know, take on some additional tasks. Okay, all right,
and then they can reach out to you all through your Instagram, right,
yes, please all through my Instagram and it's at She Thrives Foundation. Yes,
awesome, Well, thank you so much for joining us. That was
incredible. I'm so excited for you and your journey and your mission. And
I've already been to a few of events where you've sold out and had so
many women that support you. So you're already, like I know you're saying,
you're just starting out, but I think you have a really good foundation.
Thank you, so thank you again for joining us. Thank you so
much for having me