Hi, everybody.

Most of you know me as Alicia is behind the scenes partner.

But sometimes I get out of the studio and have some fun.

This year, I have the absolute pleasure of moderating the Latinas luncheon at Unido

US's conference in Las Vegas.

Unido's US is the largest nonprofit Latino advocacy group in the country.

Routed in decades of impactful programs, they gather leaders across many fields to empower Latinos.

For the keynote conversation, I spoke with trailblazing entrepreneur Sandra Velazquez,

founder of beauty brand, Nopalera.

We talked about many things, her pivot from Roquera to Hefa, the vision and courage that made Nopalera possible,

and the importance of Latinas supporting one another

in taking risks.

Hope you enjoy our chat.

How does one become a roquera?

Tell me about this.

We all need to understand because we're all badasses, but like you took it to the next level.

Well, my parents forced me to play the piano when I was five because my mother came from Mexico when she was an adult.

She never had piano lessons or dance lessons or anything. So she wanted to, like many immigrant

parents, give her children a better future. So I was forced to take piano lessons. I hated it.

They forced me to practice. And then when I was 13, they let me quit piano and play guitar. So then I

could learn all my favorite rock songs. And then eventually, I wanted to go to music school.

And so I was grateful, obviously, that I had to audition, so I had to audition with the piano.

...