Kay Lopez, Founder of Latinas Poderosas
Kay Lopez is a first-generation Mexican American with nearly a decade of social media experience under her belt. As the first in her family to graduate college, the proud Texan hustled hard, eventually landing sought-after gigs at L’Oreal and HBO Latino. And if that isn’t enough to inspire you to dream big, Lopez also finds time to cultivate community at @latinaspoderosas, an empowering platform that spotlights a diverse range of history-making Latinas – women who aren’t considered mainstream but whose stories will leave you wanting more.
While she initially created Latinas Poderosas as a way to feel connected to her culture, Lopez eventually shared her passion project – including 100+ GIFs she created to support this venture (side note: Type “Latinas poderosas” or “Latinx” on Instagram to find/use them!) – with the world. Since then, she’s given talks, has been featured in Forbes, and will soon be selling merch to support las buenas vibras and la magia Latinas Poderosas has been spreading for over three years.
“I’m not the kind of person who’s like, ‘I wish I could do this,’” Lopez tells me during our phone call, which felt less like an interview and more like a casual conversation between amigas. “No,” she continues confidently, “I actually do it.”
Keep reading to learn more about this mujer de magia.
Grace Gavilanes: I love speaking with awesome women I admire, so I’m excited to give you a space to share your story. I don’t have thousands of followers, but I think anyone can benefit from hearing these stories.
Kay Lopez: That’s great. I’ve heard from so many women, when they reach out and want to connect – they’re always like, but I don’t have X amount of followers or this or that. Everyone is at that point. When I first started, I had a handful of followers and I kept it very separate from my personal account for a long time because I was a little nervous about what people I work with, had worked with, people that I’ve known since childhood or just along the way – I didn’t want to shock them with so much Latino culture and having them be like, “what the hell is happening here?” I didn’t want to make people feel isolated. But what I’ve learned is the more you share, the more people find areas that are relatable. A lot of people who find me on my personal Instagram are of diverse backgrounds. Even talking about pozole and a friend from Nigeria being like, “Oh, we have a dish that’s just like that.” People get inspired when they hear these different stories of coming up or appreciating their different backgrounds. And people feel more comfortable sharing their own culture.
GG: For a while I felt very uncomfortable sharing certain things on Instagram because of what you just talked about. And then I started thinking, “You know what? I don’t care. I’m going to share what I want.” It’s such an empowering feeling.
KL: When I was at L’Oreal, I was very quiet in the beginning about showcasing everything. It was very eye-opening for me. Many times, I was the only Mexican in a room. So, when I moved to New York, it opened this new world. There were all these variations of the Latino culture. The nuances of the language, the history of the music – it opened my eyes a lot. That’s how I got the idea for Latinas Poderosas, because there was so much I didn’t know. It was because I moved from Texas. I started going to the museums. I would go to different events. I would go to the Panamanian parade. I would expose myself to different cultures in the Latino community and it was very eye-opening.
I remember cutting out a picture of Selena and putting it on my desk. I remember the first time I wore a shirt with Selena on it to work, and I was kind of nervous of what people would think. I didn’t want my co-workers to think, “Whoa, she’s very Latina.” It feels like a sensitive topic sometimes. I don’t know why it feels that way. But then I was like, “Whatever, this is who I am.” And I started owning who I am. And it’s helped me so much. People who I work with now to former colleagues who have moved to different companies are like, “Hey, we have a Latino/Latina project. Can we tap into you? Can you help us identify some influencers?” And it means so much to me that people who I worked with, who I didn’t think were paying attention, were actually paying attention and following Latinas Poderosas despite not being Latino or Latina.
GG: Tell me more about Latinas Poderosas.
KL: I’ve been in social media since the beginning. The idea of Latinas Poderosas really started around 2016. It was in 2017 when I was looking at handles on Instagram and I found @latinaspoderosas. I had the handle for about a year before I did anything with it. I was in the process of leaving New York to go to California and then when I was let go from L’Oreal, I was like, “You know what? I’ve been helping this big organization with social media. Why not test what I could do on social with my own community?” So, it was a personal project to see how I could apply my skills into something that would impact the community.
At the beginning, it was for me. I wanted to learn more about women outside of Selena and Frida. I started looking for different images and different stories. I started to collect those stories and the account started to grow. When I made the move to L.A., I started meeting people and they were like, “Oh you’re behind Latinas Poderosas! You need to share more of who’s behind the brand.” And when I started to do that, I started getting more opportunities to speak at events or get invited to premieres of shows or interview celebrities. It helped to put myself out there a little more.
What I learned was that I wasn’t the only one who wanted to learn about the history of these women. Once people start recognizing those stories, it starts empowering them in a way that’s so different because not everybody can identify with Selena. As a Mexican American from Texas, I could relate to her a lot but I knew it wasn’t going to be the same for someone who’s Dominican from Washington Heights or a Cuban in Miami. It’s not the same journey.
GG: You didn’t really self-promote in the beginning. I wonder if that had something to do with imposter syndrome, which is a very real thing in our community.
KL: Yeah, and I think that also has to do with how we were raised. My personal experience within my family has been that if you share too much about yourself or what you’re working on or who you are, it can cripple you or people can start to criticize you. You’re told to be more calladita, right? Even in my career journey – and I’ve been told by managers before – you need to start speaking up on what you’re working on and what you’re doing. It’s the only way you’re going to get that promotion and move up the company. But when I would be in meetings and hear people tooting their own horn – to me, based on my experience growing up – it just felt so self-absorbed and like they were showing off. For me, that was something that I needed to get over. It’s not that they’re bragging about what they’re doing. They’re just constantly reminding people that they should be kept top of mind when it comes to opportunities.
““I’m not the kind of person who’s like, ‘I wish I could do this.’ No. I actually do it.””
GG: How did you get over the imposter syndrome? What was that journey like?
KL: I still struggle with it sometimes. When I start to share, I get a lot of positive feedback. I get people who DM me to thank me for sharing content. Even my family would call out things I would never expect them to mention. My dad asked me about Latinas Poderosas and it was so weird [laughs]. But that’s when I started to realize: “Okay, I am working on something that’s positive. I should continue to do it because it is helping people.” It’s empowering people to learn more about their culture and that’s the positive thing. I just have to shake those feelings of self-doubt.
Another example, actually, is going Live on Instagram. I had never gone Live and I had gotten so many requests to do it. I would say, “I don’t think I can do it. What am I supposed to talk about?” So when I got invited to talk at a virtual event, my boyfriend was like, “You can do it! It’s about building community.” I think it’s just constantly having to remind yourself that you are able to do something. I have a friend who, whenever she gets a compliment on something she’s working on, lays it out and tapes it to her wall so she can see it. I’ve started to do the same. I have everything right now in a folder on my desktop.
GG: What would you say is your proudest accomplishment in your personal and professional life?
KL: If I want something, I go after it. I always think about where my parents came from, where my grandparents came from. They grew elote. They were on a farm and they didn’t have a lot. Sometimes they would just eat frijoles and tortillas because that’s all they had. I think about how limited they were in the opportunities that they had. They weren’t able to go to school or pursue what they wanted. My abuelas weren’t allowed to think that way. They were like baby machines [laughs]. It’s crazy that it wasn’t that long ago.
When I think about my career, I realize that I’ve always gone after what I want. When I was in Houston, it was the recession. I didn’t have any job opportunities for what I wanted to do. I was working at Anthropologie and my dad was like, “Maybe you should give up on that big advertising dream of yours and you should just become a manager at Anthropologie.” And I was like, what? I didn’t work that hard to graduate – and my grandparents’ and parents’ sacrifices, I can’t waste that. I was like, well, I need to move to New York. I went to New York for a weekend and then never came back home. It wasn’t planned that I was going to move to New York then. But I told my parents that I was staying in New York and that I would figure it out. I lived there for 8 years. And then I wanted to try Los Angeles and I did. I always reached for what I personally wanted in my life. I’m not the kind of person who’s like, “I wish I could do this.” No, I actually do it.
GG: I love that.
KL: There are a lot of people who get scared. It’s a lot of “Well, I’m a woman and in the family, you’re not supposed to move out [until you’re married] or move away from your family.” There are so many things we’re limited by, right? But I do the complete opposite.
GG: What do you wish people knew about you that they wouldn’t get from looking at your Instagram?
KL: I think it’s the humble beginnings, from where I came from. I would never talk about my family coming from a rancho in middle school. Never. On career day, I remember getting asked about what my family did for a living, and I would always make it sound better for other people. Talking about it now makes me feel so disappointed that I even felt that way. My parents had done so much for me. I was young and I didn’t really think about it in that sense. When I create content, it comes from that space [of humble beginnings]. It doesn’t come from a space of privilege at all. I’m seeing it from a woman who didn’t grow up middle class, didn’t go to the best schools, but who pushed so hard to be in rooms with people who have gone to Harvard and Princeton. Those were the people I was working with at L’Oreal. Everyone came from these amazing schools and would study abroad. And I would be sitting in these meetings like, wow, my summers would be going to a rancho and playing with my grandfather’s burro, his donkey.
That’s a little bit of what I wish people knew. And I am starting to share more about that on Instagram because it helps me connect with the people I want to connect with. I want to uplift women who are first generation, who are figuring out college on their own, figuring out their career on their own and don’t have a guide because their parents aren’t CEOs of a company. That’s why I am starting to open up and share a little more.
GG: I’m all about spreading the love. Who are you currently following on IG that you feel is going above and beyond?
KL: Nina Gualinga (@ninagualinga on Instagram). She is part Latina. Her family is from the Amazon. She uses her platform and voice for the indigenous people. She looks like a model, but she uses her platform to speak for her community. She’s very vocal. This is the type of woman who I love to follow. She’s young, she’s very proud of where she comes from. She came top of mind right away.
Inspired by this mujer de magia? Follow @latinaspoderosas on Instagram!
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
