We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Victoria Cisneros a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Victoria, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

Prior to starting Savage Mana, I was working full time as the Quality Assurance Supervisor of the Customer Service department at a large online coffee manufacturer/distributor. As I started taking my craft more seriously, and attending more local pop up events and shows, I realized that opening a metaphysical store would not only serve my family but also my community. I took a risk and quit my 40+ hr per week job and jumped feet first into working for myself in a brick and mortar location.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Savage Mana is the only locally owned and operated metaphysical store in New Braunfels that carries spiritual supplies, art, books, tarot and oracle decks and so much more. We embrace all traditions and spiritual paths and fill a much needed niche for this part of our community. Many of our in store items are hand made by local artisans and vendors that V has met during her time at local events and shows. Savage Mana is a safe space for visiting tarot and oracle readers and mediums who in turn offer their skills and services to our city as well. We offer aura photography and have an in-house Reiki Master and Tarot reader. V offers classes on a wide variety of magical and metaphysical topics as well as one on one mentorship. We are most proud of how far we have come from a tent and a table to over two years in our own little house (almost 100 years old!) in New Braunfels. Savage Mana prides itself on being a judgement free space and a place that is accessible and available to families, our LGBTQIA+ community, travelers, visitors and more.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Six months into opening Savage Mana’s brick and mortar location, I was served with divorce papers. While the divorce was extremely grueling and stressful, it made me even more determined to keep Savage Mana open and operational. Now, 6 months after my divorce was finalized, I am able to see all that I was able to accomplish with Savage Mana even with the divorce taking up a vast majority of my time and energy and am so grateful for my community for believing in me and my dream of serving New Braunfels with the only local queer and minority owned metaphysical shop.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Great question! I credit so much of my online success on hiring an up and coming social media manager (friend) of mine! We were able to work out a barter system to enable her to sell items at Savage Mana while also getting her some amazing first hand experience and portfolio building through assisting me in getting more comfortable in front of the camera, not just behind, as well as posting more regularly and about things that I really enjoy as well as what makes Savage Mana unique. Do not hesitate to hire someone to help you if there is something you are not familiar with or feel you are not good at! Reach out to your friends and community to see where you can build mutually beneficial partnerships!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.savagemana.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/savagemanallc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/savagemanallc
• Other: TikTok: @savagemanallc