We were lucky to catch up with Karina Mora recently and have shared our conversation below.

Karina, appreciate you joining us today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

As a Mexican-American that grew up a predominantly white suburb, I came to realize I had been encouraged to live a dual life. I was conditioned to code switch easily and act a certain way while around a predominantly white demographic to make them comfortable to be around me, but it was at the expense of hiding or lessening my Mexican culture. When I think about what I want to model for my children; I want to empower them to not have to assimilate to anyone’s idea of who they think they should be, but to live proudly as Latines no matter where they are or who they are around.

Karina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have been a photographer in the Chicago area since 2009. I started as a wedding photographer, but after a wedding where I had my culture appropriated right in front of me, and I had to take pictures of it all. After that day, I decided to take a step back and ask myself if I wanted to keep assimilating and keep ignoring all the micro & macro aggressions I experienced. I realized this wasn’t how I wanted to show up in the world, and more importantly I didn’t want my kids think it was ok either. After that wedding, I decided to pivot away from the wedding industry and shift my business. Now I share about my Mexican culture through fine art photography, lead guided trips to Mexico, host a podcast elevating first and second generation Latine stories, and empower others to reclaim their cultural legacy.

Have you ever had to pivot?

There are many times I’ve had to pivot or rethink how I approach things in business. Everyday is learning, and continually building on things and skills you learn.

During the pandemic I pivoted a handful of times.

I had planned to launch guided trips to Mexico in 2020. As we all know, travel stopped for the majority of the world. Traveling also helped support my fine art photography and the products side of the business. I ended up putting a pause on offering guided trips, and took the time to travel to new places solo. I also leveraged the content and photography I already had and released new products. I’m thankful to my community who was receptive and who made the launch of new products a success.

During 2020-2022 since travel was limited, I also worked on building my relationships with people on social media and went on solo trips to Mexico to build relationships with the people I wanted to partner with there to lead workshops. Finally in 2022 I’ve lead two guided trips to Mexico City, and have released the dates for 2023.

I had also planned on launching my video-podcast in 2020. I had hired a video crew and a line-up of guests that were planning to come to the studio to record. The first day I had planned for this, our city shut everything down due to the pandemic. After a few months of rescheduling, and hoping things would get better, I decided to pivot to an on-line recording studio and that gave me the opportunity to have guests from all across the country, not just local guests. I ended up launching the video-podcast on podcast platforms and YouTube in 2021 and am now in my sixth season.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

As the eldest daughter in my family AND the daughter of an immigrant, the pressure was always SUPER high to succeed in school and in life in general. In school I would be the one who would be in charge of group projects so that I could ensure we got a good grade. I thought that a lot of things specifically at work were solely my responsibility, and if things went wrong it was my fault for not taking care of it. This mentality really isolated me, and it essentially burned me out. When I pivoted my business I realized that I really desired community and meaningful relationships. I started collaborating with people who complimented my skills which really helped me to grow personally and in my business. I have taken time to heal, and to realize that not everything has to be my responsibility, I can hire or partner with other people who will help elevate what I’m doing, and I can do the same for others as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: karinamora.com & elevatinglacultura.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karinamora_prints/ & https://www.instagram.com/elevatinglacultura/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karinamoraprints/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf9UhDLHL1XpPE6qzpvuERw
• Other: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/elevating-la-cultura-podcast/id1547310160 https://open.spotify.com/show/1YgvJpnuyhFyxFKZtdlu9g?si=Xa4Gub9ySWSSMjL5-_2-DQ

Image Credits
Jasmine Lopez & Karina Mora