We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Yovy Daniels. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Yovy below.

Hi Yovy, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

From 2013 to 2017 – I was laid off three times. by the time 2017 came around, after completing a summer sabbatical and getting the news right at the beginning of 2018 about my family’s health crisis. I suddenly was in a hamster wheel force to produce more income. It was a sink-or-swim kind of situation. The quickest thing I could think about was to do Lyft and Uber. I had signed up to get a digital media certificate since I already had a bachelor’s and master’s degree. I needed money fast and time to restructure and figure out what would be my next move. At the time, I was not eager to return to a corporate job.

Nonetheless, I had a significant need to express and share what I had gone through, and I also got frustrated in applying for jobs, getting noticed but not passing the first or second rounds of interviews. My network was getting smaller, and I needed to cut across. I also had the urge to have a voice based on what I saw and experienced as a Black Latina woman; I believe I could help others know the etiquette and navigate the business world with integrity and grace. How can others help if I don’t even clarify what I need. I immediately correlated with unique and collaborative people when I started my first podcast on the Anchor App. I’m an outcome of what happened around me, not the result of what I am. If I continue not finding my worth – that’s on me.

I started as an audio journal for solo episodes. Then a year later, based on my optimistic feedback, I told myself I needed to talk about my experience and do it in Spanglish based on my podcast research. At the time, there were many done in English; however, few to none in Spanish as it is entirety. Long story short, the podcast was a hit.

Now, when I started doing the interviews, that went wild. In the comments on my Instagram account on my post, people, women, and men felt seeing and heard and that our stories matter.

The Yovy D show podcast is my venture where I get to speak with other former corporate employees, business owners, etc., on transferable skills and how they maximize their business through digital marketing. My target content was to highlight and showcase people that look like me doing incredible things out of the stereotype assumption of what a Black person should be or is, diversity conquering spaces that rarely we are welcome. Those stories are presented in the chombita chronicles podcast.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

I was born and raised in Panama. I migrated to Miami in the early nineties, and my family had been living in the US since the late 60s and 70s. I’m the by-product of my relatives that worked for RailRoad and the Canal Administration. My ancestry goes back to Jamaica, Granada, St Kitts, and San Andress Island. Miami is my hometown; I did my college and university studies there.

I always knew that as an only child, I wanted to shake things up once I completed an associate in science business administration. I’m an 80’s kid. I was part of the talk show golden era, Phil Donahue, Oprah, Cristina Saralegui, Sallie Jessie Rafael, and I think you get the picture. I also watched el Chavo, Chespirito, and many novelas (SPANISH SOAP Operas ) sitting next to my grandmother.

That’s the blend that I come from in my house. English was spoken, and I picked up Spanish once I started attending school. I was brought up with the knowledge or understanding that education is the ticket to making it into this country. You find a job and stick with it. So when I finally made it into a paid internship with Univision and made my way climbing the corporate ladder, I want to think that I did something right; however, as you may realize, a new era was ripping, and we all remember the Napster era with the music industry and right after the printing and publishing industry and it was just a matter of time for the broadcast industry to have its shake-up.

Fast forward to today, and I am proud of having the courage to believe in myself. Do you know how many times I was told not to do it? That it was not going to work; however, the fire that I had in my belly, my instincts were more substantial than I had to – it wouldn’t leave me alone! (LOL)

I choose podcasts because it is a very personal medium. I do way better within intimate interactions than group ones. may that is the introverted/extroverted person I am based on the situation. I’m a solo entrepreneur, and thanks to the broadcast training and network launch experience served me well. What keeps me going is the feedback, the podcast community, the reviews, new followers, and listeners saying that my podcast created that space for them to be their best selves.

At my company, Alkiria media productions, LLC, I provide many services and resources for podcast consultation on starting and structuring your podcast content and topics. Currently living in Los Angeles, aside from my daytime media planner job, podcasting, and hosting, I also serve as a panelist, speaker, and ambassador to anyone who wants to learn and understand the Afrolatinx experience. My podcast has been consecutively highlighted as one of the TOP Latin/Multicultural podcasts on Spotify and Apple iTunes for the last three years!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I want to think that my life story has been a journey of resilience and grace from when I decided to leave Miami. I made it to Los Angeles, went through the heaviest culture shock (in order words facing racist full-on) microaggressions, periodic structures undermining everything, and awakened on who I am and How I am perceived based on my accent, which is my strength and pride. When I said to myself, “Never late to start again.” I needed this. I needed to know if I could make it on my own.

No help. I had to confront my mental health and self-worth. I needed to prove myself because, for the longest time, I was in this victim mode, blaming everything and everyone for all the things that were not going right in my life. That came when I understood the history of my ancestry.

I led my job of jobs to carry myself with integrity. It didn’t matter to me anymore the status quo: having a gig job or working at a charter school or the airport. I was going to make sure I did them damn well.

Yeah, from the systematic shift, the downfall and socio-economic embarrassment make me doubt. However, here Ieqq am; I was told to go to college and apply for student loans (which is my drive to push myself hard). Once I understood that my so-called freedom was in jeopardy,

I needed to do whatever it took. I had done it before and tasted the success of what I thought was the American dream. I went into frugal mode and determined that if I were going to do something, I would make sure it made me happy, even if it was an outlet of expression that was podcast did for me.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The biggest lesson I learned was
that Christopher Columbus did not discover America. Let me make this clear: I am Black Latina foremost and very much rooted in my West Indian heritage; however, the Latin American history of my country was watered down, and it was never questioned till 2010.
I was the Black Latina with relaxed hair, with gold hoops. My narrative or rite of passage to adulthood, and I did not question it because every female relative was doing it. To the best of my knowledge, Self-hate had no place when I was brought up on the contrary. Much pride was always shared and elevated.

Now, unfortunately, the divide and conquer narrative of when I arrived in this country, I was told to differentiate myself from the African American Community. I did not get it, Only to learn much later of the harshest stories of slavery, discrimination, and intimidation this community has endured for more than four hundred years.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://yovyd.com/
• Instagram: @yovyd
• Facebook: Alkiria Media Branding Consulting
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ywdaniels
• Twitter: @ywdaniels
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7m_gPM8Z21bKswBJP-JsJQ
• Other: https://linktr.ee/yovyd

Image Credits
1st personal photo – credit to photo done by JMrz Chombita Chronicles podcast cover – artist credit Celeste R.