Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Andrea Rodriguez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Andrea, appreciate you joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

The name of my company means a lot to me and is also my why. My LLC is under Sunshine Rose. I chose this because that was supposed to be my name. My Dad and Mom are super cute with each other and my Dad has always called my Mother, Sunshine so when I was born, they wanted to name me this. They thought this all the way until the lady came to have them sign the birth certificate and at this time they changed my name to Andrea Rose. They thought that kids would make fun of me and didn’t want this to be the situation for me. I know that some people call others “Sunshine” like they would say “dear” but I have found that many people have called me this without even knowing this background story and it has always made me smile. Prospect is the name of my beauty brand with the full name being “Prospect by Sunshine Rose”. I used to live in Kansas but last year I bought a house and moved to Kansas City, Missouri and my house sits off of the street, Prospect. When people hear Prospect street, they don’t think the best things and I want to change that. I live here now, this is my community, my territory and there may be reasons for the negativity to be there but that doesn’t mean that it has to be forever. My vision is for my beauty brand to be able to give back to the community in many ways financially with the first to be able to assist the female workers that walk the street of Prospect. I want them to know that I see them, that they are important and that they are beautiful. The definition of Prospect can be defined as “a person regarded as likely to succeed”. This is what I want them and others in my community to believe and see for themselves.

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

Hello! I am Andrea Rose and I am a female, Latina/Mexican American/Chicana entrepreneur, influencer, and author. I have a huge family that I love, I have great culture that I love and I have a great passion to help others and give back. In May of 2019, I left the Corporate world. I had a situation happen to me where I had the opportunity to stand up for myself and my worth so I did. I left my job without having another one to go to. This allowed me to think outside the box of what I had been living in for so many years. A single mother, I was the main source of income for my daughters so I thought working hard was what was best for them so I could provide. In doing this, I lost myself in the many hours of work and missed many hours of time with my daughters. When I left I took a big look at my goals for myself and for my family. Upon pondering this, I ended up writing my book, “Love, Scars & Butterflies – A daughter’s journey with depression through a Mother’s eyes”. This helped me start on a journey of truly finding my purpose, my passions, my why and myself. I started to utilize my creativity and gifts that I did not realize that I had. I hired a Business Coach. I started writing more. I started my podcast, JUNTOS we rise. I hosted my first conference, The Golden Conference. I was believing in me and the plans that God had for me. Last year, I purchased my house in Kansas City, MO and was able to see life from a different perspective. I got to see where needs were, where wants were, and where a voice was needed. I started to prepare myself to be that voice and participated in the United WE program that assists women, gives them the tools they need to run for office, be on a board, or fine tune their leadership skills. I then was questioning myself, “I can be a voice but how can I really help?”. After praying about this for a few months, I was able to hear God tell me to start a beauty brand. I love lipstick, I love makeup, and like I mentioned before, I love helping others and giving back so I took a step of faith and started the process of getting my Beauty Brand started. In December 2022, I launched my Beauty Brand, Prospect by Sunshine Rose. I started small but I started. This was what was important to me, I wanted to get the ball rolling. Currently, the products I provide are lipsticks, lipgloss, lipliners, long lasting liquid lipsticks, and eyelashes. I continue to add products to my brand and look forward to adding blush, eyeshadow, liquid eyeshadow, liquid eyeliner, mascara, foundation, and loose setting powder. For my clients, the problems that are solved is the ability to have great makeup that stays on, does not feel heavy, is vibrant and bright and pulls the beauty from the inside and out. We have beauty for such a time as this. We empower all women to find their true beauty and encourage women to be brave in the colors they choose to help them be brave and courageous as they do life and conquer the world. I believe this is what sets us apart from others. We want women to wear the bold colors, know that they are fearfully and wonderfully made, and that they have been called to shine bright, not dimming their light.
My parent’s grandparents came here from Mexico. I don’t know all of their stories but I do know that my Dad’s Grandmother, she came here to the United States with her family when she was 9 months pregnant. When I think of anything that I do, I remember her sacrifice, her strength, and her reason for coming here. I want to make sure that her courage, her strength, and her love doesn’t stop with me. I also know that both of my Grandmothers were entrepreneurs also. They may not have used that term but they were. It is an honor to have their blood going through my veins and to be able to continue what they started. I am a Latina, a Mexican American, a Chicana doing the thing, showing up to make changes, and making sure that what I’m doing, doesn’t stop with me either. When I show up, I believe that it helps others show up as well and that is when we are truly winning. If there is something I would say that I’m proud of, it would be the ability to say that no matter what life has thrown at me, here I am, still standing strong and taking steps forward to what God has called me to. It has been my faith and trust in Him that has got me to today and that will take me to tomorrow and forever. It was that one time of standing up for myself and my worth that has brought me to now having my Beauty Brand. This is my story.

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

I mentioned in a previous answer that I have written a book called, “Love, Scars & Butterflies – A daughter’s journey with depression through a Mother’s eyes”. I wrote this in June and July of 2019. My oldest daughter has had struggles with depression and anxiety. As a single mother, I tried my best to provide what I thought was best and be there as how I thought was best for her. I didn’t have all the tools and to be honest, didn’t really know how to navigate it all. Writing this book helped me to release any shame, any guilt, and any frustration I had. I was able to give a voice to the situation that we went through and help others see what one person’s life looks like when they are struggling with depression and anxiety. I wanted my oldest daughter to know that she mattered and that her story was a strong one that would help many. After writing this book, on the day it was published, I told my youngest daughter that I really wanted to put my feet in some water. It was July 31, 2019 and was a hot day so we went to the lake by us. I put my feet in some water and where I stepped, there was moss. My foot slipped and I fell face first on the cement. I know that nobody was behind me but I felt something push my head down and make me fall. Let it be known, the devil is real and he does not like when light is brought to the dark. This is what my book did. It brought light to the darkness that depression brings and he knew this book would help many other people in this situation so he did this. My top tooth went through my bottom lip and it chipped after it went through my lip. I was sitting there in shock as to what just happened and didn’t know what to do. My youngest daughter was asking if I was okay and a couple that was near us, they offered to help me get up and out of the water. I asked the man his name and he said his name was “Angel”. Later that night when I saw the damage of what had happened to me, I asked God to allow the scar from this to stay and He gave me that. I have had many attacks from the enemy since then but none of them physical like this one. I love that what the enemy wanted me to feel insecure about, is what people see all the time now as I show my new colors of lipsticks or lip glosses. If someone asks me about my scar, I have the opportunity to say this story and remember that I fell but I got up. I remember that I am resilient.

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

Growing up I always wanted to be married and thought that this was something that brought happiness and fulfillment in my life. I had both of my daughters without being married and really wanted them to have a father in their lives. I met my ex-husband and fell in love. We got engaged very quickly but had a long engagement. We even broke up during the engagement. I saw the red flags, I saw some pink flags, and I even saw some maroon flags but I ignored them all thinking that being married would fix everything. We got married, had a beautiful wedding in California on La Jolla beach. I quickly found out that this would not fix everything. I found out that marriage is work and that it takes two people willing to give even when they don’t want to. I found out that some people are broken and I can’t fix them. I found out that you can love someone and this doesn’t make them want to be with you. I found out that narcissism is a thing. I found out that trying to leave a narcissist is very tough. I found out that I did have a voice and I could use it. I found out that I didn’t have to stay in an abusive relationship. I found out that I could be strong. I found out that I was loved by many people and that they supported me. I found out that I was stronger than I could have ever imagined. The lesson I learned was that I didn’t have to be married to be happy and have fulfillment in my life. I choose my happiness and what that looks like and being fulfilled in life means that I look to God for fulfillment. It was a tough lesson to learn but I’m thankful for the lesson learned.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.prospectbysunshinerose.com
• Instagram: andrea_rose0725 and prospectbysunshinerose
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rodriguez.andrearose
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-rodriguez-ab4a0aab

Image Credits
I did not have professional photographers for the pictures I provided.