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

Cynthia, appreciate you joining us today. Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?

First of all, thank you for having me and granting me space to share my story with you and your audience.

My creative work has been misunderstood and mischaracterized by many. However, the reason for it is because social media can misconstrue an image or reel. Unfortunately, pictures, reels, stories will not capture the real meaning behind a design unless you add it in the caption. But let’s be real, how many people actually stop on a reel or story to “READ ” the caption? The attention span nowadays in my opinion is less than a 2 year old’s. I have a two year old and the struggle is real! ( moms would understand ).

All jokes aside, allow me to elaborate a bit more.

Diving in deep, each design I create in each collection is part of something bigger. It’s been my coping mechanism to grieve. Acknowledge the pain and in turn, let my healing turn into something so beautiful that its intricate and delicate designs leave people speechless. My designs have become a creative escape. A safe place where I can sit with the stones, pearls, crystals, rhinestones staring right back at me, and somehow it just speaks to me. It’s something I can’t put into words, it’s a feeling that has developed since I began my healing journey from postpartum depression in 2020.

I honestly did not have a ” goal” per se, however I just knew how I felt every time I put on my hats, the boost of confidence it gave me, the beautiful design allowed me to see and feel pure joy. I say joy because I feel Joy is something that very seldom I had experienced in my life before. As a child all I ever knew was work hard, prove to everyone that you are worthy ( even if i didn’t fully understand) because of the sacrifices my parents made. Like many of us Latinas, it’s embedded in our brain to work harder than the person next you no matter what. At least this is what it was taught. Unknowingly, that’s when I knew now that I didn’t know then, Pandora’s box of emotions would begin to collect those and pile them up.

My daughter was born in September 2020, in the midst of a pandemic. No one allowed, no village ( like its custom in our culture) to help guide on the never ending learning phase of motherhood. It surfaced up countless emotions all at once that flooded my brain like a typhoon. It sent me straight into fight or flight mode ten times. When my daughter was 2 months old that’s when I realized something was off emotionally. How could I feel numb despite the typhoon of emotions racing through? It was then that I began to unpack Pandora’s box of unacknowledged emotions, one by one.

I became so in tune with my creative side as part of my healing journey that even the color of the hat and designs have taken the front row seat in each design. I started listening to podcasts, researching and reading about color therapy and some way, somehow it trickled into my designs. My first collection was colorful and the designs were even more intricate. It wasn’t until I sat back after the soft launch to allow myself to take in the moment, and thank my pandoras box of unsaid childhood traumas. Because postpartum forced me to really work on myself, it also allowed me to forgive and in the midst of the healing turn all what once was pain, anger, resentment, fear into the beauty of each design.

When I am done with each hat in the collections, I pray over it. I pray for strength for the woman who will wear it, I pray she knows she is valued, loved and seen, but most importantly she is BEAUTIFUL no matter what phase of jefahood she may be going through.

Now, see what I mean?
I can’t say all that in a caption and expect folks to read it. Thank you again, for allowing me the space for folks to really have a view into the ” WHY” of Glammed Jefa.

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.

Hola! my name is Cynthia Flores-Viles. I’m a woman of MANY hats, literally and figuratively. Prior to launching Glammed Jefa, I was in education for 14 years. Before education, I was in judicial/ medical settings as a Spanish/English interpreter. I am a HUGE Spanish language advocate. My passion for language was sparked at a very young age, to be honest I could not tell you the exact age because I grew up speaking both. Spanish at home and English at school or outside of the home.

The spark for being passionate about language grew fonder when growing up I would get sent to the office and suspended for speaking Spanish in school in kinder and first grade. Normally, this would affect a child to not want to speak Spanish ever again because of the ‘negative association’ it consequence while attending school. However, it did not, it did the complete opposite to me. from a very young age I knew that I held a valuable gift of language despite what my teachers and administrators at the time thought. In their eyes, I was the defiant student who insisted in speaking Spanish daily despite the expectations governed by the school.

I remember, the teacher telling me ” you’ll never mount to be anything because you speak Spanish”. Honestly, those words ignited my fire even more. I took those words and put them in an imaginary box that would later turn in to the greatest headway of a successful career.

During college when I had to work multiple jobs to pay for books and tuition those 10 words would surface as a reminder. Little did i know that It was molding my mindset into a the master key that has unlocked so many doors of opportunities, hence the woman of many hats.

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

I decided to leave a prominent career in education because in my heart I felt it was time. I had watched my kids ( students) grow and helped ignite a fire for language and now they were done with high school and college and were coming back to teach and be the change in the next generation of students like I was in theirs. it was here where I got the nickname of ” la Jefa”.

I learned very quickly that what I had spent hours preparing for and planning for the week would change by the hour. That taught me to just go with the flow. However, it was not easy. I am a type A personality where everything is planned for and has a time line to be met ( hence having worked in judicial / medical settings). That actually carried in to my teaching style, I was very direct with my kids, they knew exactly what was expected and what will fly in class and what would not.

I was quite the strict educator, however I took the time to build student relationships first, I did this because my goal was to be the educator I could only wish i had while growing up. The educator who understood me and saw me for me and not just another number or ” the defiant Spanish speak kid”.

I came from the judicial system where everything was black or white straight into the world of education where there is all this grey area, ever changing and adaptive world. That was how I got the nickname ” la Jefa”. I could tell you an infinity of stories but I will keep it short for the sake of time. I was the teacher who’s homeroom class roster had all the ” trouble making kids”. To be honest, I never thought they were ” trouble makers” the reality was that my kids were not being understood by other teachers and therefore could not relate to them. My kids needed to feel a sense of respect first once you earn their respect then they ‘work hard’. I would actually schedule time during their lunch and would go to the cafeteria and sit and have the same cafeteria food as them. Why? because I was not any different from them and I needed them to know that .

Just like they may have troubles at home, I had them growing up. However, I would use those moments as teachable life moments. They may have seen me as the Jefa who changed their life but in reality they were the ones who completely transformed mine and redefined my life purpose at the time.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I believe that when people see my hats they see the shiny rhinestones and the intricate designs and maybe even the color combination why not. However, what they do not see is the WHY of the design, the WHY of the color pallet used.

I was finally blessed with my miracle baby in September of 2020 after 2 pregnancy’s losses. I started Glammed Jefa in December of 2023, after a battle of postpartum depression that opened Pandora’s box of unsaid and unspoken childhood traumas since October of 2020.

In October of 2023 after having started my healing journey and being in a better mental state of mind, my brother passed away after battling cancer for 12 years. This made me spiral again because I was not able to give my “proper goodbye” or ” see you later carnal” due to family issues and being at at the forefront of my elderly fathers care. My mental state took yet another hit of which was so difficult to climb out of. I knew I needed to be better for my family my daughter needed her mother but I did not know how mend again the re-opened wounds.

I’ve always loved hats and anything that sparkles. I remember walking into my office and just sitting at my desk and acknowledging my emotions but also knowing I needed an outlet and this time my outlet was not going to hotworx and burning calories but instead it was a creative outlet.

I grabbed one of my very plain hats and began to just allow my emotions take form with rhinestones, crystals and peals and everything shiny and beautiful. I wanted to turn my pain and hurt in to something beautiful that when looking at it made me smile and feel beautiful when I wore it.

I then began to create collections of hats. My first collection was ” Emprendedora” in honor of the woman I met during my initial healing journey that one way or another helped aid in my journey.

Each design I create I will not re-create again. The reason for that is because my creativity surfaces from whatever part of my healing journey I am at. Each design is a another healed trauma or pain turned in to something beautiful that most certainty will never go back in to pandoroas box.

Creating one of a kind designs has helped me in my healing journey. After I have finished with the design of the hat I pray over it. I pray that just as it has given me peace in the process of creating it I pray it brings the woman wearing it joy knowing that they can stand tall and firme looking radiant no matter what life may throw at them.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @glammedjefa
• Facebook: Glammed Jefa
• Linkedin: Cynthia Flores-Viles

Image Credits
Unity Reel Pepper Magazine Infinite Photography