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

GinaMarie, appreciate you joining us today. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

Women with curves have been underestimated and underserved for decades. These facts are true. Most women will need to find a brand that only makes larger clothing, limiting style and choices. We want to create a brand that includes everyone. XBQINI sizes include, size xsmall through XXXL and offer the latest trendy, unique fashion that has no limits to body type. We are honored to serve and represent all the beautiful women seeking to fit into a bikini in their size in our market. The fashion industry has begun to realize women are no longer accepting societies unrealistic body standards. Today we see curve models emerging from the body shaming past into the trending market of swim fashion, and we are here for it! XOCAL Biquini is forging into its second year of serving women of all sizes. So far, we have worked with dozens of female photographers, over a hundred curve models, and influencers in the past year. By giving women a size inclusive chance to walk in a runway shows, model, and be featured in our body positive campaigns, we are setting a new standard for accepting a womans body for what it is. Unique and different. We promote, and hire women of all sizes, shapes and ethnic backgrounds, and offer the opportunity to showcase their unique body type and share their inspiration to other women who can relate to a realistic woman’s body.

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 quit my career to get paid to lay on the beach…. and I’ve been branding and designing the perfect beach life and bikini ever since. My name is GinaMarie XOCAL and I am a serial entrepreneur, artist, designer, mother of six, and owner of the newly launched body positive XBQINI brand. XBQINI was born out of the simple need to find a bikini that actually fit my body type. Being a curvy woman made it impossible to buy a bikini off the rack and the sizes seems to never fit regardless of the size described. This was frustrating to say the least. So I decided to create a bikini brand that offered a wider range of sizes to remedy this problem, as well as create a positive, safe platform for women by women to promote body acceptance regardless of body size.

As a brand owner and woman’s advocate I believe it is important to show other women by example that we can be successful without adhering to a society’s unrealistic standard of what a woman should look like or work like. As a young woman I struggled with weight gain during and after pregnancy. I watched my body change over and over with age, hormones and having children, and felt disconnected from it. It wasn’t until I began a healthy lifestyle in my 30’s after my sixth pregnancy, that I realized looking good was for your health, not a dress size. I will be turning 49 this year and I have finally learned to love my body after years of hating it. I love myself as I am. Thick, thin, fat, skinny. It took time to admit that my self-confidence was tied to what other people thought I should look like. Today I know better, and I want to show woman of all ages, sizes and ethnic backgrounds that we are worthy at any size, and we are enough just the way we are. Beautiful women come in all shapes sizes and ages.

One thing that sets XBQINI apart from other brands is our commitment to hiring and empowering women. Although we do not discriminate between the sexes, we apply an equal if not stronger focus on hiring women for production, photography, and administration. Its mandatory. Our success as women depends on how well we work together and build together! We need more practice as we infiltrate industry’s as new female founders, I am so proud of the women I have worked with so many amazing women. Some new to modeling, struggling with self-esteem and acceptance. I have watched the women I’ve worked with go on to become stronger and start their own businesses. The biggest reward for me, is making a difference in a woman’s life today.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the most profound lessons I’ve had to unlearn in my career path is that success is not measured in how much money I make. Realizing this has had the biggest positive impact on my life balance and priory list as a mother of six, struggling to provide for my family as head of household. I worked 12 hours a day, weekends and nights, commuted over 60 miles a day and volunteered for overtime and standby. The amount of money I was making was what I was taught was success, financial freedom over everything…. boy was I wrong. The time I missed with my family was priceless and no amount of money could ever buy that back. I also realized that I didn’t really enjoy what I was doing anymore and was burning out in the corporate world. I had to make a change. I had to unlearn that money was not the focal point of my success. I was the focal point and being happy with who I was and what I was doing was vital to my ultimate success. It’s not how much money you make, it’s how you make your money! I wanted to be happy, and building a brand that represented underserved women, included more diversity and offered opportunities to the same was what made me happy, and that was what I was going to do!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

If you search any social media platform for XOCAL you will find a consistent and familiar vibe that only XOCAL can create. Women empowerment, and Canna-Californian lifestyle, with an emphasis on diversity, gender equality and inclusion. Why? It’s what I breathe! Its real, its truly what makes GinaMarie XOCAL tick, and he blood those flows through every campaign, asset, video, and message that runs through my creative mind, into my social media platforms. I built a presence with who I am. I started with all I had, (my face, my person, my beliefs), and what I was best at, (business, empowering women, art, product development, marketing), and the things I love, (beach life, fashion, entrepreneurship) Being authentic is a huge part of building a brand the public can trust and relate to. In a world of millions of followers, virtual reality and filters, it can be easy to fool the public eye, but the truth, is you have to live the example you are portraying in the pics and stories. It has to fit, and evolve and wear different hats, without becoming something that moves away from why you started. The public will eventually figure that out. Changing to fit in is a dishonest process that will prevent you from becoming a trustworthy brand. My advice to businesses, and influencers out there building that presence, is to be `authentic, follow trends but never forget why you started.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.xbqini.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ginamariexocal/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ginamarie.xocal/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginamariexocal/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0FH_d6UJfvWODxitcUrKQg
• Other: Photo Credits @nazai_wuclan @shotbynesha @amyleyenaar

Image Credits
@nazai_wuclan @shotbynesha @amyleyenaar @highriseagency