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

Jessica, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I always had this feeling inside of me of wanting to do more, to do something with a purpose. I did not know what that would be or look like but I knew I wanted to create something truly special and meaningful to help empower women. While growing up having experienced my own personal struggles with self-worth & self-confidence up through my adulthood, brought on this drive to create a space to help uplift and support Latina women just like me. And so during the pandemic, while spending most of my time at home adjusting to the new reality, I had the opportunity to focus on creating that special something that was driven within me for so long, a business I have always dreamt of, and that is when Live Love & Latina was born.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Jessica Samaroo, I’m Puerto Rican born and raised in Queens New York, and I am the owner of Live Love & Latina, a bi-monthly self-care lifestyle subscription box for Latina women. I got into the subscription box business because I had a strong interest and saw a need for more representation in the subscription box space. Our mission at Live Love & Latina is to uplift, motivate and help support Latina women in their self-love journey and celebrate our beautiful culture. Also to help support and feature other small businesses, especially Latin owned and woman owned businesses that we work with to provide products for our self-care boxes. Each one is curated with essential products and tools, everything from beauty, skincare, to lifestyle items and more to encourage self-care, experience self-love and boost self-confidence. It’s a unique high quality, and what we like to call, explor-ience, for Latinas to explore and experience amazing brands and products while being reminded to love and embrace who they are. It’s so important for us woman to pour into ourselves as we do to others. To incorporate a self-care routine in our daily lives, to take a break and make space for that much needed “me time” and that is where we come in. Our boxes are more than just a box full of things. So much love and intention goes into curating each one with a purpose and with Latina women in mind every step of the way. To see Live Love & Latina come to fruition and having done it all on my own makes me extremely proud. Supporting women in their self-love journey, hearing how much they love and look forward to their boxes and how it inspires them makes me even more proud. I’ve learned and grown so much both professionally and personally and looking forward to much more.

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

Being myself, being consistent and making connections is what has helped me build my audience. Also by creating fun and inspiring content that keeps our audience interested, excited and feeling inspired. People love to see our unboxing videos, sneak peeks, lifestyle videos and posts showing different ways and how to use the products that are featured in our boxes.

Some advice I would give for those starting to build a social media presence is no matter how big or small your audience is, whether you have 1 or 1,000+ followers, keep showing up and be consistent. Show yourself so that people see there’s an actual person behind the business. Don’t just post to post. Post content with a purpose and value. Remember quality over quantity. Don’t just like for a like or follow for a follow. Make real genuine connections with people, brands, etc. that you truly have an interest in and that align with your brand and values. Social media is such a valuable tool, consume it but don’t let it consume you.

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

I think my journey, especially as a Latina woman, mom, and wife, as a whole illustrates my resilience. There’s so much responsibility when it comes to business and also life outside of business and it can be quite a juggle. Taking the leap and starting a business from the ground up was very scary yet so exciting and rewarding all at the same time. I’m learning it all as I go. Theres times when things don’t go as planned and I have to come up with solutions quickly, but time and time again I have proven to myself that I got this and can handle whatever comes my way. With faith, a positive mindset, passion, hard work and determination, I always get through it all. I don’t give up, I push forward and for that I am super proud of myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.liveloveandlatina.com
• Instagram: @liveloveandlatina