We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rosi Sanchez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rosi, 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?
Mixto’s meaning is derived from my heritage and culture. In Spanish, Mixto translates to mixed; blended; and stirred. My identity is a blend of cultures, my Mexican-indigenous culture, my urban community culture, my Chicano culture, and my Tejano culture all make me who I am today. My vibrancy, the vibe or the flavor that diversity, and a mix of cultures I bring to the advertising table give me a unique perspective. I named my agency Mixto after my blended cultures.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I grew up in Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas. As the daughter of Mexican immigrants, I didn’t know a career in the creative space was even possible. I attended Dallas County Community College and transferred to UNT. When I was looking for a major, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I had a vision of this woman I wanted to be and I knew I wanted to be successful financially. I had tried nursing, business, but I wasn’t successful in any of those areas. I was working as a receptionist and the time had come for me to choose a major to transfer to UNT. I had this vision of me traveling to NYC, to LA, owning meetings in board rooms, wearing pencil skirts and heels, and carrying a big designer bag. I Googled, “coolest careers in NYC” and advertising came up. I read job descriptions, and blogs on what advertising is, and I immediately thought, yes, that sounds like fun. That’s how I chose my major in journalism at the University of North Texas. Upon graduating, I did several unpaid internships to build a portfolio and learn social media. I felt social media was going to be huge in the advertising industry and decided that would be my focus and domination. I moved back in with my mom and did unpaid internships for a year. Finally, I got a job in the Hispanic market with an agency in Houston. I packed up and moved within a week from getting the call. The first campaign I ever worked on was for Verizon Wireless for the World Cup. At the time, it was only Twitter and YouTube brands that brands were really focusing on, so the campaign focused solely on Twitter and YT. We owned 75% of the mobile conversation against Sprint, ATT&T, and TMobile. It was a fun as hell experience. I knew I wanted to stay in social media. I went on to work on campaigns for the Latin Grammys, Hilton Hotels, Walmart, and worked for brands like Fossil, Univision, Misfit Watches, BeautyBio, Vegan Smart, and many others. They say it takes at least 10,000 hours of practice to attain mastery in a skill. I’ve been working in social media now for 8 years and I have unique formula and approach on how I do things. My agency developed out of the amount of people/clients who were reaching out for my help. I avoided and didn’t want to start a business but when something is destined, the universe won’t let up. Today, I am the founder and owner of Mixto, a social media agency derived from culture by a first-generation Mexican-American woman serving the best and baddest social strategies in the game. Yo Soy Mixto, proudly indigenous and Chicana-owned. I am the baddest social media strategist in the game.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Finding my way and making a name for myself in the advertising industry was extremely difficult. I could not get a job in General Market. I would interview, but would always get doors slammed. When I finally did into the general market, there was no one who looked like me, in leadership or at my level. There wasn’t anyone who shared my view, music, perspectives. I felt so alone during that time in my career. And not every space was a safe space. I was told once I was too fiery, and had too much passion. As a Latina, this was difficult to digest. Assimilating to corporate culture was something normal. I would get home emotionally and mentally exhausted from having to hide who I was and not having anyone to connect with. It can be so exhausting going all day and never interacting with anyone who likes you. In one organization I worked closely with the VP of Sustainability and Diversity to bring in a non-profit that focuses on placing talent of color into the advertising industry. The only reason I felt safe in that space and to speak on the lack of diversity was because the VP of Diversity was a black woman. That particular organization was so grateful for my contribution to their diversity issue, I decided would never stay silent again when faced with diversity issues in the ad industry. It is something I’m passionate about now and I give my time to young men and women of color who are going into the ad space.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
My work ethic, perspective, hustle, and grind. I don’t win unless my clients win. I want them to shine and to be the best. Mix that in with my unique social media approach, unique perspective, and cultural knowledge, you have a recipe for success. The work I have done does not go unoticed.

Contact Info:

• Website: rosilinda.com
• Instagram: rosilindasanchez
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosilindasanchez/