We recently connected with Rosie Padilla and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Rosie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you manage your own social media?

Being on social media takes a lot of time and patience. I have TikTok, my personal fan page and even Snapchat and I occasionally post on instagram. But it gets hard to share something new with followers to keep them up to date and to keep them interested. I’ve added people to help manage my pages but it’s hard to do when they await content from me. Some days I don’t have the energy to get online and come up with something witty or funny to say or I am tired from my full time job so I get behind and people start asking me if I’m ok since there isn’t any interaction. Once you have the following it’s hard to take a break because some of the stuff I post, helps people get through their day. And it’s needed more than we actually think it is.

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

I am a Latina woman with a heavy story. I was raised in a single parent home. I have dealt with abuse and I have even lost a child. I have endured a lot of pain. But what makes me, me, is the fact that I decided to use the position I was in to tell my story. I had a following from my Lowrider modeling days. I was the model that was known for her classy style and humble smile. Rockz is what everyone called me. I was that model people wanted to know about. So it allowed people to build trust with me. And in 2018 when I had to face life after having a stillborn, I found it very difficult to escape depression. But somehow I did. Many people saw me and thought I had it made, I was called beautiful, I was married and I had a beautiful home, but everything changed after the loss of my daughter so I took my loss and shared it with the world. I wanted my followers to know that bad things happen to good people. No matter who you are. I took my daughters passing and tried to bring comfort to others that have gone through similar situations. I wanted to be the voice for many people suffering in silence. Sharing my story about abuse and stillbirth was one of the hardest things I had to do but I did it because I wanted my followers to know me on a different level than the model that they all had grown to love. So I dedicated myself and came up with Kicking it with Rockz (Kwrockz). I made a page to honor my daughter and invited my followers to see a vulnerable side of me.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Since I already had followers for my modeling page, I decided to make a video and tell my story. I was being as open and vulnerable as I could be. I made an hour and a half long video of my experience. I was still broken but I wanted to let everyone know that there was still light at the end of the tunnel. I continued to do lives and interact with my followers and the feedback was amazing. I would get messages from people I didn’t even know, telling me how brave I was, how my story helped them speak up about their own. I was seen as a mother that lost her child, not as a model and that was my intention. Over time I continued to post daily affirmations, daily videos or positivity. I then began making videos of humor and even started my own Non Profit. I wanted to do what I could to help others find that strength within themselves to keep pushing and to keep going no matter what life throws at us.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I believe that being your authentic true self will get you further than fabricating an unrealistic life. Not everyone is going to support you and not everyone is going to agree with how you handle things but as long as you know your mission, keep moving toward your dreams. Being a small business owner making merchandise is not an easy task because there are so many people out there doing the same especially with the pandemic. So you have to dedicate yourself and commit to your passion. My followers support me because they understand the purpose of my business. They understand what Kwrockz stands for.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Kwrockz
• Facebook: Facebook.com/Kwrockz
• Other: TikTok Iamkwrockz