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Afro-Latinas make up a large portion of the Latinx population across the world, with 6 million people in the U.S. alone identifying as Afro-Latinx. Yet, colorism, racism, and anti-Blackness persist affecting communities in the U.S. and Latin American. In response, Afro-Latinas are creating their own spaces where they are allowed and encouraged to be their fullest selves without fear or judgement. This need for community, as well as the lack of representation in media and decades of systematic erasure, contributed to Afro-Latina Bianca Spencer’s rebranding of her company, Yo Soy AfroLatina. It was once a lifestyle e-commerce site that sold mugs, shirts, headwraps, and accessories exemplifying Afro-Latina pride. But now the brand has shifted to a non-profit and social club where Afro-Latinas in Houston, Texas can fellowship and create community with one another. In a time when identity is often questioned and invalidated, this rebranding is a response to the calling for more representation and safe spaces for Afro-Latinas.
“This is a way for us to give each other our flowers, for us to sit down, break bread, and build community,” Spencer tells HipLatina. “My biggest thing is that I want us to talk about things that are uplifting, positive, and impactful. I want us to come together, fellowship, and talk about what we want for the future, how we can celebrate one another, and and how we can support each other. I want to give us all hope and remind us that we are all worthy and that we are Black and Latina enough.”
Looking back, Spencer finds that the passion for this project really came as a result of her childhood. Growing up in Detroit as a girl of African American and descent, she didn’t have a lot of role models other than Celia Cruz. And without Afro-Latina representation in media, she also didn’t see herself in the shows she was watching except for Nickelodeon’s Taina. In some ways, this majorly influenced her career choices as an adult, first moving from Detroit to New York to work in an ad agency, then moving to L.A. to work in entertainment and media. While it ultimately didn’t end up working out in L.A., she went back to New York and continued to work in media, specifically in the corporate sector.
Spencer ended up working in media for close to ten years until 2017 when she came up with the original concept of Yo Soy AfroLatina. Interestingly enough, her original vision ended up matching up to what it would eventually become: a way to connect with other Afro-Latinas with similar experiences, to fellowship digitally and socially. At first, she did this by launching home goods and clothing through a capsule collection.
“My focus at the time wasn’t to create a profit,” she says. “My focus was to create merch that other Afro-Latinas could put on and feel really proud about their heritage and their culture. It was to connect with others.”
Over the next two years, she saw significant growth for the brand. She was starting to get recognized by other small business owners and she began seeing herself as an entrepreneur. She began to release more t-shirts and mugs, and even added new items like bonnets and scarves. She collaborated with other small businesses to create products and grow together.
Then, in 2020, the pandemic hit.
For Spencer, this was probably the most confusing time for the brand. On one hand, her small business had never been more successful. She was making great numbers in terms of sales and had huge visibility. But she also felt lonely. Because of pandemic restrictions, she couldn’t be with other people, which was disappointing especially when she’d been planning to put on social events for the first time. There was a huge disconnect for her between the success of her business and how she personally felt about it.
She decided to move down to Houston, Texas, where she was able to go outside, meet other business owners, and get to know other Afro-Latinas. She was able to meet Afro-Latinas from countries from all over Latin America like Mexico, Honduras, and Panama, some for the first time. But one of the biggest ways she was impacted was by through meeting other entrepreneurs in the city.
“People down here aren’t focused on the biggest partnerships and the biggest brand deals. They’re focused on their community,” she explains. “It could be a middle school that is doing a backpack drive and they’ll partner with that middle school to provide kids with backpacks and school supplies. I saw that impact and legacy and decided that I wanted to be a part of that.”
This also helped Spencer realize that she didn’t want to run her small business anymore. In a way, she felt like she’d failed at being an entrepreneur but she couldn’t deny the fact that it wasn’t working out, that she didn’t like it anymore and wanted to do something else. But there was a lot of work, planning, and self-reflection that she needed to do before that could happen. Over the next year and a half, she took the time to step back from social media and the business, focus on her mental health, and dedicate herself to her marriage.
“I’m really happy I did that because I removed myself from the pressures of having to sell products and hit a certain quota and hit my numbers, or figure out how we’re going to generate income to sustain my small business, especially being an e-commerce site,” she says. “I was able to really ask myself, ‘What do I want to do? What do I want Yo Soy AfroLatina’s legacy and impact to be?’ That’s when I realized that when you equip people with the language and the representation, the sky’s the limit because it allows people to dream big to hope for more.”
In that, she knew that she wanted to have a tangible impact on her community. She wanted to leave behind a legacy for the next generation of Afro-Latinas. At that point, she decided that what she needed to do in order to accomplish those things was to pivot away from a for-profit business and become a non-profit.In that way, she was able to have ownership over her own initiaves, programming, mission, values, and goals.
Admittedly, creating a nonprofit came with its own set of challenges. While some may assume that it’s not that much work or it’s easier than a small business, Spencer found that it was almost harder because of the issues related to legality and logistics.
“You’re not just considering yourself and your brand. You’re considering the community, the people that you’re impacting. So I had to research a ton over the past year and a half and connect with other folks, entrepreneurs, and lawyers. It takes a lot of work and I’m so humbled.”
In this early stage of the non-profit, Spencer knows that she wants to focus on fostering fellowship between Afro-Latinas of all ages and providing opportunities for celebrating accomplishments and building community. She hopes to do this through three program pillars: first, there is the Primas & Amigas Book Club, which will be launched sometime next month and will provide an outlet for participants to read books by Black and Latinx authors and discuss them in an intimate setting. It will be free and held once a month.
She is also launching YSAL Social Collective, a social club that will also meet once a month but focus more on having fun and building community through events and activities. This could include going to an art exhibit to support a Black or Latinx artist, going to a film screening, or anything else that speaks to the group’s interests and sense of cultural pride.
Finally, there will be annual programming on July 25th, or Afro-Latina Day, when Afro-Latinas and Afro-Caribbean women of all ages can come together, give back, and celebrate one another. This past July, she was able to host an intimate gathering in Houston and was even able to have a liquor brand sponsor to provide a custom cocktail bar.
Looking ahead, Spencer will be hosting a Coffee and Connect meet-up next month as well as monthly meet-ups for Afro-Latinas in Houston. There will be special programming for Latinx Heritage Month and she is already planning a holiday toy drive and other community service events. In the spirit of renewal, however, she’s also being kind to herself and taking everything slow with the process of rebranding and returning to the community. Ultimately, she’s so proud of everything she has been able to build through this brand and is excited to see what this next chapter holds. She notes:
“I didn’t even think this was possible in 2017. The fact that I’ve created this passion project, then turned it into an e-commerce small business that I evolved and transformed into a nonprofit, I’m blown away. We’ve been in business for over seven years now and it’s really hard to sustain a passion project, let alone a small business, for that long. I’m proud of myself for pushing through the adversity and challenges. I locked in and got focused on what it is that I feel like God put on my heart and how I can use my skills and strengths and be a vessel to my community. I want to continue uplifting us and build legacy. Regardless if I’m in the picture or now, I want Yo Soy AfroLatina to continue to do the work. I’m proud and I’m thankful.”
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