 This is SerbStoreFriend. Latinos make up 20% of the population, yet publishing is only 8% Latino, making it the worst field in media for representation according to publishers weekly. There's so much untapped talent in this underrepresented demographic, yet Latinos are always seen as less than. So Divina, the founder of Allegria Publishing, wanted to focus on supporting new, exciting, and emerging literary voices in the Latinx community. Today we talk with Divina about her journey from growing up in Colombia during Pablo Escobar's reign to starting a luxury magazine in Los Angeles, how art truly has the power to change lives, and why it was a blessing to start the magazine prior to the rise of social media. Alright, welcome to the podcast. On today's show, we're talking to Divina from Allegria Publishing. Thanks for coming. For people who don't know, what is Allegria? We're a multimedia company, specializing in bringing out the best Latinx talent to the forefront, because as we know, we're highly underrepresented, and we're just in the millions in the U.S. You know, we're part of this beautiful country, and there's so much talent out there, and we want to bring out their art, their books, and their voices to the forefront. What made you want to first start the company? What was the idea? Were you a creator yourself? Were you a writer? What was the thing where you were like, okay, I need to, we need, it's bigger than me now. We need to start a whole publishing company to help other people. Yes, actually I grew up in Colombia, I'm managing Colombia in the 90s in the time of Pablo Escobar, so it was a war zone at the time, and I took refuge in literature and creative writing, and the arts, I always say, the arts saved my life, and I always grew up with that, but when I came to the U.S. in, like, the 1997, to be exact, you know, the arts in the U.S. are actually valued, which, you know, here, especially, you know, in Los Angeles, we have a lot of people creatives, and I saw that the arts were, like, actually careers, right, in Latin America at that time. It was very tough, right? That's true, yeah. And yet, when I started studying here in college, you know, I went to third school first and then journalism school, I saw that everything that was out there, we're talking about, like, 12 years ago, about Latinos and Latinas in the U.S. was always seen as less than. It was always produced in bad quality formats, especially because I started with print. I'm a big believer in print, even today, and everything was, like, just the dialogue about who we were here, having been brought up in South America, which is very beautiful and sophisticated, and I said, it's just not correct, the dialogue here about Latinos and who we are and our culture. Why do you think that is when you think about that? Why do you think the story gets so muddled here? Because we have, of course, a lot of people that come because of very difficult circumstances, right, looking for a better future. So of course, naturally, when we come here, we come and do the jobs that no one wants to do, right? So that's the perception that when we're in the U.S., you know, we're used to seeing the person that is serving us or, you know, the dishwasher. We think those are the only Latinos out there, which, by the way, these are the most hardworking and beautiful people, right? No one cares about their stories, and their stories are, like, wonderful. But there are Latinos doing wonderful things in the U.S., and I wanted to concentrate on the positive contributions of our community here, which was nowhere to be found. And then the media does a really good job of pushing forward those stereotypes of, like, oh, you're Latin, you must be a dishwasher, and then you see it everywhere in the movies. A hundred percent. And it happens to African-Americans also. Same thing. Do you remember, in your childhood, if there was, like, a first impression of the arts or a first introduction that opened your eyes to what it could do, how it could transform your life, how you could get involved with it? Was it a community aspect down there? Like, do you remember if there was a singular moment? Yes. I think in school, you know, when they come and bring these artists, I remember there was this beautiful theater show that they brought to our school, and I was just really mesmerized by it, especially because, you know, when you're living in a place where your reality is you're having lunch with your family and a car bomb is exploding, like, weekly, you know, anything that just takes you out of that, right? And I think the arts always was the place where, like, a hundred percent. And it was a healthy way, too, you know, where I could do something productive with my time. And I think even today, it continues to, like, bring this beauty and, like, quite honestly, this aspect of healing to my life, because, as we know, mental health is a big issue right now, and I love, like, encouraging people to take out the arts to help them to navigate life as well. So it's a theme that has been going through my life, for sure. And what was sort of the first step in starting your company, the publishing company? So it actually started with a magazine in 2012, and it was, like, a wonderful combination of beautiful elements. I've obviously worked so hard for so many years, went to college, had two jobs, took the bus in Los Angeles for, like, 12 years, and I worked as a receptionist in Beverly Hills for many years as I was going to college. And one of the clients that, you know, there were, like, regular clients that we took care of every, you know, weekly that came to do their hair was this beautiful lady. And I love mentioning her name because she's my mentor and she changed my life. Her name is Rochelle Newman. She knew what I was doing at the time, and at the time I was interning, doing a lot of, like, celebrity near views, working in, like, Spanish television, you know, very small channels and stuff like that. And she always knew that I had this in me to change how people view Latinos. And I told her I was working on this crazy idea to create a bilingual luxury magazine. And she's, like, show it to me. And I didn't know she was, like, the head of marketing for Lexus USA at the time. And she ended up, like, a month later, having this meeting with, like, the whole team, and they actually launched my publication with, like, a five-year contract. Wow. So that literally changed my life. Yeah. Because I was a receptionist. You know, and I think this is something I love to inspire people with this, I don't know, piece of advice, but something that is a truth about my life that even when I had my regular job to pay my bills, I never stopped working on my art or my projects on the side. So even when I was a receptionist, I was, of course, very tired and unmotivated at the end of the day. But I would, like, work on my creative projects after my job, you know? And that way, you know, that moment came, you know? And I already had everything. I had my designer friends who had, like, a mock-up. I have the concept. So when that came, I was ready. And how long did you talk to her about the idea? Like, was it every time you guys saw each other, you would just say a little bit more? And then, like, oh, we're doing this. And then here's the mock-up. Yes. I would even run into, like, events where, like, she'll see me, like, covering a red carpet or something like that. So she knew me. We got to know each other a little bit. And, of course, to this day, I talked to her. She's still my mentor. And I said, wow, like, I could have really come out with, like, some really crappy product. And it really believed in me. So, you know, sometimes it's so beautiful that people do see in us things that sometimes maybe we're not even aware of. Yeah, right. And she took that big, yeah. I'm just such a believer in, like, I think, I think the hard part about entrepreneurship or even what you're talking about, even being a creative, is I think sometimes people, they just, they forget that what's of value is the idea. What people really get behind is the idea. And a lot of people get stuck on, like, oh, I don't have the money, and they lose all faith. And they just start really focusing on the money, or, oh, but nobody knows me, or, oh, I don't have the connections. And all of that is just so toxic. It's like, just go back to the idea. Go back, put all your energy into just, how do I move this one step forward at a time? And then eventually something great can happen. Absolutely. And I also believe that to my advantage, we know social media and technology is great in so many ways, but at that time, you know, we didn't have, like, what we have now. And those are blessings sometimes because I feel like today for young entrepreneurs, we have so much information that unless you have the venture capitalists giving you all this money, then your idea is worth nothing. And I had nothing, guys. When I said nothing, I was just, I was a receptionist that took the bus and I was just extremely creative. And of course, I've been studying for many years and I was very dedicated, but I had no contracts, no rich family, nothing, you know, so it is possible. But you have the desire. And you have to believe in yourself and be disciplined as well and consistent. So you ran it for five years and then what happened? So no, I've run it all these years, but a transition from being a luxury printed quarterly publication to, of course, transitioning into digital, of course, with Instagram and all of this, I got to live all of this. So right now we're actually celebrating 11 years in the market, but when the pandemic came, as we all know, we all change in some way or another. And we, I feel like we all connected to like our true essence, what we really love. And I connected back to that girl in Colombia who loved literature and poetry and creative writing. And I was in a position where I had this platform now and I said, you know, we're in full lockdown. I started writing myself a lot and I did a contest online through our platform. And this is like when we're all at home and I'm like, okay, I'm going to this contest for people to express their feelings, right? A Latina, Latinx poets to send their poems about immigration, what they're feeling, social justice. And I thought, oh my God, here I go with my crazy ideas. Who's going to care about poetry right now? And these times we're living in and to my surprise, we got almost 200 submissions of incredible writing from all over the US, which for the most part, we always been like a West Coast company. And I was getting, I mean, we're talking young voices from like Brooklyn and Florian, the Midwest and Texas. And I'm like, oh my God, like, who is publishing these incredible, brilliant and very meaningful voices? And the answer is no one because, you know, in the US, there's five big, huge publishing houses. And we're like Latina, we're like three to five percent of everything that's been published. And that's when the idea came and my company transformed into what we're now, which is Alegria publishing. So it's a beautiful kind of turn of events. But the magazine is still going. Yes, it's still going. Yeah. Can you can you share with people? We have we had a couple of people on that have created magazine companies. The question I have for you is like, what is the hard part of it? Is it getting the advertising revenue and then and getting that to continue because we're in a world where people are valuing print less? Obviously you moved to digital. Yes. But I think that we can make the same argument where people are probably, I don't know this, but people are probably reading digital less than like scrolling on TikTok or Instagram or like watching video content. So what was that? What's the challenging part and how have you seen that change in 11 years, which is when technology has really changed this whole game? Oh, everything has changed and it continues to change and you have to adapt. And I think it comes down to one word that I'm big on and its creativity, right? I think you have to stay so creative how you adapt and transition and go with what people love, right? Without losing the essence. So I can tell you right now you are correct. You know, we are on these platforms 24 seven, you know, even when we don't want to. So it comes down to a storytelling and to really bring in stories that really connect with people nowadays. And we see how we all connect with different things now, right? We are moving more into really finding at least for me, you know, alegria means happiness in Spanish. So at least for me as an entrepreneur, even like I think we're interesting content that it's kind of moving us more towards like living the life we all want, whatever that looks for you and adapting to create content that really resonates with people. What would you think about so into this? So I'm like, this is a skill I wish I had. I don't have it like writing. I am so bad. I've never been good at writing and like just awful and it's something I tried to get better at, but I can't. But there's tools today. You know, we have like different tools like chat GPT. Oh my God, yes. And in Jasper AI, which we use, how do you view these tools as like an asset in relation to your business? How has it changed or how does it make you think a little bit differently? Yes, absolutely. I was actually just looking at this challenge where like with this technology, you can write a book like so quickly. It's like anyone could write a book, right? I can write a book. Exactly. That's how bad it is. Yeah, and you know, of course, you know. Who am I, you know, to know what's happening because our world is just in 10 years, our world is going to be completely different. But I can tell you right now that from the way I view things and the way I live my life, I really value once again art, right? And creativity. So I think these tools, of course, can help us with a lot of the processes that are tedious because right in a book, you know, there is a creative aspect and then there is the tedious part of the editing and the production and all these things. And of course, this technology, great. I think it's going to cut all that stuff and it's maybe going to make it easier. The thing where I'm curious and interested and kind of conflicted to is that where do, you know, that unique output that we have as creatives, you know, comes in. So it comes down to this for me. Anybody today as we know it could load our document into Amazon and write a book, right? Or put it into one of these platforms and call it a book. And then all of a sudden you're an author. Yeah, and then you can pay all this money and be like an Amazon bedseller, right? And it's all money and marketing, right? But what kind of writer do you want to be? Is this really your passion? You're doing it for what reasons? So it comes down to purpose and what kind of artist you are, right? So there is the Van Goghs and there is other types of artists, right? And I think there's space for everyone but I think you have to be honest with yourself. I do value a lot art and I feel the creative process is important. So like for me, I'm always gonna stay with being really truthful to your art and to your message. It's important to everything that we do. We actually, our process, we start with our writers because we have a writer collective. We start with people from page one all the way to the distribution of their book. So it's a very holistic and hard center approach to a creative process and I really love. It's very transformational. It's more than writing a book. It literally changes people's lives and for me that is my company but that is not for everybody and there's different reasons that people write books. Sure, okay. So then you get these 200 submissions and you have the idea to start the publishing company. Well, we created an anthology with that. Okay. Yes and it's interesting because at that time, obviously I'm like, who's gonna buy this? I may sell five copies and I don't care. So I put all these beautiful writing into an anthology that became the Latin X poetry project and it has 65 of these poets from all over the United States and because I was producing it and we were in full lockdown I'm like, hello, I don't know if I'm gonna sell anything. So it's like very like, you know, newspaper print kind of more like a booklet than a like actual professional book. We have now over 32 titles. That book is the best seller. I was packing, I think the pandemic over 5,000 copies of that book and I was just going to post office, nobody was there and I was just like taking that there and I was like, it was so, so beautiful. And it just showed me that once again, you know, the power of community and just like how much untapped talent there is out there and unfortunately a lot of people don't have access, you know, in community of color. And I feel like if I had the fortune within my community to already have this platform like my joy really is to just launch the careers of these artists. And it was it all over the country, all over the world that it was selling? And do you think it's, and I imagine these authors were also probably pumping it out, promoting it also. Yes. And it's beautiful. And that probably leads to success, yeah. But they were not like the beauty of this, there were no influencers, you know what I mean? There was like some of them don't even have an Instagram. Some of them open it just to promote the book. I really didn't care and I still don't care. Like some of them have like a hundred followers, but they're brilliant. Like they're better than anything you've ever written, like seen on the commercial side of things, you know? And that's the beauty of it. We talked to one author, Britt Frank, who, when she was talking with her publisher, her publisher basically said like, doesn't matter what platform you're on, you need to pick a platform and develop a following on there because that's the only way that you're ever really gonna get traction as an author. And I was curious if you have any kind of, I know you just said like it doesn't matter if they have a hundred followers or whatever, but are you trying to coach your authors into how to build a following, how to gain an audience so that they can get more traction and therefore like everyone wins? Yeah, so we do that through our platform. That's kind of like the funnel through what everything goes through. You're trying to do that for them. Exactly. Because some of them, quite honestly they're not even interested. Some of them are students doing their MFA programs so some of them are not even interested in that and as we know, social media takes a lot of time. It can, yeah. Yes, and it takes a lot out of your life, but yeah, for those that are open to, we definitely open all those resources, but some people, they're okay. Just being artists and I respect that as well. Where do you wanna take this ultimate? Like how many books do you wanna publish a year? What's sort of the goal? Yes, so since 2020 up to now, we actually have published more Latina books that any event of the big five publishing companies and that's incredible. I mean, we published 32 titles so far and that including our anthologies is like over 160 Latina writers and poets which is incredible and of course, I wanna be out there with the big ones, right? Making a difference. Social impact is definitely something that is on my heart because as a Latina that came here when I was 17 years old with us speaking English and literally doing it all the way through, I really have a soft spot for all the people that come to this country and all that we have to go through to make a name for ourselves and help our families and make a living. So my passion really is that grow it as much as I can so I can obviously help as many people as possible fulfill their dreams. And is a TV film also part of this? Like one of these scripts maybe gets picked up or one of the books gets written into a series or something like that. Is that something you're working on? Yes, we're actually working on a documentary because I have an initiative that I actually started before the pandemic and it's Deligria Mobile Bookstore. So I got an old van. I saw that. Yes. Really cool by the way. So cool. I got like an old van in the valley for like $2,500 and I curated it and incised Instagrammable. So the idea within this is that people connect and I introduce them also to like the books I love reading in Columbia, Latin American classics and stuff like that through a fun, engaging way. And we take these to underserved schools and areas. And this bookstore, I tell you, it got us on like Oprah Magazine. It's been one of the most beautiful initiatives I've done. And to this day actually became part of our nonprofit which is Deligria Mobile Bookstore and Arts Collective. And I want to do a documentary about it. So we're actually shooting it and about the people that impacts and how creative writing really can help people. And like I said, mental health, what I've learned is that, we're in a mental health crisis. There's no surprise to anybody, especially young people. I'm very passionate about helping young people like help them heal through the arts. And creative writing, that's that. Like a lot of the young writers that I have in our collective, I mean, some of them before they start, they're like considering suicide. Some of these have very like deep mental health issues, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression. And when they write their stories, when they actually get to express everything, even journaling, you know, you see the healing that takes place. So I feel like that's the part I'm most passionate about right now because I've seen like the transformation of people in front of my eyes. So it's almost like it helps them deal with their trauma, whatever it might be. 100% yes. And it puts them at ease in some way. It's like sharing their story, I guess, puts them at ease, that's interesting. Yes. When you think about social media today, do you think it sort of, like do you think you can take over the top five somehow by just being better equipped with better tools and like being faster in a changing environment than them? I don't think so just because they have so much money and capital and obviously I'm still a small business. So as we know, all these things cost a lot of money. And of course, like when sometimes they have, some of the like big authors we see on the New York Times bedseller list, which usually are not BIPOC, it's changing slowly, but these books have under them, they have a million dollars in publicity. So it's hard to compete with that because we're very grassroots, right? But I do see one of these big five coming up to us or meeting with them and actually creating something together. I think that would be a beautiful thing and kind of like being able to use their expertise and their resources and me bringing something that I feel so necessary and relevant in today's age. Yeah. And for people that are listening, how can they help you maybe with your nonprofit? What is there, do you take donations? How do you get the word out? Do you have a board? Do you have events? Yes. So we do all of that. Of course, right now we do a lot of the grants, you know, I'm applying for all these grants in the arts. So absolutely, donations will be great and they can find us through everything that we do at Allegria Magazine.com, Allegria Publishing, and we do take like the bookstore to different events throughout the year. So National Poetry Month is coming right now, like April is National Poetry Month, so we're definitely gonna be with the bookstore everywhere and I'm the person to contact. We're always doing stuff and partnerships. When does the documentary, when do you think it'll come out? Probably a year. Yeah. Yes, and the stories are gonna be very, very cool because there's so much talent. If there's one thing to love about LA, it's the talent that you find. And there is an amazing poetry community in Los Angeles and one of my mentors, he is African-American and is the creator of The Sims Library of Poetry in Goldwood. And I have to say he's been a big inspiration because if you're talking about creative writing on poetry and spoken word, the African-American community are the pioneers, they are the ones that literally have taken this art to another level. And I'm very fortunate to have the Hiram Sims, the founder of this library, be my mentor as well. So there is so much out there and what a beautiful way to like, for us to be able to see more of this talent. When it comes to the way you, I guess you view the media and the lack of representation, because I think about it this way. If you focus on that, there's a way of you getting sort of taken away from your talent, right? It's like, just right, just don't worry about that. But is that always something that's top of mind for you? That it's like, we need to get the word out. Do you know what I'm saying? Like instead of focusing on, we're gonna get, we're gonna start working with these Latinx people from all over the world and that's the mission and it's just gonna be like great writing from them versus some people wanna attack like just representation. Do you know what I'm saying? And sometimes I think these two things can, they're actually kind of different. Yes, I think sometimes we get also trapped too much in kind of what we want the world to be, right? That utopia, which, hello, I'm the most idealistic person you'll ever meet. But for me, it's all about action and the only way I can, I mean, I can debate and protest all I want. And yes, I will, when I'm invited to panels and I'm always speaking, you know, advocating for our culture. But the way for me that I can do my part is through action and action is doing this work every day to make sure that more of us are out there and that this work is out there and that people see that we're, you know, we're not what we're put out to be, you know? So I think comes from just doing your part, you know, actions. Sometimes now we get too much caught up in opinions, you know? And at the end of the day, I think that's just making the difference is the action. That's what I totally agree. As a developer, I feel the same way. There's not many Latino developers here I am. It's easy. The podcast, same thing. And it's just like, that's it, that's it. And if people want, like they can assign value to it the way they want, right? And so if you're a Latin American, you see me doing this, oh, that's cool. I look like him. And if you're not, it doesn't really matter. It's the same thing. It's like, oh, that's cool. That's kind of how I look at it. Absolutely. We can all just do the best we can with what we're given, you know, and as long as you're doing that, that's the best. Well, look, how can people support? Where can they buy the books? Anywhere books are sold, you know, Amazon, Barnes & Noble Online, Target Online, and of course, you know, I also, if you go to Allegria Publishing on Instagram, we're very active on Instagram. So if you go to a platform on IG, it definitely takes you to our shop and also to connect with all these creators directly because it's important too. I love to, you know, for most people, they're probably aware of this. But, you know, when you support a creator directly, it's obviously better for them than when you go through another of these big platforms because, you know, there's big commissions. There's commissions there. Yeah, exactly. So always, you know, in general, I think when we're helping independent artists, no matter where they come from, I think if we go to the source, I think it's always better for them. Well, with that in mind, when you set up Allegria Publishing, how did you determine your revenue model? Did you take some inspiration from the Big Five, or did you try and rewrite it completely so that the artists could better benefit? Yes, so it was very important for me that they benefit more than, you know, the traditional model. So there are things as a publisher that you cannot change because that's the way it is in the publishing industry, like the big Amazon's of the world, they just have a model, and me as a publisher, I'm not able to control what they take from us. In that way, in those models, I'm not able to change anything, but what I can change is what I do with them directly. So most publishers across the line would do 10 to 15% to the author, I do 50-50. Oh, wow. Yeah, so that's the way, yes. So that's the way I do it myself, and I think it's, you know, good. That's amazing. Yes. And that's the part I can control, so. 50-50. 50-50. And you're on the platform, that's incredible. Yes. Well, look, this is one of our first podcasts with these wonderful chairs. If anyone's ever looking for a book to read, or a chair to read in. Sunday's furniture. Very nice, I like it, approve, approve. The last ones were plastic, and they would shake all over, they weren't very good, they were kind of like. These are so much easier. They actually have cushion, the other ones did not. No, this is awesome, and your space is beautiful. Thank you. Thank you so much, this is wonderful. Thanks for coming on the podcast. I really appreciate it. Thank you, thank you so much. If you made it this far, I bet you loved the episode. So you should join our YouTube channel membership for only $2.99 a month. This gets you access to one, the whole on a bridge conversation. 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