How Digital Nomads Can Move to Spain in 2025 ft. The First Gen Mentor Gigi Gonzalez [WASHDAY WOOSAH]

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey va fam, Welcome to Brown Ambition. I don't know
if y'all have clocked it, but every Sunday, if you're
listening to the show right now, actually in fact it's Sunday,
it is a very special day. It is a brand
new episode that I have started the past I don't know,
like a few weeks, a couple months now that I've
been doing it. I'm calling it wash Day. Woosah. And now,

(00:26):
if y'all know, wash day is the day. And that
can mean wash your hair, it can mean wash the windowsills.
My mom was always obsessed with washing the windowsills and
all those little nooks and crannies. It was like a
deep clean kind of day. But it's the kind of
episode that I want y'all to listen to while you
are doing some self care, while you are catching up
after a crazy week of work and wifing and partnering

(00:50):
and friending and sistering and daughtering and neighboring and all
the things. It is so much. I'm hoping that these
Sunday episodes would just be a time for you to
unplug a lie little bit and while you are catching up
on some self care or whatever you have to be
doing that, you can be listening to Brown Ambition, get
a little inspo, get some food for the soul and
for the mind. And I'm really really grateful to be

(01:14):
here with my guest for today, friend of the show,
two time Brown and Bull now three time Brown Ambition
guest for a va QA. But we have Giovanna gg
Gonzalez here, aka the first gen Mentor, and she's here.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
What us Hey gg, Hey, Mandy, how are you?

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Don't you just love technology because I just love that
we are in completely different countries and just yeah, we're
making continents, even making a whole episode of Brown Ambition together.
Welcome back to the show.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
What do you do? What's your version of wash day? WUSA?
Do you have a wash day or like a day
of the week that's just about gig.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Since I've moved to Spain, I get that usually Monday
through Friday in the mornings, which is nice.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
Oh. I love that. Yeah, anytime I drop the kids off,
it's like my little WUSAW moment of the week. Unfortunately,
I don't hit a wash day we saw on Sunday
because weekends are like a full contact sport and I'm
just like chasing and running, and I'm like, but but
I am down from Monday through Friday. That's mommy's time, Like,
there's childcare. So you mentioned Spain and I'm getting ahead

(02:28):
of myself because i want bea fan. Reintroduce us to
you to Gigi, the founder of First and Mentor, author,
best selling book author, speaker of financial coach, all the things.
Tell us quickly a little bit about you.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yes, my name is Gigi. It's a common nickname that
my community knows me by on TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn.
And I'm a former investment professional, turn TikToker, financial educator
and author of Gutura and Cash.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Kultura in Cash and Kultura. And it's only a year
and a half old. Don't need to go get your
copy please.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
The audiobook is still too.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
You did an audiobook too.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
I narrated it. Yeah, so when we did our interview
for the launch, it wasn't available yet because I hadn't
narrated it. It's up now, Oh nice.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
So where can you get it?

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Wherever you get your audiobooks, And the same thing for
the physical book wherever you get your books, either on
your local bookstore or the Library, Amazon dot com, Maarnes
and Noble, all.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
Those places, Amazing bookshop dot org. We love them. Support
local bookstores. All right, Well, I know that you randomly
popped into my mind, and that's how you're on the
show right now. I was like, Gigi, I love her.
Why haven't I had her on the show recently? I
did her on the show and thank you for being
down so last minute to come on. But in the

(03:51):
midst of trying to get you on, I find out
you ain't even in this country no more. You're in
a whole different a different continent, as you say, And
I'm like, rat, when did you move to? Because you're
my Chicago girl and you did my favorite thing ever,
which is you're like, yes, life update, here's a podcast episode.
You can listen to this, And I'm like, it's great,
because why don't we all do that for each other.

(04:12):
Just once a month, drop a podcast episode for your
family and friends. Just cut this up, because if you're
trying to rely on the Instagram or TikTok algorithm to
update you and show and like to show me gg content,
it's not happening. I'm getting gardening, I'm getting Nicolandria, I'm
getting that's it, gardening and Nicolandria. But I'm so excited
for you. So this was not an overnight thing. You know,

(04:36):
you didn't just up and move to Spain. You and
your partner move together. But this was years in the
making and it's been part of your financial journey. And
I know there's lots of ba Faan listening who probably
fantasize about living in a different country and you know,
just getting a different culture. And you know, they say
your money goes so much further outside the US. So

(04:57):
bring me to the beginning and tell us all about
the journe me of y'all picking up and moving to
Spain and how you financially planned for that.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
Sure, so the beginning would go back to twenty eight
No Online twenty nineteen. That was when I went back
to my former high school to do a career day
and I spoke to seven classrooms of Algebra one students
and shared with them my career journey right as an

(05:28):
investment professional. I also talked about my college journey. Yeah, no,
it was. It's honestly one of my favorite days of
my whole entire life. I've never felt that I gat
to see. Oh yeah, I highly recommend it for anybody
that hasn't done career day at their former school.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
It was an amazing field, especially those people don't know
how to contact me. I don't know if I want
to go back to my high school.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Well, I reached out to them because I'm still in touch. Yeah,
I'm still in touch with a few of my teachers
through Facebook. So one of my teachers posted, we're looking
at We're looking for any former students if you guys
want to come. And for me, that was really important
for me to do because I come from a cowtown.

(06:10):
It's a small agricultural border town in California, very under resourced, underfunded,
and these kids don't have exposure to many job careers
outside of working for the hospital sector or the medical
field or working in the border patrol because they're right

(06:31):
by the border. So I wanted to expose them to
a career in finance and investments. So AnyWho. All of
that to say is that when I was talking to
the seven classrooms of kids, and this is important because
I said it seven times, I repeated my story seven times.
When I shared my college journey, I told them that
my biggest regret was not studying abroad that the reason

(06:53):
I didn't study abroad was because I didn't have money
to study abroad and pay for that. I was living
off student loans, loans, and I didn't want to have
to take out yet another five to ten thousand for
a fun semester in Spain or wherever I was going
to study abroad, So instead I just stayed at UC
Santa Barbara, and I told the kids. Everybody that I

(07:13):
know that has studied abroad, and even if they've had
to take out loans for it, their face lights up
anytime they talk about that period of their life. So
I'm like, you're you're not going to regret it, just
because of the experience a unique experience it is to
be that age with few responsibilities in a new country. Partying,

(07:34):
yeah all, but I know, right, no responsible fat You're
all cute.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
But I'm just like thinking, like, go get you a
Latin love. I mean, that was my m I was
Latin lover. But go get you a little romance overseas romance.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, So again that was my biggest
regret and I shared that with the kids, and after
that that career day, I was definitely reflect on how
I felt, and I had a moment of woe is
me of like wow, like, well, I'm glad I got
to share this regret with the kids so they can
hopefully avoid it. But what about me is is that

(08:10):
it like I really am not going to get an
opportunity to experience life abroad because I'm past college age
and I'm a you know, mid career professional.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Oh how old are you? You're like thirty two years old?

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Stop it, I am not I look young, but I
am going to be thirty six next month. I'm willing young.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
Thanks think it's young because I'm only thirty seven, so
please we have to be the same age.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, I just I've been around
the block though, you know, so I've yeah, we've been
around the block at this age. So that's when I
started googling ways to still have a broad experience while young.
I didn't want to have to wait until I retire
to be able to do something like that. Yeah, and
I can't hurt yeah yeah, because retirement may not come.

(08:57):
You know a lot of people don't make it. That's
a reality, right, So I googled it, and I came
across this notion of a sabbatical. I say this notion
because in twenty nineteen they weren't common, and now post pandemic,
I think most people know what a sabbatical is. It's
extended time off from work. So in twenty nineteen, after

(09:17):
that career day, was when I had this epiphany of
that's what I want my big financial goal to be.
For other people, right, it's starting a family, buying their
first home, starting a business. Everybody has their own goals, right,
But for me, I really wanted to have the ability
to quit my job and go on a one year sabbatical.

(09:41):
So I started getting all my ducks in the role
and learning about personal finance. That's how I became a
money nerd chasing that dream. And just as I was
two thirds of the way to my savings goal, this
thing called the pandemic happened and all traveling came to
a screeching halt. There was no end in sight of

(10:01):
when the pandemic would end and borders would open. So
instead of using that money for a one year sabbatical,
I used it to start my brand, the First Gen Mentor,
which is what I do now as a content creator
and a financial educator. But now that I've been doing
this for four years. I've gotten my online service based

(10:23):
business in a place where I can take it abroad
with me. So now instead of being able to go
away for a year and have to go back to corporate,
I now can stay here in Spain long term because
I work for myself and I work remotely. So it's
been a long, windy journey, but I'm really happy I
stuck with the goal and you're there on a special

(10:45):
visa that you wouldn't have been able to do if
you had, you know, gone for your sabbatical, because at
the time you didn't.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
You weren't the gig, the first gen mentor a digital
creator and businesswoman. So talk about this visa because I
don't think you even existed back when you first thought
about my being abroad, right.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
No, no, So back then I would have had to,
you know, do like country hopping and because yeah, you're
only allowed to stay for a certain amount of time
based on your passport and based on the country. Your
listeners are smart, so I'm sure they won't be surprised
to know that, yes, you do need visa to stay
long term in certain countries. So yes, back then, nothing

(11:21):
like that existed, and that's one of the good things
of the pandemic that remote work became a more widespread
and with that this digital nomad life as well. So
a lot of countries have taken notes that digital nomads
are typically high skilled professionals that can pay taxes, which

(11:41):
is ultimately why they offer the visa, because they want
to be able to attract those types of people and
have them pour into the local community as well as
pay taxes into the new country.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
What an interesting concept. A country that actually welcomes immigrants
couldn't be America.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
Could be a country I will say tax res. I
will say though this also, you know, yeah, they don't
do it out of the kindness of their heart. Again,
it's all because they're underfunded here with their social security
system and their pension system. And also it's definitely elitist.
I will acknowledge that in the sense that they require

(12:24):
a college education to be able to qualify for this visa.
They require that you have three years work experience in
this particular field. So if you're a new business owner
that just started this a year ago, you still wouldn't
be eligible. So, like I said, there's there's some elitism there.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
Too, and you But now that you're there and you've
had all these qualifications, you had to work with an attorney. Right?
How long was the whole process and how much did
it cost? If anything?

Speaker 2 (12:50):
Sure? I did not have to work with an attorney. Surprisingly,
a lot of people di wyatt. I got a really
good analogy from a Facebook community that I was a
part of. They said, can you change your own car oil?

Speaker 1 (13:03):
Sure?

Speaker 2 (13:04):
Do you want to? No? So that was a big
eye opener for me of like, I am not going
to dihy this. And another big motivator was are you
a night a fiance fan?

Speaker 1 (13:16):
I love that show? Yes?

Speaker 2 (13:18):
Okay, do you remember Geno and Jasmine?

Speaker 1 (13:21):
Wait? No, I don't. I'm bad with their names. What
was their so?

Speaker 2 (13:26):
Jasmine from Panama? They're they're popular. Geno'sone with the hat
and then Jasmin's from Panama Latino, big old lips, big
old booty, big old ass.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
Oh damn, I must be behind. I haven't watched that season.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
Okay, Yeah, they're huge because they've been on a couple
of seasons. So there is anybody that's a regular, they're
probably like screaming right now. They're like, well, how do
you not know? Geno, Jasmin of your name?

Speaker 1 (13:44):
Sorry, I know the family Chantelle. That was the last season.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
I wat, Yes, they're great too, They're great too, Yes, yes,
so so Gino and Jasmine. The reason I bring them
up is because Gino brought Jasmine from Panama and he
was cheap and didn't hire a lawyer, so when he applied,
he forgot to include her children on the visa, and
that was a whole storyline of like, you idiot, now

(14:10):
we have to restart the problem. Yeah. So I saw
that horror story and I said, we're not doing any
of that. We are going to pony up the money
to have an expert help us with this. So we
did hire an attorney. The investment was for two people,
because it was for me and my spouse. I believe
it was a little over three thousand dollars, so not cheap,

(14:33):
not cheap, but not terrible. The rates have gone up,
I'd say, because I know somebody that did this a
couple of years ago and it was only one thousand dollars.
So as more people are looking to migrate, I think
the fees are going up.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
And your husband what does he do?

Speaker 2 (14:51):
He works for an construction consulting company and he does
operation one remotely. He's been with them three years. Yeah, yeah,
so he's fully remote to and luckily, because he does
work for a global company, they do have a Spanish
entity and they allowed him to transfer to Spain to

(15:15):
keep his rolling and all that.

Speaker 1 (15:16):
So that was nice, nice, Okay. And is he neither
one of y'all? I mean, you're a Mexican from Mexican descent,
Mexican American, your husband is he Spanish at all?

Speaker 2 (15:26):
He is? His parents His mom is white like from
England back in the day, and then his father is
like seventh generation Mexican American.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
So yeah, so he'd never learned Spanish because the mom
was a matriarch in the family, so whatever the mom
said went and she didn't learn, she didn't know Spanish.
So there was only English book in the household. So
that's been an adjustment for him for sure, having to
learn Spanish to be in Valencia.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
Heyba, fam we got to take a quick break, pay
some bills and we'll be right back. Well, you also,
I mean, you've been on this journey to improve when
you are you speak Spanish, right, but you know, I
think like a lot of first gen children, you may
not be the kind the level of fluency that you
would like. So are you loving getting to speak You're

(16:22):
you know, so I know it's a different kind of Spanish,
but still speak Spanish every day. How's that going?

Speaker 2 (16:27):
It's going great. Yeah, And for a little context, I
shared my journey to reclaiming Spanish because Spanish was my
first language, like a lot of first gen and then
I learned English later in life, I think at the
age of five or six. The reason I was sharing
that experience online was because I was looking to level
up my professional Spanish. I am. I've tested myself, so

(16:51):
I'm at a C one level. I don't know if
you're familiar with the levels of language proficiencies now, so it's.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
Age Oh I am with my son because he's getting
that kind of assessment in school, but not for another language.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
Nice. Yeah, So the highest level is C two. That's
when you fully like English. Is I'm a C two level, right,
I'm English dominant and then for Spanish I tested at
C one, which is just the one level below completely dominant.

Speaker 1 (17:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, thanks. So that's because again what I'm lacking is
the professional Spanish, the corporate talk or even the personal
finance lingo that we didn't speak in my Mexican household, right,
So where would I ever have learned that? So I
hired a tutor to help me be more comfortable with

(17:39):
what would you would call professional Spanish and not Spanish
from rancho, you know, or whatever we use at home.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
Well, I thought it was amazing. You know, our girl
Janise Torres her book Financially Lit, she did a Spanish
language version of that, and that's not nothing like, that's huge.
It's huge. Do you think there's a Spanish language version
of Cultura and Cash in the future.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, funny that you ask. It's the number one question
my readers ask me. It's definitely a resource that we
need in the community. The English version has been such
a success, and the Spanish version will allow English dominant
readers to help their Spanish dominant parents or other family members.

(18:22):
Understand this because the feedback I've gone is like, great,
now I know what to do with my money, But
if I want to help my mom, I don't know
how to explain interest rate in Spanish or compound interest
in Spanish. So they want the language. So yeah, something
I'm actively working on on trying to secure funding. If
for anybody, I didn't listen to the episode when I
talked about the process of publishing in Cash, I secionally

(18:45):
self published. I did hybrid publishing, so I paid to
have my book published. I did not get a book deal,
so that's why I have to come up with the
money to fund the translation. So that's in the work.
Stay tuned.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
You chose that path, you know, you could have had
a traditional book deal had you wanted, but you were cool.
You got like a grant from TikTok and you did
it on your own, and that's just another path. But
you just let me know. I'll put you onto my
publisher real quick. I'm sure they would make you.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
Yeah, okay, So actually share with you because I think
it's fun to kind of share this of the avenues
I'm exploring to get that translation done.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
Yeah yeah, yeah, So I just sent a newsletter about
this to my email community, so that's why it's super
fresh in my mind. So I said, guys, these are
the avenues I've explored trying to one another grant. Thanks
to Trumpty Dumpty, those grants are more limited now.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
Right, y' know that one?

Speaker 2 (19:41):
Yeah, well, you know I heard Rosie O'Donnell called them
the tangerine Mussolini and I'm like, oh, I love that one.
That one's such a good one.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yes, that's a good one, like disgusting Ben and Jerry's flavor.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
Yeah, because like I feel like orange Cheeto's overplayed, so
tangerine mussolinium like that is.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
Yeah, that's good. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
I like Trumpy Dumpty because he's shaped like Trumpty Dumpty.
So we hopefully we're allowed to body shane Donald.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
Trump only Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell exclusively.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Then yeah right, so yeah, So again, grants aren't as
plentiful as they were in twenty twenty two. When I
won the grant funding to publish the English version. I
also got the interest of a California philanthropist that was
looking to fund the project, but we have it heard back.
And then I also looked into selling ad space. I thought, honestly,

(20:35):
I thought I thought I had I was gonna eat.
I was like, Oh, they're going to jump on this.
People's gonna yeah. I like small business owners. I would want,
you know, a promotion in my very specific book in perpetuity,
not one bite. So I'm like, all right, I'm trying people.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
I'm trying, right, So g having like classified or like
newspaper advertising. I mean that's a that's a dusty old
kind of you know, that's old school.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
Well, the thing is, though, I was again, I have
a very targeted reader because my book isn't for everybody.
It's very much for the first on community. So any
financial planners, any attorneys that are trying to target that person,
it would be a great way to get eyes to
them because those people are already my readers already reach
out to me. Do you have an estate attorney? You

(21:20):
can refer me to a financial planner that is familiar
with first and finances. So there's already that need. But
again there were no how much.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
Would you need to raise? Like, how much would it
actually cost?

Speaker 2 (21:29):
It's actually not that much. It's twenty five thousand dollars. Yeah,
So right now I'm on step four of my attempt,
and that is to go to Eva. So for people
who haven't read the book, I am proud to share
the book was endorsed by Eva Longoria, my lifelong idols.

(21:52):
In my head, in my head, it's one sided. D
She did send me a video you're right, and it
was three minute long videos.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
So yes, someone asked her, do you know d you
do the first inventtor? She would say yes, so.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
Right, and you know she's actually my neighbor too because
she lives in Spain now too so and people with
many people that know me, they're like, did you follow her?

Speaker 1 (22:14):
There?

Speaker 2 (22:14):
You stock her? And I'm like, no, does she really?

Speaker 1 (22:16):
Oh she's just so fucking smart and incredible and I
think y'all would be friends, you know, if she was
anyway so lucky. But go ahead. She endorsed her book.
That's amazing, Thank you.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
Yeah, it's just a matter of time to wave me.
It's just we haven't had the right opportunity. But so
that's right now my fourth attempt, I'm going to pitch
myself to the team and come up with the facts
right of the wins that the English version has had,
and I think right now, at a time when the
Latino community is under attack, I think it might make

(22:47):
sense for somebody like Eva to support a Spanish version
of this book. So I'm really hopeful. Send me all
the good vites for that. My last resort. Yeah, because
people have asked me, why don't you do a Kickstarter,
and I said, do you know how much it takes
a kickstarter? It's a heavy lift, it's a lot of work,

(23:08):
and I know I can probably do it, but again,
I know how much work it is, so I'd rather
just hit up my best deeva and see what we
can do there.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
I mean, also, you're in Spain. Don't they have Spanish
publishers out there who would love to do a personal
finance book.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
That's something that I recently started looking to as well,
And I actually reached out to my publisher to see
if they can connect me in some way. So yes,
I hadn't thought about that till I came here. And
even the translation cost would be a lot cheaper here
than let's say, in the US, because in the US
I was quoted I believe twelve or fifteen thousand, and
here I can probably do it for half of that.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, I mean, I feel like Little Serendipitous is like,
you're literally in Spain now, so go ahead, launch you
a Spanish book, girl, Yes, thank you. So I want
to get back to this new chapter. You've been there
for a couple months now, right, What has surprised do
about living abroad that you didn't expect that maybe you
would miss or something that you don't that you don't have,

(24:06):
or something that you that you love that you didn't
know you'd love, what surprised you.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
So the type a person. I had done a lot
of research, believe it or not, on the culture shocks.
So yeah, I followed a lot of TikTok accounts about yeah,
you know what the big biggest differences in life in
the US versus Spain. So I was already expecting a
lot of them. The one, the biggest one probably that
I wasn't was how credit cards are not used here

(24:35):
like they are in the US. Here people use their
debit card, that's their go to.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
M oh ew, well kind.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
Of it's it's it's been an interesting adjustment, and that
the reason is because I'm assuming that the interest rates
probably aren't very good. I know for a fact that
they don't offer rewards here like they do in the US.
I travel rewards, cash back, that sort of thing, So
I think that plays a big factor. And also a

(25:08):
lot of transactions that are done have to be done
through your Spanish bank account. So for example, when we
set up internet, yeah, when we set up internet, okay,
let's set you up for auto pay. I'm here ready
to give on my credit card to get some points.
You know, I like to travel on points. No, we
need your Spanish bank account. That was jarring.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah, did you have one already? Did you set one
up in advance.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
Or I had to know I how to go back
and do it? Was Yeah, that was very jarring to
know how much they even for my gym membership. Again,
I'm used to charging something like that or my phone bill,
charging that on a credit card and getting points. They said, nope,
we want your bank account information. So that's probably been
the biggest challenge, the biggest challenge, the biggest adjustment, I'd say.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
So there's this idea that in the US, so you
can get so much more for your money outside of
the US. And you were in a pretty expensive city, Chicago.
How's your love Chicago?

Speaker 2 (26:08):
I missed Chicago dearly? You miss it dearly? Yeah? Oh
I love Chicago and I have so many beautiful friends
out there and I can't wait to see them. I
love the city.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
That's so cute. A California girl fell in love with Chicago. Yeah,
do you feel like your money is going further? Like
compare you you were how you were living before, Like
what kind of apartment or house did you have? And
now what can you afford? And you said you're in Valencia.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
Yes, So for people I don't know Valencia, it is
the third largest city in Spain and it is on
the East coast of Spain, right in the middle of
the East coast. And how does my life here compare financially?
I think the biggest one is probably housing. I will

(26:50):
say we were bougie in Chicago because we had been
very frugal in Phoenix before that. Like we talked earlier,
I moved a lot. We like to move and explore
new cities and get settled into new cities. So I
had lived in Phoenix, Arizona for two and a half
years during the pandemic, and that's when I was squirreling

(27:11):
money away for this sabbatical and again we were roughing it.
We're roughing it, so think bear bone expenses for housing everything.
When we finally got our finances to a place where
we felt solid and we moved to Chicago, it was
our biggest city. I'd lived in, La I'd lived in
I mean, you know, it's funny because obviously La is
bigger than Chicago, but Chicago feels bigger to me. I

(27:33):
think probably is the sky, the high rise. This is
probably why. Yeah, yeah, I lived in Pasadena.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
Pardon maybe the people density. Is it?

Speaker 2 (27:42):
Like, the people density so sprawling, it's so spread out. Yeah,
it's so spread out.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
So we really wanted to have the city views and
be downtown, which is expensive, right, So that was a choice.
That was a choice. So yeah, we had a beautiful
two bedroom, two bathroom condo that we rented for three thousands,
seven hundred. People from Chicago are like, girl, you're overpaying.
We know we were overpaying. We had a dormant, all
the works perks, so yeah, yeah, so and you know,

(28:10):
we're child free, we don't have any debt, we don't
have any plans to buy a home, so.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
We don't have to explain that to me. Like I
would do the same thing had I not had these
damn kids, because that's my child's care bill, right, and
then I still got a mark.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
Forever, well forever, Yeah, no, I know. So now that
we've moved here, well, we got to enjoy that beautiful
apartment for two years, and now that we're here, our
rent has reduced significantly. Our rent for our two bedroom,
one half bathroom apartment is one nine hundred euros, So

(28:46):
if I had to do a backland napkin conversion, is
probably two thousand, three hundred dollars. So yeah, probably saving
like fifteen hundred dollars or something by being here. So yeah,
it's and if you and this because I'm in a
bigger city, if I were a little bit out in
the suburbs or a smaller city, you can get a

(29:06):
place for seven hundred euros one thousand euros. But again,
I like the city vibe, so.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, yeah, when it comes to taxes, how does that work?
So you work for US based clients and you're a
small business owner, so you're still reporting your like you're
still estimating your quarterly taxes and then paying to the irs,
right and then but do you pay less taxes working
in Spain? Like is there a tax benefit? And if

(29:35):
you're doing something under the table, I can cut this
part out. It's fine. I'm just curious.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
No, No, So nobody moves to a Western European country
to save money on taxes. Yeah, because of the social
benefits like free healthcare and other where I'm sorry, I'm
blinking on the term like the catch all so safetiness,

(30:01):
social safeness. Yes, because of the social safetiness, it's more expensive.
Taxes are more expensive, so that I'm expecting for my
tax liability to go up. I've only been here two
or three months, so I have yet to see what
that looks like. But yes, I am paying taxes in
both places. I think the most common question here is, oh,

(30:23):
so do you get double tax From what I understand,
and again I'm learning as I go, so you'll have
to interview about this in a year right when I've
been through a tax cycle. But from what I understand
is that the US and Spain has a tax treaty
where they allow you to pay taxes to Spain, and
I should pay taxes to Spain. It's a part of

(30:44):
my visa requirements right for me to pay into the
tax system. I'm using the infrastructure here all thinking all
the benefits of living here. But the US takes into
account how much I have paid to Spain and taxes,
and they deduct that from what I would owe the US.
And because Spanish taxes are typically higher than US taxes,

(31:07):
typically people don't end up owing to the US, because again,
Spanish taxes are higher.

Speaker 1 (31:12):
So now do you have a new accountant a money
team in Spain?

Speaker 2 (31:16):
I do, I do. Yeah, that's been fun ha ha.
And here I'll tell you why, because this is actually
very recent. So as when I started my business in
the US four years ago, I'm sure it was the
same for you, Mandy. Where that first year I didn't
pick quarterly estimated taxes because I didn't know what the

(31:39):
heck I was doing. I don't know how much I
was exactly right, So they really give you a year.
I would say that the IRS gives you a year
and so your business is formed, and then they're like, Okay,
now that you've been doing this for a year, you're
going to start paying quarterly estimated taxes. I come here
thinking it's going to be something similar. Hello, an immigrant,

(32:01):
you know, just got here, right, just got here a
few months ago. Quarter end just happened, right for Q two?
Where's our taxes? We want our taxes? And that really
oh yeah, oh yeah, so yes, And that was.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
A letter in the mail. Is it a knock on
the door? What is it? No?

Speaker 2 (32:21):
So luckily so here it's called the acienda. I call
them the Spanish mob any Spanish people. Obviously I'm saying
this like being funny, right, that's just my personality. But
I say they're the Spanish mob because again, the IRS.
I always thought, like, you don't funk with the irs, right,
like they got al capone. You do not mess with
the irs. I'm learning here you do not mess with

(32:44):
Ocienda Shakira homegirl.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
They were like exactly remember all that.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
Yeah, oh yeah, that happened in Shakira, right. So here, luckily,
I have partnered with an incredible accountant that has been
on my butt about hey, I know you just got here,
but we got to close up your books and you
have to pay your estimated taxes. So we had a
two day wrap around to do that. Yeah, it's it's

(33:11):
it was intense Jesus. So no grace basically no grace
for you immigrants.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
And isn't literally there too, like do you have to Okay?

Speaker 2 (33:20):
Yes, again, if we go back to the reason for
why they're offering the visa and they're being underfunded, they
want to collect that tax revenue. So yeah, they're not
going to wait till year end.

Speaker 1 (33:30):
Yeah, I mean in the US, like you can be
a business but not make any money and they'll just
like let you, you know, do your thing for a while.
But Spain's like, we made sure that we were bringing
in the krem to the krim. Oh yeah, I had.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
To make a certain income threshold.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
If I wasn't profitable, they wouldn't have approved me. Yeah,
so they knew they were getting some tax revenue from
Gigi the first gend Mentor.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
How do food and housing? And like we ve talked
about housing, but like food, you don't have a car,
I'm assuming, but like, how do the other expenses compare
to Chicago?

Speaker 2 (34:02):
I don't have a car yet. I'll a Meghan Markle,
I will, we will have a car eventually.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
Wait, what Megan Markle? What about what about her?

Speaker 2 (34:12):
Meghan Marko? Did that interview with that lady I forget
her name? You know what I'm talking about where she's like,
I don't have a book deal yet the power of yet?
Did you miss that? I'm gonna have to a.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
Blond lady with her? Oh I don't like her. Pot No,
I don't want to listen to her. Talk to your
rich white girlfriends. I was just talking to my friends
at dinner last night. You know, black women and we're like,
why doesn't Megal Meghan have more black women friends? Like
where are we? Why is she going to be these
like rich white ladies.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
Like no, I'm glad you said it. I'm not of
the black community, so I've never dared to say that.
But since you've opened up that can of worms, I've
found that interesting too, that she doesn't really have black friends.
So just an anormation.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
As a mixed girl myself, I can see how she
could end up. But you have to be intentional, you
have to want it, you have to you have to
fly to Miami to the Black a conference.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
She grew up in La.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
There's a lot of people in black women. Her mother's
a black woman. What her mother? Wait? Yeah, wait, completely
unrelated to what we're talking about. Hey, ba fam, we're
gonna take a quick break, pay some bills, and we'll
be right back. All right, ba fam, we're back. What

(35:26):
are the other big expenses?

Speaker 2 (35:29):
Groceries are certainly cheaper. I think my bill because my
husband and I we don't eat together. We eat different things.
He criticizes my cooking, so I'm like, okay, you're on
your own, and that what works for Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Yeah, I made three nails. I'm like one for me,
one for them, one for you.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
That's a lot of yeah, yeah, no, yeah, he's like,
oh I don't like this. Okay, you don't have to
eat it, do your own shopping. So it works for us.
It's worked for us for years. So my my grocery
shopping bill in Chicago was probably like one hundred and
fifty dollars a week. Here I did. The conversion from
yuro to dollar is about ninety bucks. So okay, definitely

(36:09):
a little cheaper, and it's better quality. They don't have Yeah,
they don't have an organic and non organic section. It's
all organic, and it's all fresh, all the stuff you know, Like,
for example, I buy a pack of tortillas here. I'm
used to having a pack of tortillas for two months
in the US. Here, within five days you have to

(36:31):
use them, and you know me being I'm like it's fine.
They don't mean that I tried it and I got sick.
Oh no, So yeah, so the food is very fresh,
no preservative, so that's probably much better for my health.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
Okay, so you as a couple, you don't have children,
how are you getting to know your new city and like,
what's making it feel like home if at all, or
maybe you don't even want it to feel like home,
like it's just where you are now. I don't know,
But what's making it feel good to y'all? How are
you exploring it as a.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
Yeah, so I am very good at moving and finding community.
I'm not worried about that at all. I am not
prioritizing that right now because what's priority is still the
bureaucracy that I have to navigate as a new immigrant.
So it's not just oh, I have my visa, I'm good.
I've had to do a lot of setup with a

(37:23):
city hall and things like that for me to be
quote unquote like legal right and it have my legal
residency here, so I want to get that situated. So
that's been the priority. Once I have my residency card,
then I'll feel more comfortable about going to meetups and
meeting people. I've met a handful of people through introductions
of friends that are like, I know somebody that lives there,

(37:45):
somebody from latinas and tech was like, I know a
couple women in Valencia, let me connect you. So that's
always welcome because it will have something in common that way.
But I'm really excited to get out there soon.

Speaker 1 (37:57):
Okay, I think that's such a good point. Is your
husband the same way? I always wonder because like I
sometimes look at my husband and I'm like, you don't
even know how lucky you are to have a wife
who's making all these connections and relationships that you benefit from.
You know, someone who can, like, who can back us
up if we can't pick up the kids, and like,
forming these relational ties is really important to me, and

(38:20):
it takes intentionality. But is your husband sharing in that,
you know, responsibility?

Speaker 2 (38:25):
So this might be surprising for people that know me.
I'm the traditional Leo through and through Neo Susan.

Speaker 1 (38:33):
Is that why I get you? I was like, maybe
curing one of my LEO sister.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
Yes, yes, so he is high functioning, autistic and very introverted. Yeah,
oh gosh, yeah, here men like this. Why, well, you
know what's funny. It's funny my ex right before him
was a party animal and all he wanted to do
was be with his friends. And that's a big reason

(38:59):
why we broke up up at Michael and then with
my with my husband David, he has no friends. So
it literally went from the one and the spectrum to
the other. I do wish he had a few friends,
you know, to have community and support, but as an
artistic person, he struggles with that. So so it's always
me me. That's how I was in Chicago. I would hey,

(39:20):
hey babe, I'm going out, be back in a few hours. Okay, bye, Wow,
Well I would.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
I just recently did a relationship podcast with a couple
of like relationship experts, and we were talking about that
show Love on the Spectrum. Yeah, and and we were
just talking about being in relationships with like different neurodivergencies
and stuff, and how early in your relationship did y'all
talk about his neurodivergence? He said he was on the spectrum,

(39:46):
but like, how early were y' all discussing that? And
then like when did you, like, how is how was
your journey to like, Okay, I accept this person as
he is. I love him, and I'm going to make
sure that I over index in my relationships outside of this,
because you know, I won't get that necessarily from him.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
Yeah. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed later in life. That was
a challenge for him because he and I'm sure it
happens to a lot of people. I get diagnosed later
in life of like, what so, this is why I'm different, right,
and this is why I've experienced the world differently. And
had I known this, I could have gone tools to
make my life easier. So yeah, he was diagnosed. Yeah, yeah,

(40:28):
and it's you know what's funny. My therapist friend shout
out to Boletta. She's the one that caught it because
I mentioned to her how he doesn't have friends, and
she says, is he is? He on the does he
have the tism? She called it autism for autism, and
I'm like, no, I don't think so, and she says,
you should look into that because that's one of the
indicators when they're not able to form social connections. So

(40:51):
I brought it up to him. At first he was offended.
To be honest, he was offended. He looked into it
and then he's like, wait, this kind of makes sense.
He went through the process. Yeah yeah, and this is
probably about two years ago. At this point we were
already married. So and he got the formal diagnosis that
he's low support is what the word is, low support autistic?

Speaker 1 (41:15):
So oh wow, okay, so that means.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
He's able to hold a job he's able to mask
and communicate, but he rather be by himself.

Speaker 1 (41:25):
Low support in that he doesn't need a lot of
he can get by opposing high functioning.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
Yeah. Yeah, because there's definitely lingo. So I've learned right
now that I'm with him and you're a divergent person
as he's learning that. Yeah, because otherwise it's it's high
functioning or high support. I forget what the word is,
but yeah, basically low support, as he doesn't need too
many tools, where somebody who's nonverbal autistic, right, they need

(41:54):
more support to be able to get through the world.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
Okay, gotcha. Well it's wonderful that he's the open to
like traveling and like you have this adventuresome, adventurous kind
of relationship where you get to reinvent yourselves every couple
of years. There's something really romantic about that.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
Thanks. Yeah, we love it. It works out. We met
on e harmony too, so shout out to e harmony.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
What wait, then, you do sound old. We're not old
enough for e harmony, are we? I mean, I guess
you're still around.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
I was twenty seven, I think twenty seven or twenty eight.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
Well, you've had such a hell of a year my
friend like you went through. I mean, just so much
has happened because, I mean, the last time I was
really in tune with your your updates on social media,
you were dealing with your health situation. You had to
have an urgent hysterectomy. Was that last year?

Speaker 2 (42:44):
No, that was in twenty twenty three.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
Oh okay, it wasn't that long ago. Then, How have
you been healing from that? How are you doing so
much better?

Speaker 2 (42:53):
And honestly, that was my biggest knock on wood. That's
been my biggest health tragedy that I've had, So it
really helped me appreciate my body. Ever since then, I've
never talked bad about my body because now I value
mobility so much after having that C section and not

(43:14):
being able to get up myself. It's also transformed the
way that I approach exercise and nutrition. It's not about
a certain aesthetic or a certain body. It's for longevity
and again mobility. So I'm thankful for that experience in
that sense that it's again I go work out to
be strong and to stay active, not before I'm trying

(43:39):
to get the apps like the girls on Love Island
or whatever. It's not about that anymore?

Speaker 1 (43:43):
Wait, are you Nicolandria hive or no?

Speaker 2 (43:46):
I just started.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
I just started because people tell me, don't get me
a little crapping that window, because I will.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
I live for it.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
I live for Nicolandria. I mean, I don't know, girl,
it's not well. I'm like, yeah, it's a little late
for us, for old married ladies now. But I'm like,
is there like an old married ladies version of that?
I think that's called temptation Island where they bring you
on and they try to get you on your south.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
Yeah you swap yeah, no things.

Speaker 1 (44:14):
Also, I do not want to see myself kiss on.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
On Netflix too. I think have you seen that one?
That one's similar?

Speaker 1 (44:21):
I have not seen it, but I've heard of it.
It sounds real toxic and messy. Maybe I should watch it.
I don't know. I want to wrap up by talking
a little bit about I mean, I mentioned you had
this big year, You've had the health situation, you had
your book, I mean a couple of years, I guess,
and then the book coming out, You've moved to Spain.
How has all of this impacted your business? How's business doing?

(44:43):
And how has your like how far out in your business?
Have you planned for what this means and are you
feeling secure at least for now. I know, as business
owners like nothing ain't ever study one hundred percent, But
how has that been for you?

Speaker 2 (44:57):
That's a great question, great question, and and I actually
was just going to post a reel about this because
part of me working my ass off with my book
launch was to really solidify myself as the go to,
first gen financial educator, and I fully did the work
to do that. Since the book has been out, I've

(45:21):
been invited to stages that I never thought I would
be on right, So that's been incredible. But what hasn't
been as incredible is again Trumpy Dumpty coming into office
and attacking and dismantling Dee and I initiatives and those
budgets being cut. So that's definitely affected my livelihood in

(45:42):
the speaker side of my business, which is frustrating because
again I work so hard for it. I also know
it's needed information in my community. And the fact that
now again the budgets aren't there, it's really frustrating. So
I'm having to go back to basics, which is content.
You know, content is democratized, it's anybody can access it

(46:04):
on social media. So I'm I'm excited, but also honestly
a little intimidated because things have changed a lot since
I started in twenty twenty one. You know, back in
twenty twenty one, it was like the dances and the
finger pointing with the text. That is not the same
social media. So I'm excited to step it up.

Speaker 1 (46:22):
Yeah, it all of us bump.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
Even the editing. Yeah, even the editing style has changed
now there's a lot more like little sounds, the clicking sound,
the bells, kind of like YouTube style. So hut, yeah right,
so so yeah, So business wise, it's fine because again,
our expenses are low, we are frugal with our finances.

(46:50):
We don't have any debt. But but yeah, I do
wonder long term if if this administration and coming in
administrations are the same way, I don't know how sustainable
this kind of work will be. But you know what,
I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that because again,
as a big reason for you being in Spain is
to pursue Spanish citizenship. So I'd love to share this

(47:14):
with your audience. This is something that I had recently learned,
is that if you are a passport holder of a
former Spanish colony, so basically all of Latin America, the Philippines,
some other countries too. Spain lets you apply for citizenship

(47:35):
after two years of legal residency here, as opposed to
ten years. So for example, my husband who just has
a US passport, he would have to wait ten years
of living here legally quote unquote right with the approved
visa for him to be able to qualify for Spanish citizenship.
Where me, I get a fast track for two years

(47:57):
for having a Mexican passport. And once I secure that passport,
guess what, I no longer have to meet a certain
income threshold, and I am basically barista fire. Have you
shared Barista fire with your community?

Speaker 1 (48:13):
What is that?

Speaker 2 (48:14):
Barista fire is when you have put away enough money
in retirement. You invested aggressively when you were young, to
the point where you don't have to contribute anymore, and
you will be fine by the time that you retire
at the traditional age of sixty five. I've done the projections.

(48:35):
If I wait till sixty five, I'll have over three
million dollars. Honestly, I'm not going to wait till sixty five.
I'll probably do it sooner. So I stopped my contributions.
That was a big thing to when coming here to
Spain and why or yeah, why, I feel like that's
a whole other episode again because I reached the milestone

(48:58):
of being Coast fire, or I don't have to do
anymore and I will.

Speaker 1 (49:02):
Still be find your number that you calculated. Okay, gotcha, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:06):
I reached that number, which I'm happy to share. It's
I'm thirty six and that's two hundred k. So I've
I've done the projections and for my needs, for my expenses,
for my lifestyle, that's what works for me.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
Two hundred k per year.

Speaker 2 (49:20):
No, I have two hundred k in my portfolio.

Speaker 1 (49:24):
Oh okay, and so you've stopped and now you're just
gonna let that marinate.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
But a compound, yeah, let it let it grow? Yes
early then girl, look into it. Yeah, I mean it's
it's more feasible than you think. I think a lot
of people just you know, spend consume newest iPhone this
and that, but if you really sit down and do
the numbers, it could be feasible depending on your expenses
and your income. So for me, what Barista Fire is

(49:49):
is again, once you have an off that you no
longer have to be putting away money for retirement. You're
able to have a lifestyle where you can take a
lower paying job so I don't have to be making
six figures because I don't have to worry about contributing
to retirement. I can take a job working at a bakery,
working at a bookstore, just enough to pay me for

(50:10):
my living expenses. And this works also because I have
a fully funded emergency fund. I have no debt, So
there's a lot of other boxes that I've already checked
before you can claim coast fire or burrace the fire.

Speaker 1 (50:24):
You're kind of just like, I mean, that's what a
lot of retirees do. Like they retire, but they don't
want to stop working, so they work at the library
where they volub here. You know. That's see, that's what
I want more of. I want more of people who
are retiring moving abroad. Yeah, people who are like moving abroad,
retiring but actually just like living their lives and then

(50:45):
not turning that into a business that they then have
to run talking about how they retired early, and then
it's like, are you really retired because you be on
that on that machine. I mean like, no shit to
anyone who's living their life, but can someone just be
out they are just like minding their biggest a few girl.
I just want I just want people to just My

(51:08):
ideal is like if I don't have to be on
these internet streets just like putting my business out there
and cutting clips and stuff, like, I want that kind
of retirement And that's my four.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
But you know what, you've been doing this a long time,
so I think that's why you feel that way.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
You know, you're an og, yes and og but then
also like as but it's different. I don't think I'll
ever not want to be sharing and like being involved
with BA fan, but it's about like the choice to
do it rather than like I gotta get on here
and post these goddamn clips and stuff. And not that
I've ever been that great about any kind of like
content commitment and like strata other than putting out the

(51:43):
show every week, year after year after year, seven hundred
and forty five episodes, Thank you very.

Speaker 2 (51:47):
Just that just that me consistency.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
What But to have the freedom to just come on
as you want to and do the things that you
really want to do, it's it's choice. It's to me,
that's the healthiness that I'm going for, is like the
choice to do what moves me. I loved earlier when
you were like thinking about maybe I'll do be an
uber uber eats driver. That could be kind of fun.

Speaker 2 (52:10):
Yeah, well here they do it. They do it in
scooters and like little is that what they're called scooters,
like electric scooters.

Speaker 1 (52:19):
Like a little scooters or like the little motorcycles that
people call scooters, not the motorcycles. So the little ones, oh,
like the ones you stand up on.

Speaker 2 (52:28):
Yes, So when you stand up on that, everybody here
gets around and delivers what they call they are uber eats,
it's called global So they just get some fresh air
riding their little tiny scooters. So to me, I'm like,
that's fun getting to know different neighborhoods. Why not.

Speaker 1 (52:45):
You know, any job can be fun when you don't
have to rely on that as your sole you know,
source of income and livelihood. Like people would be so
much nicer and kinder, and you.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
Are financially secure, right, you're not laying paycheck to paycheck.

Speaker 1 (52:58):
And you know that you could get up and leave
if they weren't treating you right, because like you're not
there for you know that you're not anybody's slave or
anyone's that you know. Well, I'm really excited for this chapter.
Is there anything else we haven't touched on that you
want to share about living abroad in Spain? Anything BA
fan needs to know? Thanks for not gatekeeping Spain by
the way, Portugal has had its time. Let's see what

(53:19):
else is going on in Europe.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think the I think the last
thing I want to touch on is probably the notion
of like expat versus immigrant. I consider myself an immigrant
because I worked with an immigration attorney, not an expat attorney.
So that's something that right now isn't an issue in Spain.

(53:44):
I know in Portugal right there going through their housing
crisis with there's a lot of factors. I haven't felt
that sentiment in Spain yet. I don't know if I
will at some point. I honestly don't care because I
am half Spanish as a Mestizo Mexican. I've done my
my genetics. Yeah I am. My family is from southern

(54:09):
Spain and they're also indigenous from Mexico. So Spain colonized
half of my family. So I am okay with being
here and again I'm creates. Yeah, I'm taking up space.
At first, I was trying to really learn the lingo
to sound more like a local. I said, girl, stop,

(54:30):
they know just from looking at you you're not Spanish.
So for example, here the way that they say, oh,
that's cool, right, So in Mexican Spanish, it's like I
get babre Here they say okay, why and I'm like
it doesn't sound natural, plus not how I grow saying it.
Or you know, somebody, my friend, maybe from South America,
they say, get Chevre, right, get Chevre and and and

(54:51):
here I earlier I went to espresso. Yeah, it's like,
oh that's so cool, that's so cool. Get chev Oh
I don't know they plays go.

Speaker 1 (55:03):
From what I understand, it was something like that. Yeah.
You know, well it wasn't at Barcelona where they were
like water gun they were shooting people with water guns.
But that was more about the tourists and the araban beers, right.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
Yes, I'd love to add context. Yes, so that is
and specifically it's for its anti British tourists because it's
so funny. We as Americans have this view of the
British of like tea and etiquette. And so propa. You know,
apparently what I've heard on these streets is like the

(55:39):
worst of the worst British people go party in Spain
and they trash Spain and that's why there's been a
lot of that, like we don't want these drunk British
people here and so it's that. But also the airbnb
housing crisis, and I mean that's happening in a lot
of a lot of cities, right. It's such a shame
that nobody was able to foresee how that would affect locals.

(56:03):
So yeah, they've gone stricter with the short term housing
because of that.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
And you haven't launched your line of airbnb properties yet, so.

Speaker 2 (56:14):
I will never Yeah, yeah, that is not me, not
at all.

Speaker 1 (56:20):
Well, thanks for giving me one more reason to try
to get my butt back to Spain. I was like you,
I had my honeymoon partially in Barcelona, in Spain and
loved it so much and we have not gotten back yet.
What the heck?

Speaker 2 (56:31):
Who was that?

Speaker 1 (56:34):
Where? Or when? When? Oh? That was I got married
in twenty seventeen.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
Okay, how fun?

Speaker 1 (56:40):
Yeah, And the weirdest thing is I remember a couple
of favorite memories from being in Barcelona was one us
being the Americans who got to dinner at six o'clock
and we're like, there was nobody over there. Yeah, yeah,
and always constantly being asked by the waiters, are you
sure you want that? You sure you want more? I
think you're good, right, that's funny, like stop shaming as

(57:03):
we want more? And I learned that was the first
place I ever tried oat milk. I was like, what
is this an oat milk lot? Before it even came
to the States, but beaut and I had it. I
have not been to Valencia. So you're on the east coast.
What's the vibe? Is it desert there? Is it? What's
the what's the vibe? Like, what's the the not the culture,
the climate.

Speaker 2 (57:23):
Yeah, so it's Mediterranean climate. We're right on the beach.
We are a ten minute drive to the beach, but
still still then basically like think of San Diego, right,
A lot of people compare it to San Diego. So, yeah,
but the heats are in the summer's intense. It's really hot.
It's probably in the nineties low nineties, and air conditioning

(57:47):
isn't as common here. That's rough, you know, because yeah,
because because they.

Speaker 1 (57:52):
Don't think ice cubes, right, they don't be putting ice
in their stuff.

Speaker 2 (57:55):
You asked for it. Yeah, there's things like that that that. Yeah,
you have to kind of get used to it and
go with it and not try to bring America to
hear you know. So that's when people that's when the
locals get upset when oh, speak English to me or
you know, serve me at this time or so. Yeah,
so I've I've For me, it was an easy transition

(58:17):
to go. I used to have dinner in the US
at five thirty because again that's the pace of life
in Chicago, and here we have dinner after eight right now,
I'm probably going to have dinner or at nine thirty.
So and it was something that was easy for me
to get used to because growing up in a Mexican
American household, it's similar. You have dinner, yeah, around eight
or eight thirty. So I'm going back to my roots.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
That's so fun. It's such a fun. But you and
you can if you approach it like it sounds like
you're doing really examining your roots, and like, you know,
I love that. I love the idea that because they
formally colgonize Mexico that you know, it's a small form
of like reparation operation. Yeah exactly. I'm like have anything
like that in Nigeria and Ghana where my people will

(59:02):
come from on the African continent. I don't know. They're like,
we don't know what to do with you girl, because
you got the English side and you have the African side,
like Tketing. Well, thank you so much for joining me
on Brown Ambition and for sharing a part of your
journey with us. It's been really it's been so lovely
to get to catch up with you. And I'm gonna

(59:25):
have to check out your podcast more often. The podcast
what's it called again?

Speaker 2 (59:29):
Just like the book Guldura and Cash and fun yes, fun,
tid bit. I had no plans to launch a podcast.
The reason I had to launch it was because a
copycat who you may know, who will not be named
Boltemore here was trying to come up with the podcast
called Gudura cash Flow, which was very similar to my

(59:50):
established book Guduran Cash. So there was a cease and
desist and I had to launch the podcast for me
to be able to block her from using that as
a podcast name. And fun fact, this was two years
ago and she has yet to launch a podcast. She
just cannot execute. This woman, and I think she's like
getting a regular job again, karmat.

Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
Oh, I need to get this outline, yeahline. That's such
a good testament. Sometimes people are so afraid to talk
about their business out loud because they're afraid someone's gonna
steal their idea. But then you forget a lot of people.
Like you can tell someone you want to invent something
or create a business, but the execution, like if they're
not known to be executing anything, it takes a lot
of work actually, and resources and commitment, and like sometimes

(01:00:33):
there is a bit of a there is to be
cautious about who you open up too, sure, but like
to a certain extent, I'm not that afraid anymore because
I'm like, what do you want to do a Mandy
money Maker's too, Let's see, I'm already doing it. Good luck.

Speaker 2 (01:00:44):
Yeah yeah no. And if somebody's curious, I actually did
spill the tea on this. I never named her, and
I will never name her because I'm not going to
give her a platform or any clout. But it's on
my podcast and cash. The episode is called the Real
Reason I Started a Podcast, and it's from April first,
twenty twenty four. It's one of my most listened to
episodes because people love the tea.

Speaker 1 (01:01:05):
Yeah, we love a little mess. Will be a fam
You know what to do, Go subscribe to Cooldura and cash.
How often are you putting out episodes? Girl?

Speaker 2 (01:01:16):
It's hard. It's honestly, I think podcasting is one of
the hardest things because you have to be consistent. There's
you know, TikTok. You can post whenever you want, whenever
you feel like it, but it's very different. So I
applaud you for being able to do this as long
as you have. You know, my life is still a
little upside down from the big move, but I'm hoping
to get to a weekly consistency.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
Well, you have other income streams and that's fine, that's
good as long as that you know, this isn't.

Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
Monetize, so it's not my priority unfortunately.

Speaker 1 (01:01:45):
Oh hell yeah, then girls, just take your time. But well,
congratulations on the move, and I hope that you still
have fun exploring and working your way till Spanish, till
till you get your Spanish is it citizenship?

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
Yeah, citizenship and then after I so with the citizenship
you can apply for the passport, you have the passport,
and then the big benefit of that too is that
opens up the entire EU to you. Right, so then
if we want to, let's say, move to Italy, then
we again we like to move, we can do that.
If we want to go to the Netherlands, it's we

(01:02:18):
don't want to. We love Spain. We love Spain, but
who knows where we'll be into three years.

Speaker 1 (01:02:22):
But Italy has been calling to you. At least it's
only a train right away.

Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
Girl, They're they're going fascist again, so I don't know,
it's great to visit. Yeah, yeah, it's they're having their
Mussolini two point o over there. So unfortunately that's that's
probably not a place I'll be settling in anytime soon,
but a great place to visit. I will just say, yeah,
a couple of weeks ago and it was hot. It
was hot, but it was amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
Well, good luck with everything, and they'll keep in touch
and follow you everywhere. And Ba Fam, thank you so
much for listening and we will see you next time.
Thanks for joining me for this wash Day WUSA, and
thank you again to Gigi my guest by ba Fam
okay va Fam. Thank you so much for listening to
this week's show. I want to shout out to our

(01:03:05):
production team, Courtney, our editor, Carla, our fearless leader for
idea to launch productions. I want to shout out my
assistant Lauda Escalante and Cameron McNair for helping me put
the show together. It is not a one person project,
as much as I have tried to make it so
these past ten years, I need help y'all, and thank

(01:03:27):
goodness I've been able to put this team around me
to support me on this journey and to y'all bea fam.
I love you so, so so so much. Please rate, review, subscribe,
make sure you signed up to the newsletter to get
all the latest updates on upcoming episodes, our ten year
anniversary celebrations to come, and until next time, talk to

(01:03:48):
you soon via buy

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