Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Sustaita-Ruiz.
Angela, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In 2001, I was working for Edelman, a global PR firm in New York that gave me my first break to work with an amazing roster of clients that included Unilever, Kraft Foods, Hershey, Starbucks, Microsoft, and the American Heart Association. It was during my time there that I learned from some of the best in the PR industry, and built long lasting friendships, and business relationships that have carried me until today. Little did I know that my time in that Times Square office would also lead me to my future partner in crime, husband and business partner.
In 2005, Edelman let me relocate to Austin, Texas to be closer to my family and become the agency’s regional director for the multicultural practice. That same year I traveled to Cuba with a group of Americans to build playgrounds around Havana, a wonderful opportunity that really allowed me to get to know its people and history. After returning from Cuba, I was on the phone with an industry colleague — which I had met in NY a couple of years earlier — talking about a work project when I remembered that he was Cuban-American living in Miami. When I told him about my Cuba trip, it extended our call by about an hour and the next thing I knew he was in Austin for a “meeting” he organized just to get to know me. A whirlwind year of dating ensued, and by the end of 2006, I was moving to Miami, and in 2007, we were married in Austin.
It was only after arriving in Miami that I reluctantly became an entrepreneur, and I have to admit that I was terrified. While I continued working with Edelman, I was no longer an employee. I was a consultant which to me meant instability, uncertainty and something that I had no interest in pursuing. As I look back now, I realize that it was the best thing for me and helped to push me out of my comfort zone.
In the summer of 2009, my husband Manny Ruiz, who founded and sold his previous company Hispanic PR Wire to United Business Media/PR Newswire, started talking about creating a Hispanic focused event modeled after South by Southwest (SXSW). He regularly traveled to Austin while were dating and he saw the opportunity to “Hispanicize” an event for the U.S. Hispanic Market that could bring various industries together like SXSW does.
Within a few months, my husband and I had convinced a couple of trusted friends to partner with us to launch the first Hispanicize event in Dallas. The very first event took place in May 2010 as the Hispanic PR & Social Media Marketing Conference, which was later rebranded to Hispanicize. In 2011 we moved the event to Los Angeles, and in 2012 we brought it to Miami where it has been ever since.
As the event was gaining traction, I was still working as a public relations consultant. In 2010, I was in a team planning meeting, and we were trying to figure out how to incorporate Latina bloggers into an upcoming health campaign. We didn’t know any bloggers much less Latina bloggers that covered health-related topics, so we began to research them and recruit them for the campaign. As a direct result of this specific need, my partners and I launched the Latina Mom Bloggers network in 2011 during Hispanicize Los Angeles.
The digital space has evolved significantly since we first started our business, and as entrepreneurs, we had to be able to adapt to the changing needs of the industry, our clients, and the influencer space. A few years later we rebranded our network from Latina Mom Bloggers to DiMe Media, because we wanted a name that was better suited for our growing network. DiMe (which translates to “Tell Me” in Spanish) expanded to include even more Latina moms, Latino dads, Latino celebrities, and a growing roster of Latinx digital content creators that cover food, lifestyle, beauty, travel, finance, tech, entrepreneurship, sports, and comedy.
Over the next several years we made a few acquisitions and expanded our team. In 2017 we continued our transformation by hiring Joe Uva, the former CEO of Univision and Chairman of NBCU Hispanic Enterprises & Content, as the Chairman and CEO of Hispanicize Media Group.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I don’t think that anything worthwhile comes easy, and this is especially true for entrepreneurs. Since we originally founded Hispanicize in July 2009, we’ve had our share of triumphs and struggles along the way. There have been so many lessons about starting and growing a business, but some of the tips I can offer are:
– Understand the type of company or business you want to start: As you begin planning your venture (ideally with a business plan), think about what size company you can be and what is the market opportunity that you are trying to seize. Do you want a small business that you can comfortably live from, or do you want to create a business that will scale nationally or internationally? This is important as it will impact how you set up your business from the beginning.
– Surround yourself with professionals. Aside from recruiting a great team, every business needs to have a knowledgeable accountant and lawyer. Don’t skimp on this because financial and legal mistakes are among the costliest.
– Be prepared for untold sacrifices. When we started our company, we often went months without receiving a paycheck because we were re-investing in our business to keep it growing. It’s important for new entrepreneurs to have resources, and to really understand cash flow and reinvestment principles.
– Gird yourself for the hard work. When you own your own business, you rarely have set hours. You can literally work around the clock, including weekends and holidays — especially at the beginning. Many of our families and friends still have a hard time understanding this, but who else is going to make sure that your projects are running smoothly and that your clients are happy.
– Treat your company’s reputation like currency. Your business reputation is just as important to your company’s success as money. Treat it as such, always.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Hispanicize Media Group – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Hispanicize Media Group (HMG) works with leading brands and advertisers to navigate the rapidly evolving, $1.7 Trillion U.S. Hispanic market. We do this by offering branded media opportunities, brand integrations, celebrity endorsements, digital marketing and paid social campaigns, social influencer, and talent management. HMG also owns and operates the annual Hispanicize Event, the Latino influencer network DiMe Media, digital publishing platforms Hispanic Kitchen, and Latina Moms, and is a strategic investor in AI technology company Nectar9. Recently, HMG entered a partnership with Designated Player, a content production and marketing company founded by Spanish soccer star David Vila, and also formed a joint venture with Silicon Valley-based Fligoo, a big-data and analytics technology enterprise.
The most recognized brand within the HMG portfolio is the annual Hispanicize Event. Now entering its 10th year, the Hispanicize Event is the largest annual event for Latino trendsetters and newsmakers in digital content creation, journalism, marketing, entertainment, and tech entrepreneurship. The events held in Miami (Spring) and Los Angeles (Fall) are a launch pad for creative endeavors, new products, technologies, marketing campaigns, films, books, music and more targeting Latinos in the U.S. and/or Puerto Rico.
The Hispanic Heritage Month Los Angeles edition, presented by Prudential, will take place from October 11-13, 2018 and is expected to attract more than 700 attendees with a combination of industry professionals, senior-level college students and for the first time Latino consumers on Saturday when the agenda is opened for popular influencer Meet & Greets.
Our team is especially proud of our iconic events, and being able to provide our Latino community with a platform to share the stories that are important to them. The events also provide a way for brands to connect directly with Latino consumers through meaningful dialogue and experiential events.
What sets us apart is that HMG was founded by a group of Latino industry thought leaders who are often credited with pioneering the U.S. Hispanic social media industry. Of our six founding partners, five are Latinas who are still very involved in the day-to-day management of the business.
What were you like growing up? Personality wise, interest wise, etc.
I grew up in Waco, Texas as part of a Mexican-American family with a very strong work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit. My family arrived in Texas in the late 1800’s through the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), and I always remember hearing about how they were active in their community and about the small businesses that they ran, from landscaping, to an ice cream cart and restaurants, and even the insurance agency that my Vietnam veteran father owned as I was growing up.
I have fond childhood memories of growing up in a small Texas town with my parents, grandparents, extended family, and friends. I was a bit shy but was always curious about the world around me. I played piano, soccer, was active in my Girl Scouts troop and enjoyed hanging out with neighborhood friends. It was during a couple of those outings with friends that I experienced some racism. While we had many wonderful neighbors, I have memories of a few parents who wouldn’t let me play with their kids or let me into their house because in their eyes my family and I didn’t “belong” in their neighborhood. I felt terrible, and even remember my friends being visibly upset and embarrassed by how their parents treated me. Looking back now, those experiences really helped define who I am today, and how I want to positively impact my community.
As I approached middle school my life changed significantly when my parents got divorced. Shortly after, my grandparents that helped to raise me passed away, and I moved with my then single mom and sister to a completely different part of town and ended up in a new school that I did not like. I didn’t adapt well to so much change in such a short period of time, and as a teen, I rebelled. Fortunately, my family and many wonderful friends that I had at the time helped me get through those difficult teen years. I’ll forever be grateful to them for always seeing in me what I couldn’t always see in myself. I went on to graduate from Baylor University, briefly considered a career in Foreign Service and worked in various jobs until I found my true path in PR and marketing.
I’m proud of my family, and the strong work ethic that they’ve instilled in me, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to be able to share a little about what I do with my daughters. When possible, I try to take them to client events or on business trips to expose them to new experiences and let them see firsthand what it’s like to work as an entrepreneur. They recently traveled to Seattle with me for an influencer event that I managed on behalf of one of our clients. They were assigned simple tasks to help them understand their role as part of a team. I think that these types of experiences along with mentorship helps to pique interest in the opportunities around them while building self-confidence.
Mentorship isn’t only important for our youth, but also as we progress through our careers. I don’t believe that you can ever be too young, or too old to have a mentor. The power of mentorship can have far-reaching benefits. And it can be as simple and informal as occasionally meeting up for a cup of coffee.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2200 NW 2nd Ave, Suite 203, Miami, FL 33127
- Website: https://hispanicizeevent.com/la2018/ and http://hmgmedia.co/
- Email: angela@hmgmedia.co
Image Credit:
Select Images: Be You Images, Simply Lively & Sarah Wolfe
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