MILWAUKEE — Latino and Latina-owned small businesses are growing in the U.S.
One organization in Milwaukee is empowering Latinas to grow their own.
The Poderosa Collective (PC) was established in 2022. It is made up of different local groups, including Latinas Connect Milwaukee, HPGM, MiVoz, Botanica Galactica, Mujeron Movement and Mercadera.
Poderosa is Spanish for “powerful.”
The collective’s mission is to embrace and ignite power in Latinas through the creation of supportive spaces. It aims to see these women in the community gather, heal and thrive together.
Esthefanie Lupo is the owner of Lupo Designs and is a member of the PC. She does graphic design. It’s how she creates art and how she thrives as an entrepreneur.
“It started with my grandpa deciding what I wanted to do as a hobby,” said Lupo. “He put an instrument and art in front of me and I chose art.”
Working her 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. job became tiring. That’s when she decided to pursue being a business owner.
“It just became natural for me after my design job is to draw and de-stress and do what I love to do,” she said. “After a while, it eventually got bigger and bigger and I was like, I should probably find one job that I love most and it was Lupo designs.”
She attributes a big part of her inspiration as a business owner to the PC.
Nataly Andrade is also a member of the PC. She’s the co-founder of Mercadera, which was founded to support and connect Latinas in the community.
“It’s very common for Latinas to want to do things on their own, but we become stronger if we all work together and build ourselves off one another,” said Andrade.
Francesca Mayca Wegner is also a founding member of the PC. She’s the President & Chief Possibilities Officer of the Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee (HPGM).
“I was really looking to deepen our impact at HPGM, especially with Latinas in the community,” said Mayca Wegner. “I felt like there was a missing piece of bringing us all together to collaborate more often.”
Mayca Wegner said the group serves as a connector and provides access to resources for Latina-owned businesses and Latina-led organizations.
“One of the things we’re trying to do at HPGM and the Poderosa Collective is increase the access to the resources that entrepreneurs have so that they can grow their businesses,” she said.
She said connection and networking play a major role in the successes of local Latino and Latina organizations and businesses.
As Lupo continues to create art in her unused office space, she’s reflecting and is grateful to be part of a community supporting her business ventures.
“I’ve just been very thankful for their encouragement and positivity of moving forward and doing what they love to do,” said Lupo.
Lupo, Andrade and Mayca Wegner are just three of many “poderosas.” They are sticking together, spreading encouragement and growing the movement.