What It Actually Costs to Build a Beauty Brand From Scratch

Summary

Podcast Summary: Networth and Chill with Your Rich BFF

Episode Title: What It Actually Costs to Build a Beauty Brand From Scratch
Date: March 11, 2026
Host: Vivian Tu (Your Rich BFF)
Guest: Julisa Prado (Founder, Rizos Curls) with recurring input from co-founder/brother Tony Prado

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the real-world journey, financial sacrifices, and emotional highs and lows of founding a beauty brand, as Vivian Tu interviews Julisa Prado, the founder of Rizos Curls. With warmth, humor, and candor, Julisa and her brother/co-founder Tony detail the nitty-gritty of going from DIY curly hair remedies to running one of America’s top textural haircare brands. They discuss family money mindsets, launching with little capital, the importance of authenticity, and the challenges (and victories) that come with self-funding and scaling up.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Curly Hair Struggle and Julisa’s Early Hustle

• Julisa’s desire to embrace her natural curls and the total lack of effective products for people with curly hair seeded her entrepreneurial journey.

• As a teen, Julisa spent “hundreds, maybe getting close to a thousand” dollars on products. She and Tony recall ordering infomercial gadgets and failed salon treatments for curly hair that “felt like conditioner” and didn’t work.
  [02:10, Julisa]: “I did try a bunch of different things at salons…No, it felt like conditioner.”

• Early money lessons: Growing up in an immigrant family, Julisa was taught to be “very, very risk averse and saving…always save for a rainy day.”
  [04:09, Julisa]: “I was always taught to save at least half of whatever I make.”

• The frugal family resourcefulness, like sneaking food into movie theaters and reusing grocery bags, instilled a strong money consciousness.
  [05:47, Julisa]: “Anywhere we went, whether it was like Disneyland, the movie theater, we were sneaking in food.”

From Personal Remedies to Brand Vision

• Julisa’s initial foray into haircare entailed making kitchen concoctions out of flax seeds and aloe vera, inspired by generational remedies (“remedies and traditions based on natural ingredients”)—not TikTok trends.
  [08:31, Tony]: “How many kids can talk about having parents or grandparents from other countries that come with so many remedies and traditions?” [10:10, Tony]: “I turned to natural ingredients because one, I was used to it, two, I was broke, and three, I always saw it actually working.”

• Julisa was the “curl whisperer” at school, styling and helping people discover their texture in a culture that pushed everyone to straighten their hair:
  [12:13, Julisa]: “I have to walk in like I know I look good. I own this. So I did it. And lo and behold, yes, it changed my life.”

The Decision to Build Rizos Curls (and the Family Dynamic)

• Despite her passion, Julisa pursued the corporate route—full ride to college and business school, corporate roles at PepsiCo and Nestle, which gave her financial security and the confidence to consider the business.

• The seed of Rizos Curls as a “real” business sprouted when Julisa’s DIY concoctions proved inconvenient and her brother Tony (whom she revered as “the answer to everything”) did market research:
  [15:42, Julisa]: “After doing his research, he was like, this is a multibillion dollar industry…There’s literally no brands that are serving this segment.”

• Both siblings agreed to invest “all” of their savings—about $40K each—placing bets on the brand instead of purchasing property:
  [18:32, Vivian]: “Wait, so, okay, let's talk about this. You had $40,000. Tony had $40,000… What was the rationale of, like, let's put all of that into this?"

• Julisa acknowledges having the “parachute” of a supportive family home, emboldening her to risk it all:
  [19:12, Julisa]: “If all else fails and I lose all of my money, I'm just going to live with my parents and have them help me and support me, I guess.”

The Lean Startup: Sacrifices & Grassroots Launch

• To maximize cash for the business, Julisa moved back home and did everything DIY—websites, photos, drawings, even storage in her parents’ backyard.

• The early customer base came from years of Julisa helping people with their hair; “real recognize real” word-of-mouth and genuine community engagement (curl classes, local events) launched Rizos Curls without a marketing budget.
  [25:34, Julisa]: “Those people became, like, bigger than just a customer. They were like our brand ambassadors.”

• Authentic testimonials proved more powerful than paid advertising:
  [26:01, Tony]: "You couldn't pay for that kind of marketing and that kind of just like raw, authentic, genuine, you know, testimonials."

The Rollercoaster: Losses, Setbacks, & Big Wins

• Lowest Moment:
  A truck carrying $100,000 worth of product for a Target PO was stolen. Insurance claims were hellish, and Target still demanded shelves be stocked.
  [32:06, Julisa]: “You're fronting that money. Exactly…it could cost us, I don't know, at least $100,000 to produce that…And it was stolen.” [34:25, Julisa]: “Honestly, like, the CIA should be all women, because the way we were able to find the guy's baby mama, his mom's house… I had all his information. I was ready to pull up on him…I was like, Soprano style.”

• Highest High:
  The first week of launches at both Target and Ulta, Rizos Curls sold out nationwide—and continues to dramatically surpass forecasts with double-digit year-over-year growth.
  [36:26, Julisa]: “At both Target and Ulta…the very first week we launched, we sold out, like, nationwide at both retailers.”

The Reality of the Money

• The business is 100% self-funded and has been profitable since day one—extremely rare for a brand at this scale. Nearly all profits are reinvested:
  [37:48, Julisa]: “So like all of it. So pretty much we are 100% self-funded still…We've been literally just like refueling all of our money back into the business.”

Entrepreneurship, Burnout, and Expanding Capacity

• After eight years, Julisa and Tony are ready to build a bigger executive team—being so hands-on isn’t sustainable forever:
  [41:22, Julisa]: “Eventually my goal…is to be able to have…a little bit more hands off, maybe focus more on just product development.”

Rizos Curls’ Activist Heart and Community Focus

• The brand has always centered and supported immigrant communities. Their recent “United for Immigrants” campaign raised $250,000 for immigrant rights organizations:
  [42:27, Julisa]: “We invited other brands…for a day of unity in support for the immigrant community. And we were able to raise $250,000 that went to immigrant.org.”

• Activism isn’t a trend for Julisa—it’s part of her upbringing and the LA community she comes from.
  [45:27, Julisa]: “The Black Lives Matter founders, they all taught me social activism at my high school.”

• She encourages Latinx entrepreneurs to lead with authenticity and serve their niche—the best way to build an army of true believers:
  [46:47, Julisa]: “Don’t be afraid to be so authentically yourself…If anything, it'll make your niche feel so seen that it then starts attracting other people…”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On risk-taking:
  [04:18, Julisa]: “In order to get money back, you sometimes do have to take some risks.”

• Sacrificing everything:
  [18:32, Julisa]: “So I used it for making hair products.”

• On why launch succeeded:
  [25:34, Julisa]: “Those people became, like, bigger than customers. They were our ambassadors.”

• On lows in entrepreneurship:
  [31:13, Julisa]: “I think being an entrepreneur is one of the most humbling experiences you will ever have. Get very comfortable with feeling like you know nothing and feeling defeated.”

• Hair truck heist:
  [32:27, Vivian]: “Your hair products were hijacked, girl.” [34:46, Julisa]: “I was gonna go with my little taser...like Sopranos style.”

• On sustained hustle and burnout:
  [40:00, Julisa]: “I cannot be this involved in the everyday…We need to have an executive team and it’s time.”

• On feeling rich:
  [48:09, Julisa]: “Yeah, I do. But…I feel rich because my mom…would always tell us like, you are enough…Like you exude love. Like you, you are enough.”

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Timestamps: Key Segments

• 00:00 – 03:17: Julisa’s early struggles as a curly-haired kid, failed products, and frugal family habits
• 04:09 – 10:18: Saving, risk aversion, and DIY roots in immigrant traditions
• 11:27 – 13:51: School “curl whisperer,” the formative power of texture acceptance
• 14:01 – 18:44: From kitchen concoctions to business plan (with Tony’s research confirming the opportunity)
• 18:44 – 19:24: Sacrifices, going all-in with family savings, leveraging the “parachute”
• 23:03 – 25:34: Lean launch, grassroots marketing, “real recognize real” customer ambassadors
• 31:00 – 34:51: Lows of entrepreneurship, including the truck heist and dauntless determination
• 36:26 – 39:45: Highs of sold-out launches and the commitment to keep self-funding
• 40:00 – 41:50: Burnout and building a team to scale sustainably
• 42:27 – 45:27: Rizos Curls’ activist identity, fundraising, and making a difference in the immigrant community
• 46:38 – 48:09: Advice to other Latinx entrepreneurs: specificity, authenticity, and building loyal communities
• 48:09 – 49:06: Julisa’s meaning of wealth and self-worth

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Final Takeaway

This episode gives a raw, detailed playbook for how to build an enduring, mission-driven brand: lean on community, stay frugal and resourceful, lead authentically, and embrace the chaos and humility of entrepreneurship. As Julisa sums up, “I feel rich…because my mom always taught me that I am enough—whether I have everything or nothing.”

For aspiring founders—especially women of color and children of immigrants—this episode is both a masterclass and a shot of unapologetic inspiration.

Transcript

[Julisa Prado]

With my hair down curly, it changed my whole life. Big brands, like, none of them had products for curly hair. I just genuinely did not think that there was a future in my passion when I decided to actually start working on the business and investing on my money. All right, I gotta make some sacrifices. When you get a PO from a big retailer, it's very costly. You're fronting at least $100,000 to produce that. We actually had a truck full of product and it was stolen. You.

[Vivian Tew]

Your hair products were hijacked. What's up, rich friends? Welcome back to another episode of Net Worth and chill with me. Your host, Vivian Tew, AKA your rich BFF and your favorite Wall street girlie. Now, let's cut straight to the chase. I have great hair. I mean, it's just true. People ask me all the time if I have extensions, and honestly, no, this is all natural, baby. But I also have naturally straight, wavy hair. So I can go into any store on any block and find something that's going to work for me. But that's not the case for everyone. Up until pretty recently tried and true curly hair products and regimens were few and far between. Usually only reserved for a small section of a random shelf somewhere in the back of the store. But with her brand, Rizzo's curls, today's guest is creating amazing products for all types of hair textures and curl patterns. Everyone, please welcome Julie Soprato.

[Tony Prado]

Wow, I love that introduction.

[Vivian Tew]

I'm so excited to be with you today. Before we get started, you have stated that when you were younger, you would save up all your money to buy hair products for curly hair. How much do you think you've spent on product before you started your own brand? Port for the show comes from Walmart. Right now, Walmart's dropping prices all over with thousands of rollbacks and more on items across their app and in stores. Items like TVs and mattresses. Because the only thing better than laying in bed watching TV is laying in that bed and watching that TV that you know you got at a great price. That's one way to sleep better at night. You can shop these amazing price drops on the Walmart app online and in stores right now.

[Julisa Prado]

So I was definitely in high school back then in middle school in that during that time. So probably hundreds of mm, maybe getting close to a thousand, which for a

[Tony Prado]

little kid is a lot of money.

[Julisa Prado]

But I would literally buy things off of, like, infomercials.

[Tony Prado]

No, I'm not even kidding. I would, like dial the 1-800-1-800 and I don't know how it would charge us. And my mom would get really upset about it, but I would. I was one of those kids.

[Vivian Tew]

What was the most expensive thing you ever bought and did it actually work?

[Julisa Prado]

So probably most expensive were things at salons. Like, have I booked a treatment or experience for curly hair at the salon? And. No, never, especially back then, because there it was very limited as to what was even offered. Like, even the big, big brands, like, none of them had products for curly hair. Like, the closest thing sometimes was like an oil, which for my hair, it

[Tony Prado]

was just like gonna, like, drink it up in two seconds and just stay frizzy.

[Julisa Prado]

But no, like, I. I did try a bunch of different things at salons

[Tony Prado]

and stores, and it.

[Julisa Prado]

No, it felt like conditioner.

[Vivian Tew]

Can I tell you the most diabolical thing that I bought that didn't work?

[Tony Prado]

What?

[Vivian Tew]

It was this little machine that you would put three strands of your hair and it would braid your hair really, really fast. But if you had even a slight miscalculation of how much hair you put in this thing, your hair would get stuck in this machine and you'd have to cut it out.

[Tony Prado]

I think I remember that.

[Vivian Tew]

You know what I'm talking about.

[Tony Prado]

I know exactly. There are so many infomercially kind of gadgets work that I would. I would use as well.

[Julisa Prado]

It was insane.

[Vivian Tew]

And you mentioned your mom getting really mad about you just randomly buying these

[Julisa Prado]

hair tools off tv.

[Vivian Tew]

Off tv. Randomly. What money lessons did your family teach you? Both positive and negative.

[Julisa Prado]

So I think the money lesson that they taught me that can be viewed as both positive and negative at the same time is saving.

[Vivian Tew]

Ooh. Yeah.

[Julisa Prado]

But, like, to.

[Tony Prado]

But very.

[Julisa Prado]

Being very, very risk averse and saving. Saving, Saving, saving. So I think it's something. I definitely think it's something kind of like, instilled in, like, immigrant children.

[Vivian Tew]

Yeah.

[Tony Prado]

From, like, your immigrant parents, where they're like, saving their money under their mattress and just, like, be very frugal, like, live way below your means.

[Julisa Prado]

You know, always save for a rainy day. So ever since I was a little girl, I was always taught to save at least half of whatever I make. So whether it was like, like birthday money that I received or whatever, I was always, definitely, really encouraged to save, because you never know. You never know. So I think that also instilled in me one good thing, which was to save money. But at the same time, I think it also kind of instilled in me this, like, fear of investing or fear of actually spending it and fear of the unknown. When it comes to money, which I think that is, in order to get money back, you sometimes do have to take some risks.

[Vivian Tew]

Yeah, absolutely. What do you think was one of the most like, frugal things your family did growing up? I'll tell you mine. Okay.

[Julisa Prado]

Oh my God, there's so many.

[Vivian Tew]

Like, my mom used to. You know how when you go to the grocery store and then there's like a produce section.

[Julisa Prado]

Yeah.

[Vivian Tew]

And there's like those kind of like translucent green bags that you're supposed to put your produce in.

[Julisa Prado]

Yeah.

[Vivian Tew]

My mom would get like a bunch of extra and then we would use those bags at home. But I thought, I am pretty confident you're only supposed to be.

[Tony Prado]

Take like one.

[Vivian Tew]

Yes. For your carrots.

[Tony Prado]

For one of my favorites though, which, you know, it is frugal. But now I'm like, oh, I missed those days.

[Julisa Prado]

Was like anywhere we went, whether it was like Disneyland, the movie theater, we were sneaking in food.

[Vivian Tew]

Oh, yeah.

[Tony Prado]

It was like they are not paying for whatever the full price is of whatever that we're going to do.

[Vivian Tew]

22 for chicken. Chicken nuggets. Are you nuts?

[Tony Prado]

Hell no. Exactly. So my mom would pack these like really elaborate like lunches and meals for us or. Or even like when we would go

[Julisa Prado]

to the movie theater and go with like a bunch of our little cousins. It was almost like we had like an assembly line to like make our own burrito.

[Tony Prado]

So we would be like passing like, stop building it as you go in the moment.

[Vivian Tew]

It's so funny.

[Tony Prado]

Yeah. But now as an adult, sometimes I'm like, you know what? Build your own burrito would be real nice right now.

[Vivian Tew]

Yeah. Oh, man. And you mentioned like learning from your family that like saving is great.

[Julisa Prado]

Yeah.

[Vivian Tew]

But it led you to being really risk averse. Talk to me about the decision to start. Rizzos Curls.

[Julisa Prado]

Yeah. So I think that, you know, I'm such a Pisces and I always say that.

[Vivian Tew]

Are you?

[Tony Prado]

I'm such a Pisces in every.

[Vivian Tew]

I wouldn't have guessed that.

[Tony Prado]

Really? Oh, I'm such a Pisces in that. Well, I try.

[Julisa Prado]

I try to have some balance in my life, But I am such a Pisces in the fact that I. I lead with my heart. Like I am somebody that if I don't feel it, if my heart is not in it, it's impossible for me to do anything. And I have to be passionate about whatever it is. So. And I, I'm also a. Because I. I also believe that, you know, whatever makes you Great can also be your weakness, you know, like, both ways. Whatever. My brother especially, he always says, like, your strength is your weakness. Like, it's the same thing. It's just a matter of how you're using that same quality.

[Vivian Tew]

Yeah.

[Julisa Prado]

And for me, that quality is this, like, almost like living in a bubble and creating my own reality and being so laser focused on whatever it is that I'm passionate or into. And I. The reason why, for me, creating resource curls was something that was kind of like on autopilot for me was because I was just doing what I genuinely wanted to at the moment. So I. In high school, for example, like, when I explained I was trying all these different products and nothing really works for my hair. And so I started making my own concoctions, making my own formulas in my kitchen. And it wasn't even. I never thought of it as a business. Like, my brain didn't automatically think there could ever be a business in what I was doing. I was genuinely just trying to just do something for myself. And looking to use natural ingredients was also not something that was, like, rare or weird in my household because just

[Tony Prado]

like, you know, like so many immigrant kids, like, how many, you know, kids can talk about having, you know, parents

[Julisa Prado]

or grandparents from other countries that come with so many remedies and traditions and,

[Tony Prado]

you know, that are based on natural ingredients.

[Julisa Prado]

Like, there's always.

[Tony Prado]

There's always so many little, little, little trinkets that you're like, you take this tea or like your hands are Dr. Cut this, this, this oil, and we're gonna make this hand scrub. And yeah, you know, whatever it is, which I'm sure you can probably.

[Vivian Tew]

Thousand percent. I'm pretty confident. My dad, like, emailed me one time with like, a link of, like, how I should tape onions to my feet if I was getting sick. I'm like, this is the dumbest thing I've ever seen.

[Julisa Prado]

No, no, no.

[Tony Prado]

But tell me why. My grandma had a. So I didn't know this until way later, but.

[Julisa Prado]

So in college, I had a Japanese roommate for four years.

[Tony Prado]

And tell me why a lot of

[Julisa Prado]

her remedies coincided with yours.

[Tony Prado]

With my Mexican grandma remedies. And we were like, wait, maybe they're like, maybe let's try these onions in our socks thing. Because how are like, two people from different continents telling us the same thing?

[Julisa Prado]

So.

[Tony Prado]

So, yeah, so I grew up with a lot of these, These remedies and traditions.

[Julisa Prado]

And it's really interesting because I feel like a lot of people think it's like a new trend of this, like,

[Tony Prado]

organic natural ingredients, like, farm to table. I'm like, actually, it's. It's something that, you know, had those. Those tiktoks that say, tell me something that, you know, was. You see somebody else doing.

[Vivian Tew]

Yeah. Like, my dad was eco friendly before. It was cool because we were just broke. Like, that's what it was, literally.

[Tony Prado]

So, yeah, so I turned to natural ingredients because one, I was used to it, two, I was broke, and three,

[Julisa Prado]

I always saw it actually working. So I was making my own concoctions. And then I remember just, like, boiling flax seeds and making little aloe vera scalp masks and, you know, mixing all these things together. And finally I, you know, found a little mixture of concoctions that worked well on my hair. And I just, like, went to school with my hair down. And back then, I was known as the hair girl. I was always really into hair. I would style people's hair. I would. During homecoming and prom season, I would charge, like, I don't know how.

[Tony Prado]

Like, $6.

[Vivian Tew]

$6? Yeah.

[Tony Prado]

Like, come with me. And my. My brother Tony, who's my. Also my co founder, he was a

[Julisa Prado]

senior when I was a freshman, so a lot of his friends were my clients.

[Tony Prado]

So, yeah.

[Julisa Prado]

So I was always known as a hair girl. And I just remember the first time that I went to school with my hair down, curly. It changed my whole life. That was the turning point of my existence, because I used to wear it up, or so I used to always wear it straight or in a slick back pony or a slick, slick look. And back then, also, it was the early 2000s, you know what I mean?

[Tony Prado]

The flatirons had just come out.

[Julisa Prado]

It was, like, all the rage back then. So that Aaliyah, like, super, super straight hairstyle was really cool. And I went to predominantly black and brown high schools, and those are the neighborhoods that I lived in. And even though the majority of us

[Tony Prado]

had naturally wavy, curly, or coily hair, we were all straightening it. No one was wearing a natural.

[Julisa Prado]

So I just remember that very first day that I wore my hair curly to school. And it took a lot of courage. Cause there was a lot of days where I thought I was gonna do it, and then I ended up putting it back.

[Tony Prado]

I was like, oh, I'm shy.

[Vivian Tew]

I'm embarrassed.

[Julisa Prado]

But the very first day that I did it, I was like, if I'm gonna do it, I have to walk in. Like, I know I look good. Yeah.

[Vivian Tew]

I own this place.

[Julisa Prado]

Like, I own this. So I did it. And lo and behold, yes, it changed my Life. It was a turning point of my entire existence. Like, from that day forward, I began attracting undercover cur people that have naturally curlier, wavy hair, but you would never

[Tony Prado]

know because they always straighten it.

[Julisa Prado]

I just became like the curl whisperer of my school.

[Tony Prado]

And any space that I went into,

[Julisa Prado]

and it's really crazy because I was, you know, doing little curl classes in the bathrooms, helping people with their hair. So many friends that I met, whether it was, like, by going out or at the grocery store or wherever, it was people that I was helping with their hair. But I never thought that that could be a business. I never thought that that's something that I could spend my time on. Like, I went on to work. I went on to. I went to ucla. I went to Wake Forest for business school. While in business school, I was interning for PepsiCo. And then I worked for Nestle. So I was like, on this very corporate route.

[Vivian Tew]

Yeah. And I. I know your mom was loving that.

[Tony Prado]

Yeah, of course, they're like benefits. You get a 401k, a pension, like, oh, my God.

[Julisa Prado]

So I was on a very, very corporate route. And I just genuinely did not think that there was any, like, a future in. In my passion. I just. It didn't even hit.

[Tony Prado]

Hit my light bulb of my brain, you know?

[Julisa Prado]

And I just remember also going to these, like, you know, different talks where, especially in grad school, it's very common for CEOs of, you know, big, huge Fortune 500 brands to come and speak to you. And I remember them talking about finding your passion.

[Tony Prado]

I'm not even kidding.

[Julisa Prado]

In my notebook, I was like, what could my passion be?

[Tony Prado]

And I was like, brainstorming options, and the whole time it's, like, hitting me in my face. But, yeah.

[Vivian Tew]

So what was the turning point that you're like, this can be a business.

[Julisa Prado]

I think it was me getting very frustrated with the fact that my little concoctions would spoil, they would go bad. I would put them in little ziplocs. They were just very inconvenient with my lifestyle. I would have to put him in the fridge. Like, it was hard to replicate. So it was just very inconvenient. And I went to my brother Tony, who, growing up my whole life, I always considered him as, like, the smartest kid ever. Like, I just always like, nobody's smarter than my big brother Tony.

[Tony Prado]

Like, Tony, learn about Albert Einstein or whatever. Really intelligent human in history.

[Julisa Prado]

And I would be like, there's no other smarter than my know it all Scorpio brother.

[Vivian Tew]

That's so funny.

[Tony Prado]

So he's always been very like, oh, like, I don't know, like he just like always had the answer to everything. So I always viewed him as being so incredibly smart.

[Julisa Prado]

And so I took the idea to him. I was like, I'm thinking about making these more professionally my formulas. And I was kind of telling the idea and Tony, somebody who like, I was like, if Tony likes it, he never likes anything like it.

[Vivian Tew]

He's a hater.

[Julisa Prado]

Well, not even that he's a hater.

[Tony Prado]

He just like, it's very hard to impress him.

[Julisa Prado]

To impress him. Exactly. So I just remember sharing that with him. And then he's very like, when you

[Tony Prado]

meet him, he's just very like professional.

[Julisa Prado]

And he's always had this demeanor and he's just like, I'll get back to you in three to five business days.

[Tony Prado]

After I like pitched him my whole little idea.

[Julisa Prado]

And then he did and he did his own market research. And he was just looking at it from a very like, non, emotional, non, you know, passion, because you were the creator.

[Vivian Tew]

But he had to look at it from the numbers.

[Julisa Prado]

From the numbers, exactly. So he looked at the what type of market share there could be, what type of demographic, what, what, how much the industry even is worth. And after doing his research, he was like, this is a multibillion dollar industry. There are, especially back then when we first started, this was over 12 years ago when we were starting to make the formulas. He was like, there's literally no brands that are like, you know, serving this segment, serving this type of hair texture that you are serving that you want to serve. And he came back to me and said, like, this is an amazing idea. I actually think that you need to do this as soon as possible and as like, well as possible. And I want to help you. So that was that. That's all he had to say. I was like, say less, Tony.

[Vivian Tew]

So you decide you want to do as well as possible as soon as possible. Talk to me about the money. It's not free to start a business. It's not free to make products. Like, how much did you start with?

[Julisa Prado]

So at that point, both Tony and I have a corporate background. So I. And you know, really, really blessed that I was just, I was a super, like, I was a super like extra student when I was younger.

[Tony Prado]

Like, I was that kid that applied

[Julisa Prado]

to like every scholarship. I was like, really on top of it. So I had a full ride undergrad and grad school.

[Vivian Tew]

Wow.

[Julisa Prado]

So I didn't have any loans to repay. I had nothing. So when I Started working out of grad school, or in grad school, actually, is when I started working. I. Anything that I made was just in my pocket.

[Vivian Tew]

Yeah.

[Julisa Prado]

And so. So, yeah, so. And I had. I was, you know, brought up with,

[Tony Prado]

you save all your money, live below your means, da, da, da. So.

[Julisa Prado]

And back then, when I was working for Nestle, they also paid for most of my expenses. They paid for my car. They paid for my insurance. My car insurance. They paid for. I had a really great situation. Like, I have no complaints when it came to my corporate, like, jobs. And so did Tony. Tony also, I think at the time, he was either working for Macy's or for Juicy, another big company. And we were both just saving. And I think I had around $40,000 saved at that point. And Tony also had around, like, the same amount saved. And I just remember thinking, like, oh, should I use it as a down payment for maybe getting an apartment? And my parents, of course, are 100%.

[Tony Prado]

I was like, or I could use it to make hair. These hair products. My parents are like, no, it's a terrible idea. Absolutely not. So I used it for making hair products.

[Vivian Tew]

Wait, so, okay, let's talk about this. You had $40,000. Tony had $40,000.

[Julisa Prado]

Yes.

[Vivian Tew]

What was the rationale of, like, let's put all of that into this? We didn't want to be like, hey, we'll put 20 in and then keep the 20 for maybe the apartment.

[Julisa Prado]

So I was. So I also come from a place where I'm very, very, very lucky that at that time, my parents, they own a house. Like, I'm. I'm a very. I'm in a position where if I need to, like, just live with my parents, like, eat their food, like, I'm fine.

[Tony Prado]

You know, Like, I can be, like, there's.

[Julisa Prado]

I'm not gonna be put out on the street or anything.

[Vivian Tew]

You know what I call that? The parachute.

[Julisa Prado]

Yes. I have a parachute. Yeah. I have a foundation where if all else fails and I lose all of my money, like, okay, I'm just going

[Tony Prado]

to live with my parents and, like,

[Julisa Prado]

have them help me and support me, I guess.

[Vivian Tew]

And get another corporate job.

[Julisa Prado]

And get another corporate job. Exactly. And not only that, but, like, I've. You know, I was working as a waitress when I was, like, younger, and, like, I'm not afraid of these, like, side gigs. And, like, I'm. I'm like, you know, I could be a bartender.

[Tony Prado]

I could make my tips. Like, don't trip about me. Like, I'm. I figured out I'm not afraid of.

[Julisa Prado]

Of not having money. Cause I've been there before and I'm like, I don't need a lot to be fine. Like, I don't need a lot of money. And I know how to make money.

[Vivian Tew]

Yeah. So you sink all this money in.

[Julisa Prado]

Yes.

[Vivian Tew]

And don't even call it Julissa's Curls.

[Julisa Prado]

No. So risos means curls in Spanish.

[Vivian Tew]

So it's curls. Curls.

[Julisa Prado]

So it's essentially curls. Curls. It's a little like Spanish lesson, per se, in the name. And there was a line from the movie Selena, Selena Quintanilla.

[Tony Prado]

I have to specify that because now everyone is like, gomez, Selena Gomez. No, she was actually named after the OG Selena. There is a line where she's like. She's so many lines. Actually, the whole movie is about how she's like part of two different cultures

[Julisa Prado]

and her music and her taste, they're kind of a blend of two different worlds, per se. And I was like, oh, my God.

[Tony Prado]

So is Riso's Curls. Riso's Curls is like risos is the

[Julisa Prado]

Spanish side and curls is the English side. So. Yeah.

[Vivian Tew]

You know, it's so funny because I always wondered that. I was like, huh, her last name's not Rizzo? I wonder why. And it's like, I didn't realize it was a Spanish word.

[Tony Prado]

Yeah, yeah.

[Julisa Prado]

And it also just sounds kind of cool.

[Tony Prado]

Like, I feel like a lot of

[Julisa Prado]

people think it's an actual name or something else.

[Vivian Tew]

Like you named it after your grandmother.

[Tony Prado]

Exactly.

[Vivian Tew]

It's technically maybe like the grandmother of Spanish language.

[Tony Prado]

Exactly.

[Julisa Prado]

But yeah, it's just curls. Curls.

[Vivian Tew]

I love that. So you become an entrepreneur.

[Julisa Prado]

Yes.

[Vivian Tew]

Talk to me about the change of that stability. You are working a good corporate job. Not even a regular corporate job. Good corporate job. You're making good money. You can count on that paycheck every two weeks and probably a Christmas bonus.

[Julisa Prado]

Yeah, no, I was making great money.

[Vivian Tew]

Great money. Now all of a sudden you've spent all your money. And that first month you don't even know if you're going to have anything coming in the door. Hi, friends. Quick pause in our show to take a question from my besties. In phone a friend presented by Walmart. Sean asks, what are the easiest ways to save on everyday shopping essentials, groceries, household items, etc. This is such a great question, especially when so many people are feeling the impact of the cost of living increase. Here are a few ways you can save on your daily and weekly shopping. 1. Generic brands are your best friend. That name brand cereal, same factory different box marked up 40%. Store brands are literally the same quality for way less money. It's a no brainer. 2. Curbside pickup is your impulse spending shield. Stores like Walmart allow you to order online for pickup. You stick to your list and avoid those ooh, I need this too. Moments that add up fast. Plus you can easily compare unit prices online to make sure you're getting the best deal per ounce or pound.

[Julisa Prado]

3.

[Vivian Tew]

Use a cashback credit card. Cashback credit cards that give you extra points on groceries are a great way to make sure you're getting free money just for buying stuff you were going to buy anyway. 4. Buy in bulk for things that don't expire. Toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies. Stock up whenever they're on sale. But don't bulk buy fresh stuff unless you're actually going to eat it before it goes bad. You'll just end up wasting money. Saving $20 a week on groceries is over $1,000 a year. That's a vacation, that's an emergency fund. That's options. And having options now, that's rich. Back to our show.

[Tony Prado]

I know I had zero marketing.

[Julisa Prado]

So by the time we, by the

[Tony Prado]

time we actually launched, I had zero marketing dollars. I had moved back in.

[Julisa Prado]

So when, before I launched I was like, I had a, I was living in mid city, an apartment with one of my friends. And before I launched, when I decided to actually start, you know, working on the business and investing on my money, I was like, all right, I gotta make some sacrifices. So I moved back in with my parents. I pretty much was like, I am gonna save every penny that I can. So for a rainy day, literally again

[Tony Prado]

like what my parents taught me.

[Julisa Prado]

And so at that point I was like living with my parents.

[Tony Prado]

We had all of the product like

[Julisa Prado]

it was like pallets worth of it because there's very high minimums when you're first ordering like any lab to you know, ask at least like a thousand units of each. Any SKU that you, that you order.

[Tony Prado]

So these huge pallets are just like in my parents backyard and they're like, what are you gonna do with all this? Like get what, what are we. My mom thought I was gonna be like an Avon lady. She was like making speeches at, she's like, I'm gonna make a speech at the church to try to sell them, put them in my trunk. And I'm like, girl, chill. I was like, chill. So at that point point I was,

[Julisa Prado]

I had already started, you know, making our social media pages and on the social media pages I was mostly just doing general curly hair content. It was in no way viral yet, but it was just people in the community kind of already had built some. I had built some trust around me

[Vivian Tew]

being the curl girl.

[Tony Prado]

The curl. The curl girl, Exactly.

[Julisa Prado]

So when I first. That very first day, mind you, the web, everything was very diy. So when I say we had zero

[Tony Prado]

bargain dollars, like, I mean, we diy, we spent every penny that we.

[Julisa Prado]

We had. The models on my website were my cousins, and I. Tony took most of the photos.

[Tony Prado]

The website was, like, on Shopify. Like, I made it with Tony's help, too.

[Julisa Prado]

I mean, the drawings on the bottle, on the original bottles, my cousin Vanessa,

[Tony Prado]

she drew that by hand.

[Julisa Prado]

I mean, like, everything was the most DIY that you could possibly think of. And so the very first day where I, you know, turned on the. The website, it was insane because. Because I. It was something that I just did not expect, right? So what I did not expect was that the very first day, I just posted that the website was live. We got hundreds of orders that very first week. And those hundreds of orders were people whom I had helped with their hair over the last decade.

[Vivian Tew]

And the girl from the high school bathroom.

[Julisa Prado]

The girl from the high school bathroom. Like, when and in the order, you're able to write a note that says, you're just able to add a note. And when I first got those orders, I was, like, crying, you know, receiving the little Shopify receipts, because people were writing things like, I don't know if you remember me, but we met at the UC student conference in the elevator, and you helped me with my hair, and I've been wearing my hair curly ever since. Or like, I met you at the

[Tony Prado]

club bathroom and you told me what to do with my hair, and I've been wearing my hair curly ever since.

[Julisa Prado]

So it was all of these people whom I had interacted with within the last, like, 15 years of my life. And they became my very first customers because I had already kind of proven myself to them in my knowledge and understanding of curly hair. And those people became, like, bigger than just a customer. They were like our brand ambassadors. They were our spokespeople because they started sharing. Once they actually tried the products, they were just hooked. And even today, when we get so much data about our customers and how people use the products and shop them, our retention is so high, it's way, way above average. Which tells us that once people actually try any of the products, they keep coming back because they love them. So all of those people that were, you Know, I had met and they purchased the product that very first week that I launched the website. They were sharing and, and, and posting about the products like very, like Avon lady, very. You know, it wasn't like they had huge followings, but they had word of mouth. Exactly. It was very word of mouth. They were posting their hair and saying, I met Julisa 10 years ago at the bathroom and she's been helping my hair. She helped me with my hair and I just bought her products and my results. Like it was just in like you couldn't pay for that kind of marketing and that kind of just like raw, authentic, genuine, you know, testimonials. And that's what we had. It was just realness. And I think that that was such a lesson for me because I feel like for, for a lot of people it's fear and this, this fear, failure that keeps you from doing things and this fear of not having enough money to compete with the big conglomerates. And I feel like the lesson that I learned through that process was that real recognize is real. Okay? If people feel something, if they, if they are, even if it's just 100 people, 20 people that you are able to touch and you're able to really influence, you know, their life and, and convince them to be really die hard fans, like that is worth so much more than, than maybe a thousand people that like, maybe you ceded to and like they were very about your product. But those people became like our armies. And so they then convinced other people to be other die hards. And it was almost like we, it was like it became those 20 became hundreds, two hundreds became thousands of these die hard like true believers in our products. And we were doing a lot of events back then. So we launched eight years ago in 2017 and I was doing curl classes and, and all of these different community style events and it was, it was, it was truly, truly amazing. Like every single event that we had, it was like overly sold out or you know, it was always over capacity and it's just never stopped. And eight years later, like I feel so blessed that till this day we, you know, really resonate with the community. Our values are very strong and even in retail, I mean we've been in retail now since, for five years and at Ulta, we're always in the top three bestselling curl creams that they have. We're you know, killing it and you know, all of our different numbers. So it's just such a blessing.

[Vivian Tew]

Yeah. Support for the show comes from Walmart. You already know Walmart. Has low prices. But what if they were to go even lower? It's time to talk about their rollbacks. Right now, Walmart's got thousands of rollbacks and more on items that have been sitting on wish lists for months. You know the ones I'm talking about? Those items you keep bookmarked and every few days you check back in, just waiting for the price to drop. Things like that robo vacuum. You've probably thought about it, you debated it, but now it's at a price where you can feel great making your robovac dreams and come true. Say goodbye to the dust bunnies while you sit back and think about how much you saved. From tech to home to anything at all. You name it, Walmart's got it for way, way less. You can start saving and shop these amazing rollbacks and more right now on the Walmart app, online and in stores. And seriously, those little robot vacuums need a loving home. Oh, I love that. That gave me chills, the way you feel so passionate. I'm going to ask you two questions now. One is an easy one and one is a very hard one. So was there ever a moment that was so down bad that you were like, I don't know if I can keep doing this. And then I want you to tell me your biggest financial or business win. Ooh, okay, so I wanna see the low. Low, and then the high.

[Julisa Prado]

High. Yeah, I think the lows. It's always. There's always lows. Honestly, there's always.

[Vivian Tew]

If Jeff gave me this most passionate speech about it's been an amazing eight years, and then you're like, actually, it's

[Tony Prado]

been an amazing eight years. But don't get it twisted.

[Julisa Prado]

I think being an entrepreneur is one of the most humbling experiences you will ever have.

[Tony Prado]

Like, get very comfortable with feeling like you know nothing and feeling defeated.

[Julisa Prado]

Because that is what entrepreneurship is, is feeling that and being comfortable with that, but being able to pick yourself up and dust it off and be very confident in that. I can. I can stand up from this. Like, I can learn from this. I know how to get out of this. So there's always, always. Every single day there's fires that we have to put out. I think one of them that was really annoying, that my brother probably doesn't want me to tell people, is that.

[Tony Prado]

Is that we actually had a truck

[Julisa Prado]

that was getting delivered big. Mind you, when you get a PO from a big retailer, it takes you a long time, you know, maybe three months to actually turn around and make that product. It's Very costly. So they're not. They haven't paid you yet.

[Vivian Tew]

You're fronting.

[Julisa Prado]

You're fronting that money. Exactly. It could be. It could cost us, I don't know, at least $100,000 to produce that. So we actually had a truck full of product that was being sent to, I believe, Target and they were expecting the product.

[Tony Prado]

You know, they had placed their order

[Julisa Prado]

like three months ago, whatever. And it was stolen. It was stolen.

[Vivian Tew]

Your hair products were hijacked, girl.

[Julisa Prado]

Hijacked. Like straight up Sopranos.

[Tony Prado]

Like, I was like, what is going on? Like, the truck full of all these pallets.

[Julisa Prado]

I'm not even kidding. Exactly.

[Vivian Tew]

I was so confused because it was

[Julisa Prado]

like an underground scheme. It was out of the movies. The whole thing just disappeared.

[Tony Prado]

The truck guy turned off his thing

[Julisa Prado]

and then it was just like, yeah, it was stolen.

[Vivian Tew]

Did you ever find out what happened?

[Julisa Prado]

Kinda, like, we obviously had the police and the insurance and everybody was involved. And granted, like, I didn't know this until later, but, like, I guess insurances

[Tony Prado]

will do everything they can to not pay your insurance in situations.

[Vivian Tew]

No, that's very, very common, by the way.

[Tony Prado]

Like, yeah, I'm a very. Like, so Tony's always almost like seeing the worst in people and then hoping for the best. But I'm always, like, expecting the best in people and then, like, just hoping for the best.

[Vivian Tew]

Yeah, exactly.

[Tony Prado]

So I just never. I. My brain, my little, like, super positive, always, like, always sunshine and butterflies brain just did not think that that is how that industry works.

[Julisa Prado]

Yeah, but.

[Tony Prado]

But yeah, it was.

[Julisa Prado]

It was definitely a pain. And it was, you know, Target's probably like. I mean, any retailer, they're like, okay,

[Tony Prado]

well, we still need product for the shelves.

[Vivian Tew]

Like, like, we don't care if you got wrong.

[Tony Prado]

Are you going to send this to us? Business is business. Like, when are we getting this product? So.

[Julisa Prado]

So, yeah, it was.

[Tony Prado]

It was straight out of like a movie, you know, we're just like, I don't know.

[Julisa Prado]

Like, and then me being again with my Pisces Ness. My Pisces is a gift and a curse. Yes, I can be. I am literally like a phoenix. Like, you know that you're born from the ashes. You're like, well, not even that. Like, you know, I'm like, come off very nerdy and sweet and like. But then when I get mad, I'm like, like, I was doing too much. Like, my brother had to sit me down and be like, yo, Sherlock Holmes. Like, sit down. Like, you're not going after these people. Like, I'm not even kidding.

[Vivian Tew]

Like, not shock Sherlock Holmes. I can't get over that.

[Julisa Prado]

I'm so sorry.

[Tony Prado]

He was like, sit down.

[Julisa Prado]

You have too much to lose. Like, I was like, did it. Honestly, like, the CIA should be all women, because the way we were able to find the guy's baby mama, his mom's house, his.

[Tony Prado]

Like, I had his Facebook.

[Julisa Prado]

I had his. Like, I had all his information. I was ready to pull up on him by my. I was like, I don't care if I got by myself.

[Vivian Tew]

You were gonna pull up and be like, where are my problems?

[Julisa Prado]

Yeah, like, Soprano style. I was gonna go with my little taser.

[Tony Prado]

Yeah.

[Julisa Prado]

Like, you tell.

[Tony Prado]

You give them to me right now. You give me my curl cream right now, or this taser's going up. No, I'm just kidding. Like, I don't know.

[Julisa Prado]

I'm just.

[Tony Prado]

I see red.

[Vivian Tew]

Like, I'm the same way.

[Julisa Prado]

Normal.

[Vivian Tew]

I'm 100% that way.

[Julisa Prado]

Like, I.

[Vivian Tew]

And then I. I also love revenge.

[Tony Prado]

Oh, my God. But I'm too good at it.

[Julisa Prado]

I literally thought of all these scenarios. I was like, I already know I'm gonna get him back.

[Tony Prado]

And my Tony literally had to be like, breathe.

[Vivian Tew]

Like, ma', am, this is not how we do this.

[Tony Prado]

Sit down. Like, you will go to jail. Can you stop being so insane? Just chill. Let me handle it. Which I did. And I'm glad that I listened to him and didn't go full on, Like, I don't know law and order on these people.

[Vivian Tew]

But I'm sure that made you mad.

[Tony Prado]

Yeah, like, I'm insane. Like, I'm so happy and blessed that God doesn't put me into any of these situations that trigger this other side of me, this insane side of me, because it's there. And she sees red and she, like,

[Julisa Prado]

just full blown doesn't look at consequences. Like, there is this.

[Tony Prado]

Like, there was this news story about.

[Julisa Prado]

I guess it was. It was a long time ago, but

[Tony Prado]

it was like some woman that. I guess her husband or somebody who cheated on her, and she, like, jumped

[Julisa Prado]

over a table in public with a

[Tony Prado]

fork and, like, tried to stab him. And I was like. And there was something in there. That she was a Pisces. And I was like, yeah, that tracks. It definitely tracks. So, yeah, I mean, that was a good low.

[Vivian Tew]

But now tell me your highest high.

[Julisa Prado]

Okay. I guess highest high would be at both Target and Ulta, which are two huge retailers. Major retailers, retailers. The very first week that we launched, we sold out, like, nationwide at both retailers.

[Vivian Tew]

No product left.

[Julisa Prado]

Like, literally no product left.

[Vivian Tew]

That's why they were pressing you for the truck.

[Tony Prado]

Yeah, we were like, girl, get this going.

[Julisa Prado]

And at both retailers consistently, we're always performing considerably over forecast. We're constantly having to say like, okay, well that forecast, we think it's too low, bring it up. We can do more, we can do more. And we're double digit growth year over year, just not only hitting our numbers, but considerably surpassing them all the time. And so that's something that, that just makes me really proud and I don't know, it reassures that what we're doing is working, I guess.

[Vivian Tew]

Talk to me about the money you're making. I think there's a lot of people that think that when you are an entrepreneur and then you have such a

[Julisa Prado]

commercial success, it's like money in the bank.

[Vivian Tew]

Yeah, it's like money in the bank. They put that it's $20 for a product, it goes straight in your pocket. Not quite how that works, but talk to me like of the revenue that you guys are making, what percentage is actually being reinvested into the business and what do you actually kind of like get to know?

[Julisa Prado]

So like all of it. So pretty much we are 100% self funded still.

[Vivian Tew]

Yeah.

[Julisa Prado]

Which in a.

[Vivian Tew]

Okay, girly.

[Julisa Prado]

Yeah. Which a business of our scale and of our size, of our, you know, retail distribution, it is very, very rare because it's really, really hard when you have such large orders at a time that you have to, you know, have that enough money in the bank to make the product, you know, send it and wait, you know, sometimes even like six months to get paid for that and keep it going for multiple different retailers at different, multiple pos going on at the same time. So with that said, the reason why we're able to be a self funded business is one, because we've been profitable since day one. We've prioritized profits since the beginning. It wasn't like, I know there's a lot of different businesses out there. Like I think it was like Uber and you know, so many other.

[Vivian Tew]

They're still not profitable.

[Julisa Prado]

Yeah.

[Tony Prado]

That are still not profitable or they

[Julisa Prado]

have like a 10 year, you know, forecast of when they're going to be, when they will be.

[Vivian Tew]

And they just keep raising more money.

[Julisa Prado]

Exactly, they just keep raising more money and they kind of get into this like cycle of it costing. The cost of acquiring a customer is a lot higher than, you know, what they're actually making, etc. Etc. So we did not have that luxury because we were bootstrapping because we were 100 self funded. And because we needed to make money in order to continue growing the business and continue running the business. So we've been literally just like refueling all of our money back into the business. We are an llc, so the way that it. We're still an llc, which the way that it works is like all the money that the business makes at the end of the year, it's essentially viewed as like earnings for the owners. And we just refuel that back into the business and continue just growing it and growing it. So Resells Curls owes me a lot of money,

[Tony Prado]

which, you know, it's cool. And I also have, you know, my

[Julisa Prado]

influencers stuff on the side and I

[Tony Prado]

do like speaking and you know, speaking.

[Vivian Tew]

I was just gonna ask, how do you split your time between like influencer speaking, like being Julisa versus being co founder of Resos Curls.

[Julisa Prado]

So I pretty much give my majority, like most of me to just resource Curls just being. Being like, you know, running a company. But I will say, like, I think that I had a very transparent conversation with Tony, my brother last year, slash earlier this year where I was just like, I can't keep doing this. We need to either raise money, we need to like, we need to figure it out. We need to either hire a bigger team. Like, this is like draining for both him and me. Like, I cannot be this involved in the everyday. Every single little inner workings. Like, we need to have an executive team and it's time, you know, because it's been, you know, eight years and it takes a toll on you, you know, being just girl.

[Vivian Tew]

I know.

[Tony Prado]

Yeah, I'm sure. You know, like, your schedule is insane. So like, it's almost like you put a. Like you've been doing twice as long as me.

[Julisa Prado]

Yeah.

[Tony Prado]

You understand it's not sustainable. You understand it's like, oh, this is

[Julisa Prado]

a lot on me. But you're like, all right, let's see

[Tony Prado]

how long I could like go this hard for.

[Vivian Tew]

Like you take the burnout and you just smother it.

[Tony Prado]

Yeah, you just like smother it down. And people are like, work, life, balance. I'm like, eh, more like trying to do more of things I enjoy and less of things that I don't want to do. So that my whole life is work. But it's like work better. I like to do exactly work that I enjoy.

[Julisa Prado]

Correct. So yeah. So that's kind of like where we are at. And eventually my goal for the business is to be able to have. Be able to be a little bit more hands off. Maybe focus more on just, like, product development and maybe certain part more strategy or whatever other areas and not have to be so involved with every single little detail with both Tony and I.

[Vivian Tew]

Yeah, I love that. And I think that's very, very smart.

[Julisa Prado]

Yeah. And honestly, it's time. It's eight years.

[Vivian Tew]

It's time, girl. Eight years. You paid them dues.

[Tony Prado]

Okay, that baby can run. All right. Hopefully we're gonna need this baby to start pooping by itself.

[Vivian Tew]

So I do wanna talk a little bit about, like, the heart of Riso's curls. You have been very vocal about how this was made by Made for the immigrant community. Like, talk to me about the money you've helped raise. Talk to me about why it's so important to you, especially right now, since there's some pretty scary headlines that we're seeing.

[Julisa Prado]

Yeah. So recently, we did a United for Immigrants initiative where we invited other brands to come together and join us for a day of unity in support for the immigrant community. And we were able to raise $250,000 that went to immigrant.

[Tony Prado]

Org.

[Julisa Prado]

And it's just. It's something that I feel like we've been doing and we've been supporting and we've been very vocal about since the very beginning of the business. Even before that. I remember going to the 2006 big protest. I don't know if you remember, it was, like, to reinstate, like, DACA and like, all of the different programs to allow undocumented students and workers and people to, you know, have rights that they previously didn't have, like having a driver's license or even attending school. So I just remember being a little kid, and, like, I mean, I was a teenager back then, and it being very important to me back then, and it continues to be important to me today. And I think that it's interesting because I feel like people sometimes think, like, oh, this is kind of a new thing that I decided. And it was like, a big decision for us. And I'm like, we've been doing these.

[Tony Prado]

We've been doing these type of events

[Julisa Prado]

since the business first started. And what was it in 2018? I believe we did a similar fundraiser party event where we raised. I think we raised around, like, 60,000 back then. But this is something that I feel like it's just part of who I am, an extension part of the business. And I'm not afraid that it will lead to people not wanting to buy the brand or not wanting to.

[Vivian Tew]

I was just gonna ask support the product. Do you feel like it's A scary time to be like an outspoken Latina founder.

[Julisa Prado]

I mean, I think it is. If you've never been it before, you're not used to it.

[Tony Prado]

But I feel like by this time, people know what time it is with me. It's like, if you, like, you've heard me be like, pro gay rights, pro, like women, pro women's rights, pro. Black people, pro immigrants, pro trans rights, pro.

[Julisa Prado]

You know, I'm just like, I'm from la. Like, come on.

[Tony Prado]

I'm like an LA born and raised

[Julisa Prado]

girl who I think grew up in these black and brown neighborhoods where activism is so intertwined with community work and just community in general. We grew up seeing people and going to school with people that were part of the workers marches supporting field worker rights and so many other types of legislation that helped people feel be more included and be treated with more respect. And also another fun fact, I'm like, activism is so intertwined with the Los Angeles experience that I'm not even kidding. The Black Lives Matter founders, they all taught me social activism at my high school.

[Vivian Tew]

Really?

[Julisa Prado]

Yeah, literally, like Patrisse. And a bunch of the people that I later realized were part of like the Black Lives Matter founding group. They were, they. We had a social activism club in my high school. And like, they taught and they helped us with like, they taught us so much about, like, just social activism in general and life and about, you know,

[Tony Prado]

racial equality and civil rights movement and, you know, just everything that like, you should learn in school.

[Julisa Prado]

But I.

[Tony Prado]

And it's so funny because I didn't realize until later and I'm like, yo, they've really been doing the work because they came to my high school and they came and they did events and taught us all about.

[Julisa Prado]

So long ago.

[Tony Prado]

Yeah, so long ago. Exactly. So, yeah.

[Julisa Prado]

So when people say, like, you know, LA is just Hollywood and LA is so fake and this, I'm like, I don't know, because the real LA is out here standing up for other people and really looking out for each other.

[Vivian Tew]

And fun fact, did you know that the Latino demographic is actually the fastest growing subset of entrepreneurs in America right now?

[Julisa Prado]

I believe it.

[Vivian Tew]

So my question for you is, what is your advice for other Latino. Latino founders and like, what can they do? They want to be like you, girl.

[Julisa Prado]

I would say, don't be afraid to be so authentically yourself because you're not gonna alienate anybody. I feel like my brand and I am such a perfect example that you can lean into what makes you different and what makes you unique and be so Unapologetic about what you love, like what you stand for, what your values are. And it's not gonna alienate anybody. If anything, it'll make your niche be so supportive and feel so, so seen that it then starts attracting other people from that are outside of the niche that wanna try it as well and wanna support as well. But I think sometimes people are afraid to get too niche. And what I tell em I'm like,

[Tony Prado]

all right, the bigger the niche or the bigger demographic that you want to market to, the more money you're gonna need. So if you don' of money, get specific and make sure you target like you know exactly who you are targeting

[Julisa Prado]

and you speak to them so transparently, so authentically so that they become your, you know, your, your biggest supporters.

[Vivian Tew]

That's great advice. And I have one final question for you. Julisa Prado. Do you feel rich?

[Julisa Prado]

Yeah, I do. But what's something that's really interesting? I, yes, I'm Julie Zaprado. Feel rich. But I think that one of the reasons why I feel rich is because my mom, especially ever since we were little kids, she would always tell us like, you are enough. Like if you had nothing, you are so loved, you, you know, you, you are so intelligent, you are so kind, you are, you are love. Like you exude love. Like you, you are enough. Like whether you don't have anything or you do have things that are like material things that people, you know, view as success in this society. She just, she always put that in me and I think till this day she always tells me that. She always tells me, like, no matter where you go, don't forget to bring yourself or you know, just have fun and enjoy it because if, if it doesn't work out, like you're still you, like you're still so special.

[Vivian Tew]

Oh man, I should have interviewed your mom instead, huh?

[Tony Prado]

She would. She, yeah, she probably has a lot to say.

[Vivian Tew]

Thank you so much for joining me.

[Julisa Prado]

Thank you.

[Vivian Tew]

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Net Worth and Chill, part of the Vox Media podcast network. If you like the episode, make sure to leave a rating and review and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Got a burning financial question that you want covered in a future episode? Write to us via podcastorrichbff.com follow Net Worth and Chillpod on Instagram to stay up to date on all podcast related news and you can follow me at your rich BFF for even more financial know how. See you next week.

[Julisa Prado]

Bye.

[Vivian Tew]

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