Café con Jen
Café con Jen
Julissa Cruz on Starting a Latin Dance Business | Café Con Jen | Episode 1
In this episode, I'm speaking to Julissa Cruz, owner, and founder of Latin Vintage Productions! We cover an array of topics such as starting your own business, family, and dance, and mental health #WEPA Hopefully, we can share a few gems with you! If you want to support Julissa, please consider donating whatever you can to Mom Genes Fight PPD: https://bit.ly/38Bm4tM
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Instagram: @_latinvintage
Personal Instagram: @j_boogie
Transcript: https://bit.ly/2BMAVFL
More on Julissa here :)
Julissa has been training, teaching, coaching, and performing dance for over 20 years. As a child, she would spend hours dancing to videos in front of the television until her Mother enrolled her in dance classes at the age of 9. She would go on to train in jazz, ballet, tap, hip hop, and the Latin dance arts. At the age of 15, she began to combine her passion for dance with a newfound love of teaching at Leggz Dance Academy, first as an assistant teacher and later developing her own youth Hip Hop Program there. Also, Julissa also served as director of the Salsa Heat Professional dance company, directing them for 4 years before venturing out on her own as a solo artist. Julissa has competed as a Professional Salsa soloist at the World Salsa Summit placing 4th, as well as with her same-gender professional partner Melanie Castillo placing 3rd. She is passionate about the creation and development of dancers, as well as creating enthusiasts of art and culture. Julissa continues to be inspired by the integrity of the movement and hopes to share this with others for years to come.
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In today's latest episode we are talking to Julissa Cruz owner and founder of Latin vintage Dance Company. Check it out. Marker. Welcome Julissa, how are you? Good morning.
Julissa Cruz:Good morning.
Jennifer Isabel:Thank you for coming on to Cafe con Jen. I'm starting off with a black coffee. What are you starting off?
Julissa Cruz:Cafe con leche.
Jennifer Isabel:This is a thank you for coming on. And I just wanted to kind of start I don't know if you've seen on the news during this quarantine, where people put up signs outside of their window of something that they may need and don't want to go outside for. Oh, no, I haven't seen that. Yeah, so there was a elderly lady who put up like a sign of like, need more beer. And the community was like this older lady obviously needs more beard. So my question for you is what would your sign read if you were to put it outside
Julissa Cruz:that's a good question. I'm trying to think what I would need I don't know that it would be something physical like an actual objects of some sort there's not a physical need for anything I guess if I had to it would probably be I had to pick something physical would probably be more bread as we go through bread like it's insane You know, my kids love bread or need more fruit. Because fruit is few and far between nowadays and it's like super expensive, but but that's probably it. But other than that, physical needs and there's nothing really that is a need. I mean, there's wants obviously, but need no. Plus we're at the gross. We have so many people in this house, that we're Like constantly But yeah, I think
Jennifer Isabel:you know so is it a specific type of writer just like regular white all
Julissa Cruz:times all right you don't have a bread we have regular honey we have the French bread especially the ones that like those baguettes that you hear them crunch. Yeah, once the rolls we have like certain types of bread that you use for so many different things hotdogs and burgers, we eat a lot of bread, which is probably not the best thing but it's the one thing we can't give up yet. We
Jennifer Isabel:just gotta you gotta live your life. You gotta have a balance of like the good and the bad.
Julissa Cruz:Yeah, for sure.
Jennifer Isabel:So I kind of I so transitioning into that. Can you? Would you give the audience a background of like, what was your first experience and dance like what? What inspired What inspired you to pursue it to the longevity of where you're a business owner and dance well
Julissa Cruz:My first I guess, formal experience in dance was when I when we took classes, classes when I was like 10 I signed up for a studio. My mom signed me up for a studio. That's probably the first formal experience I've had in dance. But I don't know, I think I think just watching things like watching Broadway shows or music videos and stuff like that, and still that or just being around the house we always have musically. So I think I always just had found a joy in it that I didn't find in just regular going outside or doing things like that. So just having music brought me joy. Um, and I think that just inspired me to want to get into dance in general. So when I got into dance, I was 10 and I started off with jazz and and we did like competitions. I was part of a studio company addition, a competitive studio. And it was just one of those things that you had to work hard for. And there was always like this end result, right? Like, oh, I worked hard for, for a certain period of time. And then I did this competition. And then we got this award. And it was like, it felt. It feels simple, like math, right? Like I used to want to major in math because I was like, there's always an answer. You know, two plus two is always going to be for you know, like, I don't want like these these shades of gray. I just wanted to be like this. So with dance, I always felt if you work hard, you're going to be good. Like, if if I work on this double turn, I'm going to get this double turn by the end of the year, or if I work on this money, get this. It didn't become free movement until I got older and dance and I was like, Oh, it's super interpretive. It's nothing like math. But But um, so yeah, so I went through studio classes, and then I didn't get like, I wasn't introduced to formal training, so to speak until I was about nine 1918 when you know when you were allowed to go to the club, as a person in Florida, so that's when I started to see Oh, people like put their arm up on a certain count or like, they turn on a certain count. Like, I didn't really think of it that way. Because when you grow up doing it in your house, you're just not gonna see now like, you're not counting, you're not thinking about anything. So then I realized, oh, okay, this is like, man, like, this has a purpose. Like you have to prep on this thing. You have to put your arm out. So then I went into that, and I, I was fascinated with the fact that it it was so relatable to all the other training I've had like jazz and ballet. Oh, it has a count. It has a it has a technique. It has this. So I'd like that portion of it. But then like the rest of it, as as much as I learned then I was like, Oh, wait, it's also interpretive. So it's like this, like this balance right? of back and forth between it and I think I just as I grew inside OSI in Latin form, and then with my partner when I got my partner, the more interpretive I became the more connected to the other dance forms. So it just started to blur the lines. And I really enjoyed that. And I enjoyed seeing when others would watch like when others would watch performances or things like that. I felt like people found the joy like I was able to give the joy that I was now receiving. So I think and I have been teaching like other forms. So when I started teaching, when I moved to Virginia, I wanted to become a teacher of that and now bring that joy to other adults right because not that I mean, kids do it but where we were it was more of an adult dance form a social dance form for doing satisfaction out to all these all these other things were more for adults. So I was now a young adult and I wanted to to get my experience in teaching other adults to bring that joy to bring that balance between the technique and the the interpretive into now movement that you can enjoy through your adulthood. So I think that's why I always thought that I was going to own a dance studio because I loved being in a dance studio all my life. I never thought that it would be like a Latin dance studio. I always thought it was just gonna be like a regular, you know, like kids three and up, you know, like, jazz ballet tap, you know, because that's what I did all my life. Like I just saw myself always doing that because I love being part of it. So it was interesting when I grew as an adult and I was like, Oh, I can I can do this sunset until this day. I'm still like, I can't believe I just went like, all Latin. Like, it's so interesting. But as I grew older, I was like, Latin is still interpretive like you can, it's still a form of movement. Like sometimes I used to always feel I can only do 12356712 the rising seven until I started teaching other adults and realizing that they need Did this you know, this this movement in between those counts? And, and it just inspired me to keep going and start this business and try to teach other people why I loved it so much and why I had this balance between counts and non counts and just expression. So I started Latin vintage, because I want I had really nothing else to do when I moved to Virginia, you know, I knew absolutely no one, you know, it was just I was just, we wouldn't I was a newlywed. So I was like, Okay, I can't be home all day long. With my new spouse, like, I need something to do I need to move I need to dance I need to like find my voice as a young adult as a young wife as a you know, like, and my husband didn't dance at the time. So then it was like okay, we'll kill two birds with one stone. Let's put them together. Now. I need you to learn how to dance. So it was a lot of starting Latin vintage was a lot of different, different crossroads in my adulthood. So like the business portion was a crossroad. interpreting that with who I was as an adult, like as a young adult, I was like 25 at the time. So you know, 25 year olds absolutely don't know anything about life.
Jennifer Isabel:So just like I can attest to that,
Julissa Cruz:yeah. 25 is like, now I'm 36. And I'm like, Whoa, what was I thinking?
Jennifer Isabel:So I think it was just a learning experience. And I think that, um, that I just wanted to do it, because I always feel like I feel the need to grow personally. So I think all these experiences make me grow as a as a person as a wife, but they're all interrelated. So I think I just went that route. When I went to open up a business, I felt like it was a grown person thing to do, and I want To be official, you know, I didn't want it to be like this thing I just do on the side. Like I wanted it to hold weight and to hold value for me and so that when people saw it, they knew it was valuable to me and it held weight for them at that point. Yeah, like I always felt like the business route and opening that vintage was the way I could I could share that value and prove that value that I had for it to a certain extent. Well, that that's amazing. I'm hearing you speak it I didn't I didn't really recognize that you that you opened up your studio before you became a mom.
Julissa Cruz:Yes.
Jennifer Isabel:So now I'm just curious how you haven't a business well, actually before that before we touch into how that transition into balancing all aspects of your life. How did you get started in opening the business I feel like as a as a Latin dancer, and being in a circle with other of my with my peers. Sometimes it's really hard to understand, okay? I'm a professional dancer, I travel across many congresses, I'm getting all this income, sometimes cash sometimes check, not really knowing how to kind of validate it kind of like solidify. professionalize it? Yes. What kind of mentorship or what kind of resources you have when you open up your business to help you incorporate and that like really professionalize your business.
Julissa Cruz:So I had a few friends that were that I used to be like, you you're the smartest friends I have. So I'm gonna ask you all my questions. I had a I had a friend who was in Florida, his name is Neil Emilio and he had done we had done a project together he had written a play, and it was about satisfy and it was a fictional play like, it wasn't about the history of scientists or anything like that. It was just you know, people go to see it was about a kid who was growing up and wanted to be a professional salsa dancer and I had worked with him on different projects like he Did a reality show? When I was with salsa he called Making the team so I had different projects. So I always was like, if I have any, like real questions I'm gonna call. So when I got to Virginia, I called them and I was like, Listen, I think I want to, like, make this official, you know, like, I want to go the official route and have like, the studio. I mean, I don't have money like that, you know, because I'm like a newlywed. We had just moved to Richmond, it was my husband's first facility. He's an air traffic controller. So we basically didn't choose where we were going, we were just going to Richmond. So I was like, I want to have something that I can create that will be mine. And that'll be, you know, for the years to come. So he was like, yeah, you know, you should do this, like, what do you what do you want is your future, you know, like, he sent me a bunch of websites about businesses, as far as to know if I wanted to do like, an LLC, like different things like that right and what I needed to do If I was going to be a single and you know, like a single entity, like, we talked about name, the importance of the name, and things like that. So the official name of the business is Latin vintage productions because I always visualize in the future that there would be other things underneath it. And that would be like the umbrella name, right. So Latin vintage productions was the umbrella name of other things that I could put underneath it. Like my event that came later was Buddha vintage came under, underneath it. My husband has a photography company that he put that he put together, it's underneath it, it's instant vintage. So all these different things built on this idea, this main idea, so he helped me really figure that out, like figure out where I wanted to be longevity with this like, which also made me feel okay, I have to commit to this, this isn't like this, this whim that I'm just gonna be like, I'm gonna just put it dance company together and it's going to be great. And that's it and then two years later, it's nothing You know, so I had to really think, okay, if I'm getting This far ahead and in the future, then I really have to commit to all the steps I have to commit to the hard work of it. So I started off with just getting, you know, my, my Corporation, my LLC. And you know, I just asked them, I asked a lot of questions. I'm just like, Okay, what are you doing next? So I was always at the like, the City Court or whatever in Richmond, trying to file paperwork, trying to get my Ei in, and then I would look for a space because I'm like, I'm not I can't afford again, I'm poor. At that point, you know, I'm 25. So I'm like, I need I need to find a space to rent. Okay, where do I want to space so I want a dance studio. Most dance studios don't run out to other businesses unless you are coming in, coming under their umbrella, you know, and I wanted to be self you know, like by myself, so I found a space. It was literally like a warehouse. It had like concrete, not even smooth floors. It was like this, but it was like a mom and pop space and they had like, our like gallery on top. And it was like a family of musicians. It was like a mom and dad, musician and all their kids played Brazilian instruments. So there was always instruments in the space. And it was like, it felt like it felt vintagey and different and like, Okay, this could be something great. So I started there, and I was there for like, three years. And you'd be amazed because I would always thought, I don't know if this law is gonna work for Dan shoes is like, people didn't care, they would have a pair of shoes. And it was straight up on concrete, you know, like when nothing when no one was teaching classes like that in Richmond to that extent, you know, and, and I would call my first my, my partners in celsa heat that I used to have like some of my male team members. And I would be like, okay, so I want to start a syllabus, like I want to make it official. So I'm going to have this and this and this. I'm level one. And this is what I want to have a level two. Does that make sense? And at that point, I hadn't really taught a lot of leading. I did a lot of following and so I hadn't really taught so it was a teaching. If For me too, because I don't have anyone physically here. So I would be on the phone and they would be like, okay, so your left foot step forward on the one, and then as you pivot, like they're breaking it down, and I'm like, Alright, so what do I do with my hand? You know, like, I'm learning through, we didn't have zoom back. No. So I'm like, I'm trying to visualize everything. So I had to create this syllabus. And, you know, I had to think of a logo and and it's a lot of different steps, you know, that you at the beginning, you don't have to start with any of those steps. You just need to start with your LLC and just find a space and start and start promoting yourself and going out and talking to people and letting them know what your your vision is, you know, selling your vision and your motivations to other people. So they can be like, Oh, that's pretty cool. Let me come to see your class. So in the beginning, it wasn't much but there was always like this timeline or this, this list of things that I wanted to make sure I got like we didn't have teachers in the beginning. I just bought everyone like red polos. Like I went to. I don't know, maybe everybody had the same red polos, you know? And then when we got our logo, I was asking people, okay, does anyone know how to make t shirts I didn't go to like a T shirt company. I went to like, this barber who like made t shirts. It is hard. And when I went over there, they were printed on like, these highlighter orange things and I was like, Oh my god, they're so bright. Right? Not gonna look good on every kit, but I was like, we're gonna roll with it. So we were like, these are caution orange. So everyone everyone knew they were like all those orange people from Richmond. So it was like a learning process, you know? And then you go through like rebranding and reorganizing your syllabus and your structure because once people get through through the whole thing, you're like, Okay, that maybe that was too easy. We got it. So it's a it's a long experience. But I would say that the the very beginnings are super simple. You know what I mean? Like, I think people think Want to open a business but there's so many so many things on the checklist to do and there really isn't, you know, especially if it's just you by yourself, you know, like, unless you're trying to hire employees, which, obviously, you can always go into that later as you start, but I would suggest anyone to just start, you know, just open up your LLC and habit and just and just start simple. You know, it doesn't take a lot. Again, I didn't have a lot, I actually started working at Red Lobster, because I was like, I need some money to pay for this rent.
Jennifer Isabel:Wow.
Julissa Cruz:So I started working at Red Lobster, and which I had never been a waitress of any kind, but I'm the type of person that I'll get any job as long as it pays me money. I'm like, I need to work. Okay, let's go. Let's see who's hiring. You know, it's not. So I worked every lapses you're trying to pay for my hobby of dance at that point, you know, for my dreams. So I've had a lot of odd jobs just to support the business because it was my firstborn. You know, so So yeah, so that I that was like three years before I even three years. Basically I started in oh nine, the business oh nine. So yeah three years, three years before I even had a child. So it was just my me my husband and our firstborn Latin vintage.
Jennifer Isabel:So you and you, hearing you speak speaks volumes of how brave I think sometimes in my network of peers. This mentality of just starting of just doing it and is holds them back because they could have a plan they have like, they already have their logo, they already have their name, they have all of these things, but it just never comes into fruition because of fear. And you speak with I just feel like all the bravery and the confidence in your voice. And I guess my next question is, is how did you step into the role of being a mom with that same question. It ends with that same bravery. Knowing again, that's it's a first time experience. Yeah. And having a business. Yeah.
Julissa Cruz:So when I will again, it was probably like three years after when my first child was born. But it was one of those things because I had opened up Latin vintage, I met a lot of people so those students eventually became like my family, you know, like they were like, everything to us at that time as a couple because we had no actual family in Richmond so Richmond became our home and those extended students and people that eventually would teach for us or you know, dance for us or whatever they became our family, you know, to this day, and like I think we were in some way or another was the best man at a wedding. No, we were in weddings. We would like God children to kids and vice versa. So it just became this like, family. So when I got pregnant, I never, I never felt like it was going to be difficult to be a mom because I felt like everyone was going to be there, you know, like the whole studio was going to be there. At that point is actually when I started right before I had when I was pregnant before I announced it to everyone, we had gotten our own space. So we were, we were building our own studio, so to speak. So we had to put floors and we had to put like, you know, wall bearing beams and painting and so all this was happening at the same time. And I feel like just knowing that I had all these people there prepared me to not be scared to step into motherhood because I never felt like I was going to be utterly alone. But when I had the baby, the first time, the first baby, it was hard to understand the difference between mothers hood and entrepreneurship, right? Because as an entrepreneur, you're like, go, go, go, we need to do this, we need to do that you're always constantly on the on the growing end of things, right? You always want your company to grow. You're always thinking about what your next move is setting budgets, whatever. So when the child came to play, it was like, you need to slow down and I didn't I it didn't really hit me until maybe like, six months after my child was born like, Oh, you can't you can't multitask like this. Like the first two months I saw it, you know, like I was back. I was back in the studio, like two weeks after Wow, just like because I felt like no, this is my chapter. This is my other child that have to be here. You know, like I was on stage like two months after and I almost died. I was like, Oh my god, I'm so tired. Like, what is this? My baby's two months old and I like on there. Forget that experience. Like I was on stage and the routine was like three minutes long of a solo. And the I guess they had some technical issues. The song stopped. And girl I was like, praise the Lord, because I don't want to do it. And they were like, do you want me to start it over? I was like, No, they got they got whatever they were like,
Jennifer Isabel:they understand I can dance, they got it. I can't
Julissa Cruz:do it no more. So then that's when it hit me. I was like, Oh, wait, I need like rest. But I would take my son to class all the time. He was like an infant, I would just be on the carrier, or I would have them with one of those wrap things. And he's like here, and I was teaching 123567 or I would just hand them over to someone and they're like, sitting on the chair. So it was a lot of shifting, you know, but I will say that one of the best advice I got when I became a mom, because you read all these books and you're talking a lot of mothering books are like you have to keep the child on a schedule. You have to because you want them to get used to structure right even from a baby. You know, you feed them every two to three hours. You change them every time you feed them, you burp them, you know, like it's always like this thing right? But one of the best advice I got is that you have to keep your children especially when you're in that first year, you have to put them on your schedule. So like if you work nights, you can't just keep them on a schedule that's comfortable. For every other child, you have to this is your child. So now they have they're part of your life. So a lot of times, people become mothers and they change their every day in order to adjust to every other mother that they've known with every other kid, except not everybody has the same schedule. So I would be at the studio to like 11 o'clock at night. And my kid was there with me. So he was always so he got used to my schedule, which was which made the transition or the balance, I would say much easier because I wasn't having to like rush home because I had to feed him. No, I was always there with him. He was always with me. But now he was on my schedule. So now he became a night owl with me and now we're sleeping and they like which made it easier for being tired and trying to do everything. It just made it so much better, you know, like, trying to trying to keep it keep myself sane in that in that first year. And then, um, and I loved it. I loved being a mom, I was just like, oh my god, it's like this, like this came out of me, you know, saying this person saw like my insides and it was just like, I loved every minute of it. As soon as the kid came out, it was just like, it was a completely different experience. It was just the business still mattered, obviously. But then it was just like, okay, now I have something else. And now the business matters almost more because now it's like, okay, now I have a child that one I want them to grow up and see how hard I've worked. And I want them to grow up and see this legacy or I want them to grow up and continue this legacy for me or, or see what I've done for them. You know, because a lot of dancers don't create wealth, right? Like dance is not. Dance is not something that you're gonna have a 401k with you
Jennifer Isabel:all the snaps, Julissa, all the snaps for you
Julissa Cruz:there's no 401k there's no you know, no insurance, no life insurance, no regular insurance, you know, like no
Jennifer Isabel:medical plan, like unless you go out unless it's provided by the government. And I think you can unlike a really good subject, which is what I was kind of trying to tie in before, that dancers don't incorporate they not even themselves, right. They don't think about themselves as a dancer as a business enough to incorporate themselves that way all the income like it's, you're, you're able to deduct all these expenses that you're essentially paying for like your costumes. Yeah, like all these other
Julissa Cruz:people don't know enough. And the problem is that because they don't know enough, they almost feel like they can't ask these questions. Or maybe they feel like, Oh, I'm just dumb. So I'm not going to ask these questions because I would feel dumb, because I don't know the answer. Do you have to ask because we don't have we don't have any Anything to fall back on unless we do it ourselves as dancers, you know? Yeah.
Jennifer Isabel:But before like, I just got this, this plethora of snaps for you because I love talking about like what wealth looks like, not just in dance but just an entrepreneurship realm because my mother, she was a business owner, entrepreneur, I mean, she went on the route of the most stereotypical or not the typical Dominican route. We lived in New York City, so she owned a plethora of bodegas. But there's no 401k. And so now for me, it's having that conversation with my mom. It's just like, you can't necessarily rely on Social Security. We have to see how we can invest the money that you're you're gay, you're that's it that's coming in and see if we can build the wealth and other types of ways. But I wanted to touch on your children and your husband because they're such a big part of your life. Oh, yeah. And what is that? What is those two parts of your life? your children and your husband? Look intertwined with dance? Do they like to dance? Do they, they're just not about it. They're like mom, salsa.
Julissa Cruz:It's, it's interesting, because I always feel like there's dance. And then there's my family, right? And they're both equally as big like these big portions of the pie but they do intertwine because my kids do love to like dance and sing like my son. My daughter is going to be a singer and a musician of some sort or something. You know, I mean, like, she's always trying to pick up an instrument. She's always she's always singing my son as well. My oldest, he's always singing, he's always acting. He dances but you know, it's like breakdancing, but not really good breakdancing. My youngest is he tries to do like the river dance. He's always moving his feet like Happy Feet and like, Okay, you got a little rhythm so maybe somebody maybe Yeah, you never know. He doesn't know I don't push them in any way shape, or form to like, a certain route. I mean, we play a lot of music and I'm always like picking them up and animating and stuff like that just to keep keep them moving. And, um, but my husband never danced growing up, and he's Cuban. And they just did a dance for religious reasons. They just, it's not something they did. So when I met him, he didn't dance. But where we connected is because he's a hip hop head and I was a hip hop head, my older brother, who's 10 years older, I'm super close to him. He was like, shoving hip hop down my dress, like, my first concert was not as with my brother, so it was like, he was always teaching me like and having me listen and he would make me write, write rhymes like my brother used to use the rap in Spanish and he would make and I didn't know them anywhere in Spanish, so I would just happening this. So when I met my husband, my husband is a hip hop head and he also writes rhymes and he was just So we hit it off on that on that tip as far as. So he didn't dance, but he had a groove of like, English music and, and the type of music that I listened to so. So we hit it off in that sense, but my family is when it comes to Latin vintage, I think through the years, especially my husband, like I said, we were in Richmond, and we were newlyweds. So, even though the business was like mine, it also became part of him because now he was learning and all of our friends were through the business and people we've met and students, and DJs and stuff. So now it was like, even though legally, you know, my name was the only one on the paper. It was ours. You know, it was always ours. Like he helped me. That's how he got into video editing and stuff like that, you know, he was like, I need someone to do it and I can't do it and you're better at the computer than me. So work, learn something, you know, helped me It became a family thing. You know, the kids aren't like super involved with it, but Now especially with Corona I do my classes like all the way downstairs and they'll come down they'll just sit and watch or they'll watch me or they'll ask questions or they'll hold my phone you know so I get so they can record me so they're involved in that sense. And they and of course all my I try to get everyone who comes through Latin vintage to meet my family because it isn't because they are an extension of me so I tried to intertwine them in that way to always include them in everything that is Latin vintage, but I was having this conversation the other day with one of my friends because Coronavirus has shifted how we look at our businesses, right how we how we implement our businesses because I'm a I'm a people person, I'm an interactive like face to face. So having everything online is is cool, but it also drains me from the joy that I normally would have. So it's been a different shift. So it feels like the the the two balls that were family, vintage my family ball because I'm always home. Within now is gotten so much bigger, right? Because I can't really do much for languages. So I've come to the point where I was like, okay, it's become super more important. So now I'm thinking, Okay, how do I still intertwine them without the physical interaction in Latin vintage. So that's what I'm trying to figure out right now is how to keep them intertwine when they're not physically visible. But my husband has always been a huge part of Latin vintage, he's always, he's always supported, even though he never understood, you know, he's like, why are we spending all this money on this event? I'm like, because I love it. My passion. You have to have a passion in life. So he's like, all right, he's never really I will say that's one of the things I appreciate about him most is that he always just supports even when I run away with an idea, he's like, in his mind, probably thinking this gonna take a lot of work, but go ahead. I'm like, okay, that's cool as long as you support it, so and my kids To You know, I think it brings them joy to watch. To watch me. I will say that sometimes when I'm when I'm not feeling good and I have to do a show or like you know the stresses of the world to get you down like I have to have my kids there like I have to have my kids in the audience or I have to have my husband there watching or something not doing not do not handling something tech, I need to have him right there so I can physically get the strength from them to keep doing what I'm doing. So I think they provide me they provide me that strength and I'm always have them in my forefront of thought when I make decisions with the business like they every decision I make has them in mind because everything I do with the business affects them. It affects our finances as a family it affects our time together as a family so it always goes back to thinking of them first and trying to spend as much time and keeping them in In the top, though, having my passion. So it's been it's been a balancing act for a lot of years, but they always take precedence over the business. But it is one of those things that I don't think a lot of people think about in their, in their business is that how does the business affect my home life? And I'm always thinking about that, like, if I add another day, because people want me to teach them, that takes away another day from my family. So how am I going to make up that time? Right? So I have to, I have to be able to make up that time and fill the cups of the ones that are going to be one day filling my own cup when I run out, you know? So, so yeah, I think they intertwine in that way that they have to simultaneously keep filling, you know, like Latin vintage fills me and then I filled them and then they fill me and I can fill it in vintage more. So it's like this constant array of just sending energy to different different parts. For sure.
Jennifer Isabel:You Yeah, I mean, I was gonna ask you that because I which is awesome that you just touched on it when we were talking about your what promote what motivated you to open your business. You spoke on the joy, the joy that people would have with seeing you on stage. But again, like you just said you can't give from an empty cup so yes, I was like in the back I'm like, Well, I wonder what gives her like the strength to continue because we all do go through burnouts there are points in our lives where we're just like, I don't want to do this anymore. I'm just gonna stay in bed. I don't want to I just don't want to do it anymore. But it's so beautiful that it's your family that which came after technically our business. Well, except your husband, but that came after that. It gives you that strength and that motivation and that joy to keep giving others joy?
Julissa Cruz:Yeah, yeah, for sure. Words like a full circle. It is it is a full circle. I think sometimes too. As I get older my my cup empties out quicker right? Hear, like, goodness gracious, I need more love and like, you don't let out a little quicker. So I have found especially not so much when I when I have burnout, like just in general in life, but when I have creative burnout, like I just like you said, like sometimes you get up and you're like, I don't even want to go downstairs to teach this class, you know, like, yes, it's just like, Why? Why do I have to do this right now, you know, but once I'm there, I'm like, in it, you know, like, I just have to push myself to want to be there. And then once I'm there, it's fine. But I will say when I have like, creative burnout, I start to listen to other forms of music, because lately, I've only been listening to songs I have to choreograph or songs, I have to do something for someone else. But what I do is I go and take, I go back to my first form of dances, and I take classes or I do movements and those other like whether it's tap or whether it's jazz or hip hop or something and It's that it's the tech, learning the different technique in those other forms helps me to say, Okay, now I can I can, I've filled my cup and other forms of movement. So now my creative is going to be this, this free movement and my satisfy. So sometimes when you're just doing side by side assessors that all the time it gets very repetitive. So my cup my creative cup dwindles but when I take other forms of dance or when I'm or even even if I'm home and I put on some Bob Marley and the kids are like jammin you know, they were doing something, just this having something else different than what I do on a normal basis fills up my cup in order to say, Okay, I want to get up and, and teach that now I'm, I think of my side side differently, or I think of my movement differently. Even though I'm still going front and back. There's something that that filled it with a different type of energy. So now I can get get even more energy. But my kids definitely feel my cup like some days I'll just be laying down and I'm like, I can't do it. Not today, not today. And you know, my kids will have like a little meeting mom's not feeling good. Let's go get her something you know like, let's go. No be like Do you want a sugary snack?
Jennifer Isabel:You know like, that's a just amazing
Julissa Cruz:they noticed when you're down or when they have this like internal like are you cranky today like I used to be the the joke that Wednesday's was my hardest day because I I worked so long on Tuesdays at Wednesday. I was like, Oh my god, I can't do it. I can't do life and Wednesdays. So like, I remember one time my son was like, I'm so tired. Bill was she's she's just so short. She just yelling and then my oldest was like, it's cuz it's Wednesday. We have to be nice to her. Like they just knew. They just knew that like this is the day that her cup is empty. We need to fill it Today on a weekly basis or every Wednesday, so, so yeah, they definitely feel they recognize when my cup is empty and they fill it and then I wreck it I'm starting to recognize when my cup is empty and then I feel it creatively because that's what helps me Fill my cup is creative, creatively working, you know,
Jennifer Isabel:that's so emotionally intelligent like that's like tapping into these this subject that I feel not a lot of people understand or fully have a grasp on sometimes especially like, like we said, like when we're talking about 25 year olds, they they're just go go go like what is emotional intelligence? I am intelligent. I have a bachelor's. What are you talking about?
Julissa Cruz:Yeah, oh, true.
Jennifer Isabel:Yeah, I mean, I was talking to my friend No, I don't like it's this. This time that we're living in has definitely a question. Like what we used to validate ourselves. My friend we're talking about like here I am a bachelor educated. Halfway through my master's yet I have no idea why the significance of duty is so so up there like that was never something that I learned something that was never like pounded into my brain as a holiday. So it just makes me question. I'm like, okay, you have a Master's. That's great. You have a Master's, that's great, but you don't that paper doesn't validate your intelligence? No, not at all. Not at all. But I want it so on the subject of emotional intelligence I wanted to talk about so you shared with me how one of the important one of the important subject subjects that to you his mental health and the effects of PPD for moms. Yeah. So I kind of Yes, postpartum depression. Sorry, I'm Excuse me. And I guess I just wanted to talk a little bit about this, especially in this time where I feel like everyone is having a baby, everyone is announcing that they're pregnant and they're expecting and October and December. Did you kind of little talk about perhaps maybe your experience or like what you've learned through having three children? Correct. Three children. back to back to back. Pregnant for like four years. Yeah, let's like that the canal is open as it is right now. Let's Let's go. Yeah. Was that intentional or just? No, not
Julissa Cruz:at all. Okay. Just checking. First one was very much planned. The second one was, I think it was like my first Mother's Day and I was like, Oh my god, I want to be a mom. And I think God heard me too, literally. And I was pregnant. Like, when my first one was four months old, or three months old. I was already pregnant with my daughter. So they're, they're 11 months apart. And then the second one is was always the third one came in. I was like, looking at the calendar, like When was I oscillating? Like I don't even remember this time. So he came in, and I was just pregnant for like four years. I always felt like I was pregnant. There was some students that were like, I've never known you not to be pregnant, like, oh, wow, when I stopped having kids, they were like, I've never seen your body without a belly. I'm like, that makes me feel great things. Like, but yeah, so I have three kids. And I think why mental health has become so important to me is because being Latina, and growing up in an Athena household, it's something that you never used to talk about, right? Like even emotional intelligence is not something that used to talk about, because emotions, what are those, you know, get over it, stop crying, just get over doing what you're doing and keep it moving. Like, we raised our kids to be adults at six, you know what I mean? Like, they're supposed to handle all their emotions they're supposed to handle so it wasn't until later in life that I even learned that term emotional intelligence and I got really into like, studying what that meant as as a young adult. But when I had kids, it was a lot of emotions hit me, you know, and I didn't recognize them. At first you Like, when my firstborn came out, and then I was pregnant right away. And then when my daughter came out, it was just like, I just felt like this gloss, right, I was still going through all these motions, but I couldn't list them. And then when I would try to describe them to people, their answer was always, you know, like, every everything else when you grow up, just keep it moving. You know, like, what do you what do you mean? Just don't think about that. Don't think like that. It'll be fine. You know what I mean? Like, if you don't put any energy to that, it's, it's going to be okay, but that's not really. I'm not putting any injury, it's just exist. So I started to really think about what was making me feel that way. And thinking about that, I have to put attention to that because it is something that can be detrimental to a lot of women in general, you know, having that those feelings of it's just it's a chemical, like a hormonal imbalance, you know, you're creating this life and then when they leave you, they're taking So much of you with you, like when you think of it in that sense, you're like a part of you that you've had for nine months is now completely out of your system. And all your body is trying to react and you go through these things, and a lot. And obviously, as a nation, we don't take very good care of ourselves, right? We don't take like, we just take a multivitamin and think that's enough. That's, that's not enough the way you eat, the way you exercise, the way you sleep, all that affects your mental health. But then when you have a baby, it adds to that need of everything else to be in alignment in order to make up for the fact that all this energy is now leaving you. So it took me a long time to realize that I was going through PPD it took and not just realizing it, but accepting it and saying it out loud, right, because there's always this like, this blanket of shame that says, Oh, you you just can't handle it. So now you're depressed. You know what I mean? Like, it's like, no, it's not about not handling It's about I'm trying to I'm doing everything I can but the way I was raised and the tools I got, don't help me for this situation, because it's there's all these other avenues that I need to work at that I was never raised to even look at, you know, like, you're just raised to just this is the path, don't look to your left and right is that you know, don't feel this for this or don't feel that for that and keep going. So but when you have a kid, you have to you have to look at all these, these shades of Gray's and all these different emotions that you have in trying to figure out how to help your baby to because they don't speak. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, everything is a guessing game. So it was a lot of a lot of learning, a lot of reading a lot of self care, a lot of looking within for a long time to figure out how to better myself in order to be a better parent. And it's not something that a lot of people talk about. So I'm really passionate about talking about it. A lot more because I felt like I spent so long not talking about it that I've could have helped someone else if I would have just said it from the beginning or someone else could have helped me if they would have acknowledged it. So now it's like, super important to me to talk about just mental health in general without saying, without saying that it's wrong or saying that you're sick or saying, you know, like, all the things that we grew up thinking about people that weren't always happy every day of the week, you know?
Jennifer Isabel:Yeah, no, especially like in the Latin dancing. I don't think that's, that's something that's really discussed. Oh, not at all. So it's just it's just about your body. It's like your physical abilities, but nothing to do with your emotional it What's your intention? Like, what's your mental capacity to do these things to connect right because sometimes we talk about like, feel the music like feel this and feel that but Okay, okay, but like are you applying the same intention of feeling to all the other aspects in your life? Are you? Are you understanding what it takes to be a better human? Yes. And with that, I kind of want to transition to where you are now and what we're Lenten vintage is and so we all know what's currently going on in the world high unemployment rate global pandemic, currently the social uprisings have through the back Black Lives, Black Lives Matter movement. So one is Yeah, I don't know the the closings in Virginia or how that it's is everything closed? Currently, we just entered phase three. are you stopping?
Julissa Cruz:Currently, we just entered phase three on Wednesday. So now there's, I think, like parks are open now like the I mean, parks were open, but just like fields, not actual like playgrounds and things like So those are open now it just started this week. There are different counties that are taking more precautions than others. So like we live in Northern Virginia, and they're a little more late to the game than everyone else, because I think they're like, we're not ready. We're not ready my county, but as a state where we just entered phase three, which I think is is it's going okay. But I think before that there wasn't very much opening like I didn't even realize when we were in phase two because it felt like everything was still really closed. The food places or were always closed, but now they're open to like, like outdoor seating and stuff like that. But the the places that I feel stayed open. The most were like places like Like Home Depot and grocery stores, right? Those are the ones that were like, target anything that sold food was open, and if those were your places, like I felt Like the the city would always just hang out there like, why are we all at Home Depot? Like people would just chill out at Home Depot that you can tell people aren't used to being home, you know? Yeah. But I think most people in where I live have have respected that, you know, it is something that's serious that we need to try and stay home as much as possible. But then, you know, I think people are, are just not used to being with themselves for so long. So they just keep going out and going out. You know what I mean? And, and it goes back to mental mental health, you know, if you can't be with yourself, what makes you think anyone else wants to be with you?
Jennifer Isabel:or your partner?
Julissa Cruz:Yeah, yeah. And it's like, people are breaking up just like,
Jennifer Isabel:people are like itching for the, for the courts to open up to files, divorce petitions and all these things. Oh,
Julissa Cruz:I know. Yeah. It's insane weapon. Okay. Yeah, so I think what I think as a county, we've been doing good like in my county, we, most people have been saying separate and you see a lot of people mess up. But I had to go to Florida last week or two weeks ago, and it was like, they had no idea that the corona virus existed and I'm like, I'm the only one with a mask. And like, everybody's everywhere. I'm like, Why? What what is going on and people wouldn't even say excuse. They're like this close to you. Even though the circles are on the floor. So like, like the companies or the businesses that are open are trying to get people to do anything, but the people are just like, oh, so I was like this all all week in Florida. I'm like, trying to create like a bubble around myself. Because there are some people that just don't, they're just not. They're not with it. You know what I mean? No, they they don't
Jennifer Isabel:think it's gonna impact them. Yeah. What is your What is your vision or what is your plan or how do you plan on I guess continuing the business with Yeah. How do you how do you see yourself starting the reopening process? Yeah,
Julissa Cruz:for yourself. It's it's been hard because for instance, I rent I rent studio space. I don't have my own studio space. Hold on one second. I need applause.
Jennifer Isabel:What did you get? We can pause if he and he needs to change batteries. He needs to change. I think a memory. Yeah. Is that what you said?
Julissa Cruz:Yeah, he needs to like change a memory card.
Jennifer Isabel:It's okay Orlando, you're a part of this. This this. This recording like
Julissa Cruz:we're all human a pardon. That recording
Jennifer Isabel:you're a part of the team.
Julissa Cruz:Oh, be quiet. He said I had all my dance videos taking a memory. Now you have like a gazillion other videos on there that you never erased from your camera. Julissa is the creative, the creative person she can't take responsibility for the technical aspects. Sorry. Why don't you get like, you get upset when when they're like, well, something's not working. And I'm like, why? Like, I did my half. Where's your? I mean, that's a because the starting this pod is part of this podcast like video series. I, it was so nice for what you were saying about Orlando how like it's a team. It's just I was just like, I have no idea how to make a podcast, I just want to have conversations with dancers and like, have them. I think sometimes we focus on talent and skill, which is amazing. Like, they're definitely but I always look at a dancer and I'm like, Well, what do they think like? What are what is the content inside of their brains? That that can that will allow me to connect on an even deeper level or a higher level with these people that I admire?
Jennifer Isabel:Yeah. So he's just like, let's do it. Yeah, I got it. Okay. I'll just I'll take care of all the technical things and you just sit there and you just look pretty and Todd.
Julissa Cruz:I wish Yeah, I know about Barry. Yeah, you see our lambda haskin for a podcast. I'm like, I want to do this because I want to do a podcast about post Part of Yeah, depression and like speaking in that in that sense. So I'm like, I'm looking up all this stuff and I'm like, Alright, I took all these notes. Can you help me? He's like, I don't know. I'm like, but you would know more than me. I don't even know what there's like me. So it's like both of us learning you know, but, but you know what it is to is like, we have to, I've always because I've always had a Lando it's always been like, if I can't do something, I give it to him. Right? And I'm like, Can you do this, Candace? But it's come to the point where I was like, no, what the hell Julissa? Just just learn it. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, just learning. You know what I mean? Okay, especially with our three kids. Like, we can't both be busy doing something. Yeah, you need to be doing something. So I've had to get out of my own way and be like, you just have to learn it. Like Don't be scared of learning something on the computer, which I've always been like, you know, my parents are, are older than most people's parents. So I'm like super old school when it comes to technology. Like I'm like, I don't know what I do. I press start, you know, like, Yeah, but it's
Jennifer Isabel:But and
Unknown:yeah, it's really just me, you know, mentally I'm like, I can't do it. So then I don't do it. So, but yeah, so we're good on memory now. So the The question was how I'm able to reopen? Like what is your?
Jennifer Isabel:Yeah What is your plan on when reopening is able to happen in Virginia? Well, you're part of Virginia.
Julissa Cruz:Yeah. So currently, we are technically able to be open but I rent space from a dance company ferocity for us.
Jennifer Isabel:Oh, yay.
Julissa Cruz:Yeah, love catnap. So ferocity, I love tech. So I rent space from them. So she is starting to reopen very slowly because you know, precautions and people and I don't know why but dancers don't know how to not dance like they have to be around people and dance and holding hands. It's just it's beyond me. But yeah, just chill out. Dance is always
Jennifer Isabel:gonna be there. Trust me. I know I've been there. You can do shines we could disguise for a long time. Yeah. And then just like wait about
Julissa Cruz:Yeah. But um, so she's taking the process from Release low she just started this month in like doing private lessons and taking her company back. So she's not open for like outside companies to come in yet she wants to make sure that everything's safe with her company before some flare up happens again. So I'm, I'm in waiting for that sense, but I still have. So like, I still have my dance companies, my company and my I have a ladies team. I actually stopped with my training team because it was just, it's hard when you have like a student team because you really have to be there physically, to really get training stuff. Um, so I've been doing most of those rehearsals on zoom, you know, weekly, and it's, it's okay, you know, but obviously, there's, I have to watch more videos now. So like, each one has a semia feedback that if there's just more energy and watching all these videos and given like written feedback and trying to make them look, so I think what I'm going to do is try to pick a day in a field where everyone is spread out because Cuz it's just impossible. But as far as public classes, I haven't really been. I haven't really had any hurry to do them. You know, like, I feel like everyone's doing classes and I've done my movement Mondays, which is literally just a footwork and people are like, are you gonna break this down? Are you gonna teach this? No, you can your home, learn it, watch the video over and over. Like, that's how I used to learn stuff, I would just click on a video and try to like, learn it just from watching them do it. So I haven't really had the motivation or the urgency to say let's go back to public classes. Yeah. Because I just feel like this time is purposeful for me for my rest for my regrouping for, for connecting to the people that are already part of my organization in a way that I wasn't able to connect before because everything is like, we have this show. We have this thing we're getting ready for this and now it feels more like intentional to form relationship. With the people that are part of your organization, so now I have a more focused on not only dancing with my current people but also forming more relationships during this time so that when we come back together, the language of movement is more II. Does that make sense? So sometimes as a teacher, you're just like, these are the steps is that you don't know. You're not emotionally attached to some of these people, because a lot of people don't stay with you for a long time. You know, they come and they go and they go, another team or whatever, but the people that are here now have been with me for a while and it's just about I'm just mainly focused on the business level to just form those relationships and, and focus on myself mentally and health wise so that I can come back and really have a clear path of what I want to do growth wise, but I'm not as a person I can't because I am so connected to people and in person that I can't get in with this. Like This virtual thing all the time, like I've done, I've done an intensive where I make recordings and send people and stuff like that. And I can continue doing that, but I'm not in any hurry. I think a lot of people are in a hurry because they haven't. They haven't built their wealth to the point where they just have to keep, you know, they can take a break, you know, like, I'm not so I'm not so I'm not hanging on by a string because it's not doing you know, reality is that out of the hundred percent of my business, I'm probably making 25% of that income that I used to be making, which isn't a lot anyways, because dancers don't make a lot but now it's really a little, but I'm not dependent on that wealth because I've built the company to to be my passion, not my sustenance. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, a lot of people is like, this is my only Avenue. This is my only income this my own, you know, so I've built it to the point where I can take a break and it's not like, broken and I have to rebuild and I think Feel like so many people are hustling to, like, keep this notion going and let me do this, let me do that. And not you know, like, it's just, I don't want to feel like that I don't want to feel like I don't want to feel like I'm rushing to do something for the sake of doing it, because then it takes my joy and then it's not and then I don't want to do it at all. So I have to, I have to pace myself, honestly. And I don't know what the opening is going to look like. Because I feel like the state of the world with all the gatherings and all the protests and stuff is where we need to be as a as a country. So I'm not in a rush to be like everybody get in so we can stop the crona. So we can go back to dancing like, No, we need to focus on what the nation needs to work on for Yeah. And then you know, if there's a spike and we have to be locked down again, I'm okay with that. Like, that's if that's what needs to happen for the world to be to spin a little better then I'm okay with that. I'm not in any rush to be like I have to have landed the chance to have landed. You know what I mean? Like I'm just not in a rush. Like the things that are happening right now in the world are we're needed. We're needed for everything. You know what I mean? Like, my son. I made a statement the other day and it was like, oh, because we got a kid we had to cancel another family vacation. And I'm like, Oh Lord, I need the beach. I'm like Corona is ruining everything. And my oldest was like, it's not ruining it's because all the animals and the air they needed you know, they needed space and clean air. So God brought the Coronavirus so that everyone was stopped using their cars, because the cars give all these polishes and I'm just looking at him like, oh, Lord, I needed another cup of coffee to get on your level. How did you come up with that? And I'm like, you're right. You know, like this time of rest is so needed more than more than we could have thought of. And the fact there is so many people, like depressed and super anxious and just lets me know like, yeah, we didn't have the mental health conversation before this happened. So now we're here you know, like, so I'm not in a huge hurry to reopen. There are Some plans but it's not anything like significant so like get it back to 100% you know, it's really just for I as a person needs to keep moving and because that's what moves me in my in my everyday life. I can't just stop dancing, but it's not in a hurry where I feel like I have to make an income because I needed in that way like I need dance because my body needs to move into find another emotional avenue to release whatever's inside of me but it's not because I needed the way I feel other people need it like,
Jennifer Isabel:yeah, I think you're touched you touched on a really beautiful thing because I feel like sometimes dancers especially that are not making money off of dance, they're just going to dance as a as a distraction as a as a way to not to not to get away from their day to day job to all these other things, and they don't really look at Dance as a release, like you're saying like some other dancers who are trying to trying to release their, like creativity and emotions. Really aligning yourself right with taking this time and taking this time to build up a three to six month emergency fund.
Julissa Cruz:Yeah, that you don't have a regular job, you know?
Unknown:Yeah. But it's, it's, it's really important when you're actually being a dancer. Like, you just have to think about that. And, and obviously, in the last like, maybe a year or two, I've really been thinking a lot about the term generational wealth, you know, like, because you think about what you're leaving behind for your kids like what, you know, like, will they be able to afford life because no one ever teaches about financial stability until you're already jacked up, you know, like, you're ready, do you have to learn I 25 and you have four credit cards that are maxed out and then you're like, Mo I realize, oh, student loans are the worst. So like, I, especially in the last few years, I'm like, I can't, I can't, I can't give this, you know, this, I feel like not creating that generational wealth. Not that I'm going to make my kids rich, but just the understanding that you have to keep saving and, and doing things in the right direction to invest in the future, not just a view, but your previous lives for my grandchildren, you know what I mean? Like this, this thought that you're just not you doing it for you, you're doing it for your children's children's children's, because the world is always going to have student loans and hopefully not but you know, the world is always going to have these things that that you have to spend money on that aren't that aren't needs, their wants, and the human wants more than they can afford. So you have to you have to prepare for that you know, and teach that to your children. And the only way to teach that is to do it yourself. You know,
Jennifer Isabel:that's so beautiful. That's such a great way to, I guess end our little episode on. I want to thank Julissa for being such a plethora of resource to this community and light. Thank you for joining me. And I'm just going to include all the information where people can follow you. And yes, just keep up the tabs on all your social media platforms. And yeah, thank you so much for this conversation. Julissa.
Julissa Cruz:Yeah, of course it was it was fun. I'm glad I can't wait to hear it. And I hope I can't wait to your all your episodes. Is that is the thing going to be called Capricorn? Jen?
Jennifer Isabel:Yeah. So what we so what we're gonna what I wanted to do is kind of show you I don't know, if you read a little bit about it is just like, again, this mentality of like, we look up to all these people. And again, with recent things, we look up to all these people and we're just like, oh, they're amazing, and like, they're such dynamic superstars, but we don't really know these people. Yeah, that's where I'm especially like, also like Major celebrities that are here out here. I think Yeah, like I was reading on like Kim Kardashian and how you people look up to her, but I'm just like, she's she's, she's selling people on attainable body image goals. And, and I, for me, it's like you always hear her talk about makeup and you don't really hear her talk about like, what does she feel about body image? Like, is she coming from a place of where she doesn't have unworthiness? And that's why she's trying to appropriate these goals or is it is that she's coming from a place where she's just trying to make money and she doesn't care what people you know, like is just trying to understand the individual where they're coming from. intention is important. And if they're open to growth, because I think that changes the dynamics if they're if you're having a conversation with someone and they something sparks in them, you're like, you know what, you're right. Like, let me unpack this. Let me re learn and let me become a better person. A lot of things that have been going on, I just feel like especially In other realms it just it were so easy to write someone off
Julissa Cruz:canceled culture
Jennifer Isabel:yeah like there's this guy that's like has a shop in Washington Heights that I'm just like he's sending out emails about his shop and selling products but I'm like, bro like, Can you address the fact that all these all these women from the Washington Heights have accused you of misogyny of anti blackness of all these days? And I'm just like, okay, like are you open to education? Are you open to how those comments were wrong? Are you open to like yeah, so that's where I'm coming from.
Julissa Cruz:People people call it ignorance but it's not ignorance. You know, people enjoy it people enjoy the term. People that are are are not addressing those things just enjoy the staying stuck in that ignorance they they're comfortable. comfortability So, but that's, you know, that's the world we live in. I feel like everyone does everything because of comfort, you know, and not every thing is supposed to be comfortable. You don't grow in comfort, you know?
Jennifer Isabel:Yeah, like in dance like in your personality like everything.
Julissa Cruz:Yeah, for sure.
Jennifer Isabel:Julissa, thank you so much. I don't want I know, I know we're going over time is over here. Like I could talk there forever. I want to be so respectful of your time cuz I know your schedule. And I just I just saw no, you're not getting there. Right you off.
Julissa Cruz:You're giving me a break. So I'm like, the door's locked.
Jennifer Isabel:Thank you. Julissa. Thank you. Okay, right. I hope you learned something. Thank you so much for watching. Please like, subscribe, or just send us a message on any of our social media platforms to see what's next to tell us what you want to see next. And thank you so much for your support. Peace out Transcribed by https://otter.ai