La Chispa de Fatima Gutierrez! 

by Alicia Elatassi

In this episode, we welcome special guest Fatima Gutierrez, a Salvadoran Immigrant, small business owner, and college student, to gain her perspective on cultural identity and running a business. She owns the business Guaraxez, an Artisanal Boutique based in Houston that aims to modernize traditional Hispanic clothing. She started her business during the pandemic, and it grew very rapidly due to her focus on an active social media presence. Guaraxez specializes in “Traditional clothing for Baddies”, meaning they take traditional Latin patterns or clothing and modernize it.

She gives a lot of credit for her growth to social media, but also to younger people who want to connect to their traditional culture while feeling like it represents their modern cultural identity. She also gives a lot of credit to her mom, who immigrated to the United States with Fatima and showed her what it really means to be a hard worker. She was cleaning houses along with her mom when she started her business, and she says that labor-focused work ethic translated into a desire to achieve and make her mother proud. She says she’s done that with Guaraxez. She also says that she prioritizes education because of her mom, and it’s part of the reason why she’s continued her college education despite having a successful business

HEAR THE REST OF THE EPISODE HERE