My name is Gabriela, and I am a bruja. 

It is one of the truest things about me. I have known this about myself since I was a little girl. 

People have their own misconceptions and assumptions about what this word means. People who know me intimately are often also afraid for others' misconceptions and the assumptions when I say it out loud, when I claim it. 

The truth is, I'm tired of tip-toeing around it. As someone committed to helping women live their truth, it's time for me to own it fully and say it out loud. I know it starts in spaces like these.

That word "Bruja" to me, encompasses my connection to my divinity, a claiming of my spirituality on my terms and those of my lineage, a way of living and communing with the divine that is my Caribbean roots, that is my grandmothers and their villages of support, that owns the gifts we didn't dare speak of outside of the home, and the ones I am still discovering within myself.  

Because...

There is a moment when your vision is set, the plan is created, the strategy is clear and it's time to take action. 

And well.. 

This tends to also be the time when suddenly the house must be cleaned, the Netflix show is just getting good, and everyone else really seems to need you.

It's also the time when you start analyzing the plan over and over again, wondering if you've made the right call, and whether you need to start from scratch. 

As we expand to big dreams and new ideas, there is an inevitable contraction. I've noticed the place where it happens most often is during the actual doing of the thing. 

It's often hard to anticipate that these things will happen, and yet the doubts and excuses tend to sneak up on us.

It's the reason we keep pushing down what matters to us in the list of priorities. It's the reason we keep postponing our goals, quarter after quarter. Year after year. 

And it's not inevitable.

Here are the four elements that...

Recently, I taught a Masterclass for the Las Comadres community.

I founded Las Comadres in the Fall of 2018, out of a deep desire to create a space where womxn knew they could show up fully as themselves, and know that they are supported.

Today, the mission lives on with Jaime Nolan as the lead. 

I taught a one hour Masterclass on How to Run an Intuitive Business.

Usually, these recordings are exclusive to active members of the community. And it was just so powerful that we decided to share the recording with the broader community.

Masterclass: How to Run an Intuitive Business

Grab your headphones and enjoy this one as you work today.

The women in my family have been reading our "tazas" for each other for as long as I can remember. We do these readings mainly when we all get together, which happens a few times a year.

After dinner, someone starts making the cafecito and we all know what's coming. These gatherings are spiritual, powerful, and this energy takes over us. We end up staying up really late, sharing stories and feeling the love and presence of our ancestors around us. 

The older we all get, the deeper our intuition and the stronger our knowing and our bond to one another. 

I have known that these moments together with the women of my family and these gifts - which always felt private and hidden - were my true inheritance.

For every time it felt forced to walk into a Catholic church in my youth, these nights with the women in my family feel like home in a way nothing else ever has. There is deep love in these moments - it feels ancient and so special. 

I recently realized...

There was a seed planted in me in late 2020 that is starting to bear fruits.

After everything we went through last year - I felt a desperate need to reimagine the way I did business. Inspired by the activists and scholars I had been studying reimagining a new world - I began wondering if there was a way to reimagine doing business.

Here's what that means for me:

• A business that consciously and intentionally does not only prioritize money.
• A business that consciously exists as part of a community and a world, and acts on the urgency to be a voice of influence and impact for justice and change.
• A business that honors our inherent worthiness as people and respects our decisions and space.
• A business that does not seek to emotionally manipulate people to think, want, or choose you- but rather uplifts you and invites you.
• A business that doesn't talk down to people, and respects that they may not be the (only) answer for you

I'm still in progress of creating the others...

And so, today...