Speaker 1: Salute is presented by Texas mutual insurance company, WorkSafe, Texas Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to salute.

I'm your host, Jenna Saucedo.

And I'm so excited to be here with you because over the next 30 minutes, we have a chance to visit with three local Latino leaders that have achieved success in their various industries.

How did they achieve that success?

What challenges did they face and how did they overcome them?

When mentors and examples might have been few let's head in and learn more from them.

Our next guest has been involved in all things, growth, progress and improvement in San Antonio.

She is a successful entrepreneur and former state official.

In fact, she was the first Latina secretary of state for the state of Texas workforce commissioner and department of transportation commissioner, and the list doesn't stop there today.

She's the chairwoman of the San Antonio chamber of commerce and a board member of visit San Antonio.

I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I say that is a San Antonio icon.

Hope, thank you so much for being with us.

Speaker 1: Thank you so much for allowing me this opportunity to visit with you.

And, Speaker 2: I hope you've been involved in so many different diverse areas over the course of your career.

What has been the driving factor or common thread that's led you into so many different areas?

Speaker 1: Um, you know, as an entrepreneur, I took a big risk and, um, my driving force at the time was, uh, one, I had to prove my husband wrong because he didn't want me to quit my job.

Um, but it was always about providing for my family.

And that, that was the goal was I had to make sure that I was successful, uh, to provide for my family then in these, um, uh, state positions and civic involvement that I've had, um, I've been grateful for the opportunity, uh, in, in, in all the work that I've done.

And, and so what I always wanted to make sure is that, you know, when my community recommended me to the state or for the state positions, I had responsibility to make sure that I made my community proud of their recommendation.

And then when I learned that I was in some of these roles, the first Latina, the first woman, I felt like I had a responsibility to make sure that I left that door wide open for others to follow.

So it's, it's never been so much about me, but it's been about what I had to do because of the fact that I've had a great life.

You know, now that I've gotten a little bit older, um, I get a chance to reflect and, and I'm very proud, um, of the accomplishments, but most of all, I'm so grateful for the opportunities.

And I've often said is, you know, back then I did it because I wanted my parents to be proud of the little girl that they had adopted.

Then I wanted my, my husband and my son to be proud.

And now I want my grandkids to be proud.

You know, I always thought that I wanted them to walk into the state Capitol and see their grandma's picture.

And that someone would say, let me tell you the great things about your grandma.

And so, um, so it's been, um, it's been a great life, but also I'm so grateful for all the opportunities Speaker 2: Have made more than just your family.

Proud.

I think you've made all San Antonians proud for having served in statewide capacities and local capacity.

So thank you for everything that you've done for your family and for all of us, I'm curious though, um, after having served at the state level and having done so much here at the local level, where do you feel like you've had the most influence?

Speaker 1: Wow.

Um, you know, at the state level, um, I got to travel the world, uh, representing Texas and meet so many great people, but also those people were proud of Texas for having a Latina woman as the secretary of state.

Uh, and, and everyone was proud and, and they just felt like, you know, Texas is the envy of the world, uh, or was certainly the envy of the nation.

And, um, and so it was just a great honor.

Um, I remember walking in, um, and sometimes before I'd walk in the room, I'd wished that I was taller, uh, because everyone expected that I'm from Texas, everything is bigger and all of a sudden I'd walk in and they'd say really, you know, she's a secretary of state.

Um, but then locally, you know, after I finished, um, my state positions, um, I came back and I had to sign a term and I've always lived in San Diego.

You know, when I was in Austin, I always say I worked in Austin and I slept in Austin, but San Antonio has always been my home.

And when I came back, I thought, what am I going to do with all this great experience?

And, and I couldn't help myself.

And of course, again, I was grateful that the immediately, the community reached out and asked me to get involved in issues that were important.

And I did.

And, uh, and so I'm proud of the fact that, that I use that experience, all that, learning all the relationships to come back and help the community that has given me unlimited opportunities.

Speaker 2: You talked a little bit about your team, and I have heard you say a time or two, that you surround yourself with people that are smarter than you.

Uh, tell me a little bit about your leadership philosophy.

What does that mean?

Speaker 1: Well, I practice servant leadership.

Uh, I will tell you that I, I am not here today because of me.

I am here today because the amazing people that I have had a chance to work with, you know, when I was first in business and I started growing and people would come apply, I would think, oh my God, they want to work with me.

You know, why would they want to work with me?

They're so smart.

They're so experienced.

Um, and then, you know, in my state positions, you know, when I would be told what I was expected to do, and I would think, how am I going to do this?

I'd have no clue of some of the things that they're asking me to do, but when I meet the team that was in place, I knew that I didn't have a thing to worry about.

All I have to do was cheer them on, you know, make them proud of their work and, and, and just help them understand how important they are.

And so what I learned was that they would work hard.

You know, whoever team I was on would work hard to make me proud.

And I in turn would work hard to make them proud.

And we were successful for the state, for the community, for my businesses.

It's just been wonderful.

Um, and I'm blessed.

I am truly blessed for the number of people that have been, that have worked alongside me.

And I've always said we work together.

No one ever works for me is we work with each other Speaker 2: Now.

And you certainly can't make everybody happy, um, at all times, right, as you're, you know, in these, uh, influential positions and, you know, taking policy positions, et cetera.

And so what's your kind of life motto as it relates to leadership.

Speaker 1: Well, you know, you don't have to love me, but you do have to respect me.

Uh, I think that I've got a special sense for people.

Um, uh, I think a lot of my success, I also have to acknowledge the fact that I've had some great business partners.

Uh, I've always, uh, teamed up with someone that is not like me, but that we compliment each other.

And that's how we've been successful as business partners.

And, uh, and so that's how we work is we appreciate each other.

We acknowledge that we need each other.

I think that the minute that you find that you don't need someone it's no longer successful, but I've always needed people.

I've needed God and people, and, and I've been blessed to have both well, there, you have it.

Speaker 2: People, people are the recipe for success.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much.

Hope we were happy to have you.

Thank you.

So on the day, um, tell me about the best advice you've been given that you have to remind yourself about, Uh, there's a couple, I would say one is to not lead by being fearful.

Uh, I, this job can be super overwhelming sometimes.

And I think that I have to remind myself to calm down to not panic, uh, because there's a lot of work to do.

I think that one and a two, I would say to take a break when I need it, take a break.

I think I still have to remind myself not to, uh, not to overwork because I also don't want my staff to overwork.

I want them to, to live healthy and happy lives.

And, and I have to remind myself to, to show that, to model that too.

Yeah.

That's great advice.

You've just graduated from school and you're in search of a career that speaks to you and inspires you and has influence over your community.

All of those stars perfectly aligned for on the day, FFA at Iowa, when she landed here at the Martinez street women's center, it's been 10 years since she landed here.

And she is still working today with that same level of passion.

And Lydia, thank you so much for joining us on saloon.

So what has inspired you over the last 10 years?

What's kept you going?

I think that there's a lot.

I don't think that I can put my finger on one particular thing.

I think that my passion for justice, uh, the changing community and needs keeps me going, uh, because there's always something there's always something that needs to be done.

And I think that for me, my family, my mom, my wife, uh, keep me going in a way that I can't even express.

They're an incredible inspiration to me.

Don't make me emotional in this interview now today pay.

So I read in your background that you had a pretty robust music career.

So what was the pathway from music here?

Oh, wow.

That's, you know, so for me, I loved music.

I still love music.

I still sing.

I still play whenever I have the opportunity to, uh, but I do feel like there was something missing in that life.

I've always been drawn to service.

I've always been drawn to activism.

I've always been drawn to making sure that the folks around me, uh, have as much of a voice as I do in the city and, uh, politics and, and, and activism of, of all kinds.

And so, although I feel like music was very fulfilling to me, I feel like there was that particular piece that was missing for me, that part about being part of the transformation, uh, of community and working, walking alongside community.

And so I came home and changed course.

So as you were changing courses, were there any mentors or any champions that helped guide you along your decision-making path?

Well, my mother for one, uh, she's always been a very strong influence in my life.

She took me to my first March, uh, when I was very young, she, uh, always told me that I could, she had a lot of, I suppose, confidence in the fact that, uh, I could do whatever it was that I intended on doing.

When I came back and said, I'm going back to school, I'm going to get my master's degree.

This is my intention.

And I'm gonna serve my community.

I, I don't think she could have been proud of it, probably.

So for me, having that support, uh, to be able to change course right in the middle of something that you were passionate about and completely changing until another course, uh, is, is incredibly important to have it.

It sounds like this role is just, just perfectly made for you.

And clearly you've been doing a great job over the last 10 years.

If you had, in addition to all of the support and the services that you're providing San Antonians, if you had one piece of advice to give a young Latina, that's looking to follow in your footsteps, or, uh, just be successful in their careers going forward, what would it be Going?

And, uh, don't take no for an answer.

I would say, uh, you know, I think that, uh, failing forward, it's okay to make mistakes.

It's okay to change course.

It's okay to start over, uh, do what is necessary to, to make sure that you're happy that your family is happy and that you're, that you're meeting your goals and it's okay to change goals.

Uh, there's nothing in this world that says you have to do one thing for the rest of your life.

Uh, that's just not realistic.

And so it's okay.

Excellent.

I too will heed that advice.

What do you love most about your job here at Luma Nadia?

Speaker 1: What I love most about my job is building community, building this art community, going out to see the art, see the music, Hey, listen to the music.

Um, and I'll, you know, these are, this is what I would do.

Anyway.

If I had, if I was an accountant at night, I'm going to a concert, I'm going to go to the art exhibition.

Cause that's just my passion.

So working in the arts, it's just, you know, it's building that community and interacting with people that inspire me daily and getting to know them.

And the next thing you know, or we're friends and it's, you know, builds this wonderful sense of, okay, you know, they're on our side, we're on their side, let's work together.

Speaker 2: That's really beautiful in that scenario.

It's not even work.

It's just life, right.

Speaker 1: Sometimes it's work Speaker 2: Our next guest could easily sway into the beat of a Samba and feel right at home.

She is about all things, music and arts, and she always has been, yeah, the Ana Lozano landed the top spot at our city's Luma, Nadia art festival.

And she is able to combine her love of music, arts and culture right here in San Antonio.

Yeah.

Leda welcome.

Speaker 1: Thank you so much.

I'm so happy to be here.

I've, Speaker 2: I've read interviews where you've talked about putting San Antonio on the map for arts and culture.

So what does that look like and, and how are you going to, uh, go about doing that?

Speaker 1: Well, we most definitely have a huge, vibrant artistic community in San Antonio.

I grew up here, you know, one of the first things we did is, you know, an elementary school was learning instrument.

Uh, we were part of the different festivals throughout town.

It's just something that we, that was part of life.

And so I think that sometimes we perhaps take that for granted when you go to other cities and you may see, you know, a beautiful mural that's by some famous artists that has a lot of publicity.

And so you feel like, oh, well, we don't have that.

So we may not be as good, but we are.

And that's what I want to do is to say, okay, all of these artists are super talented.

They just need the publicity.

They need, you know, the, the machine behind the business of being an artist and hopefully luminaria can provide just some of that support.

Speaker 2: Well, artists.

Excellent.

So I understand that, uh, you're a native San Antonian, you relocated to California for a couple of decades and came back.

What, what brought you back to our community?

Speaker 1: Well, I came back with a job, you know, I had a job offer.

I had colleagues from Los Angeles that moved here to open the Briscoe Western art museum.

And so, and I was teasing them saying, what are you guys doing, going to my hometown?

And I said, if I ever go back, I'll hit you up for a job.

And you know, they pulled me into this.

Would you, would you go?

And that, and I said, I don't know, maybe you make me an offer.

We'll see, two years later, I moved back home to San Antonio, but I never left.

I've always come back.

My family is here.

My parents have been here, cousins.

Um, you know, my 20 million cousins that I have, you know, we're all, um, Northern Mexico and south Texas.

And so this is home.

Speaker 2: So beyond the festival, I know that you are working to put San Antonio on the map for arts and culture, um, to do that, I'm assuming there are authentic elements to that.

So what do you think makes San Antonio unique and how will you go about putting us on the map?

Speaker 1: Well, San Antonio is authentic in that we live and breathe arts and culture from childhood.

So wherever we go, there's going to be music.

There's going to be mariachis.

You're going to have the Butler Folklorico.

And, you know, maybe your grandfather played accordion and your grandmother sang in the choir.

You know, there's, there's some artistic element in all of our families.

There's that one artist, right?

And I think San Antonio supports this and San Antonio celebrates the arts.

And I think that's really authentic.

I think if you come at it from a way that I, how can I make money as a flamenco guitarist?

Well, you know, are, you know, are you involved in the community?

Are you part of that scene?

Um, then, you know, you grow into this larger network of people that want to have that culture, you know, just thrive.

And, and then, you know, it's more than just going up to perform it's part of the community and how do you disseminate that history of the artwork and, and just the artistry, the talent, and sharing those ideas in community makes it authentic.

Speaker 2: So I've heard you talk about the infrastructure and the mechanism behind supporting our local artists.

What does that look like for Luma Nadia?

Speaker 1: Well, I think as people decide to become artists in their life, they focus so much on technique on the craft, on supplies, materials, the studio equipment, but the business side, I think is always lacking.

And even in an art school, they may or may not focus so much on the business side.

How do you even begin to submit something?

What are you guys looking for?

I don't know how to do technology.

I don't know how to do a PDF.

And so we can start at that basic level and say, okay, we'll talk, we'll talk you through it.

Um, on the other hand, it's, you know, they, they get, um, the experience of applying and of, of being competitive, but also being confident that they can do this and that they can actually win an award, uh, you know, to do more work.

And so I think that's really important.

Um, we sent contracts so make sure that they review it all and that they understand this is, you know, you're signing this and it's important to have it because now this is our agreement.

This is what we're going to do.

This is what you're going to do.

So there's that business side of it.

And also, uh, we strive to pay our artists, um, on living wage.

So we want to make sure that we're not, you know, under cutting anyone's pay.

We're not saying do it for exposure.

You know, that's a big thing in the artist community that, oh, will you come play at, you know, my graduation party, because there's going to be my whole family and you'll get exposure and maybe we'll give you a taco.

It's like, no, that doesn't pay my bills.

So it's figuring out what's going to sustain you as an artist.

How are you going to pay your rent?

How are you going to support your children as an artist?

And so that's the business side that I think, um, a lot of artists need support with.

Yeah, Speaker 2: Yeah.

That support system is so important.

It's really where, where art meets the business and you can take it to actually scale it into a career, right?

Art as a career, that's incredible.

You run an art business and art organization.

Are there any sort of special skills that you think you need to lead this specific organization?

Speaker 1: I think number one is know your artists.

Get to know them, go see their shows.

If they're playing, you know, somewhere nearby.

If they're at an art exhibition, go see them in person, go meet them, say hi in the pandemic, I've been doing all these zooms and, you know, hiring, uh, the artists that were selected for the festival.

I want to see their faces.

And I want them to know who I am and, and start to have that, that connection with them, I think is super important.

Um, if you don't go out and celebrate the arts and you're in an arts organization, then, you know, what is it that you're really after?

Is it just the paycheck or are you really in it for the right reasons, which is, you know, to promote the arts, to make sure that that artists are able to live and work in San Antonio, I think is crucial.

So I'm going to go out there and I'm going to, you know, at the end of the day, go listen to a band, um, or you know, a poetry reading or, or go see the next Arctic submission, because I think that's, that's really crucial to be connected at that ground level.

So you stepped up Speaker 2: In this role at the beginning of the pandemic and how have you maneuvered through making decisions when you're in such a public role and position?

Speaker 1: One of the first things we did was strategic planning.

We did focus groups and audience surveys.

So we asked people, what do you want from the organization?

And of course having the festival in mind, we were thinking, well, can we do it in person or do we do a virtual?

And so that was one of the questions and the results were, people don't want to be on zoom anymore.

They don't want to be in front of the computer.

They're tired of it.

They want to be outside.

They want to enjoy the art in person, because there's nothing like that experience.

And with Lumi, Nadia, you see the artist next to the work.

You can engage with the artists because they're there in front of you.

It's not just a random Euro that you're going to pass by.

And you have no idea who that artist is that let me not either there.

And so we have to figure out how to, how to lay out the footprint so that people can socially distance.

So that there's a very direct, defined path for people to go so that they're not running around in circles, looking for where to go.

If they follow the path and the map, there'll be able to go one way, get gathering the center of hemisphere and then go down convention center down the Riverwalk and there's exits.

So if they want to come back around, they can come back around and do it again.

But it's just planning with those protocols in mind and making sure that our artists that sign up agreed to follow, um, San Antonio's, Metro health advisories on, on mass gatherings and things like that.

So there's a lot of moving parts.

There's a lot of things to take into consideration, but at the end, this is what the city asks for.

They want it in person and they want to come out and, and we'll, we'll, we'll do the best we can to keep everyone safe.

Speaker 2: I'm glad you are.

I too, am tired of zoom.

So pivoting here, if you were to think there's some of the advice that you have been given along the path of your career, what advice would you then translate and give to another young Latina that's looking to follow in your footsteps?

Speaker 1: Um, I would say ask questions because there's so many times you may be in a room and you may feel that you're not smart enough, or you don't have the experience to be in that room with other people because other people are talking shop and using big words, and don't be afraid to raise your hand and say, I don't know what that means because half the time I'll guarantee there's other people in that room that have no idea what they're talking about either.

And that's how you're going to learn.

Um, so ask for advice, ask those questions.

And if they, Speaker 2: The worst thing that can happen is they say no, or they say, oh, I don't know, or figure it out, Google it.

I can't tell you how many times in meetings I still to this day will Google something for clarification.

But I think that the moral of that feedback is just be courageous, be bold and be curious, ask questions.

I think that's great.

Thank you so much for being with us on our show.

Thank you.

I appreciate And that's a wrap for this episode of salute.

It was truly inspirational to hear from hope and about the importance of teamwork and from Andrea Figueroa, who followed her passion to serve, and also from Jadito Lozano, whose love of art has her connecting local San Antonio artists to opportunity each of these three women have had an impact in shaping our community.

Thank you so much for being here.

I look forward to visiting with you next week, where we again have the opportunity to celebrate San Antonio's Latino leaders right here on salad.

Salute is presented by Texas mutual insurance company, WorkSafe, Texas.