This startup is helping families keep Spanish alive

Leer este artículo en Español

Azucena Bravo, founder of Xoco and winner of the Social Impact award from TENWEST’s IdeaFunding competition. Photo credit: El Sur.

Azucena Bravo is unstoppable.

Her startup, Xoco, (pronounced So-Coh) just won the $5,000 IdeaFunding prize to help families learn Spanish using fun activities for children and adults.

El Sur met with Bravo on a Sunday afternoon at Mercado San Agustín to talk about her startup—Xoco, her professional career, and why it is important for her to surround herself with and support Latina entrepreneurs. Our interview was the second event of the day for Bravo.

Just a few hours earlier, Bravo had just participated in a photo shoot with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in anticipation of the 40 under 40 awards event, where she will be honored.

Keeping the language alive

Bravo chose the name Xoco because of its meaning—youngest daughter—in Nahual. She is the youngest of her siblings. Her family immigrated to the United States when she was only five years old, taking up residence in Nogales, Arizona. They then moved to Tucson where Azucena began attending school at Tucson High.

Although her parents only finished third grade, Bravo went on to community college in Tucson and then Flagstaff to finish her bachelor's degree in psychology. She then headed to New Mexico where he completed her certification in educational psychology.

Azucena is proof of the resilience of the American dream.

But with success in this country, there are also challenges. One of the biggest challenges for Hispanic families in the United States is how to keep the Spanish language alive, generation after generation.

“I started looking for programs to expose my children [to Spanish],” Bravo says. She shares custody of her four-year-old twins with the boys' father. He only speaks English.

“I looked online, but the people who were teaching did not represent our culture,” added Bravo. “That's where the idea of ​​creating family play groups came from. Although this is not something where leave the children in class and that's it. You have to reinforce it at home. “This is how the idea of ​​Xoco was born.”

For people like Bravo it is very important to keep Spanish alive since there are generations of Tucson families who lost the language years ago. The painful history of eradicating Spanish in Tucson schools dates back to 1919 when the Superintendent of the Tucson School District, C.E. Rose, established the English classes better known as 1-C.

This created a system of ‘Americanization’ in schools where, for decades, Tucson children could not speak Spanish. They were punished, or denigrated. This is how so many generations lost the language.

“Our generation had grandparents who got in trouble at school if they spoke Spanish. So they were never able to teach it to their children,” Bravo shared.

Looking for community

Azucena Bravo (third from the left) accompanied by Selina Barajas (far left), local entrepreneur and founder of Mi Reina Mobile Boutique and Luna y Sol Cafe.

During our conversation, Bravo shares how important it has been for her to have a community of women who support one another.

Bravo explains that there was a moment during her preparation for FastPitch that she almost backed out. Selina Barajas was a great help to her, since there were few women in that startup space, and fewer of them were Latina. “I called her after my first pitch and said, ‘What am I doing?!’ She told me to keep going. I overcame it, and this taught me not to give up,” Bravo says.

Entrepreneurs like Barajas have been a source of inspiration for Bravo. This month Barajas, Bravo and other entrepreneurs traveled to Scottsdale to participate in the Amigas in Business event, sponsored by We All Grow Latina and Capital One Business. There they heard from successful women who talked about creating a financial strategy, the importance of contracts and how to protect yourself legally, and the fact that Latina women are underrepresented when it comes to access to capital.

Barajas is the founder of the Latinx support group 'Las Reinas'. Barajas launched her business Mi Reina Mobile Boutique in 2016 from her vintage Siesta Liner where she began selling vintage dresses and other clothing, purses, as well as sweatshirts and t-shirts that proudly celebrate the word, Reinas.

Las Reinas celebrating with artist and activist Favianna Rodriguez (fourth from left, top row) at an outdoor event in the parking lot of Luna y Sol Cafe, learning the ways that art and culture can create community.

Seven years later, Mi Reina Mobile Boutique is more than a brand: it has become a community. As part of this informal group, Las Reinas (as they refer to one another) attend entrepreneurship events, or go on nature hikes, or take part in community service events.

Barajas knows better than anyone the value of being part of a community of entrepreneurs. “It's important to have a support group because sometimes you feel alone and things can get scary,” says Barajas.

Speaking of big challenges, Selina's next project is Luna y Sol Café, the first coffee shop of its kind in the city of South Tucson. In addition to serving drinks, Barajas' vision includes creating a space for community events.

It is there, at Luna y Sol Café, where Azucena Bravo imagines the perfect home for Xoco.

Jefas in Training

Azucena Bravo (far right) celebrating the book Jefa in Training with members of the group, Tucson Creative Comadres. The group, started by Fabiola Bedoya, collaborated with La Suprema Works this summer to bring this book club to Tucson.

Tucson is a city of successful women entrepreneurs, and Fabiola Bedoya is one of them.

Last year, Bedoya started Tucson Creative Comadres, seeing the need to create a community of Latina entrepreneurs that meet through monthly Cafecitos.

One of her most recent projects was a reading club in collaboration with Jacinta Esquer of La Suprema Works. La Suprema is the coworking space located in front of Carrillo Elementary in Barrio Viejo.

The book they chose was Jefa in Training, which has been an excellent tool for building capacity and laying out the fundamentals of a successful startup. One of the participants in this group is Azucena Bravo.

Bedoya explains that the book has helped people like Azucena Bravo break down mental blocks in order to move forward. “There is no single direct path to launching a viable business. There are so many obstacles because of our cultural origin,” Bedoya reaffirms. “I am grateful to have this community of Latinas. We are promoting community instead of competition. When one of us succeeds, this paves the way for others.”

Azucena Bravo sharing the idea of ​​Xoco during a Jefa in Training book club meeting.

“The book club gave me the courage to launch my LLC and to participate in IdeaFunding,” explains Bravo. "They told me: 'You have the proposal, this idea is great. This has to come to light.’”

But to bring dreams like Xoco to the market, funding is always an issue.

“There are many loans available, but it is a big responsibility.” Bedoya explains. “We need more options like pitching contests. Sometimes you just need a thousand dollars.”

Talking to Bedoya, it's clear that loans are a topic that gives her anxiety. Not only because the Latinx community still distrusts them, but because young entrepreneurs and young families don’t need another financial responsibility on top of housing and school loans.

Groups like Tucson Creative Comadres and Las Reinas play an important role helping to create spaces for Latina women to meet, take risks, and create community.