I'm Vanessa DeLeon, founder of Vanessa DeLeon associates. My grandparents came here from Cuba and they fled the revolution. And when they came to America, they came. Family of five. One piece of luggage.
So he opened up an appliance and furniture store, and he would sell appliances, furniture, refrigerators, you know, name it, anything for the home.
And shortly after, my father took over the business. And then I was next in line. And at that point we were doing a lot more custom furniture. So it was a little bit more interesting than just like an appliance store. So I love that creative part of the furniture business.
I knew I had that creative bug, but I didn't want to sell furniture or be in the furniture business. I wanted to be a fashion stylist. It's always been about dreaming big or bigger. What's the next thing. What's the next? It's always what's the next thing.
So when I was in college, I opened up my LLC and I went to PNC Bank and asked for a small line of credit at the time, and that's when it all started. I needed a full library of things. I needed all the tools for interior design, and that's what I did with my line of credit.
And I definitely fell on my face so many times. But it's all those experiences that have made me, you know, have the stronger backbone. And I'm resilient because of all those trials and tribulations. Right? Because anything that ultimately puts you down can raise you up,
I definitely infuse my culture in all my projects. It's a fusion of glamor and minimalism. It's 1920s meets 2040. And I also love Art Deco styling, and that really comes from the Cuban roots. So I use my culture and my heritage as my inspiration to fuel the lines that I come up with. So that's really important to me.
I think women inherently have a fear of money sometimes and not being scared of it, not being scared of receiving and not being scared of spending. There's a lot of times, like me, a prime example I didn't want to spend because I was fearful I could lose it. But in order to make money, you got to spend money.
And having that mentality in that mindset, and thankfully, I had that line of credit to do that, to leverage all the things that I wanted to do.
Be sure to pay yourself first. And I never paid myself first. I always paid my staff because I needed them. I always kept the business alive because I had a storefront or an office or something.
I always had, you know, subscriptions and all the things that you need to have a business. But I never paid myself. And then at the end I'm like, I'm doing all this hustle and doing all this hustle and it just going in, going out, going in and going out. And I never felt that exchange. You need to feel the exchange.
And that exchange is so important because now, like I'm an employee to the business and I never knew that.I never knew that you can do that and just want to say that pay yourself first and then everything else will follow.
I'm Vanessa DeLeon, and I'm sharing these tips with you because money is every woman's business.
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