What Makes You Beautiful with Bernadette Alvarado

Bernadette Alvarado, a dynamic leader in Southern Arizona's business and media scene. As the founder of Simply Hermosa, Bernadette champions culture and entrepreneurship through a modern Latina lens. She also contributes to Hola Tucson Magazine, leads LULAC Chapter 1234, and helps small businesses thrive with Tesoro Business Services.

In this episode, Bernadette shares her personal mission, rooted in the powerful question, “What makes you beautiful?”—a question that invites us all to embark on our own journeys of self-discovery. Tune in for an inspiring conversation that challenges us to embrace our true selves!

Instagram: Bernadette_alvarado, simplyhermosa_az

Facebook:  Bernadette Alvarado-Simply Hermosa

Website:  www.simplyhermosa.org

Transcript

Theresa Cesare: 0:06

Hey guys. Welcome to Heart to Talk the podcast. I am the host and creator Theresa Cesare My intention for this podcast is to deliver to you wisdom, inspiration, and consciousness. Through solo episodes and conversations amongst insightful people. It is my greatest honor to bring to you talks that come from the.

0:32

Amazing listeners, welcome back to another powerful episode of Heart to Talk. I'm so excited to introduce to you all today's guest, Bernadette Alvarado. Bernadette is the founder and podcast host of Simply Hermosa a platform that celebrates culture, entrepreneurship, and the modern Latina identity. She also serves as a business writer for Ola Tusan Magazine, where she shares inspiring stories as a sales consultant for Tucson Table Magazine, she connects local businesses with their audiences driving growth and engagement. In addition, Bernadette is the president of lulac, chapter 1234, advocating for civil rights and economic empowerment for Latinos. Through her consulting firm, the Soto Business Services, she helps small businesses thrive with tailored growth strategies. And there's one question she's known for asking, what makes you beautiful? So friends, let's go ahead and dive in to Bernadette's inspiring journey and the incredible work she's doing to bridge community commerce and culture with a whole lot of heart and hustle. Girl, welcome to the show, thank you so much for having me. It's such an honor. So go ahead and dive into telling us how do you became who you are today? Well, I am an executive assistant by trade. and then pandemic came and I got laid off, and so. Rather than go back into corporate or to a nonprofit, I ended up starting my own, business consulting. And it's basically a business concierge for small businesses. I was doing all of these things for, for a major corporation, so I said, I'm just gonna do it for small businesses as well. You know, when you're in the backend on this as an executive assistant, you never, um, you're never really in the light. Like you're never really networking. You don't really do any of that. You're behind the scenes and you're really the one that puts everything together. and so I never had a professional headshot done. And I went and got my headshot done with Rachel Castillo of Tucson Headshots, an amazing photographer. She was like, you gotta be out there. You gotta have all of these things for your new business. And let me tell you, I wasn't prepared for what I had in my mind and what was actually in print. It was kind of an emotional. Um, event for me, because again, you're, you're not used to being in the limelight. You're not used to being in front of the camera. And so you have this idea of who you are. And, as a woman, I have so many insecurities, but it really hit me that day and I was calling my daughter and just so happened we both had professional headshots on the same day and. You know, she's tearing up and she's crying and she's like, mom, I don't like the way I look. I feel like, like I have these big cheeks. And I was like, but baby, you're beautiful. And, and I'm upset'cause she's upset and I'm crying because I had just had this emotional event myself. And then she was like, but Mom, I look just like you. How can you not like your picture? If you feel I'm beautiful? So are you. And so that is where Simply Mosa actually birthed and The question is, what makes you beautiful? Because I feel like so much of our identity and our sense of self-worth is pulled off of what we see in tv, in print. And for not just young women, but older women as well, to, to find their identity and be comfortable with whom they are. And so when you come up. Thinking that you're not beautiful, not loving who you see in the mirror, you don't realize that you're passing that along to your kids'cause you're their biggest example of what a woman should look like or how a woman should act, or how mom should be. And, and unknowingly, I passed along some of my insecurities to my daughter, so. I have, been on this journey asking other women what makes you beautiful. And for many women, it's a very difficult question. Theresa, we talked about that as well on my podcast, and I asked you what makes you beautiful? I feel like that is such a hard but simple question and nobody, nobody ever really gets asked that question. You're right. I wanna say, Bernadette, when you asked me, I was like, I don't know, because I don't think I've ever answered that right. And I knew, I wanted the listeners of this podcast to ask themselves like, what makes you beautiful? And if you're a man listening, what makes you. Handsome. And there's no judgment I think people are uncomfortable too, right? Be humble but be confident. And it's owning the things you love about yourself, it's really powerful to find what your answer is and settle into it. You know, a lot of women don't give a physical attribute. It's all about either character, about their inner beauty, which is something that is amazing, but also it kind of gives back to why are we not loving the body that we're in? Why are we not seeing that we are beautiful? I agree. When you ask yourself Bernadette, has your definition evolved? Does it different from like maybe one month, depending on the season you're in of your life? Well, and I think, I think as I'm on this journey, right, I, it changes day to day. I think we talked about that too, right? Because some days you feel amazing and you wanna conquer the world, and other days, eh, it's a struggle. Like, it like life gets really hard. So based on how you're feeling, I think determines what you feel is beautiful that day. Today. For me, what makes me beautiful is my authenticity. Um. For genuinely wanting to, to support other people, and just being a genuine person with lots of flaws. I. And lots of, not necessarily handicaps, but insecurities, right? Because there's always that moment where I'm like, I don't feel beautiful today, but I'm gonna own today anyways. And that's what I want women to walk away with. It's okay to, to feel not beautiful. It's okay. Um, and own who you are today. Own the authenticity and, and it's. Again, today is a different day. I had a huge day of meetings and I had, a beautiful conversation with Tiffany Nakatani and, and it just kind of solidified the reason that we're on this mission, right? So for me, I'm beautiful because I care. Ooh. I love that. So that being said, what is your mission? The mission of Simply Mosa is to create a brave and inclusive space where everyone feels empowered, valued, and honored. originally we did simply Mosa as a woman's group, and it's turned into so much more. It is a nonprofit for everyone because Right. I have kids and I have young men, and sometimes they don't feel accepted and seen and heard, so I could not have simply Admira without the wonderful men in my life. I love that so much. Is there anything else before I dive into the closing questions per tradition that you wanna share with the audience? Just opening the conversation, opening each other up to show each other that, you know what? Life is very hard. It's very hard to to just be alive right now and. When you have an example of somebody that maybe has handled things in a different way, then you don't feel alone. and again, ask yourself, what makes you beautiful? And it opens up to the most beautiful conversation, right? I, I mean that in itself the best conversation starter. From your podcast to being a business writer for Ola Tucson, being president of lulac, you're a mama as well. How do you sustain being able to show up in all these places? What is it that. Keeps you going. It it definitely is a challenge and, and like I said in my authenticity, there are days where I'm struggling, but at the end of the day, I just want, I know that sounds crazy, but at the end of the day, I just want my kids to be proud of me. Oh, I love it. I love your authenticity. Sarah Band Branick, which is one of my favorite authors, she said that authenticity is your soul made visible. that's probably why it feels good to be there because our soul wants to come out so I'm gonna go ahead and pivot to the ending questions, Bernadette. The first question, what is your favorite book? Oh, that's a very difficult question'cause there's so many. But, Bless Me Ultima, is my favorite book. Bless me. I love that. And second question, what is your favorite affirmation I am powerful. I love it. You are. I see your power. And the last question, what do you wanna be known for your legacy? I want to be known for, the way I love my community and my family. It's simple.

Theresa Cesare: 10:32

Thank you so much for tuning into this episode. Please download, rate, subscribe, and share this podcast. Also, be sure to visit my theresacesare.com to check out my inspirational merch, connect to my social accounts, and much more may you continue to be filled with wisdom, inspiration, and consciousness. Otherwise, friends, I will be back in two weeks for another episode of Heart to.