109. How to Create Generational Wealth Through Real Estate with Marisa Lopez

In part two of our conversation with Marisa Lopez, we explore how to build generational wealth through real estate investing. From leveraging her civil engineering background to learning from her immigrant parents' property management experience, Marisa shares practical strategies for getting started in real estate, even as a busy working mama. She breaks down different investment approaches, debunks common misconceptions, and reveals how our Latine community has been naturally "house hacking" for generations.

For detailed show notes, visit vivalamami.com/episode109

In this episode you'll hear:

• Different ways to invest in real estate beyond traditional landlording
• How to shift from a homeowner to an investor mindset
• Creative strategies for building wealth through real estate
• The importance of networking and finding mentors in real estate
• How to take your first steps into real estate investing

Resources Mentioned:

• Mujerón Movement
• Rich Dad Poor Dad book by Robert Kiyosaki
• Cashflow Quadrant book by Robert Kiyosaki
• Bigger Pockets Podcast
• The FI Investors Mastermind by Diego Corso

Connect with Marisa!

• Instagram: @asiramzepol

Catch Up: Listen to Part 1 of our conversation with Marisa where she shares her journey through divorce and conscious co-parenting as a Latina mom.

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Transcript

0:00

amiga. Are you dreaming of building generational wealth, but don't know where to start? What if I told you that many of the innovative real estate strategies being taught today are actually practices that our immigrant families have been using for years? This is part two of my conversation with Marisa Lopez, where we dive into her journey as a real estate investor. If you haven't listened to last week's powerful episode about Marisa's experience navigating divorce as a Latina mom, I encourage you to check it out first. It's an essential part of understanding her complete story of transformation. And in this episode, Marisa shares how the 2020 pandemic sparked her realization that relying solely on a 9 to 5 income wasn't enough to secure her daughter's future. Drawing from her family's experience managing properties and her own background in civil engineering, she reveals how she built a portfolio of three properties while working full time and being a single mom. What's particularly fascinating is how Marisa highlights that our Latina community has been practicing concepts like house hacking and co living long before they became trendy investment strategies. We just didn't have the terminology for it. From creating financial options to different types of rental strategies, Marisa breaks down the various ways you can get started in real estate investing, even if being a traditional landlord isn't your thing. She also shares Practical first steps, recommended resources, and the importance of shifting from a homeowner to an investor mindset. This episode is perfect for mamas who want to create lasting wealth for their familias, but don't know where to begin. Join us for this enlightening conversation about transforming our community's inherited entrepreneurial spirit into strategic wealth building opportunities for the next Generation.

Jessica: 3:15

And so now that, You're a full time mama, a full time engineer, having a nine to five, and you have mentioned that this aspect of real estate investing has been kind of like your passion. And I totally get it, right? Like we all need something to do, in addition to our typical lives.

Marisa Lopez: 3:37

Mm hmm.

Jessica: 3:37

So what really inspired you to consider, this new venture in real estate investing? And now that you're kind of tapping onto entrepreneurship on the end.

Marisa Lopez: 3:46

I Love this question. It was 2020, April, May of 2020. A lot of my friends, especially my friends in tech, were getting laid off because of the pandemic, and I'm so fortunate that I didn't have to go through that, but it made me realize, like, dang, like, you know, things that are out of our control can really impact the company we work for, and then, if our only source of income is our salary, So, Like, man, that's, that's rough. I'm like, I need to, I need to start building something of my own outside. Like, not that I don't like what I do, not that I like, like, no, I love what I do, but, you know, I gotta, I gotta take care of me. And, um, I was talking, I called my best friend. And I was like, hey, like, you know, this is what, these are the thoughts I'm getting, you know, like, and she was actually one of the ones that got laid off. And she's like, you know, I'm glad you are. I want you to read Rich Dad Poor Dad the Quadrant. Rich And then she even let me use her Audible account, which is like, log into my Audible, listen to them and, and get the book too, like buy the physical book. It was like, okay, um, that's the start. And that really like got my. Gears turning differently. Uh, and then I also thought, okay, well, okay. Asset liabilities, I need to accumulate assets. I need to leverage my income, uh, to buy assets. I, I, uh, I can't just be like saving. I need to be strategic about it. And if I do save, it needs to go into like at least a high yield savings account, or like, you know, I need to learn about. More about the stock market and all that. So then little by little, you know, that was like what ignited it. And then I, and then I came to this point and I was like, wait, my parents, they've been, I've been helping them manage properties. Then it was what? Um, 13 years. And I was

Jessica: 5:42

mm-Hmm.

Marisa Lopez: 5:43

wait, Oh, I like, I already know this. about real estate. Like we fill it with properties with my dad. Um, I help him maintain, um, I do all the, like the administrative stuff with the tenants and all that. And, he handy stuff and I'm like, okay, maybe I should really consider that. And I was, I had purchased my. home a few years prior to 2020. So and my dad helped me flip it. I a rundown house When my mom walked into it, she's like, oh my gosh My dad we had a vision, know, we made life and everything so that was okay I already know some stuff. Maybe I should start planning when I my next one I started listening to podcasts, Bigger Pockets,

Jessica: 6:31

Mm-Hmm. Mm-Hmm.

Marisa Lopez: 6:33

talking to my dad more about it and and and some of my friends who were kind of like doing it, um, whether it was like house hacking or or, um,

Jessica: 6:43

Mm-Hmm.

Marisa Lopez: 6:43

like at least one rental property. Uh, so that was kind of like the. What ignited me and then it's evolved into different things now and, um, yeah, I did buy a couple more properties since then. And, uh, right now I'm on, um, trying out a new So I've done long term rentals for residential, but, uh, trying to midterm rental where you run it fully furnished utilities included in everything and you run it to like traveling professionals. Um, we'll see see how that goes. It's scary because nobody's ever done it but I have a friend through like mastermind I joined um last year who's Who has experience in it and she's kind of holding my hand through it. So

Jessica: 7:30

That's great.

Marisa Lopez: 7:31

and I you know, I I want to build and now that i'm a mom I want to build something Will allow me to buy my time back to where like My, my nine to five becomes an option. or maybe I could even do a part time in the future and then do like more investing, but learning how to put my money to work for me was probably is instrumental. I think everybody should think of something like that and divert, create multiple streams of income. Um,

Jessica: 8:03

yeah. Yeah,

Marisa Lopez: 8:07

per se. So, cause if, if our only lifeline depends on that salary, you know, and it gets cut, That's, that's, that's rough, right? I'm gonna have to figure it out. Yeah, so, uh, yeah, it's been a great journey. I'm excited to what is to come. Like, I have some ideas and, um, have this, like, new vision after going to Chicago for the, you know, like, yeah, I, I, I'm excited and I would encourage, you know, Uh, anyone who's considering in, in investing in real estate to, uh, to start like re rich dad, poor dad, it's very cliche, but do it um, reach out to me if you have any questions, I'm helping a couple of friends out right now, like getting started.

Jessica: 8:51

that's awesome.

Marisa Lopez: 8:52

people often think like, Oh, I don't want to be a landlord. I don't want to deal with leaky tenants or leaky toilets and crazy tenants, but it's, uh, there's different opportunities. You don't have to be. There's other things. And there's

Jessica: 9:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh, that's awesome. I think that that is a really great way for you to build, you know, generational wealth for your daughter, um, where, um, We don't really talk about that in our community. Even though we grew up knowing that our families always hustled, right. In addition to the nine to fives, they always had side hustles. And, And, I know that this was more so out of, out of survival, but we have that in us for some reason that we want to do more and we're willing to work hard to get to whatever goals we want. And, and, and, you know, it's interesting how like you already. New this in terms of real estate. Um, I also grew up in a multifamily household where it was, you know, us and then tenants or family members, but essentially they contributed to the mortgage, right? They, they paid for the rent and, um, No one talked about house hacking at the time, you know, and now you have like bigger pockets talking about that. And it's like, no, our community, we are the OG house hackers, you know? it's already ingrained in us, right? About thinking smart, but no one talked about it, but that no one talked about like the actual terms and there was no language involved about what is a side hustle or, you know, And it's like, well, technically you're diversifying your, you know, your income, you're having different streams of income. But they didn't say that, right? So I just wanted to point that out there because it's already instilled in us, but perhaps there wasn't the language, you know, out there that made us aware that, oh my gosh, like technically, yeah, like this, we've always done this. Um, but now I think we're being smart about it and being intentional in terms of building that generational wealth, right? know what your thoughts are.

Marisa Lopez: 11:08

no,

Jessica: 11:08

Mm hmm.

Marisa Lopez: 11:11

community was like the OGs of house hacking and co living. Like now, uh, co living is like becoming more popular. it's like, well, no, we've been doing this, like, uh, my parents, when they bought their first house, the first thing my dad did was he converted the garage into a studio apartment. And like that paid for their mortgage. and then, you know, he would have like, some family would stay with us for some time. And, and, uh, yeah, they, yeah, like your family, they, they contributed to the, to the mortgage, to the expenses. And, and, you know, and that was, they did what they had to do. And then what's crazy too, is, um, I look at what, like my parents did investing that they were doing that they didn't even know they were doing. they didn't have what we had. They didn't have podcasts. Or like, you know, all

Jessica: 12:02

Yes. Books.

Marisa Lopez: 12:04

yeah, Instagram

Jessica: 12:06

Right.

Marisa Lopez: 12:07

who know about this stuff, they didn't have that. Um, and uh, they figured it out. So, to them. Mhm.

Jessica: 12:19

should do a separate episode about that and have our families listen to it. Like, here, look at how you set the example. And, you know, without any resources, really, it's it's just something that I think it perhaps came out of survival, right? Trying to find creative ways

Marisa Lopez: 12:36

Yeah.

Jessica: 12:38

To just live in this country, especially when you're first generation. Yeah.

Marisa Lopez: 12:42

Yeah.

Jessica: 12:43

My gosh. Okay. So how many, uh, properties do you have, um, right now? Like, um, tell us a little bit more about like your portfolio, if you will. And, and you mentioned how there's different ways to, you know, become like a real estate investor. Like a lot of people think like you need to own property, but you said that there's different creative ways. Like what are those examples too?

Marisa Lopez: 13:07

Oh, well, right now I have three properties. They're all single family home. Um, I, I do like the residential cause I've been very intentional about it and like the intention behind it is like someone a place to an opportunity to have a home. Um, and then I, I also like though cash was very important, obviously, you know, part of business, but, um, being a reasonable affordable cost for for families. Um, I'm a huge proponent on it and I'll go into it. I'm glad I want to do in the future. Um, but, and so I, I manage my own properties and then my manage my parents. They have, they have five properties. and they, they only focus on long term

Jessica: 13:54

Hello. Hello.

Marisa Lopez: 14:04

estate investor. I have friends who are hard money lenders. They're like, we don't wanna deal with it, but we, we have capital. We'll loan you the money to work on a, a, a fix and flip. Um, just pay me interest and everything's contractual. You know, I think, I think anything in business needs to be contractual and now that like, oh no, write it out. Terms and, you know, terms and conditions. That way we both know what's. What you're going into it. And then that's the other thing, you know, like you hear in the family, so we can leverage those relationships to build wealth together too. I think that's something that needs to be leveraged more. And I saw how, like my dad did that and but, uh, yeah, being a hard er or fix, fixing and flipping, um, you

Jessica: 14:58

Yes.

Marisa Lopez: 15:07

it, and sell it, and obviously calculate, the numbers, and all that. Or, um, there's others that do development, build sell. There is a lot of money there too. So, uh, there's, those are a few, I mean, I'm just, just a scratching the surface. There's so many other things there's, if you don't want to deal with it and you like stocks, but you like real estate, there's, um, REITs, R I T S that you can invest in, there's, yeah, there's so many things, uh, but getting started is the first thing going to start on. what is out there and then what catches your attention. There's people that do Airbnb arbitrage. They don't own the property, they just lease it. And, and they're, you know, obviously they do it with the landlord's consent. And they're, you know, cash flowing these properties. And both, wins. The landlord, the arbitrager. And then they're providing a cool place for people to go vacation at. That's another cool one. I recently met someone at the, uh, my gym who does property management. And what she does is, is she's, she arbitrages these. So she rents it from the landlord. puts like bunk beds in the rooms and then she works with Contractors then like we're working in the area for I don't know six months to a year And then she'll she provides housing for their employees At a better rate versus them having to go to like a hotel, you know and have it and absorbs all these costs she provides a a reasonable affordable price that makes sense for everyone and then um, you know, it's You house is better than a hotel to live in for six months to a year, right? A

Jessica: 17:02

Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. My gosh. Yes. There's a lot of ways. And I think we just have to overcome this fear and I think, and it depends on how you grew up with money because it does. It is a money mindset. Right. When, so we own, um, a real estate company. Proper property as well. And we're house hacking right now. So we went from a home to, uh, in the suburbs, uh, from a four bedroom house to, we currently live in a one bedroom apartment. How do we do it as a family of four? Well, we are currently. Sleeping in a sofa bed, basically my husband and I and the kids stay in that one room, but we're making it work right now. And I think it's so that, you know, we can then use this as leverage to then get another property. But I think for us, when we had this initial conversation, it was fear of like being uncomfortable, right? Of like doing the sacrifice of trying to. You know, do something different than the way that we were brought up, than the way that we, uh, think of like the American dream, right. Of going and buying your own property, but you stay there and then you don't. Build more out of it. Right. And I think we just have to overcome that fear to really think about creative ways to, you know, again, it's going back to building that generational wealth. Right. And especially for us as first, second gen folks, we, Sometimes we have to do the work in order to see that progress, right. And, experience, growth when it comes to money. yeah. And so I, I appreciate you sharing like all of these different levels of being a real estate investor, but it doesn't come out to like traditional way too. Um, there's other ways. And yeah, like how, how can one find people, or how do you connect with people do you have to network, do you have to do something on your part as well, um, so that you can build this community?

Marisa Lopez: 19:01

Yeah, building a network is so important in anything that we do, especially in business. But I think the first thing is like just saying, yes, I'm going to learn. I want to learn something new. Uh, and like empowering yourself to do that. Um, I, like I mentioned, like, I'm a huge believer of bridge that poor dad. And every, actually every like. has like real estate investing, um, local organizations that meet up in person. Like we have the, the Arizona realtors or real estate investors association that meets up every Mondays. So if you're a local type of person, look for any of them, like you can Google them and I'm sure you can find at least one. So that's, that's one thing. Uh, there's also, uh, Plenty of online communities. I mean, BiggerPockets is probably the biggest one, um, and through BiggerPockets, through the website, you can even find local stuff too, at the

Jessica: 20:03

Mm hmm.

Marisa Lopez: 20:04

Uh, and then I, I believe that just starting to speak more about it, know, one of the, for the longest time I was scared to talk about it at work. I thought, Oh my gosh, like if I say this, then they're like, they're not going to promote me or they're like, not going to give me opportunities because they think I have something else that's more important, but it's all the way that you deliver yourself and you share it. So then I've actually met other people who are like wanting to do the same thing, or I've met people who are like, well, you know, in the future, I want to sell this property. I'm like, well, you're ready, I mean, I'd like to talk about if there's opportunity for us to work together on something. So, uh, I believe that the. When you put it out, you know in the universe, I mean it might something might not come up then but it will come up later so that's that's important too. And and when you're open to it, too I know it may sound it may sound like woo, but when you just open yourself up to opportunity and abundance

Jessica: 21:05

Hmm.

Marisa Lopez: 21:05

up and like Like, I kid you not, after I, I went to Chicago, um, I had this epiphany when I was on the boat tour and I, because when I was a eight year old, I want to become an architect, ended up becoming a civil engineer, which is not too far off, right?

Jessica: 21:24

Yeah, yeah.

Marisa Lopez: 21:25

I'm like, okay, well, I like building. I always thought I was going to design these buildings and bridges, but now I just do utility lines, which is fine because I light up the buildings instead of, you know, Building or designing the structure, I'm like, but I like real estate investing. I'm like, okay, you know what? I'm going to be a developer someday. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to be a developer and I'm going to, you know, creative on how to build energy efficient, homes that are affordable for like lower income and, you know, middle class folks, and then provide that opportunity for them. So still deciphering that. And then a week after I, I had that thought and I said, okay, yes, accept it. Someone reached out to me on Instagram, who's a real estate developer, she lives in Boston, I had connected with her like months ago, um, a guest on the Mastermind I was part of,

Jessica: 22:21

Okay.

Marisa Lopez: 22:22

talking, and we're like, okay, like, we're gonna, we're gonna set up a different session, talk about our projects, and See if there's opportunity for us to work, right. We're together in the near future. And if not in the near future, we at least know what we're working on. That way, if I meet someone who I can send her away or vice versa, then, you know, we should just start building this network. tell you, it's our mind is powerful.

Jessica: 22:47

Yes,

Marisa Lopez: 22:47

Yeah.

Jessica: 22:49

gosh, I love it. Like you were literally manifesting this. And then this came up right afterwards. And I think, yeah, like, again, if we break out of that scarcity mindset that You know, fear of like, Oh my gosh, I'm doing something different or I'm doing something that, you know, we feel uncomfortable, like in our situation, right? Like, we're like, how are we going to go from a four bedroom house to a one bedroom apartment? But we don't pay anything for the cost of living because our two tenants are paying for it. Paying off our mortgage, you know, and, and that has allowed me to stay home, you know, full time, but now we're thinking, okay, what is next? Like now, we want to enhance our portfolio and we'll see, we'll go from there. But I think it always comes down to, having that, mindset where you're striving for more, you know, not necessarily for the money, but again, I think it's knowing what your why is like for me and for us really, it's definitely to build generational wealth for our kids, for our kids to have something under their name, where one of them. Has their own building and then they end up choosing whether to keep it or to sell it, whatever, but that is our goal to at least have one property for each kid. Um, and then we'll go from there. Yeah. Yeah.

Marisa Lopez: 24:12

the sacrifice that goes behind it, you know, it's, it's worth it because everything we're come easy. There's value in sacrifice,

Jessica: 24:21

Yes.

Marisa Lopez: 24:22

and great things are coming. Uh,

Jessica: 24:25

Yeah, thank you.

Marisa Lopez: 24:26

yeah, one of the things that one of my mentors says is like, figure out how you can get, build different streams of income that can pay for your, like, mortgage. You know, make that like the first goal. And then from there, you know, you just keep building and, um, keep going and you get creative and be open to new things and struggles always going to be there, fear is going to be there, but that's where you take calculated risk and, and, um, move forward and dream big.

Jessica: 24:56

Yes, absolutely. Yeah. And one thing that, as I was preparing for this interview that I saw on your Instagram was that you shared that you don't consider yourself a homebuyer or a homeowner, but you are an investor, from the time that you bought your first property. And so can you tell us the difference between that and how that can help people shift their mindset about owning property?

Marisa Lopez: 25:21

Yes. So the idea of buying your first home is very romanticized as it should be, right? It's exciting. And people often get so caught up on finding the perfect property. they believe that it's going to be their forever home and for some it is and that's good Um, but I knew right off the bat that like the first house I bought I was like, no I'm i'm gonna live here for like five years and then i'm gonna like figure something else out This is like my starter home. Um, and so then I Immediately like detached the emotion from that because when we buy as homeowners We're more emotional and we let that You Get in the way and we come very attached. Um, so and I've lived in like all the properties I bought. then like, I'm like, no, I'll live here for, so when I bought my second one, I'm like, okay, I'll live here for like two years. And then I'm going to buy the next one. And, uh, I ended up living there for one. And then I'm looking at the property, I'm like, okay, how, how can I leverage this property an asset, you know, the location, what, what kind of work am I going to do to improve it? Um, I look at it as a business and sure. Yeah, I'm going to live in it for a few years. But, um, I'm not, someday I'll like have my forever home, but that's something I'm going to build myself. I'm going to like design it and build it, but for now, yeah, I'm just detaching. And it's really tough to

Jessica: 26:51

Yeah,

Marisa Lopez: 26:51

that.

Jessica: 26:52

yes, especially when you have kids. Yeah.

Marisa Lopez: 26:57

And, you know, when it comes to having kids, like, maybe my, my suggestion is like, if you buy a house that, you know, you're like, oh, This isn't, this isn't going to be the greatest thing for my kids to just think, well, this is temporary, like, we're going to live here for like, you know, a few years, we're going to save up and then we're going to move on to the next. Um, and just at the big picture, not just focusing on what's in front of us.

Jessica: 27:27

Yeah.

Marisa Lopez: 27:29

going through my divorce, I did a lot of work on detachment. just not becoming attached to ideas, things, especially things, um, and like just forging a new way through life, you know, and just kind of like letting myself be like, get carried away with my bigger goals, the bigger intention of like bigger purpose. And we're thinking of, okay, how am I going to improve this property? You know, we want to put the best, the best kind of sink, the best this. And depending on what you want to do with the property, like if it's going to be an Airbnb, sure. Yeah, invest a little bit more into it. But if it's going to be like a midterm or a short or a long term rental, get something durable. gonna, that obviously looks nice, but you don't have to spend, you know, make, make it the best, doesn't have to be like the Ferrari home, because then that's going to affect your cash flow in the future, you know, like the, called the cash on cash return, um, that don't, yeah, it doesn't make sense to, you know, buy the best of the best for a house that you're going to then rent later on.

Jessica: 28:36

Yep. Absolutely. Yes. Oh my gosh. That's such a great point because where we live right now, it's not like in a bougie neighborhood in the city, like when you would think of Lincoln Park or, you know, like the very expensive, Parts of the city. We don't we don't have this property here, but I would say it's more so in the middle kind of where it's family friendly, so anything that is practical, right. And that was something that our realtor told us, like, all you have to do is put lipstick on a pig sort of thing. Um, especially in an area like this, because You know, you shouldn't overspend money to try to make it seem like it's so high end because you have to think about your market, you have to think about the people that will essentially afford and live in the area, you know, because then at the end of the day, this place will always be vacant if we try to like, You know, upcharge the, the cost of rent. And in reality it should be within, the market. And, and yeah, that is such a great point. because we shouldn't overspend when thinking like, oh no, it's, it's probably a different targeted, market than the one that you think should live in here. So if someone wants to consider real estate investing, what are the first steps they need to do? I think at least for us, it took us like two years, to even start with the initial conversation that we had with the realtor. And I think we should have just done something different, but for us, it took us two years. To really pull the trigger, if you will, I don't know if that's a good strategy. So I want you to share with folks, like how long it takes or not how long it takes, but like, what is the first step that they need to do?

Marisa Lopez: 30:23

I think the first step is just to like say yes to yourself. Okay. I'm going to like take this opportunity and learn more about it. So say yes to learn. then the second thing is you're like, it's different for someone who's single than to someone who's married. And that's the decision that's, I mean, it's, it affects the marriage, right? So have that conversation with your significant other and talk it through and then talk about why you want to do it and try to get them on, pitch it to them. Um, I think in a, you know, we're all salespeople, learning sales skills is important because then even in a marriage, you can pitch it to your, to your husband and say, all right, well, this is why I want to do this and talk it through and talk about the pros, cons, the fears. Be very open about it. then, um, find resources online, whether it's the audiobooks. We have a wonderful through social media and start searching, um, you know, near you. Cause I will assure you that in every like big city throughout the United States, there's someone you could probably look at. You could probably like search, um, real estate investor, Chicago, real estate investor, I don't know, like Kansas city, whatever. And you'll find people, um, that in your market that are, that already are already like started or in different phases the social media, through the internet and, um, and there's local organizations in throughout the United States as well. And if not, um, I, I mean, I would like to recommend my mastermind that I joined a year ago, it's called the five investors. It's ran by Diego Corso. Was a phenomenal story on how he got started and all the struggles. Um, and he also has a podcast And he his group of the mastermind everybody's very diverse what kind of investing they do it's great. So, um, yeah The podcast is great and the mastermind has been a game changer for me

Jessica: 32:28

That's awesome. Thanks so much for sharing. And I'll make sure to share all the resources that you mentioned in the show notes so that our listeners can start something. And I know that for us as mamas, you want to do something better for our children and leave something behind and the legacy. Right. And I think, for this country, in order for us to survive, we need to have money. We need to have the capital and, and it's not just for You know, the luxury part of it. No, I think it's so that we know how to work the system because sometimes the system can go against us and we need to be smart about it. And, you know, many of us grew up with money traumas or just like we, we don't talk about money or we don't talk about, you know, just different creative ways to grow, um, our assets. And I think it's important to break that so that we are building a generation Isn't fearful of, money, you know? And so, yeah. So thank you so much for sharing all of this knowledge and wisdom and, and really your motherhood story as well. And as we're wrapping up, I'm going to ask you one last question. And that is my motherhood questions that I ask all my guests. I didn't prepare you for this to see. No. how are you redefining motherhood?

Marisa Lopez: 33:50

That's a good one. I'm redefining motherhood for, for my daughter, showing her that, uh, a woman is capable of becoming the best version of herself, and, and that independence is a beautiful thing. Uh, and that, like, I mean, We can do whatever we set our mind to, which is it has to start with us believing in ourselves and building that community that it's going to help us grow. And that's, um, you know, we're generation has to break some cycles. So I broke a lot. I'm still breaking some it's crazy and I'm sure she was going to have to break some too, but she'll figure it out. So then just empowering her that, uh, The strength also, it's, I mean, it's in our lineage, I think of like, I've, I've heard stories, my grandmother tell me stories back in her day and, and like the strength and what and her mother went through. And that strength is, is in, it's the same way that trauma is generational, strength is too. And like the same thing, like, you know, I have strong women in my family from both sides. My paternal, uh, grandmother who's passed, like, it sounds crazy, but I, I, I like I'm still like connected to her. And I know her strength lives in me. So, and CS too, you know, they're strong ladies. And that strength is in me too.

Jessica: 35:25

Yes. Oh, I love it. I love it. Oh my gosh. Okay, Marisa. Well, where can people connect with you? Where can they follow you?

Marisa Lopez: 35:35

can be found on Instagram. My, uh, handle is, uh, Azaramzapole. Um, it's my name backwards. Marissa Lopez backwards. Uh, thinking of changing it cause I have another, uh, uh, I'm soon to be a realtor, uh, I might change it yeah, that's something I need to talk about. But yeah, so you can find me on Instagram and if you want to start talking about, if there's anybody that's interested and wants to pick my brain, I'm happy to set up like a phone call, a zoom call and just connect. Um, I love I'm super social, like. I was talking to people, meeting new people and let's leverage technology. You know,

Jessica: 36:20

Yes, Yes, absolutely. Oh my gosh, Marisa. Well, thank you so much for being here. It's, it's such an honor to have you here and share your story and just like how inspirational you are. I think with you sharing how It's important for us to be independent, powerful women. You know, you are literally a testament of this. So thank you so much. And, um, wishing you so much success because I could see you growing. You're awesome.

Marisa Lopez: 36:49

we're growing. Thank you. Excited to hear about the next for you and your husband.

Jessica: 36:56

Oh, thank you.