Why I’m Moving Again: A Reflection on Growth, Loss, and What Keeps Me Going

For the second time in 4 months, I’m packing up my belongings into boxes + bags. I’m reminded how fleeting our physical things are + I’m being taken back through the journey that has lead me here.

The first move was unexpected, by force + I felt like I was kicking + screaming as I was removed from the home I poured into + made our own for 4.5 years.

It was the home we moved into for my birthday weekend in late October 2020. It’s where we started our business over after closing our event heavy media company during the pandemic and decided to rebrand by splitting our company into two personal brands, where I did the deep work to decide to show up as Kita + own my creative name as how I choose to show up and represent myself in the world.

It’s the home where I almost lost my husband and through that scary time of going through that season without family support, I learned my own strengths as I stepped up to be full time nurse AND solo entrepreneur while my husband was out of commission + healing. Realizing that it was burnout that almost caused me to lose him, I was beginning to understand that MORE HUSTLE isn’t always the answer to survival.

It’s the home where we discovered our neurodivergence and SO MUCH healing ensued. Learning things about myself, my husband and how we function as humans, partners + creative entrepreneurs. We developed our own rhythm + created a space where we felt safe to create on command + develop our ideas into something alive which is what our business is today. There was a moment where we decided that we’d design our own Google with what we had + make the most of our space + resources to create.

That was the home that was taken from us.

It’s where I started Cafecito Con Jefas, pero before officially manifesting this community + opening an invitation to cafecito, I sought out Jefas 1-on-1 seeking connection + community after feeling SO ALONE through such a dark + scary season.

After a minimum of 50 1-on-1 cafecitos + getting inspired from audiobooks.. I was learning from about learning lunches + walk+talks that important people sought out in the pursuit of their personal + professional development, I found the courage to throw the idea out there for fellow Jefas pursuing entrepreneurship to come together and talk about this crazy life we lead, managing all the things, real life, business and now the added layer of suddenly expected to not just market our business, pero fulfilling insane standards of influencers on top of doing the actual job.. I wasn’t having it.

I needed fellow Jefas to talk about it with, to change the narrative. To share the resources, skills + tools that I know to simplify the concept of branding + marketing, while alleviating the loneliness that comes with being the only one who see the vision in our head about the impact we want to make AND the multiple running + growing to do lists that come with wanting to make it happen.

I put the invitation out + opened that initial zoom room SWEATING, scared + wondering if anyone would join.. my sweet husband reminded me that IF only ONE Jefa joined, we weren’t alone anymore + I could support her. To my joy, 5 Jefas joined + the 6 of us talked about how hard it felt to show up on social media for our business when most of us aren’t comfortable in front of the camera or introverts or some were simply overwhelmed with the concept of the platform and all the buttons+algorithms that come with it.

That was August 26th, 2022 and I haven’t stopped hosting Cafecitos since. Every week for almost 3 years, I’ve held spaces for Jefas of all walks of life, industries, levels of experience and have had the privilege to connect with Jefas all over the world who feel the same emotions we all do as we navigate this Jefa journey. This community has evolved into so much more than I could have imagined and I know deep inside me that we’re JUST getting started.

After my own burnout recovery at the end of 2023 (after our #ShowUpJefa Experience), I took the time to regroup, reset, redefine my goals and threw out the crazy idea of beta-testing a mini-mastermind through the winter. As an entrepreneur of many years + in different industries, I know deeply how scary winters can be to go alone. So I opened doors and put an invitation out for Jefas to join a 6-week program for us to work through the winter JUNTAS.

I felt like I was talking to the wind, pero 4 Jefas joined: + .. y’all have no idea what your faith in me did for me then, and how it grounds me today. I will forever be grateful to y’all for believing in the idea that simply coming together would help us through that season + somehow y’all believed I had something to offer. I can name (now) the skills and knowledge I have to give, pero I didn’t believe it back then.

It was through this VERY IMPERFECT, teach-as-the-topics-came-up type space that I realized that I needed to get serious about the structure of what I teach and that I, in fact, did have something to give beyond connection, encouragement + support. Seeing y’all take #imperfectaction + implement so much of what we talked about + envisioned has been one of the best things to witness.

Realizing I had something more to give and wanting to do better, I challenged myself to offer this program again, pero with a bit more structure, a 30-40 min workshop on that week’s focus and hot seats where Jefas practice their introductions + bring to the table any questions they have about what they are working on in their business. Round 2 called in 10 more Jefas and I’m so grateful to have had Astrid Nakajima + Liz Ramirez.

The second round was filled with Jefas owning their Jefa Titles, so I worked up the courage to own MINE as COACH. A title I struggled to wrap my head+heart around, pero as I encouraged the Jefas in the cohort to own their titles, I needed to practice what I was teaching.

It was after this second cohort round that we took the leap and decided to build out the initial shell of our now cozy Casita 🏡 We built out the app + the spaces with the faith that one day these cuartitos would be filled with conversations about all things #JefaLife just like in these virtual cafecitos I would host every week. Within the first few days, we welcomed our Founding Jefas to this space:

Thank y’all for believing in the vision of what it could be. We literally would not be here without y’all. 🥹🫶🏽

Winding up to round 3, I officially changed the name to the #JefaLife101 cohort as I acknowledged that what I was hosting was group coaching program, not a mastermind. As I continued to invite Jefas into the program, Round 3 welcomed 8 Jefas: Roxanne Vanessa Sandee Gaby + Cynthia

After round 3, my hubby and I went to work behind the scenes preparing for a big launch + visibility tour going into 4th of July + the summer, building out the first version of the CCJ website since it was only a page on my website prior. Hubby edited + prepped the replay of the last round of the beta cohort to translate into a DIY course that Jefas could purchase + learn at their own pace + opening doors wide to our Casita.

This launch + visibility tour was replaced by making funeral arrangements + leading our family through the loss of my hubby’s grandmother(grandma to me for the last decade) and matriarch to the family. Our own grief took a backseat while we scrambled to pour into what was necessary to deal with such a heavy summer season.

I attempted to relaunch the first official round of the #JefaLife101 cohort in the Fall, pero no había ganas to push and I had felt so removed, calling Jefas in felt harder than it should. Gracefully, was the sole Jefa in that round and her loyalty grounded me through, giving me purpose to continue pouring out for her and the other 1:1 clients I had.

It was towards the end of that cohort, mid-November 2024 when the legal battle to get out of our home began + the day of the last #jefalife mini sessions, we found the notice on the door to get out. The fear of all that entailed affected that round of minis + hurt my confidence to create at all. I knew in my head it wasn’t true, pero my heart was aching feeling like I was quickly losing everything I had worked so hard to build. Personally + professionally.

The holidays were rough at best + somehow I had Jefas still believing in me + showing up to cafecito + here in our Casita, so although I wasn’t talking about what I was going through with y’all having y’all here helped me not feel alone and gave me a reason to keep going.

The LA fires came bringing more uncertainty to the housing options, pero with the move inevitably coming, I knew that I needed to plan for work on the other side whether I got to stay in SoCal or move back to Tucson, so I prepared for another round of the Cohort in the Spring.

Pero before that, I pushed myself to do the $10k in 10 days challenge at the end of February to make it possible to stay. Many of y’all were a part of hitting that goal which would financially allow me to stay, pero SoCal housing wasn’t approving our applications. So at 5pm on February 28th, we called it. We were going back to Tucson.

I picked up the phone to call to our personal angel + best Realtor in SoCal to tell her we were leaving as she had previously told me of a place she had open this Summer, pero I needed a place to land in March. She just so happened to be staging a home in Long Beach + asked if I was interested in staying there. We jumped at the opportunity to stay + had a place to move into the next day.

Shoutout to for showing up for me + being a part of the emotional whirlwind that was getting us out of our home in less than 48 hours. The woman literally emptied closets + helped me toss or keep things as I sat stunned that emptying that home was my current reality. I love you forever, hermana. Gracias 🙏🏽😘

Once landed in LB, I kept putting one foot in front of the other and since I had join the cohort, it was happening. Again, I had only one Jefa join, pero it happened exactly how it was meant to be. Getting to show up for her, forced me to show up for myself. And having my 1:1 clients + healed my heart in ways I can’t fully express.

So these past few months of healing, recovering, growing, grounding myself, resetting my nervous system, apparently losing weight because of my grief(so it’s hard to celebrate). It’s been a lot to hold.

All while expanding + celebrating a year of our Casita and now, we have nearly 40 members + a calendar filled with an average of 35 events hosted by myself and our Casita Leadership team:

It has been a wild journey and it’s come to this, a few days before yet ANOTHER move into another house to make it our home for this next season. Pero I still need to get there.

Again, I’ve planned for the next round of the Cohort on the other side, scheduled to kickoff on July 15th with a few Jefas who have verbal commitments to join, I’m excited to have a group of Jefas growing JUNTAS this summer season.

Pero I still need to get on the other side of this move. I still need to book more work. I need those verbal commitments to turn into deposits to facilitate the move, stay in SoCal + lock in the work on the other side. Although I’ve had inexplicable peace that it’s going to work itself out + that what we need is coming.. The human in me struggles with the fact that it’s not here NOW.

I’m doing all I can to make it happen while packing our things with tears rolling down my face because it brings up ALL THE EMOTIONS, doubts + scaries. So I found myself needing to share where I’m at with y’all. It’s been a rough year for your girl and I’m much stronger for it now, pero ugh, growing pains SUCK.

I can’t wait to be on the other side of this move, settling in and ready to call in the Jefas who will be joining our Summer Cohort, onboarding the Jefas I’ll be supporting 1:1 and preparing for upcoming photoshoots.

I’m so grateful for each and every one of you HERE, inside our CCJ Casita. It means the world to me to have y’all on this journey with me.

I didn’t realize how far my heart was aching and ready to reminisce ALL this with y’all, pero I’m grateful for the space to come heart dump and tell y’all the real story of what got me here + why in the heck I’d be moving twice in four months. Or what the motivation is behind generating more work.

Your girl is so much stronger now + after getting poured into at the ROI Millionaire’s Summit last week, I’m ready to pour out from a different place with so much more learning + experience under my belt. Ready to share what I know with Jefas looking for guidance on growing their brands + business online + ready to take #imperfectaction + #doitscared pero JUNTAS.

So as I come into the present, I’ll make my ask for support through this transition.. I’m asking that y’all tell your friends about me, about CCJ, about our Casita. If you’ve been impacted at all by me, my work or this community, please share it. I’m offering 20% all my services, 1:1 coaching, Cohort seats, brand photography and Casita Memberships.

All I want is to stay in SoCal, keep going, + keep working towards this vision in my head for our beautiful, growing community. There’s so much left to create for y’all and any support allows for this journey to continue.

Y’all are my why + motivation behind everything I do. Thank y’all for changing my life, for saving me, for seeing me, accepting me + loving me for ME.. fully imperfect + constantly learning as I exit this hard season, leave it behind to step into a season of abundance + expansion with strength. Finally taking that visibility tour we planned for last year.

If you’re still reading this, I love you. Thank you for loving me too. Rambling and all. We got this + we get to keep growing JUNTAS, no matter what life throws at us. Pasito a pasito.

Las amo con todo mi corazón, Kita 🫶🏽