In this week’s episode, I speak with Brooklyn-based Mexican Graphic Designer and Illustrator, Lila Miller Espinosa. Lila is currently the Digital Design Manager at Parkwood Entertainment and also runs her amazing newsletter Bonita Semana, which rounds up good stuff from across the internet. Listen to this episode to hear us talk all about how she ended up becoming a US citizen, how she fell into graphic design through her own ambitions, and how she launched Bonita Semana.
This week’s guest originally went to school for Behavioral Psychology before finding her way to graphic design. Lila Miller Espinosa is a Brooklyn-based Mexican graphic designer and illustrator who currently works as the Digital Design Manager at Parkwood Entertainment — aka Beyoncé — while running her Spanish-language newsletter Bonita Semana.
After years of being a working psychologist, Lila spontaneously decided to follow her then-boyfriend to the US after finding out she qualified for U.S. citizenship through ancestry. With a U.S. passport in hand, Lila moved to NYC with only $1,000 to her name.
After 3 months of job-searching, she landed a job as an Office Manager at TimeHop. From there, she made major moves to end up as the Digital Design Manager at Parkwood Entertainment.
In this episode, we go over how Lila seized opportunities to become a brand designer, how she launched Bonita Semana, her tips for breaking into the design world, and whether or not she’s met Queen Bey herself.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Guest Info
Check out Lila’s Instagram, Portfolio, and Subscribe to Bonita Semana.
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Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.
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00;00;10;03 - 00;00;31;18
Fabiola Lara
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Draws in Spanish, a podcast that showcases the creative journey of notable Latin X visual artists and designers. I'm your host, illustrator, podcaster, YouTuber Fabiola Lara. Today, I'm sitting down with the incredible Mexican designer and illustrator Leila Miller Espinosa.
00;00;32;07 - 00;00;49;07
Fabiola Lara
Lila is a Brooklyn based designer by way of Monterrey, Mexico, who works with some next level clients. She is currently the digital design manager at Parkwood Entertainment, a.k.a. Beyonce, and runs her own newsletter titled Bonita Seminars. I am really excited to get to talk with her.
00;00;49;08 - 00;01;12;26
Fabiola Lara
Given her proximity to Beyoncé and her super interesting and unique trajectory into the design world. OK, let's get started. Let's go. Thank you so much, Leila, for being here on this episode of Draws in Spanish. I'm so excited to have you and I don't know if you know this, but you're like the first more designer that we've
00;01;12;26 - 00;01;22;22
Fabiola Lara
had on the show. Usually, we've had people who are a little bit more just illustration. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like you're a little bit more designer than illustrator. You know your balance there.
00;01;22;28 - 00;01;23;28
Fabiola Lara
What do you think about that?
00;01;24;06 - 00;01;36;07
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yes. Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me. What an honor to be the first for the design heavy guest on the podcast. I'm a huge fan, first of all. Oh, thank you so much. Definitely.
00;01;36;10 - 00;01;40;21
Lila Miller Espinosa
I wish I made more illustration, but I do more of the same.
00;01;40;22 - 00;01;52;05
Fabiola Lara
Now, don't worry, we'll get into that before we get into all of that, including illustration for the listeners who aren't familiar with you. Can you do a quick introduction about yourself?
00;01;52;29 - 00;02;06;28
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yes, of course. Well, my name is Lila Miller Espinoza. I'm Mexican. I was born in Michoacan, in Mexico. That's out of Mexico, and I currently live in Brooklyn, New York. I run a newsletter in Spanish called When He Doesn't Mind.
00;02;07;02 - 00;02;23;13
Lila Miller Espinosa
It's a weekly newsletter for female or non and non-binary people to get a good like start of the week. And then we do some like recommendations and curate art and music and Instagram accounts a little bit of everything.
00;02;23;18 - 00;02;34;09
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, correct. And then on my full time job, I'm a designer. I do freelance design, but I'm also a full time designer at a production company.
00;02;34;18 - 00;02;53;02
Fabiola Lara
Perfect. And I love to start these conversations back at the beginning so that people can understand like where you come from and have a little bit more context about your story, right? So that way, they can maybe see themselves in that or just have a better understanding.
00;02;53;02 - 00;03;01;05
Fabiola Lara
So could you tell me about where you were born and raised? I know you said Michoacan, but just tell me maybe a little bit more about that time.
00;03;01;15 - 00;03;09;02
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah. So I was born in that tiny, tiny, tiny town in Michoacan. Calderon got equal. Sounds like it's very difficult to pronounce.
00;03;09;09 - 00;03;10;07
Fabiola Lara
It on the record.
00;03;10;12 - 00;03;23;12
Lila Miller Espinosa
I don't get it. Yeah. So thousands of people live there. It's tiny. My both my parents were born in Mexico City, but they wanted to have like a more like a slow kind of life. So me and my brother were born there.
00;03;23;12 - 00;03;38;09
Lila Miller Espinosa
And then when it was time to go to like elementary school or some family pressure there. So we moved to Monterrey, which is a big city. So we grew up there and then I went to school for psychology like behavioral psychology.
00;03;38;10 - 00;03;40;06
Lila Miller Espinosa
I don't know. I just saw that. I like.
00;03;40;06 - 00;03;40;15
Lila Miller Espinosa
That.
00;03;41;05 - 00;03;42;00
Fabiola Lara
Did you like it?
00;03;42;16 - 00;04;03;07
Lila Miller Espinosa
I liked it. I definitely always was drawing as a kid and like doing art. But I just didn't feel, especially in Mexico or like Latin America is is art and design are not something that you. Can make a good living, or at least that's how I felt coming from that CD that's more like industrial and there's the
00;04;03;07 - 00;04;08;06
Lila Miller Espinosa
successes. Good morning to like technical things and not the arts.
00;04;08;26 - 00;04;15;17
Fabiola Lara
Do you have any memories of being young like any art or crashed projects that you used to do as a kid?
00;04;16;16 - 00;04;31;05
Lila Miller Espinosa
Well, we used to draw a lot, and I remember my dad had, oof, I don't know their name in English, but in Mexico we're going to lose. But it's basically to do animation. So it's just like where you would like is a paper.
00;04;31;05 - 00;04;39;10
Lila Miller Espinosa
And if you turn on a light bulb so you can like, copy things or like make you know. So I remember just having fun. I just thought.
00;04;39;10 - 00;04;39;17
Lila Miller Espinosa
That.
00;04;39;22 - 00;04;40;10
Lila Miller Espinosa
Bugs was.
00;04;40;10 - 00;04;42;11
Lila Miller Espinosa
Magical and you made.
00;04;42;11 - 00;04;45;08
Fabiola Lara
Like little little animations. Like three frame.
00;04;45;09 - 00;04;55;15
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, yeah. Just like real animations. It was having fun with that, and my mom and my dad kept everything like, we still have all my drawings that look so creepy, but.
00;04;55;26 - 00;05;03;04
Fabiola Lara
I love that that is so cool. You should make only the Samana newsletter about those drawings. I bet there's something really good there.
00;05;03;16 - 00;05;11;16
Lila Miller Espinosa
A few years ago, I had the I went to like I do. They add up all kind of workshop, and I definitely had those in my presentation.
00;05;11;16 - 00;05;12;06
Lila Miller Espinosa
Like, Oh.
00;05;12;13 - 00;05;18;18
Fabiola Lara
How did your family feel when you decided to pursue a career in the arts? Right? Because as a designer, that's.
00;05;18;20 - 00;05;39;02
Lila Miller Espinosa
They are excited. Actually, my family's very artistic and my dad was a designer and my mom is an historian. So they're more like social sciences and intellect, intellectuals like that. So they were really, really just excited. I was the one who was rejecting it from, like saying like, Oh, we don't have any money.
00;05;39;17 - 00;05;41;15
Lila Miller Espinosa
I don't want to repeat this pattern.
00;05;41;25 - 00;05;43;21
Lila Miller Espinosa
That's so funny. So you went to school.
00;05;43;28 - 00;05;52;00
Fabiola Lara
For behavioral psychology, even though you had an interest in art, like you said, as a kid, you just decided to be more practical.
00;05;52;03 - 00;05;58;18
Lila Miller Espinosa
I was like, I know we don't have any money and I want to have some money. Let me be a therapist. There is.
00;05;58;29 - 00;06;03;28
Lila Miller Espinosa
I don't know. I was 16. I love that.
00;06;04;09 - 00;06;23;01
Fabiola Lara
That's so like levelheaded of you. But I feel similarly. I went to school for advertising and because I was just like, I can't, you know, I have to be smart about it and like seeing my friends in art school and being like, I don't know what they're going to do after this.
00;06;23;16 - 00;06;23;28
Lila Miller Espinosa
You know?
00;06;23;28 - 00;06;35;18
Fabiola Lara
So I was being practical, so I understand where you're coming from, but that's so cool that they were still on board. Right. Because sometimes like after you get a degree, you did, you feel like you had to use it?
00;06;36;11 - 00;06;48;01
Lila Miller Espinosa
Oh, definitely. My first job, I was a fourth grade teacher. I don't know how that's related to psychology, but apparently it's something you can do. And then after that, I work at a hospital with like patients and everything.
00;06;48;18 - 00;06;49;13
Fabiola Lara
Wow.
00;06;49;13 - 00;06;51;15
Lila Miller Espinosa
But I was I was just five.
00;06;52;01 - 00;06;55;17
Fabiola Lara
Right? You were. You weren't feeling that like fulfillment, ultimately.
00;06;55;19 - 00;07;11;09
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, I was feeling like something was missing and I couldn't figure out why, because even in college, like I was going to school for psychology, but I had like the afternoon to do like little crafts or like I would like draw a log and or like, make T-shirts.
00;07;11;19 - 00;07;21;14
Lila Miller Espinosa
It was like I had a creative outlet. But when you're working full time at like such a formal setting to like hospital like I was wearing the the scrubs.
00;07;21;20 - 00;07;23;18
Fabiola Lara
Wow, you're in it.
00;07;23;19 - 00;07;24;11
Lila Miller Espinosa
I was in.
00;07;24;24 - 00;07;41;00
Fabiola Lara
Wow. OK, so I have to know more about this. OK, so you graduate with your behavioral psychology degree. Like you said, you're a teacher, then you work at a hospital. Please connect the dots from there to designer, which is where you are now.
00;07;41;13 - 00;07;53;23
Lila Miller Espinosa
So then I was feeling bad. I was like miserable. I'm like, what's missing in my life? And I was hanging out with a group of people that were very creative and we would do like some, like geeky fog on Fridays.
00;07;53;23 - 00;07;57;16
Lila Miller Espinosa
Like like, I'm like, kind of like a PowerPoint party situation.
00;07;57;17 - 00;08;00;05
Fabiola Lara
OK, like the five minute PowerPoint Typekit.
00;08;00;06 - 00;08;11;11
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, but it was about they were like, are architects and designers? And I was like, Wait. They're like making the same amount of money that I'm making and they're like, you know, if you're really happy and they're doing all these cool things.
00;08;11;27 - 00;08;16;10
Lila Miller Espinosa
And so I started learning more about tech like that was my.
00;08;16;27 - 00;08;17;21
Lila Miller Espinosa
Gateway to.
00;08;17;21 - 00;08;33;21
Lila Miller Espinosa
Design more like on the UI UX part because I started hanging out with people who are making apps and stuff and I was like, Way, I can kind of do that. And it relates to behavioral psychology a little bit with like flows and patterns of what people are going to click on and, you know, color theory.
00;08;33;22 - 00;08;52;00
Lila Miller Espinosa
So there's a link there. So that was happening. And then I had a boyfriend at the time who was an architect, but he was doing kind of like UX design. And he was like, Hey, I'm applying to get a job in the US.
00;08;52;15 - 00;08;57;22
Lila Miller Espinosa
Would you go with me if I get a job? And I was like, Sure. Like, I didn't really.
00;08;57;22 - 00;09;00;23
Lila Miller Espinosa
Think you get anything right. You're like.
00;09;00;23 - 00;09;03;25
Fabiola Lara
I guess what a hypothetical question.
00;09;04;15 - 00;09;10;22
Lila Miller Espinosa
Oh yes, yes, I believe in you. It was, though you got gotta like super fast. You like three months later, he was like, That's why.
00;09;10;22 - 00;09;12;08
Lila Miller Espinosa
I got a job. I'm like, Let's help.
00;09;12;28 - 00;09;31;06
Lila Miller Espinosa
And he, like, left immediately. And then I was in Mexico. Like, I already said, yes. Oh, and then what sealed the deal also. So something very important to clarify is that I was very privileged in that I went to get my visa at my tourist visa, or I was like, Maybe I'll just go visit him for like
00;09;31;27 - 00;09;47;23
Lila Miller Espinosa
two weeks. And then while I was doing that or is this the thing the girl was like? Actually, you can get it once before Trump also notifying she was like, Actually, you could get citizenship because my dad's family is Americans.
00;09;48;15 - 00;10;05;22
Lila Miller Espinosa
And I was like, OK, like I didn't even know there was a possibility or like something that my nobody in my family knew or were interested in pursuing. So we're like, that's while like, OK, I'll apply, and they gave me like they gave me a passport, like, OK, the citizenship.
00;10;06;03 - 00;10;14;05
Fabiola Lara
But wow, that's so exciting, right? Because you're like, Maybe I'll consider it and then, you know, you still have to go through the paperwork, but it's like very easy.
00;10;14;07 - 00;10;27;08
Lila Miller Espinosa
Exactly. And also, very like, it's all very frenz's. Like in men's, when you have a passport, then you can just get a job like I can just get a job at Starbucks. Now, I don't have to be subject to like a visa.
00;10;27;21 - 00;10;32;29
Lila Miller Espinosa
So I was like, OK, and I cannot cannot ignore these opportunities that I have now.
00;10;33;05 - 00;10;42;11
Fabiola Lara
And it makes it so much easier, too, because even for more entry level design jobs, they don't have to sponsor you or anything like that, right? It's like an easier chance.
00;10;42;19 - 00;10;54;13
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah. Or like an internship, you can do it. You can do, which is like, very unfair and like, sad to think about. And also very arbitrary because then my brother so I do the same thing. And like, they didn't give him the passports.
00;10;54;13 - 00;11;02;16
Lila Miller Espinosa
I'm like, I'm like, Well, don't move anything because I'm already here. So he did it after the election. So I'm sure like, yeah, it just varies.
00;11;02;25 - 00;11;04;03
Fabiola Lara
Maybe he should try again now.
00;11;04;10 - 00;11;04;24
Lila Miller Espinosa
I know.
00;11;05;09 - 00;11;09;08
Fabiola Lara
Now that Biden's in and you're in right, like you're in, so they can't think about.
00;11;10;04 - 00;11;10;25
Lila Miller Espinosa
My moment like.
00;11;10;25 - 00;11;12;19
Lila Miller Espinosa
They could. Like, you never know.
00;11;12;28 - 00;11;17;06
Lila Miller Espinosa
Like, I don't know. They can take of that. I don't think they could take it back. It would be a lot.
00;11;17;07 - 00;11;20;08
Fabiola Lara
I mean, because who is the citizen on in your family side?
00;11;21;01 - 00;11;27;04
Lila Miller Espinosa
So the citizen was my dad, but he wasn't born in the US, so he also got it through his parents.
00;11;27;08 - 00;11;43;08
Fabiola Lara
Oh, but his parents then were our citizens. That's fine. Yeah. I feel like most people, this is like a really big generalization that I'm about to say. But if you're like most Americans think that people in Mexico are like dying to come to America, right?
00;11;43;09 - 00;11;49;10
Fabiola Lara
And this paints a different picture of like, not everyone is trying to come to America. Right?
00;11;49;11 - 00;12;02;23
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah. Definitely. Not like my mom was like, what? Why? Why are you going there? That's crazy. Don't go like she's very also, you know, anti-capitalism. I am America.
00;12;02;23 - 00;12;12;26
Fabiola Lara
Like, that's enlightening. And I think it's good for people to hear that point of view because I feel like, you know, here the media doesn't show that right. And shows like everybody in Mexico wants to come to America.
00;12;12;26 - 00;12;15;22
Fabiola Lara
And it's like, Yeah, calm down. Like, not everyone is.
00;12;15;22 - 00;12;17;14
Lila Miller Espinosa
Trying to come home. Exactly.
00;12;18;01 - 00;12;23;00
Fabiola Lara
OK, so you fall into the citizenship, which is incredible and amazing.
00;12;23;00 - 00;12;24;17
Lila Miller Espinosa
I stumble upon a passport.
00;12;24;17 - 00;12;29;09
Fabiola Lara
Yes. What a dream. And then you come to the U.S. What happens then?
00;12;29;28 - 00;12;50;19
Lila Miller Espinosa
So I move here and then immediately huge like culture shock because so it was winter. So New York is very cold. Those years it was colder. I feel like it was 26, 2013, and she was working all day like you would go to the office work all day and I didn't have a job and I was like
00;12;51;01 - 00;13;01;28
Lila Miller Espinosa
trying to like applying to jobs. But I also didn't want I couldn't be a therapist. That was out of the question because you need a license or like, go back to school. I was like, OK, I don't even like it on the first place.
00;13;02;09 - 00;13;02;26
Lila Miller Espinosa
Why would I?
00;13;03;04 - 00;13;12;14
Fabiola Lara
That's important to note, too, because if you had been able to work as a therapist here, if there was some sort of transfer, then maybe you would have just done that.
00;13;12;16 - 00;13;15;01
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, exactly. So that's kind of cool.
00;13;15;02 - 00;13;21;21
Fabiola Lara
Does the filing of the passport and coming here and being in a new scenario pushed you to follow your dreams?
00;13;21;22 - 00;13;23;00
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, exactly.
00;13;23;04 - 00;13;29;03
Fabiola Lara
I love hearing those moments exist because everybody thinks you probably were feeling pretty crappy at that time.
00;13;29;04 - 00;13;45;06
Lila Miller Espinosa
No, I was feeling bad because although you know you, I went to college, I had like a respectable job and then moving here and the language barrier like I grew up, we grew up like going to Texas once in a while or going to Austin for concerts and stuff.
00;13;46;10 - 00;13;57;15
Lila Miller Espinosa
And I never felt like, Oh my God, my English is terrible or something. But then here, I don't know why I like I was. I was like, embarrassed to their food at a restaurant.
00;13;57;27 - 00;14;03;26
Fabiola Lara
Yeah, that's a lot of culture shock. Do you have a specific memory from that time where you.
00;14;03;26 - 00;14;04;08
Lila Miller Espinosa
Felt.
00;14;05;03 - 00;14;07;15
Fabiola Lara
Like super like an outsider, like a foreigner?
00;14;07;25 - 00;14;25;02
Lila Miller Espinosa
I don't know if that specific moment I just remember being in that apartment alone like snow outside. And I would like cool my best friend Mexico or like speaking in Spanish or you know what it was. I would do something that I didn't do in Mexico, which is like I would play a radio show that I would
00;14;25;02 - 00;14;35;07
Lila Miller Espinosa
like sometimes listen to on my way to work. And I would find that here, like online. And I was like, just like listening to your funniest. I've got like a vibration.
00;14;36;10 - 00;14;38;06
Fabiola Lara
That helped you feel at home, though, right?
00;14;38;06 - 00;14;51;24
Lila Miller Espinosa
Like, yeah, exactly. I'm like, This is fine. This is Mexico. And so I started interviewing for literally any job that I could find. I didn't feel qualified to apply to a junior designer role, even though, like, I knew the tools.
00;14;51;24 - 00;14;59;15
Lila Miller Espinosa
But I I mean, I've never had a job of that. I'm like, No, who am I? And then I was thinking, You know, I want. Alastair Clases.
00;14;59;23 - 00;15;05;07
Fabiola Lara
Amazing, I used to do the same thing to a Skillshare back when Skillshare was you pay per class.
00;15;05;13 - 00;15;06;07
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah.
00;15;07;01 - 00;15;21;22
Lila Miller Espinosa
So like lettering, you know, it was like 2015. So I feel like lettering was a of the gate. And then I started interviewing for like office manager positions because I was like, OK, I have no money as I move here with no money in my mind, there was a lot, but it wasn't.
00;15;21;29 - 00;15;26;07
Fabiola Lara
I love that. I feel like you have to be young to be able to pull that off.
00;15;26;12 - 00;15;28;29
Lila Miller Espinosa
I have thousand dollars and I was like, This is great.
00;15;29;00 - 00;15;32;07
Lila Miller Espinosa
This is it. Yeah, yeah, I love my life.
00;15;33;06 - 00;15;35;00
Fabiola Lara
But you also you had a boyfriend.
00;15;35;09 - 00;15;36;14
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah. And he got Adobe.
00;15;36;14 - 00;15;37;14
Lila Miller Espinosa
He got my girl.
00;15;37;22 - 00;15;39;11
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, tech job. You know, like.
00;15;39;28 - 00;15;41;20
Fabiola Lara
You had a little bit of wiggle room, you know?
00;15;41;22 - 00;15;49;17
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah. But I also felt horrible that he was because. So OK. So like the opposite happened when we were in Mexico. I was like the breadwinner.
00;15;49;20 - 00;15;52;03
Fabiola Lara
OK, so this was a shocking dynamic for you.
00;15;52;06 - 00;16;01;17
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah. Like, you didn't have a job in Mexico that way. He was applying here. And then I was like, I got you. Like, I'll pay for it. And then we moved here and I was like, Oh no.
00;16;02;02 - 00;16;05;17
Lila Miller Espinosa
Can you pay for dinner? Who am I? Oh, that's.
00;16;05;17 - 00;16;10;16
Fabiola Lara
Hard. I laugh now because I think like, we know that you, you've made it now.
00;16;10;22 - 00;16;11;29
Lila Miller Espinosa
But you know, that is.
00;16;11;29 - 00;16;22;20
Fabiola Lara
A hard, low point to be. I think especially, I don't think people realize like, yeah, you can have like an entire other life in a different country and then you come here and it's just like taken away from you.
00;16;22;20 - 00;16;37;03
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah. And like, I had all my friends, you know, like from high school or whatever, and it was a it's a big, big city. So it was, yeah, it was. It was hard. And then I finally three months later, which to me felt like forever now.
00;16;37;03 - 00;16;38;20
Lila Miller Espinosa
Like I wanted nothing.
00;16;39;00 - 00;16;41;01
Fabiola Lara
Yeah, you should have been relaxing. Should have been.
00;16;41;01 - 00;16;45;26
Lila Miller Espinosa
Enjoying, you know, like I shouldn't be like going to a museum every day, but I was like.
00;16;46;00 - 00;16;47;11
Lila Miller Espinosa
Oh shit.
00;16;48;01 - 00;17;00;28
Lila Miller Espinosa
And then finally, I got a job at a tech startup called Time Hub. It's an app still out there, and so I get a job there. I get a job there. As an office manager. It was like a tiny office.
00;17;01;10 - 00;17;08;11
Lila Miller Espinosa
If people and I was just like ordering food, I'm like Amazon or like FreshDirect.
00;17;09;02 - 00;17;10;13
Lila Miller Espinosa
And then put the.
00;17;10;19 - 00;17;22;13
Lila Miller Espinosa
Drinks in the fridge, which was like, It was fun. Honestly, everybody, I love everyone that we're still friends. But to me, like a little bit, I don't want to say humiliating because it wasn't humiliating. It was just weird.
00;17;22;14 - 00;17;27;01
Lila Miller Espinosa
Like, I was like, I'm not using my brain enough.
00;17;27;06 - 00;17;35;06
Fabiola Lara
Right, right. Because before you had a job where you use your brain, maybe you had a little bit more. I don't. What's the word like stature or something like?
00;17;35;06 - 00;17;53;12
Lila Miller Espinosa
It's like a status thing to like. It feels it's weird. It's very strange to be like on a professional side and then going into a job where like people don't look at you the same like people. And I'm not saying that people that work at time are just like, you know, people that are working in that building
00;17;53;12 - 00;18;07;15
Lila Miller Espinosa
or just being like, Oh, what do you do? There's a lot of pressure in New York. I feel like to be like, your personality is based on where you work or what you do, which it sucks, but it makes you feel inadequate.
00;18;07;15 - 00;18;08;25
Lila Miller Espinosa
Like know if you find it.
00;18;09;05 - 00;18;26;23
Fabiola Lara
Right, right? Definitely. Especially coming from being a psychologist in your home country and then people perceive you differently here because you're quote just an office manager, but really, you have all this other experience that they don't know. So that's hard.
00;18;26;23 - 00;18;33;13
Fabiola Lara
So how did you make it from office manager to designing at time? Because I believe that you design that, right?
00;18;33;14 - 00;18;51;28
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah. So I was there as an office manager. I be like for a year. And like I said, everybody was super nice. It was like a very closed culture and we were all the same age. So actually, this girl who was the head of, I think it was like head of brand partnerships or something.
00;18;52;07 - 00;19;08;14
Lila Miller Espinosa
one day she like, comes up to me and she's like, Hey, I've seen your Instagram like, you have really good, a really good eye or something like that. She was like, I think you have really good. I think you could help me make some mockups for a bitch like page to a client.
00;19;08;14 - 00;19;26;28
Lila Miller Espinosa
And I was like, Oh my god, yes, I have nothing to do because I already have my 15 minutes, you know, things are work. And so I started helping her doing little mock ups for pitching to Starbucks. Vision to Netflix is like ideas is how it would look in the app because their designer didn't have time to
00;19;26;28 - 00;19;41;13
Lila Miller Espinosa
do those things because it was like busy UI. So I started doing that and then we started actually like selling like those deals were happening. So after a while, it was like, OK, so they cannot deny that I'm like a junior designer.
00;19;41;13 - 00;19;43;02
Fabiola Lara
Yet you have graduated.
00;19;43;03 - 00;19;53;11
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, yeah. And so I don't like their Instagram. Little things that they would give me. I was just like, so happy other things. I was also still doing of his manager because I don't know why.
00;19;54;06 - 00;19;56;24
Fabiola Lara
Because nobody took that away from you, right? So you're like.
00;19;57;03 - 00;19;58;12
Lila Miller Espinosa
This is what I'm getting paid for.
00;19;58;12 - 00;19;59;29
Fabiola Lara
It to be the office manager, but I'm doing.
00;19;59;29 - 00;20;01;20
Lila Miller Espinosa
This. Yes, exactly.
00;20;02;06 - 00;20;03;11
Fabiola Lara
That's so hard. OK.
00;20;03;12 - 00;20;06;10
Lila Miller Espinosa
And so that wasn't happening for a while until one.
00;20;06;10 - 00;20;07;10
Lila Miller Espinosa
Day somebody.
00;20;07;10 - 00;20;07;25
Fabiola Lara
Noticed.
00;20;07;25 - 00;20;08;16
Lila Miller Espinosa
There's something.
00;20;09;09 - 00;20;24;28
Lila Miller Espinosa
The CEO was like something was happening to where we wouldn't have. There wasn't a lot of money coming in. So the actual designer was getting paid a lot of money and they couldn't keep him anymore. So I'm like, I'm one of those immigrants who like your job because they can pay me less.
00;20;25;26 - 00;20;28;16
Lila Miller Espinosa
Right? Yeah, but you're a citizen. That's right.
00;20;29;18 - 00;20;31;19
Fabiola Lara
Not the misconception, right?
00;20;31;24 - 00;20;36;17
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah. But like, yeah, I don't know. They're like us says I want them to, you know.
00;20;36;21 - 00;20;37;18
Fabiola Lara
We can pay her less.
00;20;37;23 - 00;20;43;16
Lila Miller Espinosa
Desperate. Yeah. So then that was it like I was now. I was like the sole designer.
00;20;43;27 - 00;20;54;26
Fabiola Lara
That's crazy. I feel like that always happens with startups like or maybe not startups like just smaller companies like somebody leaves. And that's when they're like, and now you're the head of the department.
00;20;55;25 - 00;20;57;26
Lila Miller Espinosa
But because there's only one person.
00;20;57;29 - 00;21;05;02
Lila Miller Espinosa
I literally remember when, you know, when the designer lab, the company were like, what? And then I was like, Wait.
00;21;05;02 - 00;21;08;23
Lila Miller Espinosa
Who's going to do so? Who's doing it now, right?
00;21;09;00 - 00;21;13;14
Lila Miller Espinosa
They're like, Well, you are. It was like, Oh, goo goo goo goo that come with, you know, raise.
00;21;13;19 - 00;21;15;25
Fabiola Lara
Yeah, and no more like, you're going to hire the.
00;21;15;25 - 00;21;18;13
Lila Miller Espinosa
Office, a new office manager, or what a.
00;21;18;13 - 00;21;32;07
Fabiola Lara
Weird place to be. I mean, unfortunate because that's how they can exploit you a little bit. But also you took the opportunity and it was useful for you, made it work for you and you needed it at the time.
00;21;32;07 - 00;21;47;06
Lila Miller Espinosa
So 100%. And I was also it was those years were intense because I was feeling very I mean, I still feel very insecure because I didn't go to school. So I definitely have like that imposter syndrome thing going on like high.
00;21;48;02 - 00;22;02;08
Lila Miller Espinosa
And so during the weekends, I would just like take, you know, the courses that I could and like reading, reading. I mean, it was fun ish. But now looking back, I'm like, Oh my God, I could have been, you know, having I was like mid twenties.
00;22;02;18 - 00;22;03;02
Lila Miller Espinosa
Right, right?
00;22;03;04 - 00;22;05;25
Fabiola Lara
You're like, What happened to my life? Well, it paid.
00;22;05;25 - 00;22;06;23
Lila Miller Espinosa
Off, and it's up.
00;22;06;29 - 00;22;10;26
Fabiola Lara
It paid off. So. Tell me about where you are today.
00;22;11;00 - 00;22;26;01
Lila Miller Espinosa
So I was working at the time hub. Like I said then, something really, really big happened in my life, which was my dad passed away. And so I went back to Mexico for the funeral. And then when I came back to New York, I was feeling kind of like, We're weird all around.
00;22;26;17 - 00;22;45;00
Lila Miller Espinosa
And I wanted to find something to connect with Mexico while I was here, and everything that I could find was like meaning content like online that I don't really love it. So I was like, Oh, maybe I can always be the first IBO super gran that was like I could create like a platform for women and like
00;22;45;00 - 00;22;46;16
Lila Miller Espinosa
, it's going to be amazing and they're going.
00;22;46;16 - 00;22;47;14
Fabiola Lara
To an app.
00;22;47;22 - 00;23;05;04
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, yeah, it's an app. And then you create your account and then la la la la. Obviously, it's impossible, not impossible, but it's really how you have to start smaller. So I started this newsletter called Money Desmond and I started alone, literally made my mom subscribe to it and like my dearest friends.
00;23;05;22 - 00;23;21;07
Lila Miller Espinosa
And then it started growing and two girls like my and these men and wrote, and they're like, I love these. Like, Can we help you? We want to write to. So I'm like, Yeah, welcome. And they became part of the team.
00;23;21;29 - 00;23;26;18
Lila Miller Espinosa
And we've been doing it for four years, it's crazy, just like consistency.
00;23;27;05 - 00;23;44;11
Fabiola Lara
Wow, I love to hear that because, you know, I have this podcast and, you know, brand new at this point, and I'm like, I'm excited to see what is going to happen in the years to come. And so when I see that your project has been ongoing and so consistent, I'm like impressed and excited.
00;23;44;11 - 00;24;00;15
Fabiola Lara
I'm like, I need that. And I'd love to see it. Bonita Simona is a really big undertaking as a newsletter slash blog, new content every week, all the time. So how do you balance the work between Bonita Samana your full time job?
00;24;00;21 - 00;24;16;11
Lila Miller Espinosa
I think right now we're pretty balanced and we know each other and we know the community really well. So that's very important because where during the week we have a lag and then we're just like adding things there, like just like dropping it, like, boom, there's your things.
00;24;17;01 - 00;24;33;25
Lila Miller Espinosa
And then I going during the weekend like surf through and I can do a little curation of, I'm like, OK, this one works is maybe better or next week and the newsletter and it's like slow internet, as I like to call it, is not content that you have to be consuming that.
00;24;33;25 - 00;24;47;15
Lila Miller Espinosa
It's like if you don't read it today, like it's over, it's more like if you have time during the week, you can read it. So it doesn't really matter. It's not like a news podcast where it has to be like about daily.
00;24;47;15 - 00;24;50;25
Fabiola Lara
And how many people do you have now working with you on Bonita?
00;24;50;25 - 00;25;06;04
Lila Miller Espinosa
So it's me, and then it's Matt and his men, and they help me with writing it. And then Chris, that helps me with like more like marketing. We have like a partnership with somebody and then and helps us with some illustrations, sometimes amazing.
00;25;06;05 - 00;25;17;19
Fabiola Lara
That's cool. I love to hear that there's more people working on it because I'm like, it inspires me personally, right? Because like with this podcast and with everything that I do, it's like so by myself. And that can get so.
00;25;17;23 - 00;25;24;17
Fabiola Lara
It's not only like a lot of work, but boring to write because I'm like, Fabiola, what do you think about this? Sounds good, Jack.
00;25;25;12 - 00;25;27;26
Lila Miller Espinosa
There's nothing happening. And yeah.
00;25;27;26 - 00;25;33;15
Lila Miller Espinosa
I like that's how I was. I feel like for a few months and then now, like, so happy.
00;25;33;24 - 00;25;39;25
Fabiola Lara
Yes, that's amazing. Incredible. And why did you decide to create Bonita semana in Spanish?
00;25;40;06 - 00;25;52;26
Lila Miller Espinosa
I just felt like there was a lot of content in English that I liked. I was getting a lot of newsletters that are super nice, like Girls Night In or the skim, even if it's like news based. But I feel like it.
00;25;53;18 - 00;26;10;06
Lila Miller Espinosa
And I just felt that there was like a whole layer of content in Spanish. I was looking for content, then I was going to dig websites with, I want a pop up ads. I'm like, I don't know. We this are like clean content and like that is beautiful.
00;26;10;06 - 00;26;18;21
Lila Miller Espinosa
And that is like more modern for women and fun and not invasive and more more positive also.
00;26;18;28 - 00;26;37;20
Fabiola Lara
Yeah, I feel like it can be very outdated, even even now. Like sometimes my whole life is in English, like, especially because I'm in Philadelphia. It just feels like everything in my life is in English. And when I try to find the things in Spanish that are cool, I'm in a super old website or I'm just like
00;26;37;20 - 00;26;46;02
Fabiola Lara
, Where are the people? They're like, no people doing this. And if you're not, I feel like if you're not in those Spanish speaking countries, it gets harder to find it.
00;26;46;10 - 00;27;02;04
Lila Miller Espinosa
And I feel like people are consuming people in Mexico who like would like this content that consuming in English. And it's not the same. It's not the same. It's like. Even for me, like I would, I remember those first years that I moved to New York, I was like getting home and I was like, I have a
00;27;02;04 - 00;27;17;02
Lila Miller Espinosa
headache and I feel like it's because I'm translating everything in my head is not me. Love me. Are these words words that I would use in real life? Or are these words that I just like, listen to? I heard on a TV show and I'm just like, now I say, like, that's fire.
00;27;17;03 - 00;27;19;19
Lila Miller Espinosa
But like with me, let's say you.
00;27;19;24 - 00;27;20;25
Lila Miller Espinosa
Oh, that's neat. Yeah.
00;27;20;26 - 00;27;42;19
Fabiola Lara
I'm glad that you're creating that in Spanish. And I feel like especially for people in the U.S. is hard to find, like cool content in Spanish, that feels like normal. And, you know, not like translated and one day, I hope that I can make a version of this podcast in Spanish, but that feels like two podcasts.
00;27;42;19 - 00;27;45;00
Lila Miller Espinosa
So I can't do it. I can't do it.
00;27;45;00 - 00;27;58;11
Fabiola Lara
Yet just yet, but you definitely inspire me to push that side of it. I have to figure out how, but one day I want to ask you. So I feel like you are super chill about this, and I feel like it shouldn't be that chill.
00;27;58;26 - 00;28;13;01
Fabiola Lara
But you are the digital design manager at Parkwood Entertainment, a.k.a. Beyonce. All things Beyoncé. So can you tell me how you got there, how you made the leap? Because you're like, Oh, I have imposter syndrome, but I'm like.
00;28;13;10 - 00;28;14;23
Fabiola Lara
But Beyonce says it's OK.
00;28;15;11 - 00;28;15;27
Lila Miller Espinosa
That's right.
00;28;17;05 - 00;28;17;24
Lila Miller Espinosa
Approve.
00;28;18;12 - 00;28;29;28
Lila Miller Espinosa
OK, so I was working at the time hub and like I said, making a lot of friends, which is something that's very important and something that always opens the doors. And the world is really small and you're always going to.
00;28;30;28 - 00;28;32;26
Lila Miller Espinosa
Run into people that you work with, though.
00;28;33;06 - 00;28;34;12
Fabiola Lara
Especially in New York.
00;28;34;26 - 00;28;48;19
Lila Miller Espinosa
It's so small. Everybody knows each other. And so one of my really close friends. one day he's like, very secretive and he's like, Hey, would you like to have like a freelance job? And I'm like, Yeah, of course.
00;28;48;19 - 00;28;58;18
Lila Miller Espinosa
You know, I go to this place and like, even tell me what it was. And then I go, and I'm like, Wait, what is this? Why are there like, you know, Grammys?
00;28;59;27 - 00;29;01;14
Lila Miller Espinosa
Oh my gosh.
00;29;01;18 - 00;29;12;08
Lila Miller Espinosa
And then I go and I interview, like, I'm really nervous. Definitely. And they're like, Yeah, we'll call you back. And like, I was like, OK, was this font, you know, I was just happy to be there for the interview.
00;29;12;28 - 00;29;23;16
Lila Miller Espinosa
And then five months later, I in Mexico for my birthday and they call me on the phone like, I'm doing Spanish. I'm like, I'm waiting for my friends. Like, when.
00;29;24;22 - 00;29;28;06
Lila Miller Espinosa
They're like me, I'm like, Yeah, they're like, Oh, hi, like.
00;29;28;16 - 00;29;42;23
Lila Miller Espinosa
It's all the interview. And I'm like, Oh, I'm in Mexico. They're like, Can you come into the office? And I'm like, Oh, I'm actually in Mexico. And they're like, Oh, OK, well, whatever. Well, Michaela, over on the phone and I was like, and I was like, mom, and my mom didn't even know my mom was like, Who's
00;29;42;23 - 00;29;43;01
Lila Miller Espinosa
that?
00;29;43;02 - 00;29;47;17
Lila Miller Espinosa
I'm like, OK, all right, guys, your mom didn't know who Beyoncé was. No, I'm just like, I.
00;29;47;17 - 00;29;49;27
Lila Miller Espinosa
Google her like, yeah, like, OK, looks.
00;29;49;27 - 00;29;51;16
Lila Miller Espinosa
Cool. That's incredible.
00;29;51;16 - 00;29;55;29
Fabiola Lara
So you didn't know for five months. Did you even know what the position was?
00;29;56;10 - 00;29;57;04
Lila Miller Espinosa
I know that it.
00;29;57;04 - 00;30;05;13
Lila Miller Espinosa
Was like a design graphic design, which was also weird because I was I was doing more product design, but they're like, Yeah, digital design. I'm like, OK, cool.
00;30;05;23 - 00;30;15;15
Fabiola Lara
Wow. So your life changed when you came back to New York, you were like, I have to quit. I have to quit. I have to go, Yeah. two week notice I'm in Mexico, but two weeks start.
00;30;15;15 - 00;30;21;14
Lila Miller Espinosa
Now I have you feel bad at all like obligations. I came back and I was like, Actually, good bye.
00;30;21;20 - 00;30;32;14
Fabiola Lara
No, that's classic. That's a classic move. I feel like everyone does that because even when you know you have to take your vacation anyway, if you're not going to get paid out, so everybody has to do what's best for them.
00;30;32;27 - 00;30;36;03
Fabiola Lara
OK, so now you've been at Parkwood Entertainment for for how long?
00;30;36;11 - 00;30;39;07
Lila Miller Espinosa
It's been three years.
00;30;39;07 - 00;30;51;23
Fabiola Lara
Oh my gosh. three, three incredible years with Beyoncé. Can you tell me like a project that you worked on for, for Parkwood or for Beyonce Knowles Carter herself that you're most proud of?
00;30;52;16 - 00;31;11;24
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, of course. I feel like Ivy Park. It's one of my favorite things ever. It's like working super closely. Also with the Adidas team, it has been great because they're super smart. Obviously, the process is amazing. We have it all figured out and then we just bring their vision to life.
00;31;11;24 - 00;31;14;04
Lila Miller Espinosa
So is working with a digital team on that.
00;31;14;06 - 00;31;15;24
Fabiola Lara
So like the opposite of a startup?
00;31;16;01 - 00;31;35;03
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, the opposite, but also more creative tool in a way. And like figuring out, you know, during the pandemic, it was crazy because of the Photoshop had to be taken care of and make a crazy amount of videos and then translate that into web, but make it not boring and make it.
00;31;35;20 - 00;31;41;11
Lila Miller Espinosa
I don't know. People get really excited. So it's just about how can we make people more excited?
00;31;41;15 - 00;31;57;16
Fabiola Lara
Right? Oh, I feel like that has to be a lot of pressure because everything Beyoncé does is such a big deal that how do you deal with the pressure of like or do you feel any pressure creating on her behalf or for her brands?
00;31;57;22 - 00;32;08;17
Lila Miller Espinosa
Pressure, yes. But also everything goes through, like her eyes and eyes of the actor. So it's fine. Like, it's not like. I'm not going to just be putting something out there like those me, you know.
00;32;08;23 - 00;32;12;17
Fabiola Lara
It takes away some of that like fear because somebody is going to it's not.
00;32;12;17 - 00;32;14;08
Lila Miller Espinosa
Going to be any surprise. Yeah.
00;32;14;17 - 00;32;21;27
Fabiola Lara
OK. Amazing. And I have to ask this. I absolutely have to ask this. Have you ever met Beyonce before?
00;32;21;29 - 00;32;22;22
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yes, I.
00;32;22;22 - 00;32;23;03
Lila Miller Espinosa
Have.
00;32;24;03 - 00;32;26;18
Fabiola Lara
It's incredible everything that you've done, and I think that.
00;32;27;08 - 00;32;27;29
Lila Miller Espinosa
People who.
00;32;28;07 - 00;32;46;10
Fabiola Lara
Feel the same way in similar positions where they have gone to get a different degree, but they've always been creative, like you said, and don't know how to like, get there. You're like such proof that if you still like, are hungry and you're still curious and you stay on it like it's possible you don't have to stay
00;32;46;10 - 00;32;48;04
Fabiola Lara
in your lane if you don't want to anymore.
00;32;48;23 - 00;32;53;00
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah. And like honestly, you can change as many times as you want.
00;32;53;09 - 00;32;55;04
Fabiola Lara
Like you're going to change to illustration.
00;32;55;19 - 00;33;01;06
Lila Miller Espinosa
Like, I would love to change the illustration for sure, or like I would also love to have like a coffee shop.
00;33;01;16 - 00;33;22;16
Fabiola Lara
Not that I don't want to talk more about Beyonce, because I definitely could. But I also want to talk to you about, yeah, your illustration work and like those creative things that you're doing with bonita saamana. So do you think that you approach illustration and design differently, like if you have an illustration project or if you have
00;33;22;16 - 00;33;25;14
Fabiola Lara
a design project, do you like go about it a different way?
00;33;26;22 - 00;33;41;16
Lila Miller Espinosa
I've never actually thought about it, but I think I do, I think with design, it's more like, I guess we illustrations do better in my brain. It's like we'd be fine. I can just make 1,000,000 different options for the screen, and it's fine.
00;33;42;00 - 00;33;57;03
Lila Miller Espinosa
Any of these will work. It depends on what we want. Then we can decide. I can say with other people. But for illustration, I usually what I do is I do illustration for when it doesn't matter because it takes a lot of the pressure of being like, This is Lila doing an illustration.
00;33;57;22 - 00;34;12;05
Lila Miller Espinosa
So I kind of hide behind that. I'm like, I don't know. It doesn't matter. Nobody knows if that goes. And so I feel like I can be more free and just do one thing. And like, if I like it, that's fine and I don't have to be making like 1,000,000 versions.
00;34;12;09 - 00;34;22;18
Lila Miller Espinosa
Sometimes I do it because, you know, we want to change the colors or try different things or like a different brush. But usually it's just like, This is great. Nobody's going to notice me if.
00;34;23;13 - 00;34;31;11
Fabiola Lara
I love that. That's a really good way to get that like. To experiment without feeling like it's so personal all the time.
00;34;31;12 - 00;34;45;12
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, I feel like there's pressure for me also to have like an illustration style because you want and see like people who are doing illustration professionally and they have definitely they have a line or they have like a color palette.
00;34;45;12 - 00;34;54;17
Lila Miller Espinosa
They work and I'm like, I don't know who that is. Like, I don't know what's mine. And I feel like I don't do it enough to have one so I can just play around.
00;34;55;00 - 00;35;12;13
Fabiola Lara
I wonder, too, do you feel like because you're a designer, I feel like designers wear a lot of different design styles, right? Because always changing. If illustration is kind of something that you're doing alongside, it feels like it is always can change because the design might need something different.
00;35;12;26 - 00;35;13;24
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, definitely.
00;35;14;15 - 00;35;28;29
Fabiola Lara
Because I have done some design work before and I'm like, Well, my illustration when I work with this design, but this kind of illustration would work, so then I just switch it. I think it comes from like, yeah, like thinking about the design instead of thinking about illustration.
00;35;28;29 - 00;35;38;06
Fabiola Lara
first, you're thinking about the need of what you're making. Do you think that your Mexican heritage influences your work as a designer or as an illustrator at all?
00;35;38;21 - 00;35;48;04
Lila Miller Espinosa
What illustrator? Definitely, yes. Because I usually add some text on my illustrations and it's in Spanish, so my designs?
00;35;48;24 - 00;35;49;11
Lila Miller Espinosa
I don't know.
00;35;49;21 - 00;35;51;16
Lila Miller Espinosa
Probably, yes, but I wouldn't know.
00;35;51;18 - 00;35;52;01
Lila Miller Espinosa
How.
00;35;52;23 - 00;35;54;29
Lila Miller Espinosa
It is who I am and it comes out.
00;35;55;11 - 00;36;02;07
Fabiola Lara
Do you have any influences favorite Mexican designers or illustrators that you keep up with now?
00;36;02;20 - 00;36;23;23
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yes. So designers, definitely Gabriela Salinas. She's amazing. She's a service designer and I really look up to her. Just great. And then illustrators, I really like Antonella. She's amazing. My model, also big fun and I will miss was part of the one who doesn't mind the theme.
00;36;24;04 - 00;36;39;29
Fabiola Lara
Yes, amazing. I always like to ask because I'm just like curious how people stay influenced. And a lot of times if you're in the U.S. is hard. If you like to stay connected with like things that are going on internationally because the U.S. is so focused on the U.S..
00;36;40;04 - 00;36;40;24
Lila Miller Espinosa
All the time.
00;36;41;04 - 00;36;51;20
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, it's crazy. It's like I have to dig deep because one doesn't want to. Sometimes we do share like news or things that are happening, and it is higher, like based on.
00;36;51;25 - 00;37;08;15
Fabiola Lara
If you don't go, look for it, it does not come to you. I realize that because I was looking for podcasts in Spanish and is so hard to find in the apps. But then I went on the web and I looked for like the top charts in Chile, and I was able to find like they were not
00;37;08;16 - 00;37;21;22
Fabiola Lara
like in my feed anywhere I had to like, go out way out of my way. And I think that when you're in the U.S. and you're trying to stay connected with, like your heritage, it can be so hard you have to try so much harder than anything else.
00;37;21;23 - 00;37;36;19
Fabiola Lara
So I want to look ahead for you. I want to see what's next for you. Do you have like a dream project that you would still like to work on? I mean, I feel like this is a hard question because you already work for such a big art is that people are like, that would be a dream
00;37;37;03 - 00;37;39;00
Fabiola Lara
. So what would be a dream project for you?
00;37;39;08 - 00;37;45;11
Lila Miller Espinosa
Well, actually, something really excited that we're working on is that we're working out what guys are.
00;37;45;15 - 00;37;46;13
Fabiola Lara
For when he doesn't wanna.
00;37;46;16 - 00;37;50;26
Lila Miller Espinosa
Borrow, and it doesn't matter. But Fest is going to be in English.
00;37;51;04 - 00;37;52;10
Fabiola Lara
And why is that, you think?
00;37;52;21 - 00;38;12;08
Lila Miller Espinosa
Well, we just definitely want to open the audience up to Latinos. Were here. Also, as you probably know, the advertising world doesn't work in Spanish like they don't want to pay anything for any content in Spanish. Or even if it's like Google Labs, it's like fine to sign.
00;38;12;21 - 00;38;13;13
Lila Miller Espinosa
Up for it.
00;38;14;04 - 00;38;34;20
Fabiola Lara
Yeah, that's the reality. That's the reality. And I think for me, it just so happens that I'm more comfortable in English because I grew up my whole life here. But coming from an advertising background, I'm like, Honestly, we have to have a big English audience because that is the only way the podcast will be sustainable for everyone
00;38;35;03 - 00;38;41;10
Fabiola Lara
. And that's the reason a lot of YouTubers do YouTube in English. It just is how the money is flowing.
00;38;41;18 - 00;38;45;05
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, it's definitely sell, but it's it is what it is.
00;38;45;06 - 00;38;59;13
Fabiola Lara
Yeah, but I'm sure that you can find ways to convert the content over to Spanish so that you never want to alienate people in Spanish, but you also have to make it work forever.
00;38;59;19 - 00;39;09;11
Lila Miller Espinosa
Exactly. And I feel like we already have the newsletter in Spanish. We can definitely do some transcripts. But I am Glanville's with English, so.
00;39;09;20 - 00;39;25;27
Fabiola Lara
Exactly. I'm so excited for that because as much as they like getting the Spanish newsletter, I would love to listen to an English podcast about stuff happening around the world or in Latin America, but make it more, you know, easy for me to grab it and.
00;39;26;03 - 00;39;35;16
Fabiola Lara
I guess more. Yeah, it's just like what we're comfortable with in the US, I feel the sad, sad reality. Amazing. When he does them on a podcast, is it going to be called when he does?
00;39;35;29 - 00;39;46;06
Lila Miller Espinosa
It's not personal, decided on the name, but is going to be more about what to do after work, so more like to unwind and find value outside of work.
00;39;46;18 - 00;39;48;27
Fabiola Lara
Speaking of that, what do you do outside of work?
00;39;49;05 - 00;39;58;16
Lila Miller Espinosa
I well, I have a dog. Her name is. So, OK, hang out with her. Definitely hang out with my friends. I don't know. Normal things. Go get my coffee.
00;39;58;22 - 00;40;01;29
Fabiola Lara
I know I love going to get my coffee is my favorite.
00;40;02;07 - 00;40;03;26
Lila Miller Espinosa
It brings me so much joy.
00;40;03;28 - 00;40;08;16
Lila Miller Espinosa
Me to my silly little walks and my coffee. And that's it.
00;40;08;26 - 00;40;25;14
Fabiola Lara
And do you have any advice? We talked so much about this, so I want to see like what your advice straight up would be for creative people who know that they're creative, but they're looking to get started with graphic design, but they don't have, you know, the education that like like you were saying.
00;40;26;06 - 00;40;42;19
Lila Miller Espinosa
I just feel like the internet can be a terrible place, but it can also be a beautiful place where you can find all the knowledge you need. So there's like Big Leap into into YouTube. Even if the video looks bad, I swear those videos that something look terrible are have like the best.
00;40;43;04 - 00;40;46;05
Fabiola Lara
Yeah, because they're just making them fast. They're just like, This is the tip.
00;40;46;14 - 00;41;05;26
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah. And so start watching that. So the software sadly is expensive. Adobe, I think you can do it month-to-month, so try to do that on in the. Something that I started doing at first was copying people's design. I would just be like, OK, so like, what is this screen?
00;41;05;27 - 00;41;17;26
Lila Miller Espinosa
OK, so five squares. And they were like, Do it on illustrator or, well, now now everybody uses fake my back in the lake. And so copying other people's work.
00;41;17;26 - 00;41;19;15
Fabiola Lara
Copying for practice.
00;41;19;15 - 00;41;25;18
Lila Miller Espinosa
For Bragg? Yeah, for you. And you're never online on your computer.
00;41;26;01 - 00;41;27;23
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, those are local files.
00;41;27;23 - 00;41;28;02
Fabiola Lara
Yeah.
00;41;28;10 - 00;41;37;25
Lila Miller Espinosa
Local. I I never zeolite. Does that prove it to yourself that you can do it? I feel like that's really reassuring. Like, it's not my is not impossible.
00;41;37;26 - 00;41;51;28
Fabiola Lara
No, no, no. It's definitely. I feel like once you get comfortable with the tools, that's like phase one, but then it's like getting that first client. What kind of advice or how did you get your four? I know time hop was technically your first client, right?
00;41;52;07 - 00;41;58;29
Fabiola Lara
But how would you recommend somebody who doesn't have right? You have the skills, but you don't have that first client.
00;42;00;02 - 00;42;16;19
Lila Miller Espinosa
So we already have the skills. I would say, like also social media, still still our place to be showing your work, letting people know, especially if you're changing careers. People need to know, even though you might feel like embarrassed, but just be like, Hey, actually, now I do illustrations.
00;42;16;19 - 00;42;20;12
Lila Miller Espinosa
And if you have a dog, I can do a portrait of your dog.
00;42;20;13 - 00;42;23;11
Fabiola Lara
Yeah, you have to put it out there into the universe.
00;42;23;12 - 00;42;31;02
Lila Miller Espinosa
They're like self-promotion. There's no shame. I like, I don't care. I'm always both in my own things and my stories.
00;42;31;27 - 00;42;42;06
Fabiola Lara
I'm the same way. I mean, I feel like when you like with you, with Bunny, does it, man? I wonder if you feel this way like you're just so excited about it that it's like, Yeah, I'm going to tell everyone.
00;42;42;06 - 00;42;45;11
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, I'm like, This is cringe, but I don't care. Like, this is.
00;42;45;11 - 00;42;51;03
Lila Miller Espinosa
Great. Yeah, I feel the same. I'm so glad that you feel that way because I feel.
00;42;51;03 - 00;42;59;13
Fabiola Lara
That way, so genuinely to where I'm like, Yeah, I have to be cringy. I'm trying to do this thing like, we're trying to make it happen.
00;42;59;14 - 00;43;07;01
Lila Miller Espinosa
Exactly. So I we're changing is like, Hey, you guys. Now I'm into design anyone who needs a logo or anybody needs a little website or.
00;43;07;01 - 00;43;09;07
Fabiola Lara
Some social media post or whatever.
00;43;09;08 - 00;43;11;19
Lila Miller Espinosa
And somebody will be like, Actually, yes.
00;43;11;20 - 00;43;20;16
Fabiola Lara
Yeah, everybody needs it. And nobody knows. I feel like online. Everyone's like pretending to know what they're doing. And so anytime that you offer help, it's like, Yeah.
00;43;21;02 - 00;43;24;12
Lila Miller Espinosa
I'll take somebody else to help me make this. Yeah, I 100%.
00;43;24;27 - 00;43;27;22
Lila Miller Espinosa
Yeah, everyone's faking it. So it's fine.
00;43;28;15 - 00;43;38;20
Fabiola Lara
Are there any stereotypes or misconceptions about Mexico that you have heard of or your experience yourself that you're tired of hearing?
00;43;38;23 - 00;43;54;04
Lila Miller Espinosa
I'm just tired of hearing that the Mexicans are not professional or like lazy. I feel like it's the complete opposite. I always feel like my Mexican friends are are not complete opposite. But it was like, first of all, generalizations suck.
00;43;55;02 - 00;44;07;18
Lila Miller Espinosa
But I do know there is like some statistics about how many hours people in Mexico work and they do like crazy hours, which is why I'm like, there is definitely an issue with like boundaries and communication after work hours.
00;44;08;03 - 00;44;13;20
Lila Miller Espinosa
So those are the five of them. You're here and they're like Mexicans. They're lazy, they're like, just want to party. And it's like, what?
00;44;13;21 - 00;44;23;20
Fabiola Lara
No, I know I feel like a lot of the Mexicans that I've met or have known are the hardest working people. I don't even know where it came from. I'm like, Where did that come from?
00;44;23;27 - 00;44;32;01
Lila Miller Espinosa
I feel like it comes from those like old drawings of like a guy like a Mexican quote-unquote like where? And I don't really like sleeping under a guy booth. And it's like.
00;44;32;01 - 00;44;33;04
Lila Miller Espinosa
Laci. I was going.
00;44;33;04 - 00;44;48;23
Fabiola Lara
To say the same thing, and I'm just like, But who drew that? I'm now. I'm curious if I find out I'll leave it in. The show notes I'll leave like the origin of this horrible cartoon. OK? And then last question how can everyone listening to this podcast support you, Lila?
00;44;48;24 - 00;44;52;03
Fabiola Lara
Support your projects? What is the best way to support you?
00;44;52;10 - 00;45;14;24
Lila Miller Espinosa
Well, Beverly's is great doing it as a minor when it doesn't on like Instagram followers on Instagram. And if you have a brand and want to partner with us, please do. And we're always, always, always supporting like local businesses and like shouting them out so that we have so many, especially things like Latino owned even better.
00;45;14;24 - 00;45;15;14
Lila Miller Espinosa
And that's it.
00;45;15;25 - 00;45;30;10
Fabiola Lara
Amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us for sharing like your process a little bit about your process and a little bit about your inspirations and everything. So, yeah, just thank you so much for your time, your energy, your newsletter.
00;45;30;11 - 00;45;39;03
Fabiola Lara
I really appreciate it. Thank you for being here with me. I know you have a full time job, so I know this is like an additional thing. So thank you. I really appreciate it.
00;45;39;15 - 00;45;40;03
Lila Miller Espinosa
Well, thank you so.
00;45;40;03 - 00;45;41;23
Lila Miller Espinosa
Much for having me. It was so much fun.
00;45;45;01 - 00;46;04;04
Fabiola Lara
OK, everyone. That was my conversation with Mexican designer and illustrator Leila Miller Espinoza. Go ahead and subscribe to her weekly email newsletter. Bonita Somnath All the links will be in the show notes. Remember that no matter what podcast app you're using to listen to the show, you can open up the show notes and get all the links
00;46;04;04 - 00;46;19;02
Fabiola Lara
for this episode if you want more content. For me, I share art studio vlogs and tutorials on my YouTube channel every other week between podcast episodes. You can find my channel link below or just search for by the that draws in the YouTube app.
00;46;19;12 - 00;46;37;16
Fabiola Lara
This way, you can play my videos and I can keep you company while you draw or you clean your room or you do the dishes, whatever it may be. Finally, como siempre if there's a Latin X visual artists that includes designers, photographers, 3D artists, basically any visual medium based here in the U.S. that you think I should
00;46;37;16 - 00;46;50;15
Fabiola Lara
speak to on the show, go ahead and nominate them by going to drawers in Spanish dot com slash nominee. If you enjoyed this episode, please hit Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode of drawers in Spanish. Thank you.
00;46;50;25 - 00;46;52;16
Fabiola Lara
La Proxima, tell me yours.