Sometime in September, I told my friend Jay, host of the Wine and Chisme podcast to co-host a Latina Equal Payday event with me. It started as a low key dinner to discuss the inequities that exist for Latinas in the U.S.

Then, I got an email from one of my clients showing me a screenshot of an email from a huge company with huge sponsors asking for free items.

Oh hell no.

I could not understand how this large conference brings in hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue and dared to ask small businesses for free stuff.

Meanwhile, I was dealing with one of the largest insurance companies in the United States who asked me to come speak at their Hispanic Heritage Month for free99. They claimed they didn’t have a budget for these types of events. Excuse me, what?

So, this event then truly took shape out of rage. I took the fire within me and channeled it into creating an experience to help elevate our voices together. A conversation filled with true empowerment and connection.

Jay and I had three weeks to make it happen. The goal was to make sure everyone got paid. We offered payment to the speakers, the vendors whose items would be in the welcome bag for attendees, the venue, and of course us as the planners.

Here is the challenge, the event was in three weeks, and based on our calculations, the event had to be paid and the minimum amount we could charge in order for everyone to get paid was $97.

Did I mention we launched this in the middle of Mercury in Retrograde? Yes, it was an absolute anxious mess. We persevered though.

Once we realized ticket sales were not going as expected, we started reaching out to small businesses who would want to support with their coins. We had a mission to make sure everyone got paid and once we established it, they were happy to support.

Some people contributed anonymously, some on behalf of their business. What is most important is that they believed in what we were doing and why we were doing it.

Two weeks before the event, we made the decision that our goal of 100 attendees needed to be cut in half, so we ordered 50 items from the selected vendors and committed to bringing in 50 people to the event.

The week of the event, we got three sponsors who made a huge difference and allowed us to break even. Jay and I made just enough to cover our costs, and without the support of the community, this event would not have happened.

At last, we had 30 people attending whom we hope received a seed they’ll plant and nourish moving forward so they can then utilize the strength to negotiate higher, ask for more, and continue the fight for equity in the United States.

Here are some reflections and takeaways from the event:

• Having a clear mission statement can help you make waves.

• Creating a safe space to talk about these issues is necessary so you feel less alone.

• If we don't speak up, nothing will ever change.

• When you bring others with you, your path expands and the journey becomes more fun.

• Transparency builds trust.

Speaking of transparency, I believe it is pertinent we share where the sponsored coins went:

• We received a total of $2,639 in sponsored dollars

• Mujeres Brew House received a total of $500 in sponsored dollars

• Vendors received a total of $1,250 in sponsored dollars

• Sponsored tickets were covered by $889 which allowed 9 women to attend for free, and they were soooo grateful!

We are working on a summary video that will be shared soon.

From the bottom of our hearts, we are honored and grateful to everyone in attendance, those who supported in some way and believed in our mission to bridge the Latina wage gap and to continue the transparency, 10 Latina-owned businesses got paid.

Both Jay and I made $7.04 per hour planning this event based on the profit generated from the event revenue. We arrived at this by dividing the revenue split by the number of hours we worked on this event. In the spirit of making sure everyone gets paid, everyone indeed got paid.

Of course, we are well aware that we didn't even make minimum wage, however, the mission was accomplished and that is what matters, this year. This event was our learning year.

We are now planning next year's event well in advance and we hope people will want to continue to support events like this. Without the community support, this would not have been able to happen.

To equal pay,

Pam