Madrid is the home of Hispanic Americans. There are even those who call it the new Miami because more and more Spanish accents are heard. At this point, it is no secret that the capital is fashionable among Latinos and that, in recent years, the city has been filled with foreign investment. Latin Americans have attracted, in turn, many of their friends and family, who have migrated in the last year fleeing the political situation in their countries and in search of a better quality of life. The support networks within the community have allowed them to grow and undertake business in the city. From there a new trend has been born that has given many of them a job: Latin entrepreneurs who have created craft businesses for the wealthiest Madrid residents and who have gone viral thanks to the power of social networks. The formula is very different from what is known until now. It all starts with a post on Instagram. It sells a new relaxing experience that combines two things: a craft, insert any of the most popular ones here, from creating a pottery to painting a picture, making a candle or an embroidery workshop. The second element is alcohol: unlimited wine or beer.Your Art and Your Wine Its creators tend to think that, with alcohol, the workshop always goes better and that their clients receive the relaxing experience that they have been promised. None of these workshops are a master class in any of the aforementioned trades, so no prior experience or qualifications are required. Selling an activity in which one of the objectives is to declare war on the monotony and boredom of always having to do the same plan in Madrid is the key to the success of these businesses. Although there are dozens of craft ventures in Madrid, each More and more they have in common that they are being organized by Latin women and entrepreneurs who, thanks to their support networks, their social networks and the collaborations they have achieved with the places where they do the experiences, have been able to have their own project in a country which is not yours. All of them had to give up dedicating themselves to their careers, but in creating experiences they have found a way to connect with other women, the overwhelming majority in these workshops, who are looking for other ways to have fun in a city where sometimes it seems that the only plan is Sit on a terrace for hours. What affects you most is what happens closest. To not miss anything, subscribe.SubscribeBehind one of the most popular ventures is Adrienne Sitzer, 39 years old. Their business is called Your Art and Your Wine and, as its name explains, the experience consists of doing a two-hour workshop in which attendees paint a picture with a teacher who guides them in the class while they drink wine and liven up the room. day, with a live musician. This business is not Sitzer's venture, but a registered trademark in Venezuela of which she is the CEO in Spain. “On a visit I made I had the opportunity to participate in one of the events they offer and I reached such a total point of disconnection that I saw the potential it had to bring it to Madrid and offer the participants the opportunity to live that moment of the same the way I experienced it,” says Sitzer.
Nicole Newman, in her Pecora Craft studio.Pecora CraftAnd so she did. Although, before finding this project, she tried many other jobs in rebusque, as the search for alternative ways of earning a living is called in many Latin American countries, to which migrants are often subjected. “It is part of the life of the expat [por expatriado, como prefieren llamarse a sí mismos muchos migrantes para distanciarse de la carga negativa que, en determinados ambientes, puede tener de la palabra inmigración] «that has to recycle and reinvent itself as many times as necessary to survive,» summarizes the Venezuelan, who left her country in 2011 due to the political and economic situation it is going through. Sitzer has the rights to exploit the brand in Spain and has collaborated with different brands. restaurants in the capital, which give it space for activity. At the moment, the project is not profitable, so it is not its main source of income. “I am on the growth curve, I hope that in a while I can make a living from it, in the meantime I enjoy organizing the workshops,” she says. The profile of people who attend are 95% young women who go in groups of friends. The price of the workshop is 37 euros. For the businesswoman, the fact that there is a network of Venezuelans has helped her a lot to grow her business in Madrid. “I always arrive with my letter of introduction, which is that my brand is registered in Venezuela, and they appreciate that a lot here, I don't think that happens much in other places,” he says, to emphasize that, among Latinos, they always help each other.
The Latin support network in Madrid
Venezuelan María de los Ángeles Romero, 31, founder of Norali Concept, agrees with this, a venture that began as an e-commerce of clay products in Chile, where she lived for seven years before arriving in Madrid. For Romero, that experience was a springboard to arrive in Spain. “I felt that culturally we did not match with the city, on the other hand, in Madrid we have family and support,” he says. Romero is now dedicated to creating Barro and Birra workshops with his cousin María José Mora, 29, in which the Attendees can create their own ceramic pieces and paint them with pebbles and beer. The price of the three-hour workshop is 50 euros. The experiences are held at the La Penúltima restaurant in Chamberí because a cousin of Romero is part of the bar's society. “Having this support network has driven me and motivates me every day. They have been a fundamental pillar, without them this would not have happened the way it has worked today,” she admits. When Romero arrived in Chile, it was much more difficult because she didn't know anyone. In Madrid, it is different, support networks are an increasingly greater incentive for Latinos who are thinking about where to migrate. The same thing happened to Sarahi Teixeira, 28, when she left Venezuela for Argentina. After seeing that the country's economy was not going to allow her to grow and found her own business, she decided to cross the pond and land in Madrid. She was not wrong: she has been able to fulfill her dream. Salpicarte is a venture that offers the experience of going to paint a picture by splashing paint on the wall while having a drink. The price of the activity is 35 euros. “In Argentina we worked on everything that was coming up, but in the end it didn't work out and we came to Spain to help a relative set up a poke place. That business had to close during the pandemic and there we found this place and decided to set out on our own,” says Teixeira, who assures that the Venezuelan community is very proud of the efforts of her compatriots outside her country. Her own business is so profitable that they are thinking about looking for a larger location and expanding the space due to the demand they receive on the weekends. “Everything has been because of the reach of the networks. I am still surprised by the number of people who come through TikTok,” she says. This has also been the case of the Chilean Nicole Newman, 37, who, in search of heat and something more Latin, came to Spain from Holland, where he had initially migrated with his partner. “The pandemic arrived and that's when we made the decision to go to Spain in search of friends and family,” she says. One Christmas, Newman's mother-in-law gave her an embroidery kit and it became her main hobby at a time when she didn't know what to do. She had studied Industrial Design and her art had always caught her attention. Little by little, she uploaded her projects to her networks, where they quickly began to contact her to see if she could give courses on her. There she was born Pécora Craft, a project that consists of teaching classes in different embroidery techniques in Madrid and Valencia. Monthly classes range from 96 to 280 euros. “Here, most of the people who come are migrants, like me, who, in addition to learning a new trade, are looking to create ties, friends and networks in a strange country,” he says, to emphasize the importance of these spaces of trust for the migrant community in Madrid. Subscribe here to our daily newsletter about Madrid.