Long before writing Cash Libre, I remember walking into my local library in my early thirties and asking the librarian where the personal finance books were. I had recently walked away from my dream career, had less than $2,000 in my checking account, a new home, and a baby on the way. I wasn’t looking for a bestseller. I was looking for peace.

As I stood in the finance aisle, something caught my attention. People seemed almost uncomfortable talking about money. It felt like the topic belonged behind closed doors. I remember thinking, What’s so secretive about money?

Then I realized I was carrying that same secrecy.

Growing up, we were encouraged to earn money, but never taught how to keep it. We learned how to work hard, stretch a paycheck, and make sacrifices. We didn’t talk about investing, estate planning, or building wealth. Money wasn’t a conversation – it just quietly shaped our decisions without ever being explained.

Standing in that aisle, I never imagined that one day my own book would sit on those same shelves, waiting for another Latina who simply wanted financial peace.

Learning from Books That Didn’t Look Like Me

The first book I checked out was The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. His practical advice helped me understand the importance of paying off debt, and I implemented many of his steps. At the same time, I realized that a life centered on scarcity and extreme frugality wasn’t the future I wanted. I wanted abundance. I wanted options.

I kept borrowing books. I kept reading. I kept learning.

But book after book, I noticed something – the authors rarely looked like me.

I didn’t read about first-generation daughters navigating two cultures. I didn’t see stories about moving from apartment to apartment as a child, translating for family, or carrying the quiet responsibility to achieve that so many Latinas have. I couldn’t find a personal finance book where English and Spanish naturally lived together, as they do in my everyday life.

I also couldn’t find a book that reflected the fullness of our community. Latinas are not one story, one shade, one immigration experience, or one definition of success. So much of the financial advice available felt disconnected from the lives I know.

Eventually, I stopped looking for that book.

I decided to write it.

I didn’t set out to write the definitive book on personal finance. I set out to host a conversation. One where Latinas could see their culture, hear both of their languages, laugh at the references, recognize their own money fears, and realize that wealth-building isn’t reserved for those born into it. It’s a skill. And like any skill, it can be learned.

Writing a Finance Book That Sounds Like Home

Cash Libre: 10 Pillars to Reclaim Your Purpose and Financial Freedom became the book I wished had been on those library shelves. I wrote openly about my journey from debt to becoming a four-time angel investor, while sharing the financial lessons I wish someone like me had shared.

I made all my creative decisions intentionally.

I chose not to italicize Spanish because it isn’t a foreign language to me. It belongs on the page just as much as English does. I wanted readers to move between both languages the same way so many of us do every day, without asking permission or translating who we are.

I included pop culture, novelas, and humor because financial education shouldn’t feel intimidating. If you’ve ever laughed at La Familia Peluche, danced to Los Angeles Azules cumbias, or quoted your favorite telenovela at a family gathering, then you already know storytelling is how many of us make sense of the world. I wanted money to feel just as approachable.

I also created “Money Personalities” because I didn’t want to be the only one teaching. I wanted readers to overhear the conversations so many of us have silently in our own heads. The Overgiver. The Chief Earner. The Super Saver. The Money Goer. Each one represents a different relationship with money, allowing readers to see themselves with compassion instead of shame and reminding them they’re not the only ones asking difficult questions.

Representation doesn’t stop with the words.

I partnered with a Latina illustrator who brought those personalities to life, ensuring readers could literally see themselves on the pages, including an Afro-Latina and a mujer with disabilities. If this book is going to invite every Latina into the conversation, then every Latina deserves to feel welcome inside it.

Writing Cash Libre Through Real Life

The process of writing Cash Libre became more personal than I ever expected.

I wrote many chapters while on vacation, surrounded by landscapes that reminded me why financial freedom matters in the first place. Those views gave me the space to dream bigger and imagine what life could look like when we have the freedom to choose where we wake up, where we build, and how we spend our time.

At the same time, my family was navigating cancer diagnoses and other health challenges. Writing chapters about estate planning, legacy, and protecting people took on an entirely different meaning. Those weren’t hypothetical conversations anymore. They became reminders that wealth isn’t only measured by what we accumulate. It’s also reflected in how prepared we are to protect the people we love.

Cash Libre is the Book I Hope the Next Latina Finds

My hope is that when readers pick up Cash Libre, you’ll see yourself in its pages. If you grew up moving from apartment to apartment like I did or graduated with multiple degrees or are paying off debt or investing for the first time, know that financial freedom isn’t reserved for a select few. It begins with healing our relationship with money.

After all, our relationship with money is one of the longest relationships we’ll ever have.

When we heal that relationship, we stop making decisions from fear and start making them from purpose. We begin to see every dollar as a choice: a choice to build security for our families, a choice to invest in our future, and a choice to redirect dollars back into our communities so more Latina entrepreneurs, homeowners, investors, and leaders have the opportunity to thrive.

That’s why I’m releasing Cash Libre on October 6, 2026, Latina Equal Pay Day. The date is a reminder that our work is bigger than closing a wage gap. It’s about changing what happens after we earn the money. It’s about learning to keep it, grow it, protect it, and circulate it in ways that strengthen our families and our communities.

Because when one Latina heals her relationship with money, she changes her future.

When thousands of us do it together, we change our economy.

And that transformation begins the moment we choose to take action.