hi friends how's everyone doing
i wanted to sit down, oh my god I'm breaking everything
i wanted to sit down and chat a little bit because 2021 is coming to an end and here we are
here i am feeling overwhelmed af
i don't know if it's something in the energy this like december month something is brewing something is going on
for me like these kind of videos is where i like to just share a little bit of my heart with you
and kind of what's going on in my head kind of see where everyone's at I always check the comments
i always see if you guys are kind of in the same place or not and i really appreciate this community so much
it really is my outlet to like just
this is therapy session you guys this is a therapy session
before i am getting into sharing everything that's been going on I wanted to say a huge thank you to
Neiwai for sponsoring this video they are brand from shanghai
and they truly produce products that you can live in
i am wearing their set at the moment and it's truly luxurious
they use such beautiful and high-end fabrics for comfort but also for style
and i got some pieces from their barely zero collection as well as some cute lounge pieces
because you guys know i love a luxury lounge
so this first set is their barely zero collection the bra and the underwear
i love that they're seamless i love how comfortable it is
there is a built-in padding inside the top so you don't need to wear anything else this is great for t-shirts
or just like i'm wearing it with the loungewear it's super comfortable
it feels so comfortable and so luxurious on my skin
something that i love to actually change into once i get home
for me i'm no longer after like sweats necessarily
i love putting like a nice pj lounge set and just like enjoying my time at home
i basically dress up to hang out in the house as well that's how i live these days
and then we have this set that is also an underwear set
a lot of you guys always ask me about like what kind of underwear wear or uh what kind of like in general lingerie
this is your like everyday lingerie something that feels comfortable that serves its purpose that feels nice
and this top i really love the cute little design with the opening at the front
and it's kind of like a sports bra slash a bra top also really great to wear with t-shirts with anything kind of like more casual
and obviously i love sharing and caring so i have a special code for you
fifteen percent off of Neiwai products if you use my code VALERIA15
So you know how all of us like once the year comes to an end you kind of sit down and have some
time to reflect and i usually do it by myself and then i'll share some of my kind of findings with you
sometimes i don't share at all
i wanted to do this initial of like the sit down the reflection with you
so if you guys remember i mean thinking back this time last year we were in costa rica
looking back it was honestly one of the absolute best best trips we've ever done with the family
and when i say trips it was truly like a relocation we were there for like almost three months
although now looking back i feel like the first month and a half was hijacked by anxiety
and just like people's hateful comments assumptions and things that were just really going out of hand
i was really affected by it so i feel like the first month in costa rica i was there but not really there
i was just like so consumed by all this judgment i received online because we relocated to costa rica during COVID
and you know looking back now i kind of understand where people came from
some people just needed to let out all that toxic energy but i also understand that we're still kind of unclear of what's going on
and like look a year went by we're kind of still in the same situation
so i'm just so happy that we did do that trip that we did relocate that we did it in a safe way
that we got to actually use that time instead of losing that time and going crazy
obviously very privileged that we were able to do that but definitely i remember a lot of anxiety during that time
but on the bright side after that month and a half after like gary had to shake me out of that state of mind
that's when i just started really immersing myself
in the experience of just living a different life being in a different environment exposing myself
and our children to different way of living and it did a lot for us i feel like even to this day
the kids always kind of remember a certain part of costa rica sometimes we have like
these chats about hey remember how we climbed to see this waterfall it was really cool and
costa rica will always always have such a special special place in my heart so i'm extremely grateful for that
to actually wrap up the year we decided to go not as a family just my
mother myself and then my mom's best friend and my best friend childhood best friend we decided to go
back to costa rica to my mom's uh house
by the way my mom bought a house there she really committed to costa rica
so we're gonna spend like four or five days there by ourselves just like
lying down and enjoying just a different kind of energy and very slow pace
i really don't appreciate that noise in the back
with social media it's been a truly a roller coaster for me because now I kind of got to a place where i'm no longer fresh meat on social media
you know it like when you just like start realizing holy crap i'm getting older but it in general is
this a lesson that i've been learning this year like in general in social media but also outside
of social media where i'm like holy i'm a grown-up now i'm an adult
and i forget and i'm like 31 now
i sometimes have to like snap myself out of this like comparison game you know trying to keep up with everything on social media game
it's truly like changing for me like the way i use social media the way i use social media the kind of content i create
and i found that i really wanted to you know each platform have its own unique place
like this conversation i can never have on instagram this can only be on youtube with like my tight community
i still like i love fashion i want to do fashion and other things
like with the family vlogs i'm sure you noticed we stopped doing them and we only kind of focus on vlogs for like special occasions
because my kids are getting older and i want to give them the space i want to give them that comfort and feeling safe to be
who they are to act how they want to act without feeling like constantly someone's watching them
so i've been very mindful of that so i know that a lot of people are missing the family vlogs but
i obviously have to think about my kids first and what's best for their mental health
that's the reason why we kind of steered away from family vlogs
but you know i still share some family moments on instagram i always love sharing my life with you guys but now i'm like
i'm very protective of the kids and i just want to make sure that they just feel safe to be who they want to be and
that's all that matters
like i mentioned in our last chat you know to do something that will give me an opportunity to have deeper conversations
exploring more and i did mention the podcast and it's still something i really want to do
i'm just trying to be very mindful about where and when i do it because i have a lot of things going on
not only in the work front but also at home you know with the kids and their school and their homework and projects and fundraisers and like play dates
also on a personal note you guys know that we've had Nory for many years nori is part of our family
and she's been with us like for eight years and just recently she went back to toronto
she actually works at the Verie company now she's still obviously a very significant part of our family
and she's gonna come visit but she's no longer with us as a nanny or caregiver so
it's been also like a very big big shift for me of you know having someone that was literally
like my guiding light like Nory has been with us and just gave me the opportunity and space
to go after what i wanted to create with social media all that stuff
because i knew that my kids were taken care of
it's a very big shift to go through as a mother to all of a sudden like lose that person that you're like
my kids are good but again change is good change is good like i've been
i kept telling it to myself over and over again
it's a year of change and we are still here in miami
i really want to live my life in a very dynamic way i want to experience everything that i can
and not to wait and save and like you know when i'm older
like i want to do everything now, hi my love
i'm just shooting a sit down i'm just talking
i don't know i'll let you know once i'm done okay go do your homework
so living in miami has been just a big change but a change that i'm very happy about
after costa rica i really wanted to make sure that i'm not doing things because of fear
this move was one of those things
so anyways we are still finding our place we've been here for like six seven months now
we're slowly getting into the rhythm the kids like their schools they have their activities
holy crap
sometimes i wake up and i'm like what
but you know what i mean you know what it is i truly believe that being in your comfort zone is like not a place i want to be in
it's just not it to me it feels like the end of the road
i want to be in my comfort zone when i'm like retired or not not even
i've also had some really cool trips slowly the world was kind of like was oh my god don't say it
is opening up so i got the opportunity to actually do a proper new york fashion week this year
to me being there and just like getting the opportunities like to sit front row at michael kors
and working with dior and doing all these amazing things just really made me stop and just like look around
and cry tears of happiness like at michael kors i was literally so zoned out because i was just looking around
Anna Wintour was sitting in front of me i had all these like supermodels sitting beside me and i'm just like
the seat had like my name do you know what i mean like it had my name
it was very very special i think it came at a right time because i was so focused on creating content you know in my own
little room like in our house for during the first lockdown where we were completely locked down
and then in costa rica isolated it was just like isolation for so long that all this hard work
that i was putting in i was just like what is this for
so i feel like when i came to new york and i actually got to meet people and see peers and see people that like watch my channel and like
just being out there and interacting with humans gain reminded me of like oh this is why i do what i do
like this is why i work so hard like this is the outcome and this is the rewards you know
so it was very special i did not expect it to be so much
i feel like i downplayed the amount of organization and preparations that needed for that so i definitely definitely learned my lesson there
because i literally packed for fashion week in four hours before i left home because we i we just
had so many projects to shoot and i just i was like okay i'll figure it out i'll just i'll just
throw some sweaters in....no
i'm definitely gonna be better prepared moving forward
and then the same thing kind of happened during Art Basel
i did Art Basel in 2019 and it was really cool
i was significantly in a different place when it comes to my numbers like my position in social media what i was doing
i was a completely different league back then it's just so cool to see that this time around you know
again i got to work with my dream brands like dior and chanel and going to all these amazing activations
it was very very cool
and again it's exhausting but it was also a great way for me to just experience a different side of what i do
because so much of what i do is this and like just shooting and ideating a lot of things by myself
that just every opportunity that i have with interacting with people is just so special to me
i look forward to doing more of it getting myself more out there and just kind of owning who i am
because what i have noticed being out there in real life is that i still have a lot of insecurities to work with to work on
when i'm out there in real life in front of people insecurities that don't exist when i'm sitting in front of a camera and when i'm just by myself
like those i figured out but once i'm out there in the world i find that in certain situations i kind of like go back to like playing small and being a little like grey mouse
i've noticed that
so i love putting myself in these situations because it's highlighting on you know the areas that i have to improve and
it just shows me that i'm there's so much still to learn and work on and evolve into so...
future valeria is just sitting there waiting cheering for me
she's like go girl almost there, almost
on this aspect of like the brand
this has probably been the hardest year for me personally because
it's been a lot a lot of setbacks and i feel like everyone that owns a brand or tried to you know
build their brand in this year and a half it's been a freaking disaster
just from delays with production to miscommunications to a lot of very expensive mistakes
to hires that didn't really
give what i thought would give and we had a lot of like we just had a lot of changes
and it's very difficult to do when we're obviously like self-investing in it
what we make at valeria inc we kind of reinvest in Verie so i really want to make sure that we have control over
everything that we do at this point and it's not just like i'm giving my name on something and that's it just go and do it
i have this like very strong urge to learn everything myself first and then expand
and right now we're still in that learning stage which is very difficult to do
when there's also the pandemic and all these like inflation delays all these different things going on
it's really a difficult a hard journey to go through and to this like frustration can get to you
and i feel like it's getting to me but i am so stubborn about it and i know that my vision
needs to come to life and i will do whatever it takes to get it there
i'm talking specifically about kind of our expansion and our focus on moving to like ready to wear and more of apparel things
with Verie with the accessories and and the jewelry and all of that that's like we figured it out
out but the actual creation of garments things like that like that's where we're learning a lot as we go
and...fingers crossed we'll get there
i just wanted to share with you because i feel like this entrepreneurial you know life that is sold online is just it's so romanticized
you really don't see all the frustrations and the disappointments and the tears and the money
you lose constantly because of you know mistakes if it's yours or other people so it's a lot
hi
why everybody coming here i need this i need this what about mama
how are you how are you feeling today
like what no what good you're supposed to ask me
i'm really hopeful and i think 2022 will be very special i feel like 2022 will be the year where i figure out
in all aspects of life
maybe not all of it like i won't figure everything out
but like the majority like the what i'm seeking to figure out i will figure out
yeah i'm just excited to take you with me and to continue having these like really open conversations
and i hope that the podcast will happen so we can just continue to learn together more and to talk and to really dive into different things
but 2022 that's not a 2021 problem that's 2022 problem
and honestly i just really want to like for my kids to be happy and healthy
that's it i just want to be
ZEN!
huh??
okay i'm gonna come help you
okay guys thank you so much for coming to my ted talk
it's interrupted now by benjamin lipovetsky that can't find my computer!