How Being Underestimated Drove These Two
Latinas To Publish Lil' Libros
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Kappa Delta Chi Sorority Inc. is so proud of our KDChi Alpha Gamma, Charter Alumna Ariana Stein for her Forbes write up of her co-creating, Lil Libros! Her books are sold at Target nationwide, on Amazon.com and were a special featured as raffle items at our 2016 National Conference in Austin, Texas. This Forbes feature is only the beginning of her success and we're so happy to celebrate her accomplishments! Congrats sister! Interested in the books? Feel free to order here: lillibros.com or via Amazon.com.
By Vivian Nunez, Forbes.com
Have you ever dreamed of going into business with your best friend? Does it stay a dream, or in your mind does it turn into a nightmare? Ariana Stein and Patty Rodriguez, have been best friends since the age of twelve and will happily tell you that adding a business level to their friendship was the best decision they’ve collectively made.
After becoming moms, the duo kickstarted a business partnership with one goal in mind — creating the bilingual children’s book series that every Latina mom would love.
“The books aren’t designed to give lengthy, in-depth history lessons, as they’re only 22 pages long,” explains Ariana. “Instead the goal is to teach the basics, introduce them to culture, and
motivate kids to continue learning additional words and languages.
The books have always been about starting the bilingual learning journey with subjects that parents feel a connection with.”
Since its launch, Lil’ Libros has steadily become a presence on the shelves of Targets and local bookstores alike. The
journey to getting Lil’ Libros on those bookshelves though has not been an easy one.
In her episode of Creating Espacios, Patty stated, “I think there’s so much strength that can be drawn from a bad day” and told a handful of stories of the ups and downs of building a business with her best friend.
But, those small glimpses weren’t enough. Here’s a full look at how Ariana and Patty describe their entrepreneurial success with Lil’ Libros.
How did Lil’ Libros get its start?
Ariana Stein: It was our passion to ensure our children were raised to be bilingual. Being best friends and knowing each other’s background, both being first generation Latinas, made it easier for us to decide to do this together.
Patty Rodriguez: Ariana and I have known each other since we were 12 years old. We’ve always tried creating something together. There was a time when we actually worked on a hot dog start-up! We were probably 18 at the time. And then there was a time when David Beckham arrived to the states; it was such a big deal back then, we took it as an opportunity to capitalize on it, we ended up making shirts inspired by him! That didn’t turn as planned, but we did it! I think Ariana’s husband still wears the shirts! So I feel that this was always meant to be.
AS: That’s not it! We also started a bilingual entertainment site. This was actually picking up steam, and going the direction that we wanted it to go, but we weren’t passionate about it. I think this is why it failed, but everything is a lesson. Had we not had the hot dog business, shirt business, entertainment website, we wouldn’t have Lil’ Libros.
How would each of you define Lil Libros mission?
AS: Our mission has always been to introduce bilingualism and
encourage parents to read to their children at the earliest age by focusing on subjects they are familiar with, and making it as fun and rewarding as possible.
PR: Each book we are creating
is a seed. A seed we hope a parent plants at home with their child. We want parents and children to love to read, to create those moments together.
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Ariana Stein is a graduate of California State University - Dominguez Hills and alumnae of KDChi's Alpha Gamma chapter. She is the co-author of the Lil Libros book series and lives in Los Angeles with her husband Nick and 2 ½ year old son Ethan. She met her husband through MySpace and prefers that no one (or everyone!) knew about it lol.
Patty Rodriguez
Unable to find bilingual first concept books she could enjoy reading to her baby, Patty came up with the idea behind Lil' Libros. Patty and her work have been featured in the LA Times, Rolling Stone, CNN Latino, Latina Magazine, Cosmopolitan, People En Espanol, Cosmo Latina, and American Latino TV, to name a few!
Patty is currently Sr. Producer for On Air With Ryan Seacrest|iHeartMedia, jewelry designer for MALA by Patty Rodriguez, and creator of Manolos And Tacos.
Photo courtesy of lil libros
What Does it Really Feel
Like to be a Sorority Girl?
By Marisa Kathleen Lopez, Chi Chapter, University of Texas at San Antonia
Reprinted from The Odyssey Online.com
I am in my last year of college (YAY) and as I look onwards to the finish line I like to take a moment to recollect on my experience years. The biggest being that I became a sorority girl.
My experiences are broken down in four ways: how I felt before joining, how I felt/feel now that I am in one, and how it has changed my life.
BEFORE JOINING
I remember, graduating from high school, declaring whole-heartedly to my parents and my boyfriend that I did not want to join anything. I have always been in some type of organization or activity since elementary. I’d been in orchestra since the fifth grade to the day I graduated from high school, did track from seventh to eighth, was in Student Council and Theatre since my freshman year and then joined the cheerleading/dance team my sophomore year. I was committed to all of my high school organizations until I graduated, so now I sport a beautiful “B” on my Letterman with several little details proclaiming that I did not quit anything and even earned bars for my years of dedication.
But ultimately I felt burnt out. I was tired and for once, I just wanted to focus on school.
As you can obviously tell, life decided that this was not going to happen.
You see, I moved to San Antonio, Texas on my own. My only friends from high school that close either went to the University of Texas at Austin or Saint Mary’s (spoiler alert, I never saw them). I felt lonely and wanted to make friends. So I headed out to a random event that UTSA was hosting that day. That is where I was introduced to a variety of sororities.
UTSA hosts four councils of Greek life. I won’t get into the specs, but I awkwardly found my way to two sororities that I never knew even existed: Latina based sororities.
You see, I had only ever seen the sororities you see on TV or in movies. And they were rarely ever painted in a pretty picture and mainly consisted of white women.
Now, I’d like to say that UTSA is much more diverse in all its councils and they do not only consist of white women. But at the time, that is all I really knew. So seeing these two sororities really spoke to me. To me, I was
seeing women that looked like
me that had the same values and goals that I have. These sororities were Sigma Lambda Alpha and Kappa Delta Chi. Although I admit, I requested information for both these organizations, I ended up falling in love with Kappa Delta Chi.
You see, although both organizations are beautiful and encompass a sisterhood that is unique, I just found my home in Kappa Delta Chi (the nickname being KDChi).
I managed to make a friend that was also interested in KDChi and she encouraged me to go to every rush event with her.
To read the rest of this article please click here.