local storiesDecember 29, 2025

Community Highlights: Meet Jessica Anguiano of Maravillosa Movement

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Anguiano.

Hi Jessica, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
From the very beginning, Maravillosa Movement was rooted in lived experience, even before it had a name.

I’m a first-generation entrepreneur, educator, and community builder, raised by a single mother who owned a small flower shop in Los Angeles. As a kid, I helped her at swap meets, which gave me an early understanding of entrepreneurship, both its beauty and the weight of doing it without support.

After my education and leadership experience, I stepped into retail and visual merchandising, a move that surprised many but became one of my greatest teachers. That hands-on work taught me consumer behavior in real time, how people move through space, how culture and storytelling influence buying decisions, and how brands come alive at tables, pop-ups, and community events.

Later, when I began working inside the small business ecosystem, helping entrepreneurs access resources, capital, and support, I unintentionally brought that retail experience with me. I could see why great products weren’t converting and why strong businesses weren’t being fully seen. As I helped others, I often thought of my mother and how different her journey might have been if someone had walked alongside her, not just to help her open and launch a business, but to help her sustain herself while doing it.

For years, fear and courage lived side by side. I felt called to build something of my own but stayed in roles that felt safe until my mental well-being forced me to pause and make a hard decision. Stepping away from a role I loved wasn’t failure, it was a turning point.

That’s when Maravillosa Movement fully came to life—not as a business idea, but as a response to everything I had lived and witnessed. Today, my work sits at the intersection of business strategy, visual merchandising, storytelling, and mental wellness. At the core is mental health because when entrepreneurs feel supported and whole, knowledge becomes empowering. That foundation allows them to build confidence, embrace their voices, honor their culture, and create businesses that are not only visible, but strong and sustainable.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not at all. This has been one of the hardest seasons of my life.

Building Maravillosa Movement has meant embracing a very different season of income, working longer hours, and learning a level of frugality I never imagined. I’ve had to release comforts and stability I once relied on, and there have been many moments when I’ve asked myself, Should I just go back to the workforce? I’ve cried over that question more times than I can count.

Now I understand why people say the first three years are the hardest. I’m about a year and a half into this journey, and I’m still very much in the building phase, learning, adjusting, and growing in real time.

This path has required constant surrender. When things feel heavy or uncertain, I take it to God and ask for clarity, patience, and strength. Time and time again, I’m reminded to wait and trust that the timing is bigger than me. I truly believe I’m being prepared.

What keeps me going is knowing this isn’t just a business, it’s a movement. Through The Impression Lab, my visual merchandising program, Networking con Corazón, and my community events, I see the impact in real time. Entrepreneurs gain confidence, improve their visibility, strengthen their mental well-being, and build businesses that finally reflect who they are, supported not just by strategy, but by community.

It hasn’t been easy, but it has been meaningful. This movement is transforming lives, including my own and I trust that our time will come.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Maravillosa Movement is a bilingual, culturally rooted ecosystem designed to support entrepreneurs beyond just launching a business. At its core, the work is about helping people build confidence, clarity, and sustainability, both personally and professionally.

I support entrepreneurs through three main pillars. The first is strategic networking, primarily through my cohort program Networking con Corazón and community events. This work focuses on teaching entrepreneurs how to build meaningful, visibility-boosting relationships instead of transactional connections.

The second pillar is visual merchandising and brand presence, led through The Impression Lab. This is hands-on, practical work that helps entrepreneurs translate their story, culture, and value into intentional displays and brand experiences, especially in pop-ups, markets, and community spaces, so they can attract customers and increase conversions.

The third pillar is business growth and purposeful scaling, where I help entrepreneurs strengthen their foundation and grow with clarity, confidence, and intention, rather than burning out chasing growth.

What makes Maravillosa Movement different is that everything is rooted in lived experience and mental well-being. I’ve been on both sides, as an entrepreneur and as someone who has helped thousands of small businesses inside institutions. I know the strategies work, but I also know they don’t stick unless people feel supported, seen, and confident in their voice and culture.

This isn’t just about building better businesses, it’s about building people, community, and sustainable pathways to wealth.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Little Jess was full of life.

As the oldest of three, I was forced to grow up quickly to help my mother, which made me very responsible at a young age. At the same time, I was adventurous, imaginative, and curious. I loved dancing, pretending to be a teacher, playing fashion model, working as a cashier, constantly role-playing different versions of who I could be.

Growing up, I didn’t realize I was part of an underserved community, I just knew we made things work with what we had. Looking back now, I understand how limited access and resources shaped my resilience, creativity, and independence in ways I couldn’t name back then.

High school was challenging for me, and learning didn’t always come easily. But after high school, something shifted. I began to devour learning and explore knowledge with curiosity and purpose.

I had many talents and struggled for a long time to articulate just one path. Now I understand why, it’s because I was never meant to do just one thing. Every piece of my childhood, responsibility, imagination, resilience, spilled into who I am today.

In many ways, I’ve become who I used to dream of being.

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Image Credits
Photo credit to Desirie Rosales & Lily Tapia

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