Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalia Domestico.
Hi Natalia, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’m from Argentina and in 2004, after graduating with two university degrees, I moved to LA. I worked as a waitress, actress, weather girl, and once I got pregnant, I left that behind to dedicate myself to my daughter, Uma. When my daughter started going to school, I started working for my then-husband. I helped him build our company Outstanding Foods.
Even though it was his project and idea, I worked closely with him and managed many tasks related to finance, events, product management, designing of the bags and cases of the product, etc. Anything that was not PR or social media was on my hands. Even though it required me to work long hours and still be the primary caregiver for my daughter, I enjoyed it very much as I was learning immensely. It helped me realize that I was capable of anything. When something was required from me, I never said: “I don’t know how to do this”. I always learned it myself, asked questions, did my research online and figured things out on my own. My tasks were always completed timely and properly. By the end of 2016, I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I had to go through Chemotherapy while still working and caring for my daughter. That was the biggest challenge of my life and the best experience I could have ever had. Thanks to cancer I had many realizations and got back to who I really am. I stopped being a submissive wife and sacrificing myself for everyone else and putting myself last. And I started taking better care of myself. I was able to get back to me. This is what inspired me the most to create Happy Uma and also become a pranic healer.
Pranic healing is an energy healing technique. It’s miraculous. I have healed many friends and family many times and always with a successful outcome. My mission in life is to help others heal physically and emotionally. I want to serve others and share with them what my experience with cancer taught me.
My first step towards helping others was creating my Happy Uma store. I am now designing inspiring t-shirts but want to grow to other products as well. Happy Uma is my creative outlet, and each t-shirt was created based on my own experiences and realizations. The Roar one is my favorite, it represents everything I kept suppressing inside of me until I finally was able to speak up and let it all out. It represents all the pain, the loneliness, the feeling of not being appreciated that was kept inside of me and made my cancer cells grow. The lioness represents me roaring everything out, letting the world know I am not last anymore, and the color pink represents the loving energy the statement comes from. This is not an angry lioness; this is a loving lioness who is roaring her love for herself and others out, who is expressing love.
Many people think of cancer as something that must be fought against but not many people understand that the cancer is created by our own body, it is not an external virus or bacteria, it is our own body acting out and showing us that it is not happy with the way we are living our lives. We must keep our mind, body and soul happy. When we “fight” cancer, we are fighting against ourselves. We must accept and listen, this way we can find the cause of the issue and resolve it.
Happy Uma is just the beginning of a bigger journey. I’m starting with t-shirts, but it will grow to other products and services. I have a very big vision for Happy Uma. And I want to be the best example my daughter can have.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’d say my biggest struggle was to keep it going. At the beginning, it was very time-consuming, as I had to set everything up, produce the t-shirts, etc. And at the same time, having a full-time job and having to take care of my daughter. One of my biggest struggles was social media. I have no interest in it, and when there is no interest in something, it becomes something very hard to do. So I decided to hire someone to handle it for me.
Another struggle was the fact that I was not getting sales at the beginning. Even though I was promoting my store people were not buying. When there are no sales, it is hard to keep working on it as the small business, created to earn money becomes an expense with more bills to pay. But I kept it going anyways and now sales are finally coming in and my audience is growing.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I chose others in the dropdown menu because it is hard for me to set myself into one box. I have 2 university degrees in Accounting and Administration, and I use mostly that knowledge in my full-time job. My position is now Senior Manager of Finance. I also have my small business where I can apply my creativity and designing knowledge. The most I am proud of is my versatility. I am capable of completing any task I am given. I think this is the biggest skill I have. I am very organized, pay attention to details, work well under pressure, I’m reliable, honest and very professional. I am also a pranic healer, and even though I am not practicing pranic healing as a job yet, this is a plan for the near future. I love to have many different talents. This keeps me entertained. I love to learn new things and grow.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
I think I put everything in My Story at the beginning of this questionnaire. Please let me know if you need a different kinds of photos other than the ones uploaded here. I wasn’t sure of what to upload. Also, the personal photo I added is with me and my daughter, Uma. I wanted her to be part of the personal photo because she is a big part of what inspired me to start my business. Let me know if you want me to take more photos with her without the glasses.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.happyuma.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gethappyuma/ [and] https://www.instagram.com/nataliadomestico/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GetHappyUma [and] https://www.facebook.com/natalia.domestico2/
