Exploring Life & Business with Victoria Banuelos of PUESTO

Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria Banuelos.

Hi Victoria, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was in second grade when I first started to pay attention (really pay attention) to advertising, and I think that’s when the seed was planted for my eventual career.

My teacher had assigned a project where we brought in old magazine cut-outs, and then, as a class, we walked through what each ad was trying to tell us. There were perfume ads selling a fancy-schmancy lifestyle and ads for Sears clothing featuring smiling, happy families. There were anti-smoking PSAs showing blackened lungs and dire warnings, and then two magazine pages later, we flipped to an ad featuring Joe Camel wearing a leather jacket and shades, holding a pack of cigs. It was a simple exercise, but that class really had an impact on me.

After that class, I ended up rarely skipping commercials, falling asleep to the Home Shopping Network, and continuing to read all sorts of print media. I paid attention to the way things were stocked at grocery stores, to movie trailer previews, and product placement in Hollywood blockbusters. It was a love/hate relationship with advertising at first, because it felt so pervasive. But this interest eventually led me to uncover a genuine passion for human behavior, and specifically, what it was about all these ads that made us want to buy the things we buy.

Growing up as a first-generation Mexican American also added a layer of nuance because I could see differences in advertising and marketing messaging between English-language and Spanish-language television. English-language television had programming for all sorts of micro-demographics – daytime television watchers, Sunday football followers, after-school cartoons for kids, ABC movies and shows, and much more. For those of us without cable, there was understandably much less variety of programming on Spanish-language TV, which meant much of our community was limited to the messaging on 2-3 channels. While it was great to have representation, I also felt like there were moments where the Spanish-language marketing was overly reductive and sometimes, even predatory toward our Latino community.

However, once I grew a little older, I experienced the good things that advertising and marketing could achieve, too. My first job in high school was with a community development corporation, and I had the chance to create flyers promoting local events, help local businesses gain exposure and attract customers, and start to see the potential a good marketing strategy could have in reaching a large audience.

Fast forward many years, and I’ve since gotten my BA and Master’s in Communication and had the privilege of working for a number of industries in the private, public, and non-profit sectors.

After launching my book, “First-Gen, NextGen,” I stepped away from my corporate career to launch my marketing agency, PUESTO, which has since undergone a rebrand and works directly with organizations to create bilingual English/Spanish materials that can really reach the micro-demographics within the Spanish-speaking community.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Starting a business is never easy, and after working in corporate for most of my career, it was a large departure from the skills I was used to employing. Developing marketing strategies and content for my clients felt second nature because I had done so for most of my career, and it was genuinely fun to meet and learn about all these mostly small- and medium-sized businesses looking for new ways to grow. However, learning about tech stacks and accounting software, taxes, and finances was a whole new world.

Plus, I admittedly had a difficult time getting comfortable with marketing my OWN business. Even when I was promoting my book, the exposure of building in public and “announcing” what I was working on felt jarring. I am a resilient person, but the learning curve was steep.

I’ve heard similar stories from several first-gen business owners, too, because you often don’t have someone to call and ask, “Hey, how did you start your LLC?” or “What project management software would you recommend?” You’re figuring it out, Googling everything, second-guessing yourself constantly. It can be a lonely and bumpy road. But still very gratifying if you really love what you do.

I’ve gotten a lot better at talking about what I do and feeling comfortable publicizing my work. I’m working on a whole new platform and direction for PUESTO, and I’m so excited to dedicate this year to sharing more of my findings with my broader network, rather than just my immediate one. So many clients, friends, and clients-turned-friends are doing incredible things with their businesses, and I’d love to share some of my own learnings as a first-gen business owner because it is NOT easy to learn. But I’m always happy to share. If my hurdles with software and impostor syndrome can help even one other first-gen founder/business owner feel less alone, that’s a big reason I wanted to create PUESTO in the first place.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about PUESTO?
I started PUESTO because I was tired of watching talented business owners offer incredible services but struggle to tell their story. And selfishly, I wanted to do more agency work and choose who I work with. As a first-gen entrepreneur myself, I know what it’s like to build something from the ground up without a roadmap, figuring it all out alone. I saw that gap, I lived it, and I wanted to create an agency that meets folks where they are.

Each client is different. I strive to “teach people to fish” so they can take what they learn and apply it long after our work together. Some clients want done-for-you work, others want to learn everything about everything, so there’s always something new to experience. It’s definitely never boring!

Here’s a little more about what I do (and why I do it):

PUESTO exists for first-time (often, first-gen) entrepreneurs and business owners who don’t always have the time or access to great marketing. We’re a bilingual agency that combines cultural intelligence, creativity, and language skills to reach audiences in English, Spanish, or both. We specialize in complete marketing packages, custom websites, digital and social media marketing, content creation, and copywriting.

What sets us apart is that we don’t gatekeep. We share marketing resources and guides at no cost because we believe in free access to information. But when businesses are ready to invest in their growth, we offer a comprehensive, hands-on approach to reach target markets and the micro-communities within them. Humans are at the center of everything we do.

My hope is that every client feels like they’re gaining a partner who shows up fully and genuinely cares about their long-term success.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Ha, aside from watching too many commercials? I’ve always been drawn to trivia, perpetually suspicious of sliced tomatoes, and genuinely convinced that joy isn’t just nice to have, it’s essential. Joy is the foundation of any project I take on. When I’ve done work that lights me up, I’ve felt successful. When I’ve strayed from that and taken on things that didn’t align with who I am, the result has always been the same: sadness and anxiety. Maya Angelou put it perfectly: “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”

Joy yields a very strong ROI, and that’s the main marketing metric I’ve tried to live by!!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.puestoagency.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/puestoagency/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/puestoagency