Open for Collaborations

My husband and I just finished watching the documentary Reggaeton: The Sound That Conquered the World.

And I couldn’t stop thinking about Integral.

Because maybe the next 5 years of this company aren’t just about growth, or scaling, or chasing some clean, linear story. Maybe they’re about collaboration.

Now — to be clear — collaboration isn’t unique to Reggaeton.

It’s the lifeblood of every creative field. We see it in Hip Hop, in Jazz improvisation, in Indie collectives and Pop crossovers. We see it in fashion, in film, in art, in tech startups built by co-founders who bring radically different skills to the table.

This isn’t to say Reggaeton is the only space where collaboration thrives. Far from it.

But this is the one I grew up with. This is the one that shaped me.

And this is the one that feels most like Integral right now.

For those of you who may not know — Reggaeton wasn’t always global.

Thirty, twenty years ago, it was a movement living in the shadows — dismissed as a fad, banned from radios, ticketed by police just for playing too loud in your car. Politicians and public figures labeled it ‘porn’ not music. Record stores wouldn’t even carry it. And only underground clubs would play it. 

The artists, producers, and DJs who birthed Reggaeton barely made a dime. They hustled mixtapes on street corners; selling cassette and CD copies out of their trunks. They performed in residential carports, baseball fields, and underground clubs. They stitched beats together and formed collaborations with nothing more than ‘your word’.

And yet — they believed.

They believed so fiercely that they kept showing up, even when the system told them they weren’t welcome. They trusted the power of collaboration — artists lifting each other up on tracks, DJs remixing styles, producers weaving voices and beats from other music genres together into something memorable.

Today, Reggaeton has conquered the world.

Watching the documentary I couldn’t help but see Integral in that story. I couldn’t help but see myself. 

I’m not a pioneer in the marketing and advertising industry but I started Integral because I had a vision not because I wanted to be another agency taking up space. I knew that the traditional agency model was broken and I knew that there had to be a better way forward – a better way to service brands. A better way to work with talented people. Most importantly, I wanted to bring something back that has been lost along the way… Strategy. 

I know what it’s like to believe in something when the numbers don’t add up.
To carry a vision through legal setbacks, client losses, and endless financial strains.
To fight doubt every night and still wake up in the morning to try again.

Like Reggaeton, Integral isn’t built on ego. It’s built on conviction. It’s built on collaborations. 

That word gets a bad rap sometimes. People assume collabs mean you’re not strong enough, not independent enough, not CEO enough. But if Reggaeton has taught us anything, it’s that collaboration doesn’t dilute. It multiplies.

Some of my favorite songs in the genre exist because of collabs:

• When Nicky Jam teamed up with Shakira (two styles no one expected to work — until they did).
  When Enrique Iglesias jumped on another one of Nicky Jam’s reggaeton tracks and suddenly entire new audiences leaned in.
• When pioneers like Sir Speedy show up on modern tracks, bridging past and present in one beat. Shout-out to Wisin’s Quiere Perreo. 
• And one that everyone knows… Despacito with Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, and Justin Bieber 

Collabs are where creativity collides.
Where barriers break.
Where whole new movements are born.

And maybe that’s exactly what Integral needs right now.

Already, the universe seems to be pointing me there:

• A collaboration with Grounded with Data, where we help purpose-driven leaders show up fully with soul, energy, and AI systems.
• A collaboration with Doer/Maker, where I co-lead the team, managing client projects, and driving media planning and buying. In reality this collaboration feels like two founders carrying each other through growth. 
• A newly established collaboration with BOLD Hispanic Marketing — where we’ll pitch and execute side by side, even weaving each other into our websites and RFPs. Both of us stand strong for our Hispanic community and ensure that Hispanics are represented authentically in marketing and advertising and that our community has the resources necessary to grow their businesses. 
• Ongoing conversations with Sleek Machine, an agency out of Boston I’ve worked with as both client and partner over the years. These days, I support them with Paid Media Planning and Buying services. 
• Pinnacle Creative Group is a paid media planning and buying agency that focuses on car dealerships, where I support by redefining brand stories, crafting new slogans, designing logos, and building guidelines that give car dealerships a whole new identity.

These aren’t side notes to my story.
They are the story.

Because the truth is, collabs don’t just create opportunities. They create oxygen. They let us cross-pollinate audiences, perspectives, strategies, and even dreams.

And that’s the lesson Reggaeton leaves us with: a single voice can be powerful. But when voices come together, they create a movement.

So, maybe, Integral’s next 5 years aren’t about standing alone at the mic.
And maybe they’re about building an entire chorus.

And if the next 5 years of Integral are about anything, I believe they’re about collaboration. Because just like Reggaeton, it’s not the solo voice that changes the culture. It’s the bridge of diverse artists. The DJs. The producers. The dancers. The clubs. And the hunger. 

This is what collaboration looks like. It doesn’t dilute. It multiplies. It builds bridges. It creates oxygen.

And maybe that’s the point. Maybe the next era of Integral isn’t about “me, the founder.” Maybe it’s about the symphony of partnerships, creativity, and risk that takes us somewhere no one could get alone.

Reggaeton taught us:

• Collabs break barriers.
• Collabs create movements.
• Collabs change the game.

So here’s to Integral’s next 5 years — not standing solo at the mic, but building a chorus big enough to shake the room.

Fun fact: I met my husband 20 years ago at a nightclub in New Hampshire — the kind of place with an underground room spinning Reggae, Reggaeton, Hip Hop… the sounds that lived outside the mainstream, outside what was considered ‘acceptable’ to the masses.

That rhythm — that resistance — has been with me ever since.
It shaped the soundtrack of my youth, and now, years later, it’s shaping the way I build, lead, and evolve my business.

So no, Reggaeton isn’t the only genre built on collaboration.

But it’s the one that raised me.

And I’m honored to carry that spirit forward as Integral writes its next chapter.