We had the good fortune of connecting with Mónica Santamaría and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mónica, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
I think for me has been consistently, believing in myself and being true to myself, when you are your true self, people notice that and they either like you or not, you can’t please everybody but the ones that appreciate your energy are the ones that stick around and that’s how you create a community that shares your same passions and ideas. I don’t think about people that follow my Instagram as followers, instead I think of them as a community of people interested in the same things I’m interested, traveling, fitness, healthy lifestyle, fashion, etc.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Ok so I consider myself as a blogger and content creator, I create content about the things I like to do and I’m passionate about like traveling the world, fashion, fitness and a healthy lifestyle. I will say that one thing that sets me apart is the fact that I’m a Costa Rican Blogger based in US and I don’t know a lot of people from my country doing this here with the same characteristics as my Instagram blog which focuses in 4 different topics of life and not just one.

A lot of times I thought about focusing my Instagram in just one thing but my life is not just one thing, I do multiple things and I like multiple things, I didn’t wanted to feel discouraged to post the things I like and I was doing in my life just because it didn’t fit my Instagram theme so I said this is going to be a all in one blog.

I started my blog as a hobby to share my passion for traveling the world in pictures, I took several courses of social media management and that’s when I started to pay more attention and time to the aesthetics of my pictures and videos and also of my overall feed, with consistency and posting travel tips, ideas and inspiration, people started to follow my journey, it was really organic and didn’t happened overnight it took 4 years of being consistent on posting and creating content, sometimes I even doubt about my what I was doing “it’s interesting enough? Appealing enough?” You get caught up with the idea of the expectations of people but at the end of the day I started this for myself and my passion for what I do is what keep me gaining support so I had to remind myself that I’m the source of my own abundance and no matter what the only important thing is my happiness, and is an emotion that it’s contagious.

The lessons that I have learn in my journey are:

Only you can turn your dreams and goals into reality, no one else can do it for you, is scary yes, but if you believe in yourself there is nothing you can’t achieve.

The direction of your journey is more important than the speed, take your time, this is not a competition, everyone journey is different, if you believe in what you are doing, you are consistent and focused, your time will come, slow progress is still progress.

If yesterday didn’t go as planned, today is a new day, and every new day is a new opportunity to start over, a new chance to become and create whatever you want.

Your life is as good as your mindset, don’t let your inner negativity get in your way, you have to train your mind to see the good in every situation even when is a bad situation and you feel sad and frustrated you still can find something positive about it, to push forward.

And finally Be you, do you, for you.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I did this with my 3 best friends from Costa Rica, they visited me for 1 week and they had a blast.

For places to eat I like El tiempo Restaurant, Uncle Julios, Los Cucos, Eddy V’s, Moxys, Bellagreen, Izakaya, Ambriza, The melting pot, Trendy Dumpling, Somi Somi, Aqua US, Phat Eatery, MOD Pizza, Crumbl Cookies, Fadis, Ahi Poke, Traveler’s Table, Everything at China Town and at Katy Asian Town.

Things to do: everything in the Museum district, my favorites are the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the contemporary and fine Arts Museum.
Kema Boardwalk, Main Event, tons of things to do at Galveston Island, Clubs and Bars at Midtown, I like Belle Station on Friday when they have Latin nights, City Centre, ride bikes at Herman’s Park, Botanical garden, the Japanese garden, Buffalo Bayou Park. Shopping at the Galleria Mall, Premium Outlet Mall, Memorial City Mall.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
A shoutout to my husband and business partner, he has been a super important piece of my journey, the best mentor in all things business and always supporting me in everything I want to do and giving me his advise in the best way to achieve it. Also to my daughter has been essential, she has been my link to keep up with what’s trending and helping me out behind cámaras taking pictures, videos whatever I need to created my content.

Instagram: mosantamaria

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/Mónica-Santamar%C3%ADa-Travel-Blogger-2437442456487233/?__nodl&refsrc=deprecated&_rdr

Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCD80RmLb8HJDcQQCDJMC9dw

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutHTX is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.