‘Not Built for You? Walk In Anyway’ says Lozafina CEO Josefina Loza

During Women's History Month, Lozafina CEO Josefina Loza stood in a room at Metropolitan Community College (Fort Campus) and did what she does best: she told the truth.

Not the polished version. Not the version that fits neatly into a résumé. The real one.

Loza, founder and CEO of Lozafina, spoke openly about her upbringing, what it meant to grow up wanting more, to see possibilities beyond your immediate environment, and to carry that ambition even when there wasn’t a clear roadmap for how to get there.

She shared what it feels like to walk into rooms that weren’t built with you in mind. Rooms where you don’t immediately see yourself reflected. Rooms where you’re not always expected. Rooms where you have to decide, in real time, whether you’re going to shrink or take up space.

And she was clear about the choice she made.

She chose to stay.

To learn the room. To understand the language. To build credibility.

And eventually, to create her own lane across journalism, public relations, and business.

Not because it was easy. But because she refused to wait for permission.

Throughout the conversation, Loza connected those experiences back to storytelling, not as a skill you learn later, but as something that begins with how you see yourself.

“Because before you can shape narratives for brands, for organizations, for communities,” she said, “you have to understand your own.”

She challenged attendees to think about the stories they’ve been told about who they are, what they’re capable of, and where they belong. And then she pushed them further. To question those narratives. To rewrite them. To step into spaces that might feel intimidating and stay long enough to grow into them.

“Nothing changes,” she emphasized, “if you don’t put yourself in positions where something could.”

That means risk, she added.

“It means discomfort,” she said. “It means showing up before you feel ready.”

But according to Loza, that’s where transformation happens. That’s how you begin to shape your own destiny. Not by waiting until everything is certain, but by moving anyway.

Her message to the room, particularly to the women listening, was direct: Take up space.

“Because storytelling is about ownership,” she said. “It’s about deciding how your story is told, and making sure it reflects not just where you’ve been, but where you’re going.”

By the end of the session, the conversation had shifted from inspiration to responsibility, she reasoned.

“The responsibility to pursue what feels out of reach. To chase what feels uncertain. To not give up when the path isn’t obvious.”

Because the stories that shape industries, communities, and movements don’t come from staying comfortable, she said..

“They come from people willing to step forward, take risks, and build something anyway,” she said.

And as Loza made clear, that work starts with one thing: Your story.

“How you tell it. How you own it. And how you use it,” she said. “Well, that’s up to you.”