Power Mama Ana Belaval

If you live in Chicago I don’t need to tell you who Power Mama Ana Belaval is! For those of you that don’t know Ana, let’s just say she’s Chicago’s sweetheart. There’s no better way to describe her! Ana hosts a show for WGN called Around Town where she takes us to Chicago Greaterland’s best-kept secrets and hot spots. She give you the dirt, makes you laugh and inevitably makes you want to go wherever she’s at! Power Mama Ana Belaval is a FOUR time Emmy award winner, a mom, and an amazing dancer. Total woman crush any day of the week. Today is her birthday by the way!

When we sat down for this interview at MaZi Dance Fitness, my handyman came in to fix some stuff and did a double-take. He paused, looked at her, looked at me, looked at her, looked at me and said “is that……heeer?”. I wish I could’ve captured it on camera, the look of awe and admiration in his eyes was extremely touching. It was also a testament at how deeply Ana connects with her viewers on her show, her social channels, and in-person! I’m so excited to share our interview in it’s entirety as well as to give you some snippets of what it’s like to be power mama Ana Belaval.

Her Roots- “Live Your Culture to The Fullest”

I first met Ana when she came to feature MaZi Dance Fitness on her show, Around Town. It was our first press opportunity and being new to Chicago, and a new business, my sister and I were freaking out! This was maybe 9 years ago and she came back a second time! Anyway, we were both disarmed by her humor, confidence and sister vibe. And like us, she was Hispanic and her first language is Spanish! Ana is from Puerto Rico and she speaks here in more detail about growing up there and gives us insights about the island.

The other thing that gives Ana’s latin roots away are her dancing! She is such a passionate mover and really beautiful to watch. Whenever she joins us in class, it’s definitely a party with her huge energy and woots! One of the favorite lines from the interview is “Live your culture”, in response to racism and discrimination. She says the more you expose people to who you are, the more comfortable they feel and the more they are able to relate to you. And most importantly, “we are more similar than we are different”.

Her Career

If you are looking for career inspo or wanting to break into the media field, I think you’ll find a lot to love in the video! Ana describes how she worked her way up in her internship. She talks of opportunities she took advantage of as well as the setbacks. That’s one of the things that I really love about speaking with her, she was so real! She describes the work she put in to realize her dreams of being the reporter she is today. Some of which were minimizing her accent, her passion for storytelling, and how much her mom & dad inspire her.

She also has actionable career tips that are so relevant today! Some of the pieces of advice that I loved were:

1. Learn on the job, learn fast: “I was covering major news in Chicago. I didn’t know what an alderman was. Learned everything on the job. I worked during the day, I worked during the night, in the morning. “
2. Relating to all the different types of people: Ask questions. Get personal. Flatter them and be yourself.
3. Who is the person that you’ve interviewed that’s inspired you the most: “People that have been through so much and can still be happy”.

Power Mama in Chief

“Let go of perfection. The kids will get fed.” I loved hearing about how she juggles mamahood and such a prominent career. I think many of us will relate to wanting parenting done our way and struggling to let go. There are many wisdom nuggets throughout the conversation!

Another insightful comment she made was about how being a parent is so “fluid”. I loved the word. It’s so true that many times we are positive that we will parent a certain way and then real life gets in the way. She offers differences in raising a boy and a girl. We both bonded about how we would surely have perishished growing up in social media world! I’m excited for you to laugh along with us on the video!

Power Mama Chicago Picks

I was amazed but not surprised to learn that Ana does stand-up comedy. She is so funny, I cannot wait to see her in action if she ever decides to let us know where she’s performing! So one of her recs was Second City or an improv show! She’s a Chicago lover and has seen more of the city than most of us ever will! Her other picks:

• Cubs game for socializing
• Architectural tour
• Downtown
• Come here in the SUMMER!

What’s in Her Bag?

Lip gloss, lipstick, powder, hairbrush, hairspray, notebook, my phone, mints, my readers. And, a fan! How chic!

Most days she wears…..jeans!

I hope you enjoyed getting to now this rockstar mama and please find her here and find more career tips here. XO, Z

PS if you have a mama that would be great to feature, please let me know!