Why Culturally Aligned Health Systems Are the Missing Link for Women Entrepreneurs of Color
As I look ahead to 2026, there is something I need to say plainly.
I have built expertise.
I have helped women transform their bodies and health.
I have created systems that work.
Yet something still felt incomplete.
Not because my work lacked rigor, but because it lacked full alignment with who I am and who I am here to serve.
What I had been craving was cultural grounding. Once I named it, I realized how deeply it affects the women I work with every day, especially women entrepreneurs of color navigating leadership, visibility, and pressure at the same time.
This realization reshaped how I evaluate health frameworks, nutrition plans, and performance systems, and how I practice medicine and coaching moving forward.
Why It Took Me Time to Claim My Voice
For a long time, I struggled to feel safe enough to fully claim my voice as an advocate for women of color.
Not because I doubted the work.
Because I did not always feel reflected.
I grew up in a Puerto Rican-American household. My mother is white-passing, and on her side of the family there are deep issues of colorism and worldviews I do not relate to. I did not grow up surrounded by strong Black role models.
That absence matters.
When you move through the world as a Black woman without strong mirrors around you, you learn to be careful. You learn to soften language. You learn to compartmentalize parts of yourself so you can function.
That caution followed me into medicine, into fitness, into bodybuilding, and into business.
What Changed This Year
This year, I found my biological father through DNA testing.
Along with him came Black family members I had never known. A stepmother. A half-brother. A stepsister. People who reflected parts of me that had always existed but had never been fully affirmed.
I did not become someone new.
I became more grounded.
That grounding brought clarity. And clarity gave me the confidence to stop separating my identity from my work.
This grounding did not make me less clinical.
It made me more precise.
Why This Matters for Women Entrepreneurs of Color
Women entrepreneurs of color are navigating more than business growth.
They are managing leadership inside systems that demand constant self-monitoring, adaptation, emotional regulation, and strategic restraint. That cognitive load matters.
When health care or coaching introduces cultural friction, results break down. Not because discipline is missing, but because the system requires women to override their identity to comply.
This often looks like:
cycling through nutrition plans that never stick
internalizing failure when evidence-based programs do not fit
treating health as another obligation instead of a performance asset
For women entrepreneurs of color, health must reduce friction, not add to it.
When nutrition, training, and medical care are culturally aligned:
decision fatigue decreases
adherence improves
stress load lowers
results become sustainable
This is not about preference.
It is about performance architecture.
What This Revealed About My Practice
Around the same time, I was reviewing anti-inflammatory food lists and nutrition plans I had created.
They were evidence-based.
They were clean.
They were technically sound.
And I realized something important.
I do not even eat this way myself.
Even during bodybuilding, where structure is non-negotiable, I stayed consistent by adapting frameworks to fit my culture. Jerk seasoning. Spanish seasoning. Yellow rice. Beans. Foods that felt familiar and satisfying.
That is how I succeeded under pressure.
The issue was not the science.
It was the assumption that frameworks were neutral.
If cultural relevance is what allowed me to stay consistent in high-demand environments, why would I expect women of color to succeed without it?
How This Shapes My Work Going Forward
As I move into 2026, this is not a new value I am adopting. It is an awareness I am sharpening.
I have always practiced with cultural sensitivity. What has changed is my relationship with the tools I use. I no longer assume that standard frameworks are universally applicable without examination.
Cultural sensitivity now extends beyond intention and into execution.
I do not replace culture.
I refine it.
Anti-inflammatory nutrition, metabolic health, body transformation, and performance optimization can exist within every culture when the practitioner understands how to adapt frameworks rather than overwrite identity.
For women entrepreneurs of color, this awareness is what turns health into an asset instead of another obligation, and allows results to compound instead of reset.
The Bottom Line
What I was missing was not another strategy.
It was embodiment.
I was craving the freedom to lead from full alignment with who I am and with the women I serve.
In 2026, my work reflects that fully.
For women entrepreneurs of color, alignment between identity and physiology is what makes consistency possible. And consistency is what allows health to support leadership rather than compete with it.
This is the work I am committed to building.
Want to Go Deeper?
If this resonates, you’re invited to join my email list.
That’s where I share how I help women entrepreneurs align metabolic health, body transformation, and performance in ways that respect both biology and identity.
No generic advice.
No one-size-fits-all frameworks.
Just systems built for women who lead.
LaToya
Your Health COO™ & Strategist
Medical Weight Loss and Elite Physique & Strength Coaching for Women Entrepreneurs
