JEFAS Magazine marks two years of telling Latina entrepreneurs’ stories in Iowa and Nebraska

Since launching on May 9, 2024, JEFAS has published four editions, hosted community events, and helped more Latina entrepreneurs across Iowa and Nebraska find one another. 

Before JEFAS Magazine started, Latina entrepreneurs in Iowa and Nebraska were already growing and succeeding.

They were running restaurants, salons, studios, shops, family businesses, small offices, and service companies. They were answering clients after dinner, checking numbers at the kitchen table, cleaning, designing, selling, hiring, translating, raising children, and fixing problems for the business and for the family, often in the same day.

Some had employees. Some had loyal clients. Some had been building for years.

They were already leaders. JEFAS helped put more of their work in print, so more people could learn about them and celebrate them.

When the first issue came out, the idea was simple: write about Latina entrepreneurs as business owners, founders and professionals, not only as inspiration. Their work belonged in business coverage. In many towns and neighborhoods, it belonged in community coverage too, because the two are hard to separate.

So far, JEFAS has published three editions in Iowa and one in Nebraska, grown its presence in the Hawkeye and Cornhusker states, hosted community events, and launched a donation campaign to keep the work moving. Since then, the team has seen it happen more than once: someone recognizes a name, sends a message, books a call, or walks up at an event and says, “I saw your story.”

The goal of JEFAS

JEFAS Magazine was founded by Erika Macias, president and publisher of JEFAS and Hola America Media Group, along with her husband, Tar Macias, CEO for Hola America Group. From the beginning, she described the publication as a way to amplify Latina voices in the Midwest and preserve their stories for future generations.

Macias has said the work connects to her own arrival in the United States, when she did not speak English. That experience is part of why she wanted to build a magazine for women who know what it means to start over, learn as they go and keep making decisions without much guidance. Erika first came to the U.S. in 1992 from Michoacan, Mexico, bringing with her a vision for growth, resilience, and the desire to create opportunities not only for herself, but for others in her community.

“Amplifying the stories of other Latinas is deeply meaningful to me,” Macias says. “Representation matters, and I believe in creating platforms where our voices, achievements, and leadership are visible and celebrated. Seeing other Latinas thrive and be recognized is both inspiring and a reminder of the power of community. We need to open the doors of opportunity for Latinas, and that is the purpose of JEFAS Magazine. We are more than a magazine or a website, we are a community!”

A JEFAS profile may begin with a business, but it rarely ends there. The stories include founders, artists, small business owners, community leaders, mothers, caregivers and women carrying responsibilities that a short bio usually leaves out.

A restaurant profile may trace a migration story. Behind a cleaning company, there may be years of family sacrifice. A creative studio may be tied to questions of identity. A professional service may come with risk, debt and years of work before anyone pays attention.

Success stories often get shortened before they are shared. People hear about the opening, the brand, the growth. They may not hear as much about the struggles: the late invoices, the family schedules, the learning curve, or the years before the business felt stable.

From Iowa to Nebraska

After the first edition of JEFAS Latinas in Business Magazine came out in May 2024, the winter and summer 2025 editions followed. In February 2026, JEFAS launched its first Nebraska edition, expanding its reach and strengthening its presence in Latino communities in and beyond Iowa.

The momentum took off from the beginning and kept on growing. Last November, the inaugural issue of JEFAS Magazine earned three Gold (First Place) José Martí Awards, the most prestigious annual recognition program, held during the National Association of Hispanic Publications’ 43rd Annual Convention in San Diego, recognizing JEFAS for excellence in journalism, design, and community impact within Latino media nationwide. The three awards were in the categories of Outstanding Hispanic Magazine, Outstanding Magazine Design, and Outstanding Event for the 2024 Latina Business Excellence Summit. “We owe the success of the magazine to a talented team of editors, writers, photographers, and designers, all of them from the Latino community. It truly is a team effort. Juntos somos más fuertes. Together we are stronger.” Macias added. 

With the Nebraska issue, JEFAS moved beyond Iowa and into another part of the Midwest Latino business community. The magazine is published twice a year (one each in Iowa and Nebraska) and is available both digitally (jefasmagazine.com) and in print. They select distribution locations statewide, with an emphasis on Latina-owned businesses or places they visit. 

The next issue is scheduled for release this fall and will again be available in printed and online formats, with expanded visibility through partner platforms and events.

The project was never only about one city or one group of business owners. These women were in Des Moines, Omaha, West Des Moines, Waukee, Ames, Bondurant, and other bigger cities and rural communities, in family projects, small businesses, and informal networks where women recommend each other when traditional doors take too long to open. They pass along contacts. They send clients to one another. They meet at events, compare notes, and figure things out piece by piece.

JEFAS has reported on the businesses themselves, as well as on the person, family networks, referrals, community ties, and work that occurs outside the public-facing part of the business.

In two years, JEFAS has moved beyond the printed page. The print edition is still the center, but around those pages, there are now events, photographs, conversations, campaigns, and relationships that keep moving after each issue comes out.

When everyone gets in the same room

At the 2nd Latina Business Excellence Summit — at Drake University in Des Moines, on Aug. 9, 2025 – JEFAS sponsored this event to bring together dynamic leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals. The magazine supported this event as part of its commitment to empowering Latina excellence.

It brought the community together to learn, make connections, and listen to other women running businesses, starting projects, or seeking the next step.

Attendees came from all over the midwest, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois and other communities, even as far as Miami and Mexico. In their post-event feedback, they praised the event’s vibe. They mentioned the cafecito, the music, the breakout sessions, the networking lunch, the panel conversations, the magazine unveiling, and the chance to meet people they may not have met otherwise.

One attendee described the Summit as “a boost of energy and women empowerment.” Another wrote that she learned a lot in the workshop and that the atmosphere felt friendly and welcoming. Someone else said what she valued most came down to two words: authenticity and vulnerability.

Another attendee pointed to “the diversity of businesses, women in their journey, and the overall vibe of encouragement.” That phrase gets close to what JEFAS has been building: a room where women at different stages of business can sit near each other, from those just starting to those already growing, hiring, selling and looking for the next step.

There were practical results too. One participant said she met four potential clients during the Summit and already had virtual meetings scheduled with two of them.

For a small business owner, encouragement matters. So does leaving with two meetings on the calendar. A conversation can become a call, then work, then another referral.

The feedback also gave JEFAS clear notes for the future. Attendees asked for more breakout sessions, more time to interact, more guided networking, more bilingual conversations and more opportunities for entrepreneurs to show what their businesses offer. Several wanted the chance to attend more than one session. Others wanted easier ways for shy attendees or first-time guests to meet people without having to walk up to a table cold.

People want to come back. The JEFAS leadership team is already working on the third installment of the summit for late summer 2026. 

“There is space for you here”

JEFAS’ recent support campaign includes one example of how a feature can turn into a working relationship.

Susi Franco of Omaha-based Chispa Creative described her work with JEFAS as one of the most meaningful collaborations of her career. She met the team at a networking event and connected with the mission of supporting Latina entrepreneurs in Omaha and rural Nebraska.

Before working with the magazine, Franco shared that she is gender-expansive and queer, and asked whether there was space for her in a platform centered around women. The answer was simple: “there is space for you here.”

For Franco, that answer mattered because it was immediate. She went on to photograph more than 15 features for JEFAS.

In her testimony, Franco said JEFAS does not only highlight businesses; it invests in people, in their stories, and in how those stories are told.

Franco said her JEFAS feature also expanded her own network. Other JEFAS reached out after reading her story, and those conversations created connections that would not have happened otherwise.

Not all of that shows up in numbers. After a story is published, someone may call months later, send a referral, offer work, or recognize herself or someone she knows on the page.

Two years later

JEFAS Magazine’s second anniversary marks two years of publishing stories about work that was already happening across Iowa and Nebraska, often through word of mouth, family networks, long days and small business relationships that rarely make it into print.

In two years, JEFAS has published many stories of women who started without perfect conditions. Women who opened businesses while raising children. Women who learned to move between languages. Women who hired, sold, cleaned, cooked, designed, led, cared for others and kept going whether or not anyone wrote about it.

The work was already there. JEFAS helped put more of it on the page, with photographs, names, and a place to connect with other women building in the same region. Now the work is to keep publishing those stories and to keep building a place where more Latina entrepreneurs in the two states can find one another.

“Looking ahead, I want to see JEFAS continue to grow as a powerful platform that elevates, connects, and supports Latinas across industries,” Macias says. “Our vision is to expand its reach, deepen its impact, and create even more opportunities for visibility, collaboration, and long-term success. I also want it to be a catalyst for women who want to start their own journey, ensuring they know they are not alone and that they can be part of our inner circle.”

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