Log In Saudy Rivera: A brave candle that suffocates from time to time

The communicator and businesswoman, with her vivacious personality, struggles to survive in her personal, professional and business lives. And she admits that she has felt suffocated.

She came like a fireball to our meeting to talk. She dressed in flirtatious black and tennis shoes, greeting, chatting, giving instructions, suggesting shots, giving valuable production advice.

Fine her. You can't help it.

When sitting down to talk with El Push de la Mañana, stellar edition, and taking a breath with coffee in hand, I called him “Saudy Rivera” to break the ice on camera and he immediately jumped out “Soto!” Of course, it was missing his beloved mother.

Saudy Rivera Soto is just over a month away from turning 45. She was born and raised in Jayuya, in the Río Grande neighborhood, and had a childhood that she describes as beautiful and tremendously happy. She is the daughter of Mrs. Ary and Mr. Jorge, but she slept until she was 9 years old with her grandmother Catín who, as in many country neighborhoods, is shared among family members and the salt is passed from balcony to balcony. She is the third of three siblings, Jorge and Ary being older than her, one more different than the other.

He slept with his grandmother because his mother worked long hours in a pharmaceutical company - for 39 years she worked at Baxter - and because his father was a merchant, who owned cafeterias, bars and even operated a galley. She gladly says that she was stuck there - those were other times - and that it was in that environment where she acquired the skills that would later help her survive many things, including the metropolitan jungle, the harsh environment of the media and the challenging business world.

He remembers with laughter that in Jayuya the abayardes stung him, but also with a melancholic face when he came across the coffee pots on Saturdays and the neighborhood was impregnated with that smell.

He hopped and hopped happily there.

He always studied in public school. He was a lover of history classes but he had a supernatural phobia of mathematics. She was the champion of extracurricular activities, she took out the radio, invented a thousand programs and the rumba was formed.

She has been working since she was 14 years old. She started selling shoes on Saturdays and Sundays and later she was a cashier at Don Iván's supermarket in Jayuya.

She began to study Psychology at the Catholic University of Ponce and suddenly that perpetual joy turned into deep pain with the death of Don Jorge. In the midst of this despondency, his mother inevitably threw a bucket of cold water on him. He could not continue paying for his studies at the private university. Either he went to the public university or he couldn't take it anymore. It was sudden but not painful. This is how he arrived at the University of Puerto Rico, Arecibo campus. From there was born his iron defense of the state university and public education, because without it, he would possibly have had to give up studying.

The change was the best thing that could happen to him. She studied Television and Radio, with a minor in Journalism. She resents and at the same time rejoices in the fact that many do not recognize her as a journalist. Many people boxed her into television and entertainment and even when she practiced Journalism, they don't assimilate her that way.

He did his internship at A Fuego, at the original Teleonce, in 1999. At the end, Linda Hernández and José Morales, who once again in this talk emerge as the jewelery recruiters of that moment, offered him his first opportunity as Production assistant. He laughs because he remembers the shyness with which they told him it wasn't much money. She earned $5.15 and when they offered her $8.25 an hour, she had to pretend not to scream with joy.

At the age of 22 she met her beloved Iván Rivera, who according to her, had everything she did not like: divorced, with a son and older than him. But he fell in love with her and a year later she became pregnant without getting married. A “scandal” in the neighborhood, because it was new, not because it was terrible, because they loved her very much and shook her hand. When her mom found out about the wedding, she only asked if there was a rush. Coquí!... answered.

And Valeria was born who today, after having started studying Biology in the midst of a pandemic, decided that she had other passions and found them in her mother's business, cupcakes and food in general, Sweets Gallery by Saudy. She wants to be a pastry chef and is educating herself for it.

Then Valentina arrived, now 11 years old. That's Saudy to the third power. She is an actress, she takes her from tingo to tango in castings, she models, she sings. A dynamo like the one that gave birth to her.

His life as a merchant

Not everything is beautiful, of course. The pastry business was created in 2011 and has gone through several uphill stages that have made Saudy reflect and several times he has felt on the verge of giving up. It qualifies as a very brave act to have a business in Puerto Rico, with the imprecision of the costs and the regularity of the services. Add to that the changes of government, the earthquakes and now the pandemic.

It was, in fact, with those same characteristics that it found its lowest point. When the pandemic started, he had to temporarily close the business. She then had her salary as the presenter of Dando Candela until the least expected day they announced the cancellation of the program. He was never told for sure but he says it's not his place to question it.

Valeria could not go to study in the United States and she became unemployed, with a business closed due to the pandemic. Everything became salt and water. And suffered it. She says that she was not depressed but was "somewhat" and found refuge in her two dogs.

In the middle of the election cycle, “Papeleta Rosa” was born on MegaTV but it ended its cycle and once again reinvented itself. Now he has a channel on Youtube.

Saudy is a great fajona of a lifetime. That is why she is surprised that she confesses that she has been tempted to move from Puerto Rico, to look for another air. It's just that sometimes the survival environment drains her and suffocates her. But it's not going to happen. She is stopped by how hard she has worked and how hard she has fought for her goals. He does not want to swim to die on the shore.

Watch the full interview here: