The SoFlo Moms Writing Team

Born and raised in South Florida, Crystal embraces the sunshine and palm trees. Catch her in the early morning enjoying a brunch picnic oceanside.  

As a mom of a toddler, Edison (2), and a fur mom to 2 cats and a rescued Greyhound, she is always on the go! Along with her husband, Jordan, they enjoy family walks around their neighborhood lakes or to local parks. Together, they love to explore weekend community events, farmer’s markets and new attractions around the area! 

Crystal is an instructional interventionist and support facilitator, teaching students with disabilities how to read. She is certified in Special Education and has a passion for advocating on behalf of her students. She believes that fostering a love of reading and building confidence in students’ abilities can create lifelong learners! 

Diagnosed with Postpartum Depression and Anxiety after the birth of her son, Crystal is committed to building a community of healthy moms with a focus on mental wellness. She spreads the message of mental health awareness and shares a glimpse into her healing journey in hopes that others feel seen and heard in struggles they may be facing. 

She looks forward to creating a beautiful and strong community of women, sharing tips and tricks to help us survive this crazy thing called motherhood! 

Shana is a married mother of two holding it together like a pair of bookends. She works full time at a job she truly does love but like most other working moms finds there’s just never enough time in the day to spend with her children. Her dream job is to be a professional volunteer but until that day comes will just keep working 😉 She is the proud mom to a wonderful toddler daughter who is not bossy but rather shows strong leadership skills and a pre-tween boy who tells her she is “cringe”. With such a large age gap between her children she feels like a full on first mom all over again and is learning her parenting style this time around is vastly different, and that’s ok!

In the limited free time the family does get to spend together she works to make it purposeful and engaging. Her favorite way to spend time together is doing something that meets one or more of the following criteria: Is it informative, inspirational, and/or entertaining? Bonus when they can find all three! Being outdoors is her happy place, or in any library. (Any chance an outdoor library exists?!) She is sarcastic and loves self deprecating humor. She is a discount diva and loves snagging a lower price and finding free family fun. She is not crafty or trendy but loves surrounding herself with people that are in the hopes they’ll pass on some tips. (hint hint). She is a big planner (working on being less of a control freak!) and loves a good sweat session at the gym, time spent with her children, service work, performing thorough internet research (aka social media stalking), indulging in delicious food and beverages, and meeting new people and forming connections. 

She is one busy but very blessed mama!

A true SoFlo girl, Andrea was born and raised in Miami, FL as a first generation Cuban American.
The youngest of 7 siblings from a blended family, she learned that you don’t get what you want unless you speak up and make your voice heard! After graduating college in 2009, Andrea married her Dominican/American husband of now, 13 years. They are raising their two rambunctious children, amongst their huge Latin family. This fall, they will be navigating the emotional roller coaster of what is middle school, as their daughter enters 6th grade, while their son enters the 4th grade.
Finding her passion for travel, Andrea worked in the cruise industry for 10 years, holding several Operational & Sales roles for different cruise lines including, Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean International & The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. In 2020, Andrea became a Gestational Carrier
(Surrogate) and found a new passion in helping build families. Leaving the cruise industry, she now works for ConceiveAbilities Surrogacy & Egg Donor agency, screening other women that want to become surrogates.
As if raising two kids and working full time doesn’t keep Andrea busy, she also runs her own specialty cake business, The Cake Box Miami, from her own kitchen! When she isn’t in mom, work or baking mode, you can find her convincing her husband to do DIY projects around the house.

Erica was born in upstate New York, but raised in sunny South Florida. She’s no stranger to what this gorgeous state has to offer, as she’s lived in multiple parts throughout the years. Her favorite being Daytona Beach, where she met and fell in love with her husband, Brian. 

Erica has an intense appetite for adventure, and loves to travel! If she could, she’d be on vacation for 6 months, twice a year. ;- ) As both a domestic and international traveler, some of Erica’s favorite places are Scotland, Ireland, Hawaii, and of course Walt Disney World. 

She’s a HUGE Disney nerd and travels to Walt Disney World multiple times a year. Her and her husband were married at Disney’s Wedding Pavilion in 2013. It truly holds a special place in her heart.

Erica’s greatest accomplishments are her two rainbow babies, Nicholas and Brianna. Nicholas was born in 2018 and Brianna in 2020. Erica feels beyond grateful that these two have chosen her to be their Mama, and it’s a job she doesn’t take for granted. 

Erica would love to be an advocate for the well-being of all mothers, whether that means supporting a cause like infertility, pregnancy and child loss awareness, or just being a safe place for mother’s to communicate about the color of their baby’s poop!  She’s looking forward to this journey of moms supporting moms! 

Aliz was born and raised in Hungary and moved to NY in 2010. She married her Colombian husband and moved to Florida 5 years ago in 2015. They have 2 sons; Benjamin, who is turning 5 soon and speaks all 3 languages already and Oliver who is turning 2, loves music and understands everything in the 3 languages. 

Aliz is dedicated to Montessori methods when it comes to education and to their normal day-to-day life. She is a minimalist mama who loves to organize! This inspired her to start her own company in 2021, Unmess My Nest as a Professional Organizer. Her family is always focused on maintaining a routine as she thinks it is very important in children’s lives. Story times and singing are always a part of their bed time routine. 

For fun, she loves to be outdoors with her boys and has a passion for photography. She (like many of us) is still working on getting back her dream weight and she likes to exercise in the gym and meal prep to work towards this goal. 

She is very social and loves to share her experiences with other moms which led her to join The SoFlo Momsand believes in supporting small businesses, especially owned by moms!

Karishma grew up in the South Florida area and moved out of state for college onwards. She just recently came back to FL and is so happy to be in the place that she calls home!

Karishma began her motherhood journey in July 2020 – she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Serena! As a new mom, Karishma loves discovering all the tips and tricks of being a mom! When Karishma is not busy with all that, she is usually trying to explore new places around FL or she’s just sitting inside to watch a good tv show!

Karishma is so excited to be a part of the SoFlo Moms and hopes to bring this community together!

Vanessa was born and raised in Miami, FL. When she was 14 she moved to Surfside with her mom and has since lived on the beach until she moved her family to Miami Shores. Vanessa has been a proud Miami Shores resident since 2003. She was already a mom to Lenny (now 18) and Lara (now 16) when she married her husband Mario in 2014. In 2016, they welcomed their daughter, Leila and have a beautifully blended family. Vanessa will soon be watching her oldest graduate high school as her youngest moves on to Kindergarten. Needless to say, it’s never a dull moment in her home!
Vanessa has been a Miami real estate agent since 2003 and absolutely loves helping others in any way that she can. She has also always had a passion for fitness led her to start her own business in 2015 helping humans hustle towards feeling happy and healthy!
For fun, Vanessa loves to run.  If you follow her on social media, you can probably catch a glimpse of her daily around 5am always dancing, working out, running or being silly with her kids (which are her main obsession!) She’s quite the unicorn mom although she prefers to refer to herself as a hot mess, lol! She definitely is looking forward to connecting with more SoFlo moms as we support each other in this #Momlife!

Vanessa Morales

Julie Galiñanes