Becoming self-employed and running her own business, let alone in Spain was never in Vanessa’s plans. She stumbled into entrepreneurship after struggling for years to find hair products suited for her fluffy ‘fro.

Like many Black women, Vanessa resorted to making her own hair products from her kitchen for lack of better options.

Fast forward to 2019, she quit her job to turn her side hustle into a full-time business. She’s now self-employed in Spain, and runs The Wild Curl, a natural hair care line dedicated to curly hair, with her partner. 

In the Black in Spain series, I interview Black women, from all walks of life, living all over the 17 regions of Spain. I try to help paint an honest picture of the ups and downs of being black in Spain. My goal is to bring together stories of Black expats in Spain and help the next generation of Black people to find their safe haven in Spain.

• Name: Vanessa Martins Lopes

• Age: 30

• Home town: Hämeenlinna

Describe yourself/your background in 5 words max?

Finnish-Bissau-Guinean, ex-gymnast, entrepreneur, love to travel, and a big foodie.

What’s your backstory, and most importantly what triggered you to leave your home country?

I grew up and spent most of my life in Finland. My family is very international, my dad is from Guinea-Bissau, and my mum from Finland. When I was younger, I started practicing rhythmic gymnastics 4 and later joined the national team of Finland. This meant I traveled almost every month abroad to international competitions. 

This awoke my curiosity about different cultures, languages, and people. Since then one, I was always dreaming to live abroad, I was just waiting for the right moment to do so. 

Why Spain? How long have you been living here?

I actually dreamt of going to Brazil to Erasmus but I chose to go to Spain instead, purely for love. At university, I met Albert, my fiancé, who also happens to be Spanish. So after we met I chose to ditch my dream to move to Brazil and try out Barcelona. I absolutely loved it! 

We stayed in Spain for 3 years, then moved to London for work, but ended up moving back to Spain, Tarragona last year. So in total, I have lived here for 4 years. 

What’s the best thing about living in Spain?

The food, weather, versatile nature, and the culture. People from Finland come to retire to Spain because of this. We live in Tarragona, which is a coastal city on the beach. It is also very close to mountains to go hiking or skiing even. 

As a foodie, I am so excited to try new things and flavors. Not to talk about the weather, I love hot weather. I guess that was one of the reasons I escaped Finland so easily.

Now, what are some of the challenges you have faced in Spain?

The bureaucracy for sure. If you are not from here and not totally fluent in Spanish it is often very hard to integrate yourself into the system. Whether it is regarding University, health care, or self-employment applications sometimes it just feels impossible without a Spanish person helping you out. 

Other challenges I have faced are pretty common among immigrants. I often feel homesick and miss my home country. On the other hand, when I visit Finland, after a while I miss again being in Spain.

This maybe goes hand in hand with the cultural challenge I face here. Even though my dad is from Guinea-Bissau and they also have a very open, warm, and so-called southern culture, I was raised in Finland and assimilated a lot of the Finnish customs and culture. 

Finnish people are often described as quiet, private, and unsocial people, which in the majority of cases is true. Here in Spain, on the other hand, they approach every little detail with passion. It can be a lot to take on a blue Monday.

On being self-employed and an entrepreneur in Spain 

What made you decide to become an entrepreneur?

When I lived in London, I decided to start out my own hair company. First, it was on a small scale. I used to do my own hair products from our kitchen, but the project quickly ramped up. During that time, I still had a full-time job to make ends meet. 

In the middle of the pandemic when we decided to move back to Spain, I had to make a decision on whether to keep working for someone else or pursuit my own project. This when I took the decision to commit 100% to The Wild Curl. 

Running my own hair care company, and going self-employed really helped me to find my purpose. I have always felt sad there were never services for us, and now I am trying to contribute to the change.

Also read: Natural hair care & Afro hair salons in Barcelona (what to expect) 

What are the pros and cons of being self-employed in Spain?

The Wild Curl is a UK business so things are a bit different for me compared to someone with a business in Spain. I feel like in Spain it’s a bit harder to run your own company and be self-employed. There’s a lot of bureaucracy. My fiance helped me with a lot of this, because alone it would have been complicated. 

In London, everything is digitized, if you want to form a company, you just go to Companies House, and everything goes very fast. Here it’s more traditional, so in that aspect I am happy that we’re still a UK-based company. 

On the other hand, because we live in Spain, things like product development can get very complicated. For example, we’re now having to ask for samples from our UK manufacturers, and with Brexit simple things like shipping are taking ages to sort out. So there are pros and cons, but I am happy we are UK seeded. 

Where is it better to live and work, Spain or the UK?

It really depends. I’d want to live in the UK forever for instance, but for work experience is the place to go. The work environment is so much more fast-paced. 

There are a lot of opportunities in London. But if you are not from there, or a lover of big cities you’ll eventually burn out. I feel like most people end up leaving, in my case, I stayed 3 years.

After that, I was yearning for a better quality of life. In London, I used to live in a basement flat, paying £1,500 a month for rent. The cost of living is very high in London. But then, on the plus side, there is a lot of access to cultural events, which is great. 

In Spain on the other hand, you’ve got the sun, the beach, the nature around you. The quality of life is so much better. Personally, if I had to choose, Spain definitely wins. 

On being Black in Spain 

What’s the reality of being a black woman in Spain?

I come originally from Finland, which is a country with very little diversity, hence I don’t really see much difference in my life. Sadly said, I am used to being the only black person in school, at work, at the gym, with friends, and almost everywhere and everything I go. Despite Spain having higher immigration, I see very few black people in the street view.

If not taking account of the stereotypes and microaggressions we face in our daily life, like everywhere, I believe Spain has been quite welcoming for me. On the other hand, I acknowledge that I am mixed race and from Finland, which gives me an advantage against discrimination. 

People associate Finland with good education and as a welfare state. If I were of fully African origin, the reception might be different. I see many discriminatory behaviors against minority ethnic backgrounds in Spain though. 

There is a lot of discrimination against the Romani community, people of African origin, and also against Latinos. The far-right and anti-immigrant Vox party became the third-largest force in the Spanish parliament in late 2019 and this also fuels racist behavior in the country.

There are also some cultural traditions that are quite racist, such as the parade of three kings Los Reyes Magos (the three wise men), and one of the kings they picture as black. However, instead of using black people for the role, they prefer to black-face a white person. 

In big cities, it is rare to see this anymore but this continues in smaller cities and towns. Also, there are a lot of sayings towards black people I have heard that really make me cringe. Someone referring me to “morenita” or telling a story when they used to "trabajar como un negro". 

Usually, these come from older people but nevertheless, it isn’t an excuse. These are just daily reminders that we are always different and never really seeing equal by society. 

Do you have any advice for other Black women looking to relocate to Spain?

In Spain, knowing someone that can help you around really makes a difference. If you are looking for a job or house-hunting, it is much easier with a Spaniard alongside (Unfortunately). If you don’t know anyone beforehand you can try to find an association like Las Morenas De España to help you to connect and get tips and advice before moving to Spain.