Erika Dox-Martinez checked all the boxes for success her mother had laid out: college, job, six-figure salary. But for years, even though she was an accountant, she struggled with money. She had a lot of debt and no plan.
Then she got engaged. “I wanted to have a wedding and I was like, ‘Oh my god, I don’t have enough money to do this,’” Dox-Martinez said. “That was my aha moment.”
It was time to get her financial house in order. Within a year, Dox-Martinez had paid off her debts. And within a few more, she had built a net worth exceeding half a million dollars — largely through retirement savings, investments, and a fierce determination to rewrite the financial narrative she’d inherited.
Now Dox-Martinez runs a financial wellness company, Blissful Vida, with a mission to help reshape how other Latinas and people of color view money, success, and self-worth.
“I want more of us to thrive instead of just survive when it comes to our money,” Dox-Martinez said. “I like for us to live and fund the blissful vidas that we desire and deserve.”
From corporate America to conscious entrepreneurship
Before launching Blissful Vida in 2022, Dox-Martinez spent over two decades in financial services, mostly hidden behind a computer as an accountant.
“I wasn’t a marketer, I wasn’t a salesperson — and you need those skills to run a business,” she said.
She eventually left her steady six-figure job to do just that when she realized her work in the corporate world was misaligned with her community-centered goals. “I was like, ‘I don’t want to just be helping rich people get richer. That’s not why I’m here,’” she said.
Her biggest hurdle to become an entrepreneur was internal. She had grown up watching her parents struggle financially and internalized that it was simply a fact of life. “If you have that belief, then you’re going to stay in that space — and same with business,” she said.
When Dox-Martinez launched her first group program this past January, doubt crept in. She entertained the thought of starting the Blissful Vida book club first, but she knew she had to keep her commitment to herself around her timeline.
That perseverance mirrors the advice she gives her clients about money: small wins add up, and failing forward is part of the process.
Money, trauma, worth
Dox-Martinez recalls a childhood memory that shaped her own ideas about money and self-worth: visiting her father and seeing her brother gifted $100 sneakers while she was taken to Marshalls for a $40 pair. Back then, she stayed silent while her mind whirled with calculations and the seemingly obvious conclusion: “I guess they don’t love me as much as my brother.” She began equating money with love in relationships and buying gifts for others to express how she felt.
That realization, uncovered years later during trauma and financial wellness training, became a foundation of Blissful Vida’s work. Dox-Martinez helps clients untangle their money habits from childhood wounds, systemic barriers, and inherited shame. Before you budget or invest, you have to heal your relationship with money, she says. It’s about believing you’re worthy of abundance.
Dox-Martinez is now Trauma of Money certified — one of the many ways she ensures her coaching addresses more than just spreadsheets. Blissful Vida’s offerings include financial coaching, free virtual coworking sessions (“Dates with Dinero”), a book club centering Latina authors, and soon, a membership-based community.
Educating her community
Part of Dox-Martinez’s mission is simply spreading basic financial literacy, the kind she wishes she’d had earlier.
“One of the other limiting beliefs I had was ‘people like us don’t invest,’” Dox-Martinez said. She didn’t have any real investors in the family. Her mother didn’t understand what her retirement account was, Dox-Martinez says.
Blissful Vida centers Latina experiences and stories. She hopes to create a space where more women of color feel seen and supported, especially as they chart new financial futures.
“We have to do our part and educate ourselves and educate our community and our kids and the people in our families so that we can build generational wealth,” Dox-Martinez said, noting it’s up to us to reframe the narrative of our lives.
Dox-Martinez is doing her own part: hosting coworking sessions, offering free resources, and listening closely to her community to shape future offerings.
“If there’s one thing I want people to know,” she said, “it’s that it’s never too late to start. You can forgive yourself. You can forgive your parents. You can start today. Your Blissful Vida is waiting for you.”
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Check out their financial wellness services here.
Call 347-640-4441
Email at erika@myblissfulvida.com or contact online here.
Follow on Instagram at @myblissfulvida
