Paulina Roe is a radio host by day, and a multi-hyphenate by evening. She’s a mother, founder and CEO of The Mami Collective, a community of moms advocating for their identity, wellness and income. Roe also knows how to handle a spray tan gig in a pinch.
In some ways, her life looks more similar to that of a growing number of Americans – about 36 percent – per a 2021 Upwork report on freelancing, to be more precise. While freelance sees a boost in volume of professionals who offer skilled services like business operations and marketing, a significant fraction of it still involves the traditional gig economy, ranging from transportation to personal care and wellness.
Roe is a proponent of having women she works with monetize their skills to enable them to suit their new lifestyles, and she’s not alone.
“A lot of moms are turning to side gigs: babysitting, caregiving, content creation, jewelry, beauty services, mobile bartending, because they let you earn around your schedule,” Roe said. “No one hustles like a mom.”
All in, while Latinas see the gig economy as a path to self-sufficiency in their career, equal pay lags behind. Working moms at large still do see a persistent wage gap, according to the National Women’s Law Center. In tandem, the Latina wage gap also persists today, with Latinas being paid 54 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men as cited in the latest report by Justice for Migrant Women.
“The reality is that people often work longer hours or more in order to make enough money to make ends meet without reaping all of the benefits of a regular job,” Mónica Ramírez, Lead Organizer of the Latina Equal Pay campaign, said. “When we consider the impact on Latinas, or any person, working in the gig economy, especially as their sole source of income, we have to consider not only the amount of money that they are paid, but we also have to consider the value of the other benefits, like health insurance, paid leave and 401(k).”
To beat the odds, some women have parlayed their skills, like those in entertainment and marketing, to generate multi-million dollar grossing businesses. Among them is Tatiana Bolaños, a Sony Records Latin artist turned CEO and founder of The Lilac Agency, a digital talent management agency representing Latino creators.
Today, her agency grosses four million dollars in business, advocating for creators’ equitable pay and opportunities year-round in a more than $250 billion economy, which is set to nearly double by 2027, per Goldman Sachs. An uphill battle to secure her creators a piece of the ecosystem pie is transparency.
“That would make negotiations more equitable and would ensure our creators are being compensated fairly across the board,” Bolaños said. “Without clarity, it’s hard to stay competitive in the market.”
As of 2025, at least 15 U.S. states have pay transparency laws, requiring employers to disclose salary ranges in job postings or other similar disclosures, though scopes vary and don’t often extend to freelance work.
Without the pay transparency, others see great potential in the gig economy with caution signs. Lynette Correa-Velez has expertise in human resources and is the founder of Pagame Project, which aims to use GenAI and human intelligence both to help close the women’s wage gap. She observes the biggest structural barriers driving the Latina wage gap in the gig economy as lack of transparency.
“Women, especially Latinas, are over-mentored and under-sponsored in the workplace and beyond,” she said. “Without systemic changes and more inclusive technology, these barriers will continue to limit economic opportunities for Latinas in gig work.”
To meet rising barriers on one end, financial wellness strategist Luzy King, founder of Say Hola Wealth, recommends freelance workers respond with practical and low-barrier income freelance streams to start to make wealth building accessible.
“The first step is to stop overlooking the value of what you already know,” she said. “Rather than walking away from skills you’ve invested years, and often degrees into, ask: How can I expand what I already know and repackage it into a service?”
Some ways King recommends repackaging experience includes consulting, virtual assistant services, contract opportunities and content creation. The through line is all about accessibility: a low startup cost, efficient time-to-cash opportunities, a good skill fit in high demand and one that enables scalability. Once additional sources of revenue start pouring in, she recommends creating a base for wealth building by paying high interest debt, creating an emergency fund and investing for long-term growth via an IRA and a taxable brokerage account.
“Earning more money is only the first step; the transformation happens when you decide what that money will do for you,” King said.