Tucson Primas co-founders Karen Velasco (left) and Paola Bustamante (right).
When cousins Karen Velasco and Paola Bustamante reconnected after years apart, they didn’t expect their reunion to spark a growing community of young Latinas in Tucson.
Both said they spent much of their early adulthood feeling disconnected while navigating new cities, demanding jobs and the sense that something was missing.
“We kind of realized that we had lived all of these shared experiences, but isolated,” Velasco said. “We felt very isolated, very lonely, like we were the only ones going through this. That reconnection pulled us completely out of that dark place in our life.”
Bustamante remembered the same turning point.
“When we finally started hanging out again, we were both talking about all these things we thought we were the only ones going through,” she said. “Maybe if we’d been through those moments together, they wouldn’t have been so hard. We thought, if other girls are going through this experience alone, maybe if we bring them all together, we can all get out of this hole together.”
That shared feeling became the foundation for Tucson Primas, a new social club that hosts events to help women in their 20s and 30s make friends and celebrate Latina culture.
Velasco and Bustamante launched the group on Sept. 20, just in time for Hispanic Heritage Month. They hosted a small launch party with Lotería, food and a giveaway. About a dozen women attended that first night.
Group photo from the Tucson Primas launch party in September.
“We were just so nervous to see if anyone would show up,” Bustamante said. “And now we’re so excited and grateful that these events are really booking up quickly.”
Since then, Tucson Primas has held several themed events, including a “Mean Girls” movie night and a Halloween party. Attendance has grown, with the largest event drawing more than 20 women.
Upcoming gatherings include a “Primasgiving” potluck, a “Primas Posada” and more holiday movie nights.
“Our plan was just to do one event a month and have it be a super blowout event,” Bustamante said. “But the demand has been so high and the girls have been so supportive that we’ve mostly booked every weekend from now until January.”
The name Primas reflects the family energy they hope to create.
“Your primas are your first friends,” Velasco said. “Culturally, primas tend to share friend groups and do sleepovers; everything is prioritized around that family feeling within a friendship.”
Bustamante added, “It’s the built-in bestie. We wanted to create a space where you can just come in, everyone’s kind to each other and you immediately feel like you’re part of the group.”
Most members find Tucson Primas through social media, but both organizers said the real connections happen in person.
“It’s been really challenging,” Bustamante said. “Because it takes a lot of bravery to sign up for an event where you don’t know anybody. So we make sure that when they show up, the girls feel comfortable and welcome and that they’re being received with kindness and friendship.”
“Online is just the bridge; we use it to give them confidence to come to the events,” Velasco added. “It’s during the events that they actually connect.”
Tucson Primas co-founders Karen Velasco (left) and Paola Bustamante (right) at ages 4 and 7.
The events attract women from a range of cultural backgrounds, including Mexican, Venezuelan, Dominican and Puerto Rican.
“That’s been very cool,” Bustamante said. “We had a couple of girls that were Venezuelan, Dominican and Puerto Rican, which I don’t think I’d ever seen before, especially in Tucson. Bringing all these girls together really revives our culture.”
Velasco said the diversity also helps connect women who may have lost touch with their roots.
“Even some girls who might be second generation and have lost a bit of the language want to reconnect,” Velasco said. “Bringing them all together to revive that culture is really important.”
For Venezuelan native Sthefany Nóbriga, joining Tucson Primas felt like a turning point. She moved to Tucson in 2021 after years in Iowa, where she often struggled to find people who shared her culture or language.
“Finding communities like Tucson Primas has made me feel more at home than ever before,” she said. “It’s helped me embrace my roots while also growing new ones here.”
She first came across the group on TikTok and Instagram while looking for ways to meet new people after working from home. As a bodily injury specialist for an insurance company, she spends most of her day reviewing claims from behind a screen, so a group that offered consistent in-person connection appealed to her.
“As we get older, it becomes harder to coordinate with friends and make time for connection,” Nóbriga said. “But with Tucson Primas, there’s always an event or moment where you can belong and enjoy yourself.”
One of her favorite memories was a recent hike at Sabino Canyon, where members spent the afternoon chatting and laughing under the desert sun.
“It was such a beautiful reminder of how powerful connection can be when women come together,” she said.
The cousins admit they still get anxious before every event, but that fades once everyone arrives.
Tucson Primas at Sabino Canyon during their first hike.
“Then we see everyone laughing, taking selfies, making TikToks together and we realize, ‘Oh, it’s working’,” Velasco said.
The cousins are already planning to launch a book club early next year and hope to collaborate with local artists and businesses. They’re also preparing to create a small scholarship for a Tucson or University of Arizona student, with proceeds from the upcoming Primasgiving going toward the fund.
Even as Tucson Primas grows, the organizers want to maintain a small, friendly atmosphere.
“Our goal is to build lasting connections,” Bustamante said.
Nóbriga said the group has inspired her to keep stepping outside her comfort zone and nurture the kind of friendships she once thought were hard to find.
All the “primas” gathered for a group photo at the Tucson Primas Halloween Party.
“It’s shown me that community doesn’t just happen, you build it,” she said. “And when women come together like this, it changes everything.”
