In celebration of Diversity Month, the Glenwood Springs Chamber of Commerce and First Bank hosted the city's first “Let's Talk Business” event Wednesday.
The bilingual event, called “Hablemos de Negocios” in Spanish, invited local Latinx business owners and community members to share success stories and learn from local vendors.
“Recognizing the rich diversity and entrepreneurial spirit of the Latinx business community, we are committed to collaboration, business growth, and mutual support,” said Giovanna Kennedy, member of the Glenwood Springs Chamber of Commerce's Latinx Business Advisory Committee. “We strive to create opportunities that will accelerate the success of our customers.”
The event itself began with a social time with food provided by Hugo's Restaurant and Taquería el Yaqui, followed by an introduction to the Glenwood Springs Chamber Latino Business Advisory Council and its new members.
The Glenwood Springs Chamber of Commerce Latino Business Advisory Committee is a committee of the Glenwood Springs Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors whose purpose is to build relationships between the Board and the Latino business community.
Members include First Bank's Jorge Rojas López, Margarita Alvarez, Gladys Arango, Brianna McCallum, Kennedy, and more.
“In my work with the community, I have been fortunate and privileged to listen to some of their concerns and identify potential points of interest that we can address. One of them is the desire and need for the Latino community to form and own their own business,'' Arango said.
She went on to say that entrepreneurship helps Latinos achieve financial independence and improve their quality of life, and that's exactly what she hopes this event will inspire people to do. He said there is.
Later in the evening, we invited three Latino business owners to share the challenges, struggles, and triumphs of opening a business in Glenwood Springs. A Q&A session was also held with panelists, with representatives from Colorado Mountain College, First Tech, and Garfield County Public Health answering the following questions: Resources and procedures available to participants wishing to launch a new business venture.
The first to share their story was Katia Robredo Ortiz, owner of Cumbala Hair Salon and member of the Latino Business Advisory Council.
Robredo Ortiz arrived in the valley in 1997, when there were still few Latino-owned businesses.
She worked in restaurants and cleaning jobs while being a young mother and wife. Her cleaning schedule requires her to work from 6am in the morning until midnight.
“When I got home, everything seemed so small because the house I cleaned looked like a castle to my eyes,” Robredo Ortiz said. “I was sad when I got home, but also happy because I knew I was coming home to a place with so much love and I knew I had to raise my little angel. .”
Her career eventually took her into nursing, allowing her to attend school to work as a certified nursing assistant caring for the elderly. Her mother came to Colorado in 2001. Robredo Ortiz's girlfriend's mother owned a hair salon in California, and he helped Robredo Ortiz from an early age.
“I started the clothing store to share the rent with my mother for the local hair salon she and I opened together (in Colorado),” Robredo Ortiz said. “One day, my husband advised me to drop everything and concentrate on studying cosmetology.I didn't have to stress so much anymore and could just focus on studying one thing. I knew that, so I was very excited and very happy.”
Robredo Ortiz opened her own beauty salon in 2008, but her partnership with her mother didn't work out, so she went completely on her own. She signed her three-year lease on her own store. Sixteen years later, Kumbala Hair's salon is still in the same location.
“I don't know what will happen in the future, but I want to do a lot of things,” she said. “I hope (my children) follow in my footsteps and do whatever they want to do with love and dedication.”
Mirela Ramirez, co-owner of Specialist Auto Body Repair with her husband, was the second to tell her story.
She began her career working in accounting in Guadalajara, Mexico. However, at the age of 23, she decided to immigrate to the United States to achieve her two biggest goals: learning English and learning how to drive.
“When I came here, I thought if I went to the United States, I would be able to speak English,” Ramirez laughed. “That's when I encountered my first obstacle.”
She enrolled in English classes and soon met the man who would become her husband. Her dream since her childhood was to open her own auto repair shop, and Ramirez said what she learned working as an accountant in Guadalajara prepared her to start her own business. Ta.
“But there were a lot of challenges,” she said in Spanish. “We didn't have the resources, we didn't have the team, we didn't have much of what we needed to start a business.”
With help from friends and a loan from Daiichi Bank, they were able to open an auto body repair shop.
Today, she has three children, one of whom works in the store, and continues to serve Latinos and the community at large through her work.
“Many friends have helped us through this process, and now it is our dream to continue to help them,” Ramirez said.
The third and final success story comes from Hugo Muñoz, owner and chef of Hugo's Restaurant in Glenwood Springs.
Originally from Veracruz, Mexico, Muñoz immigrated to the United States at age 22 and worked as a dishwasher in New Jersey. It wasn't long before chefs noticed his culinary skills and offered him the opportunity to work as a cook.
Upon arriving in Colorado, he worked as a breakfast cook at Snowmass Village. Munoz said he had many mentors who helped him grow and introduced him to the business side of things.
“I only studied up to junior high school, so I didn't even know how to use a computer,” he says. “(My mentors) really pushed my career forward.”
“Like all dreamers, I put a lot of effort into it,” Muñoz continued. “It was a lot of fun…I was lucky to have great chefs who are my friends to this day.”
After working in Aspen for two years and commuting from his home in Rifle, Munoz decided to open a restaurant in Glenwood Springs.
“I used to walk by Glenwood all the time and think, 'I want to open a restaurant here,'” he says. “The people here are very kind. I've been working at Hugo's for three years and I feel like I'm as valued by the community as I am by the customers.”
“I am very proud to be a part of this community,” Munoz added.
The Q&A portion of the event considered questions such as: What educational resources are available to immigrants who have not completed high school? What banking services are available to those with an ITIN number? ? What are the requirements to open a business account or obtain a bank loan? What types of permits or licenses are required to open a business in the food industry??
If you are interested in these discussions, please contact the panelists at CMC, FirstBank, and Garfield County Public Health.
