Elma grew up on a small farm in Mexico. Her family didn’t have a lot of money and she was one of nine siblings. She moved to a nearby city to attend middle school, and after finishing high school she went on to graduate from college with a degree in business.

In 2000, Elma decided to come to the U.S. for one year to learn English. After she arrived, she loved it so much that she decided to stay.

For years, Elma worked as a mortgage loan officer. She fell in love with the work and her ability to help people get the loans they needed. She prided herself on not needing assistants to help her — she was always able to get the work done independently.

When she decided to have children and start a family, she took a break from the workforce. But as her children got older, Elma began dreaming about starting her own business. She wanted to start her own mortgage broker company with a focus on supporting Hispanic community members.

A friend at Elma’s church told her about our Empresas Small Business Development Program, and Elma enrolled.

Elma explains that the Empresas classes, aimed at teaching participants how to start their own businesses, came at the perfect time for her. And because English is Elma’s second language, she had more confidence and fully understood all of the information since it was all taught in Spanish. She was also happy to see that Javier, our Empresas teacher, made the lessons understandable for all education levels.

Elma now has a goal of starting her business within the next year.

You can help more women like Elma rise up.