ODESSA, Texas — Lissett Tercero’s business went from serving her food from a food truck to serving it from a restaurant, and she owes much of that success to one woman.
“It was awesome," Tercero said. "Being able to actually, you know, call her up and tell her ‘Hey, how do I do this?’”
Tercero used the skills and knowledge she learned from the Latina Entrepreneur Academy in Odessa, which was started by Theresa Servin.
Tercero has fond memories of working with Servin.
“Ideas, not only did she get creative with me, but she gave me a lot of pointers on how to do it," Tercero said. "Where to go, the resources; sent me spreadsheets, stuff that I actually use now with my business.”
Servin is the president of the Odessa charter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC for short.
It’s the largest and oldest Hispanic and Latin-American civil rights organization in the United States.
"A lot of Hispanics need guidance; a lot of Hispanics need assistance in their everyday work, everyday journey in life," Servin said. "LULAC has helped me help individuals finding attorneys, fighting for their rights."
With LULAC’s help, Servin started the Latina Entrepreneur Academy.
A Latina entrepreneur herself, Servin shares her business knowledge with women in the program.
She also brings in speakers from various business backgrounds to come and talk about their experiences and to give advice.
She is passionate about helping other Latina women grow their businesses and seeing them flourish brings her so much joy.
But Servin gives all the credit to the women themselves.
“That is an accomplishment," Servin said. "That is something that, in deep inside my heart I was like, ‘You can do it.' I said, ‘I told you had it in you.' I said, ‘We just had to plant that seed in you and you did the rest.'”
With Servin around, there will be more Latina women opening up thriving businesses like Tercero.