The Entrepreneurship & Innovation Studio

The Entrepreneur's Handbook: Eva Preciado on Business, Community, and Faith

• Stanislaus State • Season 2 • Episode 2

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Following her story of resilience from Jalisco, Mexico, to Newman, California, Eva Preciado embodies the spirit of true entrepreneurship. She was inspired by the perseverance and friendship of her first mentor, May Michelle, to follow her dreams of owning her own business. Now, with over 20 years of experience in insurance, Eva is the CEO of Lumix Insurance Agency. In her work and personal life, Eva values making connections, the power of leadership, and most importantly: her faith. Eva is a self-described loving sister, wife, and mother who cherishes the relationships she has been blessed to make. Eva is a firm believer in accountability and learning from your mistakes, which she attests to helping make people stronger and more innovative. 

In this engaging episode of E&I Studio, Dr. Pablo Paredes Romero and Eva unravel how seemingly ordinary events contribute to unique entrepreneurial narratives and highlight the significance of overcoming adversity while managing personal growth within business endeavors.

Co-produced by the Warrior Entrepreneurship and Innovation program and the Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing at Stanislaus State. The E&I Studio is edited and recorded in the KCSS studios on the campus of Stanislaus State.
The views expressed by guests on this podcast are not necessarily those of the University.

Welcome to the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Studio, where we explore the passion and the purpose behind some of the amazing people in our community, and above all, their stories. I'm Dr. Pablo Paredes Romero, and all my career, I've been fascinated by entrepreneurship and innovation from the moment an idea is scribbled on a napkin, drawn on a tablet, white-boarded, spoken out loud in the shower or in the car on the way to someone's nine to five. It's all about the work and the art behind the venture. Eva Preciado is an insurance broker. People have stories that sometimes resemble autonomous devotional pieces. Small business owners, or at least their stories, as they are often told, revolve around a circular dynamic in terms of motivation. Adversity, as it's often told, enters into that circular frame, gets chewed up and spat out. Eva tells a different story. It's completely devotional. It's about faith and friendship, one that arrived to her doorstep and helped her arrive home, a place where she meant as much to herself as to the people she helps. Welcome back to the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Studio with our very special guest, Eva Preciado. I want to talk about community. Tell me about the community that you grew up in. It was very small. It was actually-- It was in Newman, which is the population of individuals, I mean, back then I don't know, 10,000, maybe 15,000. Very small. Actually. I was born in Mexico, so when I actually came to United States, believe it or not, how we found Newman, that's a question from my dad. We end up in Newman, and that's where I actually attended pretty much my whole school, high school. I stayed there until maybe I was 17, then I moved away. But it was a very small community. Yes. At 17, where did you go? From 17, we actually, at that point, I got married and we moved to Bakersville. Would you say from your experience, living in Newman is imprinted in your DNA? Like, it's such a part of you, Newman. It's definitely a small, small community. I mean, you know, everyone. You kind of knew what everyone was up to. Families were very close. They were definitely the schools back then. You could walk to just everything was so close. So just, for me, it was just having very close friends. We all walked together to school, and it was one of those moments where you feel safe. It was a very safe environment. Of course it was small. And sometimes if it's too small, there's nothing to do. Makes you wonder. You definitely want to stay out of trouble. What would you say the word community has come to mean to you in your life? Well, the word community for me, will mean people as people, as individuals, as having something in common, where yet we have different ideas, but yet we actually have the same desire to succeed, to grow, to aspire, to help others. So coming together in a community is definitely, I think we all thrive to be able to help others, help each other. In terms of the business community here in the Central Valley, how have you seen it evolve over the years? You know what? It has very evolved and has expand quite a bit. You have a lot, especially individuals that are very successful and they have the drive to want to help. And I think that's what they come together, especially the business owners in the smart communities like this. You want to help each other succeed. Where do you see it all going? Like, where do you see it evolving, do you think? I think we just got started. There's definitely a whole new generation that we have to reach out to. And I think the current community of the current business owners, now is the time to just start being an example and helping out and reaching out to them. That's a wonderful sentiment. What would you say to a young person who is compelled to start a business or just inspired to start a business here in the Central Valley? Great question, Pablo, because what I tell my kids, volunteer. Volunteer in the community, get involved. Not only would that help you within yourself, but it will help you develop skills. When you are out in the world and you're in your own business, you kind of make some tough decisions and being on your own, sometimes you don't have that backup of leaning to your other partner, you're on your own. So being able to volunteer, getting involved in the community, it really will help you develop skills, such as making some strong decisions. So that's what I would tell volunteer, get involved. What would you say has been the most powerful learning experience as a small business owner? It will be accountability. Because when you're your own, I mean, no one really holds you accountable. You have to hold yourself accountable for decisions or actions that you create. When you work in a team and you're kind of starting with a team, you help each other out, you tell each other, hey, you screwed up here, or hey, you should do it this way, or you share ideas, but when you're on your own, you don't have that. And I think that one thing that it was very challenging was to held myself accountable. Held yourself accountable in what regard? Just in decisions. When it came to business decisions in my industry that I'm in, my specialty is service. So if you're going to provide a service to your customer. You want to be able to make sure you have yourself accountable to what you're promising your customer. So there's a fine line between confidence and absolute hubris or that arrogant feeling that, you know what? I got this. It doesn't really matter. I don't need to know anything. What helped you learn? Okay, I'm okay not knowing what I don't know. Now I'm going to find a way to learn this. How did that happen for you? One of the things that really helped me, too, is who I surround myself with and learning from others, mentors that I had, being able to see them to accept when there was a screw up, learning from those experiences and applying them to myself, it was definitely, I think, a blessing for me to be able to be around those individuals, because I got to see when they accepted wrong or they accepted, all right, this is a fun line. I could be cocky. I think I got this. There's a point in life where you come and you realize, okay, you know what? I don't have this. And if I fall, it's okay because I'll get back up. What's the worst case scenario? I mean, once you fall, you fall. The only way out of it's getting back up. Right? So I think those kind of experiences. It'S hard for people to learn to be kind to themselves. What do you think? You know, especially in these times that we're facing these challenges and with the COVID that just happened not too long ago, I think we see more of that now. And it's very sad. Very sad. And I think the mentality is the most powerful thing a human being has. And if you allow it to control you, it could destroy you. But if you take control of it, it could be the most beautiful thing. Who or what has been your greatest teacher? I'm a big believer, so I have to say Jesus, but I was very blessed with Jesus that He blessed me with a great friend of mine, and I will call her. Her name is Eleanor. Why do I say she was a teacher to me? Because a little bit about me, if. It's okay, of course. That's what this is about. What's your story? She was an individual. That really was a blessing to me when she and I met. Keep in mind that my education was not something that I took very seriously when I was young. Was the opportunity being given to me? Yes, my parents definitely gave me the option, but was that really printed in me? No, it was more like, finish high school and go off to work. That was kind of more the mentality where I was raised in my house. So my education maybe was not know up there. And I say that because I actually used to stutter a lot. I couldn't really speak. So when I met Eleanor, who I call her my teacher, she was not just a great friend, but she was my mentor. And she would actually take the time to correct me. And I have to say that the improvement that I made in the years of my relationship with her made me of who I am now. And it would be amazing. I mean, you would say, you know me, you know and really you stutter. No. Yeah, it was one of my biggest weakness. And yeah, she was great. So I could be here all day and just talk about her, but I'll let you Continue. If you ever wanted to be a teacher yourself, what do you think you would teach? Teach in a material, just teach as a person. Because I believe we could be teachers in all ways. I could be a teacher at home, be where I work at in any way. I would love to be a teacher and help those individuals, the young ladies that want to succeed, they believe in themselves, help them believe in themselves, mentor them, let them know that everything they put their mind to, can they accomplish it? Yes. Is it easy? No. Is it hard? Yes. I think that would be more of me being a role model to especially young women. It's very challenging, especially in our cultures. Very challenging, you know, I mean, especially I do believe, I'm a strong believer that as a woman, we are very grateful that our partner or husbands are definitely, well, big part of our lives. And I'm a big believer on that. I believe that having that other partner, it's definitely very important. So being able to teach these young women to be independent, but also to understand the need of having the loved one next to you, it's very important. Support networks are wildly important in the study of entrepreneurship and life in general. Right. And a lot of it goes back to now that I've touched upon the research. We got to go into the research. Right. What role would you say that research, the act the discipline plays in your everyday life as a small business owner? Well, I think research is very important. Everything it's available to us now these days, and just click, look up in the Internet, we have the most powerful tool, which is now the Internet. So if you don't take advantage of it and use it wisely to where you could apply it to your business and day to day, I think you'd be a fool. I use it constantly. Not only do I use that, but I also circle myself. I try to connect with individuals and see what research they're doing, especially in my industry, especially right now, that we're kind of like in a very difficult market. You know, getting out there, going into conventions and meetings and just figuring out, picking the brain and seeing where they're at. So research is for me very important because you have to stay in line and in tune for your customer. In my industry, I have to stay in tune to bring that information back to my client. Your industry is insurance? Yes. The data sets must be immense. I mean, how do you navigate all that data? Stay sane. I have to share something with you, Paul. I've been doing this for 20 years. I've been doing insurance. I started as a customer service rep, actually, I was in high school and it was my internship at Farmers. In my 20 years of experience, I have never seen such difficult times that we are in right now. The insurance industry, it has definitely been a challenging time. The research right now is so critical to stay in tune and kind of go with the storm because we're in a storm and you want to figure out, you want to do research, how long is it going to last? Is it a six month? Is it a year? Is it a three years? You have to start doing this research so you could be able to come up with some innovations and figure out new ideas to be able to go through the storm. What does the word innovation mean to you now that you mentioned it? Innovation for me means coming up with an idea, coming up with not just something new, but to make it better. How do you feel that you've been able to innovate in the places that you've worked and grown? Well, it has definitely given me the ability to develop new skills as I'm growing in my insurance industry. Definitely I have been able to come up with some innovations that will better service my clients that I could bring to the table. It's very, very important right now, especially in these difficult times. I have to put on my cap and start figuring out, okay, what can we come up with, how we're going to get through this storm? Like, right know, we have a lot of insurance companies leaving California, and for us, you got to figure out, ok, where do we go from here? Do we kind of do what they do or do we start come up with an innovation that's going to help our company? What do we do? So I don't know if I answered your question. Your question absolutely on that score. What can you do? Great question. I asked myself the same thing. That is a great question. I did, what can I do? What do you do? Do you run away? Do you sell your company? Do you throw in the towel? What do you do? And you know what? I took a minute, and of course, you know, I pray a lot. And I ask God to give me guidance because these are some difficult times. So I'm in the process right now of coming up with new ideas, new products. I'm connecting with new carriers. I am definitely out putting myself out there right now. I'm not sitting waiting for it to come to me. And I'm definitely getting out there to the point where I have to make a decision. And one of the ideas of my, I would say part of the innovation process is develop a team. And that's kind of where I'm at right now. I'm developing a team. How do you do that and at the same time provide the type of service? Because I remember in my former career in corporations, working with insurance brokers and what have you on the industrial side, how do you manage to service the internal client, meaning building your team and then servicing the external client. How do I do it? Well, you know what? I think one of the things I should say this, first of all, I love my clients. I love what I do. And I think the way to separate when I come up with ideas or I start trying to figure out, okay, what's the next step from here? I do come up with ideas and I make note of it. I don't really focus on it. I just write it. I write my ideas. I have a big whiteboard in my office, and I'll write the idea and I'll walk away from it. And as I'm going on day to day and helping my customers and I'm socializing and I'm taking care of the family, those ideas are still behind my head. And what I just tried to do, I pray about it and I'll come back to it. But I am pretty good. I think I'm pretty good in separating those two. But don't get me wrong, it wasn't overnight. It took practice, because sometimes you have to have self control and discipline. How do you apply that creativity in those spaces that you were describing into what you do every day? And what would you say to students about applying what they learn here at school? One of the advantages that I do have is that I have five kids and I come home and I share my ideas with them and I get their feedback. I'm doing it purposely because I want to see what they think or what's their input. So when you and a student, when you have that idea, share it. Don't be scared, because you will never know if the other person that comes back with the response that you were looking for and you were just waiting on, because that's the beginning of innovation, of starting something. Tell me about a time when you just took a step back and you saw that all this is coming together for you to form what you're doing now. What was that like? That was a rich experience. Thinking back of when, again, I'm an employee and I'm working for another employer, and there was a day where I just felt in my spirit, it was something that I had to do. And I wasn't sure, but it was coming home and telling my husband and my friend Eleanor, I'm going to start my own company. Let me tell you, that was the most scariest thing to do. But having that experience of walking in and telling my family, I think I'm going to open my own company. And how I landed, looking back now, it's the most rich experience, because I remember telling my husband, if this is meant to be, it's going to happen a, b, and c. And you would say, there's no way. And I did a lot of praying, and it's like, God, if this is really meant to be, please let this a, b, and c. And everything fell in place in a perfection way. So to just think about that and to see how just everything felt together for me was just an experience. It was the richest experience. I couldn't believe to this. I mean, okay, you do not get to tell me a, b, and c and then not tell me what a, b and c is like. You can't. You can't do that. It was just solid. And I say a, b, and c because it's a lot. I mean, yeah, you start with, I want to open my own company. But the work that goes into it, the timing, the support. My friend Eleanor always told me, have a journal and write everything down. And I so regret not doing that, actually, because that's so true. Having a journal and being able to go back because we're not getting younger. I don't know about you, Pablo, but I'm getting there. You look back, like, right now, these questions, you're taking me back, and it's, wow. Like, why did I not wrote that down? Because, thank God, I still have the memories. But writing things down and your experiences alive will impact you. And just being able to go back and see that and recall what you just went through and having that on a paper, it's just such an amazing experience. And having that so for me, just looking back from what was a, what was b, what was c. I mean, it was a lot of work. It was a lot of work. But for me, it was kind of easy because I told myself, if I don't succeed in this, what's the worst thing that's going to happen? I'm going to give you a scenario on the worst thing that could possibly happen. Or like, what could be the worst thing that could happen. Well, I mean, people process what we know to be or what people call failure all the time. But failure is a good thing. Well, yeah, if you reframe it to learning, I would imagine. Yeah, that's me, though. I have conversations with students, number one, about the journaling thing. That's a wildly helpful exercise. It's extremely intentional. It's reflective. Yeah. So I think looking. Just looking back and having that a, b and c, and just thinking, what's the worst thing that could happen if I don't get to be or to see, like you said, failure. But get back up. Get back up. And do know, actually, my son, he keeps a journal. And I used to ask, used to. I wish I had the ability to do that because, mom, you have it. So if you have the ability, it's so important. It's practice. It takes time. What does the word leadership mean to you? A lot of people, individuals will say, being a boss. No, I wouldn't say that. Leadership for me would be being a role model, leading by example, being able to help, to lead a team to success. Because if you consider yourself a leader and you have a team that's falling apart and you are aiming to get them across the mountain, but you're not being a successful leader in it, how do you consider yourself a leader? So a leader is someone that actually has compassion for others, puts others first, someone that actually does take a minute to really hear the other person. Who's the leader who most impressed Eva in her early years and why? There's a leader that I like to follow to this day, and I like to apply it on my day to day life, because it's hard. It's hard to live in this world. Do you see what other individuals are doing? There's so much. Again, I'm not going to get into politics, but you see, and I say that because there's a lot of leaders in there. There's a lot of leaders in politics now. Are they taking the lead that they should? So to answer your question, I have to say, Jesus. Why? Because He was a leader. He led by compassion. By putting others first, I could have a big ego and say I'm this big horrible woman. I got this business and yet feel like I'm this leader when technically I'm not. And the reason why I say Jesus for me, and I'm sorry, I didn't come to preach and I'm not doing that, but He's a leader. He leads by example. And I apply that in my day to day life. And I'll give you an example. Dealing with customers, do I have to think about what's beneficial for me or what's beneficial for them? Well, I think for me it's them. And it's very rare to have meet individuals in this industry to really put others, your clients, first. So I think for me, to answer your question, that's who my leader is because it really does help me to stay ethical. It helped me to stay righteousness. Again, I'm not perfect, but that's who my leader is. Because when I'm falling or when I feel like temptation wants to come in and creep in there, I go back to His teachings, I go back to exam what He did and how He overcome it, and I apply it to my life. It's a huge part of your life and it's how you do what you do. 120% because in the industry, like I just said, being in the industry, I had the privilege to work with very successful individuals, very successful. And when you have seen them, how greed has got into their business and entrepreneur and their personality, it will corrupt you. So for me, I mean, who not to go back to Jesus, who is humble, who has it all, He's the king, but yet it's so humble. Sorry, I'm not here to preach, but that's who I am. I hear leadership as an act of compassion, empathy, listening, all these wonderful virtues. Yes. And I mean, don't get me wrong, being a leadership, you have to make some tough decisions. And again, something that I learned by spending my time and following Him is being able to see those tough decisions that He had to go through. So it's kind of like, well, if He did it, why can I do it? There's a lot of principles that I apply to my day to day life, and I have to. Discipline is so important because I have to, like I say, there's so much temptations out there and it's so easy to take the shortcut. I have been blessed with so many individuals in my life. I mean, I am where I am right now because of my mentors. Do I help one particular hero I really don't. It's hard to name one because, again, I'm the type of individual that I believe in mentors, and I believe in your. You got to choose who's in your circle. That's going to help you, that's going to help you grow, that's going to help you develop new skills, because everybody that God puts in your path, it's for a purpose, it's for a reason. It's to mold you, to become who you are now as a person. So I don't specifically have one hero. I just think overall, I've been very blessed to have a lot of heroes, I guess you would say. Which ones stand out to you when you think of them. May. May Michelle. She was an individual who, for me, was just. She came from China. Her husband worked in politics, and he was in China, and she was a translator. And she came to the United States and she opened up her own insurance agency. And she took me under her wings when I was just 17 and 18 because I had moved to Bakersville. And that's when I met her. And just seeing the desire of her to thrive for success and her English was definitely a challenge, which, again, I was right behind her. And just seeing her, nothing stopped her. She was mad. To this day, Pablo, actually, we're still in connection. Oh, is that right? Yes. And it's been. Let me do the math. 25 years ago. 25 years, yeah. To this day, we still talk. Yeah. And it's a woman that came from a whole different country into the United States to succeed, and she took advantage of it. Have you seen Stan State evolve over the years? Being in the community, I think it has great opportunities. It has been definitely a great university for so many individuals here in the community. I think we're so blessed to have this university in Turlock, to be honest. We live in such a beautiful city. Oh, my goodness. Town. I love it. They give a lot to the community. You hear so many good things. So one of the things I have to admit I do hear about the university is the professors and how they actually give a lot of time to their students and see them succeed. And let me tell you, having young kids and having two that went off to the university, that has been very challenging for me. Dealing with professors that take the time to be able to, just reaching out to them was such a difficult thing. And I'm pretty impressed for that, actually. For what I heard. It's kind of rare. Thank you. Outside of being a parent, I think it's the most amazing experience to be able to be there to be able to, in whatever way, be a part of their journey. It's definitely a great experience. What are your thoughts on the Warrior entrepreneurship and innovation initiative and its place here in this region? Oh, my goodness. I will support it 100%. I'm so excited to hear this is what you guys are doing. So excited. I think especially with the times that we're facing now, the new generation, it couldn't be more of a perfect timing. We got to be more hands on. And having the tools that you're providing to these students with what you're bringing to the table, it is definitely a blessing. I'm consistently amazed by our students. There is such a fire, for lack of a better word or expression, for small business ownership. I encounter it all the time. I'm amazed by Gen Z specifically. Right? It's like, I'm going to start my own business and it's like, so what do you want to do? And then they'll talk about it, but I'm always impressed by their creativity. It's really brilliant. So we're really lucky to get to be able to do all this. It's really amazing that what you're bringing to the table, what's being brought to the table, to the students, it's going to give them an opportunity to be able to share their ideas. And like I said, it's going to open up doors, and that is actually something to look forward to. You were talking earlier about building teams within your organization. Can you describe the feeling of speaking to early career professionals and what it means to your feelings about your career today? How does it feel to mentor people? How does it feel to mentor people? Oh, my goodness. I think it's a privilege, number one, because you've got this individual that's in front of you that's willing to listen and is open and is observing and is watching every move you make. So it's very, very important. As I'm building these teams, we start recognizing how you're developing yourself some new skills yourself. You never stop learning. As I'm building my team, as we speak, I encounter these individuals, and it's interesting because I see this fire in them and I want to see them succeed. I want to see them grow. And that's what's been happening with me right now as I'm meeting these individuals. What makes a company is having a great team. You need the right individuals. You could have an individual that could be there collecting a check. But when you have an individual that's there with a passion, that changes the whole operation of the company, because now you have someone that strive to succeed and help you succeed and help your company. So when you see these individuals with that passion in them, you just want to continue to reach and pour into their souls and just tell them, let me help you. That's kind of. Kind of part of the challenge, though, isn't it? Find somebody who's very passionate, and then, okay, now we've got somebody who's really passionate. How do I manage this passionate person's personality? Oh, my goodness. I'm going through it right now. It's funny that you're saying that, because not just that, but how do you retain them? There's just a lot of factors that you have to really just kind of take a step back and just see, you know, how to retain them. You see this individual with such great pageants, and yet you see them with this fire. So that's where I'm at right now. We are definitely in the innovation process, and that's part of just being a leader, too, and being able to recognize that, recognize those gifts in those individuals. That's also a definition of a leader, because when you have individuals, and I'm only speaking from experience, but you have great individuals, and you mistreat them, and you just kind of put them away in the corner and give them a task, and here, run with it. Go do it. And you just leave them there. You're wasting potential. Trust. Like, learning to trust and extend that trust. Yeah. I think it's very important to definitely nurture that person as much as you can. Scary. Fun, cool. All those things. Everything. Come on, let's hop in the car, let's do a cold call, or let's walk in here and... Wait, did you do it? Did you take cold calling? I've done quite a few things that I was terrible at. Yeah, I tried cold calling once. Yeah, that is the most fierce. It was the worst thing ever, but, yeah, but things like that. So yeah. Who is Eva Presciado? I consider myself a loving sister, a loving wife, a mother. My kids will say I'm a strict mom. I will dispute with that. I don't think so. I think I just love my children. That's why I consider myself who I am as a person. But, yeah, they would not agree with me on that. I was born in Mexico. I was born in Jalisco. Guadalajara, Jalisco. I came to the United States when I was five. Both of my parents did not speak English at all. We end up in Newman, small little town in the middle of nowhere. And one of the things that my parents taught me was to work. Work was the principal, even though we went to school. But hurry up, finish high school, and go off to work. I consider myself a hardworking person, but also individual that had made mistakes, that actually have struggles. I'm not going to brag, Pablo, but I do have to say I'm very pleased how far I came because of my struggles, of the person who I was and what I went through. So who is Eva Preciado now? I would just consider myself to be a strong, proud mother. Friend. And I say friend because Eleanor was such a great friend to me that it taught me to be a really good friend to her. I learned how to be a friend when I was her friend, believe it or not, because she taught me how to be a friend when she was a friend to me. So I don't know. I mean, Eva Presciado is just full of adventures and journeys and trials. And also, I'm a business owner, which I'm so proud of myself, I have to admit. I have to give credit to me, too. And I try not to because I don't want to sound like I'm just bragging, but, yeah, no. Ever. Bristell is a successful business owner who raised five kids and have a beautiful marriage, which, by the way, I mean, my marriage wasn't easy. I was divorced for five years. Can you believe that? Five years. And my marriage was with prayer and Eleanor mentor me through those moments, and my marriage was restored. So Eva Preciado is an individual that has different stories, stories that I would say, I fall on my face, got back up, and I would try again, and I would continue to succeed. What was Eva like in her early career? I was always wanting to learn from others. I would surround myself with individuals. I was very good, and I don't know if this is a quality that I learned through life in the trials of my life, but I would see individuals very successful, and I want to be around them. I want to learn from them. Which is kind of where I believe, where I'm at right now, because they taught me things that helped me to succeed, to get to this point of life. What would Eva now say to start a conversation with Eva then? Oh, my goodness. This is some great questions. Wow. You're making me work. I'll tell you what I would say to myself at the beginning of my career. The icebreaker would be, what are you doing? What are you doing? Stop. It would be something like that. All right, you got this. You got this. Would I ask myself, can you do it? I think I would ask myself, you got this. Why did she need that? I think a lot of it has to do with growing up and downing yourself and being able to have the power to put that to the side and just remind yourself, you got this. You came this. Far as I'm sharing this, it takes me back to where I have to tell you a little story, how I got to the United States. My parents placed me. I came all by myself. I was four and a half years old when I came and I entered the United States by myself. My parents, they were already in the states. They have came through some visas. And at that point, it was really easy to get into the United States back in the days. And my parents had decided to bring me to the United States to be with them. And they made a call because they had left me with my sister in her care and said, we're going to bring Eva home. We're going to bring her to United States. I remember they taking me to the airport, and I keep asking my sister, who am I going with? Because you're going on your own. You're going to meet your parents over there on the other side. And I remember, and I would share this, but can you imagine a four year old to see your parents? I was four and a half. And I remember my sister puts me in charge. She hung one of the flight tenants after I got checked in and said, she's traveling by herself. And I leave her in your care. You would say, go ahead, ask me, Pablo, how do you remember that? Yeah, it was such an impact in. My life that that is something you cannot forget. And to be able to come in the airplane all by myself, honestly, I can't tell you if I was crying, if I was upset. I just remember the impact of the moment of me being handled over to the flight attendant. And then just know and trust that I'm going to see my mom and my dad at the other end. That's pretty crazy. They asked my mom, how do you knew I was going to be okay? My mom had to know me, who I am as a person, which I love about her, because she knew I was strong enough to sustain that, which is pretty crazy. She knew. She knew. And I love that story. The only reason I go into tears right now and I'm getting emotional, it's because I really haven't thought about it. It's been so many years. There's a point in life where you get so successful and you get married, you have kids, and you have your business, you have customers. So you're taking me back to my roots, and I have to say thank you. Thank you for reminding me who I am. So it's definitely a girl that came to the United States and raised with great parents. Who do you see yourself as now that is different from who you saw yourself as then? I feel like I have definitely grown to be a woman, to help inspire others, but at the same time, to inspire myself and to be able to continue to grow and continue to learn. My kids make fun of me sometimes we're not make fun of me, but my husband and I and my kids, we don't see the same shows because I love to see the queen, and I like to watch episodes about back in the days of history and how individuals, ladies, beautiful women, would dress as queens and princes. And my kids will be like, mom, what are you watching? So you like period pieces, like that kind of stuff? Yeah, it inspires me. And I think I learned this, too, from my friend Eleanor, because she used to tell me, you remind me of My Fair Lady. And I said, Eleanor, who is My Fair Lady? It's a movie. And I actually, for years, through our relationship, I never have ever seen that movie. And I finally started watching the movie My Fair Lady, and I said, oh, my goodness, that reminds me of our relationship. So I see myself as individual that wants to continue to learn and grow and succeed in many ways in many areas, with my business, with my employees, within my family. You are a business leader in this community. You are a Latina leader in this community. You are a Latina business leader in this community. What does it mean to be all those things? It's pretty powerful, actually. And it has a lot of meaning. It really takes you to the root to know that you're able to help other Hispanic business owners, entrepreneurs, help them succeed in the business. Take the ideas of these other know we're in America, take the ideas of what's being given to us and help them and apply them and share them with other business owners, Hispanic that are trying to succeed in their business. And I had the privilege to meet individuals, business owners that don't even speak English, and they're so successful. So to be able to bring something to the table that's going to help their business and help them succeed, I think the words rich experience. Again, what role has your faith played in your life and your life's work? Oh, my faith has made me who I am as a person today, has not only made me who I am as a person today, but it has also developed my whole circle, everything that I have, and I'm not going to say I created, but through the power of my belief, through my faith, it brought me where I am now. So faith is my number one. It's who I am. And believe it or not, it sometimes is challenging because you meet individuals and you find yourself like, are they going to really take you seriously? And I have to remember, it's who I am as a person and my faith is just part of who I am. I cannot remove faith out of me. My marriage was because of my faith. My children are where they're at because our faith, I mean, taking the leap of faith, and I'm sharing these words with you because struggles do happen in life, it's just part of life. You're going to have struggles, how you deal with them, it's very important. And having that faith, for me, it's so critical and so important because for me, one, it makes you who you are and it brings you closer to the Lord, because faith is just who molds me. It's who I am as a person. You, dimension the adversity and the storms you meet at sea. Have you ever felt like, just, that's it, what am I doing? Why am I doing this? Definitely in high school, I remember having those struggles in my life where, as a student, is it even worth living? Is it even worth being where I'm at? Yeah, definitely after my teens and my middle age, my marriage, is it worth so, yeah, no, I think we all face those struggles and I think now we face them more often. Does the success equip you, does it equip us with something that helps us meet those challenges differently as we go on? Definitely. Well, I think also the struggles of what you went through also makes you who you are now. So it definitely helps you even now. I think it makes it a little bit more easier. I believe it does makes it easier, because I think the difficulties of struggles is coming out of it, because when you're in success and you're going through a struggle, you're going through a storm. I mean, technically, all you really have to tell yourself is, hey, If I was able to do it then when it was ten times difficult, why can't I do it now? So I think the success now, it should become, maybe I don't want to say the word easier, but yeah, I mean, the weight should be light, not as heavy, because back then you really had nothing to motivate you if you were in the bottom of the struggle, if you were drowning, how do you get out of the drowning. How do you pull yourself out? And when you're in that, when you have reached that moment of success, because you will still have struggles with your success. It's not over. Struggles are constantly there, but at least you have that motivation. How did I get here? Is it just an act or a matter of powering through it? Is it an act of creativity? Is it something else? Yes. It's the power of applying the principles that you learned through those difficult times and applying them now and being able to learn and to master those skills. What role has your family played throughout your journey and how has it evolved? A very important role. Very important role. I wouldn't be where I'm at right now if it wasn't part of my family support. Family is so important. Their support is so important. Book or film that changed your life? The Bible. Song that you've heard that made you say what they're singing about, that's my life, that's me. There is a song that my son. Well, there's a lot of songs that I could really honestly relate to just because of my journey. I'm alive and my struggles. There's some great artists, singers, writers out there that could really relate. But there was one. It's actually a pretty fun song. God taught me what I know. It's pretty cool. You'll have to listen to it. It's something you would look at me like, really listen to that. But everything I know at this point got taught me because again, it was that book. It was those principles, was making those choice to stay on the narrow path. So, yeah, got taught me. It's a pretty cool song. You'll have to listen to it. Do you see yourself as a high achieving individual? Do you think of yourself in those terms? Do you see yourself in those terms, Naya? Pablo, really? Yes, I am. One of my greatest desire. I'm on a mission. I'm on a mission right now. Yes. Thank God we got the company going and we have our children. Thank God, everybody. Right now they're all in school, and some already graduated from college, from the university, but I got few more to go. As soon as they're done with the university, as soon as they obtain that degree, and as soon as they have said, mom, we did it. We got our diploma, we did it. Then you could ask me that question, and then I would say, yes, Pablo, I feel like I have achieved. What role does spousal support play in this part of your journey? Honestly, it's so powerful because without your partner in my industry, that I'm in. I'm constantly dealing with individuals, I meet with business owners and my husband, I'm pretty sure he wants to take care of his wife and he's a man and I'm pretty sure there's some jealousy could be running through there. And he's very supportive. So I think I am where I'm at because thinks of who he is as a person. Because if it was in the other husband, can you imagine a jealous man? It would have been. So what role does he play in my profession? Oh my goodness. He plays a very important role. Is it foundational? We have a very strong foundation. Trust is so important between he and I, him and I, it's very important. And having that trust, that foundation in there has allowed us to be able to trust each other and to continue the journey that we're on. Because I think that will not go into marriage counseling. But trust is just the key. And I think in a marriage the trust is just the most important thing. And he knows who I fear, he knows who I look up to. I think he holds on to that. He knows who I fear, not him, but my Lord and faithfulness is so important. So, yeah, so he plays a very important role in my day to day life. Complete this sentence. Recently I've trouble the longer I do what I do, the more I become good at it. Just get out there and do it. There will always be people who put you down. Life has taught me to get back up. My philosophy on life and work is left every minute. Winning teaches you how to lose. Losing teaches you how to win. Being a business leader means you have to put others first. The hardest thing about learning to trust your instincts or intuition is to trust them. What I wish new career professionals would know about relationships and networking is the key to success. Random association. You know the rules. I'll say a word and you say the first one that comes to mind. Key lock. Door open. Opportunity. Advancement. Faith. Believe. Journey. Struggles. Friend. Partner path. Road. Love. Hate. New old. Individual. Character creativity, imaginable complex open. Complete. Satisfaction and now we come to the segment of our beloved podcast we affectionately know as the eleven first, taken from prowse to Pivay to Lipton and then shamelessly stolen. I mean appropriated by yours truly here on the entrepreneurship and innovation studio podcast. What is your favorite part of starting something new? The challenge that comes with it. What is your least favorite part of starting something new? The fear. What interests you most? Our brain. How our minds think. What interests you least? Individuals that just want to put you down. Or gossip. Yeah. This is a radio station, as you knew. What music, artist, genre, or song reminds you most of your early days in entrepreneurship and innovation? Something that I started playing for me, for my sake. To this day, I think I will have to admit, some employees don't really like it. But I love classical. I actually love to play that. And I had an employee that hated it. No. What food or beverage reminds you most of your first memories of your first startup? Fast food. Yeah, a lot of fast food. Yeah. Because you're constantly. You're running around and you're trying to get these done. I mean, you forget about dinner and making dinner and making homemade plates. Yeah. Fast food drive through. Isn't that always a win? Yeah. What profession, non entrepreneurial, do you admire the most? I have to say, a professor that teaches math. I mean, there's so many different professors, right. That teach math. I mean, I don't know. It takes. all kinds. Yeah. Right. I say that because the power that's in math and how everything's calculated, I mean, with a formula, a calculation. So the professor that teaches that, it just blows my mind. And what it takes to be in that professor's shoes actually do. So to be a professor and be able to teach math, for me impresses me a lot. What job prior to entrepreneurship did you like the most and why? Well, let me see. I was making pizzas when I was 16, as a part time, because I had two jobs. I was working as farmers insurance, internship. I was more as a little secretary in the background and also making pizzas. So don't know. What job prior to entrepreneurship did you dislike the most and why? Dislike? Okay. Yes. Not only was I 16, my first job was actually also working at the flea market when I think I

was ten years old and getting up every morning at 04:

00 in the morning. And this was with a neighbor that I was helping because I was babysitting her kid, but also she put me to work. I think that's the most job I hated the most, because we're talking about waking up four in the morning and setting up the tents and taking them down at the end of the day. That was the hardest. Even though I did work in the apricot in the field in Patterson. That also was a challenge. But I think flea market taps it again. Flea market. Worse than the field. Yes. Wow. It was. And lastly, if heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? Well done, my daughter, faithful child. Immediately thereafter, what idea or innovation would you like to pitch him, her, they, it hit with the universe as your marketplace. Oh, my goodness. For humanity. What idea would I pitch to Him? Wow. That is definitely something I have not thought about. But now you got me thinking. Well, he's listening, so there's such a lot of children out there that are fatherless. So many children out there that have so many needs. Now, I'm only saying this kind of seems impossible, but, hey, if I'm facing the creator, the maker of this universe, I'm pretty sure he could come up with something, right? So, I don't know, I think something to be able to take care of that need. Interesting. Great question. Pablo got me thinking. Thank you so much for visiting us at the entrepreneurship and Innovation studio. Thank you for having me. It was definitely a privilege to be here. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Studio. This podcast is part of the Warrior Entrepreneurship and Innovation program, affectionately known as the WEI. Our series is recorded on the campus of Stanislaus State at the KCSS radio station and produced by Frankie Tovar. Follow and subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform. I'm Dr. Pablo Paredes Romero wishing you the best of everything. Always.