2004
The third annual Anna Maria Arias Memorial Business Fund Awards were held Sept. 16 at the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s (USHCC) national convention in Austin, Texas. The awards, which honor LATINA Style founder Anna Maria Arias, recognize 10 Latina entrepreneurs for their business innovation and savvy. They are sponsored by the USHCC, Wells Fargo & Company and LATINA Style.

Tim Rios, Wells Fargo’s vice president of community development and the national spokesperson for Wells Fargo’s Latino Business Services program, presented this year’s awards with Tina Cordoba, then the acting chair of the USHCC. “This year’s winners truly embody the ideals championed by Anna Maria Arias,” said Rios. “Each has become a successful business owner who places extreme importance on giving back to their communities and serving as role models for the next generation. This is the essence of this award.”

Sonia and Sandra Alvarado
Born in Chile, Sonia and Sandra Alvarado moved to the United States with their family when they were in elementary school. After studying television and film production and working in the industry, in 2001 the sisters joined to form Aces TV, a video production company. Aces TV produces videos for organizations such as the Women’s Economic Development Center, the Valley Economic Development Center and the Filipino American Service Group. The Alvarado sisters’ videos about cystic fibrosis and the importance of folic acid as a preventive measure for certain birth defects are used as educational tools by doctors and hospitals in the United States and abroad.

Griselda Barajas
Griselda Barajas started her first business when she was 21. She now operates two restaurants in the California State capitol Building: Tex Mex at the Capitol and Jade Orchid Café. She also owns Griselda’s Catering, a full-service catering company, and, with her family, the Texas Mexican Restaurant. In 1996 Barajas was named Businesswoman of the Year by the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and in 1999 she received the same title from the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. In 2000 the California Chamber of Commerce named her the Business Advocate of the Year.

Anges Chavez
In 1996, artist and educator Agnes Chavez created SUBE, an innovative program that teaches Spanish as a second language by integrating music, video, flash cards and games with core curriculum such as social studies, geography, art and math. Chavez, who has been working as a professional artist for almost two decades, also started a marketing development business to promote SUBE, and she travels the country presenting at national conferences. In 2002 Chavez expanded SUBE, creating an online component of digital storytelling workshops and cultural exchange that connects U.S. students to Spain and Mexico.

Sara Cohen
Sara Cohen, born in Peru, moved to the United States in the 1970s, where she became a freelance interpreter. In 1989, with the goal of bridging the language barrier between government, private enterprise, and the general population, Cohen founded Worldwide Language Services. Today Worldwide Language Services employs over 1,000 freelance interpreters and translators, providing services in over 150 languages. Cohen’s eyes are set on future ventures, such as setting up an interpreter training school that would cater towards less commonly offered languages, such as indigenous languages. Cohen also is dedicated to helping others and is involved in a project to fund micro-credits for Ashaninkan women in Peru.

Narce Esparza
Narce Esparza came to the United States from Mexico in 1972, when she was one year old. After graduating from college she took a job as a data entry processor at a nonprofit organization called Templo Calvario Legalization and Education, where she spent five years as the site supervisor and test conductor, helping to process naturalization applications and facilitating citizenship tests. In 2001 she founded Esparza Immigration Services. Meanwhile, she has simultaneously pursued her lifelong dream of being a teacher, and in 2004 she received her bachelor’s degree in child development.

Yolanda Garcia
Born in Ciudad Juárez and raised in Mexico City, Yolanda A. Garcia received her bachelor’s degree in mass media communications at the Tecnológico de Monterrey University Campus Estado de México. In 1996, Garcia left Mexico for Nebraska, where she became troubled by what she saw as a lack of communication between public organizations and the Hispanic community in northeast Nebraska. She wanted to find a way to educate the community in an interesting, entertaining way, and in 1999 she founded Mundo Latino Newspaper. In 2004 Garcia won the Small Business of the Year award from the Center of Rural Affairs’ REAP program, for the growth of her business and her involvement in the community.

Sarah Hernandez
In 2001, Sarah Hernandez launched Saludos Para Ti, a greeting card company that designs and distributes Spanish-language greeting cards reflective of Hispanic culture. Hernandez serves on the boards of directors for Centro, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing health and social services to the Hispanic community; and El Fondo de Nuestra Comunidad, a Latino endowment fund of the St. Paul Foundation. In addition to her work as owner and manager of Saludos Para Ti, Hernandez is currently a program officer for the McKnight Foundation.

Cynthia and Lidia Perez
Sisters Cynthia and Lidia Perez are co-owners of Las Manitas Avenue Café in Austin, Texas. They grew up in San Antonio in a family of nine children, working in the bakery and grocery store that their parents ran. The Perez sisters opened Las Manitas in 1981, and, despite a tough first year during which the other two partners in the business dropped out, they did not give up. The lessons they had learned from working in their parents’ store stuck with the sisters, and they turned Las Manitas from a struggling business into a flourishing restaurant that celebrates its 23rd anniversary this year.

Amanda Rojas
Born in Guatemala City, Amanda Rojas came to the United States in 1970 at the age of 14. During high school she worked part time in the flower department of a local supermarket. After earning a college degree, Rojas spent five years as a floral designer, and in 1990 she opened her own flower retail business, Amanda’s Flowers. She has maintained a successful business for 14 years, and has had the opportunity to showcase her floral designs at the annual Museum of Fine Arts Boston’s Art in Bloom festival and the New England Spring Flower Show.

Anita Ron
Anita G. Ron is the president and owner of BriteWorks Inc., a janitorial service provider in the southern California region, which she founded in 1997. In 2002 and 2003, Ron was included in Hispanic Magazine’s Top 100 list. She served as president of the West Covina Chamber of Commerce in 2002, and she sits on its board of directors, as well as the board of the San Gabriel Valley YWCA. For five years Ron also served on the board of directors of the Latin Business Association.