Luncheon to honor Hispanic business owners for their success

Sept. 29--There are 16 businesses, professionals, volunteers and nonprofit organizations that are finalists for this year's Hispanic Business Alliance Achievers Awards.

The Annual Achievers Awards Luncheon, set for Oct. 14, started seven years ago to recognize Hispanic-owned businesses that have been successful in their respective industries.

"We have a very good pool of nominees this year," Juan Martinez, chairman of the board for the Hispanic Business Alliance, said. All nominees are outstanding in their fields, he added.

Awards are given to an established business, micro-business, restaurant, women-owned business, contractor, professional and nonprofit organization. This year, the Community Impact Leader Award has been added.

Martinez said the award will be given to an individual who has "gone the extra mile to help out the Hispanic community."

The event is set for 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.Oct. 14 at Green Acres Baptist Church CrossWalk Center.

SPEAKER

Richard Montanez, marketing and sales executive for PepsiCo North America, will be the speaker.

He started his PepsiCo career at Frito-Lay in 1976 as a janitor in its Rancho Cucamonga, California plant. He is the creator of the Flamin' Hot line of products, including Flamin' Hot Cheetos. He helped influence Hispanic products and marketing promotions for KFC and Taco Bell.

Throughout his career, he has worked in various assignments and roles at PepsiCo, and now leverages best practices to develop community partnerships. He was recognized by Hispanic Lifestyle magazine as one of the most influential Hispanic's in corporate America, and he has been featured in Newsweek and Fortune 500 magazines.

NOMINEES

Nominations for each category were paired down to two finalists by a nominating committee.

The 16 nominees in eight categories include:

RESTAURANT

Mariscos DJ, at 1201 E. Erwin St., is the third Don Juan restaurant opened in Tyler by Juan and Prisca Barron, originally from Guanajuato, Mexico. They opened their first restaurant in 1997. In 2010, they opened Mariscos, which offers seafood and has 20 employees.

La Plazita, at 11980 Texas Highway 64 West, serves Mexican food all day. Mario Cornelio came from Guerrero, Mexico in 1979, and started working in the kitchen of Red Acres for about 10 years. He went to work for Garden Valley Golf Course for 18 years before starting his own restaurant in 2006. He has 20 employees.

ESTABLISHED BUSINESS

Daniel's Automotive, at 630 E. Gentry Parkway, was started by Daniel Goana in 2006. He came to Tyler in 1992 and after high school, went to trade school to learn to repair cars. He worked for two other businesses before starting his own.

Chema's Auto and Tires, at 1634 S. Vine Ave., is owned by Jose Saucedo. He started buying cars, fixing them up and selling them in 2005. Two years later, he opened his first location, followed by a second one in 2009. He has 11 employees, does mechanic repairs and deals new and used tires.

MICRO-BUSINESS

Mechanical Transportation Systems LLC, at 15789 Texas Highway 64 East, is owned by Edwin Torres. At 9, he emigrated from El Salvador to the U.S. in 1980. He lived in California, <location value="LS/us.or" idsrc="xmltag.org">Oregon and back in El Salvador before moving to Tyler in 2004. After working in the transportation field, he started a company 14 months ago. He now has 14 trucks, 12 employees and six contractors.

Rocks Pools, 11812 Farm-to-Market Road 14, is owned by Jorge Vargas, who moved to Tyler in 1993 from Michoacan, Mexico. He worked for a company that made pools for three years, and six years ago started his own business. He has four employees.

WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESS

Avelar Bail Bonds, at 215A E. Ferguson St., is owned by Maria Avelar. She came to the U.S. from Apatzingan Michoacan, Mexico when she was 9. She is a single mother who 14 years ago began working for a couple of bail bond businesses. Four years ago, she bought Lone Star Bail Bonds and changed its name.

Crystal Clear Insurance Co. is owned by Marseline Soto. Her family was from Monterrey, Mexico, but she was born in Texas and moved to Tyler in 1981. She has worked in the insurance field for more than 10 years, and opened her own business in 2011. She has over 1,000 clients and three employees.

CONTRACTOR

Palacios Custom Cabinets, at 119 W. Oakwood, was started three years ago by Oscar Palacios. Born in Mexico, he has been living in Tyler for 17 years. He and his two brothers worked for a company for about 10 years until it closed and they decided to start their own. They have 10 employees and make custom kitchen cabinets for homes.

AP&M Construction, at 8933 County Road 384, was started in Tyler in 2009 by Alonso Sarmiento, who came from Durango, Mexico 18 years ago. He worked for a contractor and learned the trade and in 2009, started his own business. He has three employees and does work with Habitat for Humanity.

PROFESSIONAL

Walter Perez was born in 1965 in Canelones, Uruguay, where he grew up on a family farm. In 1991, he received a scholarship to attend college in East Texas. In 1997, he began his career for Tyler Independent School District while attending The University of Texas at Tyler. He began teaching bilingual at Austin Elementary, followed by Griffin Elementary and two years as a bilingual gifted and talented teacher. In 2001, he earned a master of education and principal certification from Texas A&M University. He helped Austin Elementary receive a $50,000 grant this year to put an iPad in the hands of every student.

Dr. Hector Ochoa was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, and studied at the University of Guadalajara before earning his masters in physics at UT-El Paso. He was accepted in 2003 to pursue his PhD in computer engineering, and in 2008, he was hired as assistant professor in electrical engineering at UT Tyler.

COMMUNITY IMPACT LEADER

Gilberto Avila is the pastor of Una Nueva Creacion (One New Creation) in Tyler. Originally from Puerto Rico, he is president of the Evangelical Hispanic Ministerial Alliance of East Texas and has been an advocate for minorities in court, has worked with youth at risk and was part of a truancy program to help students finish school. He is a marriage mentor through VOW in East Texas, has been involved in the education system representing Hispanic students and is an advocate for immigrants.

Christina Mennella Fulsom is the founder and network weaver of theEast Texas Human Needs Network. It was established in 2012 to meet the needs of enormous scale that transcend the capacity of individual social services agencies. It is made up of more than 60 organizations that include government, business, philanthropy and nonprofits.Ms. Fulsom moved to the U.S.from Madrid, Spain when she was 15. She served as executive director of PATH (People Attempting to Help) for eight years and also was a planner for the Monticello Area Community Action Agency. Her first career was as a judiciary interpreter. She serves on several community boards.

NONPROFIT

Bethesda Health Clinic provides health care services to people in need. Michael Massar, pastor of First Baptist Church, came up with the idea for Bethesda in 1999. He reached out to clergy in the area and after a building and equipment were donated and a steering committee and board formed, the clinic opened in 2003.

Literacy Council of East Texas serves more than 300 adults, mostly Hispanics, in 20 classes per week. The ESL program has been in place for more than 20 years and all classes are free.

TICKETS

Tickets to the luncheon are $35 and are available atwww.eventbrite.com .

The deadline to sponsor the event is Oct. 3. For more, contact Karina Delgado at 903-592-1661, extension 232.

Event sponsors are Brookshire'sGrocery Co., Super 1 Foods and FRESH by Brookshire's. Among many others, AERO Mexico is a new sponsor this year and will give away two airline tickets to any city in Mexico, representatives said.

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