Yvette Walker
With KVCR News, I'm Yvette Walker. This is IE Latino Voices, where we invite representatives from Latino led and Latino serving organizations to share their stories and their impact in our region. Joining me today is Monica Robles, Founder and President of Asociacion De Emprendedores. Thank you so much for being with us today, Monica.
Monica Robles
Thank you so much for the invitation. It's a pleasure.
Yvette
Please share the genesis of Asociacion De Emprendedores.
Monica
The way we started was back in 2016 when I was teaching entrepreneurship awareness at the Mexican consulate in Santa Ana. And they asked me to support them with a program to support women that had suffered domestic violence. So, when I thought about the audience, I was like, how am I going to convey that they can start a business when their self esteem is really low? So, that was my first challenge, and that's the reason I had to really think about it, because starting a business has a lot of variables, and to make it easy for people to understand that, yes, you can do it without taking a lot into the considerations of the conditions and circumstances of your life, you can start a business. And so, what I did was I dissected the information in different modules so they were easy to understand. They were like elementary school conversational activities that I knew that were easy for them to understand and to resonate with them. And I did not talk about the business at the beginning, like module first is more about the individual. Who are you? Why do you want to create this? You know, what's propelling us? The motivation for a lot of people that start businesses is because of the need of money, and then they realize they can find their passion through doing that in the program. That's all of those assertive making decision process for them. So, it was when I was teaching the program in the different cities, I also saw something really upsetting for me, that it was a lot of people taking advantage of our monolingual Hispanic community because they don't speak English. They don't understand regulations, contracts, legal things. And so when I was listening the abuses that were suffering, that's when I decided to launch the Asociacion with the mission to educate, motivate, empower and develop the leadership skills and business acumen of the monolingual Hispanic community so we can help and integrate them in the local economies.
Yvette
Monica paint a picture of participants of the organization.
Monica
Our participants are mostly women. 85% I will say, are women that they either started what I call commercial activity, which is, I make a cake, I sell it to you, you pay me cash, and I have a business. And so they do that, like on a side kind of gig. They don't see it like, this could be a real business until they come to the program. And we also have men joining the program with very great results. When they come to the program, then they realize, oh, I can really do this full time. I can really make more money. I can comply with the rules and regulations of the city, state, county and federal government. Oh, my God, I thought it was so difficult, but it's not. And so they really get empowered. They really get that self esteem and that assertiveness to make the right decisions for them and their families.
Yvette
Please talk about the primary goals of Asociacion De Emprendedores.
Monica
It is to provide services to the monolingual Hispanic community. You know, it's an association made by Hispanics for Hispanics. Our main goal is to uplift them, to have them have a resource that they can come and they know they're going to be served, they're going to be respected, and there will be more resources available for them in Spanish through all other partners that we have in the Inland Empire.
Yvette
Monica, please share the best way to support and communicate with Asociacion De Emprendedores.
Monica
The best way to support us is providing us with funding. We need funding to continue growing our services, not only in the Inland Empire, but also in other counties. And the best way to contact us is through our email, which is admin@asociaciondeemprendedores.org or our phone number which is (714) 640-6908. That's the best way to get in contact with us and also to participate at the different events that we do. We do Lunch & Learn Espanol in person. We do Dinner & Learn Espanol in person as well. We do some events here in Rialto, in the city of San Bernardino, and we're going to start a new class an emprendadores program in Coachella Valley.
Yvette
Thank you so much for being with us today, Monica,
Monica Robles
Thank you.
Yvette Walker
Join us again next week for IE Latino Voices. You can find this story and others on our website at kvcrnews.org/ielatinovoices. IE Latino Voices is produced by KVCR Public Media and is funded by generous support from the CIELO Fund at IECF, uplifting and investing in the IE’s Latino community. For KVCR News, I'm Yvette Walker.