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Loan Fund small business client success stories
Cambri Gardner had spent much of her professional career in sales until a career change to the medical spa industry gave her a new sense of purpose. “Sales was not fun for me. Although I had been in sales most of my life, I really didn’t feel like I was …
High in the Sangre Cristo Mountains in Northern New Mexico lies a unique business for coffee lovers. Raymond Jaramillo created Blacklake Roasters in 2009 in Angel Fire after leaving the New Mexico Piñon Coffee Company where the master roaster had learned the art of coffee roasting, the process of using …
When the owner of 5 Star Burgers in Taos began talking about retiring and selling the business, employees worried whether Bob Gontram could find a buyer. The restaurant that creates a burger with organic beef has been a staple in this Northern New Mexico town for nearly 16 years. Though …
Although Adrian Chavez, Sr., did not intend to start a security business, it is more than clear that he’s on the right path. Chavez created Lobo Protective Services in 2017 after someone approached him while he was a security guard working at another company, saying she noticed his work ethic and integrity. …
She began her career as a realtor and ran a cleaning business. She later transitioned into banking, helping clients with credit cards and managing customer accounts. After a decade in personal banking, Justa Chaz shifted into insurance, becoming an agent with Farmers. After working with Farmers for two years, she …
Born and raised in Northern New Mexico, Jerard Carlos Vigil wants visitors to experience this part of the state like he did growing up. Vigil created Vigilante Guides LLC after he and his wife moved from Austin to Santa Fe. Vigil, who grew up in Chama, a small rural town …
From the outside, the building’s windowless white walls may project a sterile feel to visitors who may not be aware of the vibrant community inside that this building has supported for more than four decades. The Albuquerque Social Club opened in 1983 initially under the name The Heights, stemming from the gay …
For this Belen company, compassion is more than a business. Brandy Castillo, MS, MSW, LCSW-S, created her behavioral health company in 2013 when she was starting a family and looking for a way to build a home-based practice. Clients were seen at home on an old farm just outside the …
Along a windy two-lane highway in Northern New Mexico just south of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range lies a small rural village with a store that has been in this bloodline for more than a century. Daniel Torrez’s family opened the Villanueva General Store in 1912 in this farm-rich valley …
Bert and Anna Garcia have created a residential and commercial garbage disposal business, offering a weekly residential roadside bag pick-up and hauling of debris for commercial customers in the Pojoaque Valley. Bert’s Trash Services also rents 16- and 20-yard dumpsters, clears debris, and hauls large and small items to the county dump. …
Patrick Jenkins opened A Better U Beauty/Barber Academy in Albuquerque nearly 18 years ago with the goal of creating barbers and entrepreneurs in the beauty and personal care industries. Raised in Louisiana, Mr. Jenkins moved to New Mexico in 1986 and received his barber’s license in 1992. His first barbershop …
Ron Lewis Edwards, a U.S. Marine veteran, started the Focus Group Ltd. with his wife in 2006 in Santa Fe to create custom-ordered embroidered, engraved or screen-printed apparel. The company with its sister organization, Focus Advertising Specialties, works with hundreds of vendors for his orders. The Loan Fund provided several loans …
When Las Cruces resident Silvia Terrazas looked for videos to rent in Spanish, she found none so she created a store to fill that need. In 2000, she obtained financing from other sources to open Video Exitos and also placed a freezer in the store, which was filled with ice …
He began his business 12 years ago by bidding on small jobs and saving money after each project. Michael Hosteen also increased his equipment by buying used tools and vehicles from companies that were going out of business. Now the owner of Hosteen Wade Electric LLC, an electrical contracting business …
For the past five decades, the Dominguez family in Las Vegas, N.M., has been operating one of Northern New Mexico’s most reliable heating and cooling companies. The company started in 1973 under Frank Dominguez, who created Shillinglaw, LLC. The company worked on housing developments in Santa Fe and other similar …
He started growing in his garage about 12 years ago. It was an interest he developed in high school after he went vegan and he was trying to get more protein in his diet without eating so many beans. “Beans get old really fast,” said Estevan Hernandez, owner of New Mexico …
The Chaco Trade Center is a small convenience store that has provided some necessities for the Navajo people living in the Pueblo Pintado community. The store has a coin-operated laundromat, mailboxes, propane sales, and a gas station. It is the only commerce that provides gas and propane in about a 70-plus-mile …
For more than four decades, the Samaritan House in Las Vegas has provided shelter, food, and job training for unhoused residents living in the San Miguel County area. A group of citizens from a local Presbyterian church initially created the nonprofit as a center for transient youth in the Northern New Mexico …
Cathy M. Elliott Elderly residents and those living in some rural areas in New Mexico don’t have to leave their assisted living facilities or drive far to receive dental help. Dental Care In Your Home is a full-service mobile unit created in 2010 by founder Cathy M. Elliott, a University …
Looking to fulfill the mental and physical health needs of Southern New Mexicans, Annette Mirabal and Laura Pàez-Bruggemann created 4 Directions Integrative Mental Health LLC in Las Cruces in 2020. The pair met at New Mexico State University and later worked as social workers before coming together to create a …
