PNM Entrepreneurial
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Entrepreneurial Advocate of the Year As president of the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, Ms. Armenta interacts and lobbies with state legislators and civic leaders to further the mission of the AHCC. She also provides strategic direction in areas of business planning, marketing, government and civic affairs, promoting small business, convention and tourism and human resources. Ms. Armenta’s energy, according to Jimmy Trujillo, AHCC chairman,
"is endless. She carries the entrepreneurial spirit and never
stops trying. I’ve never seen a person who has so much respect,
not only from within but also in the Roundhouse and nationally,
too. She is simply a wonder." Adds AHCC board member Sherman McCorkle, "Ms. Armenta is a unique inspiration to a number of female and minority entrepreneurs. I can't think of anyone more deserving of this award."
Samantha Lapin brought her passion for promoting opportunities to women to New Mexico when she moved to Albuquerque in 1985. Starting a career in nuclear engineering, Lapin has spent the last 15 years working on behalf of women and small business owners in New Mexico, the Southwest and across the country. She was a founding member of the New Mexico Women's Purchasing Council, created to facilitate procurement opportunities for women-owned businesses; she served as the president of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Northern New Mexico Chapter in 1999 and in 2001, she was appointed to the Central Area Workforce Investment Board, the Albuquerque Job Corps' Business Advisory Board and the Association of Commerce and Industry's Tax Reform Committee. In recognition of her work on behalf of women-owned businesses, Lapin was named as the SBA's Women's Business Advocate of the Year for 2002. Currently, she is a Director of NAWBO's Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) and the on board of Next Generation Economy, a non-profit organization designed to promote economic growth in industry clusters.
Born and raised in the Gallup area, Virginia Yazzie-Ballenger is the owner of Navajo Spirit, a fashion design company which manufactures Navajo-inspired clothing for men, women and children. In business for 20 years, Yazzie-Ballenger’s company carries on the tradition of promoting the creativity and resourcefulness of Dineh women through the medium of fashion. She is a role model for all women, especially Navajo women, given that she has been able to successfully integrate being a businesswoman, a wife and mother of three children, a talented designer and transmitter of the Dineh tradition. Her commitment to community is evident; she does regular motivational talks to youth in the Gallup area, telling them about how she grew her design talent into Navajo Spirit and how they too can do the same. She also participates in the Kinaalda, a coming-of-age-ceremony for Navajo girls and regularly assists Navajo women who are contestants and winners in various beauty competitions. Reflective of its excellence, Navajo Spirit won first place for traditional sewn clothing at the 81st Annual Santa Fe Indian Market in 2002 and first place in the fashion category of the prestigious "Style New Mexico" competition sponsored by Next Generation Economy last fall.
Carlos Tarango went down the entrepreneurial path the old-fashioned way, with sheer determination and a lot of hard work. A Mexican immigrant to the United States, Carlos and his wife Leticia had an idea for a business. In 2000, they sold their home in Dexter and purchased an old, rundown building in Hagerman that they one day hoped to turn into a restaurant. While living in a trailer on the property, the Tarangos spent the next 18 months rehabbing the property, learning how to write a business plan and buying used restaurant equipment as it came on the market. Unable to access a bank loan, Tarango continued to work with WESST Corp on legal, management, marketing and financial issues. With unwavering persistence, Tarango finally succeeded in obtaining an SBA loan through Western Commerce Bank. Piccolino, an Italian fine food restaurant, opened for business in December 2001. Gross revenues exceeded $140,000 in 2002 and, in a very short time, Piccolino Italian Restaurant has become a local favorite among young and old alike.
In spring 2002, Alice Chavez's priority was to be a stay-at-home mom for her two young children. As a single mother, however, not working was not an option. After hearing about the No Child Left Behind Act (an approved literacy program), Chavez decided to combine her experience as a public school teacher with her love of teaching to open the One Room School House, a technological tutoring program which helps kids who are struggling with their grades. Chavez's concerns about the below-average grades of New Mexico's students prompted her to pursue her entrepreneurial venture. “We need to educate kids better while they are young,” says Chavez. "Otherwise, they'll fall through the cracks.” The One Room School House offers bilingual tutoring and academic enrichment activities, along with individual and small group instruction through the use of computers, educational software and instructional guidance. Recently, Chavez was one of only two companies in New Mexico to receive a contract from the New Mexico Department of Education that utilizes Title I federal funding allocations for corrective action schools. Parents, teachers and children have nothing but praise for Chavez's efforts. "She gives every child the chance and opportunity to make someone of themselves," says one grateful parent whose two daughters and two nephews have significantly improved academic performance through the One Room School House.
Like a phoenix that rises from the ashes, Marion Moore's life is a study in overcoming adversity. At 17, she nearly died after being hit by a drunk driver; doctors called her recovery "miraculous." In the mid-80's, she married a treasure hunter who salvaged Spanish galleons in South America. During her many travels in tropical climates, she contracted malaria, dengue fever, encephalitis and bacterial meningitis. After falling in love with Taos while driving through in the late 1980s, Moore discovered a talent for tinsmithing and opened Taos Tin Works in 1991. With business planning assistance and a loan from WESST corp in 1993, Marion has subsequently received three additional loans from WESST Corp; her work has been featured at the Smithsonian, on QVC's Home Shopping Network's "Best of New Mexico" show, in Country Living Magazine and in numerous exhibitions throughout the world. Irreparable nerve damage from a broken hand in 1998 left her arm permanently disabled with a condition called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. This setback, coupled with cancer surgery in 2000, adversely impacted Moore's business. Not one to give up, Marion has struggled to regain her health and has a set a goal of turning a $50,000 profit in 2003. She volunteers regularly with local non-profit groups in Taos, including Child Rite, Amigos Bravos, the Humane Society and the Taos Institute of Arts.
With the odds stacked against her, Gayle Harvell decided to utilize her 16 years experience as a registered vascular technologist and diagnostic cardiac sonographer to open her own lab in Roswell in 2000. With the local market dominated by an area doctor, Ms. Harvell could not get a bank in Roswell to approve start-up financing. Turning to private investors, she successfully secured the required funding and received technical and management assistance from WESST corp. In three short years, Harvell is running a profitable business. Her 100 percent-owned Covenant Lab provides testing for arteriosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases. The traditionally male-dominated field of vascular medicine did not stop Harvell from pursuing her entrepreneurial dream and, in the process, becoming a role model for women everywhere. Ms. Harvell is the Internship Director for Eastern New Mexico University's School of Radiology and a visiting lecturer at Eastern New Mexico Medical Center and the New Mexico Military Institute.
"If I knew then what I know now, I would not even try it," says QCE's co-owner, Katy Byrd-Humphreys. With absolutely no background in business, Byrd-Humphreys gave up a good-paying job with USDA in the early 1990s to start her own company so she could be more available to her then two young sons. With a $20,000 SBA loan, she, along with partner Chris Fleck, opened
Quality Control Engineering, which trains and certifies individuals
in construction inspection and testing. The company has grown from
two "non-paid" owners at the outset to two permanent offices
in Roswell and Alamogordo, several temporary offices at construction
sites and 13 employees in 2001.
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