Russon Holbrook lived the go-go life of international banking and financial services. It meant many days away from his family, managing investment portfolios and relations with frequent trips to Mexico. In 2013, Holbrook gave all of that up and did something he vowed never to do. He returned to the Rio Grande Valley. The lure of the Holbrook farming legacy in the Valley brought him back. It started with his grandfather,…
In 2015, Bobby Muniz was praying and holding on to hope as his wife prepared to give birth to their youngest child, Ariel. Some doctors did not give the baby girl much chance to survive long after birth, but she did, with surgeries soon to follow to bolster her health. The miracle and joy of his daughter’s birth inspired the Harlingen pharmacist and school board member to re-examine his work,…
They came from two different walks of life – the cook and retail store manager – and in a Brownsville kitchen during an Easter break, they mapped out the beginnings of a business plan. It was 2010 when Bobby Saenz, with years of retailing management experience, approached Daniel Pompa, a graduate of a culinary school, and made a pitch. “I had a vision of a restaurant – burgers, wings, country…
Some of Rodney McClanahan’s best days as a youth were spent at a mechanic’s shop in west Brownsville on the Military Highway. It was from the ages of 5 through 12 that McClanahan shadowed his father, whom he described as being a “big buff dude,” as his dad repaired and tinkered with cars at Rodney’s Garage. The big Rodney would introduce his namesake to another passion – lifting weights –…
Maribeny Jenis Otero took a setback in her life and turned it into an opportunity to help others improve their health. Jenis is a cancer survivor and overcoming the disease meant changing her diet with an emphasis on plant-based nutrition. It would also lead her to create healthy juices she used to boost her health. When family and friends got a taste of her homemade beverages, they encouraged her to…
Looking out over drought-parched ranchlands in 2012, Victoria Cappadona noticed one native type of vegetation holding forth, keeping its green amidst the dryness. It was the mesquite, the indestructible and ubiquitous South Texas tree with its golden string of bean pods hanging down like ribbons. Cappadona, a McAllen native now living in the Linn-San Manuel ranch country of northern Hidalgo County, remarked to her father-in-law about the tenacity of the…
The landmark house on the corner of Bryan Road and 2 Mile Line in Mission was long a source of interest for Ariel King, as it is for many area residents. The stately home with its early 1900s architecture and style has been part of Mission for nearly as long as the city has existed. It was just after the turn of a long bygone century that William Jennings Bryan,…
Standing at H-E-B’s corporate headquarters in San Antonio, and going head-to-head with some of the top entrepreneurs in Texas, Elizabeth Davis was undeterred. The Reynosa native and former maquiladora worker started her Nuts and Cows business just three years ago with $89 and a belief that “success can come out of a crisis.” Davis spoke English sporadically growing up as a child of the border, but with a grit and…
The 5X5 Brewing Co. of Mission touts itself as being “Battle Born, Texas Made.” On both counts, the fledging beer production and distribution company fits the bill. Four of its five owners have a military background, and its original three founders are all hometown Mission boys who grew up together. “We all have an attachment to the community,” said George Rice, a veteran of the U.S. Army, who recalls as…
Frank Del Angel started out with the aspiration to be an accountant. Working his way through college at then-Pan American University, the Harlingen native discovered via a job at a downtown McAllen men’s clothing store that he a talent for another skill – sales. He would parlay that ability to join a major homebuilder. It would lay the foundation for future success. Del Angel got a job with U.S. Homes…