Category Archives: Professional Services

StartUp Events Feature Local Entrepreneurs

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BCIC CEO Cori Pena makes a check presentation to one winner at a recent StartUp Texas event. (Courtesy)

The 36,000-square-foot eBridge Center in downtown Brownsville was envisioned as a space where aspiring entrepreneurs and existing business owners could experiment and test new ideas. After a year of operations on East Adams Street, eBridge is proving to be just that and more. Its StartUp Texas innovation competitions feature enterprising businesses from a variety of industries representing food, research and emerging technologies. Just in recent months, presenters offered judges in…

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Beach Picnics Give SPI New Experience

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Growing up the daughter of a restaurateur taught Nadia Turner the importance of customer service and accommodating a client’s wishes. The family’s 5,000-square-foot Ann’s Restaurant in San Juan was a popular spot for local residents and Winter Texans in celebrating birthday parties and anniversaries. Turner has stayed in the hospitality business and branched out recently into a new realm of services. SPI Luxury Beach Picnics By Nadia is a far…

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Gym Owner Connects To Fitness & Community

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The Grind RGV was among the first businesses to locate in what is now a growth corridor on the eastern outskirts of Mercedes.

Jason Martinez’s career in retailing was taking off in the early 2000s as the Mercedes native returned to the Rio Grande Valley with the recent opening of a Foley’s department store at La Plaza Mall. The McAllen mall went into another gear in that era after landing a big department store from a renowned regional chain with Houston roots. It was in those years that Martinez graduated with a business…

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Entrepreneur Finds Right Fit In RGV

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Paint work on rims is among the most common service offerings at AB Powder Coating. (Courtesy)

Arturo Leon had never been to the Rio Grande Valley when he came here in 2014 to scout for a place to locate his specialized painting business. He had already been to southern California, where his father lived after relocating from Mexico. Warehouse space there was hard to find and what was available didn’t meet his needs. Visiting the Valley, Leon liked the cultural fit and immediate proximity to Mexico.…

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Counselor Takes ‘Leap Of Faith’ To Help Others

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Christina Vasquez has utilized her years of experience as a school counselor to establish her own counseling and consulting company in Weslaco.

Christina Vasquez in her 15-plus years of being a school counselor believed in getting out of the office.  “Be visible, be out there,” Vasquez said, recalling how she greeted students in school hallways. “I always felt that it was important to be out there and to have that visibility with the kids.” Vasquez was initially a teacher before settling into working as a counselor for students at every grade level…

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Therapists Recover & Heal At SPI

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Beach resorts are one place Pippa Brooks goes to give her clients massage therapy. (Courtesy)

South Padre Island with its soothing feel and leisurely coastal vibe is as good a place as any to start over again. It has been that and more for two massage therapists who came to the Island years ago after divorces required them to start anew. Pippa Brooks tells of coming to South Padre in 2008 with nothing. Fellow therapist Mina Amesquita recalls getting to SPI “with $60 in my…

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Consulting Company Rises To Success From Mercedes

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Dr. Barbara Baggerly-Hinojosa says being based in Mercedes and the Valley is a key part of her company's success with statewide and national clients.

A stately and historic home on Missouri Avenue in Mercedes needed work after years of neglect. Beyond its then-rough exterior, Dr. Barbara Baggerly-Hinojosa and her husband, C.A., saw great potential.  Baggerly-Hinojosa was looking for a corporate office for her Leadership Empowerment Group. Hinojosa, a Mercedes native, encouraged his wife to look at the city as a Mid-Valley hub to grow her business. They would settle on 805 S. Missouri –…

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Central Plumbing Stays True To Principles

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Gene Pena follows in his father's footsteps in running Central Plumbing & Electric.

Pablo Pena started small with three employees, including himself, his wife and a friend. It was 1964 and the beginnings of Central Plumbing Supply in Weslaco on Kansas Avenue, just adjacent to the city’s iconic Tinaco cement water tower. Pena had worked in the plumbing supply business for a local company that closed when its business affairs weren’t properly managed. Starting his own small business, Pena knew he would do things…

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Hinojosa Finds Satisfaction In Helping

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Martha Vela Hinojosa, owner of LHM Employment Group in McAllen.

Help Wanted. Now Hiring. Join Our Team. Signs posted at entrances and on marquees of many local businesses share these messages.  Employee shortages seem to be affecting most industries, resulting in shorter hours of operation, canceled flights, sections of restaurants closed and rising stress levels. Martha Vela Hinojosa believes she was created for these current times of employers searching for workers.  Born and raised in Mission, Hinojosa graduated from Mission…

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Professor Finds New Opportunities In Business

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UTRGV professor Hanseng Lei has found opportunities and growth in Brownsville.

Hansheng Lei came to the United States from China in 2001 with no idea the endless frontier would lead him to Brownsville. Lei is a professor in the computer science department at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. His academic office on University Boulevard in Brownsville is a handful of blocks away from his business office at a warehouse that’s adjacent to the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates.…

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