Esmeralda Villarreal spent 15 years in Brownsville’s hospitality business, watching and taking note of how her city attracted business travelers from far and wide.

“I was mesmerized by how we were visited by so many travelers,” she said. Villarreal recalls that many were tied to the maquiladora industry or related investors in the border economy. 

Villarreal’s career goal during that time was to become a general manager at one of Brownsville’s bigger hotels. It seemed like an attainable goal as she worked her way up hotel organizations, from catering to event planning to front desk management.

Then an opportunity from a different field entirely – a nonprofit – became available, and intrigued, she decided to take it. Villarreal was the executive director of the Brownsville Society for the Performing Arts for four years. It gave her new insights into community life, adding new experiences to what would come next.

With a more varied background, Villarreal in 2015 joined the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce as its membership services director. A year later, the would-be hotel GM became the president and chief executive officer of the Brownsville chamber. It propelled her to one of the community’s more high-profile leadership posts.

Villarreal has since excelled at the job. She brings both a youthful energy and enthusiasm to the organization. She has assembled an all-female leadership administrative team that was hired for skill and experience in their fields. Villarreal is currently guiding the chamber through a rigorous process in seeking accreditation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a distinction only a handful of chambers in South Texas have achieved. 

In Top 40

In seeking that recognition, Villarreal has a national honor to draw upon in gaining further confidence and belief that it can be done.

She was named in late 2021 as among the top chamber executives nationally under the age of 40 by the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives. The “40 Under 40/Emerging Leaders Shaping the Chamber Industry” is the honor’s official title. The association described Villarreal as “a fierce leader with a strong passion to serve her community.”

“I’m excited and humbled by the honor and what it means to our organization,” said Villarreal, who the association also cited for being “well-known and respected by chambers of commerce throughout Texas.”

The honor is noteworthy, she said, and also brings more focus on her work moving forward.

“It brings a whole new level of expectations,” Villarreal said. “We’re changing things in this chamber and I know we need to do a much better job.”

Revamping & Retooling 

Villarreal’s organization was put to the test when COVID-19 reached the Rio Grande Valley. It began to adversely impact her chamber’s business members.

Shutdowns, slowdowns and loss of customers had local businesses scrambling.

“I had phone calls, people crying, asking me, ‘What do we do?’”

Villarreal took those appeals for help as motivation to quickly revamp the organization to meet her member’s sudden needs under a crisis. She made the chamber a hub of information for local businesses, guiding them through the processes of seeking emergency government grants. Help was also offered to set up business e-mails and other basic technological needs. Her organization made over 5,000 phone calls, reaching out to see how they could be of assistance, telling her staff, “we need to be up to date every single day with what’s going on.”

The Brownsville chamber launched a COVID-19 small business program. It also sought closer collaboration with city government and local economic development entities. Villarreal described working relationships growing so tight that the different entities, including her organization, were meeting weekly during those challenging months.

“The needs of our membership evolved and changed and we had to do the same,” she said. “We had to reconnect to our roots in our community. We have to remain relevant in the times we live in.”

It was that strong passion for the community as cited by the national chamber association that came to the forefront during those demanding times when members sought Villarreal’s help. Revamped and retooled while seeking a prestigious national accreditation, she is excited by what lies ahead for the chamber and her hometown. 

“Life takes you on a journey,” Villarreal said. “I’m grateful and happy to be here.”