As a child, Kendra Chyann Hernandez tried to negotiate with the tooth fairy for an increase in the rate paid for what was placed under her pillow.

Kendra left a handwritten note, saying the teeth she was offering were worth more than $2. She asked for a raise to $4. Her mother, Josie Ann Hernandez, smiles at the memory. She calls up an old photo of the note on her cell phone at the family’s downtown Harlingen restaurant on Jackson Avenue. 

“I’m a person who has always wanted to have money,” Kendra said, and then mentions some of the little projects she came up with growing up to generate a bit of revenue for herself. 

The 17-year-old is a senior at Harlingen High School, graduating a year early with plans to attend Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and major in business and accounting. Before she gets there, Hernandez is a force of creativity and energy at Chyann’s Specialty Café. The namesake for the restaurant has been a teenage partner and wise-beyond-her years entrepreneur in collaborating with her mother.

“She’s my right hand,” Josie Ann said of her daughter. “She had the vision for this business and has given me so much courage to keep going.”

There are similarities to this story in Mercedes where Eddie Howell marvels at the smarts and maturity shown by his 18-year-old nephew, Skyler Howell, and the contributions the teen makes at the uncle’s insurance business.

“Skyler comes across as a 20-something-year-old,” Eddie said. “He’s self-motivated and has always been hungry. He has never been afraid to work.”

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Youthful entrepreneurs are not a new development in the Rio Grande Valley.

What is different today versus past generations is the online/social media presence that can spawn businesses anywhere, and the development of higher educational and training institutions that provide vastly more resources. Some of those elements are visible in Skyler Howell and Kendra Chyann, both of whom are adept at social media and have the sky-is-the-limit outlooks of their futures.

“The RGV can now provide the same resources and programming that previous Valleyites had to leave elsewhere to achieve,” said Nathan Burkhart, the director of business development for the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation. “With these components in place, young Valley entrepreneurs can start their ventures here at home, or if they still do indeed decide to leave, they have a real opportunity to move back and either start or join an existing venture in Brownsville or throughout the RGV.”

Eddie Howell is a school board member in Mercedes in addition to owning an insurance agency in the same city. He said many high school students have early college curriculums and are dual enrolled in area universities and earning post-high school credits early. 

“It’s a different world for these kids now with early college (credits) available at their high schools,” Howell said. “I do see kids being more motivated and looking to get out in the workforce quicker.”

This description would certainly apply to his nephew who talks about insurance policies like a seasoned pro. He provided an analysis of where Eddie Howell Insurance fits into the local business landscape.

“There’s 32 insurance agencies and brokerages in the Mid-Valley,” Skyler Howell said. “Where we have to pride ourselves is customer service. I feel like we do a good job on that. Some of our customers aren’t comfortable calling big companies, so we have to show them we’re on their side, fighting for them.”

Giving Back

In Harlingen, Kendra Chyann speaks the same way about her family’s restaurant business.

The teen talks of getting to know her customers, what their favorite menu items are and building a connection to them where she says they begin to feel like family. She spoke broadly of what her next business venture might look like but knows it won’t be in the restaurant business. Her youthful counterpart in Mercedes is immersed in the family insurance business for now while majoring in business administration entrepreneurship and innovation at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Both teens are rooted in their communities. Skyler, in particular, described his hometown ties.

“To me, it means giving back to the community that has given us so much,” he said. “It’s important to remember where you’re from. It means a lot to us to be here in Mercedes.”

In Harlingen, Josie Ann Hernandez knows her daughter going off to college in Corpus Christi will leave a sizable personal and business void.

“She will only be a few hours away and can come home some weekends,” Hernandez said. “Still, it won’t be the same. She has done so much to help me get to where we are today. It’s going to make me take a bigger role.”