Ben Madilynn
After moving far away from a gym that catered to women, Sandra Vazquez struggled to find a place where she felt comfortable working out. So Vazquez, a former U.S. Marine, exercised at home and invited other women over to join workout routines based on her experience in military boot camp.
“This concept became so popular, so fast, that I went from a few clients to over 30 women,” said Vazquez. “I decided it was time to bring this concept to a bricks-and-mortar location.”
She applied for a bank loan and sought mentorship through the SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) Foundation. The U.S. government–supported nonprofit has provided business training to millions since 1964. Vazquez opened SWT (Sistas Work Together) Fitness, a women’s gym in Dunkirk, Maryland, in 2020. She employs 12 people and offers nutritional coaching and counseling on menopause, as well as physical fitness classes.
She takes pride in meeting women’s needs and strives to keep her business running, to help her clients as well as herself. “Success isn’t overnight,” says Vazquez, who still teaches English to supplement her income.
Vazquez, of Puerto Rican and Dominican heritage, is one of a growing number of Hispanic and Latin American entrepreneurs in the United States. From 2007 to 2022, Hispanic entrepreneurship in the U.S. increased 57%, according to the Stanford Graduate School of Business State of Latino Entrepreneurship report issued in March. The report includes businesses owned by people of Hispanic or Latin American descent. Upwards of 5 million Latino-owned businesses contribute $800 billion to the U.S. economy each year, the report says. According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, nearly 25% of new entrepreneurs in 2021 were Latino.
Robert Fairlie, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of California, Los Angeles, says rising Latino entrepreneurship is driven in part by immigrants, who start businesses at higher rates than nonimmigrants. “Immigrants take some initiative to leave [their countries of origin] and come to the U.S., and thus might be more risk-taking and entrepreneurial,” Fairlie said.
Matias Rigali arrived in the U.S. from Argentina in 2015. An experienced businessman with a passion for food, he had never tried running his own restaurant. But when he opened Empanada Kitchen in San Diego in 2017, Rigali quickly discovered advantages to starting a business in the United States.
“The U.S. offers a unique context to entrepreneurs,” he says. “The rules are clear and straightforward, and the regulations are reasonable.”
To diversify his income streams, Rigali partners with food-delivery apps and even sells his original family-recipe empanadas through other vendors, such as coffee shops, breweries and wine bars. He now has three Empanada Kitchen branches in the San Diego area.
Also, Rigali opened a central kitchen that is certified and inspected by U.S. food safety regulators, so the empanadas can now be sold wholesale all across the country. Between the central kitchen and his restaurants, Rigali employs 20 people.
His advice: “Follow your passion. Start small, be very conservative in your expectations, think long term and be prepared to work a lot of hours.”
