Rompiendo Barreras

American Demographics, Nov 1, 2003

CULTURAL VALUES

However, Latina entrepreneurs cannot be defined only by statistics. Their lives have been shaped by Hispanic culture, and their business practices reflect these deeply imprinted values, experts say. "It's almost as if the Latina woman's cultural characteristics prepare her to be an entrepreneur, in terms of being more collaborative, better listeners, better organized and more strategic," says Monica Lozano, president and CEO of La Opinion, her family-owned Los Angeles newspaper that is the largest Spanish-language daily in the United States. While Latin culture gave the world the word, "macho," the male's leadership in the family household is often more symbolic than real, adds Ricardo A. Lopez, president of Hispanic Research Inc. in East Brunswick, N.J. "In the Hispanic community, traditionally the male had the better-defined role. But in reality, a lot of that was just an image being portrayed, while the female, behind the scenes, was really keeping the family going."

Latino resentment of Latina entrepreneurship has disappeared and been replaced by support, says Mabel Tinjaca, who operates the Overland Park, Kan. business consulting firm Strategies for Growth. "I feel like a lot of the successes we have had are because of generous, forward-looking men who have understood that when women enter the business area, and we enter as leaders, it does make for a richer business community. We couldn't have done it without them - and we couldn't have done it without each other, either."

As it has with other ethnic communities, the immigration experience both loosened and reinforced the traditional role of the Latina, according to Lopez. "Hispanic females who grew up here become more Americanized," he says. "They are picking up from the non-Latino population the idea of how to succeed themselves and for their family, while keeping the strong family values they inherited from their mothers. They've evolved into what I call the New Latina." In a change from other ethnic immigrant experiences, however, Hispanics are not dropping their cultural values the longer they live in the United States, sociologists say. University of Texas professor Robles says one reason is the continuing immigration from Latin America: "One-third of the population is constantly comprised of first-generation immigrants. That keeps the model that otherwise would be diluted if there weren't first-generation people in the community. So there's always a fresh influx of people maintaining values of the extended family - even as that influx depresses socioeconomic statistics of the community as a whole."

Family is the key to understanding the Latina entrepreneur, asserts Tinjaca. "Success is defined differently for the Latina," she says. "I wouldn't say we sacrifice revenue for other things, so much as we include revenue as one factor along with others such as family and giving back to the community." Gonzales-Gann, the Jan-Co Janitorial CEO, is a typical Latina entrepreneur in that sense. "One of the greatest joys of owning my own business is I'm able to control my future, and the other joy is that I'm also able to employ quite a few family members," she says. At one point or another just about everyone in her extended family has worked in the business. Right now, the business employs both her brothers, a couple of uncles, several nieces and nephews and even her 78-year-old father. Her two children worked so often as last-minute substitutes for absent employees that they're frankly sick of the business, Gonzalez-Gann says. Her niece's husband is not only working for the business, it's possible he will someday run it, she adds.