In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, we recognize the vibrant contributions of Hispanic-owned businesses to our local economy and culture. These businesses not only provide valuable goods and services but also enrich our communities by sharing the rich traditions, flavors, and entrepreneurial spirit of Hispanic culture. From painting services like Ozuna's Painting Company to innovative startups, Hispanic business owners are essential to fostering diversity and growth. This month, let’s support and uplift these enterprises that are integral to the fabric of our community.
Read on to learn from our guest speakers Silverio Ozuna, Co-owner of Ozuna’s Painting Company and Brittany Jimenez, Tienda Cellular.
Notes
Casey Phillips: Thank you so much for being here. Yeah, I believe Cristina and I have definitely shared space and I'm sorry, is it Mr. Silverio?
Silverio Ozuna: Good morning.
Casey: Good morning. I don't believe that we've ever met. So really cool to connect with you.
Silverio: Nice to meet you, sir.
Casey: All right. All right, Tia. Thanks for putting the call together this week.
Tia Fields: For sure. It's always great to share space, but even better when we have something to celebrate as you guys know, we kicked off Hispanic Heritage Month on September 5th and 15th, excuse me, and we're rolling all the way to October 15th. On today's call, we have some very talented Hispanic business owners on the call that's going to share a little bit about themselves and the type of work that they do. Without further ado, I'm going to start with you, Mr. Silverio. You can introduce yourself to the group and let them know what it is that you do.
Silverio: All right my name is Silverio Ozuna. I'm from Mexico. I'm come to United States like a 24 years ago, actually. Close to 25 years ago, 1999. I come to this country and met my brothers and we opened a family business. The name of the business is Ozuna's Painting. And since 2000, we opened this business and we were out really fast. We do a lot of commercial and residential paintings in the Baton Rouge area.
Tia: Thank you for that. Next up we have one of our young entrepreneurs. Brittany, go ahead and introduce yourself and let them know about the business that you and your family own.
Brittany Jimenez: Hi, I'm Brittany. I'm of a phone store. Transfers with cash checks and a grocery store about the Latin American community.
Tia: Okay what is your tell us a little bit.
Cristina Casas: Tia, you're muted.
Tia: Sorry. Thank you for that. I was asking Brittany to share a little bit about her day to day in helping her family and run their store. And if she could repeat the name. Hey, Brittany. Sorry. It sounds like we're having a little bit of connectivity issues
Brittany: If you cellular world and I believe I make sure it is supposed to help out anyone, any customer that's having trouble.
Tia: Sorry. You're still on mute and the sound is coming out a little distorted. I was going to say, it may help if you turn off your video and just use the audio to help with the sound. I heard you say, so you assist the customers if they need anything. Do you also act as for those who may not speak Spanish, but they need assistance with the services that you guys provide.
Brittany: Yes. I help out anyone that's having trouble with customer service. Anyone that needs help with their money transfers, whether they're having legal issues or they need help with speaking with the, what's it called? Oh, I forgot the word. What's it called? I'm sorry, I forgot the word.
Tia: It's no worries. When you say legal services, are you saying if they need help with accessing legal services? Tell me a little bit more about that.
Brittany: Yeah, you know how we do money transfers, so they need to talk with.
Tia: No worries. I'll go ahead and go over to Mr. Ozuna. Can you share a little bit about your journey as a Hispanic business owner in this community? I know you said that your brothers and yourself came here a little over 20 years ago. Can you just talk about how you guys started the business and any challenges you may have faced?
Silverio: Yes, first of all, we start working with different companies in the area, like hourly, per day or days. And then one of my younger brothers in 2000, he decided to open this family business in Spain because we see the need or or people that they need some better, how I can say we need help, our community to employ Spanish people. So that's one of the reasons, and we have in the beginning, we have of course, we have trouble opening the business. We don't know too much about business in the United States. We from Mexico and over there, we, so we never had this kind of business, so when we come to this country, we try to open doors and knock doors. And thank God that this thing happens. So 20 years ago, we opened this business. So now we can employ over 40 people and we help our community, Painting the interior exterior of residential and in the process, we are trying to do some charities and different non profit organizations. That's about what I can do, I'll say for now.
Tia: Thank you. I want to hear more about the charity work that you guys do for non profits. What kind of organization, I know you said non profits, but are they community centers, churches, and what type of work are you guys doing?
Silverio: We do more on churches and schools and local schools, but mostly do.
Tia: And what type of work is it just painting or is there other things that you guys service?
Silverio: The other service we add over the years does drywall.
Tia: I'm curious to know you said earlier that you guys use your business as a way to employ other Spanish individuals in the city. Have you guys started any type of mentorship program for maybe the youth who wants to learn how to do paint and construction?
Silverio: Yes, we have a mentor, that helps a lot. His name is Mike. He helped me a lot mentoring how to open a business and another friend of mine, his name is David. So he helped us a lot. Those two American people are trying to help us, because they say that we have been encouraged to open a business. So they see something in us or thanks for these people, that helped us in the beginning.
Tia: What are your long term goals for your business currently?
Silverio: I'm sorry?
Tia: Okay. What are some of your goals, like your long term goals for your business currently?
Silverio: In 2000, we didn't think that this business was going to grow like how big it is now, in the area. So now we probably plan to open another branch, maybe another city in Louisiana, eventually probably another state or something like that. So because we all have kids now, they probably want to start to do something with us. Maybe they can be part of the partnership on this family business. So if, especially my son, if he likes this business or maybe he wants to open a branch in another city in Louisiana for that.
Tia: Brittany, are you still on the line?
Brittany: Yes, sorry. My Wi Fi is really spotty.
Tia: I understand. No, no worries. I was going to ask how long have you been working in your family's business?
Brittany: It's been four years.
Tia: Okay. So how do you manage school and the family business in some of the things that, you wouldn't as a teenager?
Brittany: I graduated high school in 2021. When I was in high school, I would just go after school. And then after I graduated high school, I went to LSU, so when I was in LSU, I would pretty much only go when I had time, so my parents understood that and I just focused more on my career. In LSU, I was in architecture. And after that I tried to focus on the university, but then I decided to take a break and right now I am on that break and right now I'm focusing more on the business. So I'm full time at the business right now.
Tia: I would say that's great for you to support the family's business and make sure that it stays in place. What do you see as your role in shaping the future of Hispanic entrepreneurship access? Are you having conversations with people in the community on how they can start their own business or is your family making ways to employ the community? Or is it just all family owned?
Brittany: Definitely employ other people in the community right now. We have a few other people that are not family working for us at the business and they are really good. They help out a lot and they actually do feel like family right now. And we appreciate them a lot.
Tia: This question is for the both of you. How do you guys promote your business within the community? Is it just word of mouth? You guys have a social media? Any marketing?
Brittany: We have, we use Facebook. My mom is the one that handles that. She posts on Facebook, TikTok. I think she has Instagram as well. She does talk to a lot of her friends about it. But also people spread the word. It's been around for a few years now.
Tia: That's good to hear. And what about you, Mr. Azuna, how do you guys promote your business within the community and pass it?
Silverio: Yes. We use a Facebook. We have a website. We pay Google enough to we have a billboard. To yard signs. We have a truck with our logo. So that's a way we promote our business. Plus our customer helps to to advertise our business. We're trying to do our best with our customers. So that's the main reason our customers can for my promote our business, multiple. Probably the main market that we have is the website and the billboard.
Tia: Thank you for that. This next question is for you, Christina. I know I've spent a lot of time with you and on last week you Order some tamales from a woman in the community as a community advocate and organizer. How do you make sure that those that you know, that have business are supported throughout the community?
Cristina: Yeah, thank you for that question. I think there's different ways that we can support each other. And one of them I have found to be quite useful for me is to just have conversations with people. And sometimes they don't have the business yet, but they are trying to get there. And so that is one way you can support if you have a little bit of knowledge on how to set up a business or if you know someone you can connect them with I think that's a way to start to support, not just to support the already existing business, but the business that are trying the people that are trying to develop their own business. For this lady, especially specifically that I ordered tamales from she's struggling with money, but she cooks, so she asked me if I knew anyone who was hiring. And I said, I connected her with a few people, but because she offered her tamales and she's been doing this for quite a while, for a few couple of years, she told me about it. And so I said, Bring some tamales to me and I supported her like that. So that is one way that we can, that we can support them.
Tia: Thank you for that. Mr. Ozuna, when you, when your family started you guys as business how did you guys get through the process? I'm curious to know if There were any questions about your citizenship status or if there were any barriers to obtaining certain licenses because you were not a natural born citizen to the States. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Silverio: Yes. First of all we start some work with people that already know the kind of job we, we was doing in, 2000 to 2001. And we started working without registering our company. So my younger brother got the opportunity to have his resident card. He opened the business under his name. And then during the years, we include all my brothers, like a partnership. Yeah. My younger brother, he definitely started because he was the first person to get his resident card. But of course, in the beginning it was hard to try to register the company.
Tia: That was going to be my next question on how do you feel about the process with registering a business with the secretary of state? Was it a process that was easy for a person that may not be English speaking proficient?
Silverio: That was hard, because years ago, I remember that it's not a lot of Spanish communities in the area that spoke English. My brother thought it necessary to go to the school and start learning the language. So my younger brother, he was the person who encouraged ours to do something different in the community. But now, over the years I'm trying to speak the language. It's not easy for me, but at least I can eat every day.
Tia: You speak well. So it just makes me question why does it, the state of Louisiana's secretary of state, I'm not sure. And maybe someone can correct me. Why don't they offer translation services or have the forms in other native languages to make the process easier?
Silverio: Yeah, probably because they, somebody need come to them and maybe let them know that they, the different immigrants from different countries, we. But we have a hangry to do something here, and help these beautiful country with our talent. So maybe, we need to come one day in meeting with the secretary of estate and just let them know, yeah, that we are here, to support these states to support this country with our talents and maybe they, the future, they can give us this opportunity. Maybe not the to make applications from different language, because now probably they have only an English language.
Tia: Thank you for that input. I was looking to see if Dada was on the call because I know that 1 of the initiatives that the Louisiana organization for refugees and immigrants is working on is making Baton Rouge a welcoming city. To encourage all of us as neighbors to make sure that we are assisting and providing resources to our immigrant and refugee brothers. Is there anything from the community that you can think of? And Brittany, you can answer this well, that can better support you, your business in the Hispanic community.
Silverio: I'm sorry, can you say that question again?
Tia: Is there anything that you can think of that we as citizens here in Baton Rouge can better support you, your business, and the Hispanic community, like something that we can do directly to help build that build that bridge?
Silverio: One of the the biggest issue I see on the communities because a lot of immigrants, they don't have a driver's license, especially on our business. We have a lot of trucks and we need our drivers, but people without a driver's license, they can't drive our trucks. Especially when we have to do jobs in the country club of Louisiana. They require, drivers with with a driver's license to go into that private place. So that's one of the bigger issues, so probably they could, maybe the politician in Louisiana, they have to think about these, give us the opportunity to immigrants can have a driver's license.
Tia: That's a really great point. Brittany, are you still on the line?
Brittany: Yes, I'm here.
Tia: Okay. For you what kind of support do you think that we as neighbors here can better support the Hispanic community?
Brittany: He's right because I was here. Once not too long ago, and the police was here too. And he was here because one woman got her wallet stolen by another lady that was here cashing her check. And While the police officer was here he called me aside and he told me, do you know who this car is outside? And I said, no, why? And he said, because those plates look really fake. Could you find out who these are? And I said, I can ask around And he said, can you ask that lady over there? Because I think they're hers. And I said, okay, I can ask her. And I asked the lady that he was pointing me to, and I asked her and she said, yeah, that car is mine. And he said, look, I'm being honest. I really don't care, but another officer is going to stop you and he's going to give you a ticket because of those fake plates. And I know you probably don't have the resources to get a license. A license and get some real plates in Louisiana. And so yeah, that's a problem here because she probably can't get a State of Louisiana driver's license and get some real plates in Louisiana.
Tia: So hearing stories like that about the different struggles that immigrants and refugees may face. Director can be circulated. Okay. Thank you, Crystal. The different challenges that you guys faced, barriers of not having access to the things that you need to be successful, I see why it's so important for you all to stay in a community with one another, Mr. Ozuna, I applaud you for making sure that the spending, He has a way to be employed and just taking moments to share and community the things that you need. Brittany, I also thank you for being a voice translator and really just working. I'm sad that you took a break from school, but I understand it. I hope that you continue your education at L.S.U. Or elsewhere. But my next question is that do either of you guys, Mr. Ozuna made a comment about the politicians, but do either of you guys follow current policies that affect immigrants now?
Silverio: Yes, I'm trying to be, I'm trying to follow, the thing that happened in the Baton Rouge area, in Louisiana, and thanks to Cristina, because she helped me a lot in that area. And I was, Really not too much involved in this situation. But now with Christina, with LORI, I'm, now, I'm close with LORI that's what I hear about what is happening in Louisiana.
Tia: Just one last thing before we move on to some of our community announcements. If there were three things, Mr. Ozuna, that you can leave with us to keep on our mind the remainder of. This Hispanic Heritage Celebration Month and the rest of the year, what would they be? The three things for us to be in remembrance of.
Silverio: But first Brittany?
Brittany: Yes?
Silverio: You go first.
Tia: Just three things to leave us to be mindful of on how we can support the Hispanic community. Three encouraging words, anything that you feel that you want to leave with us. And if there are too many, you can do one.
Brittany: Be nicer. Not you specifically, but just everyone in general, be nicer to everyone because you never know what Anyone went through or is going through, so thank you. Yeah.
Tia: Mr. Ozuna you don't have to name three, you can do one or two and then you.
Silverio: The main thing that I can see is just continue doing what you're doing right now because this encourages people to be part of the community. Like this meeting that we have through Zoom. This is the first time I'm doing some kind of meeting like this, so I'm feeling good, because after many years, I can share a little bit about our business and who we are, and thank you for doing this with the community, so thank you very much. So just continue and do this. You don't worry. You're doing great. You're doing a great job.
Tia: Thank you so much. Cristina, anything that you would like to leave with us?
Cristina: Just piggyback what Silverio and Brittany said. It's really important to stay united and make sure that you listen to people's stories and not assume. So yeah. And continue to support this kind of movement and allow people to feel part of this community because we are all here.
Tia: Thank you so much. I'll challenge all of you guys on this call for the remainder of your time this month, next year, and the years to follow to make sure that you are patronizing Hispanic, black and brown owned businesses. If you don't know anyone, try to connect with Brittany or Ozuna, I'm pretty sure they know other Hispanic owner businesses owners as well. So that will conclude our conversation. Just lifting up the Hispanic business community. Next, we're going to have Helena talk a little bit about our fall fest that's coming up in October.
Helena Sato: So I am Helena Sato. I am the Director of Operations at the Walls Project, but I also help facilitate some of our community events. So on October 12th, let me paste the graphic in here. But we have a huge event happening at multiple locations for the community. Or if anybody can share, I don't know why I'm having trouble finding how to add the graphic in the chat. Let me see if I drop it in there. That will work. Or if anybody on my team can drop the graphic in the chat, but I'll put the link. That's the next best thing So we have our upcoming Sow Good community resource festival that is October 12th at different locations one being, sorry i'm trying to do two things at once. One being at BREC Howell Park on Winbourne Avenue. That's 5509 Winbourne Avenue, which is the Baton Roots main site, as well as the BRCC Acadian. And the activity at the Baton Roots is going to be a tree giveaway and tree planting, as well as yoga and cooking demonstrations. And so if you've ever been to a Sow Good Saturday at the farm, this is it really amplified. And if you're interested in planting a fruit tree and starting a fruit tree guild, you'll learn more about that and get a little starter tree to start that fruit tree journey, which you can plant anywhere that you're allowed to plant and get that started for your community. At the B.R.C.C. Acadian. 9am to 1pm. We have two options. One is if you are someone who does projects that require paint being either if you're an artist or if you are a community support person where you're painting houses or furniture or anything like that, we're doing a recycled paint giveaway as well as teaching you proper painting techniques, how to not get those drips, how to get clean lines, things like that. And most importantly, how to display your work and dispose of that paint in an eco friendly way and at the end of that once you've taken your workshops, you can get some free paint from us. We'll give you a spectrum of colors to choose from and you'll be able to take that home the same day. And then our big one that we have that I'm overseeing is our digital literacy summit and computer distribution. What we have is a workshop where we teach you digital literacy as well as talk about digital equity. And at the end of attending two workshops, you can receive a free laptop. Now, you do have to qualify for the laptop, and Tia put the link for the qualifications there. But I want to make everyone feel very comfortable that a lot of people are going to be approved for this. So we just want to make sure that we follow the guidelines that we got the computers that they set. But I want to make sure everyone knows that if they apply for the laptop you'll probably get it. Think that's everything for the event. I can get into more detail, but I also know we're coming into community announcement time. So I don't want to take up too much more space.
Tia: I appreciate that. There was a question asked if we will do a flyer in Spanish as well.
Helena: If anyone is open to translate it for us, I'm happy to share it once it's been translated. But we don't have anyone on a translation team at the moment.
Tia: And that makes me think about other organizations. How do we offer services or break out our information for non English speakers to thank you for that. Helena. At this time, if there are any community announcements that you would like to share, now is the time to come off a mute and or drop your flyer in the chat.
Cristina: So I just like to say that today we're going to be doing our voter registration drive and border outreach as well. We're going to be educating our Islamic community at the CBR, at the Islamic center of Boca Raton. And so we're gonna be doing that from one to two, and then our second session is gonna be from seven to nine. We're gonna be doing voter registration assistance. We're gonna make sure that people are able to check their registration status, and we're also going to have informational sessions so that they can learn about the voting process, including what they expect on the election day. And this is to empower our community, our citizens in the local process in the electoral process. And so just wanted to leave that here and also highlight the importance of voting during this elections, especially if you have a voice, make sure that is heard. And this is one way that you can make sure your voice is heard by voting for those that are eligible to vote. Thank you.
Tia: Okay. I'm dropping a few flyers in the chat for some upcoming events. If anyone has anything else, you could please feel free or anything that you want to share a takeaway from the week.
Ava Smith: Good morning. Good morning. This is Ava Smith. I just want to announce I haven't learned how to put it in the ads in the chat yet, but Souls to the Polls Sunday, the historic Wesley United Methodist Church is celebrating the 59th anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Social justice Sunday. Let your vote be your superpower. We look forward to seeing you at the historic Wesley United Methodist Church. That's 544 Government Street, Baton Ridge at 10 a. m. Thank you guys. Have a good weekend.
Tia: Hey, hearing no other community events. I want to thank you all for taking your time on this Friday to share space with us and listen to our callers next week. We will be speaking on succession and land trust and how that plays a part in the development of our city. If you guys have anybody that you recommend to be a subject matter expert on this topic. Please shoot them my information. Tia@ wallsproject.org. Happy Friday, be peaceful, be of a blessing and I will see y'all next week.
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