At W.T. Brookshire Conference Center on Thursday, the Tyler Hispanic Business Alliance celebrated Hispanic leaders and small businesses as part of its annual Hispanic Achievers and Business Leaders Awards Luncheon.
“We all come from different cultures, backgrounds, life journeys, but we all come together to celebrate one cause, and that is just the success and the growth of our own community leaders,” said HBA president Nancy Rangel. “… We all wish we could recognize everyone.”
About 20% of businesses in Tyler are Hispanic-owned, Rangel said. The businesses are spread across various sectors including construction, food service and retail. As Tyler has grown, so has its Hispanic population. In 2020, the population in Tyler was estimated at 106,000; of that population, 15% are Hispanic, according to statistics presented by Rangel at the luncheon and awards program.
In Texas, there are 1.2 million Hispanic-owned businesses, making up 43% of all businesses and generate $50 billion in revenue yearly.
“Our Hispanic population continues to grow, and it’s thriving,” Rangel said. “We see those numbers, but we also see, aside from just the population growth … we’re seeing in so many different industries, the growth of Hispanic engagement, but also Hispanic business and entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial spirit, in every one of those. And then on top of that, we’re seeing that in our youth as well.”
During the luncheon, 20 Early College High School students watched amongst the crowd. They were invited to get to know the local Hispanic community better and witness their achievements.
“We want them to see firsthand how vast and how great their community that they live in every single day … because many of them … they just go in and out from school, but for them to come out here and see this firsthand, they get blown away,” Rangel said.
Lorena Rebagliati, co-founder and co-executive director of Tyler nonprofit Monarca Initiative, felt honored and proud to receive the Community Organization Award. Monarca Initiative started out 2024 with six programs and ended with 10. They help immigrants through offering English classes, citizenship classes, connecting them with resources and through their programs like their building resilience mental health seminar.
“It’s a very, very big honor,” Rebagliati said. “I started coming to this event many years ago as a spectator and to be receiving this year’s award from the hands of so many other organizations that contribute so much to the community, it’s an honor.”
In the past, HBA would nominate award recipients as a board. Due to COVID-19, they changed the nominating system to community-submitted responses. They received hundreds of nominations. Both last year and this year, they also had nominees from Longview.
Community members voted on the majority of the awards — except the Adelante Award. This award is given to one organization that has given back to the Hispanic community.
“For all of us to be able to grow to succeed, it really requires the effort of the community coming together and uniting,” Rangel said.
The 2024 Adelante Award recipient was announced as Christus Health. After receiving the award, Jason Proctor, Christus Trinity Mother Frances president, took to the podium to praise Christus Health’s Hispanic and Latino workers.
“They work in all parts of our health system, and they’re the people we want to hire, because they come to us with great morals. They come to us from great families that make them sustain a community … I can tell you, moms and dads out there, your young people are coming to our hospital, you’re doing a good job,” Proctor said.
Restaurant Business Award winner Lemon Yellow Latin Bites, which serves Puerto Rican and Venezuelan food, will celebrate two years of being in business on Dec. 2. Last year, owners Cris Berlingeri and Tahidi Pérez faced a system issue that led to them losing $30,000 due to a processing error with credit cards. On Thursday, they got to see their hard work pay off despite setbacks.
“It’s something we did not expect,” said Berlingeri. “But at the same time we know how hard we worked to earn it. So we are happy to have received (this award).”
Berlingeri and Pérez started Lemon Yellow to share their foods and culture. At the time, Tyler lacked a place to enjoy Puerto Rican and Venezuelan foods.
“What I am most passionate about and what keeps me on a mission is to bring that little bit of home to those of us who are here from those places and also to expose the East Texas community to our flavors and our culture,” Berlingeri said.
HBA organizes this event yearly to spotlight local business. However, its support of businesses extends past the event. Through HBA’s eight-week entrepreneurship academy, they offer a bilingual curriculum that teaches taxation, business law and ethics and provides the tools for people to start their own business. Graduates of the program have gone on to win awards at the luncheon. When HBA started the academy, it enrolled around seven to eight students. Currently, it has a waiting list of over 100.
For Rangel, it is important to support Hispanic and Latino-owned businesses. During Hispanic Heritage Month each year, she makes a choice to support only Hispanic and Latino businesses and encouraged others to do what they can to support these local businesses as well.
Rangel is proud of all the recipients.
“They deserve it. They have all worked so hard,” Rangel said. “They are dedicated, they’re committed, they’re passionate about what they do and it reflects at the end of the day, it reflects on their attainment.”
Winners include:
Emerging Business – Nonstop Sports (Doug and Olivia Coffman)
Outstanding Business of the Year – Hidalgo Garnite Group
Woman-Owned Business – Threads by Sally Boutique
Restaurant Business Award – Lemon Yellow Latin Bites
Outstanding Development Award – Nathan Saucedo of NS Investments and Firestation Autos
Community Organization Award – Monarca Initiative
Outstanding Professional Award – Monique Hammond
Community Impact Leader – Tyler Police Department Det. Edgar Zapata
Adelante Award – Christus Health
