Socorro Manzano, Tacos Manzano

Ms. Socorro Manzano is the owner of Tacos Manzano, a cozy and proud establishment that started just when the pandemic crisis erupted in 2020. But Ms. Manzano rose to the challenge, and, looking for all the help she could get she received a special contract from the city of Los Angeles where she could prepare dozens of ready to eat meals for distribution to people who faced difficulty accessing food during the Pandemic.

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Jasmine Epperson, Epperson Consulting

Jasmine Epperson is a Mendocino County bookkeeping business owner working with client businesses located anywhere. We just chatted about her expertise, challenges that businesses have with their finances, and what’s changing for her while participating in the StartUp Mendocino program.

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Albert Patterson, FRESH FROM CALIFORNIA

FRESH FROM CALIFORNIA is a lifestyle brand & creative studio led by graphic designer Albert Patterson. Recently, FRESH launched a new set of branding-specific services that are ideal & valuable for new small businesses trying to figure out their business’ identity and for existing businesses needed some TLC.

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Lupita Vidals, Producciones Arcoiris

Dreams like those of Lupita and many more; resilient, brave, hard working women who fight every day in solidarity so that their cooperatives and/or businesses can continue to move forward, and as a result transform their lives and the lives of their community.

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Charlie Mercado, Gamepoint Basketball

Gamepoint Basketball based out of Oceanside, California is an elite youth basketball club founded by Charlie Mercado in 2004 and serves young men ages 9-17. Charlie founded the business to give back to his community and stay connected to the sport he loved playing growing up and in college. Currently heading into its 18th season with locations in San Diego, Riverside and Orange counties, Charlie credits his amazing staff of 11 coaches and over thousands of players for Gamepoint’s success.

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Charina Vergara, Titas of Manila

Charina Vergara began her culinary career as a food vendor at local night markets where she offered original Filipino cuisine. In 2019, she was offered a business opportunity to take over an existing Filipino restaurant. Ms. Vergara & her business partner jumped on the chance and became the new owners of Titas of Manila in West Covina, CA.

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Ken Granderson and Dale Dowdie, Black Facts

BlackFacts.com is the longest-running data-driven repository of Black history on the internet. BlackFacts.com was created in 1997 by Ken Granderson and Dale Dowdie, two black technologists, who saw there wasn’t a place to get facts about African-Americans online, so they built a place for Black communities to be in control of their narratives. A labor of love for over 25 years, Ken and Dale nurtured this site with no outside investment – no big team, no big venture capital dollars.

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Marcos Murrilo, Tapa the World

Marcos Murrilo came here from Mexico in 1996. His first job in the U.S. was working at Tapa the World restaurant in Sacramento. There, he was the executive chef for 11 years. Marcos created several of the specialty dishes that are still on the menu today. 

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Monica Martinez, Don Bugito

In 2010, Monica Martinez had a vision for a highly sustainable, insect-based snack company. She wanted to honor the indigenous, pre-Hispanic culinary traditions of Mexico. Over the course of the next decade, Monica got the company off the ground mostly with her own funds. She worked as the sole employee of Don Bugito.

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Jennifer Sutherlin, Delta Glass Co.

Delta Glass Co. was founded in 1953 by Nelson Palmer. Kenneth Frost later joined Palmer as a partner in the business. The business was originally located on Main Street, only one block east of their current location.

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