East LA 7.19.2017

Socorro and Kristal Mendoza

Socorro: At 25 years old, I was inspired to start a career as a cosmetologist. Always having curly hair that was hard to work with, I wanted to learn how to do my own hair and how to do it for others. In 1999, I enrolled in Montebello Beauty College. After I graduated, I worked in a couple of different locations and decided that I wanted to open my own salon. With the support of my husband, children, and sister, I opened Zarios in 2006. Read more>>

David Odell

I was born Long Beach, CA. I got started in building very early in middle school. I liked building different projects and was elected as shop foreman in both classes of wood shop and metal shop. My father was a concrete contractor at the time, so I would occasionally work with him. I found it to be fun, rewarding, and challenging, and to this day I still feel the same way. By the time I was 18 years old, I was working full time in my father’s business. Read more>>

Cristina O’Connell

I have danced since I was a little girl and it was always my goal to own a dance studio. I danced at my local studio growing up, on high school and college dance teams in addition to some professional performances. I own two dance studios and a children’s party entertainment company. I’m so thankful I get to live my dream! I have always been a hard worker as my parents and grandparents were so I was ready for any challenges that have come up. I think the benefits outweigh the challenges that come with owning a business. Read more>>

Steve Miller

I’m a Los Angeles native and grew up in the Highland Park area; while I was always interested in interior design, my primary focus was on Architecture until I had the good fortune to take a course from Heather Kurze (former Dean of Architecture at Woodbury). which opened my eyes to the importance of Interior Design as a discipline. Through the things that I learned from Heather, as well as the technical skills that I’d already acquired, I truly felt that my creativity had found an outlet that inspired and excited me. Read more>>

Ivan Vazquez

Mine is the classic American dream story. My folks immigrated from Mexico in 1977. My dad started as an auto-body repair man, opening his one-car garage shortly after arriving. My mom would hold down several odd ball jobs, including sewing cloths for the Jackson 5! I inherited some of their entrepreneurial spirit. When I was eight, I would pick lemons from our lemon tree and go knocking door-to-door in my neighborhood in South Gate, selling them for .10 cents a piece. Read more>>

Stephanie Pratt

In high school, I took film photography classes and I just never stopped. Sticking to analog has been really important to me, but I had mixed support through college. Interning with Burger Record, a red vinyl record label and record shop in my hometown Fullerton, Ca., really reinforced my appreciation for analog. I was using a 35mm film camera shooting grungy shop shows and at dark venues, and I made some of my favorite shots. Something about film just clicked with me. Eventually I went to finish school at Humboldt State in 2013, and in 2016 I graduated with a BA in Studio Arts, two minors in Art History and French, and a Museum and Gallery Practices Certificate. Read more>>

Alexandra and Anna Soto

As the eldest daughter of Latin American immigrants, I always knew it was important for me to set myself up for success. My dad worked hard as a mailman and my mom cut hair to provide a private education for my siblings and I. My parents never wanted their children to work as hard as they did, so education was a top priority. Fast forward to college, and as the first person in my entire family to attend, I did not know what major to pick. I went with the one that interested me the most, psychology. Read more>>

Grace Getzen

My journey into life coaching has been one of continual transformation. It began with the diagnosis of a brain tumor at the age of 15. Facing possible paralysis or death, my worldviews and life perspective were tested early on. I left the hospital cured and with a heightened sense of self-awareness, an ability to live in the present moment, and a deepened gratitude for life. That one event started me down the path of clarity and expanded possibilities that I have tread throughout my entire life. Read more>>

Chris Angulo-Bertram

When I was in High School, I never thought I would work in computers, I did not know what I would do, but never this. However, my Freshman year in HS, my parents bought a computer for them to write papers on while they were in college, and for my HS career I turned in word-processed papers while everyone else might have been typing them, or hand writing them. After HS, I went into the military, and when I got out I did a lot of customer service jobs, mainly in restaurant management, that was until 1996, I had been let go from a restaurant, and really wanted to do something different, I went to the library and found a book called “High Tech Jobs for Low Tech People” this book opened my eyes to what I could do in computers, so I rewrote my resume, and got my first IT job. Read more>>