How McAllen Funds Latina Business

Anjelica Cazares: Hola amiga and welcome to the Latina Leadership Podcast, a podcast by Latinas for all women. Get ready because today’s conversation is really special. Hola and welcome back to the Latina Leadership Podcast. I am your host Anjelica Cazares. I usually do this on the podcast because I can see where the conversation is going to go based on the way you answer this. Who are you and what do you do?

Joe Garcia: Hi, so my name is Joe Garcia and I’m the marketing and special event supervisor here for the McAllen Convention Center with the City of McAllen.

Anjelica Cazares: Special events. Perfect. Okay, we were just quickly talking about like when is the best time to come here and you’re like pick a day it’s so hot.

Joe Garcia: Yeah. Pick a day it’s so hot.

Anjelica Cazares: Okay, so exactly what it is it what is it that you do what does that look like?

Joe Garcia: Here in McAllen we are a festival and event city you know and that’s I don’t just say it lightly we are designated by the International Events and Festival Association because of the special events that we have. We have over 800 events throughout the city whether it’s through the Parks and Recreation Department.

Anjelica Cazares: Did you say 800? Yes ma’am. Okay, go for it. Oh my god.

Joe Garcia: So a lot of them some of them are self-produced others are produced with you know different events people that come through. Yeah, but our landmark events I was sending you December because we have the McAllen Holiday Parade. Yeah, right. We have our 30-day South Pole Illuminator Festival here designated by the governor. This is the South Pole of Texas officially.

Anjelica Cazares: There’s a sign drive by the road, right? Okay, we gotta go look for it.

Joe Garcia: Yeah, come find it. Okay. So we are in a festival event city. We have a outdoor concert series. We have the McAllen Marathon which also brings in a lot of tourism, a lot of people from all over the valley and even beyond the valley. We find that even for our events people are traveling over 50 miles to come and attend our events. So yeah, what we do here is we hope to curate all the events and produce them and really just get a pulse of what people want to attend and visit. We just had our MXLAN which is a three-day festival here celebrating Latino art, culture, and music.

Anjelica Cazares: Okay, so what are your signature events?

Joe Garcia: Okay, so McAllen Holiday Parade, the South Pole Illuminator Festival, Fiesta de Palmas which is coming up in October, MXLAN which happens in March this year, and then of course McAllen Marathon is another one of the signature events as well.

Anjelica Cazares: So what if I was a what if what if I was an entrepreneur and I was a vendor and I said hey you know what I’m gonna see I wonder how business is down there and your special events. Who would I go through or how would I do it?

Joe Garcia: So we do have a dedicated office for special events so you can reach out to them because each event taps into a different city department, right? A lot of them do so. But we have like for example for all of our events we incorporate vendor markets because we want to give an opportunity for entrepreneurs to have a place to do it. Like we just we have our Sunset Life Series. It’s an outdoor concert series that runs October, November, December, April, May, and June on the second Saturday. And we welcome over 20 vendors every time. And so for that you can call the convention center and say hey I’m a vendor. I have a my own small business. Put me on the mailing list.

Anjelica Cazares: Yeah.

Joe Garcia: And we send out a massive mailing list. Hey vendor call, vendor call, vendor call. We’re always putting it out there.

Anjelica Cazares: Perfect. Social media obviously.

Joe Garcia: So anything McAllen Convention Center, experience McAllen.com, that’s our website. You can find out the information there when the events are happening. And then of course just give us a call and say hey I’m a vendor. And we put you on the list. And that goes to for musicians, for artists, for anybody. You know we have a list. So you don’t just have to sell. You can you can be like a like you know whatever. Like you’re gonna have a band and you want to be part of it. The whole point is we try to create spaces for our community to show off their talents, right? Okay. I mentioned our outdoor concert series Sunset Life. That has local artists and we do bring in some visiting artists as well but that are up and coming too from San Antonio, Dallas. But we also create a stage for local artists as well. Fiesta de Palmas, we have a stage dedicated to local dance folklorical schools, to local music school music schools to be able to give them an opportunity because you know especially the young people, right? They’re taking these music classes and you know maybe they perform for mom, tia, and they’re used to it. But performing in front of a couple thousand people, it’s different. And so we really want to expose them to like hey this is what it’s like.

Anjelica Cazares: Yeah.

Joe Garcia: And so as a city, as a special events, we create those spaces for them. You know we had a karaoke stage for MXLAN where you became the star. We had 10 microphones set up there and people were singing and they loved it and it was just awesome. But again, it’s all about having a place to share your voice and that’s so important. Yeah, yeah.

Anjelica Cazares: It is, it is especially for Latinas. Even when I have it here on the podcast to be able to, it does, it tends to be like a kind of a performance, but I want to have them here and feel comfortable. So thank you so much for coming on. So like that when you’re emailing somebody, you know who you’re emailing, you know who you’re talking to. Okay, what advice would you give for those who want to move to South Texas to the Rio Grande to the Rio Grande Valley? And you’re going to tell them, okay, it’s McAllen that you want to live in. It’s what would you tell them?

Joe Garcia: First of all, McAllen is situated right off the expressway, right? And it spreads and it goes north, east and west. McAllen is really a hub for the valley and McAllen, you know, we say it and you probably heard it a couple of times. Next is now we’re really at the forefront of moving everything forward, right? That’s why we have a dedicated special events team, the convention center, the performing arts center. We’re pushing the envelope from the city, from the city management to say, hey, what’s next? And in really influencing the cities that are next to us, like 15 years ago, there weren’t as many city run festivals. Now there are. That’s awesome. And we were pushing it. There’s the holiday parade. It’s one of the best parades in the world, competing with the Rose Bowl, with the Macy’s Day parade. We have the balloons because we’re always looking to what’s next. What can we bring that people don’t have to go? So you can come here, live in one of the safest cities in the US.

Anjelica Cazares: I heard. It just came out.

Joe Garcia: I heard. Right. Hey, we’re right on the border, but we’re safe.

Anjelica Cazares: Yeah.

Joe Garcia: Our police chief is very proud of that because he works very, very hard to keep that. And so McAllen, from the top to bottom, left to right, we’re pushing forward. Next is now here in McAllen for everyone. There’s lots to eat, lots to shop, lots to do. There’s always something. You can come hang out here by our oval pond and there’s always families here. You know, if we close down the park for an event, people are like, hey, when are you going to open it up? They just want to be a part of it.

Anjelica Cazares: Yeah. And so we’re always pushing the envelope here, McAllen, and we really want to create a space where people can come, visit, work, and live. Perfect. Well, thank you so much to the city of McAllen for inviting us. Yeah. Muchas gracias. Okay. Any parting words?

Joe Garcia: Come to McAllen. I invite everyone to come to McAllen, visit McAllen.com, experience McAllen.com, look for us on social media. Aquí estamos, no nos vamos, you know, venganse todos.

Anjelica Cazares: Perfect. Awesome. Gracias.

Monica Vallejo: Hi, it’s Monica Vallejo with the Latina Leadership Podcast on the road here in Texas, and we have a very special guest. I’m going to let her introduce herself and we’ll get talking.

Lee Wooldridge: Hi, thanks for having me. My name is Lee Wooldridge. I’m the Vice President of the Convention Visitors Bureau for the McAllen Chamber of Commerce.

Monica Vallejo: And we are here right in front of the Performing Arts Center. There’s events going on, bustling, you know, people everywhere. Yes. Is that, is this the norm on the weekends, every weekend?

Lee Wooldridge: This is the norm. Maybe not every single weekend, but quite often the city of McAllen has done an amazing job of really curating this Convention Center campus. There’s so much to do here between the Performing Arts Center, the Convention Center, there’s shops and restaurants down in front of the campus, and there’s always something happening either at the Performing Arts Center or at the Convention Center, or the city has a lot of their special events here on the campus. So you might see the South Pole of Texas. We are the official South Pole of Texas here as this is where Santa winters and or summers. And so this entire campus transforms into a beautiful illuminated festival for the entire month of December.

Monica Vallejo: Oh, wow.

Lee Wooldridge: And so there’s always something happening out here.

Monica Vallejo: Yeah. You know, my mother’s from McAllen. I have family here, came a lot as a child, but I, as I got older, I didn’t visit as much. And you know, we, us being here, I, yeah, just the growth and, and it’s just the everything. I’m just like, yes, so much. It’s so different. Can you tell me like, you know, what, you know, here, here is, is a hub, but like other parts of McAllen, what?

Lee Wooldridge: Oh, absolutely. So this is just one little part of McAllen. When it comes to things to do or, or, or see our downtown area is bustling with lots of, locally owned stores, our main street area as well, hosts different marketplaces. We’ve got concerts that happen down there as well. Lots of different restaurants. Then going north also, there’s a whole new section that has grown up out there where we’ve got some really beautiful restaurants, some cool rooftop bars. There’s, there’s a little bit of everything. I think people think about South Texas or think about McAllen when it comes to food and they think, you know, oh, there’s Tex-Mex food. And you know, of course there is. And, you’re welcome because we’ve got great Tex-Mex and true authentic Mexican food, but there’s so much more, here when it comes to the culinary scene. And so you might go into a restaurant where you’ve got a Persian Indian fusion or a Peruvian Japanese fusion.

Monica Vallejo: Yes.

Lee Wooldridge: So there’s something for everybody when it comes to the culinary world.

Monica Vallejo: Yeah. That sounds wonderful. We need to go check some of those out. Yes. you know, with, with our political climate, you know, right now, how would you say that has affected, you know, the landscape, what’s going on here? And so, you’re being so close to the border. Have you noticed anything?

Lee Wooldridge: You know, I think that unfortunately, you know, we make the news sometimes for the wrong reasons, but I mean, you’ve been out here. I don’t think you’ve really seen a disruption, of life, down here. And so we’re fortunate. Occasionally we may see a little bit of an uptick with law enforcement or military, that have been sent here just to support at the border. But for the most part, you really don’t see it. And so, you know, I think it’s affected everybody in some way or another, but, you know, for the most part, we’ve been watching those gas prices cause we have to fill up this, this van and they’ve been relatively, you know, they’re not too, too crazy. I don’t think we’ve seen anything over $4.

Monica Vallejo: So that’s good. I know, I know. But, yeah, we just love it here and we’ve had such a good time and, and all the little, like we were in Harlingen and, you know, Brownsville and we went to South Padre and I love how everything is, it’s close, but it’s not close, you know, but you can, you can get around and, and we’ve really enjoyed that. But what else can you tell me about, I guess future what’s coming?

Lee Wooldridge: Well, so one thing that we’ve got that’s getting ready to open soon is at Quinta Mazatlan is our urban ecology center. And so McAllen is on the migratory path for hundreds of different kinds of birds and butterflies. And so we’ve got, the urban ecology center is, we just went through a $52 million expansion. And so there’s, there’s a new, they call it the queue. It’s the center for urban ecology, which will house a research department, which is part of university of Texas, Rio Grande Valley. They’ll be there doing research, on these birds and, native flora and fauna and all kinds of different things. There they’ve expanded, they’ve added an ebony for us. There’s all kinds of things that have been done there. And so it’s added, I think, an additional 13 acres to the property. And so if you have an opportunity to go out there, you can walk the trails alone or you can do a guided tour. When you walk out, you’ll see Chachalacas wandering around, you’ll see all kinds of different birds.

Monica Vallejo: That’s in McAllen?

Lee Wooldridge: That is in McAllen. It’s actually right across South 10th street from the airport, which seems kind of crazy and counterintuitive to an oncology center, but it’s sort of nestled away. And, you don’t even really know that you’re right there across from the mall and across from the airport. And it’s just a beautiful setting. It’s got an historic, adobe mansion on it, which is also open to the public. And so you can go in and do that and you can wander the trails and their camps for the kids in the summer and all kinds of things that are going on. They do amazing events out there as well. The monarch festival is getting ready to happen.

Monica Vallejo: When is that?

Lee Wooldridge: that is coming up. I think it’s coming up soon. So, and I’m sorry, I don’t have a date right off the top of my head, but it is coming up soon.

Monica Vallejo: Yeah, that was another question is there’s a lot to do for the community. There’s, a lot of support there, maybe things that are don’t, that are free or low cost.

Lee Wooldridge: Yes, actually. So, the, the chamber and the city partnered back in the fall. We used to have an event called art walk and like a lot of events that, that, had been going on for years. And then once COVID hit it, you know, things happened and changed. And so we were trying to kind of figure out what can we do to bring art walk back in some fashion. And so the city and the chamber partnered together and we created something called market on main and we’re able to close main street off for multiple blocks. We just had our last one for the spring season last weekend. We had over 200 vendors and we typically have about 4,000 people that come out. We have three stages of different kinds of music. We had a solo stage. We had a band stage. We had a DJ with karaoke set up for our mid stage. And inside of our creative incubator, my, my colleague, Michelle, I think is going to come and talk about the creative incubator a little bit more in detail with you. but we had programming inside there. We had some art going on. We had some, community performers happening there on that stage inside. And so it’s just been a really great way to highlight our, our small businesses on main street, but also our, our small entrepreneurs, our micro entrepreneurs, coming out, selling everything from leather goods to plants to food. We’ve got one vendor that comes out and she sells the French macaron cookies and it’s her fundraiser for her master’s program.

Monica Vallejo: Wow.

Lee Wooldridge: And so it’s just great.

Monica Vallejo: How smart, right? I mean, clearly this girl’s going to need a job soon.

Lee Wooldridge: So be looking out for her, but it’s been great because we see a lot of sold out signs at that, particular event and that is free and open to the public.

Monica Vallejo: Yeah. And so that happens in September, October, November.

Lee Wooldridge: And then again, in this, in the spring, February, March, and April.

Monica Vallejo: Wow. So that’s, I mean, that’s real impact for these, these business owners. So we do, we support, you know, Latina entrepreneurs. Can you tell them maybe some that, that aren’t part of the chamber? What is, you know, what is the value of, of, you know, becoming part of that or, you know, for, for small business, how you support?

Lee Wooldridge: Absolutely. So again, one of my other colleagues will be here to talk a little bit more in depth on support that they can get through the chamber, but I’m on the tourism side. And one of the things that, that we can do to help support small businesses, we do these marketing campaigns and partnership again with the city where we’re making sure that we’re driving that visitation and consumer traffic to our small businesses through these marketing campaigns. We are able to provide, social media, billboards, TV, radio, for these small businesses. You know, a lot of these small businesses have less than five employees and they may not have any kind of marketing budget, or they may not have a dedicated marketing person, but we’re able to give that to them through these marketing campaigns. And that is about a $5,000 value to them in terms of that marketing that they get. And so it’s been so amazing to watch the impact that’s had on our, our small businesses. We do it for small business and for our restaurants as well. And so that’s through the chamber programming.

Monica Vallejo: Wow. That’s amazing. I mean, I definitely want to spend more time here. I mean, just coming and, and we’ve, we’ve been kind of rushed, you know, to go to different places, but we’ve loved every minute of it. So we’ll definitely be back here.

Lee Wooldridge: If you, if you need a guide or somebody to help you figure out where the best tacos are or a good cocktail might be, we can help you out with that.

Monica Vallejo: Yeah, we will, we will definitely reach out. You know, like she said, reach out, the, the chamber here in McAllen. So many things, so many things, that they can do for small business. There’s so many activities for families. So, you know, definitely if you’re in McAllen, check it out.

Lee Wooldridge: Absolutely. Thanks so much for having me. I appreciate your time.

Anjelica Cazares: Hola. And on the continuation of being here at the 956 McAllen, Texas, here in South Texas, we’re talking to the individuals with the chamber here next to me. Here’s what I usually do on the podcast is I allow you to introduce yourself. So my question for you is who are you and what do you do?

Amy De Laos: I’m Amy De Laos. I’m the Economic Development Coordinator at the McAllen Chamber of Commerce.

Anjelica Cazares: What, what do you do? What does that mean?

Amy De Laos: so basically my role is, being responsible of entrepreneurial programs for entrepreneurs here in the, in the area of McAllen.

Anjelica Cazares: So you’re in charge of programming?

Amy De Laos: Yes.

Anjelica Cazares: Okay. What programs can or does McAllen Chamber of Commerce offer?

Amy De Laos: Some of the programs that the chamber offers is, the Innovation Texas, which is a six-week program, where entrepreneurs, get hands-on experience and such as connect with like finance, marketing, all that kind of stuff. And they connect with, professionals here in the industry that are locally in McAllen. So they can, potentially open their, their small business here in McAllen.

Anjelica Cazares: Okay. So when you talk about, what, okay, so say I’m a small business and I’m interested in becoming a, a member of the chamber. How does that process look like? And what would you offer me? So say it’s me Angelica and I want to sell textile and I want to manufacture here, but I’m not a big manufacturer. I’m a small manufacturer and I only got like 10 employees and, and you know, and I’m, I’m excited about moving here. I’m excited about being close to the border and I’m excited to potentially, I don’t selling to like, let’s just say like a small, clothing store. What would you offer somebody like me? What would you tell me?

Amy De Laos: So other than the chamber, we also have the McAllen EDC there at our building. They are more focused in that kind of businesses. If you need like a small warehouse, all that kind of stuff, they can definitely help you with that. They can also help you, if you need any type of grants. Okay. you can also find them at the, at the ADC. But yeah, I mean, if you already have your business registered, if you already have employees, that means you’re in the next phase of your business. Okay. In this case, our programming, for that specific business will not be kind of like for you. We do have other type of programming like government contracting, which is, the beta Academy. you can get that kind of like programming with, with us too. But yeah.

Anjelica Cazares: Okay. Okay. Well say I don’t have it. I’m just thinking about it or I’m in the steps of it. It’s, I, I tally about maybe 50 to 60,000 a year, but I’m seeking growth. What would you, what would you offer me?

Amy De Laos: Yeah. So in that case, our, that program innovation, Texas, that is the six week program, I believe will help you. That’s for very, businesses that are barely starting or that have less than five years in business and they want to grow their business or they want to like get more strategies in regards to like marketing, you know, all the trends that are going on right now. We also offer another program called Latina hope, Latina hope.

Anjelica Cazares: Yes. Okay. this program, now you’re talking my language.

Amy De Laos: So in this program, it’s, from nine to 11, it’s a Calvary church here in McAllen, every first Wednesday of the month. And then the first hour of the program, you get to know, or you get to meet with professionals in the industry in regards to again, marketing, personal branding, accounting, banking, all that kind of stuff. Okay. And then the second, hour of the program, you get to do a craft. So the purpose of all this is that for ladies that want to, like increase their, their income or that are have low income to have more options for them, to grow and have, potentially have their own business.

Anjelica Cazares: So you, you mentioned something and here’s, here’s the part I’d like, is that grants grants help small business owners a lot. The possibility for grants, how much would you say the chamber gives back to the community and entrepreneurs? And, and what do, have you seen the growth of those grants to the small business owners and what it’s done for them?

Amy De Laos: Yes. For example, the Latina hope program at the end, it’s a competition. Like whenever you finish the program, you get to enter into a competition where you compete for 956, dollars.

Anjelica Cazares: I just got it. I just got it. I just got it. Like five, six.

Amy De Laos: Yeah. Yes. so yeah, the ladies compete for that, for that grant. And we’ve seen several ladies that, have been benefited by that. Usually, yes, I mean, 956, maybe not be a lot of money, but still is something that helps them.

Anjelica Cazares: That’s Brent for a month. That’ll keep my lights on for a little bit.

Amy De Laos: Yeah. Yeah. It’s always helpful. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. an example could be miss, miss Veronica Manfred. Okay. Maybe she’s this. But yeah, she, she opened her business online and she sells like kind of like pants and stuff and the grant helped her, grow their, her business. She had recently gone through a lawsuit.

Anjelica Cazares: Oh, so that money helped her out. Good. Oh my God. Yeah. Okay. So how long has these programs been in, in, in procession and also what’s next for the chamber? Are we, are we talking about more grants? Are we talking about more programs? What are we looking at?

Amy De Laos: So, in my case, I recently started with the chamber in September. Okay. But I know the chamber has been doing this programs for a while now. Okay. I believe those programs are going to be there, for a while, for a while.

Anjelica Cazares: Good. what’s next for the chamber?

Amy De Laos: We’re planning, big things actually. Good. More grants and more competitions for our entrepreneurs here in the area. I believe that we do have a lot of talent here and that we need to support it. And the only way to support it is like by helping them out.

Anjelica Cazares: Right. Perfect. Perfect. Okay. So where can I find information?

Amy De Laos: Because the, the McAllen chamber.com, you can find us there and then our, our social media is McAllen chamber. You can also, if you have, are more interested in regards to the programs, you can reach out to me directly on my email, amy@mckellenchamber.com and yeah.

Anjelica Cazares: Oh, perfect. Okay. If I, you know what, I’m, I’m one of those people who like to go and ask questions in person. Where can I find you? Cause y’all have, I’m sure y’all have a location.

Amy De Laos: Yes.

Anjelica Cazares: We’re going to find, can I walk in and ask questions?

Amy De Laos: Yes. Perfect. 1200 Ash Avenue. We’re always there from eight to five. 1200 Ash Avenue, McAllen, Texas.

Anjelica Cazares: Awesome. Muchas gracias. Thank you for coming on the podcast.

Monica Vallejo: Hi guys. It’s Monica. We are here with, I’m going to let him introduce himself. He works for the chamber here in McAllen. So I’m going to let him tell us what he does and a little bit about.

Carlin Williams: Thank you. Hello guys. My name is Carlin Williams. I am the membership specialist with the McAllen Chamber of Commerce. And so I handle a lot of our events, a lot of people that are looking businesses and individuals that are looking to be a part of the chamber to kind of get their name out there and, and participate in local events within our business community. I’m your guy. I would be the one to speak to about joining, about having a ribbon cutting. I know sometimes we post online on ribbon cutting, so sometimes people want to join because of that. And so I handle a lot of that, a lot of the, a lot of the, a lot of things like that. And so I know we have networking events. If people that are members, you know, want to come in and network and get their name out there. We have networking events for all the, all our members that, you know, can just attend and share a little bit more about what they’re about and what they do and things like that.

Monica Vallejo: So in the time that you’ve been with the chamber, like, do you see it like, like you’re getting a lot of people reaching out, wanting to be part of the chamber, like a lot of growth for a new business?

Carlin Williams: Yes, absolutely. And so I know we’ve switched, we completely restructured our membership department. So we’re entering, I guess you could say a new phase. And so a new system, new software, new things like that. And so, and even with that new change, we’ve still seen a growth in the, our number of members. And so, yes, we, we have had some people drop in, but we’ve had the same amount or even more, maybe, you know, come in as new members, just wanting to join. I know we have a new communications director. We’ve been pushing out new marketing techniques and strategies. And I think that’s really helped us as well. And so I know people see us online on social media, on our website, things like that. And they say, you know, I want to be a part of that. And so the call just curious, you know, I’ll have people come in just, Hey, can I talk to you a little bit more about membership? I’m interested in it. I’d like to join. And so I’ll go through everything with them.

Monica Vallejo: Are there different levels of membership?

Carlin Williams: Yes. So we have several different tiers that you can join under. We, we’ve structured it to where it’s from January to December. And so right now that we’re in April, the membership dues are pro rated. So right now you’ll pay from only April to December and then January you’ll be invoiced again, but, and we want to make it accessible and affordable. And so we have for new or small businesses up to three years, you can be on this plant and it’s a hundred dollars.

Monica Vallejo: Oh wow. A hundred dollars. Fantastic. And you’re able to join the chamber.

Carlin Williams: You’re able to participate in some of our networking events, attend other luncheons and, and things that we have like that. And so it’s a hundred dollars right now that we’re in April, I think the pro rated rate is $75. And so just, we want to make it accessible so people can join.

Monica Vallejo: That’s fantastic. I know that there, we work with, you know, we speak with a lot of Latina business owners. Are you seeing like, you know, a lot of women, starting businesses and wanting to be part of the chamber?

Carlin Williams: Yes. So we actually, and I think somebody, one of my, we have a program called Latina hope. And so that really, it’s a phenomenal program. It is a phenomenal program that really helps, Latinas that are looking to, you know, it helps guide them from inception and idea to full, you know, branding, scaling, selling orders and things like that. And so we have, we have them go through that program. It’s no cost to them. It’s completely free, teaches them everything about starting a business, running a business. And then from there, we’ll transition them to join the chamber and they’ll come in and then we’ll continue to promote them and help them out and invite them to our networking opportunities and things like that.

Monica Vallejo: And is this for the business, their business has to be in McAllen for them to be part of the, the McAllen chamber?

Carlin Williams: No, no, we have people from outside of town that want to join people in Brownsville for Edinburgh. And so we’re, we’re willing to accommodate, you know, we want businesses.

Monica Vallejo: Yeah. We were in, Harlingen at the bazaar and we met, it’s, there’s a lot of small business and, yeah, the lady was like, I don’t live here. I live in, I think she lived in Brownsville. But yeah, so that’s interesting. Okay. So you can be part of the chamber and live in the surrounding area and your business can be in the surrounding area. They will work with you. That’s amazing. so, you know, we have a political climate going on right now. Would you say, think that affects people starting the business or you see it pretty strong and that it’s growing?

Carlin Williams: I think it’s still pretty strong. I know there’s definitely been some concerns, you know, on some people’s behalf and things like that. But I think for the most part, we’re still seeing a good amount of people starting business, a good amount of businesses that are continuing to grow. I know again, another program that we have is we have an economic development department within our chamber, as well as the economic development corporation as well. And so we work closely with both of those. And so we’ll, we have a lot of members that are looking to even grow their business and say, okay, with everything that’s going on, how can I still make sure that I don’t lose out an opportunity?

Monica Vallejo: Cause you know. And so they give them support. That’s amazing.

Carlin Williams: We do our best to kind of guide them and help them and see what we can do to better serve them.

Monica Vallejo: I love that. Do you guys work with any like high schools or, you know, to get students? Are there any programs?

Carlin Williams: I know that we were trying to brainstorm and work on some stuff, but that’s definitely something we’d like to, you know, be a part of to see, especially training, making sure that, you know, the next generation of workforce is both properly equipped, but also has access to opportunity as well. Yeah. And so I think that’s very important to me to making sure that people, maybe my age or a little bit younger than me are having opportunities, especially in our business community. And so that’s definitely something we’d like to work a little bit more on and, and things like that. But yeah, definitely.

Monica Vallejo: Are you from McAllen?

Carlin Williams: I am. Yeah. McAllen born and raised.

Monica Vallejo: Yeah. What’s your, tell us a little bit about McAllen. Like what are some of your favorites?

Carlin Williams: So a favorite, like spots, I think.

Monica Vallejo: Like, yes, spots, restaurants, things to do.

Carlin Williams: Yeah. We have a great, great, great area, especially down here, right? Yeah. In the convention that we’re at. I know Miss Lee is, very involved in this area with the convention and visitors bureau, but right across from us, our performing arts center. We have amazing, amazing shows. I know they had one last night. I think it was like a symphony or something.

Monica Vallejo: Oh, wow.

Carlin Williams: We have a lot of conventions here at our convention center, things like that. A nice area to kind of just walk around. It’s really beautiful here. I’m really big on coffee. We have an amazing, amazing coffee culture down here.

Monica Vallejo: Yeah. We have great coffee shops.

Carlin Williams: We have so many, so many, too much to name it. I don’t want to name one and leave one out. There’s so much to do and there’s yeah, so many places.

Monica Vallejo: We’re like, where do we eat? I don’t know.

Carlin Williams: There’s so many places. No, it’s really, really beautiful.

Monica Vallejo: So yeah, any, any last words? We’ll maybe wrap it up.

Carlin Williams: Well, just thank you, for what you’re doing here, especially, I think it’s very important, especially for Latina women to, you know, have a voice. I just like to put a little plug in there at our chamber and the EDC. We have an amazing, an amazing, phenomenal president and CEO, Ms. Elizabeth Suarez. She’s amazing, an amazing leader.

Monica Vallejo: Check her out. Yes.

Carlin Williams: I can’t speak highly enough about her. She’s the way that she leads, the way that she builds teams, the way that she makes decisions and really leads both or all three organizations, but she’s a phenomenal leader. I’ve been at the chamber for a couple of months. I started off as an ambassador. So I was an ambassador with the chamber with a separate business. And then from there, I transitioned into working full-time with the chamber. And so being able to see how she leads the direction she’s taking all three organizations in it’s, it’s amazing. It’s phenomenal. She’s created an amazing team for all three organizations. And I think we’re, we’re really doing our best to really help the community and her doing that and leading us in that direction, I think is phenomenal. And even there at work, we have my supervisor is also, she’s a Latina woman. I’m so proud to be under her. She’s amazing. I would, I’m very blessed to be a part of this organization. We have so many amazing women leaders that are leaders in our organization. And so I love that. I’m very, very happy with that. I’m very, thank you for doing this.

Monica Vallejo: Yes. Yes. We’re so excited. And yeah, y’all are giving us so much information. I mean, I’m definitely going to check her out. I’ve been having amazing conversations as you can see, and as you can tell, and right now, right here is nothing less than of course, an amazing conversation. So I usually do this on the podcast is, who are you and what do you do?

Yajayda Flores: Okay. So my name is Yajayda Flores. I am the director of the McAllen Convention Facilities, which includes the, this whole complex convention center, performing arts center.

Monica Vallejo: Thank you. Thank you so much.

Yajayda Flores: Okay. So there’s two, there are two separate venues in the complex. This complex, which is a convention center district has five hotels. It has these two buildings. The performing arts center is a, is a theater is an 1800 C, theater where we, we, we host concerts, Broadway shows, comedy, you name it, musicals and the convention center. We have about 86, thousand square feet of multifunctional space. So we do conferences, expos, meetings, weddings, banquets, galas, you name it.

Monica Vallejo: All the great things. this is a beautiful campus. Can I call it a campus?

Yajayda Flores: Yes. Because it’s a beautiful campus.

Monica Vallejo: It’s gorgeous. I like the setup. I like the, okay. I don’t have to walk across the parking lot to get to the other building. Thank you for that. I get to enjoy the waterfront, which is of course the fountain. How long has it been like this? How long has it looked like this?

Yajayda Flores: Well, it’s evolved. this, the convention center opened in 2007. Yes, 2007. And, we didn’t have any hotels on site. We didn’t have any restaurants on site. And slowly, it’s evolved. This building, the performing arts center opened in 2016. So we’re going on 10 years and 20 years. And, we have about 20 million people, based on cell phone data that visit this region every year. So, I think it’s probably the most visited region in the Rio Grande Valley.

Monica Vallejo: Yeah.

Yajayda Flores: And I think the waterfront has a lot to do with it. There’s like something very calming about that waterfront.

Monica Vallejo: Yeah. That there’s a, well, one, y’all let us park in the, in the area. And I really, really appreciate it. But the fact that there’s no parking here, and this is why I’m saying this, it’s because the cows, it’s a roundabout and there’s a fountain right in the middle, the roundabout, but also you can there to cross over to the other space or to the other facility. It’s just a crosswalk. It’s not like you got to go across the fountain and so on and so forth, but you can use, so it’s a very safe space for us to be here. And of course you’re enclosed by the gates and so on and so forth, but the architecture and the way it is and the way the layouts of how it is, I can see why it’s 20 million people coming to the space and just to be here to visit it. Which ones are the ones, the events that are most attended and which ones are your favorite? Okay.

Yajayda Flores: So we have about 500 events in both, in both facilities each year. We have a few really big festivals. We have MXLAN, which is a celebration of our Hispanic heritage. We have Fiesta de Palmas, which is a celebration of the Rio Grande Valley in the city of McAllen. And we have an event called South Pole, which is 30 days long. And it is during the Christmas holiday season. And I’ll have to say that it’s like choosing a baby, right? Like it’s really difficult to say this is my absolute favorite event because everything, every single one of them has such a rich history, such a reason, you know, I, I, I have loved, I’ve been working in this campus for 17 years. So before I had kids and now I see things differently, right? Like some of these events, like I do a free concert series in the park that we used to do. It’s super fun, like 15 years ago. And, and now I get to see my kids run around and, and do, and, and enjoy the concert. So I don’t know. I, I think that I’m, I’m in a different era right now. I’m kind of enjoying these events through their eyes and I get to be cool mom.

Monica Vallejo: Yeah.

Yajayda Flores: my, my son thinks I know Santa Claus. He’s like, Hey, you, whenever we see like Santa somewhere, I was like, you work with my mom.

Monica Vallejo: How cute. How cute. How cute. Yeah. Okay. So it’s a family friendly space and area. I, it’s what I’m hearing. Okay. So what can, I’m visiting from Houston, right? And there’s something for me to do and I want to come around a certain kind of maybe, event or, or, or so maybe a signature event. Which one should I come to?

Yajayda Flores: I would say MXLAN. MXLAN.

Monica Vallejo: I’ve heard that. I’ve heard that. Okay. Can you tell me why? What happens at MXLAN?

Yajayda Flores: MXLAN followed by probably Fiesta de Palmas.

Monica Vallejo: Okay.

Yajayda Flores: So it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s a celebration of who we are. The theme is, we are the roots. They are the flowers. And so the things that we’re putting in, you know, the roots in, you know, our, our heritage, who we are, where we come from and what our children are going to see. Right. And so we’ve made it a very vibrant, colorful event that is very modern, but still expressing, our ancestors. We’ve, we’ve made it very, like we have a lot of Hispanic heritage, indigenous heritage that we’ve put in. at some point we had Los Voladores de Papantla from Veracruz.

Monica Vallejo: Ooh.

Yajayda Flores: We have, just native dances. It’s very colorful, very folkloric. We have a parade that happens every night and everybody’s invited to like, just to, to, to, to dance around the park.

Monica Vallejo: How amazing. and there’s just a whole bunch of different stages of entertainment

Yajayda Flores: So there’s a little bit of everything for everybody. There’s artisans, there’s two food festivals, there’s a tequila festival and mezcal festival that happened. So everything’s kind of happening on site at the same time. And there’s a lot to be able to explore, to be able to do.

Monica Vallejo: Yeah. And it’s a three day festival.

Yajayda Flores: Yes.

Monica Vallejo: Okay. Perfect. And, and, and, and Las Palmas?

Yajayda Flores: Fiesta de Palmas. Fiesta de Palmas.

Monica Vallejo: What’s happened? Okay.

Yajayda Flores: So that’s a fall festival.

Monica Vallejo: They’re similar. Is that like an artisan?

Yajayda Flores: It’s also artisan. Okay.

Monica Vallejo: Okay. They’re very similar.

Yajayda Flores: Fiesta de Palmas is more, who we are as a, you know, we’re not Texan and we’re not Mexican. Like we’re not just Texan here and we’re not just Mexican. We’re such a blend of these two cultures that have come together in this beautiful border town. Yeah. And that’s what we celebrate with Fiesta de Palmas.

Monica Vallejo: Okay.

Yajayda Flores: And so with that event, it’s just a representation of who we are, but it’s very family friendly. Okay. There’s a whole, eco tourism portion of it where, young kids kind of walk through different assets of the city of McAllen. And they explore like 70 different like local vendors and they get this little passport that’s stamped at the end. It’s super cute. there’s an artist in the market. There is a full on carnival and there’s a whole bunch of stages of entertainment as well.

Monica Vallejo: Okay. some big headliners.

Yajayda Flores: So those events are just very fun and very vibrant.

Monica Vallejo: Okay. And it’s a fall festival.

Yajayda Flores: And it’s a fall festival. It’s a fall festival.

Monica Vallejo: I was going to ask you this question, but I think you answered it for me when I was going to say, which one is like, if I’m bringing my family, but it sounds like it’s Palmas.

Yajayda Flores: Yes. Okay. Perfect. Fall.

Monica Vallejo: Are we talking October, November?

Yajayda Flores: It’s that it’s always, it always falls on the third weekend of October.

Monica Vallejo: Okay. Okay. October. Okay. I’m going to ask you this. How does one prep for the, for the heat? You’re not used to the heat? This is normal weather.

Yajayda Flores: Not yet. Not yet. You know, I think that, I think that, I think that McKellen has a perfect weather, like November through April. Okay. It’s just perfect. Like it’s just perfect. It starts getting a little hot in April. Okay. A little hotter in May, a little unbearable June, July, August. Yeah. And then after that, it’s, it’s good. You’re good.

Monica Vallejo: You’re good. Yeah. Cool. So October. I have my cameraman laughing at me. So October Fiesta de Palmas is okay to come.

Yajayda Flores: I, I love that event. Okay. I love it. And then all, obviously our Christmas event is just beautiful.

Monica Vallejo: I heard the Christmas ones are pretty cool that this area right here is specifically right here around the fountain gets pretty lit up.

Yajayda Flores: But also we do a lot of educational events in our performing arts center. We have a really, really, really cool event, called the Palm Awards. And it’s like the Grammys or the Tonys for our local high school musical, theater group.

Monica Vallejo: How cute.

Yajayda Flores: It is super cool. Okay. We’ve partnered with the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts. We have a lot of Latino artists that, now are part of it, that help us with it, that, help us give away some of the fantastic awards. And, you know, the important thing is to give our youth kind of a seat at the table and give them opportunities. And that’s what we’re trying to do. So we’re not just putting events together just for fun. I think that there’s always like a, like a, a mission and a goal.

Monica Vallejo: Yeah.

Yajayda Flores: And it’s to be able to position ourselves. Right. Okay. to be able to have a seat at the table, to be able to, you know, have the next Broadway artist or the next like singer come out of here. Like, you know, or, you know, these big, big groups, like how do we create more opportunities for, our, youth and our kids to be able to do big things?

Monica Vallejo: I did. Well, here’s what I get from McAllen is that it’s a very family friendly focused space and area. It’s, it’s definitely a space where you can raise the, the safest city, right? It’s a place where you can really, one of the safest cities where you can definitely raise a family. and to be able to even entertain them. I think that’s one of the things that when people are afraid to move to small areas and spaces, but as you, as that, as the host of event spaces, what would you say?

Yajayda Flores: The quality of life for us is paramount. I think that, you know, as a city, the infrastructure, you know, we have all of the essentials we have, you know, one of the lowest crime rates. Yes. We have fantastic streets. We have all of the buildings we have that we have all of the infrastructure. And so the next thing in terms of creating a dynamic area is making sure that we have good cultural and quality of life elements. And those are the things that we’re focusing on right now, making sure that we have quality of life elements. Here on this campus, like I said, we have 500 events, but the city is just booming with so much activity. You know, our parks and rec team has, a series of races. The community is a very giving community. And so I think that if you’re an entrepreneur trying to make it, we show up, we show up, we have more quick service restaurants here per capita than anywhere else in the U S. We go out to eat all the time. We also have one of the highest rates of diabetes. I don’t know if there’s a correlation there, but the food, we have fantastic food. We have things to do every single day. It’s a space where you know, growing up, you’re going to, you’re going to get opportunities to move to different areas. But like for me, the most important thing is where do I want my kids to grow up? Right. And like, who do I want them to associate with? And I feel like we have all of the elements of a big destination in a big city, but we still have that small town feel where we can call our neighbor. You know what I mean? Yeah. We can call our neighbor. We, you know, we’re, we grow up together and you know people and you know the connections and like, it’s still very much a small town in that regard where we still have a very tight knit community, but we have all of the elements of a big destination.

Monica Vallejo: So that’s pretty cool to be able to have both big city, small town. Yeah. That’s what you guys have.

Yajayda Flores: Absolutely.

Monica Vallejo: I think McAllen is definitely a very much inviting city. The fact that you guys have shown up, that I’ve met so many really great people here in the space. I’m excited to revisit. I never really, come to McAllen. I kind of come to the Rio Grande Valley, but never to McAllen. And so as Im here, I, I went shopping. I mean, I did a lot of pretty cool things in one day. I was even like overwhelmed by it. It’s so much to do. Yeah. There’s so much to do. So to, to finish it off, what would you like to say to, potential visitors of the city of McAllen?

Yajayda Flores: I think it’s a very dynamic, very surprising city. There is a lot to do. There’s a lot of culture. It’s a, it’s a city that’s very authentic. It’s a city that’s growing. It’s a very modern American city with a very nice bicultural twist. Well, thank you so much for visiting us.

Monica Vallejo: Thank you for being on the podcast. And I’m, I’m excited to come back to one of these amazing events. Congratulations.

Yajayda Flores: Thank you. Awesome.