From left, Dora Westerlund speaks with 27th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Isabella Casillas Guzman at Table Mountain Casino on Thursday. Photo by Frank Lopez

Two Latinas operating in the business world on a national scale visited the Central Valley last week.

Women business and community leaders gathered at Table Mountain Casino on Thursday for the Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation’s (FAHF) seventh annual Power of Women in Business Conference.

The keynote speakers were 27th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Isabella Casillas Guzman, and Sandra Lilia Velasquez, founder and CEO of Nopalera, a high-end, Mexican botanical bath and body brand.

This year’s conference included inspirational speakers and women entrepreneur panels, workshops, a business pitch competition with a $14,000 prize and sessions on angel investment and executive presence.

FAHF CEO Dora Westerlund moderated the keynote “fireside chat” with Guzman, who went over her life as a Latina in the U.S. and the work she does with the SBA to help small businesses.

“As a daughter of a small business owner, Administrator Guzman understands first-hand the needs and challenges of small business, such as accessing affordable capital, resources and information,” Westerlund said.

As the SBA administrator, Guzman is the highest-ranking Latina woman in the federal government and the fifth Latina to serve in a Cabinet position.

Guzman noted the profound power of women in business, noting that over 80% of all buying decisions are influenced by women, along with 90% of home ownership decisions as well.

She said that more than 12 million women-owned small businesses power more than $1.8 trillion in economic output for the U.S. economy.

“The power of women on leadership teams is so profound that businesses have more success when they have women in leadership,” she said.

Though Nopalera is headquartered in New York, Velasquez shared a local connection: her father is from Porterville.

In her keynote speech, Velasquez said that she wanted her products in high-end stores to dispel the idea that Mexican products should be “of value,” or cheaper when compared to French and Italian beauty brands.

Before starting her brand, Velasquez was in a touring Mexican music band called Pistolera, which had one of their songs, “Nuevos Ojos,” featured on the hit AMC show “Breaking Bad.”

After leaving the band, she was unemployed with no savings or assets. She also had $80,000 in student debt and $30,000 in personal debt. She also had a 13-year-old daughter to raise as a single mother.

She went on to study formulation design and launched Nopalera in 2020 as she was working three other jobs.

Velasquez was even featured on the TV show “Shark Tank,” but she turned down an offer for a 30% ownership stake for $600,000.

Her brand is now sold in Nordstrom, Credo Beauty, Free People and more than 400 independent retailers nationwide.

Velasquez said as a woman business owner, women need to put themselves out there and apply for any funding and exposure opportunities they can.

“I had to put myself in those new rooms and apply for every accelerator, every pitch competition, I applied. No one came to discover me. No one is coming to save us. We must do it ourselves,” Velasquez said.