She wanted a challenge. So she struck out on her own and became a real estate agent. Apparently many Latinos feel the same way. The rise in Hispanic-owned business since the late '80s has been phenomenal. There were 422,373 Hispanic-owned businesses in 1987 compared to 771,706 in 1992, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics.
Firms owned by Hispanic women are the fastest-growing segment in business ownership in the country.
It's ironic because I didn't see a future for myself in the company anymore. It seemed like I had to fight like crazy to maintain my position. The company was undergoing a lot of change and I saw that they were moving people in to top-level jobs from the outside. I felt underutilized and not appreciated by the corporate environment. I started to feel kind of embarrassed by my tenure because if you have a lot of years of service, they start looking at you differently.