With hope and effort a jewelry business emerges from the flames

Esmeralda Espinoza, Owner, Esmeralda Jewelry: 

First, my business burned down and well, I said ‘OK, I’ve got to look for work, and later on reopen the jewelry store.’ Also, when I got to this country I was left alone, and I was barely 20 years old and I had a child, and my goal was always, my challenge was my son, to help him get ahead, for him to go to a good school.

Melissa McDonald, Chief Operating Officer, Raza Development Fund:

So Raza Development Fund has been around for about 22 years, and we were founded to meet a need in the community, in the Latino community specifically. We were founded with some very important and basic founding principles that we hold true: love of the poor, dignity of the human person, and really solid business practices. All of those form our core principles: providing capital, providing capacity, and with a lot of affection.

Espinoza:

In 2018, our business burned down, on Sept. 28, our business burned down and we literally lost everything.

McDonald:

When the tragedy hit with the store burning down, Esmeralda knows that she’s not alone, that she’s got her community partners, and RDF and Wells Fargo are here for her now and in the long run.

Espinoza:

And then we started again. I started in South Mercado and from there I started in Swap Meet markets, and I did that for almost seven months. Raza helped me with part of it. They’ll always send you an email, or call, and that’s what I’ve really liked about Raza, because they have always been there for us. When the pandemic hit, for about two weeks I was in shock. Like, ‘What am I going to do?’

McDonald:

The Hope Fund was started in response to the COVID pandemic. So we reached out to Wells and said our community needs help now. We need to help them.

Patty Juarez, Head of Diverse Segments, Wells Fargo Commercial Banking:

The Wells Fargo Open for Business Fund was established to help small businesses. We took all of the proceeds from our PPP loans, $420 million of it. And we established the Open for Business Fund to really help small businesses and minority-owned businesses with all of the issues they were dealing with the pandemic.

Espinoza:

With the help I got from Raza, as you can see, all my display cases are full of jewelry, and that was where I started investing. What they gave me tripled about ten times.

McDonald:

It was a huge success. Over 111 businesses helped and served, that were able to stay in business thanks to Wells being able to be so flexible with these monies to go out in the community.

Juarez:

It’s wonderful to be here for our community and it’s wonderful to help out in this prolonged pandemic. The need is still there and we want to continue to be here assisting businesses with whatever they need not only survive but hopefully thrive.

Espinoza:

Well, my plan for the future is to focus more on my designs and grow as a designer. And why not also sell them through a prestigious company, like Tiffany, somewhere of high standing?