DENVER — Colorado is leading the nation in shrinking the pay gap between men and women. But Latinas still get paid about half of what their white male colleagues make, according to the most recent U.S. census. So, some Latinas are taking matters into their own hands — by starting their own businesses and building support networks to grow together.
“Latinos are one of the fastest growing entrepreneurship groups right now,” said Dr. Violeta Garcia, who herself started a small business to help others with entrepreneurial dreams.
But even as Latinos forge their own way, she’s seen many entrepreneurs struggle, especially women.
Business
Denver entrepreneur leans on mentorship to get fresh food to communities in need
“We get to a certain point, and then we almost hit our own glass ceiling, in a way, because we don't know how to expand, we don't know how to grow or invest or even bring in other ideas that can help us get to that next level,” she said.
That’s why Dr. Garcia launched Ecosistema Design.
"I help women of color stay in leadership positions or exit and start their own businesses if they so desire,” she said.
Many Latinas like Dr. Garcia are breaking away from stereotypes and limiting beliefs about themselves.
“We think we need stability, and stability comes with a regular job,” she said, and oftentimes women hear they’re “not meant to be breadwinners” or “you should be thankful you even have a job.”
But Dr. Garcia learned the power of entrepreneurship at a young age, when she and her father immigrated to the United States from El Salvador.
“My father just couldn't hold a regular job. He didn't speak English. He had a second-grade education, and he found that entrepreneurship was the way to go for him as an immigrant,” she said.
At just 14 years old, she helped her father launch his trucking business. Still, as she pursued her own career — spanning from teaching science and math to running nonprofits and serving in government — she realized she had to get unstuck from socialized beliefs holding her back.
Now, as an entrepreneur, she hopes to inspire others to believe in their worth and ability to forge their own path.
“It's about empowerment. It's about community wealth building. And now I see it as a limitless potential,” she said.
Dr. Garcia coaches other Latina entrepreneurs and helps organizations make their workplaces more inclusive, to better serve communities of color historically excluded in professional spaces.
She also brings together Latina professionals to support one another through monthly meetups called Caminatas y Cafecito – a Walk and a Coffee.
“It's very lonely to be an entrepreneur. But it's also very, very lonely to be the only Latina in the workplace, especially as an executive,” she said.
The Cafecito gatherings help Latinas lift each other up, said Diamond Garcia, who manages operations at Dr. Garcia’s Ecosistema Design and also runs her own small business.
“Women of all walks of life and ages and different stages of their lives are coming together to support each other and listen to each other and realize that we all have a very similar thread in our stories, and we're not very different, and we're not alone,” she said.
That camaraderie helps the women push past their fears.
“It's scary to make that jump from a nine to five job to believing in yourself 100%,” Garcia said.
But as a single mom and an entrepreneur, she said the support network is helping her believe in her abilities, allowing her to “make the money that sustains my family without having to clock in or clock out,” she said.
For Angela Mateus, who is launching her own business in the new year after getting one-on-one coaching from Dr. Garcia, she now lives by the motto: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
Although Latinos make up roughly a quarter of Colorado’s population, nearly 76% of Colorado public companies lack Latino representation, Mateus said.
As a result, Mateus said she was always feeling like her head was butting up against a ceiling, and despite her efforts to assimilate, she watched as her white male colleagues advanced in ways she wasn’t enabled to.
“For me, the playing field was different. I was held to a different set of standards, a different code of conduct. I had to continually prove myself over and over and over again,” she said.
Connecting with other Latina professionals has been inspiring and affirming, she said. Now, Mateus feels confident enough in her skills and experience to build her own wealth, while giving back to the community too.
“The entrepreneurial mindset allows me, and allows other Latina women, to reinvest in our communities, reinvest in other Latinas,” she said.
But to get there, Latinas need to recognize their worth, Dr. Garcia said.
“We don't negotiate. We don't ask for more,” for fear of losing the opportunities we have, she said.
Without negotiating pay, many Latinas get stuck in the wage gap, and even when they strike out as entrepreneurs, they often undervalue their work.
“We tend to perpetuate that same inequity even in our own businesses,” Dr. Garcia said.
But she hopes expanding support networks like hers will encourage Latinas to seek more. At the start of 2025, she's hosting a webinar to help Latinas get their finances together.
"We can have nice things too, you know. We don't have to always hustle,” she said. “We can actually make more money if we want.”
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.