Sister Co-owns Publishing, Painting Companies
Christine Bolaños Contributing Writer, Austin Statesman
Pflugerville resident Teresa Estrada wears many hats. She is an engineer at Canon Nanotechnology, co-owns a publishing company with her mother and sisters, runs a painting business with her husband in Round Rock, and has two young children.
Del Alma Publications, LLC, was created to offer bilingual and culturally relevant children’s literature. In 2008, her mother, Maria Alma Gonzalez Perez, a former bilingual education professor at the University of Texas Pan American, reached out to her three daughters, including Estrada, to help launch Del Alma. Perez noticed there were English and Spanish books used in bilingual
education but there was a lack of literature available in both languages.
“She asked me and my sisters if we wanted to help and of course we said ‘yes,’” Estrada said, adding it was a way to thank her parents for their support in her endeavors.
Estrada, who always enjoyed using computers, taught herself how to use software such as Adobe InDesign and Photoshop to edit photos and make
graphics for the books. She became the creative consultant for Del Alma.
Her mother writes the material for the books while her sister Maricia Rodriguez handles business development. Her sister Anita Garcia is the legal advisor.
The four-woman team released their first book, “Cantos Del Alma Y Del Corazon,” a series of 50 poems spanning love in all areas of life, in 2015. Their second book “Hello, Zapata! ¡Hola!,” published later that year, is a bilingual children’s book featuring 25 landmarks in Zapata County, in South Texas, where the women grew up. Estrada said she hopes the book encourages children to take pride in their own communities.
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Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life
Hispanic Scholarship Fund Facebook
#HSFstories HSF Leaders: Orietta Verdugo, Manufacturing Manager for the Substrate Packaging Technology Development Factory, Intel Corporation; Member, Phoenix HSF Advisory Council
Ms. Verdugo was born in Ajo, Arizona, and raised in various small mining and farming towns, throughout Arizona and New Mexico, along with four siblings. Both parents had moved to the US from Sonora, Mexico. Her father worked in copper mines for 40 years, while her mother focused on raising the family. Neither parent had the opportunity to attend high school, but her mother worked to receive her GED at the age of 45, and went on to work at Walmart until she retired.
Ms. Verdugo credits a number of mentors, as well as her older siblings, with having motivated her to pursue higher education. “My oldest sister Nitza was the first person in my family to graduate from a university. She used to drop me off at elementary school on her way to college,” she recalls, leaving her with the sense that it was “…normal and expected to attend college after high school.”
Ms. Verdugo went on to study Industrial Engineering at Arizona State University (ASU), where she graduated with a BSE magna cum laude. She worked for four years before earning a master’s degree in Engineering Systems, and an MBA, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
As an undergraduate she received full-tuition scholarships, but she struggled to cover the other costs. “Each semester I would apply to dozens of scholarships to help fund my education,” she explains.
She was ultimately awarded a number of scholarships, including one from HSF. “[The scholarships]… meant that I…could concentrate on my academics, and not have to focus on working more hours or getting a second job,” she said.
Today, she is the Manufacturing Manager for Intel Corporation’s Substrate Packaging Technology Development Factory in Chandler, Arizona, overseeing its strategy, tactics, and metrics.
Previously, she participated in General Electric’s Operations Management Leadership Program for newly-minted engineers, and also worked for GE in strategic planning. She also served at Zara, where she designed a supply chain tool to maximize store retail profits.
An active member of her community, she has served on the boards of the GE Hispanic Forum, the Intel Latino Network, and Aguila Youth Leadership Institute. Currently, she is the Si Se Puede Foundation Vice Board Chair, and the Kappa Delta Chi Sorority Inc. Alumna Advisor, at ASU. She also serves on the HSF Phoenix Advisory Council.
Her service has been recognized through various awards and distinctions, including the Young Hispanic Corporate Achievers Award from the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility, and being named as one of “40 Hispanic Leaders Under 40,” by Univision Radio.
Her advice to students getting ready to graduate and enter a profession: “A job is something that you can always obtain, a career is a lifetime commitment. Be true to your personal goals and make decisions that is best for you.”
Teresa and Erick Estrada, pictured with daughter Natalia and son Xavier, have opened Fresh Coat Painters of Round Rock, which offers exterior and interior painting services. (Courtesy photo)