The Stories team at CAP Action works with storytellers who author op-eds about how policy impacts their lives. The team helps elevate their op-eds.
People don’t always expect to hear that the son of first-generation Mexican immigrants is now the CEO of a business that employs over 250 people. But that’s my story. I grew up in a household of migrant farm workers and spent a large portion of my childhood out in the scorching hot fields of the American Southwest, picking lettuce, cantaloupes, onions – whatever was in season. Every member of my family pitched in to make ends meet, especially after my father passed away when I was a teenager.
Seeing how poorly my father and the other workers were treated by their supervisors, I resolved from a young age to become a business owner myself. I wanted to not only treat my employees with dignity and respect, but to invest in them as people. Through hard work, I became the first in my family to go to college and soon rose through the ranks of the corporate world. Today, I’m the President and CEO of Verde Clean, a facilities services company that employs over 250 people. I have achieved that American Dream that my parents came here to seek.
The above excerpt was originally published in Arizona Capitol Times.
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