Sully Marquez: “entrepreneurship has no limits”
Lots of Hispanic women suffer a 180degree change when they make it to the US, and some find themselves struggling between everyday chores, raising the children, taking care of their homes, and finding time for their own projects in the land of opportunities. And among these women is Sully Marquez, who came from Honduras with her four kids only knowing how to be a housewife but soon becoming the proud owner of Pulpería HN, a grocery store located at 9720-D E 31st St, Tulsa, ok 74114.
Sully was not afraid of competing against gigantic monsters like Walmart, Morelos and Las Americas, and her will to make a business made her specialize in something she could not find elsewhere, selling products from Central America.
“I thought about the idea of bringing products directly from Honduras to satisfy the needs of the local community. We have lots of Hondurans in Tulsa, and people from El Salvador and Guatemala who enjoy buying at the store,” she said, while surrounded by all kinds of flowers, sweet snacks and crafts from her home country.
Two months ago Sully opened the store, and so far everything seems perfect – sales go up and she walks tall, with the satisfaction of recognizing herself as the owner of her business, of her life.
“Now that I work and speak directly to my clients, I realize they are real fighters. So many women here are entrepreneurs, they work hard and do it for their families,” she stated, acknowledging her business helped her break the circle of machismo that reigns in her country.
Still, it wasn’t violence that made her move to the United State, but the idea of finding new opportunities for the ones she loved.
“I came to America to look for a better future. I have a lot of family here,” she said, confessing that everything has its up and downs.
“The worst thing was leaving my eldest daughter in Honduras while we emigrated,” she recalled with sadness, “but the best is knowing that after eight years, we are all together now. I have a husband that supports me and the chance of doing what I love.”
Sully dreams of expanding her business and developing a grocery store chain where her children can learn the power of hard work and be able to grow in knowledge.
“I do everything for them,” she explained. “I want them to get educated, to be honorable people, good citizens who work hard and have kind hearts.”
In the meantime, behind the counter desk, she reminds all Latin women to give it a go, to take the first step to master their destinies.
“Work hard, and remember we are not alone, we may be standing still at certain times, but we can move forward and be great,” she concluded. (La Semana)