HELPING LATINO BUSINESSES GROW
Iris Garcia is a Latina with light skin, green eyes and blond hair. Growing up in America, people treated her very differently than her sister, who has brown eyes, black hair and dark skin. She was given more opportunities and privileges than some of her family and other darker-skinned Latinas — an experience that has continued from her childhood to the present. Today, she takes advantage of those opportunities to pass them on to those who share her background but look different from her.
“Latinos are a rainbow of colors. We’re black, we’re white, we’re Indian, we’re a mix, and some people are surprised when they see us,” she said. “The problem is people judge by their eyes versus looking at the final product or the quality inside.”
As CEO, president and chairwoman of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and a business developer, Garcia volunteers her time to empower low-income families, first-time business owners and the Latino community in San Diego.
Garcia has devoted her life’s work to helping others and alleviating suffering. Having experienced anguish herself as a child, which came from being discriminated against as one of the lightest people in her family and living as an immigrant, she understands what it means to suffer.
After experiencing head injuries as a child, she started having seizures and at age 21 was diagnosed with epilepsy. She faced many difficulties. She was trying to be independent, but her driver’s license was taken away for three years and she had to rely on public transit. “People rob you when you pass out,” she said.
Today, she describes herself as “a high-functioning epileptic” who has her condition under control with
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