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Jesse Cardoza started helping his father in his lawn service business when he was eight years old. In the beginning, he had to find properties through a Mapsco book and used payphones for directions. When he was 15, he would work his father’s lawn maintenance route so they could go on vacations with his younger […]
Luis Mata, maintenance operations manager for Chalet Nursery, based in Wilmette, Illinois, was introduced to the industry at a young age as he started working with his father on a landscape crew throughout high school. “At one point I did not want to be involved in the industry,” Mata says. “I wanted to find something […]
Our Level Up series shares the strategies that help landscape and lawn care companies get to the next level. Maldonado Nursery & Landscaping, Inc. is one of the largest privately-owned Hispanic businesses in the United States. But this San Antonio, Texas, company wasn’t always so large. The business was founded to provide Rogelio Maldonado and […]
More than 500,000 Hispanic-Americans work in the landscape industry across the country. Pathways into landscape careers and business ownership are varied, but growth opportunities and a love of the outdoors fuels many Latinos’ longevity in the industry. How They Entered the Industry For Ray Rueda, CEO of Nature’s Dream Landscape, based in Pinecrest, Florida, he […]
Victoria Trucco studied architecture in Colombia and had wanted to earn a master’s degree in urbanism. However, her dual citizenship caused her to not be eligible for a scholarship at Penn State. “I had two small children and could not afford the private university for urbanism,” she says. Her husband, Ray Rueda, was relocated to […]
When Juan Gutierrez came to the United States from Mexico in 1999, he originally only planned to stay for one year so he could earn enough money to buy a truck or house in Mexico, like many of his friends had done. However, he quickly developed a passion for landscaping and decided his life was […]
Adrian Martinez, president of New West Landscape Management, Inc. based in Concord, California, was introduced to the landscape business at a young age. His first job was working as a gardener and he quickly learned to love the work as he was constantly surrounded by gardens and open spaces. Martinez joined New West Landscape Management […]
Olivia Espinoza got into the landscape industry as a groundskeeper for an apartment complex, taking care of flower containers and beds. “I enjoyed it so much I decided to take horticulture classes to learn more about plants,” she says. She spent two seasons working as a groundskeeper and now works for Kujawa Enterprises, Inc., based […]
Alexander Manueles, president of White Gator Lawn and Landscaping, based in Slidell, Louisiana, started working when he was 19 years old and has now spent six years in the industry. He says he had always wanted to own his own company. “That has always been something that ever since I was younger I always knew […]
Gabriel Marquez Jr. has been in the industry ever since he was a child. His father was born in El Salvador and came to the U.S. as a teenager. He started Gabriel’s Landscaping, Inc. in 1984. Now, Marquez is the president of Gabriel’s Companies, Inc., based in Palatine, Illinois. “I realized it was more than […]