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Latinos face many barriers when it comes to starting a business. At WEOC Women’s Business Center (WBC), we provide opportunities to break through these barriers; to help individuals start, grow and innovate businesses, and this year we are focusing on the Hispanic community. As a result of barriers I faced and overcame, it is my mission to champion and support Latinas.

Find your voice. Determine what you stand for. Say “no” when someone tries to negatively influence you. Silence or ignore the machismo culture that says you cannot do something merely because of your gender. Use your mistakes as fuel to learn, be better and achieve more.

Education equals opportunity. Our educational system silences Latinas, perpetuating the cycle. Change is happening and you can be part of it. According to Hispanic Women Entrepreneurship: Understand Diversity Among Hispanic Women Entrepreneurs, “between 1993 and 2014, Hispanics’ college enrollment increased 13 percentage points from 22 to 35.” Additionally, “28.1% of Hispanic women business owners have a bachelor’s degree.”

You ARE enough. Throughout my life I believed I wasn’t good enough to succeed. Where were role models who looked like me? This is cultural, yet does not have to remain a barrier.

Jennifer Lopez owns her upbringing as a Puerto Rican in the Bronx, New York, yet evolved as an entrepreneur and businesswoman with an estimated net worth exceeding $150 million, according to Forbes. “Women are sold the idea that they are a dime a dozen and disposable,” says Lopez. “That’s not true.” Identify your skill sets, knowledge and hobbies, and build on those to start or grow a business.

Form a supportive community. Surround yourself with mentors and organizations that hold values like yours. Examples are WEOC Women’s Business Center (WBC), HLCNI and GOALy Amigos.