Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

SBA administrator Guzman, in visit to Las Vegas, celebrates successes of Mothership Coffee and its owner

Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration Isabella Casillas Guzman

Wade Vandervort

Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration Isabella Casillas Guzman, left, and owner of Mothership Coffee Juanny Romero, are interviewed by the Las Vegas Sun at Mothership Coffees Fergusons Downtown location Wednesday, June 7, 2023.

U.S. Small Business Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman

Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration Isabella Casillas Guzman, left, and owner of Mothership Coffee Juanny Romero, are interviewed by the Las Vegas Sun at Mothership Coffees Fergusons Downtown location Wednesday, June 7, 2023. Launch slideshow »

Wednesday morning, the downtown Las Vegas location of Mothership Coffee Roasters was packed with customers, some of whom were hunkering down for the day with laptops open and others walking their dogs and grabbing disposable cups to-go.

They all turned to watch as a small cluster of people gathered in the center of the dimly lit room, where Isabella Casillas Guzman, the administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, was conversing with Mothership owner Juanny Romero.

Romero was recently named Nevada Small Business Person of the Year, as well as runner-up for National Small Business Person of the Year. Guzman was visiting Las Vegas for the day, and spending time with Romero was her initial stop.

“Every small-business owner can benefit from a team of supporters,” Guzman told the Sun. “And that’s what we try to be for our small businesses — and lead them to revenue growth, which is what our economy needs. And so, today’s visit is just to lift up one of our national entrepreneurs, and celebrate what Nevada delivers to this country.”

Mothership, which opened its first store in Henderson about 15 years ago, has four locations across the Las Vegas Valley with a fifth on the way in Downtown Summerlin. It also has dozens of employees.

The SBA has played a big role in Mothership’s success, Romero said, providing her with mentorship, advice and more. Being a business owner can be a lonely road, she said, noting how encouraged she is by her SBA community — and particularly on a recent trip to Washington, D.C., during which she also met Vice President Kamala Harris.

Little things like how the SBA and Guzman treat her as a friend, and as a valuable contributor to the economy, help Romero face the challenges of owning a small business, she said.

“Small-business owners are very resilient, very gritty people,” Romero said.“And so, a little goes a long way. You don’t need much to feel good.”

The SBA provides capital, training and technical assistance to small businesses nationwide, and Guzman said it was important for small businesses owners to know that there was an organization wanting to connect them with the resources they needed to be successful.

Small businesses are “giants” in the U.S. economy, she said, responsible for two-thirds of net new jobs and half of private workforce opportunities. Their value to their communities became especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, Guzman said.

She pointed to Romero, who adapted to the uncertainty of the pandemic by selling Mothership products online and ultimately expanding her customer base beyond Nevada.

“That vision of being able to see the world as your marketplace is what we want to see in our business owners, which is why her story is so compelling and why she’s our runner-up, because she’s incredibly uplifting to other women entrepreneurs,” Guzman said.

Romero says she cares deeply about advocating for minority- and women-owned small businesses, and making sure they understand that there’s a network of people and organizations that care about them too.

“To really let them know — you’re not (on) an island. You’re not alone,” she said. “Yes, it’s difficult. Yes, it’s scary. But there are so many people out there who want to see everyone succeed.”

Highlighting success stories like that of Romero and Mothership can inspire future entrepreneurs, Guzman said.

“We’re just inspired by stories like Juanny Romero, who’s been able to demonstrate the power of entrepreneurship to deliver (to her) community,” said Guzman, who later Tuesday participated in a fireside chat as part of the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce’s CelebrASIAN 2023 event at the Westgate Las Vegas.

Owning a small business is by no means easy, Romero said, and often means making sacrifices. She cited an instance in which she chose to offer her employees health insurance, even though it meant she wouldn’t be able to afford a car.

Though she needed the latter, Romero said she knew it was more important to show her employees — many of them part-time or student workers — that they deserved health insurance and similar opportunities.

She hopes choices like that reverberate and show other small businesses how integral it is to invest in the community, Romero said.

“We’re advocates and we’re here for a purpose,” she said. “It’s super important that we advocate for our community.”