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Carmen Murray (800-533-3292) was one of ten children raised by a single mother in a very poor area of Mexico. When she was nine, her newly married parents moved her entire family to the City of Commerce in California. She is still living there, and her business Rodeo Carpet Mills is also located there. Despite cultural differences, and a language barrier, Carmen was able to learn English quickly and graduated from high school. Carmen first became acquainted with Rodeo Carpet Mills when owner Lou Sugarman hired her as a part-time receptionist. Due to her exceptional ability, Carmen was then promoted to a buyer and then a general manager of the entire company. She was then given stock options, and when Lou retired, she was given full run of the company and was later able to purchase it for her very own in 1995. Rodeo Carpet Mills designs and manufactures high-end rugs and carpets. Most of the fabric comes form New Zealand and is very costly. All of the rugs and carpets are custom made in her facility in Commerce. Carmen's company is now very busy with orders, but this wasn't always the case due to the economic downturn a few years ago. She currently employs thirty-five employees and expects to make around $5 million in revenue this year.

Martha de la Torre (marthadelatorre@elclasificado.com) began her work in publishing after years of working as an accountant. She yearned to work in the Hispanic community, which prompted her to accept a job offer with La Opinion in the mid-1980's. In order to reach a much wider part of Southern California's Spanish speaking community, Martha came up with an idea: a free, home-delivered publication. Martha and her co-founder, Joe Badame, launched EL CLASIFICADO in 1988. The first few years were quite a struggle. In order to raise the $500,000 needed, she borrowed money from friends and family, used her savings, and sold her house and car. There were also many problems with distribution. Many times, Martha wanted to give up and file for bankruptcy. But after Joe revamped the distribution process and they began putting magazine racks outside of stores, sales increased. Today, their circulation program is top-notch. They have also added an Internet business that helps customers develop their e-commerce websites. They recently acquired Al Borde, an alternative Latin Rock magazine. They are quickly becoming a $5 million company and hope to add zones in the South Bay, the Inland Empire and Orange County.

When John Williams (323-296-8221) was 12 years old, he produced and sold shampoo for 50 cents a gallon. Today, he is the proud owner of UNIVERSAL COLLEGE OF BEAUTY, INC. in Los Angeles. He received his start in the beauty industry when he returned home from military service and began working at the family business, which was then called Henrietta's School of Beauty. John took a position as the janitor but gained sufficient skills to eventually begin teaching classes at the school. After the Watts Riots, his mother retired and John took over the business. He renamed it Universal College of Beauty, Inc. to reflect the direction of reaching all races, but John had to overcome several obstacles along the way. He struggled financially shortly after obtaining ownership of the business. To fund the school, John created an effective business plan that enabled him to receive a $26,000 SBA loan. This is significant because few African-Americans were approved for this loan at the time. John was dealt another blow when his wife and son were killed in a car accident in 1993. But he was resilient, and with the help of his son Kenneth, he persevered and he preserved his mother's legacy by taking the business to new heights. In 2005, The Universal College of Beauty celebrates its 75th anniversary. John is hoping to open six more locations in his lifetime.

Making It! first profiled CC OPS (www.ccops.com) in 2001. Today the company continues to offer the same services, which include networking and communications, computer consulting, cabling, IP telephony and telecommunications, plant design and implementation. Owner Mary Ann Mitchell experienced hard times after the dot.com bust of 2001 and had to layoff half of her staff. Since then business has picked up and Mary Ann now has locations in Tucson, Arizona, Washington D.C., San Diego, and Los Angeles. CC OPS is doing 50% higher revenue than before the dot.com bust. Mary Ann is currently working on a youth entrepreneur program, where she takes 150 young people between the ages of 11-18, all from underprivileged communities and places them for six weeks in a Microsoft co-sponsored program. Each participant gets a computer and software. Seven of the participants are awarded internships and earn $7 an hour at working CC OPS.