Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Talavera.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I’m a first generation U.S born citizen and the oldest of 4 siblings. My parents are from Morelos which is a very small state in Mexico, in fact you can barely see it on the map. Being the first born and the first to learn English, I was giving a lot of duties as soon as I was in elementary so I never really got to explore my creativity or talents. Because my parents worked at night I wasn’t allowed to participate in after school activities, instead I was baby sitting my younger siblings. By the age of 7 I would be asked to translate/ read English to my parents since they only knew Spanish. As I got older my “spanglish” interfered and well now Im still learning how to correctly read and write in both languages. As a teen you always get asked what is it that you want to be when you grow up and I never really had an answer. At one point in high school I said I wanted to be in the WNBA, so I tried playing basketball my junior year and that didn’t work out so great. I changed my mind and said I’d be a sports reporter and then I changed my mind again- a business woman/ immigration lawyer. It’s what fits me the most, I think getting assigned many responsibilities since I was young and seeing how much undocumented communities struggle might’ve influenced that. Our family never went on trips because of fear of immigration, we didn’t enjoy simple family tasks because it all revolved with immigration. What keeps me going is my family. I feel like it’s my responsibility to uplift that luggage from their backs. My whole life has had a limit because of that. I’m on my 3rd year in community college Lone Star and soon I hope I can continue my education at University of Houston and some day at law school.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I guess I can say that we have had our ups and downs in all aspects. Sometimes financially or mentally like how any business would have. As a college student with a full-time job and a part-time job, it’s very hard to stay organized and maintain focus on handling what needs to be done. Eventually, we overcome anything.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Tago Trash Hauling came to life on March 24th, 2017. I was a High School Senior at the time ready to graduate and push further with the business. I came up with the name “Tago” by combining my parent’s last names together. The “Ta” comes from “Talavera” which is my father’s last name, and “Go” comes from my mother’s last name which is “Gonzalez.” This hauling idea originally came from my father who at the time was working for someone else in 2016 who also had a trash hauling business. He convinced me to bring this idea to life with him so we went and got a DBA, bought a dump trailer, supplies, opened a business account, and got as much business cards as we could. I didn’t have much experience when we started so I tried my best at getting customers by going door to door dropping business cards, putting up signs, sending out emails and it worked very well. Most of our customers were directly from our signs and business cards.
Tago Trash Hauling was originally only meant for trash haul. Along the way we added other labor that we offer like fencing, yard work, and small interior demolition. Our labor will be expanding again soon with more services to offer to our customer. Our phrase does say “your one pit stop to all your needs.” As the CEO/Subcontractor I’m proud to say that we have high hopes this company will continue to grow and that we can represent the Hispanic community and entrepreneurs to take risks and go for what you think works best for you. Family-owned businesses are common but OUR family-owned business comes from inspiration from my hard-working undocumented people who come here with nothing but are ready to work and make a living. Our motivation comes from the minority community in hopes that one day we will be everyone’s #1 good role example.
What were you like growing up?
I spent my childhood in Spring Branch and then moved when I got older to the Northwest/Jersey Village area. Growing up, I was a well-behaved kid. I didn’t talk much I was very quiet and timid and only spoke when spoken to. I was very nice but not very outgoing. I wasn’t a people person nor was I an athlete but when I did try to become one… I was a total mess. My basketball coach spent most of her time screaming at me cause I sucked that bad. It’s funny to see me now being a people person to customers.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 832-608-5098
- Email: tagotrashhauling@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/tagotrashhauling?igshid=sgc0xkjjmnzj
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