Jessica Cavazos, who grew the Wisconsin Latino Chamber of Commerce from a one-room operation to a multimillion dollar center, was sworn in Monday morning as deputy undersecretary for minority business development at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
“It’s been a whirlwind because it came so quickly,” the chamber’s former president said Monday afternoon on a phone call from the airport in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she’s just attended her last meeting as a member of the board of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
The White House first contacted Cavazos just before Christmas. The 49-year-old mother of three was driving from Wisconsin to Texas with her family when she got an email saying the personnel division was trying to reach her.
By January, they were in talks, though Cavazos still didn’t know what role they were looking to fill. “They disclosed that there was a position that would help minority business owners across the nation,” she recalled. “I said, ‘Of course, let’s go for it.’”
Soon she was on the phone with Donald R. Cravins Jr., the first under secretary of the year-old Minority Business Development Agency.
“He basically said, ‘We’d love to have you on board and do what you’ve done in Wisconsin at the chamber at a national level,” said Cavazos, who was sworn in via video conference on Monday morning.
Jessica Cavazos, who served as president and CEO of the Wisconsin Latino Chamber of Commerce until Saturday, is shown speaking at Idea Fest 2022. Cavazos was sworn in Monday as deputy undersecretary of minority business development at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
“Ms. Cavazos’ appointment as the first-ever Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Minority Business Development is a historic milestone for MBDA,” Cravins said in a Monday press release, noting that Cavazos has “dedicated her career to serving and supporting Hispanic businesses, families, and communities.”
“Her leadership is a vital addition to MBDA’s mission to help create a strong, equitable economy driven by our Nation’s minority businesses,” Cravins said.
Leaving the local chamber
Saturday marked the last day of Cavazos’ six-year tenure at the chamber. During that time, the organization moved out of its one-room home at the nonprofit Centro Hispano’s south side center into a suite in a Fitchburg office park. In July 2022, it moved again, this time to a 15,000-square-foot building the chamber purchased and renovated at 5262 Verona Road in Fitchburg. That building, called The Gateway, houses training programs, tax preparation assistance and will eventually also include a commercial kitchen.
In 2019, the chamber formerly known as the Latino Chamber of Commerce of Dane County announced it would change its name and begin serving entrepreneurs statewide. It realized that plan in 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit the state’s Latino population especially hard, exacerbated the need.
Now, reflecting on those years, Cavazos thought about the pledge she made when she first took the helm: that by the time she left, the chamber would be financially sustainable and have its own home.
“My dream at the beginning was only to develop impact and to create this beautiful space for Latinos to thrive,” Cavazos said. “This became … bigger than I ever would have imagined. And now in this new phase, I hope it continues.”
The Wisconsin Latino Chamber of Commerce did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A career shaped in Wisconsin
Born in the border town of McAllen, Texas, Cavazos was just a year old when her mom left her with her grandmother in Reynosa, Mexico, to seek work in the Milwaukee area. Cavazos came to Wisconsin three years later with help from her mom’s new husband, a Puerto Rican man named Wilfredo Rosa, who later helped her mom, then undocumented, become a U.S. citizen. Cavazos credits her own career to the late Rosa and his business venture, a corner store called Matta’s Foods at 28th and Lisbon streets on Milwaukee’s North Side.
“I learned a lot about business at a very young age from my stepfather, and saw the struggles of business ownership,” Cavazos said, noting that there was little help available in Spanish at the time. “As a small business owner, he needed resources, and no one would answer his questions in his native tongue.”
She made it her goal to help other Latino business owners get the support they need, in their own language and from people who understand their culture. Before moving to Madison, she served as executive director of Volusia County Chamber of Commerce in Volusia County, Florida. Prior to that, she worked as a Congressional liaison for U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore. When she returned to Wisconsin from Florida, Cavazos launched Eleva Group Inc., a Milwaukee-based company focused on creating public-private partnerships to support communities.
Now, as the first deputy undersecretary of minority business development, Cavazos is looking forward to listening to small business owners from minority groups across the country and working to help the federal agency address their needs.
She thinks back on the struggles of her ancestors, and of her mother who came to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant nearly 50 years ago. “It was really worth it,” Cavazos said.
“They finally have representation at the highest level in government. I think, with the MBDA, I’ll be able to support a lot of small businesses that just want to be recognized.”
On Wednesday, Cavazos will fly to Washington, D.C. for her first day in the agency’s office, though she doesn’t yet have plans to relocate. As a presidential appointee, she doesn’t know how long she’ll serve.
As for the chamber she helped grow in Dane County, she’s confident that it has the name recognition, staff and resources to thrive without her.
But her voice cracked as she thought about the job she’s leaving behind. “I fell in love with Madison. It gave our family an opportunity to grow and embrace and learn, and I’ve met so many wonderful people there,” Cavazos said. “I’ll be with them in spirit.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include comment from the Minority Business Development Agency.
