Mina Gomez
Age: 34
Financial adviser, Edward Jones & Co.
Mina Gomez caught the “giving back to the community” bug as a member of Eastmont High School’s MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano of Aztlan), which celebrates Spanish-speaking culture and helps Latino students realize their goals for higher education.
She interrupted her own education and career course early on, marrying just after high school and starting a family, while also caring for her widowed mother.
She later returned to school, working toward a business degree at Wenatchee Valley College.
While pursuing her education and embarking on a career in finance — she started in insurance and is now a financial adviser for Edward Jones & Co. — she remained active in community service.
She served on the NCW Hispanic Chamber of Commerce board and continues to participate in its current rendition as the Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Hispanic Business Council. She was a member for several years of the Malaga Water District Commission and was a bilingual disaster response team member for the American Red Cross from 2013 to 2017, helping open and run shelters in response to wildfires.
She also sees opportunity to use her professional expertise to help the community.
”My goal in life is to be able to make a positive financial impact on the lives of others,” she said. “I do this by providing families from many cultures and races with the financial education that meets them where they are at. ... I continually seek to create opportunities and bridge the gaps between wealth and financial education."
She recently completed her WVC certification as a Facilitator for Small Businesses Fast Trac Series through Kauffman, which will give her the ability to run a series of educational start-up courses for small business owners.
“My motto in life is that ‘knowledge is power,’ and without education, our community cannot obtain the power to progress.”
What does success look like to you? What do you see as attributes of a successful community?
Success in my eyes is being able to raise children who are strong, hard-working, ethical and exceptional young leaders in a world where you are not judged by what you don't have but by the quality of your work and what you can bring to the table.
Success is contributing to a community that honors its past and strengthens the next generation’s professional success.
For me, that means working with families to help educate them so that they can be self-sufficient. My ultimate goal is to build a community that is financially literate. This is only accomplished when we start educating families from all walks of life and social and economic status.