3A - My Entrepreneurship Story

     My overall attitude in creating change for people and for the community spawned at an age early enough to where I started to understand the fabric of the world around me. As early as nine years of age, in addition to attending school, my father put me to work at our family owned butcher shop, Ricky's Meats. I started by mopping the saloon floors after the hours of operation and assisting with organizing the different cuts of meat for the deli display. Suddenly, throughout my duration in working at the meat shop, I started to realize the magnitude of impact human value has on society. A humbling appreciation towards the grit my father, my grandfather and the rest of my family displayed, grew over time through learning our origin as Cuban immigrants. These concepts, that are particularly acquired through life, that I have gathered from growing up, instilled the prime motive for my future endeavors.
    My father, after establishing himself as a citizen of the U.S. at seventeen years old, was limited to attending college because of his language barrier. He took an alternative route to success, which was entrepreneurship. My grandfather, having gathered some experience on working at several butcher shops while living in Cuba, banded together with my father in 1972 to commence a concept that provided meat related products at low prices entailed with

highly competitive quality. Currently, the shop supplies wholesale services to local Miami restaurants and sells, through retail, a variety of food products.  
   As I absorbed all the steps to my family's process to success, I honed my personal grit to reflect their achievements. My family's collective success has provided me with the opportunity that my father did not have the chance to experience, which is involving myself in academia to pursue a bachelor's degree in Business Administration.  After earning this degree, I plan to ingrain the skills University of Florida will prepare me with and the experiences I have gathered from my family mentoring me to all my entrepreneurial pursuits. On the horizon, I plan to attend medical school to lead me into become an expert surgeon, establish a chain of clinical services, and add new segments to Ricky's Meats.