Highlighting Hispanic-owned businesses across Houston area

The idea of Kscholastic, Inc. Tutoring Services started in 2012 when founder and owner Karla Machado Barcus stopped teaching in Houston-area private schools, according to the website. 

Before she was a teacher, Barcus was a student at the University of Houston pursuing her bachelor’s degrees in Spanish, psychology, and education. It's where she started one-on-one tutoring.

"I always liked helping kids and working with them one-on-one," Barcus said. "I taught for a few years, and I decided to start my own tutoring company."

She said her company first started teaching languages. Then parents began asking for tutoring in other subjects and the business grew. 

"It was all word of mouth. Schools were telling parents, parents were telling other parents, it grew pretty quickly," she said. "We have an administrative team, very diverse administrative team all females. I'm very passionate about it all (being) female-led. And we have about 45 tutors."

Kscholastic is starting a tutoring scholarship for Hispanic students where they are picking one student a year to give free tutoring services.

"I think just the fact that I'm able to own a business in the fourth largest city in the country is incredible," Barcus said. "And also I have a 2-year-old daughter so I think it's super cool that she gets to grow up watching her mom as an immigrant, owning a tutoring company, I think that's wonderful."

JI Dominican Barbershop is managed by Aldo Tejeba.

"I started the barbershop in 2018. Right after Harvey," he said.

JI Dominican is near Memorial in the Spring Branch area. Tejeba said he and his wife chose the location because they were fascinated with this area "because it's beautiful, has good traffic and good people."

"We are known in the community as a good barber for so many years," Tejeba said. "In my country, this is (the) number one business-- (a) barbershop! So we('re) trying to keep our heritage (in) the United States, and people love it!"

The vision for the barbershop is to open a second location by the end of the year, Tejeba said.

"We looking to open in Katy. We don't want to be too far from here," he said. "Like I said, I love Spring Branch community. And we have a lot of customers here, so I don't want to go too far."

Born in Zacatecas, Mexico, Omar Hernandez is the owner of Los Muertos Tattoo Studio.

"The culture itself, you know, being Mexican, goes along with what I do," Hernandez said. "A lot of the art that I do has ties to my heritage. And it's definitely portrayed in what I do."

The building where his art is created is just as unique as his style. 

"This building is about 110 years old, which we thought was really cool," Hernandez said. "We fell in love with it and 13 years later, we're still here."

The building's rich history and the belief that it may have mystical ghosts helped Hernandez come up with the studio name.

Carina Lopez is the owner of Empire Productions, a Houston-based entertainment company for private events.

The company that boasts itself as “your exclusive partner in private events entertainment,” started in 2020.

“I decided to pursue my passion,” Lopez said. “I've always wanted to DJ and I started in the nightlife industry and then quickly realized the market gap for female DJs.

For the past three years the company has been providing a high-end DJ experience, that includes personalization, sound, emcee, and up-lights, they can also help book live entertainment, Lopez said.

In addition to a booming business, Lopez is helping others start entertainment businesses.

"We do have a curriculum. It's four weeks,” Lopez said. “We teach you music theory, how to mix, as well as the business aspect. I think it’s so important within the Hispanic community to talk about how to monetize our skills.
She said she believes Hispanic’s skill sets are valuable and there is an audience waiting for those skills.

Lopez said in a very male-dominated industry, representation is important.

"I'm truly proud to be part of that and to be a role model for other women," she said.

Yvonne Guidry is the owner of Spoiled Latina.

Guidry is a first-generation American, born in Corpus Christi and raised in the valley. 

 "Spoiled Latina is a Latina lifestyle brand that started off as a blog in 2008," she said.

"Growing up, my mom was the last one to sit down,. She was the last one to relax and I think that, I wanna change that. I feel that we all deserve spoil ourselves in all aspects of our life."

Guidry said she's a lover of fashion, beauty and entertainment. 

"I have a Spoiled Latina Summit which is an annual event that brings people into Houston and it brings over 400 women, brands to connect with, mentorship, guidance, and entrepreneurship," she said.

"I just launched Jefita Atrevida which is my community nonprofit and its for mentorship and guiding women, entrepreneurs the right direction to achieve next level success."

Domenic Laurenzo is the executive chef, creator, founder and owner of owner of El Tiempo Cantina. 

"My family's legacy is really special because my grandmother, who was famously known as Mama Ninfa, who started the Ninfa's restaurants in the 70s," he said. 

"I remember her and my interactions with her and then being in the kitchen and the big smile that she had in the way that she loved everybody and the way that she treated everybody, you know, I like to think that I that I try to emulate her as best I can."

El Tiempo can have two meanings in Spanish, Laurenzo told us. He said It can mean the weather or the time. 

"El tiempo to us means the time," he said. 

"You're walking into our home and we welcome you with our arms wide open as you come in to remember the past, as you enjoy the present and ponder the future."

More Hispanic-owned businesses across Houston

If you know of a Hispanic-owned business across the Houston area that you would like us to spotlight, email web@khou.com.

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