00:00.000 --> 00:03.570
Sean Murray: Sure, so you said
that you've, you've helped

00:03.570 --> 00:07.650
businesses get PPP EIDL. You
didn't charge them. But what, so

00:07.650 --> 00:11.820
what I'm curious about and all
that, right, is that you worked

00:11.970 --> 00:15.900
a lot with the, you know, the
Latin community during COVID.

00:15.900 --> 00:19.320
And I'm curious, you know, and
we've asked this question, I've

00:19.320 --> 00:21.270
asked this question a bunch of
times, you know, what were

00:21.360 --> 00:23.880
merchants telling you? What were
small businesses telling you,

00:23.940 --> 00:26.670
but I feel like I've never
gotten that answer, specifically

00:26.670 --> 00:30.420
from the Latin demographic,
like, what was the Latin? What

00:30.420 --> 00:32.910
was the Latin community telling
you during COVID?

00:32.930 --> 00:36.200
Sonia Alvelo: They were
devastated, you know, just not a

00:36.200 --> 00:41.630
lot of information in the Latino
community. In terms about, well,

00:41.630 --> 00:46.040
nobody was expecting what
happened. First of all, we as a

00:46.040 --> 00:49.850
company, we, you know, had a
rough time as well as everybody.

00:51.230 --> 00:53.630
But we decided, okay, you know,
what, there's something that we

00:53.630 --> 01:00.800
can do in that time, which was,
help them with the SBA. And, you

01:00.800 --> 01:03.650
know, the stories, they break my
heart, it wasn't easy, because

01:03.650 --> 01:06.860
you know, what, I was listening
to those stories over and over,

01:06.860 --> 01:10.940
and, you know, what are we gonna
do? We don't have the money. I

01:10.940 --> 01:14.540
didn't have the answers, Sean at
all, you know, I was worried

01:14.540 --> 01:17.090
about my own company at the
time, but, you know, listening

01:17.090 --> 01:20.240
to them, I understood that it
you know, it wasn't, I wasn't

01:20.240 --> 01:23.420
the only one, you know, that who
was going through that, I think

01:23.420 --> 01:27.710
it's it's not a lot of
information for the Latino

01:27.710 --> 01:31.520
community through crisis. And
that's, I think that I got

01:31.520 --> 01:33.800
overwhelmed. Because everybody
was calling and getting trying

01:33.800 --> 01:38.900
to, you know, Latino community,
they, if I do have a job with

01:38.900 --> 01:42.110
you, they gonna tell somebody
else, and they're gonna tell

01:42.110 --> 01:46.100
somebody else. And you know, my
phones, it was like ringing and

01:46.100 --> 01:49.670
ringing throughout the days. And
trust me, I get calls from

01:49.670 --> 01:53.030
Puerto Rico, Latinos at seven
o'clock in the morning, or at 10

01:53.030 --> 01:56.810
o'clock at night. And sometimes
I have to stop and think, okay,

01:56.810 --> 02:02.840
you know, what, I'll call them
tomorrow, but we just, I am who

02:02.840 --> 02:06.650
I am now, because of them. So,
you know, anything that I can do

02:06.650 --> 02:11.120
for the community, regardless,
it's not easy. But I will do it.

02:11.450 --> 02:13.850
Sean Murray: Were there some who
didn't even know about PPP or

02:13.850 --> 02:14.990
EIDL until you told them?

02:15.020 --> 02:18.050
Sonia Alvelo: It's it's crazy
how many people to this day,

02:18.080 --> 02:20.300
they don't know, they don't even
know about the increase.

02:20.900 --> 02:22.370
Sean Murray: They don't know
about the increase? We're

02:22.370 --> 02:23.720
talking about the EIDL increase.

02:23.750 --> 02:23.990
Sonia Alvelo: Correct.

02:24.020 --> 02:26.120
Sean Murray: Okay, you're you're
the first person to tell them

02:26.120 --> 02:26.540
basically,

02:26.570 --> 02:30.140
Sonia Alvelo: Yes. And it's
scary, you know, you know, you

02:30.140 --> 02:33.950
know, first of all, I am
surprised when they asked me,

02:33.980 --> 02:37.190
what is that? Uh, you know, at
first, with the PPP. What is

02:37.190 --> 02:41.030
that? They had no idea. I was
like, okay, I gotta translate

02:41.030 --> 02:43.970
this in Spanish, you know, this
is not what I what I had in

02:43.970 --> 02:49.580
mind. Yeah. So but, um, the
SBA.gov they have, you know, you

02:49.580 --> 02:53.210
know, the information in all the
languages. So, that's what I

02:53.240 --> 02:56.120
realized, you know, I was like,
okay, you got to read it first,

02:56.210 --> 02:58.640
you know, have to send that
over, and you gotta read it, and

02:58.640 --> 03:02.180
then call me back, I wanted to
make sure that they understand

03:02.270 --> 03:04.670
and the guidelines that we're
changing, so it was, it was

03:04.670 --> 03:08.900
horrific, you know, the process
but it's not like I said, again,

03:08.930 --> 03:12.710
not a lot of information for
them. So I learned as like, you

03:12.710 --> 03:17.090
know, watching the news, you
know, and through my, my, my

03:17.090 --> 03:20.780
actual lender for my business
account. They were amazing with

03:20.780 --> 03:21.980
us. So yeah.