Congratulation to our Vice President of Catering for being named one of Crain's Grand Rapids 40 Under 40 Business Leaders!
- El Granjero Mexican Grill
- Oct 25, 2024
- 1 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Paola Mendivil immigrated from Mexico to the United States in 2005, and shortly after started helping her mother fulfill her dream of opening her own restaurant.
That experience also helped shape her work as business development officer for GROW, where she helps other small business owners — many of whom are also minorities and women — navigate business ownership.
Mendivil has been working at her mother’s restaurant, El Granjero Mexican Grill, since 2007 and joined GROW in 2022 as business development officer.
She said the most rewarding part of her work at GROW is building trusting relationships with clients.
“To me, the trust of a client is very important,” she said. “It’s something that I take very seriously, because I understand the challenges we go through, I understand the fears. I have the lived experience of being an immigrant business owner in the U.S., navigating the differences between how you run a business in your home country versus here.”
