Romana Acosta Banuelos Bañuelos
Personal Information
Born: 1925
Died: 2018
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Education
most sources indicate she had only a middle school education while Wikipedia indicates she attended Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies
Professional Life
Field of Study: Finance
Institution/Corporation: Ramona's Mexican Food Products, Inc (now Ramona Foods Group); Pan American National Bank
Degrees & Memberships: Executive women in government (1979; founding member)
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 1969 Outstanding Business Woman of the Year, City of Los Angeles; 1969 Commendation Award, County of Los Angeles; 1977 Woman Achievement Award, East Los Angeles Community Union; 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award, Latino Business Chamber of Greater Los Angeles
Achievements: 1st Latina to serve as U.S. treasurer (1971-74) appointed by President Nixon; 1947 founder Ramona's Mexican Food Products, Inc a multimillion dollar business headquartered in Gardena California; 1963 co-founder & president of Pan American National Bank in East Los Angeles
born in Arizona to poor immigrant parents the family was deported in 1933 when she was a child during the Great Depression; returned to the US as a citizen at 18, a single mother with 2 young sons
themain purpose of the Pan americanNational Bank she co-founded was to provide loans to Latinos who wanted to start their own businesses
established the Ramona Mexican Food Products Scholarship for poor Mexican-American students
during her Treasury nomination process US Immigration Service agents conducted a disruptive, publicized raid on her factory, arresting 26 illegal immigrants, a later investigation revealed the raid was an attempt to embarrass the Nixon administration
by 1979 her company was making & distributing 22 different food products, had over 400 employees & sales of $12 million a year
in the late 1990s allowed her 3 children to take over the daily operation of Ramona's
worked in a laundromat, as a waitress, diswasher & tortilla maker before she was able to save $500 to purchase equipment & open her own tortilla & tamale business with her Aunt Helen
in Miami Arizona attended a segregated school that was erected in 1923 for the town's Mexican children
during the deportation process the governement paid for the transportation of the family's belongings to the Mexican border, they lived with relatives on a farm they worked
an interview with her for the Arizona Memory Project can be located at azmemory.azlibrary.gov/nodes/view/159422