Hispanic Heritage spotlight: CEO Angy Lopez of Oak Hills
Editor's note: This is the third article in a planned month-long series to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. Check future editions of the Daily Press for more stories.
Under her pageant queen crown, Angelica “Angy” Lopez of Oak Hills is a successful CEO who isn’t afraid to mop floors, clean restrooms, and praise her employees.
Before she started her Angy’s Angels Cleaning business in 2014, Lopez was a single mother raising her children while working for the Hesperia Unified School District, attending Victor Valley College, and cleaning houses.
Lopez, who lives in Oak Hills, eventually started her business to help pay college tuition for her children.
Today, an estimated 100 employees work for Lopez, which has offices in the High Desert, Fontana, Los Angeles and San Diego.
“Over the last four years, we went from about 300 to 600 clients across Southern California,” said Lopez, a U.S. citizen who moved to the U.S. in 2012 from her native Guadalajara, Mexico. “We have a lot of large commercial and residential clients. We serve a lot of schools.”
Lopez has four children, including Julian, 14, who attends high school, and college students Jacobo, 20, and Ariana, 24. Also, college grad Horacio, 26.
“Most of them help with the business while they continue to study,” Lopez said. “As for me, I’m still single, mainly because I’m too busy to get married.”
Lopez also told the Daily Press that since moving to the U.S., she can “proudly say” that she went to school and learned to speak and write English.
“I still have a strong accent, but I’m confident in the ability to communicate in English,” said Lopez, who said she rarely speaks “Spanglish.”
Staying busy
Lopez keeps busy training employees, expanding her business, inspiring young entrepreneurs, and participating with the High Desert Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Over the years, Lopez has participated in several pageants, including one where she took home the Mrs. Latina Global 2020 crown.
“Latina Global is not your typical beauty pageant,” Lopez said. “This pageant is for mothers who are educated entrepreneurs and business professionals who have influence in the community.”
One of her “passions” is to help fellow Latinos and non-Latinos to catch the entrepreneurial spirit so they can start a business, Lopez said.
“Besides cleaning, helping others to succeed is what I love to do,” Lopez said. “People were there for me when I first started — now it’s my turn to be there for others.”
Lopez also lends her voice at the Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship at California State University, San Bernardino, where she attended school.
During a multi-day UpStarters Discovery Camp for high students at the college, Lopez was one of several entrepreneurs who shared their stories of success and struggle.
A few times a year, Lopez likes to return to her second home in Guadalajara, mainly to visit family and to connect with her roots.
“The U.S. and the High Desert are my home, but every so often, I need to go back,” Lopez said. “With the culture, music, food, historic buildings and scenery, Guadalajara is a beautiful place.”
Lopez is also a world traveler, with a recent trip to Paris.
Angy’s Angels
Angy’s Angels was among three High Desert businesses that took home the top prize during the 16th annual Spirit of the Entrepreneur Awards ceremony in 2018.
Lopez told the audience during the ceremony, “This award will be shared with my employees because we’re a team, and they deserve to be recognized.”
Lopez’s business was among 38 finalists from over 220 nominees from Riverside and San Bernardino counties that were recognized for their business accomplishments during the black-tie gala at the Riverside Convention Center.
The Awards are presented to businesses that best exemplify the spirit of entrepreneurship, which includes job creation, building a successful enterprise, and risk-taking.
Surviving COVID-19
As Lopez’s business continued to expand, the COVID-19 pandemic put a damper on her company, with clients staying home and closing their businesses.
“The first few months of the pandemic were hard for the company,” Lopez said. “My employees had families, and they needed to work.”
Lopez hired a New York-based company to train and certify her team on proper cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting methods in the age of COVID-19.
“After about three months, we started getting more clients, including many schools,” Lopez said. "My employees started working, and our payroll was back to normal. I thank God that we survived."
The future
Lopez and her team are always looking for opportunities to hire and train new employees and to stay on top of the cleaning industry, she said.
“We’re in the process of creating a one-stop-shop app, where potential employees can apply for a job,” Lopez said. “The app will allow clients to schedule cleaning appointments and for employees to order supplies.”
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227 or RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz.
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Hispanic Heritage spotlight: CEO Angy Lopez of Oak Hills
