We had the good fortune of connecting with Blanca Hernandez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Blanca, what’s the most important lesson your business/career has taught you?
We all can agree that such qualifications and characteristics as business acumen, persistence, and resilience, are important to succeed in all endeavors. However, I consider flexibility to be even more important. People go to school to pursue a career. Yet, many opt for something totally different after obtaining a college degree in a chosen field. Most manage to be quite successful in their new pursuit. I started with the goal of becoming an electrical engineer. That degree helped me to set up my first company in the microelectronics industry. Circumstances developed that required flexibility and compelled me to pursue other options. One of these was to become a language analyst in the FBI. In turn, this experience elicited my desire to teach languages and produce products to teach them. Outcomes of this endeavor are the creation of personalized hand puppets, charade card games, and books, all for the purpose of teaching English or Spanish.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
A few years after I earned a degree in electrical engineering from the University of New Mexico, I opened my own engineering company. In less than five years, my company represented companies based in Japan, Mexico, and Taiwan. Through my firm, these companies supplied production-level electronic components to the “maquiladora” industry along the US-Mexico border. Shortly after negotiating several highly lucrative contracts, I had to close my business due to a car accident that required long-term cognitive and physical therapy. I was fortunate to learn at the end of my therapy that the area of my brain that controls language skills was not affected. I decided to pursue a career as a language analyst in the FBI from which I retired. This experience elicited my desire to teach languages and produce products to teach them. Outcomes of this endeavor are the creation of personalized hand puppets, charade card games, and books, all for the purpose of teaching English or Spanish.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
A typical tour for people who come to visit includes several “must do” activities. These consist of mandatory visit to the Fort Worth Stock Yards to observe the cattle drive. The next stopping point is a nearby winery before proceeding to the Fort Worth Water Garden. Dinner at Abuelo’s Mexican restaurant is always a treat before enjoying a drink under the gazebo in our backyard.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My family has been with me every step of the way. They have encouraged me, provided constructive advice, and supported me in every way possible. My passion to use hand puppets started when I realized the impact they made on my grandchildren when I used them on the latter the first time. Hence, I have had an abundance of “guinea pigs” whenever I need to get a reaction to something I have created.

Website: https://espanol4all.com
Instagram: Instagram.com/getartngames
Twitter: twitter.com/espanol4all
Facebook: facebook.com/espanol4all.com

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