Monica Vanessa Rodriguez is the third generation of Rodriguez’s that have owned and operated a business. Her maternal grandfather was a master carpenter who taught her the importance of building and constructing things of high quality and excellent craftsmanship. Continuing with that tradition, her father not only reinforced the skills that she had learned in her youth but he gave her the insight of how to run a successful business. It is the spirit of her grandfather’s and father, the experience of two generations, that gives her the necessary skills and knowledge to allow her to run a successful company.
In 2000, with her twenty years of business experience, she started her own company called Beacon Information Technology, now known as Beacon Services. The plan was to target the potential business opportunities taking place at Fort Bliss, Texas.
She was approached by the Fort Bliss Contracting Office with less than six months in her company’s existence to provide temporary employees Fort Bliss to transition government employees to a privatized contractor. In April 2005, Fort Bliss Contracting again approached Monica about the possibility of Beacon taking over the bus transportation system at Fort Bliss. The first contract was released to Beacon one month later with a commitment to provide the installation with twenty drivers. Good service and a can do attitude, has seen this contract grow from twenty full drivers to eighty full time and twenty-five part time drivers with five supervisors. The success of this contract has seen Beacon’s gross sales go from $189,000.00 in 2000 to $5.1 million in 2006 with indications that this number will be higher in 2007.
This strong growth gave Monica the confidence to establish a construction division in the company and return to her family roots. She started out by purchasing thirteen homes in the El Paso area, remodeling them and selling them. Once she had built that confidence level she began bidding on competitive contract. In just over seven months, the newly formed construction division has completed over $1.5 million in contracts. By years end, it is possible for the division to double its gross sales.
Her awards include the Military Order of Saint Barbara and 2008 Small Business Administration Small Business Person of the Year.