Santa Maria Valley Chamber adds two new staff members, including Hispanic business representative
SANTA MARIA, Calif. – The Santa Maria Valley Chamber has announced it has added two new staff members, including a Hispanic Business Development and Services Representative.
Efrain Salazar-Colores has filled the Hispanic Business Development and Services Representative position for the Chamber, while Romina Montemurro is the new Communications Coordinator.
Both new staff members are very familiar with Santa Maria, especially Salazar-Colores, who grew up in the city and attended Santa Maria High School and Allan Hancock College.
Montemurro is from Arroyo Grande and graduated from Arroyo Grande High School and Cal Poly.
Salazar-Colores, who also graduated from Long Beach State with a marketing degree, will help bolster the Chamber's role within the growing Hispanic business community.
"What I'm going to be doing is working closely with Hispanic-owned businesses and building lasting good relationships that help the Hispanic community and Hispanic businesses in the area," said Salazar-Colores. "My primary job duty is going to be facilitating relationships with the Chamber and the Hispanic community. A lot of times in the Hispanic community, they don't feel comfortable reaching out to government entities, and I want to be that facilitator that helps them reach out and helps them feel comfortable."
Salazar-Colores believes his personal connection with the city will be an asset as he develops connections with local business owners.
"Having grown up here in this area, it's evident that there's a lot of Hispanic, business businesses that operate from this community. And I just want to be able to help them grow because if those businesses prosper, the community as a whole is going to prosper," said Salazar-Colores. "I really feel like the Hispanic community and the Hispanic-owned businesses in this community have a lot of potential, and I hope to unlock some of that, and to maybe motivate some people to open up new businesses, and just help grow that part of our community."
Montemurro brings a journalism degree, along with a focus in public relations, to her new Chamber position.
"I'll be working closely with internal and external teams to convey strategic communication across various channels, including social media, other public relations and working within businesses and organizing public events," said Montemurro. "It's just so important that the Chamber is able to effectively communicate its messages, and be able to really unite businesses and all of the proceedings, and make sure that Chamber members, and those who are not members but want to be members are aware that there is a community here to support them, and help them in their business endeavors going forward."
As someone who grew up just a short drive north on Highway 101, Montemurro said she is excited to remain close to home and help Santa Maria businesses succeed and prosper as the city continues to grow and move forward.
"As a local of the Central Coast, because I've grown up here, and I visited and lived in the area my entire life. I'm really, really proud, and I feel really honored that I have this opportunity to be able to work with businesses locally, and really support them in the proceedings going forward because there really is such a strong community here of businesses, business owners, clients, patrons and consumers," said Montemurro. "Everything works together and the way that businesses interact with each other is also really special here because we have such a family-centric social community that we just have a really nice community here for business proceedings."
To learn more about the Santa Maria Valley Chamber, click here to visit its website.
