In Escaping a Difficult Past, One Entrepreneur Rewrote Her Future: “I Did Not Want to Go Back”

Hazel Ortega (EO LAC Bridge)

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) is sharing the story of EO LAC Bridge member Hazel Ortega, who regularly engages with and inspires EO members in chapters in EO’s Latin American and Caribbean region.   

Only 12, Hazel Ortega saw her best friend killed while they waited for the school bus. In East Los Angeles during the 1980s, violence was not an abstraction — it was the backdrop of her adolescence.

“People that have read my book say it was like ‘Game of Thrones’ as the gang wars were so bad,” Hazel recalls. “My cousin was killed in a drive-by shooting. My other cousin was killed by the police because he was a gang member. There was a lot of violence around that time, so you had to watch over your shoulder.”

“I always thought that one person could not make a difference, especially not me. Today, I know that is not true.”

- Hazel Ortega (EO LAC Bridge)

Poverty magnified the danger, yet it also bred resourcefulness. Hazel’s mother, raising four children alone while on welfare, regularly resold used items, often converting their living room into a makeshift showroom. On weekends, she laid blankets down at the park to hawk clothes and toys. She even sold Hazel’s prom dress the day after the event. “I believe I learned entrepreneurial skill sets from my mom,” says Hazel, who is an Entrepreneurs’ Organization member through the EO LAC Bridge chapter.  

That early exposure to hardship and hustle foreshadowed the tenacity that would later propel her from the brutality of her youth to a global platform.

The Turning Point

By her late twenties, Hazel had not finished high school and worked long hours in menial jobs. Of all things, though, her life pivoted on a lie. During a job interview for a position that required college experience, she claimed she was in school: That lie that forced her to enroll in classes. Around the same time, an injury on the job left her unable to type for long hours, prompting her to join a state program that provided funding and training for injured workers. “I went to school because the job required it, not because I wanted to,” Hazel admits. “But when I was injured on the job, they paid for me to go to school.”

That twist of fate — and the mentorship of a boss who insisted she was destined for a successful career and urged her not to quit when she felt like doing so — changed her trajectory. Hazel earned her high school diploma at 30. A bachelor’s degree and graduate degrees in psychology soon followed. All the while, she balanced full-time work, classes on nights and weekends, and raising three children. “My motivation was big because I grew up so poor,” she says. “I did not want to go back to that after I had come this far.”

Hazel published a book about her journey in 2018. 

Embracing a New Vision

Hazel’s first role as a school psychologist revealed another fork in the road. Working with children from affluent families, she was struck by how often success on paper masked dysfunction at home. She worried her own children might one day sit across from a psychologist describing an absent mother because of all the hours she devoted to work and school. So, she took a leap and refinanced her house, converted her garage into an office, and launched her own counseling and career center.

At first, the success was modest — just enough to cover the mortgage and basic expenses. For five years, Hazel and her business partner aimed to earn US$4,000 a month. Then a business coach challenged her to think bigger. “When I started focusing on that number, what it would take to get US$10,000 a month, then business started growing,” she says. That lesson in the power of creating and believing in a vision would become her enduring north star. Her company has since helped more than 45,000 injured workers retrain and reclaim their futures, much like she had years before.

For Hazel, success was never solely about revenue. The more she built, the more she felt compelled to give. After attaining financial stability, she upscaled her vision and mission to help “100 percent of injured workers go back to school and get their education.” That bold commitment forced her to expand her reach and build her brand. First, she had to overcome her fear of public speaking, which led her to deliver more than 60 talks in a single year.

Her nonprofit, High Tide Global, has since helped fund a range of initiatives, including a medical center in Uganda. Through it, she provides copies of her bestselling memoir, “From Bounced Checks to Private Jets,” to inmates and delivers training to help incarcerated people reintegrate to work upon release.

That mission-driven approach has earned her accolades like an EO Global Social Impact Award; California State Senator Bob Archuleta recently honored her as a Woman of Achievement.

 “Altruism is what really kicked in,” Hazel says. “Mentoring, coaching, doing something that makes me uncomfortable — that is what allowed me to scale.”

Hazel has devoted increasing time to philanthropic efforts,
including a medical center in Uganda. 

Fulfillment Through Impact

An 11-year member of EO, Hazel credits some of her recent growth to lessons she has learned from fellow members. One still resonates: “good enough is good enough.” A fellow EO member emphasized to her that no employee will ever care as much as she does, but if they can do the work 80 percent as well, that is good enough and will enable her to let go of the little things and focus on big projects or other meaningful pursuits. “As soon as I joined EO, I stopped working,” she says. “It was a mindset shift.”

Since then, she has become one of EO’s most sought-after speakers in Latin America and beyond, sharing insights about the importance of finding a purpose, executing a vision, and making meaningful social impact. “What is the point of hustling and working and making all this money if we are not giving back?” she asks.

Though Hazel speaks to audiences around the world, she finds personal fulfillment when connecting with entrepreneurs from EO chapters in Central and South America. “The Latino community is very important to me,” she says. “When I’m with the Spanish speakers, I feel like they are an extension of my family. When there is a language connection, it is deeper: It is the language that my family speaks.”

Hazel spoke at a recent EO Accelerator event in Mexico City. 

Of all her achievements, Hazel may be proudest of seeing her story turned into art. In August, a play adapted from her memoir premiered in Mexico City. The play, now touring, is scheduled to soon reach Los Angeles, where 1,200 formerly incarcerated people will see it. “After the play, they come up to me and have so much gratitude,” she says. “They walk away with tools that do not cost them a dime.”

For Hazel, those moments of connection — when someone realizes they too can rewrite their story — are worth more than any accolade or financial milestone. “I always thought that one person could not make a difference, especially not me,” she says. “Today, I know that is not true.”

Interested in becoming an EO member like Hazel? Learn more here.