Mexican native living the American dream in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Gaby Verdugo grew up in Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. She says she vividly remembers the violence in her hometown.

"They start shooting right on top of the gate. I was like, 'Oh, it is happening again,'" Verdugo said. "All I can hear, my mom is like, 'Get down, get down.' And all I wanted to do is to actually see what's happening."

That was the main reason she decided to immigrate to the United States of America and have the freedom to build a life she wanted.

"I remember me being a kid and going onto the roof of my house and I will literally see El Paso, Texas, from my house because I was very close to the border," Verdugo said. "And just seeing the difference architecturally, or just like how clean it was from this side to this side."

She came to the U.S. just before she turned 18.

"My first year was really, really tough because even my classes, like, I didn't understand what was happening," Verdugo said. "So I was just asking my professors to give me all of the PDFs and everything so I can go and translate it on freaking Google Translator."

When she moved to Springfield in 2016, she tells Ozarks First she wasn't sure what she wanted to do for a career.

"So when I found a real estate that really goes with my personality," Verdugo said.

She then began helping other people of Hispanic heritage become homeowners.

"I also understand that we live in a city in a state that there is not much support for the Hispanic community just yet, because I do believe that we're going to get there," Verdugo said.

Verdugo says being a real estate agent opened the doors for her to do other things, like start the Hispanic networking group of the Ozarks and own two other businesses. One being the Chicas Club, an all women's gym.

"I'm a person that I have never felt uncomfortable at the gym full of men," Verdugo said. "I actually feel like it pushes me because I'm competitive."

She said after doing research, she found a lot of women who didn't want to go to the gym because they felt insecure as a new gym-goer around men who had been working out for years.

"Our goal here is to take all of those excuses, right?" Verdugo said. "And I call it excuses because I do really think that if you make it a priority, that you can make it work. And I know it's hard."

After living in the U.S. for over a decade, she says she now can see how beautiful her culture is.

"I do hope that I am successful enough where I can help the place, the city where I grew up," Verdugo said. "Obviously, I would like to help Mexico, but I cannot do that. So I just focus on the neighborhood I grew up on."