Biculturalism Helped These Latinas Build Their Businesses
Reyna Immerfall, a State Farm agent in Ankeny, Iowa. Photos by Anthony Arroyo / JEFAS Magazine
Latinas have been shaping Iowa since the early 20th century. Most have clung to traditions and values that they passed down to their children. Today, there are thousands of Latinas born in Iowa to parents who were also born in Iowa. Although some have adapted more to English than Spanish, their cultural habits still shape their identity as Latinas. Reyna Immerfall and Alicia Peña rely on their dual culture to grow their businesses and serve their communities.
Reyna Immerfall: Insurance Agent and Family Woman
Immerfall, a State Farm agent in Ankeny, comes from a long line of Latinas who have made their mark in Iowa. Her aunt, Lena Robison, born and raised in Iowa, founded Latinos Unidos de Iowa. Immerfall grew up immersed in traditions such as tamalada gatherings, where her mother, grandmother, aunts, and cousins would come together to make tamales for celebrations.
“I don’t look Latina and I don’t speak much Spanish,” she says. “But once people get to know me, they understand—yes, she’s Latina.” Her business is a family affair, much like many other events in her culture. “The trust my family had in me when I first started was huge,” Immerfall says about her first year as an insurance agent.
She opened her office in 2020, just before the world shut down. “My marketing plan went out the window,” she says. Fortunately, her team, including her nephew who had just graduated from college, worked together to spread the word about her agency. “It really was the family business I had always dreamed of,” she says of her team, which spent hours during the pandemic helping Latino families access food through Knock and Drop of Iowa.
The Importance of biculturalism and authenticity
Although she admits that no one really dreams of being an insurance agent, her experience in the field showed her that Latinos are significantly underinsured. She decided to open her office in Ankeny because there was no one serving her community there. “Once we put an insurance plan in place to protect you, you can have fun and enjoy life.”
Her business motto, Heart, Head, and Humor, values she grew up with, guides her business. “It’s all about the people. If it doesn’t make sense to you, it won’t make sense to your client.” That love for service, her sharp business sense, and her ability to laugh have helped Immerfall overcome the ups and downs of running a business and balancing her life.
Reyna Immerfall, a State Farm agent in Ankeny, Iowa. Photos by Anthony Arroyo / JEFAS Magazine
Overcoming Personal Challenges
She lost her nephew and father shortly after opening her office, and although her heart was broken, she had to keep working and maintain her team. “The name on the door is mine. If bills don’t get paid, State Farm doesn’t step in to save me.” Her office isn’t a franchise. State Farm agents are independent business owners who sell exclusively State Farm products and services. They are solely responsible for starting and maintaining their business.
Today, she’s grateful to have had her business to distract her during those difficult times and looks back on her hard beginnings fondly. “I’ll never forget our first winter. We tried everything to get people through the door. We had a hot chocolate stand and we all wore Christmas elf costumes. A snowstorm hit, and no one came in. We looked out the window and saw a car crash into the fence and get stuck in the snow. My team and I ran out to help the family get out of the car and out of the cold. Four elves to the rescue.”
The Impact of Her Business on the Community
These memories help Immerfall remember why she sacrifices; it’s part of who she is and how she was raised—helping others. “I want a place where our community can come and talk to someone who understands them. Being able to help my community in my business is a source of pride for me.”
Alicia Peña: Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Alicia Peña, a licensed mental health counselor, also takes pride in using her Latina identity to help her patients feel welcomed. Her family has deep roots in the Quad Cities, but she put down roots in Central Iowa. That’s what inspired the name of her practice, Tree of Life Therapy and Counseling Services, LLC.
“Healing begins at the roots. It’s a native idea that healing starts from deep within. It takes into account the past, where you come from.” Peña was the daughter of a Mexican-American father and a German-American mother. Life at home was tough due to alcoholism, so she became independent at the age of sixteen. She had several low-paying jobs before taking classes to earn her GED and think more seriously about her future.
Alicia Peña, a licensed mental health counselor at Tree of Life Therapy and Counseling Services, LLC. Photos by Anthony Arroyo / JEFAS Magazine
The Path to Higher Education
She moved to Colorado and became an assistant to a real estate agent. After having her son, she wanted to raise him closer to her family, so she moved to Des Moines, where several family members lived. With her family’s support, she returned to school, more focused than ever, and caught the attention of the founder of VOC Rehab, an agency that works with disabled individuals. “He challenged me and pushed me.”
Guided by his mentorship, Peña earned a scholarship to Drake University, where, at 37, she became the first college graduate in her family. “It was hard, but I did it for my son, so he wouldn’t become another statistic.”
Overcoming Obstacles and Helping Others
It was a long journey from working jobs that paid seven dollars an hour to earning her Master’s in Counseling. “Books are knowledge, but professionalism is too,” she says of the hours spent learning from other therapists about how to run a counseling practice. Today, 90% of her patients are Latinas. “I don’t speak Spanish, but it doesn’t matter. I understand them. They feel safe in my office to talk about how racism has affected them.”
When she speaks to aspiring counselors at her alma mater, she’s passionate about breaking down barriers. “If you’re going to be a therapist and you don’t accept Medicaid, you’re not a real therapist. I’ve been through that, and I know the stereotypes aren’t true.”
Biculturalism Helps Heal Trauma in the Latina Community
Having taken a non-traditional path to open her practice, Peña can relate to her patients on many levels. That’s what drives her to offer specialized therapy options. As an EMDR-trained consultant, she teaches what she preaches and wants more Latinas to enter the mental health field. “We’re not enough in this field, and it’s so needed.”
EMDR is a therapy technique that briefly focuses on a traumatic memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral eye movement stimulation. “It treats the trauma trapped in our bodies,” Peña explains. Her own trauma motivated her to use it to treat her patients.
The Legacy of Helping Women Thrive
“I don’t take for granted what I’ve been through or what I can do today. I love what I do and I get referrals all the time. I help other women who start as victims turn into survivors and learn to thrive.” Although Peña is close to retirement age, she has no desire to slow down. “I always want to educate the Latina community to become therapists and receive therapy.” She encourages people to keep fighting for themselves, just like she learned to do on her path to becoming a businesswoman. “I worked through my fears, my imposter syndrome in therapy. When those thoughts came up, I had to reframe them. Today, I don’t believe that.”
