Local entrepreneur encourages Latino business owners [Video]

Saray Taylor-Roman worked as a Spanish teacher for seven years before becoming a photographer.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Small Business Administration is celebrating National Small Business Week! It is a week meant to acknowledge the contributions of the country’s entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Here in East Tennessee, we have plenty of successful entrepreneurs. One of them is Saray Taylor-Roman.

Taylor-Roman was born in Mexico and now lives in East Tennessee. She said she worked as a Spanish teacher for seven years but felt she was lacking fulfillment in her career, so she decided to take a leap of faith and become a photographer.

“It has been an amazing experience to have my own business,” Taylor-Roman said. “First of all because I am a first-generation immigrant and a first-generation business owner in my family.”

The now award-winning photographer said, though, the journey to get to this point was not easy, particularly because …