When Natalie Rodriguez opened up Nuestra in January of 2020, she had little sense of the looming chaos about to be brought by a global pandemic. Eighteen months later, her family-style Puerto Rican-inspired spot is in the process of reopening at Worcester’s former Bull Mansion, thanks in large part to the community around her as well as Rodriguez’s budding career as the owner of a credit consulting business.
On Thursday, the entrepreneur joined GBH’s Boston Public Radio as part of the show’s ongoing series about small businesses recovering from the pandemic.
Unlike many of her peer restaurant owners, Rodriguez wasn’t able to take advantage of the outpour of Paycheck Protection Program or Small Business Association loans. Because Nuestra was such a young business, she was left to fend for herself — all with a credit rating somewhere in the mid 400s.
“When I first, first, first applied, I got denied within eight minutes,” she remembered. “I’m not afraid to say it anymore, I’m not embarrassed. Like I said, there’s 53 million Americans with bad credit, and so we’re here to help the masses.”
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With few other options, she consulted a former mentor on Facebook and decided to create a service that would help others navigate the financial pitfalls that had held her back.
“It’s kind of amazing,” Rodriguez said. “When you get your back against the wall, it’s a matter of ‘what are you going to do’? Are you gonna back down, or are you actually gonna push forward?”
Rodriguez said the entire process was as stressful as it sounds on paper, though she admitted that family support and a glass-half-full optimism played a big role in getting her through the hardship.
“Don’t get it wrong,” she said. “I’ve been in the shower plenty of times, sitting on the floor of the shower just crying ‘cause I didn’t know what I was going to do. I didn’t know how my staff were gonna feed their own families, you know?”
She continued, “Honestly, I think the biggest thing that pushed me was that failing was not an option. I’m a young Latina, I got it all the time, like ‘oh, you’re so young and you own this place?’ And so I’m trying to beat all odds.”
“We didn’t come from money. But money has to come from me,” she said. “I always knew since I was a teenager that I wanted to be successful, that I wanted to be my own business-owner, it was just a matter of when and how.”
As the months went by, Nuestra Financial was bringing in more revenue than the original restaurant. And though she considered a full pivot to financial consulting, Rodriguez said she couldn’t bring herself to abandon her passion for grandma-style Puerto Rican cooking. The new Nuestra — which translates to “ours” in Spanish — is due to open in the near future.
“Wait ‘til this comes up,” she said. “I can be a lot more creative. The drinks are gonna be amazing. These are all gonna be IG-worthy things, so I’m super, super excited about it.”
WATCH: Natalie Rodriguez on how her mindset helped her get through the pandemic
