Mayra (Riojas) Guerrero puts family first in her life. She balances being a mother of six with managing a venue on her property and helping her husband run a successful construction business.
Guerrero was a member of the Dublin High School class of 2011, but ended up graduating early midway through her senior year.
Right out of high school, she started working for an optometrist in Stephenville. She’d seen her father struggling with eye problems, and wanted to get into a field to help people like him. “That was my first job with clinical stuff, and I liked it,” she said. “Even now I miss it. And once I started working there, the doctor I worked for ended up helping with my dad’s cataract surgery.”
In 2015, Guerrero began dating Oscar Guerrero, who she’d met at church when she was a teenager. Oscar had since moved to Longview, so Guerrero moved to join him in East Texas and the couple were married in 2017.
There, she continued working in the medical field as a receptionist for a large clinic. She worked in several different departments, including pediatrics, dental and general medicine. After a couple of years at the clinic, Guerrero switched jobs and began working as a breastfeeding counselor at the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) office in Longview.
In 2019, Guerrero decided to switch fields and began working in insurance. She felt passionate about helping people understand how insurance coverage could benefit them. “If there was a Spanish-speaking person, I would translate for them,” she said. “That’s what I loved doing.”
In 2021, Guerrero’s father passed away. “I didn’t go back to work [for the insurance company] after that,” she said. “It was a real hit to me and to my family. I was really close to him.”
Guerrero took a couple of years to focus on raising her children, and then in November of last year, she and her husband started a new business: an event venue in a renovated building on their property. “That’s been kicking off pretty good,” she said.
“Initially it was a big shop, and we were gonna turn it into a barndominium,” she said. “And then we thought, you know we’re kind of sitting on a moneymaker here. So my husband built our home in the back of the property, and he was like, let’s turn this shop into an event venue. And so that’s how it all started. Now we rent that big old building for parties and events.”
Guerrero balances running the venue with helping her husband run his construction business, which he started in 2017. He builds custom homes, and oversees multiple crews. The Guerreros’ oldest son helps out, too.
“He knows so much about the construction stuff — my husband has been teaching him from a very young age as well as our son Chelo,” said Guerrero. “He was out there helping my husband when we were building a home. He loves to be out there always helping his dad and learning.”
In the future, Guerrero plans to continue running the family businesses, and eventually work towards her real estate license so she can sell homes her husband builds. “We’re always working together, and I love it,” she said.
When the Guerreros aren’t working, they’re usually spending time with their children or at church. They now live in Henderson with their six children, Anthony, 13, Juan “Chelo,” 12, Angelica, 9, Selena, 7, Catalina, 5, and Felipe, 3.
The family stays busy taking the kids to sports and other extracurricular activities. Anthony went to state this year for track and field, and the four older kids have played soccer. Her daughter Angelica currently plays soccer for Team USA and they won the North Texas Tournament 1st place. And her daughter Selena just started playing basketball.
Guerrero’s father, Juan Riojas, formerly a pastor in Dublin, passed away a few years ago. Her mother, Maria Riojas, lives nearby with Guerrero’s sister.
Throughout her life, Guerrero has drawn inspiration from her parents. “My father being a pastor, I just wanted to make him proud,” she said. “I want to be able to help people, like how he did as a pastor, helping our community out.”
Guerrero encourages Dublin graduates to get out and see the world, and if they are religious, to remain strong in their faith. “My biggest thing is always putting God first,” she said. “You don’t know where you’re headed. Get yourself into prayer and ask God the questions to lead you the right way to where you need to be at.”
Where are they now chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other grads, email publisher@dublincitizen. com.