VIVA NOLA February-March 2024

PORTADA
Lindsey Navarro’s
EMPOWERING
MISSION
By Axel “LOLA” Rosa
@lolalarosaa
Lindsey Navarro is the founder
and Executive Director of
El Centro Inc., a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization providing
financial literacy and entrepreneurial
training in Spanish to the Latino/
Hispanic community in south
Louisiana. Many know her for her
bright smile, vibrant personality,
work ethic, ambition, and, most
importantly, because she’s probably
the only person who honestly and
wholeheartedly helped a favorite
Latino/Hispanic business, such as
a coffee shop or taco spot file the
necessary paperwork to be able to
operate. So what drives this Mardi
Gras-loving, Panamanian descent,
Houma, LA-born and raised,
entrepreneurial-driven woman to
do her work?
Her mother, Gloria Navarro, was a
commercial banker for nearly four
decades and the first female Market
President at b1Bank. Her late father,
Juan Navarro, was a mechanical
engineer and entrepreneur
designing and implementing
sugar mill factory equipment and
specializing in providing consulting
services for the sugar cane and
beet industry. As a child, she had
the opportunity to spend all her
summers with her grandparents
in Panama, where they owned
a distribution center. “I would
wake up in the morning and help
my grandmother check in all her
customers. They would drop off all
the merchandise in the mornings,
and we would return to the office
and count money from 8 o’clock (PM)
to midnight.” Navarro cherished
these moments and recognized
her family’s entrepreneurial spirit.
“My grandfather’s brothers all
had businesses as well, and some
were bankers, so I grew up in
an environment where being an
entrepreneur was a thing.”
Navarro holds a bachelor’s degree
in criminal justice from St. Peter’s
University. Initially, her goal after
earning her bachelor’s was to attend
law school. She lost interest in
that path, even with accomplished
opportunities such as working
at a law firm and the District
Attorney’s office and interviewing
for an internship with the Secret
Service and Federal Bureau of
Investigation. “I knew I wanted to
continue my education, so I had to
do some sort of a Master’s (Degree)
in something.” She had a boyfriend
in college who was studying
international business, and she
used to review all his papers. She
jokes, “He used to say, ‘You know
you should study marketing. You’re
really good at this.’ I was like,
‘Ahhhhh, no thanks!’ I was stubborn
about getting my degree and didn’t
want to be one of those kids who
switched majors.”
Little did she know she would later
get an MBA from Loyola University
New Orleans and start her own
business almost a decade later.
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VIVA NOLA MAGAZINE - February/March 2024
Photography: Israel Torres
Venue: The Rooftop at The Shop at the CAC