We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alondra Saucedo Espinno a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Alondra thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

April of 2020, in the very middle of the pandemic chaos when schools and work were starting to close, my husband and I took a gamble on moving up to Tulsa from the Houston, TX area. My husband and I had met in Tulsa at church, but after I moved out-of-state for college to Amherst, MA, he moved back to Houston and was there for a few years while we did long distance. I grew up in Glenpool and my parents were thankfully still there, however, I didn’t have a lot of adulting experience in the Tulsa area. It just so happened that during this time, my college had sent all of its students home in March, right before Spring Break and my husband’s job was slowing down significantly because of the regulations that the City of Houston was implementing. We didn’t have a plan at all. We knew that we wanted to get out of the city and my parents very graciously gave us a place to stay while we searched for a rental. My uncle offered my husband work in the meantime, and it was enough for our rental application to get approved, meaning we were at least stuck in Oklahoma for the next 12 months. I really wanted to make the best out of the situation and my husband had always told me that his dream was to have his own company. He didn’t know for what, but he knew he wanted to be his own boss. I was still a full-time student working three part-time jobs, yet something told me that was the moment for us to start our company. In August of 2020, we opened Allan’s Remodeling Services LLC as my husband had years of experience working in the remodeling industry. There was only one small limitation, being that my husband had all the skills and knowledge with very limited English proficiency (at the time) and I had all the English skills but absolutely no knowledge about the industry. To many, it may seem like that would be the end of it, but we saw it as the perfect combination as long as we worked together as a team. Thankfully, we never looked back. People around us were very critical because of our age (my husband and I were in our early 20s) and painters were very easy to find. That doubt is what led us to search for our specialization, apartment properties. We have been blessed these past few years with mentors who have taken us under their wings and specifically shown me how to navigate the industry as a young woman. I hope to be able to do the same.

Alondra, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am married to my wonderful husband and business partner, Allan, where together we have our adopted five-year old son and our dog. We own Allan’s Remodeling Services LLC and Espinser Insurance of Okahoma. Allan’s Remodeling Services LLC began as a residential painting company, but we quickly transitioned into commercial painting for apartment properties. Eventually, this led to us doing full renovations of apartments up to where we currently are as general contractors. We have a very talented crew and whatever we are not able to do, we will hire a subcontractor who can. Allan’s Remodeling Services LLC prides itself on doing professional and, very importantly, clean work. We have trained our crew to keep a tidy workspace so that work can be done efficiently and still have great quality. That has been one of the greatest factors in keeping us busy as a contractor. We have worked with amazing property managers and construction managers who have recommended us to apartment properties in Oklahoma and Texas. My specific role in the company has always been focused on customer service and behind the scenes legal/office work. It has transformed my ability to interact with other adults and businesses. This is a skill I am thankful to have at my young age because it made the daunting idea of opening my own insurance office feel reasonable. Regardless of the kind of work that I am doing, I am proud of the professionalism and treatment we give to our clients. This has transformed into keeping detailed records and contracts for the remodeling company and being transparent and explaining to clients their insurance policies. Spanish is my first language, and it has been an additional tool for me to be able to explain to our clients, in their language, what kind of policies they are purchasing and what it is that they are signing. A new endeavor I am doing with a group of talented boss women, is our podcast called Spot Topics that recently aired on Spotify. I truly believe that this is only the beginning.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and education studies from a private liberal arts college. I felt extremely proud to have accomplished this, being the first in my family to study in the US, but unfortunately all the post-graduate career paths that were extended from the college required me to go live in one of the larger cities, like New York or San Francisco. After having lived in Houston, I knew this was not a realistic option for me. I searched for jobs locally in Tulsa that I felt aligned with what I had studied until I finally landed a job working with Child Protective Services in the Department of Human Services sector. During the few months that I was there, I felt miserable and was consistently having difficulties with my supervisor. The stress became so much that it was affecting both my physical and mental health. I also felt a lot of guilt about wanting to leave because I was the only Spanish speaker in CPS for the entire Tulsa County when I was there. My husband and I agreed that it was not a good fit for me, and I ultimately resigned. I took a couple of months to really consider what the next steps were for me. I had worked incredibly hard to graduate even though I often thought I would not get to my graduation date. I was burnt out from college. Most careers in my field required at least a master’s degree but I knew that if I forced myself to keep studying my mental health would keep deteriorating. This was during a time of my life when I was actively fighting my depression and bipolar disorder. While I was soul searching, I was continuing to invest my time into the remodeling company until I realized that I was the happiest when I was working for myself. Ever since a young age, my mom would always joke that she could never see me as anything less than a “jefa” which means female boss in Spanish, because I was always vocal about directing others at home. Through the support of my husband, the Serna Espino family, and my family, I had the opportunity to open my insurance office, Espinser Insurance of Oklahoma. I had done a lot of work with insurance prior to this, especially from the contractor side because all commercial work requires having it. Although it may be a huge pivot from my original background in psychology and education studies, I am constantly using my people skills that I learned in college.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

It is easier to climb over a hill than to climb out of a ditch. That is the best analogy I can give to explain what it feels like to have a pessimistic world view. When you have it ingrained in you to always be prepared for the worst because the world is so evil, it becomes hard to ever see the world as anything other than. In psychology, this idea is one of the fundamental causes behind depression from a cognitive school of thought. Growing up, my dear mother had a very different childhood than I did. She learned that she needed to always be watching out for the worst and it translated to how she raised my siblings and I. My mother was very overprotective, but she did it out of love because she wished someone had been more protective of her when she was our age. Her protectiveness over her children ensured that we had all our needs met and were always out of harm’s way. However, there were many experiences that we didn’t have, and I learned to start looking for the worst, so that I could be well prepared. This is not inherently bad. This is actually a very good safety mechanism. It comes back though to the idea that even good things can be bad in excessive amounts. Being a critical thinker is a great skill to have. Being a critical thinker all the time, such that you can never enjoy the good in life, is not a great skill to have. I studied for years psychology in college and understood this concept when we were going over the theory of depression, but I couldn’t imagine what life would be like if I was more optimistic. I have a lot of appreciation for my husband because he became a real-world example of what it means to enjoy life. Once I started allowing myself to let go of my worries, not completely, but some, my way of thinking changed completely. The way I enjoy life is much different now than it was before.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.espinser.com
• Instagram: @espinserinsurance
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EspinserOklahoma
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/7e049N5c2bTkBSIfOOzikm?si=41093b6a95d445eb

Image Credits
Portrait shot by Samantha Rios.