Nancy Galván started Unica Enterprises in 2007 with a business plan, a pile of debt and no clients. Nearly two decades later, the Dallas-based facilities services company employs more than 185 people and serves DFW Airport, local municipalities and federal agencies across North Texas.

At the 2026 ISSA VEO Conference in Dallas, where Galván was also named a winner of a VEO Visionary Award, she walked attendees through that growth one chapter at a time in her session, “Built by Us: Growing a Family Culture Without Losing Your Edge.” She said the Latino culture that pushed her into business is still the foundation of the company. She eventually learned that some pieces of it had to be set aside for the business to keep growing.

“I’m not here to tell you how perfect my journey has been, far from it,” Galván said. “Growth has changed my business, growth has changed me, but my culture remains the same.”

Where the hustle came from

Galván is the daughter of Mexican immigrants. The company name comes straight from her childhood: as the only girl in a family with three older brothers, her mother called her “La Unica.”

Summers spent visiting family in Mexico gave her an early education in entrepreneurship. Children there sold bottled water and offered to wash visitors’ cars. Others sold tacos to anyone walking by. Back home in Texas, she put those lessons to work, and by age 12 she was selling breakfast food and candy to her classmates.

“I see opportunity everywhere,” Galván said. “And it started with my culture.”

She noted that Latinas are launching businesses at a remarkable pace, driven by a deep commitment to family, a willingness to take risks and a work ethic she considers second to none. Even so, she was quick to put the numbers in perspective. “Statistics don’t start businesses,” she said.

Two full-time jobs for two years

When Galván launched Unica, she was working full time as a contracts administrator at Bell Helicopter. It was a good job with good pay and benefits. She had a vision and a business plan. She did not have capital, industry experience or a network.

“I never even thought that I was going to fail,” she said. “It never crossed my mind.”

With bills to pay, she kept the Bell job for two years while building Unica on the side, doing the cleaning herself and handling everything from janitorial work to sales. Once the company brought in enough business to cover her living expenses, she left Bell to run Unica full time.

“Thankfully, I was young, full of energy and I could practically eat anything and survive at that time,” Galván said.

Walking in after the giants

Growth brought bigger opportunities and bigger competitors. “Growth sounds really exciting until it actually shows up,” she said.

Her first large commercial account was a Tyson Foods manufacturing plant. As she arrived for her capability’s presentation, three men from a competing firm were walking out of theirs, briefcases in hand. To Galván, they looked like giants. She was a one-woman operation.

She made her pitch anyway, went home and tried to shake the feeling that she had been outclassed. A week later, Tyson called. The account was hers.

Putting the values in writing

When the company was small, Galván could protect its culture simply by being there. Employees and customers knew what Unica stood for because they worked right alongside her. A growing team made that impossible.

Her answer was to define the company’s values, including respect, ethics and a one-team mindset, and build them into training, procedures and accountability. Every employee and every customer should know them, she said. The values that started Unica are the same ones that scaled it. The difference is how deliberately they are communicated.

A hard talk at the kitchen table

The toughest chapter had nothing to do with clients. As Unica picked up momentum, Galván began asking whether parts of her own upbringing were keeping her small.

She pointed to research showing that only about 3% of women-owned businesses reach $1 million in revenue. She wanted Unica on the other side of that number, which meant asking herself whether she was prepared to settle.

Her parents, whom she described as some of the hardest workers she knows, raised her to work hard, accept what comes and avoid challenging the status quo. When she left Bell, they questioned the decision around the kitchen table, asking why she would walk away from a steady job and whether she had gone to college only to clean.

Galván said she understood their doubts came from love and a fear of risk. She made a difficult decision anyway, telling her parents she needed to step back from Sunday lunches and family outings while the business was still fragile, so their fears would not shape her thinking.

“Just for now, this is not a permanent solution,” she recalled telling them.

The distance was temporary. The lesson stayed with her.

“Scaling processes, systems, they are part of growth, but so is the mindset shift,” Galván said. She still holds tightly to her heritage. “I need to be wise enough to know when some of that is holding me back.”

Once she made that shift, she stopped walking into rooms wondering whether she deserved to be there. Today she carries herself with the same confidence as the men who passed her in the hallway at Tyson.

Pulling others up

Unica’s current chapter is one she calls limitless. The question has shifted from whether the company can survive to “what can we become?” Galván said. Her focus now is developing leaders and building something bigger than herself.

“We’re going to pull people up with us,” she said.

Outside recognition has followed, including her selection as the U.S. Small Business Administration Dallas/Fort Worth District’s 2022 Small Businessperson of the Year.

Looking back, Galván said every stage demanded something different. Startup required hustle and sacrifice. Scaling required leadership. Setting boundaries took systems, processes and a change in mindset. Through all of it, family gave the company its heart.

“Systems gave us scale,” she said. “My journey is still being written.”