Lorena Rivas: Attorney and Entrepreneur

In this episode

In this episode I sit down with Lorena Rivas — attorney, entrepreneur, wife, and mom — and honestly, I learned so much about a friend I've sat next to at countless baseball games. Lorena grew up in Mutual, Oklahoma (a town of about 50 people), the first in her family to graduate college and go on to earn advanced degrees. When she was little, an attorney helped her family survive after her dad's serious oil field accident left him unable to work for years. That lasting impression, along with teachers who saw something in her and pushed her forward, set her on the path to becoming an immigration attorney.

We dig into the business side too, because Lorena's story is a beautiful example of what happens when you stop just surviving and start truly thriving. Before COVID she was working 70–80 hours a week, doing everything herself, close to burnout, and even thinking about walking away. COVID gave her the chance to reset — to step out of the center of her own business, build a team around a shared vision, and lean into social media in a way that changed everything. Her firm grew from fewer than 10 people in 2020 to a staff of close to 90, and was named 31st on Inc. Magazine's list of fastest-growing companies in the Southwest Region.

What I love most is that Lorena keeps the people at the heart of it all — from clients who ring a victory bell when they get their status, to team members in Venezuela and the Philippines whose lives have changed through their work. She's dreaming big, too: building community libraries in rural Mexico so more people can awaken their curiosity and become their best version of themselves. If you needed a reminder that your beginnings don't limit your future, this one's for you. Keep going.