In her role as a loan and financial specialist for the Minneapolis Consortium of Community Developers, Natalia Pretelt works one-on-one with entrepreneurs, many of them immigrants, who are trying to get their businesses off the ground. She gets fulfillment from being a part of their success. “It’s so rewarding,” Pretelt says. “I like feeling that in one little way I’m able to help someone achieve their dreams and do what they want to do.”
Pretelt landed in her current position by happenstance. She was working at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce after graduating from Augsburg College, and the consortium shared a building with the chamber. When the consortium sought a part-time employee, its leadership turned to Pretelt.
It was a happy coincidence for Pretelt, whose lifelong goal has been to work in business development in her native Colombia or in other parts of Latin America. She values the experience she is gaining in lending to small businesses and recently earned a certificate as an Economic Development Professional from the National Development Council.
Pretelt came to Minnesota for college based on the encouragement of her parents, who always emphasized going abroad to study in order to become a citizen of the world. Now Pretelt is working toward an MBA at the University of St. Thomas in hopes of further preparing herself for a career in global development.
Despite a busy schedule Pretelt still works to help other young Latinos do well in school and earn a higher education. She mentors an Augsburg student from Mexico and for several years mentored a young Latina from Minneapolis. Pretelt enjoys being a living example of what an immigrant can accomplish in this country. “I tell them, ‘Whatever you want to do, you can achieve it,’ ” she says. “I don’t tell them it’s going to be easy, because it’s really hard. You just have to be motivated."
