Mexican Family Starts Business and Contributes to San Mateo County

Marilu Bedolla-Jaimes

In 2000, when four-year-old Marilu Bedolla-Jaimes relocated from Mexico to the Bay area, the only English word she knew was “doggy.” Her parents, who had come to America for better economic opportunities, were unsure of how to address their most basic needs, such as securing housing, a bank account or health insurance.

Fortunately, the public school ESL program helped Bedolla-Jaimes become fluent, while San Mateo County’s Fair Oaks Community Center became a lifeline for her parents. “The center made space for the whole family,” she says. “It had a library and regular kid events, so we’d be engaged while my mom got connected to various social services. This made all the difference in helping us get on our feet.”

Bedolla-Jaimes’ dad found work at a landscaping company and eventually started his own business. He grew it from two people focused on the peninsula to six full-time employees servicing the entire Bay Area. Her mother worked on and off, but the landscaping business made it possible for her to focus on raising their six children.

Bedolla-Jaimes worked hard and graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Today, she’s a community outreach specialist for the County of San Mateo, where she played a critical role in promoting Census participation among communities with lower participation; her work helped the county reaching the highest self-response rate in the entire state of California, surpassing 2010 results and improving its funding and resources. She’s currently a liaison between local communities and the county, helping improve access to COVID testing, vaccinations and rental relief. 

Looking back on all the ways San Mateo County helped her family establish secure lives in America, she is thrilled that her work allows her to give back. She sees welcoming policies as critical to the area’s future.

Immigrants are vital to our society because they bring valuable skills and insights to make a community thrive. Just look at Silicon Valley. Look at the doctors in our hospitals. Look at me.

Marilu Bedolla-Jaimes