Luz Marina González and Deysy Sepúlveda González are two exemplary lotteries, both proud to be Riseraldenses. Luz Marina’s story with the lottery begins in her childhood, when she had to go out to work; She did it with a brother who sold newspapers, books and magazines in the Plaza de Bolívar, there they also sold the Risaralda Lottery on a small table. Luz Marina had three children. She was always an enterprising and hard-working woman; She responded to adversity, since she was widowed and can proudly say that she raised her children.
After several years of working in a shop window, Luz Marina lost her job, so in 2008 she returned to Plaza de Bolívar, spoke with her brother and decided to sell lottery tickets. “I was only there for a week and it was enough to realize that it was a great opportunity, it went very well, many clients remembered me from when I was little.”
So determined, she went to ask for a module for sale and they told her that there were no new modules available, “only some old ones, but I didn’t care, I cleaned it myself, organized it and it is the module that accompanies me today.” remembers Mrs. Marina.
mom pride
As it is never too late, Luz Marina achieved a goal that she had to fulfill: she finished high school in 2009, she did so at the Inem School on Saturday; She was special because in that same year Deysy, her daughter, also graduated.
It seems that they are destined to share more than the maternal bond; In addition to graduating from school together, Deysy and Luz Marina today share their ‘entrepreneurship or small business‘, as they themselves call the sale of Lottery.
Deysy inherited the job from her mother; From a young age she began working life, forging a character of great responsibility, strength and drive to achieve her goals.
Deysy worked in a Call Center; On the day off she would go to her mother’s point of sale to bring her lunch and that was when she began to learn about the business. “I taught him how the lottery was sold, how the table was organized, how it was returned,” explained Luz Marina. She definitely learns by example and what an example Deysy has had!
One day Deysy left the Call Center; “I learned the trade from watching my mother; I already knew what the original and the fake lottery were like; I learned about the administrative issue, I started in 2019, I stopped during the pandemic and was working somewhere else, but the truth is I decided to return because in reality this well-managed business, with a good head, knowing how to use resources well, turns out to be very lucrative; Then I saw the opportunity and here I am,” says Deysy.
Deysy says that, although many young people find it embarrassing to work on the streets, that is not their case; “I have the example of my mother who is a working woman, who makes a living with effort; I don’t live on appearances and here I find myself working with her; This is a job of relationships, commercial management and administration,” says Deysy, proud of her work.
Doña Marina and Deysy are located in the Plaza de Bolívar every day, they know their clients very well, they say they already know their whims and with Deysy’s vision they have also ventured into social networks and online lottery sales. since they have clients abroad.
“It’s our micro-business”
“When they ask me what I work for, I answer very proudly that with my mother we have a business, a lottery micro-enterprise, even if people don’t understand or say that we are working on the streets.”
And working is definitely not shameful, that is what Luz Marina taught her children, she educated them in values and to work hard.
As a mother and as a daughter, this work is a legacy; We have been working at this point for more than 15 years; They have challenged many circumstances, including mistreatment or the dangers to which women are exposed. “My mom is a berraca and I follow her example; Here we are in the sun, in the water, exposed to dangers, but we have achieved it; That’s why if you ask me that the Lottery improves the quality of life, I say yes, without a doubt.”
Deysy will soon graduate as a Sustainable Tourism administrator and thanks to her work as a lottery operator, she hopes to have her own business; She was born to manage her own things.
Finally, Deysy talks about her workplace: “Here on the street we make our lives; Here we have our office, our small company, where Doña Marina is the manager and I am her worker, proud to be one!”
Just like these two women, many lotteries have found their life project in the Risaralda Lottery, through which they also directly support the health of Risaralda residents.