“Comfort, Quality, and Value . . . Every Time!” Dusty & Gail Cyphers, Co-owners Snow! After 100 years, snow fell in the Valley in 2004 and heaters were having problems all. When we wondered, “Who’re we going to call?” the answer was simply, “Why, Cytech Heating & Cooling, L.C., of course.” “It was probably the coolest thing our team has done,” began Dusty Cyphers, co-owner of Cytech Heating & Cooling, L.C. “It was Christmas Eve, and everybody was cold. We ended up running calls until about one o’clock Christmas morning. Everyone pulled their weight. I did not lose one person. Everybody who called in with a problem was taken care of.” Both Dusty and Gail grew up in the Houston area, even attending the same high school for six months without really noticing each other. During her senior year a mutual friend introduced them, love blossomed, and they were married…

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Co-owner, Kumori & Mori 1) What is your favorite book? The DaVinci Code. It involves a lot of things I’m familiar with through my study of history and religion. I found it very interesting. 2) What is your favorite movie? My favorite movies are Braveheart and The Notebook. I love the action in Braveheart and the storyline. The Notebook is a wonderful story of a couple in love, what they went through, and how they end up together. That emotion is incredible when you find your loved one and stay together your whole life with all the things you go through. At the end of their life, they even died in the same bed together. What else could you ask for in a relationship? 3) What was your favorite vacation spot? That would be Italy because the culture is so unique. You can walk through the whole city enjoying the…

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Co-Owners, On Guard Sanitation & Valley Draft Services What does a severely dyslexic high school dropout do with his life? He uses his skills of engineering and vision to design some of the most intricate draft beer systems in the United States. Along the way, Karl Kaiser, co-owner of On Guard Sanitation & Valley Draft Services married a smart beauty, Angie, who gladly took on the responsibilities of co-owning the business, and they traveled the country installing draft beer systems. That is, until they came to McAllen. Here they found a place they were needed – no draft beer system service company here – and decided to settle down. Then they found the McAllen Chamber of Commerce and they found a family. Becoming Ambassadors, they felt at home. “We joined to network and meet people,” said Kaiser. “I like feeding off the other Ambassadors’ knowledge. We enjoy seeing people’s businesses…

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We are distracted people. We are becoming more distracted and less satisfied with what we are doing and how we are doing it. We see evidence of our distraction with the growing epidemic of depression, despair, dissatisfaction with work, dissatisfaction with relationships, and questioning our very purpose. One of the biggest challenges to our ability to focus is how to “quiet” all the technology we have at our finger-tips.  It is easy and enjoyable, in one sense, to jump from our computer to our smartphone, to Facebook, to an app, and then back to our computer. We have developed a “hyperactive mindhive.” We think multitasking is the way to be successful in the 21st century. We jump from task to task, thinking we are getting a lot done, but we are just making ourselves miserable. The reality is we are busy, but not getting anything of importance done.   Focus. The…

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Mario Luis Guerra, Sr. Mario Luis Guerra Jr. Co-Owners     Do you remember what it was that made you take that right path rather than the left path in your life, the one that changed your course? For Mario L. Guerra, Jr., co-owner of Starr Home Health Agency, that time would have been the early 90s while he was a business major in college. “My mom, a registered nurse, was working for a home health care agency when the industry was barely getting started,” Guerra said. “There were only two or three large agencies in the area at the time. We got together and asked ourselves the question: Why don’t we take a crack at this?” After graduation he returned to the Valley, and by July of 1993 the business was up and running. Now over 27 years old, it has always been a family-owned business. Guerra even met…

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CEO Rio Grande Regional Hospital, HCA Gulf Coast Division President   1) What is your favorite book? 100 Years of Solitude, written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I learned a lot from this very interesting novel. 2) What is your favorite movie? My all time favorite movie is “Under the Tuscan Sun” with Diane Lane. I love Italian architecture, art, and food so a movie based in Italy was bound to be my favorite. 3) What was your favorite vacation spot? My husband and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary a few years ago. We decided to take a cruise to Greece, which is now one of our favorite vacation spots. The cruise started in Venice, then Italy, and then made its way to Santorini. What an amazing experience! 4) What is your life’s  motto? “When life gets too hard to stand . . . kneel.” 5) Where were you born?…

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Branch Manager Falcon Bank Lupita Rodriguez, branch manager for Falcon Bank, always wanted to work in a bank. “My dad had me involved in his sales business at a very early age,” Rodriguez smiled, recalling 13 years of living in Guanajuato with her family. “I would go to the bank and do his transactions which always fascinated me,” she said. Mentioning that much later to a friend in McAllen got her a job at Texas State Bank,  learning the business for six years before moving to Falcon Bank. She has been there for almost 13 years. “Falcon Bank has given me the opportunity to work for and serve our customers in both the retail and international sides, which I’ve enjoyed very much. It’s been a great learning opportunity,” Rodriguez said. Enjoying involvement with the community was her reason to become an Ambassador. She had already volunteered on the Candlelight Posada…

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ELVIA AND Jesus Saenz Owners of Saenz Pharmacies Keeping up with the changing world of pharmacies is quite the job: keeping up with new medicines, new routines, and new government requirements. Jesus Saenz, registered pharmacist for Saenz Pharmacy, loves his work despite the thousands of hours it takes to stay atop the pharmaceutical world. “It’s a profession that’s very rewarding because we see our patients more than they see their doctors,” Saenz said. “They call us for any little thing, and we’ll make time for them. The fact is pharmacists are in the top of the most trusted professions.” However, Saenz Pharmacy almost never happened. “I was going to be a math teacher,” he said. “When I went to UT with my brother, who was a chemistry major and then got into pharmacy school. He suggested I try it out, so I joined the pre-pharmacy fraternity and before I knew…

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Owner, OH KAY’S! uptown on tenth 1) What is your favorite book? The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. I’ve enjoyed all the novels and books I’ve read about WWII. I feel a real sense of compassion towards the people who went through that. I went to Normandy in France. As I learn about them, I do not know how these people survived. 2) What is your favorite movie? Same Time, Next Year. There’s another one I just love with Diane Keaton, Something’s Gotta Give. 3) What was your favorite vacation spot? I guess France because I love the history and the people have always been so friendly. I spent about 10 days in Paris, then a few weeks in the south of France and it’s so beautiful there. I just love it. 4) What is your life’s motto? I never thought about it in terms of words. I’m a hard worker.…

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