City of Odessa uplifts local businesses with popular social media posts

The photo shows Odessa resident Yoly Vasquez of Yoly’s Famous Salsa stocking up on jalapeños at the grocery store.

She reportedly had an influx of new orders, all because her city posted a brief but powerful story on its Facebook page about her business.

The City of Odessa has been posting numerous brief stories about the interesting people and businesses in the community. Concise, fascinating, and sometimes heartwarming and nostalgic, the posts are getting a lot of attention. Its most recent story featured Odessa native Erica Medina, whose innovation while dealing with a skin condition resulted in the launch of her company Nyxie Soapworks.

Another story covered stay-at-home mom turned business owner JoAnn Carrasco of “JoAnn’s on 5th Flowers.” Previous to that, Michael Ramirez’s The Legendary Barn Door Steakhouse was featured.

The city’s post about Sam Logan, owner of the iconic Endless Horizons records store, amassed over 400 likes on Facebook in a short time. That story inspired our story in Permian Proud, which further spread the good word about Logan’s business.

Sam Logan of ‘Endless Horizons” (Photo courtesy of the City of Odessa).

We also couldn’t help but highlight another City of Odessa Facebook post about Melody Herrera, known for painting wonderous scenes on a window of her home daily during the Christmas and Halloween holidays.

Yoly Vasquez says the story the city published on her business caused a spike in orders for her famous salsa, prompting “tears of happiness.” Her story is both heartbreaking and inspiring: In 2021, she lost her husband to COVID and, two weeks later, her son to cancer. They both loved her salsa, so she started her small business as a way to honor them, according to the city’s report. In the wake of that story, the city said a local TV station planned to interview Vasquez.

“That’s the goal of our local leaders who wanted to approach City Communications in a different way,” the city states. “Our hope is to inspire you with all the AMAZING people and places in our city! There is so much GOOD!”

The city doesn’t stop short of highlighting businesses. On its Facebook page, you’ll also get to know city employees, community leaders, local members of the military and others who make the city proud.

Don’t miss these great stories! Follow the City of Odessa’s Facebook page here.

Here are snippets of some of the recent individuals highlighted by the city:

Willie Mims along with his best friend recently opened Bros Inc., an automotive repair shop at 3626 Andrews Highway.

Victor and Norma Anaya. Victor is on dialysis and sold his truck a few months ago to help open “NV Apples & More,” a business offering Norma’s delicious desserts, which she started making over two decades ago to help fundraise for her kids.

Ulises Camacho, his wife and four children own and operate Tio Gordo’s Texican Cafe. Previously, Ulises worked at Rosa’s for more than 24 years.

Tryann Stevenson coaches kids at Ruff House MMA in downtown Odessa. He has also been training overseas, was slated to go to Thailand for more training and plans to have his debut fight in boxing or MMA within the next year.

Bradley Marquez is one of the owners of the new Patrick Clay’s Icon Tavern. He’s an Odessa High graduate who played football or Texas Tech and the NFL and also professional baseball for the New York Mets.

Cindy Delgado was raised in Odessa, joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1992 after graduating from Odessa High, and is currently a real estate agent at Copper Key Realty in downtown Odessa. She also spends a lot of time volunteering in our community with Hispanic Heritage of Odessa.

Nick Adams is an Odessa High alum who played quarterback and is now a Staff Sergeant in the Air Force. He was slated to compete in his first ever Ironman Triathlon (140.6 miles), and was raising funds in the effort to support Objective Zero, a resource for veterans and their families.

Dwaine Cox, owner of Permian Basin Hamburger Company, and his daughter Meghan Cox. The company opened in 1976 and stays strong because it doesn’t try to fix what’s not broken.

Jason Osborne is the chief business officer for the virtual reality software company syGlass, and previously was chief innovation officer at Ector County ISD. His research in paleontology has led to the discovery of two new species of seals and a new genus and species of whales. National Geographic and the Discovery Channel featured his expeditions. He was named a “White House Champion of Change.”