Erica Ortiz breaks gender barriers and speed records to cross the finish line as a Latina pro drag race car driver.

Florida-native Erica Ortiz has always had a competitive streak. It's what fueled this Cuban/Puerto Rican's dreams of athletic success throughout her school years.

Yet when a serious car accident sidelined her dreams of playing college sports, she had to find something else where she could channel her winning athletic instinct.

She found it -- drag racing.

Combining a love for dogs and the desire to be self-employed, Marlena Cervantes creates a unique service that lets people share dog ownership.

Marlena Cervantes had one dream -- to be self-employed.

But it couldn't be just any job. It had to be something that earned this California native a steady income while also providing a social service.

But what kinds of self-starting jobs can do both in the beginning stages?

Marlena didn't have to look far to find the job that met her strict criteria. It was literally lying at her feet -- wagging its tail.

Christianne Meneses Jacobs creates a Spanish-language children's magazine as a tool to help bicultural families keep the Spanish language alive for their children.

Nicaragua-born Christianne Meneses Jacobs had a problem: How could she ensure that her U.S.-born toddler would grow up speaking and retaining her Spanish as she got older?

It was a problem Christianne knew many bicultural Latino families faced. However, she knew she didn't have to look any farther than her own past for the solution.

Kathy Cano Murillo, otherwise known as the Crafty Chica, creates a one-woman enterprise through creative talent and persistence.

Her legions of fans know her as the "Crafty Chica," and today craft entrepreneur, syndicated columnist, artist, book author and tv/web personality Kathy Cano Murillo lives up to her alter ego.

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that Kathy was crafty she might not be where she's at today.

Forging new lives and business south of the border, Aran and Margot Shetterly publish an English-language paper for fellow American expatriates who call Mexico home.

Margot Lee Shetterly had four great loves in her life before she met her husband Aran — business, writing, traveling and learning languages.

Margot and Aran Shetterly

Margot’s dream had always been to combine these four loves and create a business that allowed her to do all these things. As fate would have it, when Margot met her husband-to-be, she soon discovered that they had more in common than mutual attraction.

Come to find out, Aran loved all the same things Margot did.

So together the couple traveled to a foreign country — Mexico; learned another language — Spanish; and created a new media company to publish their English-language monthly, Inside México.

Their target audience? The over one million English speakers who live south of the border.