Tony Fuentes puts heart into business and community

By Nick O’Connor
The Portland Upside
June 2009

Tony Fuentes and son Gael, one of his main inspirations for community activism. (Photo provided by Tony Fuentes)

In 2004 while scouring the city for ways to eke further value from our daughter’s used clothes, my wife, Shannon, walked into Milagros, “a boutique for little miracles and their mamas.” Besides new stuff, Milagros sells clothes on consignment. Shannon became a regular consignor.

The storefront is located on NE 30th Avenue just south of Killingsworth, a business corner known as Fox Chase. Though modest in size, Milagros feels spacious thanks to a high ceiling, good light and a peaceful, welcoming vibe. When I first met owner Tony Fuentes there, I must have been fooled by his flowing hippie locks and self-effacing demeanor. I assumed the store—which he operates with his wife, Jennifer—defines his life.

Soon, though, I was seeing Fuentes’ name and face all over town—creator of the Portland International Short Short Film Festival (now the 10 or Less Festival); Concordia Neighborhood Association board member; contributor to the blog BikePortland.org; leader of the Keep Colwood Green! Coalition—just for starters.

Fuentes, much like Milagros, radiates a friendly, warm presence. So I was happy when he agreed to an interview. Waiting for me at the Cup and Saucer Cafe across the street from his shop, he sat ignoring a cup of herbal tea.

I asked how Milagros evolved.

“I was working freelance, doing both filmmaking and management consulting. Jennifer was being a parent. We had talked about establishing a family-friendly bookstore or coffee shop, but when we became parents our world changed. Our daughter Mila, and now our boy, Gael—they are our living, breathing investment in the future. Thanks to them, the desire to make things better has become genuine to us. Environmentalism, supporting community and building community: those three things define what we do at Milagros.”

He connects the dots, pointing out that the shop is small but from the beginning has had a play area and a room adjacent to the sales area set aside for community events and classes where parents and neighbors can connect.

Supporting local artists and selling handmade crafts have been essential aspects of the business because, Fuentes says, “helping people help themselves by creating and selling things locally mattered to us.”

In selecting products, Fuentes holds Milagros to high standards.

“Everything is sweatshop-free, environmentally and socially friendly. So people know the products they walk out with are beneficial not only to themselves but to the larger community.

“One of the hardest things on the business side has been keeping faith that our values and decision-making are important to others. This commitment has meant finding and supporting local suppliers and foregoing hot products when the country of origin or overall environment did not feel comfortable.”

Fuentes believes that people want to make right choices and do the right thing, but often are missing necessary information.

“When I explain, ‘Here’s why we’re not carrying X,’ I see the light bulb go on.”

Fuentes explains how the store has been a springboard for his and Jennifer’s political activism. He mentions their projects helping small businesses and families, protecting open space in the Cully neighborhood, and enhancing livability in Concordia.

“It’s been exciting and sometimes daunting. People look to us as community leaders, the city asks us to join various initiatives. It’s interesting because we didn’t walk into this with the goal of being leaders or activists.”

In passing, Fuentes references past occupations. He’s made films, run a record label and distribution company, worked as a rock climber with Outward Bound as well as been a self-employed guide.

As he sits back sipping tea I wonder how such an apparently laid back person has done so many things and how, given the workload of a job, a business, and a family, he manages to flourish.
As if reading my mind, he says, “On some level, doing all these things has allowed me to build a sense of optimism and resiliency.”

When I ask Fuentes for a take on the economic future, he immediately advocates for the virtues of entrepreneurship and small business.

“In the recent past . . . most jobs created to pull out of downturns were created by firms with five or fewer employees. In Portland, 75 percent of the jobs are in small businesses. Investing in that diversity, rather than investing in a few big winners, promotes resilience. I want to see political leaders focused on the real value in growing entrepreneurship.”

“When you work in a small business you know everyone you work with and what they do, have a broad view of business, and usually have more opportunity to expand your skills and for mentorship. Others have more opportunity to know what you can do. Anyone who works at our shop could start their own shop, after working there for a year.”

Fuentes is also concerned about education, Portland’s high dropout rate and the poverty that adds to it. Not surprisingly he’d like to see a youth entrepreneurship training program that works with local businesses like Milagros, where youth could learn management training and what it takes to run a business.

Business as an arena that brings students into the real world is clearly one of Fuentes’ passions, and he has more to say about it. But an hour has passed and he has to leave for his part-time job as a technical writer/consultant at Tri-Met—yet another item on the slate of things he does “on the side.”

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Nick O’Connor contributes to Free Fun Guides [www.freefunguides.com]. He has rejected the motto “Keeping Weird and Just Doing It In the Rose City That Works.”