Cuban Entrepreneurs Navigate Miami’s Small Business Boom Despite Legal Obstacles

Three Cuban women are building businesses in Miami despite significant legal and financial obstacles. Mariana Alom opened a pole dance studio called The WildCat Room. Claudia Carreras launched Turn On Tennis, a coaching academy. Heidy Martínez started Mimos SkinCare, a facial treatment salon. Each arrived in Miami over the past five years determined to become self-employed, navigating a landscape far different from what they left behind in Cuba.

Their timing coincides with unprecedented growth in Miami’s small business ecosystem. At the end of 2025, Miami-Dade ranked as the top destination in the country for small-business growth, with nearly 4,900 new business applications per 100,000 county residents filed over a year. A 2025 report found that 5.74% of workers under 40 in Miami are self-employed, the highest share among all U.S. cities included in the study.

Yet the path forward has not been equal for all three entrepreneurs. Immigration status created vastly different starting conditions, shaping how quickly and easily each could launch.

Immigration Status and Legal Uncertainty

Alom’s entry through family reunification proved smoother than the journeys of Carreras and Martínez. Both women received an I-220A form upon entering the United States, a document that leaves immigrants in legal limbo while their cases proceed through immigration court.

Carreras arrived in 2022 during a historic peak in Cuban migration. More than 220,000 Cuban migrant encounters were recorded at U.S. borders that year, including at sea. She left for the same reasons as many others, citing lack of opportunities. Martínez arrived in May 2022 after traveling to Del Rio, Texas, with her husband. Her immigration cases took a different path than his, he received parole, or legal permission to enter the country, while she filed an asylum application. She is now awaiting her second immigration court hearing in 2028.

The cancellation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans, Hondurans, Haitians and Salvadorans has compounded these challenges across Miami’s immigrant communities. ICE enforcement operations targeting people without legal immigration status have affected the businesses supported by this vibrant population.

From Experience to Entrepreneurship

Despite these constraints, Carreras and Martínez launched their ventures. Carreras, a former tennis player who represented Cuba at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, worked initially at the Neighborhood Tennis academy in Coral Gables before creating Turn On Tennis. She has since expanded into Turn On Healthy Bar, a mobile cart serving refreshments at events, and Turn On News, a digital magazine covering sports, business and lifestyle in Miami.

Martínez brought a trade she had practiced for fifteen years. In Havana, she ran a small facial treatment business from her home in the Playa municipality. Certification from a course at the Rossie school in Hialeah prepared her to open Mimos SkinCare in late 2024. She initially worked from a shared salon space before transitioning to her own location in Hialeah Gardens.

Alom’s background differed again. She had trained in classical ballet and acting at Havana’s Instituto Superior de Arte before leaving Cuba for Brazil in 2019. In Ubatuba, a coastal city in São Paulo state, she discovered pole dancing and earned first place in the artistic category at a Brazilian pole competition. She worked for nearly two years at the nightclub E11EVEN in Miami, saving money to establish The WildCat Room in early June 2026.

Social Media and Minimal Capital

All three entrepreneurs relied on social media to launch with relatively little financial investment. Alom manages schedules, class options and prices through her Instagram account. Carreras used social media to promote her growing academy and personally arranged school visits. Martínez overcame her fear of social media by creating her own content, editing videos herself after learning how.

Starting a business requires minimal formal capital. Forming an LLC costs at least $125, according to Florida’s Division of Corporations. Venezuelan entrepreneur Gisela Rojas, who also operates in Miami, recommends entrepreneurs build business credit from the beginning. When entrepreneurs create an LLC, banks offer business credit cards on the same day, which can be used to purchase materials or pay rent, thereby raising credit scores over time.

Finding Competitive Advantage

Alom knows The WildCat Room faces substantial competition in Miami. She hopes to expand by adding at least three more poles that reach competition height and building a team of professionals in flexibility, yoga, massage and physical conditioning.

Martínez believes her personalized service will distinguish Mimos SkinCare despite fierce competition in Miami’s cosmetology industry. She focuses on quality and “working with the heart,” a philosophy that has driven client referrals. “I keep the essence of my work, and it’s the same as in Cuba,” she says.

The three women agree that Miami offers genuine opportunity to build independent ventures. Passion remains foundational to their success. Martínez captures this directly: “I love doing this; I can adapt to something else, but it will never be the same for me.”