When Diaz came to the United States from Monterrey, Mexico, 15 years ago, she spoke only Spanish and worked nights with an office cleaning service and some time at a few local manufacturing plants. One night she saw a flyer on the door, written in Spanish, which said there was a free micro-business training program through Catholic Charities. The class piqued her interest so she started learning to speak English through classes at Bellevue University during the day. Then the business classes from Catholic Charities helped set her off in the right direction toward her dream.

Diaz was also fortunate to go through the mentorship program at the Gallup Organization, where she learned how to take advantage of her own strengths and not worry about her weaknesses. “You don’t know what you can do till someone helps you see your skills,” she said. ”I now see people around me for their strengths and take advantage of those strengths so things seem easier now. I tried all by myself for a while and almost quit. You have to ask around and see what others have experienced and know.”

The last two years, Diaz has received a lot of exposure by participating in Omaha Fashion Week. She was even featured on the cover of Metro Magazine after last year’s Omaha Fashion Week. This has allowed her to be involved in the next Miami International Fashion Week.

Based out of her home in Omaha, Diaz now focuses on creative designing, finding materials, making patterns and samples, and marketing and sales. While she and her family wait for the production line, they are currently working on the catalog and sample packages to send to boutiques nationwide in hopes they will send in their orders soon. The production line is based at her family’s factory back in Mexico, although she hopes to move it back to Omaha soon.

In the meantime, this import/export business presented a challenge, as Diaz had to learn and maneuver through the Mexican and United States governmental rules. For example, Mexico does not allow imports of anything made in China. There is even a certificate required for any material coming in to verify where the materials have come from before they are allowed across the border in to Mexico.

“Since I started sewing I have thought of doing a line” and 25 years later, Diaz is excited to see her first line of 5,000 pieces go through full production and then become available in stores in a few months. “I hope the orders are coming soon,” she said. Her advice to others: “Keep trying over and over till you get it… and you will! Work hard and have people to help you.” With a very supportive son and husband, Yolanda has spent the last 15 years building her dream.

“We work the sales side of things early in the morning, because we have a large European business. Our company is actually growing, so that can encompass a big part of the afternoon, and around evening you have to deal with manufacturing stuff. Manufacturing is done in Taiwan, so Skyping with those guys starts around 9 p.m and goes to about 2 in the morning. The whole thing can translate into very long days.”

After acquiring the rights to the ailing Tomac name from the American Bicycle Group back in June 2006, Smith moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, from California, hoping the state’s lower cost of living would prove an assent in his quest to revitalize the high-end bicycle brand.

In more ways than one, it would seem, biking is in Smith’s blood. The son of three-time motorcycle Hall of Fame inductee Malcolm Smith (who was instated in the Off-road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1978, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1996 and the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998), Joel Smith possesses a solid legacy on which to build his passion. And it’s his love of riding that’s carried him through his strenuous uphill struggle.

“When do I sleep? I just try,” Smith joked. “‘When do I ride?’ is the critical question. We’re proud of the quality of our bikes, but the biggest strain is finding time to get out and ride them.”

Nebraska’s distinct lack of mountains make it difficult to find local customers, Smith admitted, even though Tomac Mountain Bikes is the only bike manufacturing firm in the state. Still, a combination of unrelenting work ethic and fierce pride in their product (all the bikes are designed here in the U.S., with Tomac designers working out of Colorado and California) helps Smith and his employees muscle through.

“The most difficult part (of my job) is making money,” he said. “We’ve had to run a pretty lean operation the past two years. One of the first things that takes a hit when the economy starts going bad are bicycles, especially the high-end equipment we produce.”

Fortunately, along with the lion’s share of the U.S.’s shaken marketplace, Tomac’s showing the signs of a solid recovery.

“2010′s been very strong for us,” Smith said. “In the first three months, we’ve sold as many bikes as we sold last year. These are big numbers, which may be an indication things on the whole are turning around.”

No doubt, this resurgent success is in no small part thanks to Smith’s nearly two decades in the bike industry, the company’s international clientele and just a smidgen of chain grease when things get tough. Above all, Tomac is willing to go the literal extra mile to provide its customers with the best quality bikes possible. More often then not, this strict adherence to excellence means riding off into the sunrise and back again.

“Sometimes, we’ll drive to Colorado, test the bikes, and then drive back in the same day,” Smith said. “We can actually do some testing on some models around here — like in Platte River State Park — but the full-suspension bikes we make require a special type of terrain for testing, and Nebraska doesn’t really offer much in terms of the right landscape.”