Bombastik LLC

BIO

Celsa Arbaiza enthusiastically follows in the footsteps of courageous, charismatic, entrepreneurial women who have been breaking barriers in the business world in the United States and Latin America for decades.

Early Life

Her parents, Rosa Sosa and Carlos Arbaiza, are proud Salvadorean nationals who fled war-torn El Salvador for Guatemala City, where Celsa was born in 1982. Three years later, the family returned to San Salvador but couldn’t stay for long because it was still too dangerous, and President Jose Napoleon Duarte had declared martial law. As a result, Rosa, Celsa, and her sister Tania had to flee in the back of a pick-up truck to avoid gunfire until they were able to catch a bus back to Guatemala City, where they settled in an area called “Zona 7.”

In February of 1991, the family migrated to the United States, but that brought a series of new and unexpected challenges. Most importantly, they had unknowingly exchanged one war zone for another by moving to gang-infested South-Central Los Angeles, where Celsa and Tania attended public school. Indeed, the family arrived in Los Angeles just in time for the infamous riots that occurred in South Central and elsewhere after the verdict in the Rodney King case. It wasn’t easy, but the family stayed united and even welcomed the addition of a little brother for Celsa and Tania in February of 1992; Jeffrey Sadi Dominguez.

In 1994, a massive earthquake struck Los Angeles and caused so much damage to the building in which Celsa and her family were living that it was condemned as uninhabitable. Amidst so much chaos and uncertainty in California, the family decided to move to New York City, where they rented a small apartment in the borough of Queens. where Celsa attended 5th and 6th grade.

Then the family made another decision that turned out to be a great blessing. They moved to Denver, Colorado, where they struggled to make ends meet until the Lord shined a light upon them through the Calvary Baptist Church of Englewood, which was located in a suburb of Denver. Loving and incredibly generous members of that church located an apartment for the family, collected donations for a deposit, and even furnished it for free. It was such a blessing.

For her part, Celsa didn’t let the opportunity go to waste. She went on to attend middle school and high school in Denver, make friends, and become an intelligent, beautiful, ambitious young woman.

Television Career

Celsa graduated from Littleton High School and enrolled in the local community college in 2000. She studied hard but dreamt about being part of a television show. So, when Univision Network began searching for a national sports television reporter and announced that they would be hosting auditions, Celsa flew to Ontario, California to try out her luck in the entertainment industry.

She auditioned for an American Spanish-Language sports program called “Contacto Deportivo.” It was competitive, but the producers selected Celsa as one of the three finalists. They told her that one of the three finalists would be chosen as the winner and earn the official title as a sports reporter for the new sports television show, which would go on to exceed ESPN’s Sports Center in viewership. Months later, Celsa received the call that she was waiting for. She got the job and a contract with Univision Network.

It was an American Dream come true, and definitely not the last one for Celsa.

At the 2002 World Series, she worked as a reporter for all seven games between the Anaheim Angels and the San Francisco Giants. The series was played from October 19–27, 2002 at Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco and Edison International Field of Anaheim in Anaheim, and Celsa was there for all of it.

At the 2004 Super Bowl, Celsa was hired to host and interview Janet Jackson, who was scheduled to perform during the halftime show, at her official after-party. The game turned out to be the most-watched Super Bowl ever, when over 144.4 million viewers saw the New England Patriots defeat the Carolina Panthers. And the half-time show became historic too due to a shocking “wardrobe malfunction” during Janet Jackson’s performance with Justin Timberlake. Janet ditched her own after-party because of the controversy, but her family, including Michael Jackson himself, other siblings, and her parents, showed up. Celsa wasn’t able to interview them, but she had the honor to sit next to Jermaine La Jaune Jackson, who could not have been more humble or gracious, at dinner.

In her mid-20’s, Celsa founded her first successful business venture. As a licensed cosmetologist since the age of 16, Celsa had developed her own beauty line, which she called Bombastik Cosmetics. It was later picked up and sold by famous La Curacao, a well-known department stores in California. She also made the best use of EBAY at its peak and sold her products worldwide in 2007.

At the tender age of 26, Telemundo Network featured Celsa’s life story in a nationally televised program about her work as a television reporter, CEO, and entrepreneur with her own makeup line.

But Celsa was just getting started. Her career as a TV presenter was on the rise, and she was invited to appear in national and international shows that aired in the United States and parts of Latin America, including “El Show de Cristina,” “Control,” and “Sabado Gigante.” She interviewed hundreds of A-list actors and performers on American and Spanish television networks. She also hosted live streams for millions of viewers around the world on a wide range of topics.

The United States suffered a financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 and, unfortunately, Celsa was one of its many victims. Her financial life, which had been improving consistently over the last ten years or so, suddenly took a sharp turn for the worse for two reasons.

First, Celsa decided to leave the entertainment industry after a production company offered her a deal that she rejected for ethical, moral, and spiritual reasons. She loved her work in front of the camera, but she wouldn’t play a game she couldn’t control and didn’t like.

Second, with the entertainment career in her rear-view mirror (at least temporarily), Celsa decided to place a much higher priority on a career in real estate and accepted a job with Casa Blanca Realty in Las Vegas in 2010, but the U.S. housing market crashed shortly thereafter, along with Celsa’s investments. Her own real estate portfolio, which was worth 1.6 million dollars before the crash, took a major hit as the country plunged into recession.

With no jobs on TV, no real estate opportunities, no passive income from rental properties, and an upside-down portfolio, Celsa packed her bags once again and returned to Colorado. Her plans weren’t working out, but she decided to make the best of it by using this down-time to pursue a bachelor’s degree in business at the University of Colorado, where she was accepted as an undergraduate student.

Overcoming Challenges

Celsa was still struggling to make ends meet in 2012. She was attending college full-time and working full-time at her mom’s hair salon, which was called Elegancia Beauty Salon, too, but it wasn’t enough. The money she had saved and made at her mother’s salon wasn’t sufficient to cover her old accounts. Like so many others during that difficult time, she battled with stress and depression. Then, with the prayers and unconditional support of her mother Rosa and sister Tania, she eventually decided to put an end to everything by filing for bankruptcy. It was heartbreaking, but a fresh start allowed Celsa to regain her strength, and she wasted no time by refocusing on her studies and graduating from Arapahoe Community College with an associate’s degree and a paralegal certificate. (In 2020, Celsa also graduated from the University of Colorado and earned her bachelor’s degree.)

January 10, 2014 was the first day in a long journey for Celsa and Tania at Toro Taxes. The two sisters – who were also best friends and soulmates – put Toro Taxes on the map in Colorado and opened its first office by renting 600 square foot space inside their mother Rosa’s hair salon. Later that year, Celsa struck a deal for her family to become the exclusive Area Developer for Toro Taxes in Colorado.

Perseverance Pays Off

Celsa got her first big break to resurrect her business career in 2013 when her former boss from Casa Blanca Realty in Las Vegas, Nick Maldonado, called to propose that she open a Toro Tax office in Colorado. She agreed and flew back to Las Vegas to be trained as a tax professional by Mr. Toro himself at the company headquarters. When the training was over, Celsa’s sister Tania got them both a loan to make an investment in a Toro Taxes franchise, and they did it. There was no room for failure or excuses. It was time to perform and succeed.

Disaster Strikes

Working side by side, Celsa and Tania developed more than 20 Toro Taxes franchise offices by 2017. They had the most amazing future planned for themselves and their families, but a sudden, unimaginable tragedy occurred in the middle of the tax season in 2018. Tania was murdered in Denver.

Fox News picked up the story, followed by the Denver Post, and other media outlets, including Univision Network in Colorado. The last words Tania said to her oldest daughter Alexia Ramos the night before her death were: “Alexia, pray for me and ask the lord to help Kevin (the murderer) to remove those bad thoughts out of his head. I love you, and I will be back.” Little did the family know that her life would be cut short and her future stolen on Sunday Feb 25, 2018 after a pizza gathering at home. She mysteriously disappeared past midnight and was pronounced dead at the scene the next day. Kevin shot Tania in the back of the head and then committed suicide.

Tania Arbaiza will always be remembered as the Reyna de barrio (Queen of the barrio) because she helped everyone that walked into her Toro Tax office and treated them like royalty. (Netflix recently reached out to Celsa about filming and airing an episode about Tania life and involvement with the community, but the family is still healing and declined to proceed with it at this time.)

With God’s love and the support of her family, Celsa has been able to pick up the pieces and strive to fulfill the dream that she shared with Tania since they started developing income tax offices in Colorado. They dreamed about developing 50 franchise offices throughout the state and generating enough residual income to invest in real estate and live off the passive income of rental properties.

Present Day

Today that dream is closer than ever to becoming a reality. Colorado already has more than 32 Toro Tax offices, with another 5 offices pending paperwork, and the rest projected to be sold by 2023, which will be here in no time.

Meanwhile, Celsa has plans to resign from full-time work at Toro Taxes by 2025 and has positioned her 16-year-old niece, Alexia Ramos-Arbaiza – Tania’s oldest daughter – to replace her. This will allow Celsa to pursue another dream role as “Gestora De Negocios” for her beloved country of El Salvador. She envisions her role as an official foreign business broker responsible for bringing investment to El Salvador to improve its infrastructure in affordable housing and education.

On June 1, 2019, the new administration of President Bukele gave hope to Celsa’s family about visiting El Salvador again after so many years. President Bukele has already taken bold action to get the country’s violence under control and protect tourist areas. His administration has also encouraged those who left the country to return and invest in its development. And he has opened the doors of the presidential house in San Salvador to entrepreneurs who want to be part of the new El Salvador, including Celsa, of course.

Celsa flew to El Salvador with other prominent American investors in 2019, where they were welcomed by Miguel Kattan, President Bukele’s uncle. At the presidential house, Celsa’s entrepreneurial spirit lit up again and she saw hope and future development in both affordable housing and education.

Shortly after that trip, Celsa received another invitation from the presidential house to meet with leaders of El Salvador. Mr. Miguel Kattan told her about the administration’s vision and goals for Bukele’s presidency. He introduced the idea of an “Gestora de Negocios” for El Salvador and assured Celsa that the best is yet to come.

That same year, Celsa flew to Washington D.C to meet Dr. Félix Ulloa, Vice-President of El Salvador. The CEO of Toro Taxes, Nick Maldonado, made this special invitation possibly by hosting a dinner for the Vice-President.

Celsa foresees the power of strategic alliances between independent business moguls and landowners in other countries, especially her beloved El Salvador, and introducing American investors to bid on government contracts to build schools and hospitals abroad is one of her goals.

Last but not least, Celsa’s first investment in El Salvador has opened doors to begin her work in foreign business affairs. She participated and funded a portion of what she knew would become one of the top call centers in the country, Indigo S.A. The call center currently services American companies with virtual assistants, top technology, solid infrastructure, and overall “First Class Quality.” Celsa believes that her experience, pain, and failures have been the recipe for business success and developing an invaluable network of contacts who know what she’s capable of doing on her own and as part of a team.She has positioned herself for the best year ever in 2022, but that’s not all. Celsa plans to accomplish great things with good people for years to come in the United States, El Salvador, and beyond.