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Longview Salvadorans give back to East Texas

Sophia Sartors said her family left El Salvador for a better life and to escape the violence within their country. Today her family pays it forward by giving back.

LONGVIEW, Texas — From owning a family business to giving back to her community, one Longview woman does both. 

Sophia Sartors' family came from Santo Tomás, San Salvador, El Salvador and moved to Longview when she was just 10-years-old. 

Sophia said her family moved for a better life and to escape the violence within their country.

Once she grew up, she started a business with her two brothers Oscar and Luis.

"We started doing real estate photography about seven years ago," said Sartors. "I remember just kind of knocking doors and just being like, 'hey, are you interested?' One of our top realtors, she gave us the opportunity."

Melanie Northcutt, owner of Sugar Magnolia Properties. says the relationship she's created with Sophia and her family has been amazing. She also says having a professional photographer in the real estate business is the only way to go. 

"I can't imagine not doing that going forward but yes, if you're going to put your listings up against any other agent in town, and you don't have professional photography you can definitely tell," said Northcutt. 

With all the success, Sophia and Luis make sure to give back to the local Hispanic community.  

"Luis also does a lot of events, quinceañeras, weddings and all of that," said Sophia. "Every year he gives back also for the big Cinco de Mayo in Mount Pleasant. We take care of all their video, photography and all of that. So that's huge!"

So why is Hispanic Heritage Month important to Sophia?

"People think because I look a certain way that I might just be Mexican. You know, there's just more countries out there that I feel like people need to explore," she said.

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