> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.svlatino.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # It's Not Just a Teapot: Griselda Gonzalez on Moving People, Not Just Boxes - URL: https://www.svlatino.com/blogs/cafecito/its-not-just-a-teapot-griselda-gonzalez-on-moving-people-not-just-boxes/ - Published: 2026-11-11T15:29:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-11T15:28:59.000Z - Description: Griselda Gonzalez of CG Moving on moving people, not just boxes, and leading California's moving association. - Author: Silicon Valley Latino - Tags: Cafecito, Cultura Ambassador ### Publishers Note *Cafecito with SVL is Silicon Valley Latino's conversation series, coffee-style interviews with the Latino voices shaping our comunidad. In Episode 6, SVL CEO Alex Ontiveros sits down with Griselda Gonzalez of CG Moving, an SVL Cultura Ambassador and the chairwoman of the California Moving and Storage Association, to talk about what a move really means to a family, the program that changed her business, and the women she is lifting up in a male-dominated industry. We recently published an article about her new role as chairwoman:* [Griselda Gonzalez: From El Salvador to Chair of the Board.Most people in the moving industry move things. Griselda Gonzalez moves industries. This month, May 2026, she becomes Chair of the Board of the California Moving and Storage Association — the sixth woman and the first immigrant Latina to hold the position in its more than 100-year history![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/da/c2/dac234fa-0ada-4c3c-ab9c-95843168f30c/content/images/icon/Primary-Logo-01with-space-0bcffaa3-e82d-4424-9613-6b431a25eb64.png)Silicon Valley LatinoSergio Domeyko![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/da/c2/dac234fa-0ada-4c3c-ab9c-95843168f30c/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-11-11-at-04.02.21-2e514134-329b-4516-bb41-4c5264f2a6c2.png)](https://www.svlatino.com/blogs/cultura-ambassador/griselda-gonzalez-from-el-salvador-to-chair-of-the-board/) --- "It's not just a teapot." That is how Griselda Gonzalez explains her work. A move, she says, is never just a move. She told us about a client whose elderly parent was heading into assisted living. Among their belongings was a Talavera teapot, made in Puebla, bought on a vacation trip years before. There was no room for it in the new place. The adult child had to decide what would make the move and what would not. "It's almost like you're mediating that transfer," Griselda said. On one side, the family member who has to make the call. On the other, the elder with an attachment to that piece. And in the middle, a moving company. "So it's not just a teapot. It's like memories of that trip to Puebla and buying that teapot at a market." That is the lens Griselda brings to CG Moving. It is also the story of a Latina business leader who works for every seat she earns. ### Who Gets to Say Hi Griselda and Alex have known each other only a short time, and she was the one who made the first move. She had been following SVL for a while, on LinkedIn and Facebook. "It's always so good to see stories of other people that look like you, sound like you, have similar last names," she said. At the Latino Business Action Network's State of Latino Entrepreneurship event at Stanford, she spotted Alex in what looked like a cordoned-off area. She went through some lines to reach him. "I'm like, 'I gotta go say hi to that guy.'" Alex said what we hear again and again from our comunidad. "Sometimes you just don't know who your content is reaching." You never know who is watching. That is why we keep telling these stories. ### The Program That Changed Her Business Griselda is an alumna of the Latino Business Action Network. She joined in 2019, as part of cohort seven. At the time, she said, the scaling program was open to Latino-owned businesses with revenues of a million dollars or more, or with more than $500,000 in outside investment. She believes it has since opened to entrepreneurs in general. She and Alex also noted that the network has been running for more than 10 years, with about 60 entrepreneurs in each cohort. Griselda believes there are more than 1,500 graduates now. The network has also added an accelerator aimed at tech companies. What stood out for her was who was in the room. It was a university classroom full of Latino business owners, from landscaping to food manufacturing to construction to transportation like hers. "If you think that you're the smartest person in your family, now you have, like, 60 other people that are doing even greater things." The program changed the course of her business. At that time, CG Moving was on its second warehouse in the peninsula. She did not even need a loan. But she learned to get her financials ready and to meet with capital providers. That led to a relationship with a bank, and eventually to buying more warehouses in West Sacramento. "For us, life-changing," she said. ### Cool Girls Moving Company The CG in CG Moving stands for her husband's name, Charlie Gonzalez. "But when he's not in the room," Griselda said with a smile, "it's Cool Girls Moving Company." Her sister, Olga Garcia, works alongside them. Charlie started the company in 2005 after more than 10 years in the industry, doing every job: moving, packing, driving, supervising crews. Griselda told him not to. They had a mortgage, a child, and car payments. He did not listen. "I'm glad that my husband didn't listen to my advice or counsel," she said, laughing. In 2008, when she was laid off from her mortgage job, he hired her. Their path is unusual. Most small businesses start with local or commercial work and climb toward municipal, state, and finally federal contracts. "We're trying to reverse engineer," Griselda said. CG Moving started with federal work and is now going back to add state and county work. The barriers to federal contracts are real, she said: the regulations, the compliance, and the competition. And she says they have been really successful with it. Today the company does residential and commercial moves, lab moves, and modular systems installation. And it does something Griselda says the team is especially proud of. CG Moving works with vulnerable populations, including foster youth, elderly clients, and adult protective services cases. It partners with counties and agencies to move people when they need it. ### The Same Respect and Dignity Alex asked her why that work is so meaningful. Her answer is one we want every business owner to hear. "Today, we could be moving a CEO of a Silicon Valley company," Griselda said. "And then tomorrow, we could be moving someone that's being helped by a county agency." That home could be disorganized or untidy. It does not matter. "You have to show the same respect and dignity to that client that you did the day before to that CEO." Moving, she said, is often named as one of the most stressful events in a person's life. You are entering their home. Some moves are happy ones, like a promotion or a wedding. Others are painful, like a youth in foster care leaving a home. "You think of moving as like, well, you have a truck, and you have big men moving stuff. There's a lot of emotional intelligence that goes with that." "You're moving someone's life, right? Like, their memories." Alex shared why this hit home. His father recently passed, and he and his siblings had to go through the house, even after the estate sales. "I know how important that is," he said, to have a moving company come in with that sensitivity. ### The Sixth Woman in 108 Years Griselda recently became the chairwoman of the California Moving and Storage Association. The association has been around since 1918 and represents movers in California and beyond. She said she is the sixth woman to hold the role in its 108 years, and the first immigrant Latina. It is a volunteer position, and it is earned. "It's not a popularity contest," she said. "You don't buy the seat. You don't lobby for the seat. You work for the seat." Leaders work their way up through the chairs and are voted on by their peers for three consecutive years. Names like Bekins, which you may have seen on trucks across the road, have held the same seat. "It's not something I take lightly." Alex put the achievement in context. Step into an ecosystem like that, roll up your sleeves, show what you are made of, and eventually earn the spot. "Congratulations." ### Women on the Move One of Griselda's proudest projects started about five years ago with her sister: a working group called Women on the Move. It is a professional development group, and it holds a day each year of speakers on everything from sales to LinkedIn to negotiation. It is open to everyone. Griselda encourages companies to bring people from the C-suite and also from dispatch, the office, the warehouse, and the trucks. Yes, there are women driving trucks and moving furniture. "Believe it or not." Transportation is a male-dominated field, she said, and women have always been part of it. Many moving company stories begin with a wife supporting the husband who started the company. They also include women doing the billing, the insurance, the human resources, and the hard physical work of the move itself. Women on the Move brings visibility, appreciation, and empowerment to those women. And it is becoming a community. Women connect from Florida to California. Your company can be a tiny one or a multinational, Griselda said, but you have someone in the network to ask: "Hey, I'm dealing with this. Have you dealt with this situation before?" Alex called it what it is. "Representation matters." Women need to see other women in those roles, he said, because "you need to have somebody represent the possibilities." ### Why We Do the Work As the conversation wrapped up, Griselda turned the question around. She told us she is always impressed by the quality of SVL's work, and she said that if you are not subscribing to our newsletter, you should be. Then she asked Alex something. He works with multimillion-dollar companies in Silicon Valley, and yet he also works with small businesses and nonprofits and answers the phone when people call. Why? His answer began with a story about his daughter. When she was little, Alex often worked late into the night. One night around one o'clock she peeked into his office on her way to the bathroom and asked, "Dad, why do you work so much?" "Because there's a lot of work to do," he told her. Everyone in the SVL family and at SVL Agency shares that focus, he said: to do meaningful work. "If we have that focus of who we are, what our journeys have been, how could you not help? How could you not provide resources?" Many people helped him along the way. This is how we pay it back: empower the community, educate the community, and be a resource to the community. Griselda had the last word. Visibility matters, she said, but so does a conversation and the generosity of someone's time. "Thank you for creating spaces like that where we can come and share these stories, and thank you for amplifying resources." ### Move With Purpose So here is what we are asking of you. If you own a business, treat every client with the same respect and dignity. The CEO and the family in crisis deserve the same care. If you are a Latina in an industry where few look like you, find your community, or build one. Women on the Move shows it can be done. If you need a mover in California, a Latino-owned company like CG Moving is ready to carry your life with care. Shop Latino. List your own business. Share this story with someone who needs it. And if there is a seat you are working toward, keep working. You do not buy it. You do not lobby for it. You work for it. --- This conversation is Episode 6 of Cafecito with SVL. Watch the full episode above, and subscribe to Silicon Valley Latino on YouTube so you never miss the next one. --- **Stories like this don't tell themselves.** SVL has spent over a decade making the invisible visible, celebrating Latino excellence, naming hard truths, and calling our comunidad to action. Independent Latino journalism only survives when the community it serves decides it's worth protecting. There are two ways to stand with us: Are you a Latino professional, entrepreneur, or leader ready to be celebrated? Become a Cultura Ambassador, SVL's official community membership for Latino leaders who are ready to have their story told, their work amplified, and their excellence made visible. [Become a Cultura Ambassador→ ](https://www.svlatino.com/#/portal/signup/6a8db2d43e7c840008178b04/yearly) Want to support our mission? Become an Amigo de SVL. 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