For Lisbet Newton, the story behind a business begins long before the doors open. It begins with the people who imagined a different future—and what they were willing to do to reach it.

Born in Cuba, Lisbet immigrated to the United States with her family in the early 1980s, arriving as a child in search of opportunity and a better life. That experience remains an important part of how she understands perseverance, identity and the work of making a home in a new country.

From a young age, she understood that “Marielita” was sometimes used with a negative connotation toward Cuban immigrants who had arrived during that period. She does not personally identify with or lay claim to the term. Her perspective has always centered on the people behind such labels: individuals and families willing to leave the lives they knew because they hoped for a chance to build something better.

“I came to this country as a child from Cuba. Long before I understood business, entrepreneurship or leadership, I understood what it meant for a family to believe that somewhere else there might be an opportunity to build a better life. That perspective has never left me.”

Lisbet Newton

Her education includes a Bachelor of Business Administration and an MBA, with graduate studies focused on finance and accounting. She completed her MBA at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. Her professional journey has also unfolded through entrepreneurship, marketing, communications and publishing, with community engagement and relationship-building becoming increasingly central to her work.

Lisbet founded Houston City Beat and helped develop it into an independent Houston media platform focused on the people, businesses, organizations and communities that make up Greater Houston. Much of her work begins with a conversation: discovering why someone started a business, what an organization hopes to change, or how a personal experience became a reason to serve others.

Over time, connecting people and creating places for those conversations to be shared became inseparable parts of that work. Houston’s Hispanic Business Legacy grew naturally from it. As the initiative’s creator and curator, Lisbet brings her experience to the questions she asks and the stories she seeks out.

For her, documenting this legacy means looking beyond a list of successful Hispanic professionals. It means making room for immigration stories and family businesses; the sacrifices and risks behind a first venture; failures, reinvention and the decision to begin again. It also means recognizing community service and the opportunities people create—not only for themselves, but for employees, neighbors, families and those who follow.

That purpose is at the heart of Houston City Beat’s belief: “We Are the Storytellers of Houston.” The statement has never meant that the publication alone tells Houston’s stories. Houston’s residents are the storytellers. They carry the experiences, memories and perspectives that give this city its character. Houston City Beat exists to give those stories a platform where they can be seen, heard and remembered.

Lisbet’s role is to help bring those voices forward. Her own beginnings give that work personal meaning: an understanding that behind an achievement is a life, and that the journey deserves to be remembered alongside the result.

Help us tell that fuller story. Recommend a Hispanic business owner, professional, entrepreneur, nonprofit leader, community advocate or another Houstonian whose experiences and contributions belong in Houston’s Hispanic business and community legacy. Share a person and the story you believe Houston should know.