Mildred Valbert works two jobs as a tax preparer and receptionist. "I just want my son to graduate," she said. (Alexa Liacko)

This story is part of a Neon Tommy series exploring the lives of low-wage workers in South Los Angeles. In his State of the Union address this February, President Obama unveiled a plan for the minimum wage to be raised to $9 an hour from its current level at $7.25.

The issue of minimum wage became one of renewed pivotal importance in the final weeks of the L.A. mayoral election, with candidate Wendy Greuel pledging to support an increase in the wages of hotel workers to $15 an hour. Workers featured in this series earn wages below, at, or slightly above the California minimum wage rate, which currently stands at $8 an hour. These are the workers who would be affected by a new policy.

On the corner of Figueroa St. and 27th St. stands a man in a Statue of Liberty suit, frantically waving a sign reading “TAXES.” All this to grab the attention of the working population to come pay a visit to the woman sitting inside Liberty Tax Service: receptionist and tax consultant Mildred Valbert.

Born in Guatemala, Valbert represents the first generation in her family to grow up in America and currently works two jobs to support her family. She said one of her jobs earns her a few dollars above minimum wage, and while the other pays “better,” she still finds herself struggling to pay the bills.

New to the tax world, Valbert said she fell into the profession “by accident actually. I was curious about it and I ended up liking it. There are different ways people can get money back from their taxes – it’s really interesting.”

She took classes last fall to prepare for her first tax season, but said she was starting off slowly. “I know that I may not make a lot this year, but every year I’m going to get better and better – there’s a lot of room for improvement with this work.”

With a close to minimum wage salary, Valbert also works on a commission basis, which “make a big difference,” she said.  

 “It needs to go up more than a buck. It needs to go to at least $10 here for someone to see a difference,” Valbert said of Obama’s proposal to raise the minimum wage. ““I think it’s about time something happened. People are hurting here.”

“And if someone could lower my rent, we’d really have it good,” she laughed.

The cost of living in L.A. is high compared with much of the U.S., but Valbert says this pay raise would not make a huge change to her life. “No, if he would raise it more, I could see a difference, but it’s probably going to get taken out with taxes anyway. Since the minimum wage is eight dollars already, it’s not going to help much.”

This is why Valbert says, that she does what she does – to help people alleviate financial burden, if only by a little. “I help people prepare their taxes for the IRS and let them know if they can get a better refund. And if they can, we try to help them out in different ways,” she said.

Valbert said people are often surprised to discover the amount of tax refunds available. “They can get money back from the mileage in their car, the gas that they use, the uniforms they wear at work, the food they buy, if they go to school, books. There’s a lot of stuff.”

Her biggest complaint of the job is dealing with difficult customers. “All the different forms take a lot of time, and sometimes people get impatient. They’ll get irritated with me, and it’s hard because you want to help, but it makes me want to help so much less when they have an attitude.”

Valbert, who has been working with the public for over ten years as a receptionist at a medical office, is now well-versed in customer service. As with the first, her second job has her earning slightly above minimum wage but not enough to get her by, she says. “I do a little bit of everything,” she laughed.

And it is all for her family, the one thing Valbert said she is always thinking about. “Now that I do this, I can see what a difference my work can make to people. I always think about all of the stuff I could’ve been able to do with that money. Wow, all the stuff I could’ve been able to do or help out with or give to my family. It’s a lot.”

“My dad was such a hard worker,” she continued. “When we moved to America, he built a new life for us, and I’m thankful he did, so I try to [do] that for my son.”

Her parents moved Valbert and her two older brothers to Texas from Guatemala when she was just three years old. “They moved because of the poverty, it was tough to live over there. There were no jobs, no nothing,” she said.

“If we would’ve stayed over there…Wow, my life would’ve been so different. I probably would’ve had a bunch of kids by now,” she said and laughed. “But seriously, there was no chance for going to school or getting a higher education there. It’s hard. It was a good move.”

So good, in fact, that Valbert said it was the defining moment in her life. “I still remember that. It was a life-changing thing. It’s a story I tell my nieces, and I tell my son. You can’t take life for granted. What you’re given, be grateful for because I didn’t have any of that.”

Growing up near the University of Texas, Valbert said she and her brothers grew up happy and content. “I think it was hard for my dad though. My mom never worked, but my dad had to start over, trying to find people to help him, trying to find a job, and of course the language barrier – he spoke no English.”

He came to the States with “not more than five bucks in his pocket,” Valbert said, saying he did everything from manual labor to dishwashing to maintenance to provide for his family.

Valbert said the best part of being here was the possibility “of moving forward” and having an education. “To be what you actually want to be and have that opportunity is something we wouldn’t have been able to get over there if we would have stayed.”

Valbert and her family decided to head to Los Angeles when her brother made the move, on the perception of a city “you can find anything and do anything” in. She now has a son of her own, a 15-year-old. “Oh yes, the teenager,” she said, sighing and laughing. 

But Valbert said he’s got big things in mind. “He likes criminal justice, and he’s liked it since middle school, so I’m thinking he might actually stick with it.”

Her high hopes for her son and nieces may have been a reason, though, that Valbert has put off a dream of her own. “I’ve always wanted to be a nurse, but when my son was small I had to be home with him, so it would’ve been too hard to go to school then. I had to stop doing one thing to do another. But I will when he’s old enough – and so I tell him he needs to leave home and be a man in a few years,” she laughed. 

For the moment, Valbert said all she wants is to see her son to graduate. “I want my son to get his life going, go to school, start a career, finish what he wants to do. I have to stay where I am because I can’t afford to go to school now, but when I can I will.”

For more stories from this series, click here.

Reach Staff Reporter Alexa Liacko here.