A local success story
By MIKE MCKENNA
If you had to pick a word to describe Marisa Elizarraras’s life, you probably wouldn’t choose “easy.”
No, her life growing up locally was anything but easy. But once you’ve heard the story of Marisa’s journey from broken homes to thriving local businesswoman, you’d likely choose terms like “resilient,” “inspiring,” and the word she likes to use to describe her life, “hopeful.”
Marisa was born in Hailey and her parents’ troubled marriage ended soon thereafter. She was thrown into the turmoil of dividing her time between two homes — one was with her mother, who had lifelong substance abuse issues. By the time she was just eight years old, her mother’s issues had been passed over to Marisa and she began a long battle with substance abuse.
By the time Marisa reached adolescence, her once promising athletic abilities, as a swimmer and track athlete, had given way to nothing but trouble. For years she bounced from school to school and various rehab facilities. Friends, family and people of faith could only help her so much. Every time Marisa would get clean, another tragedy in her life would knock her back down the same old destructive paths.
Eventually, however, Marisa found the strength and faith to defeat her demons. Her “naughty years,” as she calls them, are now well behind her and now Marisa is a thriving small-business owner, proud mom, and someone who is deeply committed to giving back and supporting others.
“It doesn’t matter how many mistakes you make in life, you have to learn from them,” Marisa said.
Marisa married Joel Elizarraras in 2007 and they have raised three kids. “I’m so blessed to raise kids here,” she said.
Marisa has learned from and overcome her mistakes by working hard and finding a strong support group at The Life Church. Faith and hard work have led to Marisa’s salvation.
“I love working,” said Marisa, who had lots of jobs before owning her own businesses. She worked in the real estate world with both Windermere and Hallmark Properties. She’s moonlighted at South Valley Pizzeria and at different local gas stations for decades.
In 2009, she and her husband founded a cleaning service called “Got Dirt.” It was their second job and became a family affair. After working their day jobs, they would spend their evenings cleaning properties, with their kids in tow. Sometimes the kids would help clean or do their homework and they’d all take breaks for dinners together.
As their bilingual business began to grow, they changed its name and added property management. Now known as Mountain Valley Property Services, their booming business has nine employees. They also own Steri-Clean Idaho, offering cleaning services of every kind, and will soon take over a local BK Custom Painting and Fine Finishing business. Marisa’s experiences, especially dealing with grief and loss, help her relate and empathize with many Steri-Clean clients.
The keys to their small-business success are, as Marisa explained, “consistency, integrity and honesty.”
As for the key to turning her life from dysfunctional to dream-come-true, Marisa explained it at a talk she gave at The Life Church: “Live a life full of hope.”
Find out more at MountainValleyPropertyService.com or call (208) 720-3399.