Trinidad "Trini" Mendenhall is a Texas businesswoman and the recipient of the 2004 Texas Women's Hall of Fame award. Together with her husband she co-founded Fiesta Mart, Inc. in 1972, a 45-store retail grocery chain across Texas.[1] She is the president of Fulton Shopping Center, a real estate investment company in Houston[2] and is the vice president of First Quality Fruit & Produce Company.[3]
Mendenhall is on the board of Catholic charities. In 2004 she was appointed by Governor Rick Perry to the Advisory Board of the Economic Development Stakeholders.[1] She has served on many other boards including those for: Ronald McDonald House, Baylor College of Medicine, University of St. Thomas, Houston Ballet Public Affairs Committee, Alexis de Tocqueville Society, End Hunger Network and more.[1][4]
in 1997, she created the Trini and O.C. Mendenhall Foundation, which works to empower women, minorities and children.[2] In 2002, she created the Mendenhall Asthma Research Laboratory at Baylor's Biology of Inflammation Center in memory of her late husband.[5] She is a trustee at the Baylor College of Medicine[6] and serves on the board of trustees of the Houston Ballet.[7][8]
Mendenhall received the Gaia Award by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the Woman of Distinction Award by the ABC Channel 13/Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. She is a recipient of the Willie Velasquez Hispanic Excellence Award and was named one of Houston's 2000 Millennium Makers by the Evin Thayer Foundation.[1] The Alliance for Mulitcultural Community Services recognized her as a Star Among Us in 2001.[3] In 2010 she received the Alice Graham Baker Crusader Award.[9] In 2018 she was honored with the Catholic charities Legacy Award.[2]
