UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. and siblings are part of new Latino-focused NIL deal

PHILADELPHIA â€”  Daniel Chu was so inspired by the Jaquez siblings that he couldn’t pick just one. So he picked them all.

The founder and chief executive of Tricolor Holdings, a Dallas-based financial technology company that helps Latino immigrants finance cars at affordable rates, signed UCLA guard Jaime Jaquez Jr. and siblings Gabriela and Marcos as part of a name, image and likeness deal with the family.

“When we learned about the Jaquezes,” Chu told The Times in a recent interview, “their story really resonated with us because this is a family that came to the U.S. to build a better future. Their path is similar to the profile we aspire to serve, immigrants who came here with dreams and worked very hard to pursue those dreams.”

The siblings’ grandmother, Gloria, met the man who would become their grandfather after traveling from her home in Zapotlanejo, Mexico, to visit a sister in the United States. She moved to the Oxnard area, earned her cosmetology license and opened a beauty salon in Camarillo despite not knowing any English upon her arrival in the U.S.

The family backstory was included in a 3½-minute video released as part of the NIL deal being announced.

“My Mexican American heritage really instilled a hard work ethic in me,” Jaime said in the video. “I mean, just seeing how hard my dad worked, as well as my mom, and my grandparents coming from Mexico, it was really inspiring to see as a young kid.”

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The Jaquez siblings are inspiring their own legion of followers. Jaime has become the emotional linchpin for a Bruins team that reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, where it will face North Carolina on Friday night at the Wells Fargo Center. Gabriela is a scoring machine at Camarillo High who often draws three or four defenders and will play for the UCLA women’s team next season, possibly with her brother still on campus if he elects for one more season.

Marcos, a three-sport standout at Camarillo, is an unlikely baby of the bunch at 6 feet 2 and 250 pounds.

“The first time that I realized I need to work hard,” Marcos said in the video, “was playing pickup basketball with my siblings and they would just be way better than me and I was like, no, that’s not going to happen.”

Chu also was drawn to the Jaquez family because of his basketball background: He played at Washington University in St. Louis before becoming an assistant at Miami (Fla.) and coach at the University of the South, a Division III school near Chattanooga, Tenn.

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Chu said he expected the Jaquez video to connect with the target audience of his company, which uses artificial intelligence to generate credit scores for Latino immigrants in 20 markets between California and Texas to protect them from predatory lending practices.

“It’s telling a story that’s aligned with the way we hope to empower people who are challenged in terms of being able to build a life in America,” Chu said.