On Thursday, Sept. 15, at the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s (USHCC) 26th Annual Convention and Business Expo in Milwaukee, 10 Latinas received the fourth annual Anna Maria Arias Memorial Business Fund Awards. The awards are dedicated to the memory of LATINA Style founder Anna Maria Arias; they recognize 10 Latina business owners, with cash grants of $5,000 each, for their business innovation and success, as well as their service to the community.

The awards are a collaboration between LATINA Style, the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and Wells Fargo. “These women prove that hard work, dedication, talent, and passion can lead to becoming a successful small business owner,” said Tim Rios, national spokesperson for Wells Fargo’s Latino Business Services program, of this year’s awardees. “They’re excellent role models and demonstrate the importance of Latina entrepreneurs in building a stronger economy.”

Evangelina Holvino is president of Chaos Management, which provides training, consulting, and research to help organizations become more effective, multicultural, and equitable, focusing especially on Latino and minority issues. Holvino is also a senior research faculty member of the Center for Gender in Organizations at Simmons School of Management and a founding member of Madrinas: A Latina Leaders Network. Holvino is the principal investigator of the research project Latinas at Work: Journeys to Leadership, and is a member of the advisory boards of Working Mother Media Best Companies for Women of Color and the Diversity Factor. Since 1979, she has worked all over the world, including in the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia, West Africa, and Latin America.

Olga “Cookie” Mapula is the president and CEO of Technology & Communications Gateway (TCG), a management and technology services firm, as well as the majority owner of AdEdge Computer Training Center and Border Research Solutions. Her companies provide extensive services that bring social and economic benefit to the United States–Mexico border region. A training center she built to serve displaced workers earned her recognition as Trainer of the Year in 2004. She has received various awards, including an Avon Women of Enterprise Award, a Small Business Administration Women in Business Award, and a USHCC Regional Business Woman of the Year Award. She is a fellow of the National Hispana Leadership Institute and has been named to the El Paso Women’s Hall of Fame. She is currently establishing a not-for-profit organization called the Southwest Institute for Successful Aging that will address the loss of financial security for older generations.

The owner of Voice of Empowerment, Maria Marin is an internationally renowned expert in the area of negotiation training. Her audio book, Secretos de la Mujer Segura (Secrets of a Confident Woman), empowers women to find confidence and improve their lives. She is the author of a weekly newspaper column, “Mujer Sin Limite” (Women Without Limits), and hosts her own radio show in Southern California. In 2004, she was awarded the Latin Business Association’s Latina Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Before becoming a public speaker, Marin spent seven years as owner and manager of two restaurants. “My passion in life is to be able to help others achieve their dreams,” she says.

Sonia Molina is president of Molina Edodontics, a dental office specializing in internal oral surgeries; she also serves as president of Nassillon Development Inc., which specializes in real-estate development in Southern California. Molina, who moved to the United States from El Salvador at the age of 17, is a doctor of dental medicine, holds a master’s in public health, and completed postdoctoral work in endodontics. She was a founding member of the Salvadoran American Leadership and Educational Fund and is active on the boards of the Los Angeles Dental Society, the Latin American Dental Association, the Harvard Alumni Association, and the Women Dental Society. She is also a commissioner on the Los Angeles Health Authority Commission. She has been a volunteer dentist for Clinica Monsenor Romero and the Latin Business Association and was involved in creating the Firebaugh Free Children’s Dental Clinic.

Regina Munroe is the founder of Inproma, a San Fransico-area business providing logo-bearing merchandise, including clothing, pens, and business cards, to companies with the goal of improving corporate culture and company identity. A former chemist, Munroe built her business from a small, home-based embroidery company in 1997 into a successful LLC. “As a small business, it is hard to compete against the salary and benefits offered by large corporations,” Munroe says of building a strong employee base. “I make all my employees feel that they are part of the team.” Munroe has been a mentor in the Las Hermanitas program and has contributed to scholarship funds for Hispanic students.

Teresa Ornelas is the founder, president and CEO of ¡Great Impact!, an award-winning company that provides innovative motivational products. Specializing in printed products, ¡Great Impact! provides promotional-product solutions for a broad range of organizations. Ornelas, who founded her company in 1998, is a graduate of the APS Academy for the Advancement of Small, Minority and Women Owned Business. She currently serves on the executive board of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, on the Board Development and the Small Business Development Committees. She is involved with the Chandler Chamber of Commerce Board and is president of the East Valley Sierra Club.

Leslie Padilla-Williams founded her business, Hola Language Services, which offers translation and interpretation services to the educational community, in 1994. An immigrant to the United States at the age of 6, Padilla-Williams remembers well her fear of making mistakes as she acquired her new language. During the initial years of her business, she worked as an adult education instructor, writing curriculum and delivering workshops to aid teachers in acquiring their bilingual teaching credentials. She has conducted a Latino voter-outreach program and coordinated a Community Resource Fair. Padilla-Williams is always looking for new ways to accomplish her primary goal: “to empower the Latino community through education.”

As principal of Alderete Business Visions, Terry Roderick-Alderete has grown her company from a corporate-consulting business to one that provides full-service event production for nonprofits and business organizations. Before starting Alderete Business Visions, she worked for 29 years at Pacific Bell. She has received numerous awards, including the Oakland Raider’s Hispanic Heritage Hero Award, Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s Congressional Recognition Award, awards for Latina leadership from the Greater San Jose Hispanic Chamber and the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, Senator Liz Figueroa’s Woman of the Year Award, a California Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Spirit Award, and a Telemundo T48 Business Salute Award. She currently sits on the board for the Northern Region of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce.

At the helm of Des Moines’ only multilingual advertising agency, Nannette Marie Rodriguez-Heal is the company’s founder, president and executive creative director. The firm has received recognition from the Art Directors Association of Iowa and was the Des Moines Business Record’s 2004 runner-up for Best Advertising Agency. Rodriguez-Heal is also a founding member of ALIANZA: Latino Business Association, whose mission is to promote the success of Latino-owned businesses through education and networking opportunities and by serving as a link to and for the Latino market. She is involved in the Emerging Leaders Initiative of the United Way of Central Iowa and serves on the boards of the Digital Arts Group of Des Moines, the Greater Des Moines Partnership Community Development Board, and the Art Directors Association of Iowa.

NATEX Architects is an architecture and construction-management company and an active participant in the art and redevelopment of its Houston community. Its president and owner, Carolina Weitzman, places a high value on being able not only to meet her clients’ expectations but to exceed them. Over the years, Weitzman has been a member of several boards, including those of the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and the Houston Zoo. In 2000, she was named the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s Female Entrepreneur of the Year. A registered architect in the state of Texas, in 2001 Weitzman served as the president of the Houston Hispanic Architects and Engineers.