|
Jenny Sevilla Korn
assumes her new duties as Associate
Director, White House Office of Public
Liason |
 |
Twelve years ago, on a little Apple computer with
barely enough memory to run a 1.44 MB diskette, from
the living room of her apartment in Alexandria, Va.,
Anna Maria Arias proudly finished her first edition
of LATINA Style. It was a work of love,
vision and hope. A couple of weeks after that issue
came out, an official launching ceremony took place
on Capitol Hill. The three Latina members of
Congress, Congresswomen Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Nydia
Velázquez and Lucille Roybal-Allard, hosted the
ceremony. Two days later, the first issue of LATINA
Style was on the floor of the U.S. Congress
as it was entered into the congressional record.
Much has changed since then, both in our community
and at the magazine. Seven Latinas now proudly
represent our community, and three Latinos are
serving in the U.S. Senate. The attorney general of
the United States is a Latino, and Latinas are
shinning at every level of professional life. We
sadly lost Anna Maria in October 2001, but her
spirit survives stronger than ever. To date, six
major scholarship programs honor her legacy, as well
as the Anna Maria Arias Memorial Business Fund. The
applications for the fund are now available online
and at selected events across the nation. I
encourage Latina entrepreneurs to take advantage of
this unique program created by Wells Fargo Bank, the
U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and LATINA Style.
In this issue, we look at a diverse group of Latinas
who are experiencing amazing success. Our cover
features Lorena Feijoo, an amazing talent who, with
her sister Lorna, have taken the dance world by
storm. Theirs is an inspiring story of achievement
against all odds. We also explore what it was that
drove some incredible Latinas to make the law their
career of choice. In our “Punto Final” column,
Kathryn Garcia, a young Latina reporter for the
Corpus Christi Caller-Times, tells us what it felt
like to be in the eye of the storm when she broke
national news with her report that Vice President
Cheney had accidentally shot his friend Harry
Wittington. I hope you enjoy reading about her “30
minutes of fame.” In the “His View” column, Ralph de
la Vega, chief operating officer of Cingular
Wireless, provides a first-hand description of what
Latinas can accomplish when given the opportunity.
Early February was again the time for the LATINA
Style 50 Awards and Diversity Best Practices
conference. This year the event was more exciting
than ever as Macy’s provided a spectacular working
woman’s fashion show. Participating in an event that
brings together some of the most accomplished
Latinas in the nation is always uplifting and
inspirational. Bank of America was selected Company
of the Year for 2005. I would like to specially
thank U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and Equal
Opportunity Commission Chair Cari Dominguez for
their continued support of the LATINA Style
50.
We are proud to announce that we are in the final
stages of preparation for the launching of our
Health Channel online. This site will become a one-stop
information service for health education issues. In
partnership with PacifiCare: A UnitedHealthcare
Company, our focus will be on health prevention
issues in the Hispanic community. It is our goal to
intervene in the vicious cycle of bad nutrition
leading to obesity, diabetes, heart problems, kidney
problems, vision problems and so on. This is a
problem that we can do something about it if we
apply ourselves. We will be running ongoing articles
in the magazine and online written by some of the
leading experts on the subject. I hope you can join
us in our crusade.
Finally, Latinos now represent 11 percent of all
fatalities in Iraq. Let’s not forget to keep our
soldiers in our prayers. Latinos and Latinas
continue to serve our country with distinction and
courage. We hope that we can safely bring them home
soon.
Robert E. Bard |
