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Business cards exchanged
hands and indispensable
lessons were learned at
this years LATINA
Style Business
Series at the New York
Hilton Hotel on June
16th. This all day event,
up and running since
1998, has been an
incredibly successful
and constructive tool
for Latina entrepreneurs
and those who wish to
start their own business.
This year, the series
traveled all over the
country starting in
Denver, then moving its
way towards San Diego,
Albuquerque, New York,
Houston and lastly
Orlando. Focused
primarily on building
the essential tools for
creating and maintaining
a successful business,
the series features
prominent directors,
presidents, CEO’s and
executives from a
multitude of companies
who each speak on a
specific paneled
discussion.
Robert Bard, president
and CEO of LATINA
Style Magazine
talked about the growing
statistics of Latina
women in business in the
United States, stating
that there are over
600,000 Latino owned
businesses, which in
total produced over 67
billion dollars in
revenue. With the number
of Latino owned
businesses on the rise,
an event like this is an
important tool in
further advancing and
encouraging the Latina
community in business
ventures and showing
that it is a veritable
economic force.
This year’s topics
included Access to
Capital, Successful
Marketing Strategies for
You and Your Business,
Innovations of Your
Business, Small
Businesses’ Insurance
Needs: Protecting your
Growing Business, Your
Business on the Web, and
Making Mine a Million.
Mercedes Gomez, deputy
director of the Business
Outreach Center Network
and part of the Access
to Capital panel,
discussed one of the
most important issues in
business: planning. “If
you have no business
plan, you are planning
for failure,” Gomez
commented. She stated
that the key parts of a
business plan are
management and
operations which
includes a market
analysis, financials—which
will state how you will
be able to fund your
venture—and lastly your
supporting documentation
which includes items
such as your resume and
lease.
Another extremely
important component in
planning and executing a
successful business
venture is being able to
market and sell your
product. Jason Magi,
property and casualty
field underwriter for
State Farm Insurance
said that there were six
key elements for
successful marketing:
being yourself, attitude,
persistence, exceeding
expectations, listening
to clients, and
following up. Marilyn
Alverio, president of
Ethnic Marketing
Solutions says marketing
is all about personal
branding, which she
demonstrated by quizzing
audience members and
rewarding them with
products with her
company logo on them.
Other paneled guests,
who discussed everything
from making a business
on the web, how to be
innovative, and what
exactly micro lending
was included: Jose
Sifontes, district
director of the US Small
Business Administration;
Jennifer A. Neil,
Community Relations
manager and director of
Women’s Link; Carmen
Sepúlveda, president of
ACT-é Marketing
Solutions; John Haley,
east director for the
Data Solutions Group of
Cingular Wireless; Marta
Gomez-Llorente, vice
president of Chubb;
Kathleen Marvel, senior
vice president of Chubb;
OpenDemand Systems,
president and CEO of
Donald Doane; Nell
Merlino, president and
CEO of Count Me In;
Raquel Nuñez, president
of Nuñez Electric, and
Ana Madan, president of
McDonald’s New York Tri-State
Owners and Operations
Association. This year’s
moderators were Evelyn
Mattos, Jerusha Ramos,
and Teresa Torres.
Deborah Rosado Shaw,
president of Dream Big
LLC, was honored as this
years Latina
Entrepreneur.
The series also served
as a great opportunity
to network with other
Latinas in business. In
addition to a networking
breakfast session at the
start of the event, a
networking reception in
the exhibit area of the
hotel took place at the
conclusion of the
series. Attendees were
encouraged to bring
their business cards and
exchange them with
others. Those attending
the event were able to
meet with
representatives of the
event sponsors such as
Wal-Mart, McDonald’s,
Wachovia, Cingular,
Chubb, ExxonMobil, IBM,
Principal Financial
Group, American Airlines,
and State Farm Insurance,
all which had booths set
up ready to address
business needs.
The 2006 LATINA Style
Business Series
concluded on a very
successful note. Over
10,000 Latina business
owners in 40 cities have
participated in the
program. Hopefully this
series will continue to
be successful and serve
as a step in encouraging
and increasing the
number of Latina
entrepreneurs in the
United States.
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Special
thanks to
sponsors:
American
Airlines,
Cingular,
Chubb,
ExxonMobil,
IBM,
McDonald’s,
Prinicpal
Financial
Group, State
Farm, Wal-Mart
and Wachovia.
Another
thank you to
the partners:
US Small
Business
Administration,
100 Hispanic
Women, NY
State
Federation
of Hispanic
Chambers of
Commerce,
ACCIÓN NY,
Lista, Bronx
Hispanic
Chamber of
Commerce,
NYC LGBT
Chamber of
Commerce,
Empire State
Development,
NAWBO-New
York, ALPFA,
Business
Outreach
Center
Network-WBC,
Latin Vision,
El Diario,
and Urban
Latino. |
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By Carmen Bissessar |
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Audience |
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Keynote speaker Doborah
Rosado Shaw, president
of Dream Big, LLC |
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Raffle winner with Kriss
Ann Fernandez of
Cingular Wireless |
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Sabrina McCoy of Chubb
with a raffle winner |
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Kathleen Marvel, senior
vice president of Chubb |
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