Arianna Huffington, Guest Speaker at The 6th Annual Emerge Fundraiser

San Francisco, CA 06/17/10 - The 6th Annual Emerge Fundraiser was a big success. The event took place at the beautiful Merchants Exchange Building. The room was full of great women -and men- and everybody walked out with inspiring and empowering messages.

Arianna Huffington, Author, Columnist & Founder of the Huffington Post was the guest speaker. Her humor and wisdom enlighten us all. Christine Pelosi, daughter of current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Speaker pro Tempore Assemblywoman Fiona Ma and 2010 Woman of the Year Andrea Dew Steele, Founder & President of Emerge America were among the attendees.

Emerge is a political leadership training program for Democratic women, inspiring them to run for office and honoring their skills to win. Their goal is to increase the number of Democratic women in public office.

I was delighted to attend the event as a guest of Fiona Ma. The evening was definitely one to remember.

Photos - top right: Arianna Huffington, top left: Christine Pelosi and her daughter, bottom right: Fiona Ma.

Latina Entrepreneur Mrs.Sofia Echeverria Keck scheduled to be a Panelist at The 12th annual LATINA Style Business Series

LATINA Style - A National Magazine for the Contemporary Hispanic Woman
Dear Ms. Echeverría Keck,

We are delighted to share with you that on May 13, 2010 LATINA Style will host the 12th annual LATINA Style Business Series in San Francisco, CA. We would like to extend an invitation for you to speak at our upcoming conference, and more specifically, that you participate as a panelist.

The LATINA Style Business Series (LSBS) is the most successful ongoing business development program for Latina business owners in the nation. Over 27,000 Latina entrepreneurs and professionals have benefited from participating in this exciting and informative one-day business program since it first launched in 1998. It is a natural progression of the extensive work the magazine performs to provide resources to Latinas for personal and professional development.

The event, which will be covered in LATINA Style Magazine, typically attracts 250 to 300 Latina business owners seeking to grow their business and Latina professionals interested in starting a business as well as key business, community and government leaders.

We are delighted to announce our co-chairs for this event, the Honorable Aida Alvarez, chair of the Latino Community Foundation (LCF). Also, Ms. Isabel Valdés, Principal of Isabel Valdés Consulting (IVC), and, we are pleased to confirm our Keynote Speaker, Ms. Barbara Kasoff, President and CEO, and Co-Founder, of Women Impacting Public Policy, Inc.

We respectfully request the honor of your presence on the following workshop:

Role: Panelist: - Lessons Learned: Latina Entrepreneurs’ Financial Survival Guide

(11:50 am – 12:30 pm)

Date: Thursday, May 13, 2010

Location: Grand Hyatt San Francisco on Union Square

(345 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108)

Workshop focus: Successful Latina entrepreneurs at different stages of business maturity discuss lessons learned, insight gained through their experiences, challenges encountered, and ways to overcome these. The current economic state has caught many ill-equipped. These women will share ways to be ready for growth and new opportunities.

Ms. Echeverría Keck, we would be honored to have you participate in this prestigious panel.

Sincerely,

Robert E. Bard

President & CEO

LATINA Style Magazine

www.latinastyle.com



"A National Magazine for the Professional Hispanic Woman"

HOPE: 16th Annual Latina Action Day

Sacramento, CA. April 21, 2010 - Once a year, Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE) convenes hundreds of Latina leaders from all regions of California in Sacramento for an annual public policy issues conference, Latina Action Day Sacramento.

This one day conference is designed to facilitate dialogue between corporate and community Latina leaders and elected officials on public policies affecting Latinas in California.

This year, Maria Echaveste was HOPE’s keynote speaker for the Super Charge The Advocate in You Luncheon. Mrs. Echavaste is a UC Berkeley Law School Professor and former assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff to President Clinton.

According to HOPE Latinas in California are advocating for:

1. Improving the college pathway for all students: In 2008, California’s average high school dropout rate was 20.1% (slightly over 1 out of 5 students.) Among Latinos the rate was even higher – 25.5%

2. Removing barriers to good health for all children: 28.1% of children in California are overweight and 75% of these children will continue to be overweight into adulthood.

3. Improving the quality of healthcare for all women: 14.5% of minority women in California either receive late initiated prenatal care or no prenatal care at all.

4. Increasing internet access to all communities: 50% of Latinas still don’t have Internet access.

Latina voters are estimated at 1.6 million in California and have a significant political influence. HOPE.ACT.VOTE. is a statewide initiative that aims to mobilize California’s Latina registered voters to become informed citizens, effective policy advocates, and active civic participants. To know more about HOPE visit

Photo - Maria Echaveste and Sofía Echeverría Keck at HOPE's Luncheon.

Governor Schwarzenegger Opens Office of Economic Development

Sacramento, CA – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger this past Thursday signed an executive order establishing the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GoED,) a one-stop shop to help businesses with the information and resources they need to succeed in California.

“California is the best place in the world to do business, and by cutting red tape and streamlining functions, my Office of Economic Development will make the state an even better partner to the economy,” said Governor Schwarzenegger.

To do business in California you must interact with the state in many ways, such as registering, obtaining licenses and permits and paying taxes. At GoED, experienced staff will guide businesses through the various state requirements and help them access state resources.
GoED is open for business and can be contacted toll free at 877- 345-GoED (4633) or at www.business.ca.gov

Photo : Governor Schwarzenegger and Sofia E. Keck at the grand opening of GoED in Sacramento, CA

BART targeting Hispanics?!

Latina Radio Host Wins National Award for Empowering Spanish-Speaking Women

(San Francisco) - Following a three decade tradition for honoring programming and individuals of the highest caliber as well as exemplary programming for and about women, the American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT) announced that "Efecto Mariposa con Aurora Medina," a Spanish-language radio show has won one of the 2010 national Gracie Awards for outstanding programming at a local market.

Efecto Mariposa is a one-hour long radio show, independently owned, produced and hosted by Aurora Medina. It aims to empower Spanish-speaking women by creating awareness of the self in four areas: body, mind, heart and spirit. The show educates its listeners in a broad variety of subjects with a focus on money, health, sexuality and culture.

"This award makes me feel happy, excited and grateful as many years of hard work and my efforts to passionately follow a dream have been recognized," says Aurora Medina, who holds B.A. in Integral Studies, a Masters in Women's Spirituality and a Masters in Transpersonal Psychology. "By motivating women into action, I motivate myself," she adds. In addition to producing and hosting Efecto Mariposa, Aurora Medina is a Money Coach, specializing in the psychology of money.

Efecto Mariposa airs Monday to Friday, 3 to 4 pm, at KCNL 104.9 FM in Northern Californi, website www.auroramedina.com

Aurora Medina along with all Gracie awardees will be recognized May 25 and 26 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. "We are so proud of the important work being done by all women across the country," said Sylvia Strobel, Esq., chair of the 2010 Gracie Awards. "The Gracies Luncheon is our platform for acknowledging that work and the amazing people behind it."

For media inquiries or interviews please feel free to contact Lupita Figueiredo at Lupita@CapacityPR.com, or call 510.599.2748.

Marketers Join Forces to Better Target Hispanics by Laurel Wentz

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- A new peer-to-peer business network is bringing together Hispanic marketers to share everything from dealing with the need for better data to hot topics such as the acculturation of Latino consumers.

Latinum was started in late 2009 by David Wellisch, founder and former general manager of AOL Latino, and Michael Klein, a veteran of other business networks.


"In the Hispanic market, there are execution challenges, often results are inconsistent, ROI is difficult to measure, and that leads to barriers to ongoing commitment," Mr. Wellisch said.

The group kicked off with a meeting at charter member McDonald's Corp.'s headquarters and continued with an online session on acculturation, identified as a key issue most marketers struggle with. Members can also work with Latinum in smaller groups, or one-on-one.

"It's the ability to network with other companies trying to find out the same answers we are, and collaborate, and work with Latinum to look beyond language," said Cristina Vilella, McDonald's marketing director for U.S. Hispanic. "We don't just target Hispanics in Spanish any more as a company. How do we look at the consumer who lives in both worlds?"

Juan Motta, Nestlé's head of emerging markets-domestic, said of Latinum, "It's an opportunity to share best practices with others, and pool resources so we can get smarter about things like how the U.S. Hispanic consumer is acculturating."

Mr. Motta noted that Nestlé's focus has been more on unacculturated Hispanics, building on immigrants' brand loyalty to Nestlé products such as La Lechera that they grew up with in Latin America. But now that the Hispanic market is growing more through U.S. births than immigration, Nestlé needs to study bicultural consumers more closely.

At the end of 2009, Latinum had 20 members, including H&R Block, Kraft, 7-Eleven and Sara Lee. Members pay an annual fee of $70,000, and range from companies like McDonald's, one of the top five Hispanic advertisers with an ad budget close to $100 million, to relative novices in the Hispanic market. Latinum offers research and data, an exchange of peer solutions and opportunities for collaboration among companies that are pursuing the same segment of the population.

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