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| (top to bottom/left to right) Mariela Dabbah, Deborah Deras, Ana Flores, Sujeiry Gonzalez, Jeannette Kaplun, Yvette Marquez-Sharpnack, Alberto Sardinas, Sabrina Vourvoulias |
By this time tomorrow, I'll be on my way to Houston, TX for the LATISM'12 conference.
I am bursting with excitement!
I am excited to see my friends.
I'm excited about working with Johnson & Johnson and sharing their 'global motherhood' initiatives! You can read about that HERE.
I'm excited to be speaking on Blogging 101 panel/workshop on Friday at 2pm. The agenda is HERE.
I am SUPER EXCITED to be nominated for a LATISM Award! I am nominated for the Best Latin@ Health Blogger Award. You can vote for me by just clicking HERE.
And I'm excited to be rubbing elbows with published authors. As a grad student who is THIS CLOSE to an almost to graduating. I'm thinking thesis. I'm thinking I want to be published. And I am eager to learn from those who are willing to share their knowledge. They will be selling and signing their books during the Friday and Saturday lunchtime - about 12:30.
So who are the published authors of LATISM?
MARIELA DABBAH
Author,
speaker, and founder of The Red Shoe Movement, an initiative to invite women to
wear red shoes to work on Tuesdays to show their support for women career
advancement, Mariela has authored several award winning, best-selling books to
help Latinos navigate the American system, including Poder de Mujer. As an international speaker, Mariela has presented
at General Electric, Citigroup, AIG, Exxon/Mobil, HBO, Goldman Sachs, Verizon,
JPMorganChase, McDonald’s,Harvard, Yale and Columbia, Multicultural Women
Conference, among others. As the National Spokesperson for McDonald’s Latino
Education program for several years, Mariela presented workshops for parents
and students across the country. Also, in 2009, Mariela created Latinos in
College, the first all encompassing platform to help Latino student succeed in
college (www.latinosincollege.com).
DEBORAH DERAS
Deborah
Deras is the Principal of Synergy Unlimited LLC, a professional training and
development company providing motivationals speakers, trainers and life coaches
to organizations and Universities. She is committed to empowering Latinos to develop
leadership skills to thrive in their careers, live on purpose and be powerful
contributors in their communities. A sought after international speaker, author
and leadership trainer, her book, Confessions
of an Adrenaline Addict, has transformed lives worldwide to empower, Type A
personality types to achieve success with ease and grace. Deras has also served
as an expert/guest writer for Latina, Catalina and Immigrant
magazines.
She is currently the West Coast technology expert for Verizon Wireless touring
the nation empowering Latinos to transform their business, career and life
through technology.
ANA FLORES
Founder
of Latina Bloggers Connect, a boutique social media agency where she creates
strategic digital campaigns connecting brands and bloggers, Ana L. Flores has
over 15 years of experience as a content creator and television producer, with
a specialty in the U.S. Hispanic industry. After becoming a mom, she co-founded
SpanglishBaby, the go-to
online community for parents raising bilingual and bicultural kids, which was
chosen as a Must Read Mom’s Blog by Parenting Magazine, as well as Babble’s Top
100 Mom Blogs of 2011 and Babble’s list of Top 50 Twitter Moms of 2011. Her
most recent honors include being named one of “6 Bloggers to Watch” by USA
Today’s Hispanic Living and Best Latin@ Social Network Leader at LATISM 11
Awards. SpanglishBaby’s success led Ana to co-author her first book, “Bilingual
is Better.” Ana is now also a regular blogger on Babble Voices.
SUJEIRY GONZALEZ
Sujeiry
Gonzalez, often referred to as “The Latina Carrie Bradshaw,” is a funny and
vibrant relationship expert and writer that tells it like it is – with just a
little more sass and ton of laughs. Rocking the relationship market since 2006,
she’s been featured on Galtime, Cupid’s Pulse, YourTango, VOXXI, Divine
Caroline, Yahoo Shine, Latina Magazine, Mamiverse, and JDate, among others. Her
comedic personality, unique voice and irrefutable talent have also granted her
the opportunity to share her relationship highs and lows with a number of media
channels, including: PIX Morning News, The Kari Adams Show, and Mega
97.9FM. Sujeiry’s newest coup is SY PLay
Things – an online lingerie store that values women and the power
of self-first. There’s also the launch of Love
Trips: A Collection of Relationship Stumbles - a poignant
and witty collection of personal essays, in which she chronicles her
relationship stumbles, serving as the ultimate what-not-to-do relationship book
for women.
JEANNETTE KAPLUN
An
award-winning journalist, internationally recognized parenting writer, and
leading Latina blogger, Jeannette Kaplun has over 17 years of experience on TV,
radio, online media and as a published author. She also provides insights into
the Hispanic market and helps leading brands reach Latinas in the US. Born in
El Paso, Texas, and raised in Chile, Jeannette is truly bilingual and
bicultural. Currently she is busy launching her newest project for Hispanic
women, HispanaGlobal. In 1999, she cofounded Todobebé, and co-hosted the
Emmy-nominated network TV show ¡Viva la Familia! de Todobebé for four seasons
on Univision. Before that, she hosted the Todobebé show on Telemundo. She is
also the author of Todobebé: Todo lo que necesitas saber para el primer año de
tu bebé (Rayo, 2006) and blogs for Babble Voices. Most recently, she was named
a Social Media Fellow by the UN Foundation.
YVETTE MARQUEZ-SHARPNACK
Mother,
wife, cookbook author, graphic designer, blogger, and food enthusiast from
Denver, Colorado, Yvette was raised in El Paso, Texas and has developed a deep
passion for promoting her grandmothers old-world northern Mexican recipes and
mothers comforting south of the border home-style dishes. Her blog and
published cookbook, Muy Bueno, blossomed into
much more than a place to file her family recipes. She now works as a recipe
developer with IMUSA and Avocados from Mexico.
Besides
her blog, Yvette has also been featured in Latina Magazine, and the websites of
Paula Deen, The Pioneer Woman, SAVEUR, and Gourmet.
ALBERTO SARDINAS
“So what’s your story and what did you
learn from it?” is Alberto
Sardiñas’ most important question to people everywhere he goes. Each night,
this Univisión Radio host takes calls from listeners who look to him as a
friend with whom to share their life experiences of uncertainty, sorrow, hope,
or happiness on his nighttime show, “Íntimo.” Thousands of people listen to him nightly and watch him as a
contributor on network television shows (Despierta America, Tu Desayuno Alegre
and others), and his articles are frequently published in leading magazines and
blogs. As the author of the book “The Power of Your Story,” Alberto shares 40 of the most powerful,
real-life, short stories told to him by his listeners, in addition to personal
experiences he had never shared before. Each anecdote is followed by a
conclusion that emphasizes the lesson learned. Alberto has a Master of Business
Administration (MBA) from the University of Miami and a Bachelor of Arts (BA)
in Communications from the Catholic University Andrés Bello in Caracas.
SABRINA VOURVOULIAS
Born
in Bangkok, Thailand and the daughter of a Mexican-Guatemalan artist and an
American businessman, Sabrina grew up in Guatemala and moved to the United States
when she was fifteen. She is the managing editor of Al Día News, Philadelphia’s
leading Spanish-language newspaper and writes for www.pontealdia.com in Spanish and
English. Along with her blog, Following the Lede (www.followingthelede.blogspot.com), which was was
nominated for a Latinos in Social Media award in 2011, Sabrina writes
speculative poetry and short and long-form fiction. Her writing has appeared in
Dappled Things, Graham House Review, Scheherezade's
Bequest at Cabinet des Fées, La Bloga's Floricanto, Poets Respond to SB 1070, Crossed Genres Issue
24, among others. Her novel, Ink, was
published by Crossed Genres Publications Oct. 15, 2012.
