Latinarrific, an inspirational, transformational platform to assist the American Latina to be her best bi-cultural self, with tools and training programs designed to advance Latinas, their families, and communities, announces four winners of its Latinarrific Award.
CHICAGO, April 2, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Latinarrific, an inspirational, transformational platform to assist the American Latina to be her best bi-cultural self, with tools and training programs designed to advance Latinas, their families, and communities, announces four winners of its Latinarrific Award.
The nominees are Latina founders or CEOs of businesses over a year old and are United States residents.
The following winners are:
- Latina Entrepreneur (Over 25 Employees)—Marciel Zambrano of Wildhouse Pictures
- Latina Small Business Entrepreneur (Under 25 Employees)—Ana Villar de Jimenez of Conative TIME
- Latina Entrepreneur in Finance—Olga Camargo of SHENIX
- Latina Entrepreneur in Health and Wellness—Sonia Tigero of Vida Ayurveda Institute
Latinarrific was founded by CEO Mary Mathis, a serial entrepreneur who has over 30 years of global managerial, marketing, operations and sales experience. The companies that Mathis and her team have developed cater to multicultural markets in the U.S. with a strong focus on the American Latina. She recognized the confluence of a growing Hispanic community in the United States, an underserved market of Latina programming, a group representing $3.2 trillion dollars' worth of buying power, and the importance of minority marketing.
"According to Treasury.Gov, from 2019 to 2023, there was a 26% increase in the number of self-employed Latino workers in the United States," she said. "The stats show us that Latino/a's are becoming entrepreneurs faster than any other demographic in the United States. We feel it is important to celebrate and support the Latinas who are making a difference in our communities through entrepreneurship."
During the awards ceremony, Mathis expressed her gratitude to all the nominees.
"Once again, I am overwhelmed with the extreme accomplishments and ambitions of all of you," she said. "I'm honored, absolutely honored to be here. Even though this is a competition, each of you is a winner, and we want to make sure that we include you in our collaborations to support you, collaborate, and learn how we can support each other. I want to break stereotypes. I am known to be a glass ceiling breaker and a renegade. I believe in the extreme power of collaboration and community."
Camargo, the winner in the finance category, explained how she created SHENIX, a Chicago-based educational fintech platform designed for Latinas, during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a time when she saw many Latinas leaving the workforce to care for their children and for other reasons. She said how this situation "devastated me emotionally because I thought, we're so far behind already with unequal pay, and the pandemic will devastate us even more."
The solution was creating a ready resource to help Latinas financially recover to plan their futures.
"Information is key for them to get the right job offer, get equal pay, and start building real wealth," Camargo said. "That way, they will be on the same starting line with everyone else."
Villar de Jimenez, the winner of the small business category, operates the Lawrence, Mass.-based Conative TIME that plans memorable meetings and events and offers curated travel experiences to explore special interests through purposeful action. Through her childhood experiences and interest in architecture and design, fate led her to event design, driven by her love of connecting with others, traveling, and making a difference in the hospitality industry. Her journey led her to create global incentive trips and conferences revealing design elements within event planning.
"I'm very honored by this distinction," Villar de Jimenez said. "I feel that it's important to highlight the work that we are doing so the next generation sees themselves in us—those who were before them— and can aspire to continue the work we are doing."
The other winners were Sonia Tigero of Vida Ayurvedic Institute in Hollywood, Florida in the health and wellness category and Marciel Zambrano, CEO and founder of the Miami-based Wildhouse Pictures in the large business category.
Tigero is a distinguished Ayurveda practitioner and Ayurvedic food and nutrition consultant. With over 60 hours of specialized Panchakarma training and an Associate's degree with Honors from Le Cordon Bleu, her foundation is in both traditional ayurvedic practices and classical culinary arts.
In 2021, Zambrano, an award-winning producer, received a Golden Lion at Cannes and a Latin Grammy. She has worked artists such as with Marc Anthony, K. Balvin, Sean Paul, Lil Wayne, and done multiple advertising campaigns for various Fortune 200 companies.
For more information, visit latinarrific.com.
About Latinarrific:
Latinarrific is a leading disruptive movement to make financial literacy and wellness popular and relevant for Latino Americans. This movement empowers the community with financial knowledge to build legacy businesses and lasting communities. The results lead to a rippling effect of prosperity and wellness across the country.
Our mission is to provide premier business development resources that empower Latinas in business and collaborate with corporate institutions to effectively scale and increase market share within the Latino community. We strive to accelerate growth and create a lasting legacy for companies and communities. For more information, visit latinarrific.com.
Media Contact
Marie Lazzara, JJR Marketing, 630-400-3361, [email protected], https://www.jjrmarketing.com/
SOURCE Latinarrific
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