Entrepreneur Vladimir Quito spoke at the LatinxCEO launch event on February 21st.
General business
February 22, 2023
According to a recent analysis by America todayHispanic men and women make up less than 4% of executives in S&P 100 companies, and women face particularly disproportionate odds. Only two people are aware of it.
LatinxCEO, a new Bergen Community College workforce development initiative, seeks to provide students with the resources, skills and experience needed to challenge this kind of underrepresentation in the workplace.
“We will have the opportunity to model community members who may look like us and have similar life experiences,” student Josephina Navarro said yesterday at the university’s main “Learning from someone who has already achieved success helps students understand what it takes to be successful,” he said at a program launch event on campus.
LatinxCEO empowers aspiring Hispanic business professionals by providing students with skills, real-world connections, and career exploration opportunities. Among activities, students network with local executives, meet entrepreneurs, participate in career shadowing, workplace visits, and mock interviews.
The program effectively combines two priorities outlined in the university’s strategic objectives. According to Bergen Rector Dr. Eric M. Friedman, creating a new workforce development initiative and enhancing its approach to diversity, equity and inclusion.
“This has to start changing,” he said at the launch event, commenting on the underrepresentation of Hispanics in leadership roles. Today, we are introducing the LatinxCEO program to further support our diverse community and develop our next-generation workforce.”
The official launch event also featured speakers such as Bergen County Commission Vice Chair Jermaine Ortiz, President of the Hispanic New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Luis de la Hoz, and dozens of others who will serve as mentors to students. of Hispanic entrepreneurs. Advantages of the initiative. Entrepreneurs have partnered with the Business Accelerator at Bergen Community College in the Meadowlands of Lyndhurst to provide affordable office space, membership access and on-site business coaching. The Hispanic business-focused incubator is specifically aimed at supporting early-stage entrepreneurs in the region. The New Jersey-wide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is also headquartered at the Meadowlands Site.
The University’s Linda Caruso worked with Cynthia Diorio, Executive Director of Continuing Education and Workforce Development, to create a partnership that provides the foundation for LatinxCEO. Previous projects born out of this sector include the ‘Small Business Support Specialists’ initiative, where Bergen students provided accounting, marketing and operational support to over 600 entrepreneurs. That effort remains a collaborative partnership of the Bergen County Business Resource Network launched by government leaders.
The university’s involvement in the Bergen Resource Network represents one of the first major initiatives to emerge from President Friedman’s Economic Recovery Commission task force. The group, which began meeting shortly after the president took office in 2021, serves as an advisory body to the president and develops and implements strategies that position the agency as a catalyst for recovery from the pandemic.
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