Ivonne Coll

Marilyn Alverio

Having grown up in an urban neighborhood, Marilyn learned early on about the importance of giving back to the community. Her parents migrated to the U.S. from Puerto Rico in the early 1950s and instilled the importance of “la Familia,” our culture, language, and “La Communidad.” She earned a B.A from the University of Conn. in Storrs, CT and an M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix. Marilyn has worked in the corporate arena for more than twenty years where she has held numerous management positions within the airline, pharmaceutical, education, financial, and health insurance industries.

She is the creator and producer of the Latinas and Power Symposium® (LPS), which is achieving national recognition. The annual one-day inspirational and professional development platform is designed for the Latina on the go.

Andrea Navedo

Andrea Navedo starred in the CW’s syndicated Golden Globe nominated television series Jane the Virgin. Navedo received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Jane’s loving and outgoing mother. Navedo is the recipient of the Imagen Award for Best Supporting TV Actress, as well as the Elizabeth Peña Breakthrough Artist Award.

Navedo’s most recent film credits include Netflix’s Bright opposite Will Smith and the indie films, The Royal and God the Worm (opposite Annabella Sciorra).

Navedo also enjoys recurring roles on CBS’s The Good Fight (opposite Christine Baranski) and on FX’s Mrs. America (starring Cate Blanchett) in which she plays Carmen Delgado Votaw – a real life civil rights activist and presidential appointee to the National Advisory Committee on Women.

From 2010-11, Navedo co-starred opposite Luis Guzman in the HBO television series How to Make it in America. She has also appeared in several roles across the Law & Order franchise.

Other film credits include Superfast, Once Upon a Time in Queens (alongside Paul Sorvino) and the romantic drama Remember Me (opposite Robert Pattinson).

Navedo remains dedicated to various charities including as an advisory board member for A Place Called Home – a non-profit organization that provides safe haven, education and artistic development for at-risk youth in South Central, LA.

A Bronx native, Navedo divides her time between her homes in Los Angeles and NY where she lives with her family.

Lisa Vidal

Award winning actress Lisa Vidal is most recognizable for the multi-dimensional roles she’s played on television and in film for the past forty years, portraying characters that have reflected the diversity of the Latino community while also building it up. She stars in ABC’s new romantic comedy-drama The Baker and the Beauty. Based on the highly successful Israeli scripted show, Vidal portrays Mari Garcia, the hilarious and heartwarming matriarch of the family.

Of Puerto Rican descent, the New York City native began acting in Repertory Theater at age 14. She was cast the following year in the PBS series Oye Willie, jump-starting a long and varied acting career, which early on included appearances on the popular television series The Cosby Show and Miami Vice. She also starred in two “ABC After School Special” educational presentations – Class Act: A Teacher’s Story and In the Shadow of Love: A Teen AIDS Story.

Recently, Vidal starred opposite Gabrielle Union on the critically acclaimed BET series Being Mary Jane, which wrapped in 2019 after its fifth season. For her performance as Kara Lynch, Vidal received an Imagen Foundation Award for ‘Best Supporting Actress.’ She has also recurred on the Fox Series Rosewood and appeared on the Emmy-nominated Showtime series Shameless, FX’s American Horror Story and NBC’s Grimm. Her other notable television credits include Boston Legal, CSI Miami, The Division, ER, Third Watch, Southland, The Event, Chicago PD, New York Undercover, High Incident and The Brian Benben Show.

On the silver screen, Vidal has also starred in various feature films such as J.J. Abrams’ acclaimed blockbuster Star Trek as well as the television movie Odd Girl Out, for which she received an Imagen Foundation Award for ‘Best Actress.’ Her additional film credits include Night and the City, I Like It Like That, Dark Mirror and Victor.

In addition to acting, Vidal has a passion for music and enjoys singing and dancing. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three kids. A breast cancer survivor, Vidal is a vocal proponent of early detection and has worked alongside the American Cancer Society to help raise awareness.

Clarissa Martinez-de-Castro

Clarissa Martínez-de-Castro is passionate about strengthening civil society. As Deputy Vice President at UnidosUS (formerly National Council of La Raza), she leads efforts to advance fair and effective immigration policies and to expand Latino civic engagement by helping immigrants become citizens, citizens become voters, and the community overall become an active participant in policy debates.

Clarissa is a frequent media commentator on the Latino electorate and immigration issues. Martínez-de-Castro also designed and leads the Rise Above campaign, an initiative to build a positive, accurate narrative of our changing America in order to foster collaborative action. A U.S. Vote Foundation board member, a 2015 Presidential Leadership Scholar, and a Nantucket Project 2015 Catalyst Fellow, Martinez-de-Castro holds a master’s degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s degree from Occidental College.

Brianna Carmen

Brianna Carmen is the Director of Organizing and Partnerships for Voto Latino Foundation (VLF). She was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, where she first became acquainted with community issues and their connection to the ballot box. This interest led her to become one of the youngest Latinas in the nation to manage a successful U.S. Congressional race, at the age of 21. Brianna later worked on an historic Senate race in Texas, engaging tens of thousands in the Lone Star State. She has maintained her passion of connecting voters with opportunities to exercise their voice at Voto Latino Foundation.

Her current work at VLF focuses on managing the Campaigns Team, tasked with building up the organization’s volunteer network all over the country. She is also a leader in Voto Latino Foundation’s voter registration programs, working to engage grassroots, corporate, union and celebrity partners to support efforts to register 500,000 people and turnout 1 million voters for the 2020 General Election.

Eva Bermúdez Zimmerman

The daughter of educators Eva, at an early age was resolute on marching to her own beat. At 12 years old the Hartford native volunteered for Presidential Candidate Al Gore’s campaign. Using her public speaking experience as the youngest plaintiff for the landmark school desegregation case Sheff v. O’Neill, where the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled; “the state had an affirmative obligation to provide equal educational opportunities to every student”. Eva remembers underfunded classrooms and her bilingual program being cut all while losing friends to gang and drug violence that plagued Hartford during the years of her youth. The court case framed what would become her career in Organizing & Activism.

The polyglot Boricua used her time away from Hartford to help in humanitarian efforts in Brazil, participate a student strike in Puerto Rico and conducted legislative research for Congressman Rangel’s office in Capitol Hill.

After a couple years working in politics Eva found a home for her activism with SEIU “Service Employees International Union”. She now enters her fourteenth year as an organizer and tenth in labor. Currently serves as the CSEA SEIU Local 2001 Childcare & Organizing Director. Where she fights for affordable childcare, wider access to healthcare and improving the lives of working people.

The former Newtown Councilwoman was awarded Latina of the year by LPRAC of the Connecticut State Legislature for her role as an Assister in Connecticut Access Health Exchange. Where she enrolled of over 7,000 people in the first two years of the Affordable Care Act. She’s also served as the first Latina Secretary for the State Democratic Party.

Wildaliz Bermúdez

Elected to the Hartford City Council in November of 2015, Wildaliz Bermudez is now on her second term as a Hartford Working Families Party City Councilor. She has fought around a variety of issues ranging from police accountability, housing, resources for immigrant communities, and refugee protections. In 2019 Trinity College honored her as one of “50 for the Next 50” and in 2018, she was named one of Connecticut Magazine’s “40 Under 40”, for her work in the community. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Trinity College and a Masters in Environmental Science from Puerto Rico. She lives in Hartford’s Asylum Hill Neighborhood with her husband and baby.

Erika Porras

Erika Porras is dynamic Latina in the Finance Industry who continues to break barriers and is passionate about giving back to her community. Born and raised in Connecticut, Erika has made a name for herself in academia. She graduated from Bloomfield High School in 2014 as Salutatorian of her class and received a full merit scholarship to the University of Connecticut. In 2018 she graduated Magna Cum Laude from the UCONN School of Business with a B.S in Healthcare Management and Finance. Erika is currently in the Finance Leadership Development Program at the company where she works for the Retirement Investment Execution Team. Erika plans to further her career by obtaining a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from an Ivy League school and instill the values of education, health, and pursuit of excellence to young Latinas across the country.

Milly Arciniegas

Milly Arciniegas serves as the Executive Director of Hartford Parent University, a parent-led organization she was integral in establishing and launching in 2011, along with a group of Hartford parents. Over the past nine years, Milly has continued to work with Hartford parents, community organizations, school leaders and educators to develop a research-based model that provides culturally relevant courses and pedagogy, and ensures all children receive an equitable, high-quality education.

Prior to the development of Hartford Parent University, Milly served as Vice President of Technology for a private financial company for more than 10 years. During that time, Milly worked with parents, teachers, administrators, district staff and superintendents on a volunteer basis to increase parent engagement throughout Hartford Public Schools.

Paula Parnagian

Paula Parnagian is Manager of Diversity and Inclusion at Eversource Energy, where she directs and leads the Diversity & Inclusion initiative, working in close partnership with executive sponsors and senior leadership. The D&I strategy includes the Eversource Diversity and Inclusion Council, 6 Business Resource Groups, and more than 25 working groups. Prior to joining Eversource, she was the President of World View Services for more than 20 years, providing diversity and inclusion consulting to organizations throughout the US and world.

She is a trained mediator, former math teacher, former adjunct for Cornell University, and former international software executive. Paula has been a founder, chair, or board member of numerous civic and professional boards and initiatives, including Citizens for Public Schools and Boston City-Wide Dialogues on Race and Ethnicity. She has been recognized by the U.S. State Department as a Top 100 thought-leader in Diversity & Inclusion.

Sonia Alvelo

Sonia Alvelo is President and CEO of Latin Financial, a financial services offering she launched in 2010. Over the past 10 years she had built a successful business and has made it her mission to provide business financing and resources to underserved businesses in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. She experienced first-hand the male dominated sector that she said was created “by men… for men.”

Today, Latin Financial offers financing over $1 million a month to different companies that need the capital to grow. Latin Financial’s goal is simply to help create a positive future for all businesses. She is a member of Centro Unido (CUD) in Puerto Rico, Association of Pharmacies (AFCPR), Association of Tourism (PRTHTA), Association of Gas Stations (ADGASPR), and BBB Connecticut. Most recently she was highlighted in Debanked Magazine and Centro Unido Magazine in PR.

Esther Aguilera

Esther is President and CEO of the Latino Corporate Directors Association (LCDA). She’s a proven leader who brings a 30-year record of successfully executing strategic business plans to drive organizational effectiveness, growth, and impact. In her current role, she influences some of the most powerful companies by bringing together accomplished executives at the pinnacle of corporate governance to advance diversity in the boardroom.

She has worked in leadership positions with the nations most accomplished leaders from Corporate America, the U.S. Congress, the Executive Branch, and the not-for-profit sector. Additionally, she’s been taped and highlighted by NBC, Yahoo Finance, MSNBC, Bloomberg, Comcast Newsmakers, Inside Americas Boardrooms, C-SPAN andCNBC.

She was recognized as one of the nations top 90 Female Mentoring Leaders by Women of Wealth Magazine, recognized by Hispanic Business Magazine among the Top 100 Most Influential Hispanics in America.

Sonia Alvelo

Marilyn Alverio

Having grown up in an urban neighborhood, Marilyn learned early on about the importance of giving back to the community. Her parents migrated to the U.S. from Puerto Rico in the early 1950s and instilled the importance of “la Familia,” our culture, language, and “La Communidad.” She earned a B.A from the University of Conn. in Storrs, CT and an M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix. Marilyn has worked in the corporate arena for more than twenty years where she has held numerous management positions within the airline, pharmaceutical, education, financial, and health insurance industries.

She is the creator and producer of the Latinas and Power Symposium® (LPS), which is achieving national recognition. The annual one-day inspirational and professional development platform is designed for the Latina on the go.

Glenda Ciampa

Glenda is a real estate investor. She has focused on buying property in the Boston and New Hampshire areas while working as a technology professional in Corporate America. Glenda is committed to diversity and Inclusion initiatives. In the committees and in the board she serves she works with leaders to integrate ideas and support changes that relates to the organization’s mission. Glenda is married to Marco and has two beautiful daughters, Arianna and Isabella.

Laura Cuadriello-Arreguín

Arminda “Mindy” Figueroa

Founder and CEO, Latin2Latin Marketing + Communications (L2L) is celebrating her 12th year at the helm of L2L, a multiple award-winning engagement solutions agency headquartered in downtown Fort Lauderdale with satellite offices in NY, NC and Puerto Rico. A true maverick, Figueroa is a long-recognized leader in the traditional, multicultural, direct and digital marketing fields. She has built a successful career focused on generating awareness of the essential role of the multicultural market in corporate America. Prior to launching L2L, Figueroa was Project Director for Scholastic Media, and oversaw the launch of the #1 ranked PBS children’s television series, Maya & Miguel. Previously, she held senior marketing positions at The Bravo Group (a Young & Rubicam agency), Univision.com, Verizon, and Anheuser-Busch.

Figueroa is a sought-after presenter at industry seminars and conferences. Most recently, she served as a panelist for Radio Ink and Hispanic Unity of Florida’s E Summit on women entrepreneurs. Following the devastation of Hurricane Maria, Figueroa served as an advisor to Gov. Rick Scott for the South Florida relief efforts for Puerto Rico and is the proud founder of the philanthropic grassroots organization, Adopt a Puerto Rican Family. Figueroa served on the board of the Hispanic Federation for 16 years and helped raise more than $25M as part of the gala committee.

Today, she is a board member of the Tower Club of Fort Lauderdale, member of Advisory Council of Hispanic Federation, founding member of the Women’s Council of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce and serves on the Marketing Council of Hispanic Unity. She has been recognized by El Diario/La Prensa as one of the “50 Most Influential Latinas,” by South Florida Business Journal as one of the top “Influential Business Women of 2017,” and she also received the Golden Mouse Award for Multicultural Marketing Leader of the Year by the Florida Chapter of Women in Ecommerce. Most recently, she was awarded the Diversity in Business by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce.

Yvonne Garcia

Yvonne Garcia serves as Chief of Staff to State Street’s CEO, Ron O’Hanley and as Global Head of Internal Communications.

As an active leader of local and national communities, Yvonne served as the Chairwoman for the largest Latino Professional Organization in the country, ALPFA. In addition, Yvonne was appointed by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker to serve on the state’s Latino Advisory Commission Board and was also appointed as the Chairwoman for the Greater Boston Chamber’s Women’s Network. Yvonne has been featured in Fortune magazine in partnership with ALPFA as one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Latinas in the United States three years in a row and just last year was named Boston Business Journal’s Power 50. Yvonne holds an MBA from Boston University in Finance and Marketing and a BA from SUNY.

Marisol Herrera

Marisol Herrera was born and raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in a multi-cultural, English-as-a-Second-Language environment. As part of her commitment to the Hispanic and minority business community, Marisol serves as Board Member to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Bridgeport. Her background, like many modern Hispanic women, is eclectic. She has been co-owner of a small construction company called Rockman Construction, worked for Gateway and Housatonic Community Colleges, Environmental Review Officer for the City of Bridgeport, and TESOL Instructor at Sacred Heart University. She enjoys fitness, museums, action movies, dancing, and spending time with family. Marisol resides in Milford, Connecticut, with her three children.

Carolina LaMonica

Carolina was born in Miami, FL and raised in Medellin, Colombia. After high school she moved back to America to pursue higher education. While working full time she earned her International business and trade as well as a Marketing Bachelor’s degree at the FL Atlantic University, all while being part of the honor society. She has been working in the financial industry as an advisor, educator and now relationship manager for MassMutual’s large governmental retirement plans since graduating late 2011. Carolina’s passion is to help people, especially Latinos, reach their wealth building and retirement goals on their own terms.

Yvette Peña

Born in New York, of Dominican parents, Yvette Peña has stood out since she was very young because of her bilingualism and “biculturalism.” After graduating in Business Administration from Baruch College (New York), she dedicated herself to public service and promote community initiatives in favor of diversity. She has more than 20 years of experience in the executive field, and her professional achievements include being the first director of multicultural marketing for Sports Authority (2014) and Walgreens (2011). In 2016, AARP named her vice president of strategies for the Hispanic/Latino audience in the United States and Puerto Rico. She is a new Board Member of the Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino.

Maria Rios

Maria Rios is a CEO, tech founder, AI trailblazer, philanthropist and global speaker on business.  

She is the President and CEO of Nation Waste, Inc. (NWI), the first multi-million-dollar female Hispanic-owned waste removal company in United States history and one of the largest minority-owned companies in the United States. NWI is a fully-certified, commercial waste disposal company specializing in construction, demolition, commercial/industrial non-hazardous waste removal, portable toilets and recycling services.

In 2018, Maria—in revolutionizing the global worker safety industry—launched a new division, Nation Safety Net, which leverages a technology solution powered by IBM Watson IoT. In the U.S. nearly 5,000 people die and approximately 27 million work days are lost each year because of injuries in the workplace. To keep workers safe and mitigate the cost of workplace injuries, Nation Safety Net, in partnership with IBM, created an IoT solution that uses environmental sensors and wearable devices to identify potential dangers and to help employees avoid injury.

Maria—a global champion for small business, innovation, procurement and inclusiveness—has spoken on economic development and innovation on world stages, including Russia, Colombia, Switzerland, Israel, India and Tunisia. Additionally, Maria she been a featured small business speaker at the White House for several administrations, both Democratic and Republican. 

Notably, in business, Maria has achieved quadrupled revenues and a 200% increase in job creation over the last decade. She has achieved global and national acclaim. In 2019 she was featured on the cover of Forbes Central America.  In 2017 Nation Waste, Inc., was awarded the exclusive portable toilets contract for Super Bowl LI in 2017. Maria was one of four minority-owned businesses featured by the NFL in its coverage of its procurement strategic plan leading up to the Patriots vs. Falcons NFL championship. Recently, Maria was featured as a speaker for Google during SXSW Interactive in Austin and served as a keynote influence at the Women Economic Forum.

During the last 20 years, Maria has had the high honor of serving the community at large and participating in numerous civic engagement and global entrepreneurship initiatives. In March 2020, she was appointed to the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC), a non-partisan federal advisory committee created to serve as an independent source of advice and policy recommendations to the President, Congress, and the U.S. Small Business Administration on economic issues of importance to women business owners. Currently, Maria serves as Global Ambassador for the International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge (IWEC), which recognized her as one of the top 27 women entrepreneurs in the world. Fortune named Maria as one of the 2013 Fortune Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs in the U.S. and Goldman Sachs honored her as one of its 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs. In 2015 Maria and NWI were featured on CNBC’s Blue Collar Millionaires, a docu-series profiling big personalities who have gained wealth “by getting their hands dirty…and rolling up their sleeves…with a can-do mindset.” CNBC marketed the Rios episode as “The $30M empire built on trash.”

Maria embodies a business mind and a servant heart, as she serves on numerous boards, including the Smithsonian National Latino Board, the University of Houston, the Houston Community College Foundation, the Texas Association of Business, the City of Houston Office of Business Opportunity and the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Additionally, Maria served as a member of the Houston delegation to advance trade opportunities with Central America.  

In 2020, Maria was appointed to the El Salvadoran Consulate General in Houston and the Houston Airport’s System Delegation Economic Development Trade Mission to El Salvador.  Earlier in 2020, she was recognized by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele as one of the top Salvadoran-American entrepreneurs in the United States.

In 2019 she has been selected by the Consulate General of Israel for a tour to Israel for Influential Women in Leadership who are frontrunners and leaders in their communities and trailblazers in their professions.

Other awards include the Trailblazer Awards by the Hispanic Women Network of Texas; the International Excellence Award for Entrepreneurship; one of Houston’s 50 Most Influential Women of 2012; Houston Woman Magazine’s Businesswoman of the Year; the 2009 Female Entrepreneur of the Year by the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; the 2009 Better Business Bureau Gold Star Award; the 2006 Gold Medal Award for Entrepreneur of the Year by the National White House Congressional Committee in Washington D.C.; and the 2004 Business of Advisory Committee Office of the President of the United States. The Governor of Texas has recognized Maria and Nation Waste as exemplary for the past seven years.

Maria Rios is living the American dream, as she began her U.S. journey emigrating from El Salvador as a child. Her family came to the U.S. to pursue education and escape civil strife. Through reliance on faith, a relentless work ethic and determination, Rios graduated from Houston Community College and earned her BA in Business Administration and Management from the University of Houston. As a steadfast advocate of education and professional development, Maria has walked the talk, as she has graduated from the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative Education-Scaling Program, the Dartmouth Tuck Education Program for Executives and the Goldman Sachs 10K Small Businesses program.

She credits her parents for instilling in her the significance of education and dreaming big.

Adriana Sanchez-Dominicci

Adriana Sanchez-Dominicci is a first-generation college student born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Adriana and her family transitioned to the United States in the year 2000 and since then she has devoted her time living in Springfield, Massachusetts to her studies and giving back to her community. Over the years Adriana has volunteered aiding high school teachers in bi-lingual classrooms and mentoring 1st year college students majoring in Computer and Information Sciences.

Adriana is passionate about STEM and the underrepresentation of women and people of color in STEM. She started her work with Girls Who Code in 2018, teaching young girls in Springfield about coding, leadership, and sisterhood.

Adriana is currently a Cyber Security intern at MassMutual focusing on vulnerability management, process automation, and data reporting and metrics. She is a member of MassMutual’s Association of Latinos at MassMutual and Allies. Adriana will graduate in May of 2021 from the University of Massachusetts with a bachelor’s degree in Informatics concentrating in Data Science, and a certificate in Criminology. She hopes to one day fulfill her dream of going to law school.

Rocío van Nierop

Rocío van Nierop is Cofounder and Executive Director of Latinas in Tech, a powerful non-profit organization dedicated to empowering and connecting Latinas in the Technology Industry.

Latinas in Tech is a non-profit organization with the mission to connect, support and empower Latina women working in technology and a vision to achieve a fair representation in leadership positions. The organization comprises more than 9,000 women working at more than 100 of the top technology companies. The group began in Silicon Valley in 2014 and has since then expanded to 9 other cities: Austin, Mexico City, Sacramento, Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, Washington DC, Chicago, Boston, and Atlanta.

Rocío was previously Director of Product Marketing at Prez, launched and led Prezi’s operations in Latin America and has worked in technology for the last 15 years.