Past Event — 2021 Spring Virtual Symposium

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.

Carolyn Aronson

CAROLYN ARONSON is a successful entrepreneur, philanthropist and the founder and CEO of It’s a 10 Haircare, one of the only female-owned professional haircare brands in the world. She announced full ownership of the company in 2017 and bought out her partner. In November 2020, Carolyn announced the launch of Be A 10 Cosmetics, where she is also the Founder, CEO and owner of the brand.

A self-made entrepreneur, Aronson began her career with 20+ years experience as a hair stylist and salon owner, and continues to hold licenses in multiple states. It’s a 10 Haircare was born out of her frustration with brands that produced dozens of products with single benefits and hard-to-follow claims. She envisioned a line that was for everyone and delivered full, salon-quality results in just one bottle. She began with a star product, Miracle Leave-In, and the line quickly rose to fame through pro hair stylists, who shared the cult-favorite product with their clients.

Now a successful, global hair product company with a passionate celebrity and consumer following, It’s a 10 Haircare products are sold in more than 25,000 professional independent salons and 15,000 professional salon chains. The brand recently announced their launch into the extensions-space with the unveiling of their line called EX10SIONS by Carolyn. She plans to replicate the same booming success in the makeup industry with Be A 10 Cosmetics, a brand that delivers the ability to achieve a flawless makeup look in 10 minutes or less.

Loren Ferré Rangel

LOREN FERRÉ RANGEL is Chief Business Development Officer of Grupo Ferré Rangel, a mission-driven fourth-generation diversified family office. Loren leads the implementation of the partner of choice strategy, with a primary focus on revenue growth. As part of GFR’s strategic planning and growth, inside and outside of Puerto Rico, she identifies and establishes partnership opportunities to maximize business reach and sustainable growth.

Loren collaborates with the marketing team in the real estate division, Kingbird Investment Management, to secure a position for the brand in the US real estate multifamily marketplace. Before her work at the Family Office, Loren developed new offerings and services, ranging from a gastronomy guide and a free daily to a content marketing service that captured ad dollars in the print media industry.

As GFR Media’s Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Audience Officer, she designed strategies to integrate both disciplines into content–value propositions that served both advertisers and readers, as well as various aspects of internal collaboration with the Audience Management group, data management, and creating recommendations for sales and audience targeting strategies.

Loren is steadfast in her commitment to creating a positive impact and providing solutions that empower customers and clients to achieve results and improve. In her free time she seeks out opportunities to further her own personal growth and deepen her awareness; reading, traveling, running, hiking, and spending time with her husband and children.

Vanessa Arce

Originally from Cuenca-Ecuador, Vanessa moved to the United States when she was 18 years old. After graduating from high school, Vanessa moved to San Antonio, Texas for college where she received her bachelor’s degree in Business Management. Vanessa’s journey with The Hartford began a few years after she graduated from college when she was engaged as an Underwriter Assistant. Her passion to learn and take on new challenges led her to an exciting opportunity in Coding. In 2019, Vanessa was accepted into The Hartford’s Hartcode Academy for a three-month developer training and has since graduated the training as a Web Developer.

Glory Aviles

Glory Aviles is a Director at MassMutual where she began her career in 2016. Glory holds a BA from BayPath University and is currently pursuing her MBA. She has built her career on her boldness, hard work, determination and passion, driving those around her to their full potential. Focused on empowering her employees, Glory possesses a persevering attitude and believes the true success of a company is measured by the success of its employees. She has been part of several initiatives in her career surrounding continuous improvement, automation, and is known for her complex problem solving skills and out-of-the-box thinking.

Dr. Damary Bonilla-Rodriguez

Dr. Damary Bonilla-Rodriguez is a national leading authority on leadership development, especially as it pertains to diversity and inclusion. She delivers keynote addresses and presentations drawing upon her experience from roles in the non-profit, private, and government sectors, as well as her doctoral research. Her research about Latina leadership in the United States has served as the foundation for events, conference sessions, publications, and content development – to address the urgency of leadership development for a fast-growing population and create a pipeline of diverse leaders.

To change the political and leadership landscape for Latinos, Dr. Bonilla-Rodriguez ran for State Representative in the 189th District of Pennsylvania in the 2016 election cycle where she became the 1st Hispanic to make a State ballot in Pike and Monroe Counties. In November 2019, she became the 1st Hispanic elected as School Board Director in the East Stroudsburg Area School District. Passionate about supporting professional organizations, she is a Board Member of the Brodhead Watershed Association, Colonial IU 20, Prospanica NY, Latina VIDA, Latinas on the Plaza, and Los Compadres Modern Caballero, and an advisory board member for several organizations including The Board of Hispanic Caucus Chairs, Monroe County Children and Youth, SciGirls, and the Alliance for Positive Youth Development. In addition, she was appointed by Governor Tom Wolf to represent the Poconos Region on statewide commissions on Redistricting Reform and Latino affairs (GACLA).

Marisol Herrera

Marisol Herrera is the Development Business Manager and Procurement Specialist with the Connecticut Procurement Assistance Center where she assists large and small businesses win government contracts at the federal, state, and municipal levels. Marisol serves as President of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Bridgeport, CT. She is passionate about helping small and micro businesses by sharing resources that will get them one step closer to winning contracts and build past performance. She is a proud eclectic Latina who is a mom first, a business developer by training, entrepreneur in spirit, and educator at heart. She holds a Master’s of Science in Management from Albertus Magnus College.

Lizette Jaime

Siempre tuve la curiosidad y las ganas de entender por qué hay personas que tienen la confianza y determinación para alcanzar sus objetivos, de hacer realidad sus sueños, dejando a un lado cuanto tiempo será necesario para lograrlo, ignorando a su propia impaciencia, y sin embargo otras personas no consiguen lo que se proponen. ¿Cuál es la diferencia entre aquellos que triunfan y los que no? la respuesta es: desistir, darse por vencida.

A lo largo de mi carrera profesional he liderado y conformado equipos de trabajo tanto para otras empresas como en mis propios negocios (he emprendido en varias ocasiones), que estas experiencias me ayudaron a crecer profesionalmente y darme cuenta de que lo que realmente me apasionaba era ayudar a las personas con las que trabajaba, brindar apoyo ante cualquier problema, animar a los compañeros a que iniciaran cursos de formación continua, etc.

Fue en aquella época cuando decidí en primer lugar comenzar a estudiar el Grado en Psicología (UNIR – Universidad Internacional de La Rioja ), y un tiempo después lo que hoy en día es mi vocación, el Coaching. Mi nombre es Lizette Jaime, soy Máster en Coaching, Inteligencia Emocional y PNL (Universidad Isabel I) y Máster en Psicología Social (Universidad Católica de Cuyo). Coach empresarial en Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Tenerife (España) y colaboro con Latinas & Power (Estados Unidos). Mi objetivo es ayudarte a mejorar tu autoconocimiento y tomar de decisiones, mejorar las relaciones interpersonales, favorecer el desarrollo personal y otorgar capacidad de influencia y liderazgo.

Rebecca Melley

Rebecca recently joined Latinas & Power Corp. as our social media coordinator and consultant. Her passion is to guide Latinas to resources that elevate their career growth and financial education. She is personally invested in her own level of financial literacy and sharing it with her network.

As a consultant, she is building a project management portfolio in organizational behavior specializing in cultural intervention in the diversity, equity, and inclusion space.

Philanthropy is one of Rebecca’s many passions. In 2017 she organized a successful fundraiser for the catastrophic devastation Hurricane Maria left in Puerto Rico. She and a coworker raised a large amount of funds to purchase goods to be brought to the small town of Las Piedras. She ran operations, researched innovative water filtration and solar powered products, and created online platforms to update donors of the progress. This project brought food and water to the people of Las Piedras before government aid was able to reach them. Rebecca received her Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Connecticut.

Angelica Ortiz

An awarded member of the National Center for Women & Information Technology, Angelica Ortiz hopes to inspire more young ladies to enter the field of technology. Angelica began her journey with The Hartford when she was just a sophomore in high school. Since then, she has worked diligently to foster end-user training and desktop architecture by aligning top tier training material and software development to our evolving technical culture, supporting overall strategic companywide initiatives. Angelica will be a junior in the fall at the University of Connecticut majoring in Management Information Systems.

Shakira Ramos Crespo

Shakira Ramos Crespo is a TEDx Speaker, a leader in STEM and Founder of Women STEM Together, a community and empowering safe space for ALL women in STEM to exchange experiences and perspectives and to inspire participants to achieve their professional and personal life aspirations.

Shakira has been working at Pratt & Whitney for 19 years in roles varying from Engineering, Fleet Management, Customer Experience, and, currently, Product Marketing. Shakira received her BS in Mechanical Engineering from Trinity College and an MBA from the University of Hartford. She has received numerous awards including UTC Volunteer of the Year and Professional Role Model Award. Shakira is a lifetime member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) and has served as the President of the SHPE-CT-Connecticut Professional chapter and Pratt & Whitney’s Hispanic Leadership Forum. She has also served on the Board of Trustees at Trinity College and Miss Porter’s School. Shakira is currently the Chair of the Tech Savvy conference.

Irma Rivera

In the Information Technology field for over 20 years, Irma Rivera started at The Hartford in 2003 and has held several senior level positions. In 2007, she led a 12-person technical team to stand-up disaster recovery capabilities for the Property & Casualty critical processes. She is currently a Manager in Network Services responsible for company-wide services. She is also responsible for the Datacenter and Network architectural roadmaps. She is a business graduate from UCONN with certifications in AWS, Service Continuity, and Oracle Database Professional. She holds a US Patent for System Compliance Assessment and is a Chairman Award Recipient. She also serves as Director of Group Education at Victory Church in Middlefield.

Leslie Sanchez

Leslie Sanchez has been in the Information Technology field for over 30 years, fourteen of those for The Hartford. She’s had the opportunity to be an application owner, project manager, scrum master, and is currently a release train engineer in Small Commercial Digital Sales where she has management responsibilities for multiple agile teams. In 2017 she led a $12 million program that reduced customer effort to quote and issue a homeowner’s insurance policy by 22% and improved the underwriting quality of new business. In 2018 she led a team responsible for implementing a smart-phone based telematics program. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Computer Information Systems from Quinnipiac University and a Master’s of Social Work degree from UCONN with certifications in PMP, PSPO, PSM1. Leslie also serves as Council Secretary at her church.

Veronica Segovia Bedon

Veronica Segovia is the Senior Advisor at AARP working to impact lives across areas that matter most to Latinos and their families: Health, Wealth, and Fun, or, as her team says, “Salud, Dinero y Amor.” In her role, she applies more than 10 years of experience in digital, social and mobile communications to reach consumers on key issues of health security and financial resilience across key channels. Prior to AARP, she did experience-spanning work in online marketing and public relations in the agency, corporation, and nonprofit sectors in the Washington DC-Metro area. She speaks Spanish and holds a B.A. in Communications: Public Relations from the University of Maryland, College Park; and an Executive Certificate in the Strategic Management of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Programs from Georgetown University. She also serves on the Board of Governors for the university’s Alumni Association for its College of Arts and Humanities.