LATIN TIMES MAGAZINE - 2019 Summer Edition

Latina Lideres Awards entrepreneurial Zanibel Melo 2019 Latina Mover N Shaker by: Jolie Gonzalez-Padilla I am blessed to have married a supporting and loving husband that lets me be me. Together we have a beautiful 2-year-old baby boy named Danzel that I love with all my heart. LTM: What part of Florida do you live in – are you from Florida? If not – what brought you to Florida? Zanibel Melo: I was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. Both my parents are 100% Do- minican born and raised in the Dominican Republic. I live in Orlando. LTM: Tell us about the biggest highlights of your career Zanibel Melo: Actually, I am living the biggest highlight of my career right now. I have had the blessing to be one of the top producers for Prospera, a non-profit economic development agency funded by the U.S. government that provides grants to help Hispanic entrepreneurs establish or expand their business. Prospera, with the help of providers like HigherDreams has had an economic impact of 1.5 Billion dollars across the state of Florida. In the past four years, I have met many entrepreneurs from all walks of life and helped them with their busi- ness(es). I am very proud to be able to contribute to my community's economy. LTM: As a Latina leader in the community, business or other…what has been your biggest challenge and how have you been able to overcome it Zanibel Melo: To be able to balance business and family life has always been a challenge for me, and I am sure for many other women. As Latinas and as women in general, we tend to put ourselves last and think we can do it all, but now that I am a mother and a wife I had to rearrange my priorities and make tough decisions. That includes being very selective with which organizations I am part of and with what type of people I am involved with. One of my priorities this year is to take better care of myself and focus on my physical and mental well- being. It’s healthy to let go of some people even if they are your client to be able to have more fulfillment in your life. Peace of mind does not have a price tag. LTM: How important is being a Latina to you Zanibel Melo: To be honest, it took me a while for me to realize the impact you could have on others. You never know who’s looking at the things that you do. There was a chain of gratitude on social media, par- ticularly Facebook, where a couple of women tagged me and expressed how much they admired me and how much I have been an inspiration to them. It was a real shock to me to know this. I had no idea that other women viewed me that way until that moment. We live in a very polarizing society and the #metoo era, and being Latina today is more important than ever before. To help, support, and inspire one another is paramount. I read a Forbes Magazine article where Latinas make just 53 cents for every dollar the average white, non-Hispanic man makes, and that we were actually going backwards in the wage gap compared to earning 54 cents for every dollar in 2017. 24 L atin T imes M agazine L atin T imes M agazine Compare that to the 79 cents white women earn on average to white men, and the 63 cents that black women make. To put this into per- spective, Forbes explained that “a Latina must work an extra 305 days just to earn what the average white man earns in a year!” I think that as Latinas, it’s time to rise and think about how we can build wealth for our next generation, and we can do that through entrepreneurship. LTM: Tell us about what kind of projects you currently have going on Zanibel Melo: We launched the first Bilingual Social Media Bootcamp in Central Florida in association with Nova Southeastern University Orlando two years ago. There’s a lot of need out there for social and dig- ital marketing education in Spanish. In my experience consulting and giving free seminars in the community, I have noticed that there’s a clear gap in education between what Hispanics entrepreneurs know about digital and what the Anglo entrepreneurs know. I have been speaking about augmented reality, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence and how it’s going to impact digital marketing in the very near future in the anglo market, while in the Hispanic market I am still talking about the basics. I thought that it was important to take a leadership role in the matter and launch this bootcamp to help Hispanic business owners understand how to make money digitally. The Bilingual Social Media Bootcamp is held twice a year in the Spring and Fall. The next Bilingual Social Media Bootcamp is Saturday, November 9th, 2019 from 8a.m.- 5p.m. at Nova Southeastern University Orlando. Additionally, we have launched “Las Voceras" in early 2019, which is a digital television show for Latina professionals and entrepreneurs. The show is the first of its kind fueling the needs of the rapid growth of Latina entrepreneurship with relevant topics that may affect their en- trepreneurial, professional, business, and family life. According to the National Women's Business Council, Latina-owned small businesses are the fastest growing business segment in the United States. Since 2007, the amount of Latina-owned small business- es in the United States has grown almost 87%! Despite this growth, there's also a high rate of failure. The Small Business Administration states that half of new businesses fail within the first year. Las Voceras was created to provide Latina entrepreneurs with the information and knowledge they need in their business and family life to be success- ful. We will finalize season one in early June. Stay tuned for season two! Las Voceras is streamed on Facebook Live every Wednesday at 9:30p.m. at www.facebook.com/lasvoceras. Read more at: www.LatinTimesMedia.com www .L atin T imes M agazine . com . com www . latintimesmedia A braza el calor de tu ! ! A braza el calor de cultura tu cultura 35

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