Our 2021 Latinas in Business Highlights and Most Read Articles are here!
Another year comes to an end and we close another chapter. Before we jump into the new year, first let us take a look back at some 2021 highlights and reflect on the stories we have shared here.
Throughout everything, we as a community have risen to challenges and collaborated together to uplift each other throughout pandemic hardships.
Each year we strive to set the bar higher and this year was no different here at Latinas in Business Inc. We are so blessed and honored to have such an amazing community of readers, supporters, and collaborators. We thank you so much! Gracias!
Now, here are the 2021 Latinas in Business highlights and most-read articles on LatinasinBusiness.us, our dedicated editorial platform that promotes and empowers Latinas and other minority women entrepreneurs.
2021 Latinas in Business most-read articles
In March, we celebrated Equal Pay Day and learned that the gender wage gap for Latinas may take more than two centuries to close if we continue to do nothing.
Women working full-time, year-round are typically paid just 82 cents for every dollar paid to men. That is just the statistic for women in general, but the gender wage gap is much wider for minority women, especially Latinas who only make 55 cents for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men. To put it another way, a Latina woman must work 23 months to earn what white men earn in just 12 months.
To learn more about the wage gap for Latinas and what we can do to close the wage gap, see our full article.
Later the year, Key Insights from the 2020 State of Latino Entrepreneurship Report showed us how Latino entrepreneurs are succeeding and advancing, and also where we can work to improve.
According to the report, released by Stanford Graduate School of Business in collaboration with the Latino Business Action Network, Latino-owned businesses are becoming the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. small business ecosystem.
Additionally, the number of Latino-owned businesses has grown 34% over the last 10 years compared to just 1% for all other small businesses. Were it not for the growth in the number of Latino-owned firms, the total number of small businesses in the U.S. would actually have declined between 2007 and 2012.
We also learned that Latina-led companies have struggled the most during the pandemic, experiencing more closures and lay-offs compared to Latino-led companies (30% versus 16%). See here to read the full report.
This year readers enjoyed learning how Ivana Sedia is working to help connect people and transcend borders through her language translation service, Unida Translation. Her company delivers both spoken and written word translation services in over 125 languages for projects in the certified, legal, government, medical, and technical fields.
Ivana’s business grew out of a hobby and passion for translation and language learning. With experience with writing in Spanish and English and working for the government by assisting non-English speaking immigrants, an MBA in management, and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, International Relations and Diplomacy with a minor in Italian, Ivana taught Spanish and Italian lessons. She then decided to use her language skills to help transcend borders for businesses and organizations in need of translation services.
In July, Latina researcher, Dr. Marlene Orozco shared the importance of data in demystifying misconceptions and biases about Latinas.
As mixed methods researcher by training, Marlene has over 250 hours of in-depth interview experience and quantitative expertise in big data.
Throughout her years of education training in the field of research, Marlene has used her research as a tool to make a real-world impact, especially for minority small business owners and entrepreneurs. Her research is guided by her passion for education and economic equity and exploring pathways of mobility for immigrants, women, and entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds.
Latinas are often misrepresented, undervalued, and unappreciated in the professional world. These unfair biases have an impact on the rate of success for Latinas and other minority groups. Through hard data, showing the successes of Latina women in the professional world, Marlene is working to end these biases and misconceptions. Learn more here!
Finally, readers were eager to learn from Jennifer Garcia’s inspiring story where she shared how she left her secure job to launch her dream business.
A multi-faceted business professional and leadership coach with a passion for empowering people and transforming businesses, Jennifer founded Fluential Leadership, a business and leadership consulting firm focused on elevating small-to-medium-sized business performance through developing and executing growth strategies, recruitment, and retaining talent.
Like many entrepreneurs, Jennifer was driven to start her own business out of a desire to pursue her passion and make an impact. For fourteen years, Jennifer worked in the finance industry and in a variety of leadership roles at Bloomberg, a global financial data provider. However, she wanted to make a greater impact and use her expertise as a leader and consulting coach to help others achieve their own career goals and dreams.
Following her dream, Jennifer launched her company, stepping into the unknown leaving the comfort, certainty, and stability of her career. Continue reading about her full journey into entrepreneurship here.
THRIVE! 2021 Women Entrepreneurs Empowerment Summit highlights
Another huge 2021 Latinas in Business highlight for us was our annual empowerment event. Entrepreneurs, business owners, and industry leaders gathered in June to THRIVE! for the third annual Women Entrepreneurs Empowerment Summit, a unique conference that year after year gathers successful Latinas and other minority women entrepreneurs to Learn. Connect. Succeed!
This year, the summit focused on key areas of growth to connect and empower women business owners with tools and insights to propel them forward in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic so they can grow their businesses to the next level.
This amazing event featured stellar guest speakers, inspiring panels with industry leaders, and motivating deep-dive workshops and group discussions that connected and inspired Latina and other minority women entrepreneurs, empowering them to take the next step in achieving their business goals and turn their dreams into actionable business plans.
We ended the 2021 Women Entrepreneurs Empowerment Summit with the Latina Leaders Award Ceremony, broadcasted live from New York City. It was a beautiful and touching moment where we saw 12 influential Latina Leaders from the past year honored for their success as entrepreneurs and community leaders.
The stunning Daneida Polanco of Univision presented the awards alongside Latinas in Business’s CEO and President, Susana G Baumann in a heartwarming ceremony that gathered and celebrated not only our Latina Leaders but Latina entrepreneurs everywhere.
The 2021 Women Entrepreneurs Empowerment Summit was certainly a night to remember and we cannot wait for the events to come in the new year!
Thank You!
Looking back on our 2021 Latinas in Business highlights and most read articles reminds us of what an amazing and inspiring community we have here. Once again, we are so very grateful for all the support from sponsors, hosts, supporters, collaborators, and reades that allowed us to continue our mission to advocate for the economic empowerment of Latinas and other minority women entrepreneurs.
Thanks for your support and Happy Holidays to all from us! See you in the New Year!
Latinas in Business Inc. Team
