Maria “Mari” Samuel holds a Ph.D. (all but dissertation) in Multilingual/Multicultural Education (MMEd), as well as a Master’s in MMEd and a Bachelor’s in Psychology with a minor in child development from Florida State University. She has worked in the ESL field since 1999 teaching in Leon and Gadsden counties in K-12, adult ESOL, and family literacy programs. Mari also helped to establish and coordinate the ESL program at Florida State University Schools and she designed ESL workshops to educate fellow faculty members teaching content area classes. In addition, she has taught the ESOL in the Content Areas and the Teaching English Learners courses for the School of Teacher Education at FSU and has presented at both State and National TESOL conferences.  Mari joined the Center for Intensive English Studies family as an ESL Instructor in the summer of 2007. Mari is a native of Puerto Rico and is fluent in both English and Spanish.  She has lived in Tallahassee since 1988.  She is also the proud mother of Vaughn Andres, who will be a junior at FSU this fall. Mari joined the THLPE family a little over a year ago and she has been serving as Secretary of the organization since then.  She is honored to represent Hispanic/Latino professional women in our community and is very proud of her Hispanic heritage!

Two of her favorite quotes are:

“Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.” –Aristotle

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.”
-The Dalai Lama

Tallahassee, Florida – The Tallahassee Downtown Improvement Authority is pleased to announce a Celebration of Cinco de Mayo Downtown on Wednesday, May 5, 2010. The party on Adams Street will begin at 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. The Tallahassee Hispanic/Latino Professionals and Entrepreneurs, and the Florida Hispanic Foundation are the event hosts this year. Dos Equis and the Tallahassee Downtown Improvement Authority are the sponsors for Cinco de Mayo Downtown 2010.

Entertainment will include The Spicy Soul Quintet, with Silviu as lead voice and nylon acoustic guitar; Carlos is the lead guitar; David, the electric bass; Emanuel on the Congas; and Jorge on bongos and timbales. The band will play a mixture of Latin jazz, Spanish rumba, Cuban, and Brazilian.

Come down and enjoy your favorite Mexican beer and or soft drinks by Pepsi. Cinco de Mayo Downtown will feature many of the regular street vendors that serve downtown Tallahassee events. There will also be a variety of food vendors on Adams Street.

Please be on hand to enjoy the first, in what hopefully will become an annual, Cinco de Mayo Downtown event.

There is still time for sponsors and vendors to sign up for this unique event.

For more information contact: Al Pasini, Executive Director, Tallahassee Downtown Improvement Authority – 850 224 3252

Two years later, Marchena attended Florida State University where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in French literature and graduated summa cum laude.  In 1991, she was the first non-U.S. citizen to be the recipient of a scholarship at l’Institut Catholique in Paris, France.  In 1993, Marchena earned her Master’s degree in Multilingual Education and Linguistics from Florida State University where she graduated cum laude.
 
Marchena has been in the translations business for over ten years.  She is currently doing translations for businesses in Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, and New York. She is also a paralegal at a law firm in Tallahassee.

WHAT:
April Networking Social

WHERE:
Aloft Hotel
200 North Monroe
Tallahassee, FL 32303
(850) 513-0313

 ( www.alofttallahassee.com‎)

WHEN:
April 23, 2010
6:30 – 8:00PM

WHY:
Socialize and strengthen our network of professionals!

The State of Florida Invites You to Explore Adoption 

On any given day, there are around 850 children available for adoption – many are older, disabled or part of a sibling group. These children are waiting for a family to love them and a permanent place to call home. If you’ve always wanted to have a child as part of your life or are looking to expand your current family or return the sounds of children to your empty nest, please take a few minutes to learn more about public adoption through the State of Florida’s “Explore Adoption” initiative.   

The interactive “Explore Adoption” website, www.adoptflorida.org, features stories from adoptive families and allows you to meet children available for adoption, search for children in your area, learn about the adoption process, get answers to frequently-asked questions and connect with local programs providing adoption services.   

If you’re thinking about adoption, visit www.adoptflorida.org or call the toll-free telephone number, 1-800-96-ADOPT (1-800-962-3678).   

Explore your options.  Explore adoption. 

• Über Operations (www.uberops.com)
• ThinkCreative (www.thinkcreative.com)
• Molinari Technical Solutions (www.mts-llc.org)
• Florida Commerce Credit Union (www.floridacommerce.org)

The purpose of this summit is to provide local business owners, professionals, and entrepreneurs with the tools they need to create a new business or expand an existing business. The Summit will cover important subjects such as: creating a business in Florida, monetizing a product, using social media to market your products, and understanding how the Hispanic markets can influence a business’ overall success. The Summit was developed for current and future small business owners, marketing professionals, analysts, and executives that can benefit from the most up-to-date information, techniques, and technology employed today. Our presenters are leaders in their industries and will share insights, opinions, best-practices and real life stories.

In addition to financial support, the sponsors will provide content experts for the panels and presentations. “I’d like to personally thank all of the sponsors for their support of this event.  Without their contributions, we would not be able to share all of this information with the local business owners and entrepreneurs that will be in attendance.  These local businesses have taken some of their hard earned money and invested it in helping the small business community expand as well as to help those small businesses and entrepreneurs market to Hispanics, which will benefit everyone in Tallahassee.” said Alex Bello, President of THLPE.

The 2010 Business and Entrepreneurship Summit will take place May 1, 2010 at the Aloft Hotel at 200 North Monroe Street, Tallahasee, FL 32303.  For more information and to register for the conference, please visit http://www.thlpe.org/summit.

WHAT:
March Networking Social

WHERE:
Bella Bella
123 East 5th Avenue
Tallahassee, FL 32303
(850) 412-1114 

 ( http://www.bellabellatallahassee.com/ )

WHEN:
March 26, 2010
6:00 – 8:00PM

WHY:
Socialize and strengthen our network of professionals!

Prior to joining Uber Operations, Eduardo served as Project Manager at Stanford International Bank in Antigua, West Indies. While at Stanford, Eduardo managed all facets of the technology at the bank including several high profile banking system implementations in Antigua, Panama, Venezuela, and Canada. He also served as the Disaster Coordinator leading the creation and implementation of a revolutionary Business Continuity Plan.

Eduardo, a Cuban-American born in Miami, Florida, attended Loyola University, New Orleans earning a bachelor’s degree in Finance as well as in Computer Information Systems. While working full time, he subsequently received his Executive MBA in 2007 from the University of Miami, where he was the recipient of the Recognized Student of the Year Award.

Eduardo is fluent in English, Spanish, has a working knowledge of Portuguese, and has traveled on business to over 15 countries. Eduardo is an active member of the Technology industry and an advocate for the Latino and Small Business communities. He serves in a number of organizations and attends numerous conferences and technology events serving as an expert on entrepreneurship, project management, and Latino leadership. Eduardo is the President of the Florida chapter of Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association, in addition to a member of the Board of Directors leading the government affairs division. He is a member of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, Hispanic STEM Initiative, The Project Management Institute, The Tallahassee Hispanic/Latino Professionals & Entrepreneurs, and the President of the University of Miami Alumni Club in Tallahassee. He is also a Kiwanis George F. Hixson Lifetime Award fellow. Eduardo is a big believer in volunteerism and helping others. In this vein, he has participated in two missionary trips to the Dominican Republic where medical assistance was offered and medicines distributed.

• Top 10 Secrets for Profitability for Small Businesses
• How to Secure Funding for My Small Business in a Recession
• The Influence of the Hispanic Market on the Overall Market
• Successful Small Business Stories & Experiences (Panel)
• The Virtual Office: How to Leverage Technology to Save Money in a Digital World

THLPE has partnered with Über Operations (www.uberops.com) and the Latinos in Information Science and Technology Association (www.a-lista.org) to host the summit.  ”6 years ago, Über Operations was a two-man company working out of a home and now it is now a national award-winning organization employing over 25 people.  We want to see many more small businesses in North Florida succeed like we have and this summit provided the perfect opportunity to collaborate with this next generation of small business owners and entrepreneurs” said Eduardo Gonzalez Loumiet, Managing Director of Über Operations.

The final date and location of the event will be announced March 1st. If you would like to participate or help sponsor the Business and Entrepreneurship Summit, please contact Alex Bello at alex.bello@thlpe.org

About THPLE:
The Tallahassee Hispanic/Latino Professionals & Entrepreneurs are working together to strengthen the network of professionals and entrepreneurs in the Hispanic/Latino community and to promote opportunities for young Hispanics/Latinos of all ages through leadership, scholarship, service, and diversity.  The organization hosts monthly “Networking Socials” and other events in the community to help provide its members with opportunities for person and professional growth.  For more information on THLPE, please visit www.thlpe.org.

About Über Operations:
Founded in 2004, Über Operations is now a leading provider of health care IT services due in part to their exclusive IT resources, their creativity, and hard work. Their goal is to provide the highest quality in software solutions and to find and work with the best IT professionals in the industry. Über Operations provides the integration services for several large private and public organizations, such as: the Florida Dept of Health, Texas Dept of State Health Services, and the University of Washington. Über Operations team members are considered experts in open source technology such as PHINMS, NHIN CONNECT, and Mirth to name a few. For more information on Über Operations please contact: sales@uberops.com.

About LISTA

LISTA’s (www.a-lista.org) mission is simple: to educate, motivpate and empower the Latino community with Technology. LISTA promotes the utilization of the technology sectors for the empowerment of the Latino community. LISTA is an organization that is committed to bringing various elements of technology under one central hub to facilitate our partners, members and the community with the leverage and education they need to succeed in a highly advanced technologically driven society.