Marielablog

Yesterday, I met Anna Escobedo Cabral at HPNG’s Latino Leadership Conference www.hpng.net.

In case you didn’t know, she’s the Treasurer of the United States, meaning, her signature is in every one dollar bill.

She gave a very inspiring presentation at a fabulous event that brought together around one hundred Latino professionals from all fields and industries to the Yale Club in NYC. Mrs. Escobedo Cabral spoke about her humble beginnings as the daughter of farmworkers and about the mentor who made sure she filled out her college applications when all she wanted was to get a job as soon as she finished high school.

She spoke of the days in which she would pick up scrap metal on her way back from school so that her father could sell it, and there could be food on the table. She told us about changing elementary schools over twenty times.

And still, she persevered. Not only did she graduate with a major in Political Science from the University of California, Davis, but she later earned her Master’s degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Now don’t think for a moment that grad school was easy for her. She already had four children and, on occasion, she attended classes with the youngest one, who, at three, asked questions of the professors. As Mrs. Escobedo Cabral shared that her son has now graduated from MIT as a Nuclear Engineer, I can’t help thinking that some of that early exposure to education paid off.

Her presentation was an inspiration to all of us at the conference. A reminder that Latinos can get as high as they want regardless of their beginnings.

I always tell people that one of the best ways to attract people to their network is to be interesting. Nobody wants to hang out with boring people! The question, obviously, is what do you do to be interesting?

Taking classes outside of your field or industry; traveling to unusual places; reading books, magazines, and e-zines; attending conferences, concerts, art exhibits; visiting museums and hanging out with people who are different are all great ways to step out of your comfort zone. And this is probably one of the key traits that interesting people share. They are not afraid to explore, to have an adventurous life.

I was in Europe last week and I visited three beautiful cities: Prague, Vienna and Budapest. I can’t begin to tell you how many interesting things I saw. One of them was a woman who was selling the canes you see in this picture. She was next to all the other souvenir vendors, set up in the highest spot in Buda, overlooking the best view of Pest. While nobody was interested in the other vendors, she had a large crowd shopping at her booth. She had put together this pile of canes with a twist: the came equipped with an old bicycle bell, a first aid kit, cigarettes, matches, a flask and… a little box of Viagra just in case you happened to have a close encounter while you were hiking up the mountain!!!

So now I have this anecdote to tell. This picture to share during my workshops and to help me make them more interesting. One more thing, though. You need to learn to tell a story! How interesting can you be if you put everyone to sleep when you tell your stories?

They are the energetic, professional leaders of the future and they are here now! The high school students members of ASPIRA, called Aspirantes, develop a strong bond amongst themselves that last a life time. I met several the other day at the Aspira of New York Annual Circle of Latino Achievers luncheon.

Whether they are still in high school or they were Aspirantes 20 years ago, everyone expressed great passion for the people they had met through this organization. And just like when you are a member of any meaningful group, they help each other along the way.

Joining organizations like ASPIRA (www.aspira.org) that help them develop leadership skills while still in high school is a wonderful way for teenagers to open doors. Above and beyond all the mentorship and guidance they received during their years as Aspirantes, all of the students attending the luncheon got scholarships for college.

You’re going to a job interview. You are about to meet the interviewer and you notice your hands are sweaty. It is not the first time this has happened to you but you think there’s no solution to your problem.

I’m sure you know that a handshake is an important part of the first impression you cause when you meet someone and that’s the reason why it’s critical to learn how to offer an effective handshake. But if your hands are clammy, you may affect that first impression even if you apply the correct pressure and position your fingers correctly.

So for some immediate solutions you can try: carrying towelettes in your pocket, the kind that come in a small sealed envelope with a light alcohol smell. Wipe your hands right before your meeting. You can also carry a handkerchief to dry your hands before a handshake. Or you can wash your hands and then use a light baby powder to absorb the humidity. Make sure you towel any excess off with a dry paper towel so you don’t leave traces of the powder on your interviewer’s hands.

Now for the longer term solution. Pay attention to what situations trigger your hand-sweating. Unless you have a condition called hyperhidrosis, which causes excessive sweating and can be treated by your physician, sweaty hands are usually the result of fear or anxiety.

Once you identify the issues that make you nervous or fearful, start working on some relaxation techniques. Try to balance your energy field through meditation exercises. For this longer term solution, you may want to consult different kinds of professionals from a psychotherapist to a reiki practitioner until you find the right person to help you.

I just came back from a great New Media conference organized by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism.

It was a fabulous event where journalists got together to learn more about blogging, podcasting and developing slideshows in order to expand their career opportunities.

The truth is that regardless of what you do, you need to constantly update your skills because no job will remain the same with this rapid technological revolution. Having your own blog or website may be a great way to broadcast your talents to the world. Several of the presenters at today’s conference commented that they received many job inquiries and offers through their website, which is, no doubt, one of the main reasons you should consider building your own. The secret is to keep your blog or your site updated with your latest undertakings so that it’s always fresh.

Other good way of using new media to gain wider exposure to your talents is by creating videos that are connected to your expertise and uploading them to You Tube. Just be mindful of the type of information you share so that it reflects who you are and what you do.

Sooner or later, all of us will have to be well versed in the new technology and the sooner we all embrace it, the wider the range of opportunities we will have.

Last Friday I presented a Networking workshop for the scholars of the Young Latinas Leadership Institute, a group of the 100 Hispanic Women organization. They are students at the City University of New York (CUNY) who receive a $1000 scholarship every year during their four years of college plus mentorship, internships and support from 100 Hispanic Women.

I talked about the importance of establishing relationships while they are in college and that an excellent way to develop a good network is by becoming visible to others. That means, to get others to know you and notice you for your uniqueness, relevance and for what you have to offer.

One way to achieve this is by asking questions at workshops and presentations you attend so you get noticed by presenters and participants alike. The key is to ask the right question! So here is a description of what a good question sounds like:

• It makes you look smart while it doesn’t make you look smarter than the presenter

• It allows the presenter to continue to show off his or her expertise

• It gives the audience additional information that they hadn’t heard yet• It doesn’t put the presenter on the spot

• It’s not confrontational

My suggestion is that before you ask a question at an event, you introduce yourself and thank the presenter for the presentation or for his/her insights or for his/her inspiration, whatever the case may be. Then go ahead and ask a question that is:

• Short

• Well phrased

• To the point

The idea is that when you ask good questions, most of the time, people want to meet you and find out more about who you are and what you do. And that is a powerful way to expand your professional network.

Around three million people are currently studying careers online! An amazing number. And because the average age of an online student is 36-37 and they are mostly adults who work full time and have a family and little time to go to college, this number reflects a great desire to improve and open up possibilities.

I recently did a couple of segments on TV about this topic and was shocked by the large number of emails I received requesting more information.

Many people are being denied promotions because they don’t have a college degree or they don’t have a Mater’s degree. So, taking courses online may give you a unique chance to finish your education or to take it to the next level.

You can study all sorts of careers online and you won’t believe the level of interaction you get. You communicate with your classmates and professors via email and synchronous classes while you get to meet professionals who, like you, work full time and can bring real life cases to the table.

The biggest advantage to studying online is that you choose when and where you want to do your assignments so it gives you the flexibility you need to carry on with your life. Also, because you don’t have to travel or pay for room and board, it usually costs less than a state university.

When choosing a college, make sure it’s an accredited institution. To verify that it is, check that the accrediting organizations are listed with the U.S. Education department: www.us.edu and with the Council for Higher Education Accreditation www.chea.org.

You can find links to some of the best known and more serious universities to the right of this blog under “links”.

U.S.Senator Ken Salazar was the keynote speaker at the Harvard Business School Latino Association Organization’s dinner last Friday.

He spoke about his experiences growing up as the grandson of immigrants from Mexico. And although his speech was interesting as it showed how close most Latinos are to the generation who immigrated into this country, I found that the most interesting part of his presentation was the question and answer period.

I asked him about the Dream act. What he thought in terms of the bill passing and what we could do to help its passing. He said that last year the Senate spent three days discussing the bill and that in the end they couldn’t get the number of senators needed to pass it. “There is still discrimination in this country,” Senator Salazar said.

The Senator also shared that during the discussion of the bill, his office received hundreds of bricks by mail asking him to build a wall and deport all undocumented immigrants.

I think people who are in favor of giving a path to legalization to those youngsters who were brought illegally into this country by their parents, should continue to make their voices heard by their representatives. We should continue to write letters, make phone calls and speak publicly about this problem and the consequences of not giving teenagers raised in this country a chance to fulfill their dreams of going to college and contributing to our economy and society.

Senator Ken Salazar is hopeful that if our next president is a Democrat, immigration will be one of the top priority issues on the agenda. I think that even if it is, we must continue to make our voices heard in the mainstream if we want to help change the status quo.

I was in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for a few days this week taking part of the Science and Consciousness Conference. It’s a fabulous annual event organized by The Message Conference, where frontier scientists and people interested in a variety of fields where science and consciousness meet, come together.

This is one of the most enriching experiences of the year for me. I get to hear people like Rupert Sheldrake talk about morphic resonnance and Eric Pearl about tapping into the universal field in order to heal yourself and others. Dannion Brinkley spoke of his three near dead experiences and Konstantin Korotkov spoke about measuring energy fields.

The common denominator of this conference was the theme that we are all reaching a new level of consciousness and that a major transformation will take place within 4 to 6 years for which we should all prepare.

What I find most interesting is trying to mesh these very profound insights with my every day life and activities, passing on as much of my knowledge to others as possible.

I was at CS 92 in the Bronx, NY, today taping a segment for Bloomberg TV about children and money.

Ms. Cunningham’s fourth grade class of eighteen English learners (in the picture with Ms. Ana Celia Delgado, Assistant Principal), had been preparing all week for this event. They had learned about credit cards, checking accounts, savings accounts, and making change.

I had them at the library for half an hour where I asked them about the value of money and what they did with what they received as gifts and allowances. It surprised me to hear that a few of them were saving to go to college!! Others were incredibly generous: they were saving to help their parents in case of an emergency.

During the past week they had also conducted some interesting research: they asked third, fourth and fifth graders around the school a few questions: 1) who received an allowance, 2) who saved, 3) who spent it, and 4) who shared it.

Their discovery may be something for the adults in the family to pay attention to: the younger ones are saving at a much higher rate than the older kids who seem to already be caught in our consumerist society. Given the current economic situation of this country where savings levels per capita are close to 0, wouldn’t it be a great time to start teaching our kids about the value of money early on?

The students in CS 92 have surely learned very important lessons about saving money this week, and I hope you can catch them on TV soon.