Preliminary Census Date Release December 21, 2010

Tomorrow, Tuesday, December 21, 2010 the US Census Bureau will release preliminary new numbers that will affect business and many aspects of life in the United States. Stay tuned!
Cristina Benitez

Where are the Latino Leaders?

This is the question Pew Hispanic Center asked in the 2010 National Survey of Latinos, a bilingual national survey of 1,375 Hispanic adults released 11/15/10. The results paint a sad picture that Latinos don't
have a leader. Nearly two-thirds said they did not know, and an additional one-in-ten said “no one.”

The most frequently named individual was Sonia Sotomayor, U.S.
Supreme Court. Some 7% of respondents said she is the most important Latino leader in the country. U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) of Chicago is next at 5%. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa draws 3%, and Jorge Ramos, an anchor on Noticiero Univision 2%. For more information on the survey, please see: http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/131.pdf

This is a mandate for Latinos and corporations to make serious efforts to develop the skills needed in Leadership development. Latinos need to create their Mybrand so they can pull up a chair at the boardroom table and "have a voice". Corporations need to provide a pipeline for their Latino employees who will help them develop their Latino consumer.

To learn more about developing Latino Leaders you can order Latinization and the Latino Leader at Amazon.com and paramoutbooks.com

November 5, 2010

It's time for a new book! Latinization and the Latino Leader, by Cristina Benitez & Marlene Gonzalez. As a part of our research we formed a partnership with the National Hispana Leadership Institute and developed a proprietary study to investigate the benefits and workplace programs

most important to Latinas and what factors contribute to their jobs satisfaction. Key findings include: · Nearly 40% have Master's degrees & another 23% advanced degrees. · As most valuable benefits Latinas sought: 71% Healthcare 54% Retirement 35% Education For more info on LATINA AS CORPORATE LEADERS contact: marlene.gonzalez@lcgnow.com

Hispanic Heritage 2009 - it's over!

I'm back and ready to start blogging - it's time.



Now that Hispanic Heritage 2009 is over, I suggest it's more than parties with mojitos and mojitos. Rather it's a time to see Latinization at its best - where we can focus on the new Latino leaders and role models for our community.

If you don't know all the following names, you will soon:

Sonya Sotomayor - Supreme Court Justice - first Latina

Junot Diaz - Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction 2008

Jose Hernandez - NASA Astronaut



As companies expand their efforts to reach the Hispanic consumer market, concurrently they should be looking at how to hire, retain, and develop their Latino talent.

What are your strategies for 2010? Think about it!

Latinization: How Latino Culture Is Transforming the U.S.

Foreword by Henry Cisneros
“Understanding is precisely what Cristina Benitez offers in Latinization. In one well-organized and clearly-written book she explains common attributes of the nation’s diverse and multifaceted Latino community. The understanding it will make possible can itself help shape the American future. As her reasoned explanations help Americans understand the new faces, the new accents, the new last names, this book will do its part to unleash the potential of these new Americans.”

The front pages of national and local press are covered with charts, graphs and numbers highlighting the irrefutable fact that the Latino population is making significant changes in the United States. The U.S. Census documents this dynamic immigrant movement with data, giving marketers, politicians and sociologists information to help them create products and affect U.S. policy. Raw data gives us a basis for understanding, but to appreciate the significance of the movement we must go further.

The purpose of this book is to go beyond the numbers and show what this immigrant movement means to the United States of America. We will use statistics as a starting point but delve deeper to paint pictures, hear music and weave the stories of the Latino population in the United States of America. We will explore the Latinization of our country in the 21st century and see how it is changing the face of America. But first, let’s define Latinization.

Latinization is a movement. It is a force – a series of Latino values and trends that affect how we view the world. It isn’t any one particular or isolated event, but rather a combination of influences born from the twenty-two different Spanish-speaking countries that are homelands to the Hispanic people in the United States. We see the influences of these countries from Argentinean tango to mate tea from Uruguay.

Latinization fuses the Latino influences into the North American lifestyle enriching both cultures simultaneously. As Latinos integrate into the United States and adopt new ways of living, the U.S. is embracing a variety of Latino values, styles and language. This book will examine a wide range of these influences and explore their impact and implications.

The Latino culture is vibrant, loyal, family-centric, expressive, demonstrative, playful, fatalistic, romantic, colorful, dramatic, musical, hard working and courageous. We will show examples of the Latino influences from marketing to politics to media, combined with interviews from outstanding leaders that highlight the Latino values that are having an impact in the U.S. today.

This book is for marketers, corporate leaders, Latino studies and general interest readers with the goal to heighten their awareness of Latinization and help both non-Latino and Latino people in the United States bridge their cultures with mutual understanding. My aim is to promote an appreciation of Latinos and help us all embrace the diversity of our country.

Cristina Benitez