Arizona Bilingual News

The Best Of Two Worlds

From the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

By Lea Marquez Peterson- President/CEO

Last month, I attended the United States Hispanic Chamber Legislative Summit with Cecilia Mata, the Chairwoman of our Chamber and Owner of All Source Global Management. In addition to hearing from some incredible elected leaders during the Summit, we had the opportunity to attend a “Latinas in the White House” panel discussion. Panelists included two women who currently work for President Obama and advise him on communications and education issues. The other two women worked for President Bush and provided similar expertise. It was incredible to hear about the influence they each had on notably “the most powerful man in the world” while coming from humble beginnings similar to many of us. None of the women on the panel thought they would accomplish all that they had. They landed the incredible positions by taking advantage of opportunities put in front of them and stressed (to the more than 100 Latina leaders in the audience) the importance of relationships. They had found their way to their dream jobs by working hard and being referred to the President’s administration by those who had worked with them in the past.
I wasn’t surprised by the fact that they stressed the importance of relationships. Truly, that is the business we are in at the Tucson Hispanic Chamber. We believe we have built a reputation in Arizona and Sonora for being a place of “connections”. A place to be referred to a potential customer or supplier. We promote our member businesses at every opportunity. We are believers that “people do business with their friends” and therefore hold regular events to allow people to simply get to know one another.

Two of the women on the panel had children, and one had brought her daughter to the panel discussion. Her comment “You can’t be what you can’t see” really resonated with me. As a mother myself, I wonder if I’ve shown my own daughter and son the value of caring deeply about a community and giving back. For the month of May, I suggest mothers reading this article consider taking their daughters to one or two key events with them where they can see dynamic, powerful women as role models. I certainly plan to do so.

Cecilia and I spent a day and a half “on the hill” while in Washington DC. We met with Congresswoman Sinema, Congressman Schwiekert, Franks and Gosar, and the offices of Congressman Gallego. We also had the opportunity to meet with Senator Orrin Hatch and Jeff Flake and had a wonderful lunch with Senator Flake’s Chief of Staff. Many folks who have not done a “day on the hill” wonder about the purpose and time spent. These meetings were very valuable to us. We spoke about the state of business in Arizona, access to capital challenges, procurement opportunities, the needs for business resources and assistance in Southern Arizona, infrastructure challenges in our region, the importance of our military bases and updated each office on the work of our chamber. We were proud to let each know that with close to 1800 member businesses our chamber is one of the larger Hispanic chambers in the nation and the second largest chamber in the State of Arizona. Like the women on the panel, Ceciilia and I both felt that we maximized the opportunities provided by the meetings and built stronger relationships with our elected officials. Learn more about the USHCC at www.USHCC.com and more about our chamber at www.TucsonHispanicChamber.org.

Lea Marquez Peterson is the President/CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber and its affiliate chambers in Sierra Vista, Douglas and Ambos Nogales

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