Noche de Éxitos Gala & Bi-National Business Awards
From 6:00 pm until 11:45 pm
At Casino del Sol Resort
Hispanic Business Leaders of the Year
Time to party again – es el tiempo por Noche de Éxitos – the annual Night of Success Gala presented by the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
The traditionally sold-out event, slated this year for Oct. 20, has been a yearly highlight since its inception in 1998 – when Bill Valenzuela of Valenzuela Dry Wall put down his sheetrock and Carlotta Flores of El Charro Café stopped making chimichangas long enough to be honored as Tucson’s first Hispanic Business Man and Woman of the Year.
Since then, a litany of Hispanic leaders have followed in their footsteps celebrating the accomplishments of the business community and bi-national/bi-cultural programs in Southern Arizona and Mexico.
With offices in Tucson and Hermosillo, Mexico, the Hispanic Chamber looks on both sides of the border for those who exemplify leadership in the international business world that adds value to Southern Arizona by proactively supporting a growing bi-national economy.
This year’s accolades go to IBM’s Calline Sanchez and ASARCO’s Manuel Ramos. Like previous honorees, they are recognized as “incredible leaders who serve as role models for business owners throughout the region,” said Lea Marquez Peterson, Hispanic Chamber president and CEO since 2009. “It is our honor to recognize them as they join a very prestigious alumni group of Hispanic Business Men and Women of the Year.”
Also this year, Edith Villalobos-Zamora, owner of EmV Design Build, will receive the chamber’s first Rising Star Entrepreneur award. The interior designer and general contractor said, “Goals are dreams with deadlines – and there’s no limit to them. You just figure out what you want, focus on that ultimate destination, and give yourself stepping stones along the way to achieve the end result. If it’s a dream and I want it, I’ll figure out a way to go get it.”
She’s not alone in those dreams and accomplishments. Owners and managers of Hispanic businesses are more and more frequently receiving all kinds of awards. According to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Latino entrepreneurs have been starting businesses at a pace 15 times the national average over the last decade with more than 4 million Hispanic-owned firms throughout America, now representing in excess of $660 billion in revenue.