FEATURE
Latinas of Excellence
For years, HISPANIC Magazine has honored women who have shattered the glass ceiling and with its shards carved their initials in the foundations of the arts, business, education, government and journalism.
By: Idy Fernandez and Marissa Rodriguez

Esther Aguilera

Esther Aguilera lived the classic American Dream as an immigrant who strived to make something of herself and provide for her family.

Now, as the president and CEO of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), a nonprofit organization that offers summer internships, fellowships and scholarships for Hispanic students, she is opening doors for those who followed after. In fact under Aguilera’s leadership, last year the organization’s annual budget was $4 million, making Aguilera the 2006 Latina of Excellence in Education.

“It’s the experience I had and the struggles that I know so many young Latinos have that drives me every day to make sure we open the doors of opportunity to our young people,” says Aguilera, a native of Jalisco, Mexico.

Aguilera, who was raised in San Fernando, California, arrived in the States in 1972 when she was 4 years old, along with her parents and fi ve siblings. With only an elementary school education, Aguilera’s parents worked multiple jobs to support the family and instilled in their six children the importance of education as a key to opportunities and success.

Motivated by the fact that those in charge of crafting public policy and making decisions didn’t know or understand the Latino experience, Aguilera earned a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Occidental College in Los Angeles.

“Growing up in a working poor Latino immigrant family, seeing the hardship and struggle my parents went through to put food on the table, I think that experience only made me stronger to strive to be my very best,” Aguilera says. “But you can’t do it alone, you need to be given the chance. That’s why I wanted to bring my experience and background to the policy-making arena.”

Soon after she moved to Washington, where she became a political analyst for the National Council of La Raza, a national think tank that often serves as a watchdog for policies affecting the Hispanic community.

After a stint at La Raza, Aguilera moved on to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus where from 1993 to 1998 she held several management positions and eventually became its executive director. In October 1998 Aguilera was appointed as senior advisor to Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, for whom she developed senior policy recommendations that led to a nationwide Hispanic outreach program.

Now at CHCI, Aguilera works to increase the number of Hispanic high school and college graduates as well as to increase parental involvement with the Parents’ Guide to College, a bilingual handbook produced by the organization that helps parents understand the college admissions process and financial aid.

“Our folks are extremely talented and we believe in them,” Aguilera says. “But it’s up to each generation to open the doors for the next generation so that we can reach our full potential and in some ways achieve more than what we did before.” H

Carolyn Curiel

With a stellar career that has included stints as a writer and producer for Ted Koppel on ABC’s Nightline and as the senior presidential speechwriter and special assistant to the president during the Clinton administration, Carolyn Curiel has changed the way Hispanic women are seen in journalism and politics. Now a member of The New York Times’ editorial board, Curiel’s achievements make her this year’s Latina of Excellence in Media and Communications.

“I just really liked the idea of getting information out to people in a way that was larger than I had known before,” says Curiel of her initial interest in journalism when she was a middle school student in Hammond, Indiana, where she was born to Mexican parents.

With a bachelor’s in radio, TV and fi lm from Purdue University, as well as graduate work in mass media and communication, Curiel began her career as the Caribbean division chief editor for United Press International where she worked from 1979 to 1985. Periods as a freelance writer and producer at ABC News and as copy editor for The Washington Post’s national desk soon followed before Curiel became editor for the foreign and national desks at The New York Times from 1987 to 1992. There, Curiel oversaw the foreign desk late editions, where she oversaw major news stories like the Chinese crackdown in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

Curiel returned to ABC News in 1992 as Ted Koppel’s writer and producer on Nightline, creating the show’s opening segment, among other tasks. But after a year, the White House beckoned Curiel, who from 1993 to 1997 was President Bill Clinton’s senior speechwriter and special assistant. As such, she crafted some of Clinton’s most infl uential speeches, including the Affi rmative Action speech that coined the phrase “mend it, don’t end it.”

In 1997 Curiel was nominated by the President and approved by the Senate to become U.S. ambassador to Belize, where she implemented three treaties including assurances that Belize didn’t need air clearances when chasing down a drugtraffi cking plane.

Curiel finally joined the The New York Times’ executive board in June 2002. As one of the 16 members on the board, Curiel writes editorial pieces on New York politics and policies like the removal of lead paint dust in low-income housing and fairer distribution of food stamps.

“I have an issue with Hispanic kids who are constantly putting themselves down. My feelings are that there will be plenty of people who will try to humble you, so we should be putting our best side forward always,” says Curiel. “When you blaze a trail, the obligation is to keep that trail open, and I try to do that with my work because [keeping the trail open] is a never-ending job.” H

Miriam Lopez

For the past 20 years Miriam Lopez has risen through the ranks of the banking industry, at times swimming upstream to prove herself in a maledominated industry.

Now Lopez is chairperson and CEO of TransAtlantic Bank in Miami, where she oversees daily operations in the loans department as well as trade and management.

A native of Havana, Lopez came to the United States with her parents and sister in 1960 when she was 9 years old. Like many immigrants, Lopez’s family arrived in Miami penniless and it is these hard times that she credits
with teaching her about the importance of building human relationships and trust, which now she uses in the banking world.

Though Lopez says numbers and figures always fascinated her, she earned a bachelor’s of arts degree from Barry University in Miami in 1972 and taught high school history for nearly a year. In 1977 Lopez earned a certificate in business administration with an emphasis on accounting at the University of Miami, while balancing life as a newlywed and expectant mother for the fi rst time. Lopez has been married nearly 34 years to Pedro “Pete” Lopez, who she says has always been her biggest supporter and has helped keep the family united while they both achieved their career goals. The couple have two sons.

Lopez’s banking career began in 1977 as a commercial loan officer for Southeast First National Bank of Miami, before moving on to Intercontinental Bank, where she was the assistant vice president. By 1983 Lopez was the vice president and manager of Republic National Bank, before TransAtlantic recruited her to become their president and CEO. She served as its president for nearly a decade until she was elected chairperson of the board and CEO, the position she currently holds.

In addition Lopez was a member of the American Bankers Association Community Council from 1999 to 2000; she also served on its board of directors and as a member of the audit committee from 2001 to 2004. She is currently a member of the American Bankers Association’s government relations council and its executive committee. Lopez is the director of the Miami branch for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, while serving as a member of the Board of Trustees of Florida International University in Miami.

Despite her various achievements in the banking field, for which she was inducted into the Miami Dade College Alumni Hall of Fame this past May, Lopez believes education is the best tool for success. So to keep that message going, Lopez mentors several children and speaks regularly at local public schools. H

Heidi Marquez Smith

If the president or his senior staff needs to know what the Cabinet departments are up to, they know to turn to Heidi Marquez Smith.

As special assistant to the president for Cabinet liaison, Smith is charged with overseeing and enhancing communication between the White House and the Cabinet department heads. In fact, her office facilitates meetings, advances initiatives and serves as the primary source of information on Cabinet department activities. It is her achievements in the White House that make Smith one of HISPANIC Magazine’s 2006 Latinas of Excellence.

“I’m the oldest of six and from a [Hispanic] family, my dad was a truck driver and didn’t always get paid as much as some of the Anglo truck drivers,” Smith says. “That used to make me so mad and it was a motivating factor towards going into public service and making sure that this country is for everyone.”

A native of El Paso, Texas born to Mexican parents, Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Texas at Austin in 1999. She also has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish pending from the University of Texas at Austin. After graduation, she worked for the George W. Bush presidential campaign in Austin and also served as a fellow in the appointments offi ce back when Bush was still governor of Texas.

She was a member of the Bush-Cheney transition team in 2000 before moving on to become the deputy associate director in the Office of Presidential Personnel in 2001. There, Smith interviewed and recommended candidates to President Bush for appointment to national boards and commissions.

Smith then served a stint as the deputy of correspondence and was later promoted to the director of correspondence, managing the receipt, process and nature of all incoming correspondence and gifts to the president as well as the drafting, editing and inspection of all outgoing mail from the president like presidential proclamations, constituent letters and policy responses, sending out as many as 50,000 letters in a week.

By 2005, Smith was appointed special assistant to the president for Cabinet liaison. She is one of the few Hispanics working closely with the president as she crafts the agenda for Cabinet meetings, among other responsibilities. Smith lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband, David P. Smith and her newborn son, Patterson.

“I’m not necessarily out to make a mark. I do, however, feel called to serve. It is important for other Latinos to see that people who look like them can do this, too,” says Smith. “We did not grow up with money; I never dreamed that I’d be working in the White House. I hope I can in some way encourage others to help make a difference through public service.” H

Martha C. De la Torre

Martha C. De la Torre has made a contribution to Hispanic media in a way few others have. As the president, publisher and founder of Los Angeles’ Al Borde and El Clasificado, the Spanish weekly classifieds, De la Torre brought a means of buying and selling to an entire market who had been excluded by English-language classifieds.

De la Torre founded the publication in 1988 in Los Angeles, the No. 1 Hispanic market in the United States, with a population of almost 8 million Latinos. The daughter of Ecuadorean immigrants, and an Angeleno herself, De la Torre was wellversed in the heavily Hispanic culture of her city and the opportunities it afforded.

Her foray into media came while working as a manager at Arthur Young& Company, now known as the accounting powerhouse Ernst & Young. One of her clients was La Opinión, Los Angeles’ largest Spanish-language paper.

“I got close to them and saw potential,” said De la Torre in a 2001 interview with Hispanic Magazine. “I thought it would be really fun to see them grow.”

So in 1986, she left Ernst & Young for a position as chief fi nancial offi cer at La Opinión. A mere two years later she launched her own publication to much critical and financial success. Now in its 17th year, El Clasificado has become the nation’s largest free Spanish weekly publication serving more than 1 million readers. In its tenure as the leading publication of its kind, it has been hailed as a breakthrough for Spanish-language media.

In 2004, the paper was named “one of America’s 100 fastest growing inner city companies” by ICIC and Inc. magazine. Hispanic Business magazine included the paper among its list of “500 Largest U.S. Hispanic Owned Companies.”

Upon finding such success with El Clasificado, De la Torre’s company launched Al Borde, a magazine in a similar fashion to its predecessor, only this time positioned to attract the elusive young Latino market.

In addition to serving as the publisher of two weekly publications, De la Torre has served on the boards of several nonprofi ts including the Los Angeles Child Guidance Clinic, Loyola Marymount University’s Mexican American Alumni Association, L.A. Family Housing and Los Angeles County Education Foundation, and is also a Latino Advisory Member of the National Federation of Independent Business.

For this and more De la Torre has been the recipient of awards and honors from the Latino and business communities. Notably among them are Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Communication/Media Award from the National Latina Business Women Association, Hilton Distinguished Entrepreneur Award from Loyola Marymount University, her alma mater, and an induction into the National Association of Women Business Owner’s Hall of Fame. Additionally, in 2005, the Association of Free Community Papers presented her with the Entrepreneur Award. H

Antoinette Zel

Antoinette Zel might very well be designing the way young Latinos see the world. In her impressive career, Zel has had a hand in the creation of programming and channels that are now a part of Hispanics everyday lives. As the senior executive vice president of network strategy for Telemundo, this Cuban American oversees the programming of both Telemundo and mun2, the recently revamped cable station attracting young, bilingual music fans.

A graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, Zel was always attracted to the arts but also aspired to be an attorney. After graduation she was accepted to Columbia University law school in New York, where she did volunteer work for artists while still a student. The experience sparked in her a desire to continue working with creatives.

Her chance came when as a graduate she was hired at the international law firm Reid & Priest, where she worked with such major entertainment forces as Viacom and Def Jam, the urban music label. In 1991, Viacom presented Zel with an opportunity to work for the company as a part of MTV’s business and legal affairs group where she became senior counsel.

Zel’s success as counsel led to another career leap when the network launched a Latin American branch and named her vice president of legal affairs and later president of MTV Latin America and Nickelodeon Latin America, which launched in 1996 and is now seen in nearly 65 million homes in Central and South America. As part of MTV Latin America, she also oversaw the launch of VH1 Latin America. After two years as president, Zel joined Telemundo in 2004.

Last year, Zel was among those powerful television entertainment executives that composed the committee for the first ever Emmys En Español, which took place in San Antonio, Texas and honored influential Hispanics in television. The event was the first of its kind.

A full-time mother to three boys, her career history is marked with significant milestone after milestone as Zel moved through some of the world’s most popular and influential media companies. For her work, she has been named among 1999’s Influential Hispanics and 80 Elite Women by Hispanic Business, and as one of 2003’s Top 100 Latinas by HISPANIC Magazine and was recently named a winner of the 2006 Visionary Awards presented by Office Depot at their Success Strategies for Businesswomen Conference. H

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