Celebrating the Latinas Behind Latin Biz Today
It’s Women’s History Month (or as we also like to call it, Her-story Month).
It’s a perfect time to feature the strong Latina business women behind the scenes at Latin Biz Today. They keep us moving forward and challenging us to bring the best content to our community of Latino business owners and entrepreneurs. We’re proud to have such a diverse group of talented women supporting our platform. With their combined business backgrounds, they’re an outstanding force of expertise. Meet the Latin Biz Today women that brings their unique skillsets and Latino perspectives to LBT:
Tina Trevino
A veteran at Latin Biz Today with over 9 years of tenure, Tina Trevino is our VP and a partner. With over 30 years experience in the fashion industry, she is also the lead for our fashion channel and hosts a monthly fashion series for us called LaTina Fashion Chronicles. Her Mexican background adds a unique nuance to everything she brings to the table at Latin Biz Today.
Tina is the founder of her own company, Tocaya Design, which is a fashion business offering a full suite of services from initial design concept, to sourcing and sampling, all the way through to production and fulfillment.
As the daughter of 2 Mexican American parents who grew up in southern Texas doing migrant work up and down the country from Texas, to Michigan, her parents firmly instilled strong entrepreneurial skills in her through their own start-up businesses. They owned a home rental business and a bridal shop.
At the early age of 4, she was inspired by her mom’s sewing skills and was mesmerized by the amazing bridal fashions that would arrive in the store regularly in her small Ohio hometown.
“From the Age of 4, I Always Knew I’d be Involved in Fashion Design. I Never Thought Twice about Doing Anything Else”.
Having earned a B.A. from Bowling Green State University and an A.A. from FIT’s fashion design program, she started in the NY fashion industry as a creative designer and began to learn all the business aspects of the industry starting with product development to production and marketing. Her 30 years of experience in the fashion industry allowed her to transition these skills to her own successful fashion business.
She has collaborated with celebrities to launch their own brands such as Brooke Shields for QVC, Wendy Williams for HSN, Whitney Port for QVC, Me by Emme for Ashley Stewart, Nicki Minaj and Adam Levine for Kmart. She has designed for iconic brands like Lee jeans and and also created private label lines for retailers.
Her clients today include NY&Co., Fashion Nova, Calvin Klein, DKNY Jeans, Karl Lagerfeld, Ramy Brook and Fashion to Figure just to name a few.
She is also an avid traveler, snowboarder, foodie, wine enthusiast, instagrammer, cat lover and loves anything that can be classified as an adventure. With all these passions, her contributions to Latin Biz Today can be found in our lifestyle section covering inspiring chefs, musicians, designers, travel destinations and anything she enjoys in her off-duty time.
“Fashion is your personal style. You make it. It doesn’t make you”.
Johanna Godinez
Johanna is a Latin Biz Today Partner and Human Success Coach. Considered by many to be their personal assistant for life, Johanna Godinez is a businesswoman by education, a lifestyle and wellness educator by passion and a coach and speaker by trade.
As a designated wellness professional, certified Yoga teacher and MBA, Johanna supports your ability to influence any area info your life to make your ultimate life vision come to reality. As the Founder of B.A.Y. Lifestyle and Beyond Asana Yoga School, Johanna offers an innovative and refreshing approach to coaching and personal transformation. She and her team of affiliate coaches assist you in uncovering and becoming the person you wish to be. Through her proprietary E.L.M. life-mapping process she facilitates self-discovery through inquiry, reflection, and creativity. Johanna tells us that you can achieve your dreams and create a joyful life by aligning your life with your inner values.
Johanna says that despite how it appears, yoga doesn’t just happen “at the mat”. In fact, yoga manifests in every step, thought and action of life that is experienced by those who practice it. Yoga is the perfect balance of mind, body and spirit; offering practitioners a chance to “level up” to a higher state of being. At her company, B.A.Y. Lifestyle, she takes yoga beyond postures on a mat and into the way to live life.
Proud of Puerto Rican heritage, she runs her wellness events, retreats, and yoga teaching classes in the lush jungles of Puerto Rico. She also recently was crowned the winner of the Mrs. US Woman of Achievement Pageant.
“Mindful living is a journey, not a destination, and I truly hope everyone gets to experience it on the mat.”
Miri Rodriguez
Miri is a Latin Biz Today partner and globally recognized Storyteller. She is a creative journalist and content strategist, evangelizing brand narrative and showcasing how thought leaders can leverage storytelling techniques for culture activation and influence in the digital age.
She is owner & CEO of her business, Be Mindful Be Happy and best selling author of the award winning book Brand Storytelling.
Miri has earned several awards in digital marketing and customer experience and is ranked as top in-demand speaker at leading industry conferences around the world. Miri brings 15+ years of expertise, valuable industry and consulting insights matched with a lighthearted and connected delivery approach.
Miri grew up in Caracas, Venezuela to missionary parents who taught her and her siblings the importance of kindness and service to those who were less fortunate.
“We didn’t have much growing up, but whatever we had we always shared with others. We set out to be that family that helped out, making compassion one of our key core values”.
Her social advocacy and philanthropic work include volunteering to train social enterprise leaders in Africa, coaching students at Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship in the U.S., and mentoring men and women to build their personal brand with empathy, passion, and purpose. She currently works at Microsoft as Senior Storyteller for Future of Work.
Miri helps brands big and small design their brand identity and stories for influence and impact. Combining over 15 years of personal branding, design thinking and storytelling practice, she’s mastered the best ways to design brands and stories that matter: authentic, deeply personal, emotionally connected and driven by inclusion and empathy.
She believes that all of us have the power within to find, awaken and immortalize ourselves through our best stories. We just have to learn to design and tell them in the best way possible. This is why I’m so passionate about democratizing storytelling for all.
Miri loves people, travel, the beach and sun, yoga, reading and writing. She also loves binge watching history docu-series in her P.J.’s
“Be kind. It’s free”.
Kelly Lizcano
Kelly is a collaborator and the Social Media Lead at Latin Biz Today. She is also the Founder & CEO of Primitive Agency.
With a degree in advertising from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellin, Colombia, where she hails from, Kelly since her beginnings in the industry has held important roles at companies, bringing her knowledge in advertising, contributing to their growth, and sowing the foundation that would lead her to the start her own marketing company, Primitive Agency.
Kelly has extensive professional experience in engaging the Latino Community here in the United States. With this knowledge, she leads her team in creating, planning, managing, and executing successful media campaigns, branding strategies, and special events.
Both Primitive and Kelly have a strong social focus to develop strategies that respond to consumer demands, focusing their actions on growing small businesses, and non-profit enterprises, and empowering the Latina entrepreneurial women’s community in New York.
With all this experience, Kelly has had the opportunity to participate in several social projects, unifying the strength of marketing and her digital knowledge, and that of her team, with essential values that are necessary for building a safer and improved world.
The work of Kelly and Primitive Agency doesn’t stop with these achievements. Kelly says that if anything, it becomes even stronger, fueling the engines of her journey that began in 2016 and that, with future projects, will continue its course favoring the growth and materialization of any idea, through the benefits of marketing and media.
When asked what her definition of success is. Kelly replied.
“Amar lo que hago y la gente para quien lo hago”
These five Latinas are at the core of making Latin Biz Today something truly especial . Happy Women’s Month to all of the strong and beautiful women in your personal and business circles as well. They make this world a much better and wonderful place to live and work.
We see and recognize you! Keep doing what you do! You’re the inspiration and role models to those young Latinas out there learning the business of life. We’re proud Latina business owners!
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Latin Biz Today Shares Latinas’ Perspectives on International Women’s Day [Video]
