Business coach, speaker highlight Latino success stories in new book

Posted by Elena del Valle on July 18, 2008

Building the Latino Future book cover

Photo: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Santa Clara resident Frank Carbajal, a life and business coach, and Humberto Medina, a speaker and consultant, teamed up to showcase the success stories of 49 Latinos in various professions and walks of life in the newly published book Building the Latino Future Success Stories for the Next Generation (Wiley, $24.95). The book is made up of brief summary biographies and a word of advice from each of the 49 individuals.

In addition to descriptions of the Latinos they chose to profile, the authors set out to provide readers with a framework they might rely on for their own future. The stories of the individuals they chose are designed to highlight their humble beginnings and rise to prominence in their field.

How to Use Your Energy to Attract Clients and Customers” audio recording

Presenter Heather Dominick, owner, EnergyRich Coaching, Inc.

A 106-minute audio recording including a presentation by Heather and the complete interview with Heather where she discusses:

• Heather’s step by step system for women entrepreneurs
• Her coaching philosophy that an individual needs to be business at a holistic level
• Core beliefs about creating magnificent marketing for your business
• How Heather transitioned from a high school drama teacher to a coach
• The three Os that characterized her life at the time
• Heather’s first steps to changing her life

Click here for information on How to Use Your Energy to Attract Clients and Customers

Not sure? Click here to listen to a short interview with Heather

Ready to buy? Select a format to add to your shopping cart:

Downloadable “ How to Use Your Energy to Attract Clients and Customers ” MP3 $119.95

Audio CD’s “How to Use Your Energy to Attract Clients and Customers ” $139.95

The 159-page hardcover book is divided into 49 chapters, one for each person profiled. The chapters are grouped in six sections: Focus, Unity, Tenacity, Unique Ability, Resiliency, and Education and a two-page Conclusion.

Included are 34 men and 15 women in academia, sports, business, entertainment, and politics from government as well as the private and private sectors such as: Aida Alvarez, former administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration; Raul Yzaguirre, former president, National Council of La Raza; Jeff Garcia, quarterback, National Football League; Elva Diaz, assistant professor, University of California at Davis; Douglas Patino, philanthropist; and Dick Gonzalez, former senior vice president, Human Resources, Safeway, Inc.

Carbajal is president of Es Tiempo, a coaching firm for small business owners and entrepreneurs. Medina is a speaker, director and consultant for The Ken Blanchard Companies.

Click here to buy Building the Latino Future

Salesman shares secrets in new Spanish language book

Posted by Elena del Valle on July 11, 2008

Secretos del Vendedor Más Rico del Mundo book cover
(Successful Secrets From the Wealthiest Salesman in the World)

Photos: Grupo Nelson

Entrepreneur and speaker Camilo Cruz, Ph.D. believes everyone is a salesman and he sets out to explain his secrets of selling in his new Spanish language book Secretos del Vendedor Más Rico del Mundo (Successful Secrets From the Wealthiest Salesman in the World). Although the book was written with salesmen in mind, promotional materials promise it contains universal concepts applicable for achieving success in any area of life.

On the cover of his ambitiously titled soft cover 204-page book, Cruz promises 10 practical tips to sell better, offer better service and create clients for life. Published by Grupo Nelson, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers, the book sells for $14.99.

“We are all salespeople! Whether we are aware of it or not, we are constantly selling something,” said Cruz who has a Ph.D. in chemistry from Seton Hall University. “Entrepreneurs sharing business opportunities with others, parents persuading their children to adopt the proper values and principles to be successful in life, professionals offering their skills and talents-they are all selling.”

Author Camilo Cruz, Ph.D.

“Segmentation by Level of Acculturation” audio recording

Presenter Miguel Gomez Winebrenner

Discusses

• Assimilation versus acculturation
• Factors that affect Latino acculturation
• How to know if someone is acculturated
• Number of years necessary for acculturation
• Effects of immigration debate on acculturation
• Three main ways of segmenting Latinos

Click here for details about “Segmentation by Level of Acculturation”

He relies on the idea that selling is more than a presentation of products; instead he believes it has to do with the way people communicate their ideas, offer their services or introduce their talents and professional skills to prospects.Cruz has had 26 books published with combined sales of more than a million copies. His book, La Vaca (Once Upon a Cow), also written in Spanish, was translated into more than twelve languages.

Cruz has launched three companies. He co-founded Yupi Internet, a Spanish-language portal acquired by Microsoft. He is the founder of Taller del Éxito Group, a training and motivational company based in Latin America, and ElExito.com, a self-improvement portal for Spanish speaking Latinos.

Click here to buy Secretos del vendedor mas rico del mundo

Author researches happiness, shares findings in book

Posted by Elena del Valle on June 27, 2008

Happy for No Reason book cover

Photo: Marci Shimoff

Since she was a young girl Marci Shimoff has been trying to understand happiness. As an adult with an established national reputation as a speaker and author she decided to pursue this quest by asking the 100 happiest people she could find about their lives. From their responses and her research on the subject she and her co-author Carol Kline, outlined a seven-step process she shares with readers in Happy for No Reason 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out (Free Press, $24.95).

The 320-page hardcover self-help book was published in early 2008 and immediately began selling at a brisk pace. In the book, divided into three parts, she discusses happiness and how readers can develop seven happiness habits that may lead eventually to enhanced feelings of well being. Each chapter includes one case study from the Happy 100 individuals, some of them celebrities, Shimoff interviewed.

Her suggestions include looking after body, soul and relationships and working toward higher goals beyond an individual’s well being. She emphasizes that money alone doesn’t make people happy.

In Part I, Happiness That’s Here to Stay, there is an introduction and two chapters, Happy for No Reason… Really? and Practicing Happiness. Part II, Building Your Home for Happiness, is chapters 3 to 9 in which she describes developing happiness habits in: The Foundation, Take Ownership of Your Happiness; The Pillar of the Mind, Don’t Believe Everything You Think; The Pillar of the Heart, Let Love Lead; The Pillar of the Body, Make Your Cells Happy; The Pillar of the Soul, Plug Yourself In to Spirit; The Roof, Live a Life Inspired by Purpose; and The Garden, Cultivate Nourishing Relationships.

Part III, Happy for No Reason Ever After, includes the final chapter, The Happy for No Reason Plan for Life, as well as Recommended Resources, Acknowledgments, Giving Back and bios of the authors and the Happy 100.

Shimoff, one of the authors of the Chicken Soup for the Soul, authored six titles in the series, including Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul and Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul. According to promotional materials, those books have sold more than 13 million copies worldwide in 33 languages and have been on The New York Times bestseller list for 108 weeks.

Click here to buy Happy for No Reason

New York author describes youth of elite Cuban boys of yesteryear

Posted by Elena del Valle on June 13, 2008

The Boys from Dolores book cover

Photo: Stephen Lewis

In The Boys from Dolores Fidel Castro’s Schoolmates from Revolution to Exile, a recently published book (Vintage, $15.95), Patrick Symmes tells the story of some of Cuba’s privileged boys from days gone by. Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl are among the many boys that attended the Colegio de Dolores, a private school on the island, in the 1940s.

In the 352-page book, the New York author describes the story of a group of boys he believes were an essential part of Cuba’s political and social history. The boys, chosen from among the most affluent and ambitious families in eastern Cuba, were groomed at the school Colegio de Dolores for achievement and leadership.

Author Patrick Symmes

According to promotional materials, Symmes tracked down dozens of schoolmates and shares some of their stories in the book. He includes their time at the Colegio and the effects of the revolution on their lives. The boys, he tells the reader, were trained by Jesuits for dialectical dexterity and the pursuit of absolutes.

He goes on to describe Fidel Castro in his formative youth, as an adolescent in the Colegio and in the streets of Santiago, the province where the school was located. Symmes traces the years in which the revolution was conceived and its evolution. He also describes the changes it produced in Santiago and in the lives of the boys. With Symmes’ help the reader can follow the boy’s life through the 1960s, as many left Cuba and a few stayed behind.

Symmes sets out to provide readers with a tour of the world that gave birth to Fidel Castro and the island his Cuban Revolution left behind. It is described as an “eye-opening portrait of Cuba in the twentieth century.” Symmes, a resident of New Yok, is the author of Chasing Che. He writes for Harper’s, New York, Outside, and Conde Nast Traveler magazines.

Click here to buy The Boys from Dolores

New book outlines bilingualism benefits, guides parents who want to raise bilingual children

Posted by Elena del Valle on May 30, 2008

Raising a Bilingual Child book cover

Photos: Living Language

Linguistics expert Barbara Zurer Pearson, Ph.D. believes it’s healthy to raise children speaking two or more languages. She explains why in her recently published book, Raising a Bilingual Child: A Step-by-Step Guide for Parents (Living Language, $14.95). Pearson, a research associate at the University of Massachusetts, first became bilingual as a university exchange student in Paris, France. She has dedicated 20 years to studying bilingualism and linguistics and believes parents don’t have to be bilingual themselves to raise bilingual children.

The 346-page soft cover book is divided into eight chapters: The Benefits of Childhood Bilingualism; Learning a First Language; Learning Two (or More) Languages; Establishing a Bilingual Environment; How-To Testimonials; Are There Any Children Who Cannot Learn Two Languages?; Research Comparing Monolinguals and Bilinguals; and About Bilingual Identity. Each chapter begins with an outline of the content and what the reader will find. There are 11 tables and 11 figures spread across the book.

Author Barbara Zurer Pearson, Ph.D.

In her book, Pearson strives to shows parents how to raise a bilingual child and realize the intellectual and cultural benefits knowing more than one language may bring; while exploring the fascinating process by which children acquire language. She dedicates part of her book to dispelling myths about childhood bilingualism and explains how being bilingual can enhance a child’s overall intellectual and emotional development.

Improve your outreach programs by understanding
how Latinos see themselves – listen to  

“Latino Identity and Situational Latinidad ” audio recording

Presenters Diana Rios and Ph.D., Federico Subervi, Ph.D.

Find out

• Who is Latino
• Assimilation, acculturation and pluralism
• Hispanic culture dynamics affecting Latino
• Role of Latino identity
• Three factors that contribute to Latino identity

Click here for information on Latino Identity and Situational Latinidad

Pearson highlights some of the reasons why monolingual and bilingual parents choose to raise their children bilingually: to take advantage of a broader job market that may offer greater opportunities and a competitive edge to bilingual or multilingual applicants; to improve relationships with extended family members that link them to their parent’s culture and their heritage; and as part of an international adoption some new parents believe learning the language of their home country may help adopted children remain in touch with their heritage.

She also outlines ways parents can provide the right home environment to encourage and support bilingualism. She suggests they start young whenever possible; encourage the child to learn a second language by making it a fun experience; repeatedly praise the benefits of bilingualism; include the second language in the child’s routine; and make sure there are group activities that involve the second language.

Pearson is an adjunct professor in the Department of Communication Disorders at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She received her graduate degree in Applied Linguistics and conducted her early research on bilingualism at the University of Miami. Those studies were published in the book Language and Literacy in Bilingual Children.

Click here to buy Raising a Bilingual Child

Latino veteran writes about social integration challenge in new novel

Posted by Elena del Valle on May 23, 2008

The Tamale List book cover

Photos: Vanilla Heart Publishing

With the help of a small publishing company to walk him through the publishing process Texas native Brian Naranjo will share with readers his fiction novels. His first book describes the experience of a Latino family in a residential neighborhood in Middle America. 

Vanilla Heart Publishing, a small, independent press based in Everett, Washington, will publish two of Naranjo’s novels, The Tamale List, released April 2008, and Childish Things, due for re-release May 2008. The novels will be available in bookstores and online.

“Brian’s books will be available through all the major book distributors worldwide and widely available online,” said Kimberlee Williams, managing editor, Vanilla Heart. “And we’re going to get Brian out there to meet his readers, through book readings, events, and signings. Brian has a unique, straight-forward approach to his writing. His style draws you into the story from Page One and you’re soon in the thick of the plot. I fell in love with his finely crafted characters in both books. We are excited about having them both in our title lineup.”

Author Brian Naranjo

The Tamale List relates the fictional story of a small Middle America white community faced with the arrival of a Hispanic family to the neighborhood. Eventually everyone realizes the new family is not so different from their new neighbors, according to Naranjo.

“Childish Things hits much closer to home because it is based on my life growing up, and focuses on a young man out of high school, who’s coming to terms with a decision he made to join the Navy,” said Naranjo. “The book starts on this character’s last night before boot camp. He gets together with his favorite cousin, and the two reflect on their childhood. There are a lot of crazy, goofy anecdotes, but the central theme is about living life to its fullest, and never giving up.”

Naranjo joined the U.S. Navy in 1990 when he was 18. He served on active duty for nearly 10 years before moving with his family to work in public affairs in the U.S. Army in Fort Riley, Kansas. The title of The Tamale List came from the list of people he shared his homemade tamales with when he was living in Japan. Vanilla Heart Publishing is a small, independent press based in Everett, Washington.

Click here to buy The Tamale List

Listen to podcast interview with Federico Subervi, Ph.D., Texas State University, and Stacey Connaughton, Ph.D., Purdue University about mass media and Latino politics

Posted by Elena del Valle on May 19, 2008

Stacey L. Connaughton, Ph.D. and Federico Subervi, Ph.D.

Photos: Stacey L. Connaughton, Ph.D., Federico Subervi, Ph.D.

A podcast featuring an interview with Federico Subervi, Ph.D., professor, Texas State University-San Marcos and Stacey L. Connaughton, Ph.D., faculty member, Department of Communication at Purdue University is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, they discuss mass media and Latino politics based on the recently published book by the same title with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast. 

Federico is director of the Center for the Study of Latino Media & Markets at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Texas State University-San Marcos.  Since the early 1980s, he has been conducting research, publishing and teaching on a broad range of issues related to the mass media and ethnic minorities, especially Latinos in the United States. He is the editor and an author of the book The Mass Media and Latino Politic Studies of U.S. Media Content, Campaign Strategies and Survey Research: 1984-2004.

Federico is the principal investigator of two research grants (one from the Ford Foundation, another from the Social Science Research Council) focused on analyzing the diversity of Latino-oriented media in central Texas. He is also the principal investigator of a McCormick-Tribune Foundation grant to assess the practices and policies of Texas and Illinois for communicating with non-English-speaking populations during emergency situations.

Click here to buy The Mass Media and Latino Politics 

Stacey teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in organizational communication theory and leadership at Purdue. Her research interests include identification and leadership in geographically distributed contexts, particularly as these issues relate to virtual teams and organizations and political parties. Her book, Inviting Latino Voters: Party Messages and Latino Party Identification, was published in 2005 by Routledge and she is a contributing author of the book The Mass Media and Latino Politics.

Stacey is a Senior Consortium research fellow at the U.S. Army Research Institute where she serves as the Consortium’s thought leader on virtual leadership and teams. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Leadership Institute at ICF International, and has served as an academic representative to the Conference Board of New York’s Knowledge Management and Learning Division.

To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right side, then select “HMPR Federico Subervi, Ph.D. Stacey Connaughton, Ph.D.” Click on the play button below or download the MP3 file to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the May 2008 section of the podcast archive.

Expert examines public relationship measurement in new book

Posted by Elena del Valle on April 25, 2008

Measuring Public Relationships book cover

Photo: KDPaine & Partners 

Katie Dalahaye Paine, a nationally recognized measurement expert, recently published a 202-page soft cover book for marketers, public relations professionals and communicators who want to better understand the measurement process. Measuring Public Relationships The Data Driven Communicator’s Guide to Success, published by KDPaine & Partners, is divided into 16 chapters and two appendices and sells for $29.95.

In the book, she address a variety of public relationships: An Introduction to Measurement; Measurement Tools and What They Cost; Measuring Relationships with the Media; Measuring Relationships with Analysts and Influencers; Comparing Media Relations to Other Marketing Disciplines; Measuring Trust and Mistrust; Measuring the Impact of Events and Sponsorships on Your Public Relationships; Measuring Relationships with Your Local Community; Measuring Internal Communications; Measuring Blogs and Online Relationships; Measuring Relationships in a Crisis; Measuring Relationships Developed Through Speaking Engagements; Measuring Relationships with Members of Your Organization; Measuring Relationships with Sales People, Channel Partners and Franchisees; Measuring Relationships with the Investment Community; and Putting It All Together in a Dashboard. In the appendices she discusses The Grunig Relationship Survey and Measurement Resources.

Delahaye Paine is the founder of KDPaine & Partners LLC and publisher of the first blog and the first newsletters for marketing and communications professionals dedicated entirely to measurement and accountability. She writes KDPaine’s Measurement Blog and publishes The Measurement Standard.  Prior to launching KDPaine & Partners in 2002, she was the founder and president of The Delahaye Group, which she sold to Medialink in 1999.

Click here to buy Measuring Public Relationships

Academics examine mass media, Latino politics in new book

Posted by Elena del Valle on April 18, 2008

The Mass Media and Latino Politics book cover

Photo: Federico Subervi-Velez, Ph.D.

Texas professor Federico Subervi-Velez, Ph.D. and 22 colleagues, many of them academics, examine mass media and Latino politics in the United States over a 20 year period in the recently published The Mass Media and Latino Politics Studies of U.S. Media Content, Campaign Strategies and Survey Research: 1984-2004 (Routledge, $49.95). The authors recommend the book for scholars and researchers in communication, political science, and Latino studies, and for advanced courses on politics, media, and minority populations in the United States.

Contributors include: Laurien Alexandre, Ph.D., Marc Brindel, Stacey Connaughton, Ph.D., Patricia Constantakis-Valdés, Ph.D., Louis DeSipio, Ph.D., Renée Espinoza, María Flores-Gutiérrez, Erika Franklin Fowler, Ph.D., Mathew Hale, Ph.D., James Henson, Ph.D., Amy Langenkamp, Katie Lever, José Carlos Lozano, Ph.D., Maxwell McCombs, Ph.D., Victor Menayang, Ph.D., Dina Nekrassova, Zachary Oberfield, Tricia Olsen, Henrik Rehbinder, Adam Segal, Juandalynn Taylor, Ph.D., J.D., and Kenton Wilkinson, Ph.D.

The 415-page soft cover book edited by Subervi-Velez is divided into three parts: Part one, Foundations, has two chapters What is Known? Writings on Contributions of Newspapers and other Mass Media to Latino Political Life; and Theoretical, Contextual, and Methodological Considerations. Part two, Studies of Media Coverage of Elections, is subdivided into two parts, The Spanish-Language Media and The English-Language Media.

Improve your outreach programs by understanding
how Latinos see themselves – listen to  

“Latino Identity and Situational Latinidad ” audio recording

Presenters Diana Rios and Ph.D., Federico Subervi, Ph.D.

Find out

• Who is Latino
• Assimilation, acculturation and pluralism
• Hispanic culture dynamics affecting Latino
• Role of Latino identity
• Three factors that contribute to Latino identity

Click here for information on Latino Identity and Situational Latinidad

The Spanish language discussion includes four chapters: Spanish-Language Daily Newspapers and Presidential Elections; Univisión and Telemundo on the Campaign Trail: 1988; Watching the 2000 Presidential Campaign on Univisión and Telemundo; and Hablando Política: What Spanish-Language Television News Told us About the 2004 Elections. The English language media is discussed in: Latino Politics in General Market English-Language Daily Newspapers: 1988 – 2004; Coverage of Latino Political Issues in Forty General Market Daily Newspapers Nationwide: 1989; Television News, Character Issues and Latino Images in U.S. National Elections of 1988, 1992 and 1996; and La Mala Educación of Network Media and National Politics: A Content Analysis of the Education Issue in the 2000 Presidential Election.

The final section of the book, Campaign Strategies, Political Advertisements, Surveys, is discussed in chapters 12 to 16: Democratic and Republican Mass Communication Campaign Strategies: Historical Overview;  Pluralism Examined: Party Television Expenditures Focused on the Latino Vote in Presidential Elections; Talk About Issues: Policy Considerations in Campaign 2004 Latino-Oriented Presidential Spots; Latinos’ Use of Media and the Media’s Influence on Political Knowledge and Participation: Findings From the 1989 Latino National Political Survey; and Latino Agenda-Setting Effect on the 2004 Presidential Election. The book closes with Summary and Conclusion: Recommendations for New Directions for Latino Political Communication Research.

The authors believe that studying the mass media can enhance the understanding of Latino politics in the United States. The contributors study theoretical foundations in an effort to establish what is known and how study of the media may promote an understanding of Latino politics. They assess how Spanish-language media have covered elections, and how English-language media have covered Latino-related issues and candidates in past elections. Some examine campaign strategies, political advertisements, and surveys to determine how the main political parties have relied on the media to promote Latino votes; and others discuss whether there is evidence that exposure to the media influences Latino politics.

The book concludes with a discussion of the steps the authors propose for the next generation of political communication research related to Latinos, and a possible agenda with theoretical and methodological guidelines relating to content analyses, studies of campaign strategies and advertisements, and survey research.

Subervi-Vélez is a professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University-San Marcos. He is also directs the Latinos and Media Project (LaMP). Prior to his work in Texas he held academic positions at the University of California Santa Barbara and the University of Texas. He is a contributing co-author of the Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations book.

Click here to buy The Mass Media and Latino Politics 

Consultant releases new book about Hispanics

Posted by Elena del Valle on April 11, 2008

Hispanic Customers for Life book cover

According to researchers, America’s demographic growth in the coming decades will be fueled mostly by emerging markets, especially Latinos. Most of that growth will be the result of U.S.-born Latinos. One author, M. Isabel Valdés, believes Hispanic generational crossover is critical for market segmentation and that the Hispanic market is experiencing its most important socio-demographic and cultural shift since its emergence as a powerful and distinct slice of the United States market.

In her new 194-page hardcover book Hispanic Customers for Life: A Fresh Look at Acculturation (Paramount Market Publishing, $49.95), Valdés explores the Hispanic generational crossover and related issues; and examines data and tools she believes may be useful to manage the generational and acculturation differences of foreign born and U.S. born Latinos. She peppered some of the chapters with charts and advertising case studies.

“Segmentation by Level of Acculturation” audio recording

Presenter Miguel Gomez Winebrenner

Discusses

• Assimilation versus acculturation
• Factors that affect Latino acculturation
• How to know if someone is acculturated
• Number of years necessary for acculturation
• Effects of immigration debate on acculturation
• Three main ways of segmenting Latinos

Click here for details about “Segmentation by Level of Acculturation”

The book, published in early 2008, is divided into 11 chapters: U.S. Latinos: From 15+ percent to 25+ percent; Born/Not Born in the USA; Recovering the Latino Soul; Latinos in Society; Marketing Today and Tomorrow: The Emotional-Cultural Paradigm; Share of Heart: The Philosophy; Revisiting the in-Language Approach; The GenAge Paradigm; The Youth Segments; The Adult Segments; and Making a Marketing Choice Based on Acculturation.

Valdés is the principal of Isabel Valdés Consulting (IVC), a consulting firm. Prior to this book, she published three books. She is a member of PepsiCo/Frito-Lay’s Latino Advisory Board, and the Advisory Board of Scholastic, Lee y Serás. She is also a member of the Advisory Board for Consumer Trends Forum International. Valdés is a Trustee of the National Council of la Raza and the Latino Community Foundation of San Francisco.

Click here to buy Hispanic Customers for Life