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In the current job market, it’s not unusual for people to be looking for jobs over many months. It’s a very competitive market, and job openings are few. This situation is amplified by the herd mentality whereby people deploy the job search strategies commonly used in the past. READ MORE AT ENTREPRENEUR

Seasons of transition — whether we’re focusing in on summer or seasons of life — are anxiety inducing on their worst day and transformative on their best.

When those seasons of transformation are reflective of a need for a career change they can be even more emotionally taxing.

Dr. Gladys Ato is a clinical psychologist and leadership mentor based out of San Francisco who works with entrepreneurs and executives to help align their workflow with their mission. READ MORE AT FORBES

It’s no secret that there are many pathways to success. If you’re looking towards a leadership role, you probably have a certain trajectory in mind — one strongly guided by the wisdom passed down from parents, bosses and mentors. But what if one day you decided to make a sharp left turn from the conventional path? It could be a big mistake. But it could also be the best move you’ve ever made. READ MORE NBC.COM

Hispanics are more optimistic about their financial futures than other consumers segments. As multicultural marketing expert Isaac Mizrahi shares in Forbes, in the next 12 months…

• 9 percent of Hispanics are planning to buy a house, compared to 6 percent of non-Hispanics. This means Hispanics, who represent about 18 percent of the U.S. population, may represent 22 percent of all new home buyers in the next year.
• 14 percent of Hispanics are planning to buy a new car, compared to 11 percent of non-Hispanics.
• 11 percent of Hispanics plan to switch jobs, compared to 8 percent of non-Hispanics.

More than 3 percent of Hispanics plan to make their first financial investment ever, compared to 1.5 percent of non-Hispanics. Hispanics may represent almost a third of all new investors in the market in the next 12 months. READ MORE AT CUINSIGHT

Read biographies of feature guests for the 2018 Healthcare Networking Forum being held this Thursday, August 16 at Latinicity Chicago. 

MODERATOR

Mark Vargas, President, Licentiam

Mark Vargas is a trusted adviser and close confidante to some of the most high profile political and business leaders in America. His work as a tech entrepreneur in health care and opinion writer have been featured in the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald, Huffington Post and Fox News.

Prior to that, Mr. Vargas was Vice President of a boutique healthcare consulting firm where he focused on government affairs as well as coordinating the company’s initiative – Stronger2gether –a Washington, D.C.-based program and public-private partnership under the Executive Office of the Mayor aimed at improving birth outcomes and lowering the infant mortality rate by utilizing predictive health analytics. Mr. Vargas also served as the spokesperson for this initiative and testified frequently as an expert witness before the Committee on Health and Human Services.

Mr. Vargas is a regular panelist and guest speaker on issues related to entrepreneurship, technology and innovation, political affairs and foreign policy. A dedicated writer, Mr. Vargas is also contributor for the Washington Examiner.

A native of Saint Charles, Illinois, Mr. Vargas returned home and at age 28, he announced his candidacy for United States Congress in Illinois’ 14th Congressional District (2010) – a seat once held by his former boss – U.S House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert.

Mr. Vargas earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Judson University where he served as student body president.

DISCUSSION PANELISTS

Pilar Guerrero, MD
Attending Physician, Cook County Department of Emergency Medicine, Cook County Health and Hospitals System, Assistant Professor, Rush Medical Center

Dr. Pilar Guerrero obtained her BS in nursing and majored in Spanish Language and Literature. After practicing as a registered nurse for 6 years, she decided to embark in a medical career and obtained her medical degree from University of Michigan Medical School, followed by Emergency Medicine residency at SUNY Downstate/Kings County Hospital New York, becoming chief resident in her fourth year. She then completed a one-year research fellowship in the department of Emergency Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

After a short time of practicing in private, non-academic hospitals as an Emergency Medicine attending, she realized her passion included teaching/training students and residents, as well as caring for the uninsured, disadvantaged and the LEP (Limited English Proficiency) patients.

Dr. Guerrero has been working as an attending at Stroger Cook County Hospital for the last 14 years and is an Assistant Professor at Rush Medical Center. Her interests have also included teaching medical Spanish, doing clinical research and disaster medicine. She has taught medical Spanish to attending physicians, and now to Emergency Medicine residents. Her clinical research projects have been on asthma, diabetes, H1N1.

In addition she is an active member of IMERT (Illinois Medical Emergency Response Team). She has participated in disaster aid or citywide events (i.e., post Katrina, NATO summit, marathons, and rural health with Global Brigades in Honduras). Currently, she is working on initiatives to improve patients’ experience in the ED.

Grace E. Noboa-Hidalgo, M.A.
Manager, Healthcare Segment Development, Walgreens

Grace Noboa-Hidalgo currently serves as Manager in the Healthcare Segment Development team at Walgreens corporate headquarters. She is primarily responsible for leading high-priority strategic planning and implementation efforts in the Commercial segment to drive end-to-end pharmacy growth across a book of business representing 400 million prescriptions annually. She works with several cross-functional teams at Walgreens and external partners to ultimately deliver affordable quality healthcare to patients. She is eager to address disparities in access to care, advance consumer-centric innovations in healthcare, and build partnerships with leading PBMs, health insurance companies, and Fortune 500 employers.

In addition, she serves as the Vice Chair for the Walgreens Latino Professionals Network and volunteers on the boards of Prospanica and Junior Achievement of Chicago. Previously, she was a Sr. Associate in the Health Practice at A.T. Kearney, one of the top management consulting firms globally. Prior to this, she held positions at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington DC, the Institute for Policy Research and the Economics Department at Northwestern University. She's an Economist by training and holds Master degrees from Northwestern University and the University of Maryland as well as a Certificate in Financial Economics from the Kellogg School of Management. She's originally from Quito, Ecuador, and has resided in Chicago most of her life.

David Segura, CEO, VisionIT

VisionIT was founded over 21 years ago by David Segura, and now works with some of the largest corporations in the U.S. and globally providing technology solutions across specific IT practices and software products.

Segura leads the VisionIT corporate strategy and under his leadership the company went from a startup to a mid-size corporation operating across the U.S., as well as Mexico and the Philippines. VisionIT has made strategic investments in building new technologies in healthcare including CareTrail, a mobile app used for secure clinical communication and collaboration. VisionIT’s latest healthcare investment is in software used to manage the end to end workflow of specialty pharmacies.

Segura serves as a board member of the Detroit Regional Chamber, one of the largest regional chambers in the U.S. by revenue. Segura is an advisor to eLAB Ventures, a venture capital fund operating in Silicon Valley and Ann Arbor, Michigan which invests in innovative technology companies. He also serves as a board member of the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan.

Segura serves as a board member of Stanford University’s Latino Business Action Network which has built the most extensive research on Hispanic businesses in the U.S. as well as a nationally recognized entrepreneurship program for high growth firms. Segura has global impact by serving in his 2nd term from his appointment by the United States President to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations in support of the U.S. Trade Ambassador. He also served the U.S. Secretary of Commerce on the National Advisory Council on Minority Business Enterprise.
Segura is a long time champion of diversity in technology as a co-founder of HITEC, the Hispanic IT Executive Council and senior member of ITSMF, IT Senior Management Forum focused on increasing African-American IT executive leadership in Corporate America.

Segura is active in professional boxing as an advisor/manager to Domonique Dolton, a top welterweight prospect and serves on the board of the Norwayne Boxing Gym based in Wayne, Michigan.

Segura has been honored to have had his accomplishments recognized by many organizations, including Ernst & Young, who named him Entrepreneur of the Year for the Central Great Lakes region and Hispanic Business Magazine’s national entrepreneur of the year.
He earned his Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Laura P. Vasquez, PhD
Assistant Professor, Acting Chairperson | Department of Medical Imaging Sciences
Rush University - College of Health Sciences

Laura P. Vasquez is the Acting Chairperson for the Department of Medical Imaging Sciences and Program director of the Imaging Sciences Program in the College of Health Sciences at Rush University, Chicago, IL. Her medical imaging background includes radiography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and vascular ultrasound. She is multi-credentialed by the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonography in vascular ultrasound and by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists in radiography and magnetic resonance imaging. She has a bachelor of science degree in vascular ultrasound, a master of science degree in perfusion technology and doctor of philosophy degree in Health Sciences from Rush University.

Dr. Vasquez’s specialties include medical imaging curriculum development and she has co-authored a chapter on cardiopulmonary imaging for the first edition of Respiratory Care. Her research interest is in magnetic resonance imaging safety and she serves in advisory roles to government, industry and other policy-making organizations. Her dissertation paper was recently published; “Evaluation of MRI Issues for a Wirelessly Powered Freedom-8A Stimulator with Freedom Receiver Used for Spinal Cord Stimulation” and subsequently has submitted a manuscript; “Evaluation of MRI Issues for a Wirelessly-Powered, Spinal Cord Stimulation Lead with Receiver” to the Journal of Neuromodulation. She also serves as a Reviewing Editor for the Journal of Thermal Biology.

As the chairperson of the College of Health Sciences Diversity Committee at Rush University, Dr. Vasquez is responsible for strategic planning related to diversity and inclusion. She has presented nationally about strategic planning initiatives associated with student recruitment and retainment. Several of her abstracts have been published in the Journal of Allied Health. Vasquez also serves as an academic administrative fellow for the College of Health Sciences and is responsible for promoting continuing education initiatives.

Federico Herrera MD
Lead Pediatrician, Esperanza Medical Centers, Little Village

A native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dr. Herrera is the Lead Pediatrician for Esperanza Health Centers and the Site Medical Director for Esperanza’s Little Village clinic. A champion of the Vaccines for Children program, Dr. Herrera has been instrumental in ensuring that children at Esperanza receive the vaccinations they need, leading Esperanza Little Village to receive recognition from the Illinois Department of Public Health for the highest vaccination rate among all clinics participating in the City of Chicago Vaccines for Children program.

Dr. Herrera has a special interest in providing care for asthma, eczema, and allergies, and believes that caring for families as a whole unit ensures the healthy growth and development of children.

Geraldine Luna, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Geriatrics Fellowship, Department of Medicine and Geriatrics of UIC, Treasurer and Executive Member of the Board of Directors of the Medical Organization for Latino Advancement (MOLA)

Dr. Geraldine Luna is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Geriatrics Fellowship at the Department of Medicine and Geriatrics of UIC. She started her medical degree at UAG and finished at Ponce School of Medicine in Puerto Rico in 2005, and went on to earn her Residency in Internal Medicine in the San Juan City Hospital in Puerto Rico in 2009. She has also completed Subspecialty Fellowships in Geriatrics and Advanced Geriatrics Research Track in UIC in 2011 and 2012. She is also completed a Master’s in Public Health in Health Policy and Administration in Dec 2017.

Dr. Luna is ABIM board certified in Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine. She actively partakes community and academic roles such as: board of directives in Urban and Global Health at UIC, editorial board member of Gavin Publisher for the International Journal of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Falls Committee, Hiring Committee and is treasurer and board directive member of the Medical Organization for Latino Advancement.

Dr. Luna has various clinical interests in the healthcare of geriatric population and in general public health such as healthcare disparities. Her current research investigations underlie frailty syndrome in the elderly, falls and retraining gait interventions in the elder, transition of healthcare and advanced care planning, as well as cultural barriers in healthcare.

Time is running out to register. The 2018 Healthcare Networking Forum is this Thursday!

Secure your registration today. Tickets will not be available at the door.

Can you imagine a job where you look forward to coming to work every day, instead of dreading it? Life is too short to work in a job you don’t like, be around people you don’t respect and not be able to support and be dedicated to the company where you are employed.

If you can’t do those three things it may be time to look for another job. READ MORE AT THE DAILY LEADER

When Gina Rodriguez posted a photo posing with Eva Longoria, America Ferrara, Stephanie Beatriz, Rosario Dawson, Andrea Navedo, Melissa Fumero, Justina Machado, and a ton of other Latina actors with the hashtag #FiercelyLatina back in October of 2017, fans were not only shocked that these women were all in the same place — they were inspired. READ MORE AT BUSTLE

A new study finds Hispanics in the U.S. are facing language and cultural barriers when seeking health care.

Hispanic adults face language, cultural barriers in health care AP study found 6 in 10 have had difficult time communicating "I usually search online, look for reviews. I do call and ask if they speak Spanish. Not that the doctor needs to speak Spanish, but I feel it’s easier to communicate my concerns, or my worries or ask questions,” said Cristina Terrada while she waited for her weekly checkup at her OB-GYN.

Terrada has been very meticulous in picking her doctors, especially when she's looking for someone to deliver her first baby girl. READ MORE AT SPECTRUM NEWS 13

The gap in income between the 10% who make the most and those who make the least in the U.S. has continued to widen since 1970, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center.

Why it matters: The income disparities are strongly tied to other inequalities — such as education — among racial groups, which often most acutely impact immigrants. READ MORE AT AXIOS

So you have a job interview coming up and you’re probably nervous. A top tip you’ll often hear is don’t be nervous, but that's easier said than done.

Here are some ways to appear cool and prepared when you go out to get a job:

1. Try not to be nervous, or at least don’t show it. READ MORE AT NEWSPRESS NOW

Wall Street is looking at lot more diverse – at least for the summer.

This year’s crop of interns is Bank of America’s “most diverse group ever,” the lender told investors on its second-quarter earnings call. Women comprise 45 percent of the current class – up from 42 percent in 2017 – while non-white interns make up 55 percent. Goldman Sachs . and Wells Fargo report similar numbers. READ MORE AT THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

U.S. job growth is improving as companies added 157,000 jobs in July, and the unemployment rate fell slightly to 3.9%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Gains were seen in professional and business services, manufacturing, healthcare, and social assistance.

In July, the unemployment rate edged down by 0.1 percentage point to 3.9%, following an increase in June. The number of unemployed persons declined by 284,000 to 6.3 million in July. Both measures were down over the year, by 0.4 percentage point and 676,000, respectively.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.4%) and Whites (3.4%) declined in July. The jobless rates for adult women (3.7%), teenagers (13.1%), Blacks (6.6%), Asians (3.1%), and Hispanics (4.5%) showed little or no change over the month. READ MORE AT HOTEL BUSINESS

If you were to survey the Spanish-language media landscape in the United States a few years ago, you would have noticed that it was mostly dominated by one key player: Univision. Recently, however, the picture has become more complicated. As the population of U.S. Hispanics continues to grow and cord-cutting continues to accelerate, large networks have begun to invest significant sums of money in programming designed to attract them.

Five years ago, Univision’s domination of Spanish-language television was all but guaranteed, but now in the wake of Telemundo managing to secure the rights to air the next three World Cups and narrow the ratings gap between the networks, Univision finds itself in an unfamiliar position as it tries to keep up with Telemundo. READ MORE AT MEDIAPOST

In an unnatural setting like a job interview, it might be tempting for you to put on a show. But you’ll get much further if you figure out how to present your true self in the best light. READ MORE AT FAST COMPANY

Hispanics living in the United States tend to have “less education, a higher poverty rate, and worse access to health care” and “represent the ultimate paradigm of healthcare disparities,” with the highest rate of uninsured, lowest rates of health screening and counseling, and poorest levels of blood pressure and blood sugar control, as well as “other measures of deficient quality of care.” So they must have dismal public health statistics, right? READ MORE AT CARE2

You would have to be living under a rock not to know that Hispanics are an important part of the U.S. population. In fact, 18% of Americans are of Hispanic origin, and about 38 million speak Spanish at home. Nielsen expects Hispanic buying power to reach US 1.8 trillion by 2021, and it continues to rise in the FMCG market.

It is also no secret that Hispanics over-index in smartphone ownership, mobile usage and data consumption. READ MORE AT PORTADA

NEXT time you're going for a job interview, a "selfie" could make all the difference.

That's according to HR expert Gary Burnison, chief executive of management consulting firm Korn Ferry and author of Lose the Resume, Land the Job.

He argues that if you're landing interviews but not getting any further, like most people you'll probably go back to polishing your resume when you should be doing "one thing that could really make a difference". READ MORE AT THE IPSWICH ADVERTISER

According to Geoscape, by 2020, over 50.6 percent of the U.S. population growth will be attributed to the Hispanic market.

Small and large corporations alike will be affected by this demographic shift, now and well into the future. Multicultural consumers are driving the growth of the U.S. economy, its employment growth and even upcoming political elections. READ MORE AT ENTREPRENEUR

The unemployment rate for Hispanic and Latino Americans in June fell to 4.6 percent, their lowest recorded level since 1973. A hot job market has helped pull them off the unemployment rolls and into work. The category comprises people who identify ethnically as Hispanic or Latino and can include all races.

At the same time, the jobless rates for black and Asian Americans rose after reaching record lows in May. The rate for white Americans was flat.

The average length of unemployment fell to 21.2 weeks last month, the shortest span since March 2009. READ MORE AT WTOP

Becoming unemployed is often a sudden, unexpected event, and most people do not have the networking skills needed to immediately switch gears and begin efficiently developing job leads. There could be many reasons: feeling uncomfortable with the networking process, not knowing the process, being shy by nature or never having needed to network in the past. READ MORE AT ENTREPRENEUR