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Read biographies of feature guests for the 2018 IoT Technology Networking Forum being held tomorrow Wednesday January 17 at The Godfrey Hotel Chicago.

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Juliana Ceja, Program Manager, Amazon

Juliana Ceja is on the ‘people side of software’. Her passion is getting teams to work together and driving products to market. In 2012 she obtained her professional certifications for Business Analysis and Project Management through DePaul University and Agile certifications through Scrum.org. In addition, Juliana is a Certified LeSS Practitioner; a software development methodology for large scale programs.

During her formative years in the South-west side of Chicago, her mother would always encourage her to take apart and re-engineer computers. Juliana was no stranger to Latina entrepreneurs and Latinas in tech as her Aunt ran an IT company. However, it was during her time at Coyote Logistics, a UPS owned start up, where she learned about software development as a Business Analyst and IT Project Manager. In 2014 she joined Rewards Network to assist in a company-wide transformation to Agile frameworks. It was there where she lead the requirements build to release their first financial product in over 10 years.

In 2016 she followed her passion and became an IT Consultant to companies ranging from financial institutions to virtual reality startup. Finding herself at the crossroads of team dynamics and software, she later started The People Side of Software Meetup which now has over 300 members throughout the Chicagoland area.

Now as a Program Manager at Amazon, she oversees a transportation project portfolio and serves as a liaison for technology projects. Her latest ‘passion project’ is focused on starting a Women’s Ideation Lab to encourage and support women in their entrepreneurial goals. Juliana lives in the Pilsen neighborhood with her fiance Alex and their one year old daughter Ava.

Jessie ‘Chuy’ Chavez, Software Engineer, Google

Jessie ‘Chuy’ Chavez is a Software Engineer on the Data Liberation team in Chicago which systematically provides users control of their data in Google products, and he recently celebrated 10 years at Google. Chuy was named to the Crain's 2015 Tech50 list of people to know in Chicago's technology community.

Apart from his main job, Chuy spends his 20% time coordinating education outreach and participating in diversity efforts in the Chicago office such as the Code.org/CS4All initiative in Chicago Public Schools, the Google.org sponsored Robot Revolution, the Chicago Public Library robot and hotspot checkout program, and many other intiaitves with local educational and community partners. He has also spoken to tens of thousands of students to help inspire the next generation to pursue careers in Computer Science.

Chuy is a founding member of the Chicago office’s Mosaic diversity group and local Latino Googler chapter as well as volunteers on initiatives with other employee resource groups.

Born and raised in Chicago to Mexican immigrant parents from Michoacan and Monterrey, Chuy’s first language was Spanish and he attended Chicago Public School's bilingual program until the fourth grade. As the oldest in his family, Chuy became the first in his family to graduate from elementary school, high school, and college. He graduated with a degree in Math from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as well as coordinated campus initiatives to help Latino/a recruitment, retention, and equality, including the famous 1992 Latina/o student protest.

Prior to Google, Chuy worked as a software engineer at FeedBurner (acquired by Google in 2007) as well as HSBC bank US and Mexico, Best Buy, and even as a teacher in Chicago. Chuy extends his technical expertise to many community and social justice causes in Chicago and Latin America, including serving as a human rights monitor in Honduras and a media volunteer for #Caravana43 from Ayotzinapa, Mexico.

Daniel Contreras, Technology Strategist, Microsoft

Daniel is a Technology Strategist at Microsoft, where he works with organizations in Chicago to help them accelerate their Digital Transformation journey. He has 20 years of technology experience, including 10 years at BP and 6 years at Accenture.

At BP, Daniel built and ran global technology teams across Malaysia, India, the U.K. and the U.S. that supported over 30 projects per year, including SAP and non-SAP deployments, upgrades, end-of-service life replacements (hardware/OS/DB) and data center migrations. He also led the formation of a multi-discipline, cross-organization team to urgently reduce P1 and P2 incidents across BP’s critical production environments. Daniel spent 2 years in Malaysia setting up an IT center in Kuala Lumpur and has extensive experience partnering with business and technology leaders to define and implement strategic initiatives.

Daniel is the co-chair of the Technology Committee of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, is a member of the Executives Club of Chicago’s Technology and Financial Services Forums, and is also a member of 1871, Chicago’s tech entrepreneurship hub. He is the President of the Board of Directors for the Bleeding Disorders Alliance of Illinois and serves on the community services committee of New Life Community Church.

Before joining Microsoft, Daniel took a career break to mobilize technology workforce development efforts for youth in underserved communities in the South side of Chicago, exposing high school students to virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence. Daniel is bringing his passion for Diversity in Tech to Microsoft, where he is currently working with Microsoft Diversity & Inclusion leaders to continue to advocate for Diversity in Tech in Chicago.

Samara Hernandez, Principal, MATH Venture Partners

Samara is an early stage investor at MATH Venture Partners with a specialty in financial technology. Prior to joining MATH, Samara spent eight years at Goldman Sachs, where she was continually ranked top 5 in selling financial products, providing market insights, advising on portfolio construction, and consulting on business practices. She started her career in the Fixed Income, Currency and Commodity (FICC) group where she lead multiple technology enhancing projects across global exchanges.

Samara is actively involved in the Chicago tech community and passionate about helping underrepresented groups get into STEM education, venture capital and entrepreneurship. She is on the leadership council for Women Tech Founders, an active mentor at 1871, a mentor at the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and on the board of Communities in Chicago Schools and with VentureUp.

Samara earned an Industrial and Operations Engineering degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Northwestern University.

Sunil Peddakotla, Senior Manager, Network Security Engineering, U.S. Cellular

Sunil Peddakotla is the Senior Manager of the Network Security Engineering team within the Security, Applications, Analytics and Automation (SA3) organization at US Cellular. Formerly a Lead Security Engineer on the same team, his team manages the perimeter security controls for U.S. Cellular's corporate network and more than 5 million wireless subscribers and enterprises. This includes a vast portfolio of security services such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) mitigation, firewall architectures including M2M (Machine to Machine) firewalls, DNS, and messaging security to combat spam, phishing, and ransomware attacks to name a few.

One of his primary focus areas is to work on developing a security strategy to support a secure IoT infrastructure while ensuring customer business continuity in the unique wireless carrier landscape. He holds a Master’s degree in Telecommunications from DePaul University and Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics and Telecommunications from University of Mumbai, India.

For the last 3 years Sunil has presented Raspberry Pi based security workshops at the Circle City Con security conference in Indianapolis, IN.

Time is running out to register. The 2018 Iot Technology Networking Forum is tomorrow. Don't miss out >> http://bit.ly/2Di7Qld

On a typical weekday, three-quarters of U.S. Latinos get their news from internet sources, nearly equal to the share who do so from television, according to a 2016 survey of Latino adults by Pew Research Center.

For years, TV was the most commonly used platform for news among U.S. Hispanics. In recent years, however, the share getting their news from TV has declined. READ MORE AT PEW RESEARCH CENTER

Hispanic income growth since 2011 in Texas is partially attributed to gains in higher education, a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas found.

The portion of Hispanics who attained high school diplomas and bachelor's degrees rose by about 1.5 percentage points each from 2011 to 2016, according to the Fed, as dropout rates among Hispanics declined.

A rapid rise in Hispanic household income in Texas accompanies that shift. READ MORE AT CHRON

If you are in the market for a new job this post is for you. It will help you utilise job searching technique making the best of your personal contacts, networking, job filters, and career coaching to land your next role.

The New Year is a time when we want to start fresh and embrace something new. So let’s take a look at these job searching tips. READ MORE AT BUSINESS2COMMUNITY

Less than 10 percent of small business employees in the largest Hispanic metro areas have access to an employer-provided retirement plan.

SmallBizTrends reports that a new study from Finhabits finds that among small businesses located in the top five Hispanic metro areas of the U.S., an average of just 4 percent of small businesses with fewer than 100 employees offered their workers a 401(k).

The 2017 Latino Small Business Workers Lack Retirement Savings study found a significant ethnic gap in retirement savings. READ MORE AT BENEFITS PRO

Is your job search off to a slow start or getting stuck? Here are some quick time-saving job search tips that will help your hunt for a new job go smoothly.

Be Prepared
Have a voice mail system in place and sign-up for a professional sounding email address. Consider getting a separate email account to use for your job search, so you can stay organized. Put your cell phone number on your resume so you can follow up in a timely manner. READ MORE AT THE BALANCE

Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo said it would launch a new midday national newscast to its programming lineup as part of a widening commitment to developing news programming for its viewers.

“Noticias Telemundo, Mediodía” will launch January 22 at 12:30 p.m. Audiences will be able to livestream “Noticias Telemundo, Mediodia” on NoticiasTelemundo.com, the “Noticias Telemundo” mobile app and across Noticias Telemundo’s social media properties including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. READ MORE AT VARIETY

For many years now, being an entrepreneur is nothing new to many families, especially for the Hispanic/Latino community.

We see it every day. From the guy selling ice cream, to the elotero (corn seller) to a more modern business look: food trucks. And there’s a mass increase of Hispanic-owned businesses on the rise here in Arizona.

“The Latino business community is actually the fastest growing segment of economy in the country right now,” said James Garcia, the director of communications for the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. READ MORE AT 12 NEWS NBC

Now is the time to get ready for finding a better job, the one you’ve been dreaming about last year. Putting the past behind and moving forward with a fresh plan of action can be just what you need to land a better job.

Naturally, the goal is not to accept just any job rather one that best suits your skills and abilities. To help you reach your goal this year, here are five tips that will make your job search more successful.

Look ahead. It can be very challenging if not impossible to move forward with your career if you keep looking back in the rear-view mirror dwelling on past mistakes. Agonizing on what went wrong last year only highlights your failures instead of what you learned. Make peace with your past and look ahead at what you want to achieve.

Turn your job search into blocks of action. READ MORE AT HOUSTON CHRON

It’s no surprise that Disney/Pixar’s Coco, with rave reviews and box-office success, earned Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture – Animated and Best Original Song – Motion Picture for “Remember Me,” written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (who snagged an Oscar for the popular Frozen anthem “Let It Go.”) In November, Coco became the highest grossing movie in Mexico and now has a worldwide take-in of over $550 million — but money isn’t everything. READ MORE AT PEOPLE

In 2017, consumer demand for diversity and inclusion ignited a watershed in the evolution of multicultural marketing and research. Global brands publicly touted their commitment to these ideals, as seen by change agents like Nike, with the launch of the first mainstream sports hijab and Disney Pixar, whose animated movie, Coco, based on the Mexican holiday of Día de los Muertos, shattered the box office this holiday season. READ MORE AT MEDIAPOST

The job market will continue to shift in 2018, as technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) impact many industries, and mobile changes the way people find and apply for jobs, according to a new report from job search site Glassdoor.

Despite two major hurricanes and political challenges, the US economy experienced a strong year. READ MORE AT TECHREPUBLIC

Let’s be honest: Writing a resume is a drag.

After all, this isn’t exactly a task for the gainfully employed. If you’re reading this, you’re probably out of work or daydreaming of greener pastures.

But here’s the good news: Learning how to write a killer resume can ratchet up your job search, cement your status as a top notch candidate, and increase your chances of landing a new gig. In other words, it’s a major game changer.

Here are some expert-approved resume tips for nailing the job search this year... READ MORE AT MONEY

Digital disruption, artificial intelligence and a roller coaster of a job market are changing the way we work. The ability to adapt to new workplace requirements will determine future success for both the employees and the organisation. ET brings you the lowdown on the state of business environment/jobs in a slew of sectors, and how employees can adapt their career goals. READ MORE AT ECONOMIC TIMES

More Latinos are going to college than ever, but only about half of them earn a bachelor’s degree.

Angelica Sanjuan Bermudez, a junior at the University of Texas at Dallas, says she understands why it’s a challenge for many students. She struggled at first.

The mountain of schoolwork was overwhelming. So on some days, she gave in to her newfound freedom to have lunch with friends or catch an event on campus rather than facing assignments that were stressing her out. Of course, that meant the biomedical engineering major soon fell behind and need to scramble to catch up. READ MORE AT DALLAS MORNING NEWS

American Girl's 2018 girl of the year is Luciana Vega, an 11-year-old "aspiring astronaut who dreams of being the first person to go to Mars," the wildly popular doll makers said in a statement unveiling the new character.

"Luciana is our first character that's really immersed in STEM," Rebecca Dekuiper, a designer at American Girl, said in a video about the making of Luciana. "We've had STEM products before, but we really wanted to do a whole character to show girls that STEM is cool." READ MORE AT YAHOO NEWS

The dearth of minority CPAs has been a source of concern within the accounting profession for many decades (see Bert N. Mitchell, “The Black Minority in the CPA Profession,” Journal of Accountancy, vol. 128, no. 4, pp. 31–48, 1969, and “The Status of the Black CPA: An Update,” Journal of Accountancy, vol. 141, no. 5, pp. 52–58, 1976). Even though the CPA certificate bestows professional prestige and economic opportunities upon its holders, the number of minority accountants who have achieved CPA status has remained abysmally low. READ MORE AT THE CPA JOURNAL

When the Great Recession began 10 years ago this month, experts say Latino workers in Arizona were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Heavily represented in construction and agriculture, two industries that were particularly hard hit, and generally younger than the overall state population, unemployment among Hispanics in Arizona soared from 4.8 percent in 2007 to 13.8 percent in 2012, when it topped out. It had fallen back to 5.8 percent as of 2016.

Part of that recovery, analysts say, was the result of the situation that caused the jobless rate to soar in the first place: Locked out of jobs they were used to, an increasing number of Latinos decided to start their own businesses. READ MORE AT ARIZONA DAILY SUN

As 2017 comes to a close, Americans have big hopes for the new year. Matt Ferguson, CEO of job site CareerBuilder, says workers can expect positive job growth in 2018 and beyond.

"We expect the unemployment rate to remain in the low 4 percent range and may even drop into the high 3 percent range in 2018," he told CNBC.

But not every industry is going to have the same positive gowth in the new year. Check out the best and worst industries and jobs for 2018. READ MORE AT CNBC

Negotiating a new offer may feel uncomfortable, but a little discomfort is worth it. This is your best chance to increase your salary and improve the conditions of your new job. Once you have accepted a job, you lose your leveraging power.

The best negotiators know what they want and are armed with information about what is negotiable and to what degree. Before you have your first interview, you should begin thinking about what conditions are most important to you and what you want from your new job. READ MORE AT PAYSCALE