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The Hispanic homeowner rate increased continued to increase in 2017, but many Hispanics are still holding off on long-term financial commitments, according to a report from The Hispanic Wealth Project.

Hispanics have seen homeownership gains for three consecutive years, driving asset growth for Hispanic families. The report also found that aside from home purchase, new business starts and stock-market investment are also accelerating among the US Hispanic population. READ MORE AT MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL AMERICA

Hispanic-Americans are less likely to seek health screenings or preventive care compared with their black and white peers, according to a new survey that provides a detailed and ongoing assessment of the Hispanic community's attitudes toward health care.

The Healthy Americas Survey, released Tuesday by the National Alliance for Hispanic Health and the University of Southern California, shows that 68 percent of blacks are vigilant about getting health screenings and checkups, compared with 60 percent of whites and 55 percent of Hispanics. READ MORE AT MEDICAL PRESS

Read feature guests biographies of the 2018 Women Trailblazers "Ladies that Lead" Celebration being held tomorrow July 26 at one of River North's most vibrant modern Latin food and music destinations... Nacional 27.

Ana Dutra, CEO & President, Executives' Club of Chicago

Ana Dutra is the President and CEO of The Executives’ Club of Chicago, a world-class senior executives organization focused on the development, innovation and connectivity of current and future business and community leaders. She was formerly the CEO of Mandala Global Advisors, a global management consulting company. She has 28 years of experience as a global executive, consultant and business leader in industries such as technology, CPG, food & beverage, retail, apparel, manufacturing and professional services. As the CEO of Korn/ Ferry Consulting and a Proxy Officer from 2007 until 2013, Ana created a $300+ MM new global business through a combination of organic growth, 7 global acquisitions, innovative go-to-market approaches and incorporation of technology and digitalization of products and services. In addition to her corporate leadership roles, Ana is a Director in the Boards of Greeley and Hansen, Humantelligence, the International Women Forum, Children’s Memorial Hospital of Chicago, Chicago Philharmonic Society, Governor State University and Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL), a top school turnaround organization in the country. She is a former Director in the Executives Club of Chicago and is in the Kellogg Alumni Advisory Board, in the Economic Club of Chicago, the Committee of 200 and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

A Brazilian native with over 20 years of experience in P&L management, business growth and C-Level business consulting in over 30 countries, Dutra’s expertise lies in helping Boards, CEOs and their teams to identify and execute growth strategies and turnarounds through innovation, acquisitions, culture change and new technologies. As a CEO, Ana Dutra has led a number of turnarounds, global acquisitions, post-merger integrations and execution of accelerated growth strategies. She has led and advised businesses in the technology, manufacturing, CPG, retail and professional services industries. Ana started her career with IBM where she managed clients and lines-of-businesses in a number of countries. After receiving her MBA from Kellogg business school, she led lines-of-businesses and geographic P&Ls with CSC, Oliver Wyman (formerly Mercer Management), Accenture and, more recently, with Korn/ Ferry International.

Ana holds an MBA from Kellogg, a Masters in Economics from Pontificia Universidade do Rio de Janeiro, a Juris Doctor from Universidade do Rio de Janeiro, all summa cum laude. She is fluent in Portuguese, English, Spanish and French and is a frequent speaker in the Global Competitiveness Forum, World Economic Forum and other Global Conferences. She is frequently featured in the Harvard Business Review online, Forbes blog, WSJ, CEO Magazine and other publications.

Ana is an avid triathlete, meditator and yoga practitioner. She lives in Northfield, IL with her husband and their three daughters.

Teri Argos, Chief Development Officer, Instituto del Progreso Latino

Teri is the Chief Development Officer at Instituto del Progreso Latino, a community service, workforce development agency in Chicago, IL.

Previously in her role as a consultant, she offered assistance in fund development and institutional planning. As a development professional, she has established corporate giving programs, initiated mentoring programs, composed grants, staged award shows, dinners, silent auctions, solicited volunteers and interacted directly with the Board of Directors.

In her former profession as a corporate executive, she encountered cultures, lifestyles and living conditions that left a profound impression on her and eventually led to a career in nonprofit management. A natural leader focused on creating the requisite strategic vision to achieve goals, she offers a unique blend of executive acumen, team-building, and fundraising proficiency. She has worked with a number of international companies and has managed budgets upwards of $200 million dollars.

She consistently delivers results by aligning organizational initiatives and goals with substantial improvements to service, standardization and performance. With a focus on strategic solutions analysis to further goals, Teri propels cost accounting improvements that bring new perspectives to the success of business management practices and capital expenditures.

Ms. Argos is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a BA in Sociology. She holds a certificate in Institutional Development and Fundraising from UCLA, a distinction held by few professional fundraisers. She is active in the Los Angeles and Chicago philanthropic communities and rigorously supports numerous organizations.

Veronica Aguilar, Executive Director, 1871 & Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (IHCC) Tech Cohort

Veronica Aguilar serves as the Director of the IHCC/1871 Latinx Incubator, a program aimed to create sustainable economic opportunities for hispanic technology companies - providing
educational programming, technical resources and access to networks.

As a political appointee under the Obama Administration, Veronica started her career in the
Small Business Office at the U.S. General Services Administration. There she led the National Outreach Education Program aimed to enhance opportunities for underrepresented small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs to partner with federal agencies focusing on transparency in the federal procurement process.

She then joined the GSA Administrator’s senior team and worked on implementing the President’s agenda on modernizing the federal government through a digital transformation. After the presidential transition, Veronica continued her work in the tech space joining 1776, an incubator based in D.C. There, she co-lead a Innovation Challenge Program aimed to address corporate partners challenges, sourcing startups across the world and preparing them to pitch pilot proposals.

Veronica is a proud Chicago native. She grew up in Hermosa and attended The University of Pennsylvania. She is excited to be back in her hometown working on creating more opportunities for Hispanic tech startups working at IHCC. Veronica stays active through working with aerial silks, traveling and is a self-proclaimed speakeasy critic.

Don't miss out. Time is running out to register. Tickets will not be sold at the door.

According to most recent Statistics Canada report, there has been a substantial increase in the number of women entering the work force, with most pursuing professional careers (doctors, lawyers, etc.) and more and more pursuing business.

However, one field that has not progressed as quickly is sales. The percentage of women in sales roles has only increased by 3 per cent over the past decade, according to a LinkedIn study. READ MORE AT THE GLOBE AND MAIL

Marysol Castro remembers a hot and humid summer day between third and fourth grades. She was playing stickball with her brothers and neighbors in her native Bronx, New York, and she remembers some boys looking at her with disdain when she hit her first home run.

She noticed the looks, but it didn't stop her, and it certainly hasn't stopped her yet.

Castro, who's about to turn 44, has spent a little over a month in her job as the first female public address (PA) announcer for the New York Mets and the first Latina PA announcer in Major League Baseball. READ MORE AT NBC NEWS

According to Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Marketing Monica Villalobos, small businesses not only drive our economy forward, they’re our future.

Of those many businesses, Villalobos noted that a lot of those future economic drivers are categorized as minority-owned. READ MORE AT TUCSON BUSINESS

A team of scientists at the Yale-National University of Singapore (NUS) College in Singapore has reported that ‘find your passion’ may not be the best advice for students, especially those in the early stages of their education.

The research is published in Psychological Science. As the world becomes increasingly interdisciplinary, having diverse interests can help people make important connections across professional domains. READ MORE AT ASIAN SCIENTIST

As American companies focus on their growing success, perhaps one of the most powerful and widely accepted ways is for them to continue to expand on their achievements through building more diversity and inclusion efforts, especially at the executive and board levels. READ MORE AT FORBES

Last week, Facebook published its annual diversity report. To summarize some of the major findings of the report: there were slight increases in the amount of Black and Hispanic employees as well as women in technical roles, business and sales roles, and senior leadership. READ MORE AT FORBES

There has never been a better time for the insurance profession to begin deepening the conversation around diversity and inclusion (D&I).

In fact, there has never been a better time to capitalize on the fact that the industry has started to focus on the critical importance of inclusion as a driver of business success. Inclusion means providing an environment where everyone can thrive and excel. A diverse workforce helps bring the innovation and expertise needed to achieve business goals while keeping you ahead of the competition. READ MORE AT INSURANCE JOURNAL

For the sixth year, Cox Communications is honoring two outstanding Valley Latina entrepreneurs, Sandra Flores and Rosie Magaña, whose talent and leadership are perfect examples of the ever growing women-owned businesses in Arizona. READ MORE AT AZBIGMEDIA

Hispanics make up the largest ethnic minority group in the United States, and those numbers continue to grow. With a buying power totaling $1.4 trillion, the Hispanic consumer carries significant economic clout. To benefit from this demographic, the green industry needs to ditch the heavy Caucasian influence on the hobby of gardening and make it multicultural.

According to Simmons Research, in 2017, 17.4 percent of Americans aged 6 years and older identified as Hispanic or Latino, up from 15.3 percent in 2010. The Hispanic population is increasing across all age groups, with nearly a quarter of Americans age 6 to 34 today being Hispanic, compared with about 10 percent among those age 50 and older. This points to the continued growth and influence of this segment on the American economy. READ MORE AT THE GARDEN CENTER

Carlos Garcia was three years into his first job in technology at Merrill Lynch when he first learned what a 401(k) retirement savings account was. He was floored when he learned that a colleague had already saved $30,000 in three years, and the company had matched it.

The concept of making money off money was foreign to Garcia, an MIT graduate who was born in Texas to immigrants from Mexico. His story is not uncommon among U.S. Hispanics. READ MORE AT THE JOURNAL GAZETTE

Career is the one among many things which is found in everyone's bucket list since childhood. Every individual has a dream of becoming something which they admire of. Having a successful career is all you need to secure your future. It will offer you a lot of opportunities to enhance your skills and to prove yourself in front of the world. READ MORE AT INDIA TV

For three decades, Maria Elvira Salazar has conducted interviews and moderated debates as a broadcast journalist covering politics.

Now, for the first time, she’s finding herself on the other side.

Salazar was a news anchor for Miami-based MEGA TV and hosted a political news show, “Maria Elvira Live.” She left the show earlier this year to run for Congress. READ MORE AT THE HILL

While more high school graduates from all segments of the population are going to college, one in five will drop out before their second year, and that rate is higher among students whose families traditionally have not attended college, a group higher education needs to attract and keep, according to a detailed account from The Hechinger Report. READ MORE AT EDUCATION DRIVE

Networking is nothing more than meeting people. You can do it at a networking event, like this business expo, you can do it at a bar, you can do it at a party...anywhere people gather. But, like anything else, there's a right way and a wrong way to network. READ MORE AT HOUSTON CHRON

Job searches always take time but don’t have to waste time. As a time management coach, I’ve worked with many job seekers who stick to whatever feels safe and comfortable instead of doing what’s effective, only to find their job searches stretching on for an eternity. READ MORE AT FAST COMPANY

Rosie Mercado understands that the power of storytelling isn’t limited by a specific platform. Whether Mercado is working on a segment for Univision’s Despierta America, acting as a special correspondent on the Dr. Phil show, or sharing her journey on Instagram, she shows up with the same heart and the same intention. READ MORE ON FORBES

Net Generation. Centennials. The iGeneration. Whatever label you choose, Generation Z is here, and its oldest members are beginning to enter the workforce.

Born after 1995, this generation has never known a world without the internet, and most can’t recall a time before smartphones. The oldest members of this new generation have been shaped by events like 9/11 and the Great Recession, and now they’re beginning to look for work. READ MORE AT THE BUSINESS JOURNALS