West Division Champs!!!!

Since I moved to Los Angeles I have become a fan of the coolest team; the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Sorry for those of you that has another team preference. I love baseball don't take me wrong, whenever I can go to a game, there I am. That is like my hiding place. I just sit there and enjoy the beauty of the game. Is fun, relaxing and I don't feel that I'm by myself. 












Last Monday night my team won the west division championship and the pitcher that opened the game closed it. A no hitte game for pitcher Ervin Santana; this is the best I've seen him perform.






The Angels won 11-0. There is no better way to win a division series than with an awesome game like this! Hope that they make it to the next rounds and that for a change they beat the Red Sox's. I actually like the Sox's but I need to stick to my team.








Vladimir Guerrero, Erick Aybar and Kendry Morales had an amazing game with hits, scored runs and runs that helped build this amazing game.





My team played like they should play every day; with the hunger to win! After the game was over they went to celebrate the division championship at the clubhouse. They were pouring champagne and beer all over the place. I was good until Erick Aybar and Rafael Rodriguez got me soak on bear, I celebrated with the team, it was just amazing, this was also my master's celebration.








I can't describe with words the excitement and joy we all had. Even though they have won many divisions championship is the same joy every time. If you don't have a  favorite team or sport look for one...is an amazing experience.





Go Angels!

Sports and the community

I am a huge sports fan. Those of you that really know me, knows that I LOVE BASEBALL!!!! Baseball is my favorite sport because is the sport that I grew up with. 

        In PR we had players like Roberto Clemente that have influenced the Latino baseball players and the community in general. We also have players like Roberto Alomar, Juan ‘Igor’ Gonzalez, Ivan ‘Pudge’ Rodriguez, the Molina brothers and many more. There are some puertorrican baseball players that have been known for their help with the community like Jorge Posada that has helped many kids with the same sickness as Jorgito, his son. Another player that loves to help the community is Carlos Delgado, he has help Puerto Rico in many ways just that he doesn’t advertise it. Javier Vazquez is one more example of players that just want to give back to the community.

        I love the sport but I have more what the players have done to help the community. All of these players have helped the community in various ways and no one knows except for the people that have been helped. We need to thank Roberto Clemente for setting such a beautiful example in giving back to the community. I hope that these leaders keep demonstrating how important it is to help the less fortunate. With examples like this we will have a better island and a more loving and giving community.  

Guerrila Marketing...My first time with Attack!

Yesterday and today I got the opportunity to manage another promotional team. I liked working this promotion since it was challenging because of the neighboorhood. The location we got sent yesterday was just horrible and the other team got kicked out of the other location. So I needed to find new locations for the teams to distribute the flyers. 

     Today we went and worked at a different location, it was an outdoor event. We got kicked out. We worked the event on the surroundings but we couldn't be at the heart of it. We just relocated on another outdoor venue. Doing guerrilla promotions are really hard to work just because you never know when you will be kicked out or to what magnitude the problem could be.

At the end of the day the promotion was done successfully and we are sure that people will go and visit the product we were promoting these past two days ;)

mun2: the prominent voice for the bilingual Latinos in America. EBA

I have always felt interest for this channel; Mun2 founded in 2001 has the headquarters located in Universal City, CA. With a payroll of 60 to 70 employees, Mun2 is part of General Electric. Mun2 is a subbrand of Telemundo that is a subbrand of NBC. Their not syndicated programming counts with 18 & Over, The mun2 Shift, Vivo, mun2 Shuffle, One Nation Under Hip-Hop, The Chicas Project, Reventón, Party Mix, Se Habla Rock! 2RSLVJ (Tú Eres El VJ or You are the VJ), Day in Day Out, Pepsi Música, and El Show. They also have a Sin senos no hay paraiso where Pico, a vj from mun2, gives the viewers a wrap around from the soup opera and the viewers go to the website, give their opinion and Pico comments and relate to their stories. Making it relevant to them through the website. Mun2 has no slogan. They have a tagline: The prominent voice for the bilingual Latinos in America. The name mun2 is pronounced, "moon dos" which is written "mundos" in Spanish meaning "worlds" in English. Mun2 in such a short period of time has managed to become a brand that are the pioneers, breaking thru with this audience that was crying for attention and for a channel designed for them.  Mun2 target market is the bilingual, bi-cultural Latinos from the age of 18-34 that reside in the US region. The only direct competition is MTV3, which was launched on 2006. Primary competitors are typically considered MTV3 and to a lesser extent Si TV and LATV.  Other competitors that share this audience include Fox, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, Galavision and Discovery in Español, among others. In June 08, mun2 had a Current Position of 7.3 of the p12-34 Hispanic SOV (share of viewing).  This ranked behind only Univison, Telemundo and Telefutura, networks with much larger distribution and broadcast.  In this demo it ranked ahead of other channels such as MTV (3.42), Azteca, MTVtres (2.84), Discovery en Español and Carton Network. 

According to Moises Velez, Head of mun2 Development and Current Programming “Mun2 has operated from a point of insight, research and authentic connection and understanding of its audience. First run, original programming has been key, with additional strategic acquisitions based on viewer research and demand. Mun2 programming is based on response to the demographic it serves, insight from its in house producers and executives and a constant interaction with the audience from on air to online. A quick look at competitors will reveal that many of the music trends are followed by leading initiatives at mun2, who have been first in the space with many genres, key to breaking Hispanic urban genres and expanding the reach of Mexican regional when others ignored it completely.  Many of the competitors have used reruns from other sister networks, re-titled or subtitled for consumption.  Thus properties from Latin American outlets are repurposed for US Latino viewers, a disconnect from their core audience.”

 In Growth rate and trends Moises Velez said “Since the brand re-launch the p12-34 IMP (total day) has grown from approx 7(Q4 2005) to 19(Q3 2008).  In the past 6 months, the performance of the network has prompted an increase in cable carriage resulting in an increase of nearly 8 million more households, placing total measured at approximate million households total. The increase in distribution brings it into an even more competitive landscape, placing it in competition with other networks of similar size, with delivery expectations increased.  Growing our programming offerings, appealing to an older available audience and dealing with a retraction in the advertising business are challenges that mun2 at the rest of the cable band broadcast business will have to retool and strategize for in the coming years, especially on the well publicized challenges facing all networks due to the global financial downturn. Consumer trends from the digital space have increased the need to connect to audiences on their timetable and where they choose to consume their media, be it online, through delayed viewing on DVR’s or mobile.  Mun2 has been a leader in this space via holamun2.com, a space that is fully integrated into all our on air programming, participatory with a social networking space tailored for our audience and from which we gain valuable insights and immediate feedback and response.”

How does this brand differentiate itself and position itself against them? What does it see as its main competitive advantage or selling points?

According to Moises Velez, Head of mun2 Development and Current Programming: “ Mun2 has operated from a point of insight, research and authentic connection and understanding of its audience. First run, original programming has been key, with additional strategic acquisitions based on viewer research and demand.  Mun2 programming is based on our response to the demographic it serves, insight from its in house producers and executives and a constant interaction with the audience from on air to online.  A quick look at competitors will reveal that many of the music trends are followed by leading initiatives at mun2, who have been first in the space with many genres, key to breaking Hispanic urban genres and expanding the reach of Mexican regional when others ignored it completely.  Many of the competitors have used reruns from other sister networks, re-titled or subtitled for consumption.  Thus properties from Latin American outlets are repurposed for US Latino viewers, a disconnect from their core audience.” 

www.holamun2.com

Team Work....TPM

I had the honor to be the leader of Team B, Enlighten Entertainment. We were a very supportive team and willing to give a 110%. The majority of the team members had the energy and the desire to win. Everyone volunteered for their assignments and did them on the scheduled time. The only one person who wasn’t as excited as the rest of the team still did a good job with his assignments.

On the first week we needed to come up with an idea for the proposal. I met with one of them at my place, another one via iChat, and there was one that couldn’t make it because of work. I understand the work situation, but at that point I didn’t feel he was committed to the team. I felt he was reading the e-mails and criticizing everything that we did yet giving nothing for us to grow. At that point I talked to Christina because there was a girl from another class who advised me that the class goes by fast and therefore I needed to deal with any situation right away. I did my investigations and I found out that two persons of the team were friends before Full Sail. Before knowing this information, I had asked another team member to be the team leader; I thought he wanted to have the power, and it turned out that he was one of the most supportive. Back to the point, the instant I was aware of this friendship, I told the guy in charge of the PTM Team Charter, I wanted to be the team leader; he answered “you’ve always been the leader to me”. After that we have been a consistent and solid team. We got the idea done via e-mails. 

The way that we managed was, first, I took over the leadership of the team. I was having communication with them every day. I wanted to make sure that this would work. Second I established that we needed to progress throughout the class as a team by having a meeting every week. Monday is reading day, and Tuesday at 5 pm became the perfect day to come with our respective assignments after a week of having worked on them. During the week, I would call them and text them just to know how they were doing and if they needed any help or anything from me, also we e-mailed every step we each did to maintain communication. I read every single one of them and their attachments.

The second week we tried to have our “virtual” meeting. (What a joke it was!) We spent a whole hour trying to figure out how to use iChat. We never got to have the actual meeting. The person from the group that wasn’t as excited finally connected to iChat the hour after and he didn’t even say hi. That bothered me, and I talked about this with one of the classmates and teammates. We finished the “meeting” and I finished out sending e-mails with the assignments that needed to be done. Then we got to an agreement for the next meeting to do it at my apartment and the student from out-of-state to be the only one on iChat. This program worked out perfectly throughout the other weeks. Everybody volunteered for the tasks that needed to be done. After we finished our tasks I met with one of the team members to outline the proposal. I went to his place and we got it running, and in about three days we had most of the proposal done. We collected more information that we actually needed, so that worked for our advantage. We had more than enough material to write. But for the “virtual” team the only suggestion I have is that Full Sail should have a class on how to master Mac in general. Just learning how to use the Mac has been a challenge by itself.

We just had our last meeting, Tuesday at 5:30pm. The no-desire guy didn’t have his part done; apparently, he didn’t understand what the chores where. He got confused, yet he “couldn’t” ask. Or maybe he didn’t want to. One of the responsibilities we had was read the e-mails, check them constantly. I wanted to have the first draft of the proposal done by Wednesday so we could send it to Christina on Thursday at the latest. I hope we can still have that done. Let’s see how this week ends up.

We where able to have it revised by Friday, but Christina wasn’t able to check it before we submit it. It was late when we finished it. We where able to submit it by Saturday and it is a really good project. I’m really satisfied with the final product, but this last week was hard work.

I didn’t know this but I’ve always been a practitioner of the majority of Carnegie’s principles. Any project I’ve been involved in I’ve always started it in a friendly way; this is my way to live life, by always trying to avoid arguments. I try to keep this as one of my priorities, by simply showing respect to others’ opinions; in this class I kept my practice. I believe in a sincere smile, be genuinely interested in others. I will always praise and will always give honest appreciation. I can’t stop using encouragement. I tried as hard as I could to make the other person happy about the things I suggested, that is in the case of the person that wasn’t as excited as the rest of the group. This book has opened my eyes about who I am and who I want to be. There is something about this book that makes me want to smile and be happy all the time. With a smile in your face you will make a difference on a lot of people without even having to talk to them. From all of Carnegie’s principles Smile is my favorite one.

I’ve gained many different significant teachings I can mention right now. Christina helped me throughout the whole process of it. She really got where I was wrong and made me understand how easy it was. For the other two; when I did the revision for the test on week two I did it by myself. I sat with the test on my hands, trying to analyze what was wrong. Let’s start with the fact that I never understood the wording on the test, so I did my own version of it. Then I saw that of course my checked boxes were going to be off… I am doing my own test! I did the revision and understood the concept more clearly and learned that it doesn’t matter if you have asked a lot of questions already, if you are not clear, ask more. My “ah ha” moment with my classmate was when I thought I was in my game, knowing all of the material, explaining it to him I figured out what I did wrong and how I could have fixed it. That was the only moment that it was like, “why did I submit the test already???” Well… that is part of life.

The team project was a really positive experience in every aspect. Working as a team I thought it was going to be harder, but it came out a lot better than I expected. I love the team, the experience and every single detail of the learning process. I think that the reason that I loved it was because I got the privilege to be in a team that everybody wanted to help each other and everyone wanted the best for each of us.  As the team leader I wanted to be on top of everything so it was a challenge to be able to communicate as often as I did and as I wanted to, read every e-mail with the attachments in order to talk and discuss their research and what was needed, and let’s not forget have all my personal assignments in time. It was a challenge I was willing to take and definitely I wanted to have.

These past four weeks have been a great experience, the challenges, the teamwork, the readings,  the teacher and assistant. It was, without a doubt, a challenging class, but it was worth every learning experience that I am taking with me. I hope to have the opportunity to work with this team again, keep growing as a human being, and most importantly I hope to keep learning every instant, every moment, just to live life in a way that we all can benefit from it…Practicing Carnegie’s tenets.

My live at Full Sail...BPD

Since I graduated college I understood that I was not done with education, I felt incomplete and I needed to get my masters degree. It took me two years after graduating from my bachelors to choose a university; my first choice was to get a degree on International Business at the Florida International University. I was almost ready to pay tuition when I decided that I wanted to pursue acting and that if I wanted to do this the correct place was Hollywood. I just packed my bags and moved to Los Angeles, CA. At this point my plans have changed drastically I knew I wanted to do my masters but I felt that I needed to try this first.

In August 31^st is going to be three years since I moved to LA. Every year I have been able to accomplish different acting goals that have made me very proud. Last year I was able to shoot a movie that came straight to DVD and made me understand that I could do my masters while I was on set. At this point I already had solicited information of the programs at UCLA and USC; none of them attracted me at all. I started searching online for a university that would do a masters degree on international business. On this search I went across Full Sail and requested more information; I was intrigued about the entertainment masters. It was just perfect that I could do my masters in something that I am really passionate about. It was then and there that I filled up the paper work and saw how I could get some sort of financial aid, loans, anything that would help me pay for the tuition; I had found my niche.

My first class was executive leadership; I loved the class and the readings. I really needed a class on how to use a Mac before starting the program; dealing with the change from pc to a Mac was a challenge by its own. Walt Disney is a great example to start on this new journey he inspired me to keep doing what I came to LA to do; pursue acting. I learned that anything in life is possible, we just need to believe on it. The team class was a challenge even though we had a good hard working team. I loved the story telling class, my bachelor is in public relations and this class and the books are perfect for public relations.  Finance was a challenging class but made me understood better where I wanted to go with my company. The class of international business was fascinating, it made me sit down and analyze how other Spanish speaking countries would be challenging to work with. That makes this business more fun. In the class of negotiating and dealmaking I learned that I am an innate negotiator, that the teacher didn't like my memo's that is another thing, that is why I would hire a secretary. I understand that my first language is Spanish and that I am not the best writing in English; but my inability to write memo's shouldn't have such a big weight in a grade. The only rewarding learning from this class was the opportunity to interview one of the few Hispanic sports agents currently working and with an impressive roster. Even though the teacher gave me D’s in all of my memos I know I could be a really good negotiator, after this class I learned two things that she discouraged me from negotiating and the program.

Product and artist management was an entertaining and fun class. I have to say that I loved my final project. I had to go from the Mac to the pc with the power point but it was worth it. I sent the presentation to the artist and they loved it. In the law class I learned why instead of a corporation I wanted an LLC. Since this point on I changed every document to LLC. Publishing media and Internet marketing made me learn what I wanted from the LLC and which search engines I need to prioritize.  I also learned the importance of the social networks for companies and how they could help Enid Collazo LLC grow. Mobile marketing helped me create a cell phone application that would fit the need of my clients while it could make my client list grow.

From each class I absorbed as much information as I could. Two classes that helped me enhance my creation of my business plan were mobile marketing and international business. These two classes made me realize that I could go beyond and break boundaries with an event coordination company. They made me realize that the sky is the limit. On the international business class I focused on the problems it would be to do business with other Latin cultures and how we could make it work. Dominican Republic is a great country to start expanding our company since is so similar to Puerto Rico and they have an established economy. This way we will go step by step and learn from the mistakes in a country near to us. The mobile marketing class helped me create one of the most important assets for my business plan and that is ‘Create your own event’ software and application. I knew I wanted to have a web page for the company, I just never thought out side the box and made me realize what would really attract people to my web site and the potential it has to grow all over the world rather than just Latin America.

The biggest challenge I found was that there is no information in event coordination companies. Everything that I searched for was on related topics other than my exact subject. I just joggled with information related to other businesses similar to mine and from there narrow the information down to what I needed. Another challenge was searching for doable dates for things like the LLC when I am really not getting this done. I just searched the laws in Puerto Rico and how long would it take for an LLC to be legalized. Another big issue was getting the numbers for financials, for the pro forma I actually went to the accountant to figure something out making sense and not over doing it. This is of course in addition to my writing issues.

This master’s degree has been a whole new experience for me. Beginning with learning how to use a Mac computer to how to do a professional resume. It was because of EBMS that I had the opportunity to meet the head of development and current programming at mun2; they were hiring for the summer and he emailed me giving me the position. It was a great experience and it was hard to just work for the summer. I have always said that with this master’s program I would like to be an executive in a network and just being able to put a step in and taste it was an amazing experience. If they have had the budget I would have kept my job, since this was not the case, the great experience ended. Also when I go to acting auditions and they ask me tell me about you I always answer, “I’m doing my master” that is a great subject to talk about. I have grown with this program in many ways and the reason is that we got to taste the real life, and made me realize exactly where I would like to focus, what I prefer to do for the rest of my life that is if acting is not my future. 

Moises Velez...Latinos representing. GEBS

On November 08, 2008 I got the opportunity to participate in the annual Backstage ‘Actorfest’; Backstage is a newspaper targeted for actors. http://www.backstage.com/bso/index.jsp ‘Actorfest’ is held every year with the purpose of helping upcoming actors reach their dream. This year because of all the Latino current participation in this season TV shows and Films they did a casting call and a panel with casting directors, managers, agents, the VP for Diversity at Fox Broadcast and the Head of development and programming at Mun2. This panel gave us the information of how agents, managers, casting directors, networks and studios tap Latino talent. In that panel the actors present had the opportunity to get a little scoop on the entertainment business actors side.

     It was in the ‘Actorfest’ that I met Moises Velez. Mr. Velez, from Mexican decent, currently is in charge of the Development and Current programming for mun2. Mun2 is part of NBC Universal.  As a panelist he gave some insight in how Mun2 is expanding and the Latino community in The United States. Moises Velez went to Los Angeles county high school for the arts from 1987 to 1989 and then attended the University of California, Los Angeles. Mr. Velez started in a double mayor, theatre and English literature, because he went to high school specialized in arts he drop out of the theatre program. He did his own mayor doing programs of film, writing and directing courses under the mentorship Peter Sellers, Director. In college Moises Velez did an internship for Michael Philips, this experience opened doors to Mr. Velez. Working in production and development for Public television. There he recognized the Latino world as viable. He went to work a movie at Texas and there he joined MTV. They brought him back to LA. Mr. Velez worked the business management side of MTV. Three years in the senior analyst side. Didn’t like what he was doing but he wanted to do independent production. It is in this turning point in his life that he produced a short film with Anne Kaneko, Woman’s American Program in American Film Institution. It was a short for AFI. Working in LATV Moises Velez met Flavio the Producer for Mun2, Flavio liked how Moises worked and after five years Flavio was able to contact Mr. Velez though Kaneko. Flavio gave Moises the opportunity to work as a producer for Mun2 for ten weeks. They liked the ideas that he gave so much that they started adding weeks until he became part of the payroll.

Mun2 plan of expansion and internationalization counts with new programs, different programming for each country maintaining the same style and connecting all the countries with holamun2.com. With the expansion the idea is to target all this countries with the programming that they already have, music videos targeted to each country in addition to the new shows we will be seeing in 2010. 

Elizabeth Sanchez from Marketing to Finance

As a new generation of independent women I wanted to interview a Latino women that would make me realize and understand the concept of finance in another way. I have always been involved in some way with advertising agencies and understood that Elizabeth Sanchez, the controller of J Walter Thompson would be the correct person to interview.

Elizabeth ‘Lilly’ Sanchez studied her bachelor in Marketing at Bentley College. During her studies in Marketing she found out that her interests changed to Finance, it was natural and easier for her. Growing up in Puerto Rico in an all girls school she was taught that she was capable of accomplishing any goals she would set. Lilly had her first interview in an advertising agency in the finance division. Her turning point was during her bachelors when she realized that she could unify both of her passions, marketing and finance. Lilly accomplished her dream by getting her first job in Miami, Fl.

When Lilly got married to her high-school sweetheart she had the necessity to relocate, and it is because of her husband that she moved back to Puerto Rico; where she was born and raised. Here she got established as the controller of a world-wide renowned, agency J Walter Thompson. As part of her professional growth Lilly has done continued study to keep up with different aspects of her career. One of the biggest issues that she has encountered moving from different cities was learning the different taxes of the different states.

Lilly does not believe in the stock market unless you have the money to “gamble” and the time to keep track of it, eventhough no one wants to lose money. There are a lot of different factors that has caused the crisis we are going through right now; but now it has been highlighted since the CEO’s from Ford, GM & Chrysler went and begged for a loan. These companies were asking for a loan because of the bad administration that kept companies losing and the stocks and bonds going down, something that could have been prevented years ago, but it wasn't until now that it is being felt in the community. Definitely the stock and bonds are not a good investment in this moment. There are opportunities in the stock market and it still has not hit bottom, but definitely it is not Lilly’s suggestion. The only investment that she has is the 401K because it is one of the benefits of the company. If she needed to advice me because I want to invest, to only do it in mutual funds, but still just saving right now is the way to go. One other suggestion that she gave me following the saving concept was to put the money in a money market account, this way your money is not tied and you will get a good interest until the economy gets stable and decisions can start getting made. The reality is that we are in a surviving period of the economy. Decisions need to be made in order to survive, personally and in the business aspect. The society is in a survival mode.

For Elizabeth it is a moment in history that everything needs to re-invent itself in order to come out of this crisis. Because of our technologic society and other factors, the time has come for the world to feed the needs. The world needs to diversify. Eventhough of this re-inventing strategy that she understands it is necessary, the best advice is to invest the traditional way, realestate ‘IF’ it is appropriate.

Because we are in a recession one of the best options is to buy properties that are on foreclosures. If someone has the money to invest, infrastructure is the safe way and the most intelligent way to go. One option that always works in Puerto Rico is to convert a property into a collection of one-bedroom apartments for college students.

Lilly also conversed that in another scenery, not in today situation she would advise that I should try the mutual funds are a good way to start in the investments and develop to portfolios when I would be ready to have that ‘big’ step. Lilly also said to not get attached to the stocks that if you buy to just learn the most important concept, buy low sell higher. “Don’t wait for the stock to go down again. Just get half a point from each stock and you are already winning.” Elizabeth Sanchez.

Fernando Mendoza..a humble winner. PAD

Mr. Fernando Mendoza has been in the marketing business since a really young age when his father got him a small part time opportunity in an advertising agency in Puerto Rico. As a young rebel Fernando wanted to be a sports teacher and his dad knew that he was destined for better things in life, which is why his dad got him the part time job in an advertising agency.

Mr. Mendoza got the opportunity to know better advertising and marketing at a really young age. This led to his study of Business Administration at the University of Puerto Rico where he studied marketing with the mayor and eventually did post graduate studies in Marketing Management at Columbia University. Fernando Mendoza went through stages in order to become who he is today. He started, as an Account service trainee, progressed to Account Management Supervisor, became a partner and finally President.

Fernando was also a member for many years of the Puerto Rico advertising Association and in 1992 he became the President of the organization. In 1993 he got the opportunity to be part of the jury for FIAP (International Federation of Ibero-America Advertising Agencies), which after Cannes is the biggest competition of creativity in the world. The event was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In 1990, while attending the world basketball tournament in Buenos Aires, Fernando Mendoza witnessed the first courtside-rotating billboard. Mr. Mendoza recognized the marketing value of this concept and went out of his way to find all the information necessary to import this system to the Puerto Rican market. He found the billboards intriguing and interesting and researched all the contacts in order to get the courtside rotating billboards to work in PR Where he eventually got a contract.

The initiation of the rotating billboard to Puerto Rico began in 1991 when he created Dorna Sports Promotions Inc. (PR) in partnership with Dorna Sports headquartered in Madrid, Spain. This union revolutionized sports in Puerto Rico and in less than a year, Fernando built the company he wanted.

Dorna Sports Promotions Inc. main focus is courtside-rotating billboards, a new televised billboard media. Dorna PR entered a contractual agreement with the PR basketball federation and PR volleyball federation and acquired TV rights to present the Courtside Rotating Billboards in all nationally televised games broadcasted by these federations.

In this moment in his life, he was able to unite his two passions, sports and advertising. He had the vision and seized an opportunity to make it work in PR by utilizing a new marketing medium, which easily communicates products to the consumer. In 1999 Fernando Mendoza bought out Dorna Sports PR and became a sole proprietorship under the new name Adtime Sports. Having total control of the company, he worked harder to achieve his goals and in 2008 the company upgraded their equipment to a newly developed digital set up.

The courtside rotating billboards is an effective medium because it maximizes viewer exposure to a brand while their attention is focused on the TV screen, which happens to coincide with a broadcasted game. This without a doubt captures the target attention because nothing compares to the courtside rotating billboards and they are the only authorized courtside-rotating billboards used in Puerto Rico. There is a significant difference between magazine and newspaper advertisements which target the reader, compared to one courtside rotating billboard which captures two targets at one time, the television audience and the live audience. One of the most important assets of his product is that since it is digitalized, the advertiser can change their message instantly, refocusing their product within about 10 minutes. Since they did the digital upgrade they are ahead of other options, avant-garde. Adtime Sports also give their clients a performance guarantee through a confirmation recorded DVD that their product will be featured with guaranteed exposure.

Some clients have been with the company for more than 10 years including; Burger King, Gatorade, Coca-Cola and Chrysler just to name a few. Dorna Puerto Rico, now Adtime Sports has been successful because Mr. Mendoza had the vision and the courage to pursue a new goal in his successful life. It was because of his credentials that Dorna Sports gave Mr. Mendoza the opportunity to develop the product in Puerto Rico and this was how he managed to get all the contacts necessary to ensure the success of Adtime Sports. With out a doubt the best choice for products.

Juan Saavedra...the real deal. LAW

After researching for a lawyer that would fit my needs I found Mr. Juan Saavedra. When I called his office they were so welcoming that was the first thing I liked about them, then Mr. Saavedra gave this quote “The good lawyer would not allow the client to say what they will be doing. The lawyer gives a services and that is the purpose.” (Juan Saavedra) I need someone that is there to understand and help me make the right decisions, not what I say I am going to do. He also has demonstrated total domain in the Puerto Rico judicial system. In addition he can also litigate in New York. For Enid Collazo, LLC is of big advantage because most of the companies we work for are based in New York City.

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Mr. Saavedra managed to leave a small town and do his Bachelors in Yale with a mayor in Literature. His goal was to become a reporter concentrating in law this is why he went to Harvard Law where he got his Graduate degree and found his passion in life; since then he has been practicing for 27 years. After he graduated, it is a tradition in Puerto Rico, to work with a judge to learn the etiquette of the Court House. Then he moved to New York where he worked for four years at a White Shoe Law Firm, White and Case. After this experience he returned to Puerto Rico to become the lawyer of the Bank of Development of Puerto Rico for one year. This job only lasted a year because there was a change in government, he tried to find a job in the private sector, not being able to find any open position, Juan opened his own office; it has been 17 years since that day when he decided to practice on his own.

Juan Saavedra was first introduced to the entertainment community ten years ago when he had the opportunity to represent a writer that was in a legal dispute over copyright infringement. After succeeding in this case many cases of litigation in the entertainment industry came along, with this Mr. Saavedra became one of the most prominent entertainment lawyers in Puerto Rico. Now he dedicates half of his practice to litigation where he fights for copyright infringement, he claims protection for the authors. Because his goal is to make every possible move for his clients to win, he has made agreements without going to the stand. Through his career he has made contracts between artists and record labels, and recently he has re-negotiated a 30-year contract with the new owner of The Fania All Star. He is always seeking for business opportunities between artists and producers. In all these years he has learned that a good lawyer need good clients. As a client we need to read the contracts, be on top of the game, and let the lawyer use the right legal terms. It is important to remember that the lawyers will translate and interpret a juridical language to what the client wants. The client needs to be informed. The biggest liability is that the client says that they did not approve what is there, what they got as a final product. Another liability is that the subcontractor did not give their services or the money offered is not complete after the transaction is done. Mr Saavedra recalls of a case that the Artist claims that after a year or more of a cancelled concert he cannot remember if he got paid for that concert or if the money is still in the bank. Just a simple e-mail would have prevented this situation.

During this hour of a highly educated and entertaining interview Mr. Saavedra recommended ‘The Business of Music’ from his dear friend and colleague William Krasilovsky co written by Jonathan Feinstein. He encouraged me to read this book since Mr. Krasilovsky has worked many entertainment industry cases with great success. He also told me to never give up a deal because I could not get hold of my lawyer. “If the deal is worth it just take it.” Juan Saavedra. Also he said that if I need to consult my lawyer that means that there is something wrong with that deal and maybe I should not take it at all. Still believing that is always preferable to have a lawyer to revise the contracts, since a 95 percent of the litigated cases could have been solved by a well-written contract. This lawyer is a firm believer that the client is who wins or losses the case. This is why he fights harder to get good deals that would satisfy both parties. He learned this lesson the hard way when Juan represented a client that he should have negotiated an agreement in that moment and refused to do it, he did not get what he wanted for his client. After this lesson Juan Saavedra has had many shinning moments that he can call to mind, but the most precious is as he called it, ‘The Napkin Deal’ he feels honored to negotiate a contract of $10 million dollars to save a project of 150 millions. The contract was signed in a napkin in a restaurant in Old San Juan. Today this deal is The Conquistador Hotel and Resort. Juan sees that the lawyer’s job was to leave aside emotions and resolve this issue.

This really humble person has represented many Latino artists and managers. One case that I can recall that he represented Mr. Ralph Cartagena, the former manager of Gilberto Santa Rosa and El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, both sued Mr. Cartagena for copyright, royalties and breach of contract. After Juan Saavedra won the case for Ralph Cartagena, Gilberto Santa Rosa went to the Court of Appeals where Gilberto tried canceling the contract and collection of royalties for four productions that where created for Combo Records. The judges of the court of appeals understood that it was to late to claim of rights over these productions. Like these cases, Juan has represented numerous Artists and Manager’s claiming that one of his most interesting and challenging clients has been Ralph Cartagena.

If you want to contact him:

http://lawyers.justia.com/lawyer/juan-saavedra-1169344

The mind behind El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico. PAM

In May of 1962 a group of musicians wanted to work while each of them found a job to sustain their families. El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico as it was named, started working without thinking in long-term goals.

Rafael Ithier has been the Bandleader, pianist, composer, arranger and music director of the group since this meeting, because it was a short-term job he also managed the group. Ithier has demonstrated to be a great self-manager for this group creating euphoria through out the world for 47 years.

El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico is a Salsa band that has opened doors and new markets for other Latino artists. Thanks to Rafael Ithier, El Gran Combo is the most successful salsa band in the country and worldwide. When the group was growing Ithier understood the necessity of having a limited management hiring the owner of the record label they recorded for, Ralph Cartagena. Cartagena was in charge of the international aspect of bookings, while Ithier still had the book and made the contracts in Puerto Rico. Each member of El Gran Combo has a duty making Ithier’s job as a manager a little easier there is a treasurer, travel agent, stylist and choreographer. With this team they have made Puerto Rico understand that if you work as a team, you also win as one. Many have different opinions of their management but the truth is that Rafael Ithier has made wise decisions that have benefited the group in many aspects. We need to remember that when this group was formed having a manager was not a norm, only a few artists had one.

Rafael Ithier was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico 29 August 1926. Rafael Ithier has made El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico an institution in Latin music history. “A talented, self-taught pianist, Ithier described himself, saying, “Ever since my childhood, music was my love. I never studied how to play any instrument. I am practically self-learned, an innate musician, because music comes easy to me. It takes me a month to learn what normally it takes someone else to learn in a year. And since I take it to a practical level because I work so often, it’s been easy for me to learn.”” (musicofpuertorico.com)

Rafael Ithier started his career when he was 18 years old with Conjunto Lucerito, then Conjunto Hawayano. There were many groups that did not last long; it was until the composer Faustino “Tito” Henriquez made a group that was named Conjunto Taone. As Rafael Ithier recalls it was in this group that his professional career began. After a few years with the band Ithier left to the Army, there he formed a group called Los Borinquenia Mambo Boys. Even after their duty was over the group travelled to New York, Chicago and other places. The group stayed together until 1955. After Los Borinquenia Mambo Boys Ithier started getting recognition as the pianist of Cortijo y su Combo. Led by Rafael Cortijo and Ismael Rivera.

In the peak of the band career the musicians had controversies with the leaders decisions, the musicians just left the band. It was in May 1962 that a group of struggling musicians had a meeting and created El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico.

“We have manage to be together as a group this long because we are human beings first. We are respectful and educated maintaining the humanism and a direct contact with the fans.” (Rafael Ithier) Ithier never imagined he would manage a group that would last this long or that would be as famous. After el Gran Combo signed with Combo Records, Ithier and Cartagena got to a managing agreement. It was then that Ralph Cartagena became the international manager of El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico and still Ithier had total control of the contracts that Ralph did for El Gran Combo. Rafael Ithier through out these years he would not make any decisions differently. He has never changed his mind or regrets any decisions he has ever made.

After 12 years of surviving with El Gran Combo, one of the members got a note from his mortgage to create their record label EGC. This was a group’s milestone since they created many hits under this label. Another moment that Rafael Ithier realized who they had become was when Motown offered a contract to sign El Gran Combo to their label. For reasons out of their control, El Gran Combo was not added to their roster.

After all this years Ithier has not changed his managing style. “The only change we had was that when we signed with Combo Records and the owner became the group’s international manger.” (Rafael Ithier) As an innate musician, Rafael got to work his business according to him “I studied a little bit of accounting and when I went to the Army the discipline that I have I had applied it in El Gran Combo. Every decision that I’ve made I stood by it until this day. I have learned from my errors.” (Rafael Ithier)

After 46 years El Gran Combo has survived, maintained and lived. They are part of the Puerto Rico History and a pillar of the Salsa history. Ithier knows that El Gran Combo legacy will end someday “I am a firm believer of new talent; we started as one. When we started as El Gran Combo we had many enemies, but still we managed to outgrow it and become what we are today. There is a need to support new talent, new groups. We are united as one, we are Salsa. I did for the gender what I could; we are an established group that has become an icon of Puerto Rico, of Salsa. Now it is time to see new groups write the new history of this beautiful gender that has given us the opportunity to grow and become who we are today. Right now what we can do is give support to this new generation of Salsa, and for us to give all the advice they are willing to take.” (Rafael Ithier)

In this picture with Rafael Ithier at a traditional puertorrican christmas party I did for El Gran Combo ;)

Orlando Cepeda Jr. when something is “meant” to be it will happen. Deal making became his life.

Negotiating is hard work, and is even harder when you are a person who follows emotions and dreams. It is difficult to put aside one’s emotions in order to successfully do business, and this interview truly opened my eyes to this, and to the fact that one needs to learn how “real life” is; how important it is to be a team player and have a good lineup of professionals by one’s side. One needs to realize that in order to be a good negotiator one must take advantage of situations and see how they benefit your deal. Negotiating and deal making is a challenge which not everyone is competent enough to be successful at; with my Leadership Portfolio I got the opportunity to interview a person that I feel deep admiration for, who is quite successful at this great matter: Orlando Cepeda Jr. One of the few Latino sports agents in the United States, Cepeda Jr. is a great negotiator who truly has learned to take advantage of all the situations in life. According to him, getting a YES is an art form and a way of negotiating without giving in.

Orlando Cepeda, Jr. was born in Phoenix, Arizona. His father, Hall of Famer Orlando M. Cepeda, raised him in Puerto Rico until his late teens, when he took him to California to further intensify his love for baseball. After years of dreaming of becoming a professional baseball player, Cepeda Jr. found himself injured at the age of 24. The necessity of finding a new source of income and success became quite conspicuous then, and he took his passion and knowledge for sports and made them his business.

A few years later, Orlando got the opportunity to work with a company owned by Adidas, called Ben Greck, which wanted their brand on the Latino players. Orlando knew several baseball players who, he knew, would help him out on this guerrilla marketing. He proceeded to use all these contacts and proved his abilities as beginner negotiator. In the early 90’s Adidas was in the process of expansion in the USA, and it was then when Cepeda Jr. became in charge of Adidas Baseball, where he stayed for 10 years. In this process he got to meet a lot of agents that encouraged him to work directly in the business, but he did not like nor felt he was mature enough to negotiate players; he remained working with Adidas. Cepeda Sr., his father, was quite proud to introduce his son to one of the greatest sports agents, Jeff Moorad. At the moment, Orlando seemed too young and too “green” for Moorad’s business, which proves, once again, that luck is when opportunity and preparation meet. Cepeda Jr. was not prepared, and Moorad’s good business judgments could see that.

A few years later, when Orlando was working in Adidas, Dusty Baker a Major League baseball player from the San Francisco Giants invited him to have dinner at his home, where once again Jeff Moorad was to meet his way. At this dinner Jeff asked Orlando to “talk business”. At this point, Jeff had seen the development and maturation of Cepeda Jr., and he was ready to offer him a job that was “perfect” for him. Because of the Latin craze in baseball, Jeff needed a key person to connect him with the Latin players; Orlando Cepeda, Jr. needed to be the link between the players and Mr. Moorad and he did it. Jeff became Orlando’s mentor and taught him the greatest pillars on how to be an agent and, over all, a good dealmaker.

Today, Orlando Jr. still works in the same company, LS Legacy Sports Group located in Newport Beach, CA. This boutique agency represents baseball players only, and gives them the proper attention they deserve as successful sportsmen. Currently, LS Legacy Sports Group is one of the eight most powerful agencies in Baseball, even after Jeff Moorad left the agency to become a part owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Orlando is a key component of this great company whose “trick” is to always have a great team of dealmakers.

As the successful team that they are they use two techniques that are key for their negotiations: market value and bluffing. The market value technique is where every agent awaits for the first player to sign a contract after they have asked for money, depending on the player and stats. This sets the standards and the price that other players can expect. The second main technique is to bluff to the team about another team. Contrasting two teams is a good means to get a good negotiation, and no one can know whether it is true or not. A lot of times there are more than two teams that want to sign a contract with a player, and the agent must be ready to take the most intelligent step, which, at times, means letting go of a deal with a team. For Cepeda Jr. one of the most gratifying negotiations was when Nike signed a marketing campaign for eight years with Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez who has been one of the most influential Latino baseball players in the Major Leagues, and Orlando understands the difficulty that it is to negotiate a contract with such a sponsor, which can truly pick out anyone they wish to.

In this picture with Orlando Cepeda Jr. and my mom.

How many goals can you set in a year? Work done during Full Sail Experience

When I started the masters I also wanted to do everything. During this past year I worked as a promo manager for Leaddog Marketing. That meant hiring the team that was going to work the promotion for the week ends that they were needed; the schedule for each one of them and their duties, giving them the so needed breaks meanwhile keeping the event running smoothly. You guys know who you are and did an amazing job! Thank you.

When this promo ended I went to Puerto Rico and worked with Enid Collazo the Inmediata clients cocktail. There I was in charge of the decoration and entertainment for the event. I needed to subcontract the people that worked with us, rent the needed equipment and hire the performers.

When the winter season was over I came back to Los Angeles and started working promotions with Market Development. My job with them is also as a manager. What I need to do is hire people and assign them what promo they will be working and where. Till this date I still have this job and is really fun also. During Summer I was hired as a part-time at mun2 and I know you guys already read all the details about it.

I think that I have accomplished successfully this past year goals. I just don’t know when it is too much or if it is even possible to have too many goals. I have worked more during this past year but these ones I feel really proud of. This week I have been scheduling new challenges…new goals. The past has been great and really rewarding. I am just really excited for my future.

Welcome to my life…

I have already talked about my move to Los Angeles. My dreams of pursuing acting how I started with music. Hopefully you went to myspace.com/marielworld and heard me singing. Linked on mun2 and saw Annie ;) dancing and calling Joey out…wow! Seriously…that was funny.

http://www.holamun2.com/candy/el-show-shorts/chica-vs-papi-granny-panty

http://www.holamun2.com/candy/el-show-shorts/dances-of-the-americas-reggaeton-annie

I also talked to you about guys, love and how we all have a “Mr. Big’ (Sex and the City). The most important subject right now is another milestone in my life, my masters degree. Since I’ve already told you how I picked Full Sail, now I want to give you an inside scoop on each of my classes and how each class influenced me, whom I interviewed and what I learned. Each of my interviewers are Latinos because I want to learn from them how each one of them made it to be who they are today.

Welcome to my life. Thank you for being part of it ;)

Mariel

Searching for more… Full Sail University

Coming from an artistic family it has been my dream to move to Los Angeles and pursue acting. I started following my passion by singing since a really early age in my life. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico; I make this note because that has everything to do with me pursing a career in music first. When I realized that acting could be a serious career I packed my bags and this is where I am now.

Since I graduated college I wanted to do my masters, I just needed to find the right moment and place to get my degree from. Currently I am doing my Entertainment Business Masters at Full Sail University. It was a really hard task to find a University that would give what I needed, when I needed, where I needed, Full Sail gave me exactly that. The experience has been amazing. Since I started the program I understood that this was a challenge and I feel really good about it… it is with great pleasure that today I can say that in October 2^nd I will be graduating and accomplishing a personal goal.

I just can’t express the joy that fulfills me today, the satisfaction I feel. Now I need to start my search again. Find what am I going to do now. What is the next project, the next mission… I will be writing blogs more often and letting people know how I feel, what is new and what is happening in every aspect. School is over Sunday and I already volunteered for a charity event Saturday 3^rd and I am organizing a small shoot with a friend. Monday we will start writing a script, the goal is to shoot a short film that we can also use as a pilot. Let see how that new project goes. It just sounds exciting! The most important goal after graduation is to finish one really important project…soon I’ll say the name and the details ;)

I love every step I take, it doesn’t matter if I fall I know that I am strong enough to get up and keep going. I am not afraid whatever my future is; that is what I am destined to do.

Hear me sing :

www.myspace.com/marielworld

The end of a reign, the beginning of the new emperor.

How many times have we started going out with a guy and we see all of our future? It doesn’t matter how cool or unattached we are there is always ‘One’ guy. You just sit across the table and say… “he is everything I am looking for”. Or maybe he is the exact opposite of what you are used to date. If you feel like THAT, it doesn’t matter, you are already fantasizing about the future, probably a future that will never exist.

Lets just hold this future for a bit and focus on this ‘One’ guy…the ‘One’ guy that breaks our heart, ‘One’ guy that teach us about life, ‘One’ guy that we learn everything from…ahhh!!!…There is always a Mr. Big (Sex and the City). We fall so hard for this guy that we are willing to do ANYTHING for him. That person makes us alive when we’re with him…makes us feel happy. Many times they don’t even break your heart, he is the perfect partner, you are the perfect couple.

But something always goes wrong. Inevitably our heart is broken, we think that we are not going to be able to deal with such a pain. “Why me???” And that is how this reign ends, with pain and suffering. You still maintain communication because you think that deep, deep inside he is the right guy for you. Because he is going to see what you are really worth and things will change between you too.

Then you meet a guy, randomly of course. Blind dates are so awkward and strange and being set up barely ever works. Going back to the new emperor…you start feeling excited for a date and you just start feeling… not for the ‘One’ guy but instead for ‘The’ guy. The one that really makes you happy and makes you understand how valuable you really are. That there was no reason to cry or think that the end of the reign was the end of the world; it was just the beginning of a new emperor.

In the picture with my eternal love…My dad….