Susana Baumann came to the United States from Argentina at the age of 40. She is from the city of Rosario, 300 kilometers to the northwest of the capital Buenos Aires. Baumann had studied architecture to please her father, she says, but practiced that profession only for a few years. Then she became a university professor.
Right after migrating to the U.S., she knew she had to formalize what was already shown to her as a vocation. She wanted to write and publish. That is why she did a master’s degree in Communications.
She started practicing what she had learned in public and private companies, until she opened her own business in 1996. Her office was her own home in New Jersey. It started as a translation agency and then evolved into a “multicultural marketing communications agency,” as Negocios Now reports in an interview with Baumann.
The journey was long until Baumann began focusing on Latina entrepreneurs like her and got to found Latinas In Business in 2014, in Lakewood, New Jersey. “It was a result of my experience as a Latina small business owner, and the need to give back to the community that has given me so much. Latinas are, as everyone already knows, the fastest-growing demographics in the United States that open their businesses. Not everyone knows, however, that their failure rate is also very high,” Baumann told Negocios Now.
The purpose of Latinas In Business is to advocate for the economic empowerment of Hispanic women and other non-dominant ethnic groups, the official website says. It operates as a national nonprofit organization and digital platform that provides its entrepreneurs members with branding services, marketing, advertising, editorial services, digital marketing content, social networking campaigns and the promotion of public events.
“Some of the advantages that Latina entrepreneurs have in this business environment are the same advantages you need to keep an eye on as a small business owner forever! The acronym SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) is appropriate (…) An entrepreneur is a person who is constantly looking for innovation, improvement and the achievement of new opportunities,” Baumann told Negocios Now.
In another interview with Ana Nenani, the founder and CEO of Latinas in Business, she stated that networking is the best way to succeed.
“Don’t believe you can do this on your own. Latinas we bring the best of our culture when we build community around us, and we nurture ourselves from that community. You are a part of a community that nurtures you, provides opportunities for you, supports you and most importantly, roots for your success,” she said.
Latinas in Business is organizing the fifth edition of the Latina SmallBiz Expo and Pitch Competition, taking place on November 8th in New York City. Twelve creative and innovative Hispanic finalists in the areas of wellness, technology and lifestyle will be able to pitch their companies product or services for 3 minutes to a panel of media, investors and sponsors. The winner will receive a $12,000 prize package.
Eligible participants must be Hispanic or originally Hispanic; they must own their own business or own 50% of the stock; their companies must be unique original product or service company (not franchises) with ta legal structure and must be in business for at least two years.