About Us
Multicultural PR veterans Manny Ruiz and Angela Sustaita-Ruiz are the co-publishers of The Hispanic PR Blog, a division of Hispanic Media Trainers, LLC. Below are their biographies.
Manny Ruiz
Co-Publisher, Hispanic PR Blog
Manny Ruiz is co-publisher of the Hispanic PR Blog, a Hispanic media and tradeshow company that together with the Hispanic PR & Social Marketing Conference are owned by Hispanic Media Trainers, LLC. Prior to launching the blog, Manny was President of Multicultural Markets and Hispanic PR Wire for PR Newswire. Prior to PR Newswire’s acquisition of Hispanic PR Wire, Hispanic Digital Network and LatinClips in 2008, Ruiz was Chairman and CEO of HispaniMark, the parent company of these three businesses.
A media trailblazer, former journalist, award-winning PR professional and dynamic keynote speaker on media trends, Ruiz is often sought after for his expertise on media, PR and public affairs. A longtime member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Ruiz is the immediate past co-chair of PRSA’s national diversity committee and the host/co-founder of the organization’s national monthly podcast “PRSA Diversity Today.” He has also served as a board member of the PRSA Miami Chapter.
Prior to launching Hispanic PR Wire in 2000, Ruiz was a founder and media relations director of the National Hispanic Market Practice of Porter Novelli. While at Porter Novelli, Ruiz played a central role in the success of the Florida anti-teen smoking campaign “truth.” Ruiz spearheaded Florida media relations for the “truth” campaign which for two consecutive years swept all of the PR industry’s most coveted awards including the PRSA Silver Anvil Award of Excellence and the PR Week Health Campaign of the Year.
Before entering the PR profession, Ruiz was a police beat reporter for The Miami Herald. He was part of the editorial team that in 1992 was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Community Service for their coverage of Hurricane Andrew. While he was a reporter, Ruiz also shot photographic documentaries in Cuba. His black and white photography from Cuba has earned him three exhibits, two solos and a national award.
Ruiz, a Miamian of Cuban American descent, has a bachelors of arts degree in history from Florida International University.
Angela Sustaita-Ruiz
Co-Publisher, Hispanic PR Blog
Angela is the co-publisher of The Hispanic PR Blog and president of Hispanic Media Trainers, LLC. A longtime Hispanic public relations and marketing consultant, Angela has provided senior counsel to numerous companies and organizationgs including: Unilever, Burger King, Washington Mutual, AstraZeneca, Schering-Plough, and the Texas Beef Council.
Prior to consulting, Angela previously worked with the New York and Austin offices of Edelman Multicultural, where she developed and oversaw general market and multicultural public relations activities for Kraft Foods, Hershey’s, Unilever/Dove, Starbuck’s, Ortho Evra, Schering-Plough, McKesson, and the New York International Latino Film Festival.
Angela’s has played a leading role with PR teams that have received numerous awards including the 2004 Mercury Silver Award for Client Product Launch: Hershey’s Kisses filled with Caramel, and the 2003 Silver Anvil Award for Marketing Consumer Services – Healthcare: Together Rx. She has also participated in a variety of industry and professional conferences including the 2005 Monster Diversity Leadership Program for which she was a keynote speaker.
Prior to joining Edelman, Angela served as International Operations Supervisor for Cinemark, an international motion picture exhibitioner based in Dallas. While at Cinemark, she launched a training newsletter to foster better communication among international personnel. She also worked closely with the Latin American Division of Coca-Cola and country offices to formulate marketing plans for Mexico, Argentina and Chile.
Angela, a native Texan of Mexican descent, holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Her studies included a semester at Universidad Nacional de Cuyo in Mendoza, Argentina, and serving as English lecturer at Yonok College in Lampang, Thailand.
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Hello Manny and Angela,
This is a GREAT idea! Excellent blog design …
Please consider adding a health category — many Hispanics are suffering unnecesarily with diseases such as diabetes.
Sincerely,
Richard James
richardjames13@gmail.com
I look forward to relevant PR that highlights the contributions of Latinos to this great country.
Buena Suerte Manny y Angela. Wish you all the best of luck with the new blog. I’ll add you to my links on http://www.latino-lingo.com.
WC
Congratulations to you both on your new venture. I look forward to staying current by reading your daily blog.
Any chance you might consider creating a category for “Education”, “Personal Finance” and ‘Insurance”?
That would also be helpful to your readers.
Once again, Felicidades!
Hi Manny, congratulations on your blog–it’s great. I’ll be stopping by everyday to see what’s new in the PR world.
Hey Mani,
Cool blog. Keep the hard work. More feedback coming.
Best. Alex.
Excellent blog and about time. I have always appreciated the power of the latino voice in the business world and will definitely keep posted.
Best of luck to both on this great venture.
LULAC Passes Resolution Asking Secretary Hilda Solis to Investigate and Stop its Practice established from the Previous Administration of Purging the Latino Employee Workforce from the Department of Labor
San Francisco, CA – The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is launching a campaign to implement a resolution adopted by its recent National Executive Board meeting in Milwaukee regarding allegations of employee discrimination, retaliation, and termination of Dr. Alberto Rocha from federal service by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and the manner in which his case has been managed. Dr. Rocha’s efforts to keep his position with OFCCP have been the subject of numerous local and national news releases and Congressional inquiries. Senator Diane Feinstein, Senator Barbara Boxer and Representatives Barbara Lee, Pete Stark, George Miller, Dennis Cardoza, and Henry Waxman have written letters to the Agency in support of Dr. Rocha.
Dr. Alberto Rocha has been in EEO litigation with Agency since 2002, after successfully competing for the position of Assistant District Director of OFCCP. According to LULAC, Dr. Rocha was asked to relinquish his position as chairman of a national Hispanic advocacy organization (National Image, Inc.) by OFCCP leadership. Dr. Rocha refused, maintaining that the request violated protected personnel practices. As a result, Dr. Rocha has claimed in his litigation that he faced numerous incidents of retaliation by OFCCP over the years and was required to hire an attorney and file EEO complaints to protect his liberties as a federal employee.
According to Dr. Rocha, Department of Labor (DOL) Solicitors initially reached a settlement with him regarding his discrimination and retaliation claims in February of 2007. DOL Solicitors agreed to the terms with the caveat that the settlement required final approval from the National Office of OFCCP. Dr. Rocha alleges that after he had bargained in good faith to try to settle the matter, nearly six weeks later the proposed settlement was cancelled by OFCCP. Dr. Rocha contends that in October of 2007, DOL Solicitors reengaged settlement talks with his attorney, with a new demand of having Dr. Rocha leave the agency. When Dr. Rocha rejected that demand, the agency ceased settlements talks.
Since then, Dr. Rocha’s legal team contend that DOL Solicitors have proposed and submitted another settlement proposal and have requested approval by the OFCCP National Office to engage in another round of settlement talks. However, DOL Solicitors have communicated to Dr. Rocha’s attorney that the OFCCP National Office is not interested in any form of settlement.
LULAC s charging that the Department of Labor is continuing to waste hundreds of hours of at least six (6) DOL senior trial attorneys and its support staff on this subject case. LULAC has also previously accused the prior Department of Labor administration of having been “stacked” with associates of the right-wing Heritage Foundation that were engaged in a systematic purge of minorities and employees who had been effective in combating workplace discrimination and abuse. LULAC contends that the DOL’s continued stonewalling amounts to a cover-up of the prior administration’s hidden agenda.
LULAC is denouncing as “obstinate” the OFCCP leadership’s demand that Dr. Rocha leave the agency as a condition of a settlement and is calling on the OFCCP administration to stop ignoring the advice of DOL Solicitors. LULAC National Vice President for the Far West Angel Luevano, himself a former OFCCP administrator for whom the “Luevano Consent Decree” is named (which governs EEO hiring practices for Federal Employees) is accusing the OFCCP of being severely underrepresented in Latino employees and specifically Latino managers. In addition, LULAC is raising concerns about the waste and abuse of government resources on this case and castigates the poor judgment of OFCCP leadership as affecting the effectiveness and mission of the agency in serving the public sector.
On January 15, 2009, Carol Larsen, Administrative Law Judge for California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board issued a Decision Letter, regarding Dr. Rocha’s right for unemployment benefits, stating that Dr. Rocha “… did not deliberately violate any employer rule or regulation or act in a manner which was in willful disregard of this employer’s interest. He was discharged for reasons other than misconduct connected with his most recent work and is therefore not disqualified under section 1256.” LULAC says that this shows an objective and unbiased finding that Dr. Rocha’s termination was nothing but the escalation of on-going efforts to retaliate against Dr. Rocha because of his opposition to unlawful race and ethnic discrimination in employment at OFCCP.
Angel Luevano, National Vice President states that “LULAC issued numerous letters of concern to the Honorable Elaine Chao, Secretary of Labor, United Stated Department of Labor in which the Agency failed to respond to them and has “stonewalled” requests for an investigation on the same concerns from Senator Diane Feinstein, Senator Barbara Boxer, and Congress Members Barbara Lee, Pete Stark, George Miller, Dennis Cardoza, and Henry Waxman. As the agency responsible for contractor compliance with federal nondiscrimination laws and regulations, OFCCP has a responsibility to be a workplace model for the private sector contractors it oversees and must be held accountable.”
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Hi Angela and Manny,
My name is Wesly Hernandez and I have been a reader of your blog for some time now. I realize that your publication is great at writing about Latino issues that are culturally and socially relevant. I just wanted to write to tell you that I’m helping the NFL reach out to their Hispanic and Latino fans with a contest called Tu Pasion. I know that you cover various latino worldly issues on hispanicprblog.com– would you be interested in posting about Tu Pasion to let your readers know?
The Tu Pasion contest is really easy to enter – all you need to do is submit a picture or video in their NFL environment to the NFL Latino Tu Pasion contest webpage by November 22, 2009:
http://tupasion.nflatino.com/los_mas_recientes.php?pagina=1
After this date a winner will be selected by a panel of judges based on creativity, passion, energy level, and the general image itself. We’ve already had a few entries by some NFL fans– check them out!
http://tupasion.nflatino.com/media_detail.php?id_media=136
http://tupasion.nflatino.com/media_detail.php?id_media=229
http://tupasion.nflatino.com/media_detail.php?id_media=173
The top five finalists will receive a $500 gift card which can be used for any purchase at the NFL’s webstore. Plus, the first prize winner will receive an all expense paid trip to the 2010 ProBowl in South Florida!
If you need any help with your post – or if you have any thoughts about our site – please let me know and I’ll be happy to help out. Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you soon!
All the best,
Wesly Hernandez
MarketingWorks
Wesley, we would be delighted to include something about this contest. Send us a short write up about it from a PR angle explaining all the contest elements, how your marketing it, etc…
Great idea guys. Wish you much success. You should supply me with some business cards and/or come to our networking event that happens quaterly near Bird Road and 72nd Ave. I will deinately forward your website to my great & succesful diva of a friend and award winning wedding planner for Miami, Los Angeles & NewYork. Check out her website at http://www.affairs-remembered.com/. I really think you could do well in the wedding/event world! Dont get lost and remember to give out exhalemassage gift certificates this holiday. Call me!
xoxo…Maribel Yartu
Hello,
I would like to send you a press release which I believe would be of interest to your readers. How do I do that?
Hello, I am a PhD student at the Ohio State University investigating the knowledge and usage of Spanish by Hispanic bilinguals in South Florida. I was born and grew up in Miami, but haven’t lived there for many years, so I am doing this at a distance. I am attempting to conduct my research entirely online through social media, and have a facebook page with a link to a short survey that I am using to collect my data:
http://www.facebook.com/business/dashboard/#/pages/Spanish-Grammar-Survey/229750451168
South Florida Hispanics or those with friends or family in the area are welcomed to visit the page, take the survey, become a fan, and help spread the word. There is absolutely no marketing or profit motive, nor collection of personal data, email addresses, etc. of any kind. This is purely academic research to learn more about the social factors that influence linguistic competencies. Thanks for your help!
Hi,
I’d like to send you a press release (of Latino/Cultural interest)
Please let me know how to proceed.
Thank you.
Hello and thank you for visiting my blog. I have glanced through your blog and I am now a fan. I look forward to following your continued success.
All the best,
Phil Velez
Thanks Phil. Likewise here. Looking forward to getting to know you. Let me know if we can be of any assistance to you.