Student Life

Written by Prof. Jack Rose

Miramar – Students in Professor Jack Rose’s Business Expo class showcased their businesses on Friday, April 29, 2022 in the Dr. Alberto Moyano Auditorium at United International College, 3130 Commerce Parkway, Miramar, FL. These budding entrepreneurs unveiled their future business plans and appreciated the large turnout and networking opportunities that they acquired during the very special evening event. Prior to their own business expo, Professor Rose accompanied the students to the recently held Small Business Expo at the Downtown Hilton in Miami where they had the opportunity to see a great trade show/expo, interact with vendors, and attend different workshops.

Professor Rose was quick to extend accolades to the students based on feedback from all those in attendance and is confident that they will be successful in their future endeavors. 

Valerie Seguin’s company is called The Essential Oil Boutique.  “Essential oils have been around for centuries.  They are used to give natural flavor and aroma, but also play the role of preservatives. Essential oils also affect our mind, body, and spirit.  These essential oils are extracted from plants, roots or seeds and the Essential Oils Boutique is a business about essential oils which matches with the need of a part of our society to find a holistic way of life.  Valerie commented that following the pandemic, more people are interested in natural products. He product displays and samples gave attendees a “taste” of her products and the great services she personally provides all clients.

Emanveli, LLC is a photography service by Lilit Muradian.  Her company was founded and based in Miami in 2020 and provides photography and marketing services for restaurants and photo shoots for all special events.  A native of Armenia, Lilit wanted to have a business where she could utilize her exceptional skills as a photographer, while offering a great marketing service to restaurants.  Her team works with the business client and takes a table photo of guests who are mostly tourists.  They receive one picture free that has the restaurant logo in the picture and the restaurant receives great reviews after the guests are asked to go online and leave a review of the restaurant.  In addition, additional pictures are made available should other guests at the table wishes another copy.  Emanveli, LLC is very popular in the South Beach tourist area where a large majority of visitors frequent, and Lilit hopes to expand into other destinations, both domestically and internationally.

OVO Nails and Spa is the creation of student Oanh Van.  Oanh’s salon provides many different services for nail care, facials, eyebrow shaping, and other services and only uses top quality products. Her luxury salon that she plans to open in the Miramar area in a high traffic shopping center with plenty of parking and close to shops and restaurants, is planned for the near future, after graduation. Oahn will be successful since she states that she will only employ those technicians who are the best, who take pride in their work, and who believes in customer service excellence.

AFRODISIACO began in a small home in Maria Fernanda Correa’s basement in Colombia and specializes in creating and designing unique fashions for women, such as bathing suits, that are custom-made for each client to ensure a perfect fit using the highest quality fabrics that will not fade or appear bleached due to chlorine used in swimming pools.  Maria will eventually add a men’s line followed by a children’s line to accomplish her goal of designing fashions for the entire family unit. Maria’s enthusiasm and creative design techniques will ensure her success.

“Working with these great students and watching them develop their ideas and bringing them to fruition, is the result of their coursework in marketing, management, accounting, finance, business planning, and entrepreneurship, added Professor Rose.  Over the years, many successful entrepreneurs have started and grown their businesses successfully.” United International College believes in holistic education where students not only learn about becoming an entrepreneur, but can learn how to use their inner strengths to reach a higher altitude.  United International College offers Associate and Bachelor Degree programs in Business Administration, International Business Management, Communications and Mass Media, Travel and Tourism Management and an MBA program in Business. United Language Institute also offers an exclusive English as a Second Language Program. 

For further information, call United International College, (954) 607-4344.

#Entrepreneurship #startups #AppliedEducation

Written by Prof. Jack Rose

Miramar, FL – While on Spring Break, education continued with a field trip to the Small Business Expo held on Friday, March 25, 2022 at the Hilton Miami Downtown.  These future entrepreneurs, and Professor Jack J. Rose, journeyed to Miami to see a real-life trade show/expo. “Attending these events can result in networking opportunities and increasing business trend knowledge,” Rose said. “By attending the Small Business Expo, students learned how important trade shows are in preparation for their own Business Expo that will be on campus on Friday, April 22, in the Moyano Auditorium. Students visited several of the booths and the vendors were thrilled to interact with the students.

The highlight of the visit was a group workshop conducted by Bob DelVecchio, Founder and CEO of Drumming Up Business.  Mr. DelVecchio shared that he was a drummer for many well-known stars and after retiring, he pursued his dream of helping individuals seek franchise opportunities around the world.  He has clients in 82 countries and also works with small business owners in developing franchise opportunities for their business.  His company takes care of everything, from legal to marketing, to real estate, to training opportunities.  He spoke of marketing opportunities and because of his prior involvement in the music industry, he had to incorporate his love for drums in his business; thus, DRUMMING UP BUSINESS became a reality and has grown into an over billion-dollar business.  He shared that his proudest moments have been working with entrepreneurs on building their business, from starting a business to growing a business.

Every student spent the morning learning, networking, and more confident that their future business will be a very successful venture.

#SmallBusinessExpo #Entrepreneurship 

Learn more about UIC or talk to a representative (954) 607-4344. 

Written by Prof. Kenneth Ninomiya

The Forward Motion Business Show with Prof. Ken and Professor Paul A. Marino is back live streaming on YouTube from United International College. The first guest on Show #15 live stream on October 26, 2021, was Kadie Black from Kristi’s House in Miami.

Kristi House is dedicated to eradicating child abuse and child sex trafficking – working nationally on solutions and locally to heal child victims. They operate the only Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) in Miami-Dade County and are responsible for coordinating child victims’ legal, medical, and social services needs. Kristi House was founded in 1995 as a private, not-for-profit organization to provide an integrated solution for families navigating the complex services involved in the healing process. The Center is nationally recognized for its evidence-based, therapeutic expertise in treating child trauma. All services are free of charge to child victims and their families.

Kadie shared insights and expressed the importance of community support and how local businesses can support our women and kids for abused and sex-trafficked individuals at their shelter. Kadie also explained the Kristi House’s Project GOLD, the first and longest-running program in Miami-Dade County dedicated to child sex trafficking—providing the only Drop-In Center in South Florida exclusively for underage girls overcoming trafficking. At the Drop-In Center, girls receive restorative services, including case management, therapy, advocacy, transportation, and educational and recreational enrichment. Visit them to learn more and contribute at KristiHouse.org.

Prof. Ken and Professor Paul also discuss the recent failure of Quibi after only seven short months of operation. Quibi’s business model was to provide video content exclusively for the phone. Quibi stands for a “Quick Bite” because their video content would be no longer than 10 minutes.

Executive Meg Whitman led the start-up company. She took eBay to a multibillion-dollar company and turned them into what they are today, and holds degrees from Harvard and Princeton. Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg from DreamWorks fame, who created many successful shows and movies such as Shrek and The Lion King also led the start-up. The two of them together were a pretty amazing executive team which allowed them to raise $1.7 Billion to get the company started. To launch in the Spring of 2020, they took out an ad during the 2020 Super Bowl and the 2020 Oscars before the service was even available.

The concept lasted about seven months and became a rapid failure. The idea was to stream a 5 to 10-minute video to people standing around or waiting for something to happen. Quibi was hoping to take users away from Instagram and Facebook.

I immediately subscribed to the service because it sounded great and used a remarkable technology that allowed you to watch the video in portrait mode or horizontal mode on your phone. They also had a ton of content creators and big names, but the content was not that good.

Even though $1.7 Billion is a lot of money, it wasn’t enough. Their biggest competitor Netflix spends about $15 billion a year to generate new shows. Quibi also didn’t have a library of older content for viewers to watch. For example, Netflix has all the older TV shows, and Disney has older movies. So, it’s not just the new stuff that wasn’t good, but they didn’t have any older content to fill in the gaps. 

Quibi also learned that most users preferred to get short-form video content for Free on competitors’ YouTube site, so people dropped it when they started to charge for the subscription. But the real nail in their coffin was the untimely launch in April 2020, just as Covid was shutting us all down. So, if the idea was to have people watch a video when you’re standing around waiting in line waiting for the bus or waiting for the subway, it didn’t work because no one was waiting around in line. We were all locked in our houses watching Netflix. It’s hard to predict bad timing when launching a business, so that is an unexpected turn. Still, they underestimated their competition, misread their target market, and didn’t have enough money to compete. These are the lessons any business can learn from.

This Forward Motion broadcast also discussed the book The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. This was a timely discussion for all of us coming through the Covid pandemic. The book covers five essential principles to maintain a positive attitude. These were to believe in yourself, give and take care of others, you shouldn’t face your problems on your own, your attitude will affect your thoughts, and the basic concept of don’t worry, be happy!

I think that we all need to be happy and not worry 

about the small stuff. During Covid, it was only natural to feel worried, insecure, depressed, or just simply down. It’s reasonable to worry about your finances and health, but it creates more unhappiness and can ev

en exasperate illness. Worrying is a bad habit that can be switched, and your mind can be trained to re-evaluate things from a different perspective. Breaking the habit of worrying is easy if you can believe that it is possible to move on and not let it consume you daily. The best thing I do is imagine a worry-free life and that “this too shall pass.” It sounds easier than it is, and most people struggle with this concept, even me, at times. The goal should be a worry-free life, and then you can start to enjoy the power of positive thinking.

Join Professor Ken and Professor Paul for the next Forward Motion Business Show Live Stream from United International College on Tuesday, November 30, 2020, at 6:15 PM EST.

Below are helpful links from this broadcast:

Kristi House – https://kristihouse.org/
United International College: https://www.uinternational.edu/
The Forward Motion Business Show: https://www.theforwardmotionbusinessshow.com/
YouTube Channel for The Forward Motion Business Show: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiBJ22vZ002KQ–bQoeqXjg
YouTube Channel for United International College: https://www.youtube.com/c/UnitedInternationalCollege
Professor Ken: https://www.profken.us/

#ProfKenUS #Kristihouse #ForwardMotion #ForwardMotionBusinessShow #UIC

For further information, contact United International College at (954) 607-4344. 

Written by Deborah Viaro
English Composition Writing Student
English Composition Prof. Joseph Weisler
English Writing Tutor Prof. Jack Rose 

When I was younger, I once heard a sentence that went something like this: “I remember seeing a rose, but I don’t remember seeing the rosebud in the garden” (author unknown, just a memory of mine…).

In the past, it was even possible to understand why society ignored or paid little attention to the elderly: they were relatively few and mostly relegated to invisibility within their own families – for better or for worse. Today this attitude is no longer possible.

The Brazilian singer and lyricist Arnaldo Antunes, in his song “Envelhecer” (Aging), says that the most modern thing in life is getting old.

And that is how we need to think about Aging, care for and value the Elderly, defend their role in the family and in Society and, above all, show that they, through their experience have a lot to teach the younger ones.

It is known that one of humanity’s greatest achievements was the increase in years of life, in addition to an improvement in the health of the elderly population, even if these achievements are not even close to the ideal. Reaching old age, which in the past was a privilege of few people, is now common, even in underdeveloped countries. However, this achievement has become one of the great challenges for the 21st century.

Through the research of books that deal with the subject, I was able to verify that, according to Hoyer and Roodin in the book Adult Development and Aging (2003) “… the chronological age, which quantifies the passage of time elapsed in days, months and years since the birth, is one of the most common and simplest means of obtaining information about a person. Biological age is defined by bodily and mental changes that occur throughout the development process and characterize the human aging process”. Social age, on the other hand, according to Hoyer and Roodin, is defined “through habits and social status to fulfill social roles”. The authors also define psychological age as the set of skills to which individuals adapt to the environment. It can also be defined by patterns of behavior acquired throughout life. It is understood, then, that aging is the result of a socio-historical construction experienced by the individual throughout life.

Beauvoir (1990), previously, in her book The Coming of Age, highlighted the history of old age in some societies, especially in ancient China and Japan, which favored their elderly. The old Chinese instituted a centralized and authoritarian power. According to Beauvoir, “Confucius modeled in the image of the collectivity the microcosm that gave it the family as its basis. The whole house owed obedience to the older man”. It is believed that the elderly person was seen as possessing a certain supernatural power, due to their long life, occupying a prominent place, associating wisdom and experience. Also, according to Confucius, old age brings with it wisdom: “At 15, he devoted himself to the study of wisdom; at 30, I confirmed myself in it; at 40 I had no doubts, at 60 nothing else in the world could shock me; at 70 I could follow the dictates of my heart without transgressing the moral law”. Beauvoir claimed that the idea of ​​honor was related to old age. For the author, old age was integrated with wisdom, with longevity giving her experience and authority.    

Also, during our recent works through book reading, the movie and interpreting them, I was able to understand and admire “The Help”, a book based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett, where the aspiring writer, Skeeter, decides to write a book from the point of view of maids on the white families they worked for, along with the difficulties they regularly suffered. New friendships and bonds were formed, and Skeeter ends up shaking an entire Society when these untold stories are shared with the general public.

And so, I learned to admire Skeeter, this young writer who through her book showed the racism suffered by maids in white houses; I also learned to admire amazing characters like Minny Jackson and Aibileen Clark, people who never played poor things or put themselves in a victim position because they didn’t need to, but in the end, their voices could be heard and changed the understanding of those people within the context in which they lived.

Inspired by Skeeter, obviously without any pretensions, my challenge will be, not how she did it, but using another instrument, yes because obviously I’m not going to write a book, but somehow show how much we can value the elders; how much your “life baggage” built over the years is useful and still very important to us.

And still inspired by Skeeter, since I couldn’t interview him in person, I tried to discover a little of the “life story” of someone who, despite knowing very little, already had time to admire and recognize his great value. I am talking nothing less than Professor Jack J. Rose, a dear Professor at UIC, who upon my request, took no more than two hours to present me an interview, recently conducted by a student. By reading his “Curriculum of Life”, and not a Professional, I could 

understand why a person who, honestly, even though I have no idea of his age (and not the indiscretion of asking, because for me this is just a detail), has a unique ability to bring to us, “simple mortals”, a little of its great wisdom.

I will now transcribe (duly authorized by him) just a little of the interview he sent me, requested by me with the aim of enriching my work, but whose author was not informed to me.

“One of the most respected and loved professor at United International College is Professor Rose.  I had the pleasure of interviewing Professor Rose recently, and I have been a student in his Business Expo class.  Due to his reputation, I was so excited when I learned he would be my professor.  Every student at UIC knows that he truly cares about all his students, and he constantly motivate them to learn and grow.  However, I didn’t know much about his background until I interviewed him.

Professor Rose started working at the age of eight selling newspapers on a street corner in New Jersey where he grew up.  At the age of 12, he started his own business taking orders at the local beauty salon for breakfast, lunch, and mid-afternoon.  This particular salon had 18 hairdressers, 4 shampoo girls, and 8 manicurists, so we know it was a very busy place.  He made a deal with a local luncheonette that he would take the orders, get them filled, and deliver them.  He even set up an account for the workers who were too busy to stop and pay after each delivery.  He worked on tips and then informed his boss that he was leaving and working with another local restaurant because they were going to pay him $20.00 per day, plus tips.  He was happy when his boss agreed to pay him.  He worked after school on Friday and all-day Saturday, making anywhere between $50-75, which, at that time, was great pay.

Professor Rose has his own marketing and management consulting company, and we wonder when he has time to sleep.  I asked him that very question, and he said, “I’m like the Energizer Bunny in that every so often, I spend Sunday in bed watching sports, while I recharge my batteries.”  He adds, “I love working with students and hope I contribute a little bit to their future.”  Professor Rose, you have contributed much to our futures and know how much you are loved, respected, and admired. Thank you for always caring and sharing your expertise with us”.

How can we not admire and fail to extol such ability? Perhaps only one book would translate the life experience of this Professional who, in all his classes, shares all his years of experience with his students.

In addition to Professor Rose’s example, I would also like to mention a dear aunt in Brazil. Aunt Janete. An 87-year-old widow who, with her daughter, manages a Portuguese candy factory in a city in the interior of the state of São Paulo. Aunt Janete is tireless; every day she works in the Factory’s Production Sector, when she is not paying attention to one of the many customers who insist on being served by her. And she is the one who makes all the purchases of the necessary supplies to make the candies. We know that the Purchasing Sector is one of the most important of a Company, you can only sell well if you buy well. And so follows Tia Janete with her prosperous company with almost 40 years of existence.

And the reason I made a point of mentioning, even paying homage to these two nice and dear figures, is precisely for all the capacity of both of them who, “at the best age”, still productive, insist on continuing to work, being examples and “school” for many young people.

The elderly is increasingly active, taking care of health and working, being involved in social, economic, cultural, spiritual, and civil issues. As Linda Gorman puts it, “…increasing life expectancy in the United States has been associated with healthier life expectancy. Thus, it is possible for Americans to respond by working more or saving more during their working lives.”

It is also worth mentioning the autonomy of these “Professionals” (I prefer to refer to this than “these Seniors”) in managing their own financial life, often even helping with the family’s income. They are totally capable! According to Anek Belbase and Geoffrey T. Sanzenbacher, in Cognitive Aging and the Capacity to Manage Money to pay the bills, handle debt, and maintain good credit for workers in their 50s and 60s. For example, one study that directly measured financial capability using a standardized test found that 95 percent of adults without cognitive impairment were fully able to manage their own finances.”

And so, they continue to contribute, teaching a little of their “Old Age” to the “Young” ones.

Aging is to write once more (rewrite) what has already been written, regardless of whether this writing was more difficult, painful, or smoother and calmer. It is giving new meanings to the text of life; it is to continue stimulating the body, the mind; is to keep dreaming, working; is to produce!

For further information, contact United International College at (954) 607-4344. Learn more about UIC’s Business Programs.

Written by Prof. Jack Rose

Miramar, Florida —Students in Professor Jack J. Rose’s Business Expo class were welcomed at the Miami Beach Convention Center by Sara McDonough, Director, Industry Relations and Special Events, for the Jewelers International Showcase (JIS) Miami Trade Show.

Ms. McDonough spoke with the group sharing what it takes to execute a trade show such as JIS.  The show is B2B, meaning Business-to-Business, and the general public cannot attend.  They have spent many years building relationships with jewelry manufacturers and designers and are expecting the Miami show to break all previous records.  “The pandemic literally brought everything to a halt, but now many of our exhibitors need to replenish their inventories for the upcoming holiday selling period,” she shared.  JIS has two shows per year, one in March, to replenish inventories, and this one in October so businesses can buy merchandise for the upcoming holiday season.  Enthusiastically, McDonough stated that “all indications point to a very profitable holiday season.”  “Most of the buyers who attend this show are from the Eastern United State, the Caribbean, and South America.  Many of these businesses have problems with receiving merchandise, so many of them come with suitcases to bring home their purchases, since this is a cash and carry event.”  The supply line, especially in transporting goods, is having difficulties in getting merchandise to many countries.  Having seen empty shelves here in the United States is reflective of this problem; however, it is a global problem that is affecting the transporting of goods throughout the world.

Though the students could not go through the exhibit hall, Ms.McDonough accompanied the group into the exhibit hall so students could see the setup and the millions of dollars in inventory that exhibitors brought with them.  She pointed out the different areas of the trade show and stated, “our businesses can find all price points here, from costume jewelry to very fine jewelry, diamonds, and other precious stones.  The students stopped at one of the front booths and the exhibitor spoke with them, saying that the company has been attending this particular trade show for over 30 years.  

Ms. McDonough pointed out to the students that vendors pay for premium space such, as the booth we visited.  She said that building relationships with vendors is very crucial to the success of the show.  There are also marketing opportunities for vendors to participate in, such as banners and premium listings in the program and floor banners in the entry way into the Exhibit Hall.

Since this was the opening day for JIS, Ms. McDonough stopped a few times to direct her staff to complete certain tasks.  The students were impressed with her taking the time to interact with them and sharing her email address with the student, showcasing how networking was very important in anyone’s career.  She invited the students to keep in touch and to email her with any questions they might have.

Professor Rose thanked Sara McDonough stating, “I know how busy you’ve been and we are grateful for your sharing your expertise with the students.  Education today is a partnership and you certainly contributed to the education process, and we are very appreciative.  After Ms. McDonough left the area, Professor Rose turned to the students and said, “You just witnessed what we’ve discussed over and over again — build relationships, network, emulate her professionalism, learn all you can, and I have no doubt that you will be in her shoes one day.”

For further information, contact United International College at (954) 607-4344. Learn more about UIC’s Business Programs.

Written by Prof. Jack Rose

Miramar, Florida — United International College prides itself on providing a holistic education model in each of their Associate and Bachelor Degree programs — Business Administration, International Business Management, Communications and Mass Media, and Travel and Tourism.  Recently, UIC introduced its Masters of Business Administration degree.

Students from all over the world come to the campus, many attending the college’s English Language Institute’s ESL program.  Upon completion, students can return home; however, many choose to stay and matriculate into the degree programs.  The diversity of the students contributes to their holistic education model in educating all students in our multi-cultural society.

Many students come to the college having already graduated with degrees from their home country.  They want to further their education and be a contributing part of the American Education system. One such student is Alin Turculescu.

Alin earned his Bachelor Degree in General Economics and Communication in Business, and his Master’ Degree in European Studies and Economics of Integration that is equivalent to U. S. Degree of Masters of Arts in Economics, in his native Romania. Alin shares that his favorite subject in economics is the relationship between culture, religion, and economic development.  Alin shared, “For example, in Europe we can say we have two worlds – one on the East and one on the West.  It’s obvious that countries such as France, Spain, and Italy had a different development than Romania, Russia, Greece, etc. Why?” 

He continues, “There are many studies that show one important ingredient that stands out – the religion.  In western Europe we have a Catholic religion and Protestant religion; that being said, these religions have taught people to be disciplined, while in the eastern world, we have an Orthodox religion, which basically is more conservative and came from the Greek words, Ortho and Doxa, which means “the right belief/way’. What this means is that this affects the mentality of those populations, even though we are talking about religion that had influence on the economic mentality, as well, plus communism regimes.  Even though the countries from this part of the world know ‘the right way’ they are used to go ‘around the system’, which means corruption.”  

Alin further states, “It’s a fact.  While the eastern parts of the continent are more responsible and disciplined because of the Catholic teachings. The word, Catholic, came from the Greeks, as well as ‘Katolikos,” which means ‘universal’. They are more likely to accept the development, evolution, and new concepts.  All in all, I would say that we can find our challenges in the economic environment today based on what we were before through the culture/religion phenomenon.”

Among the courses Alin Turculescu is enrolled in this term are Business Planning and Business Expo. His goal is to join his family’s business that specializes in impact windows and doors and take it internationally.  “Alin has a definitive economic grasp,” said Professor Jack J. Rose, “and besides becoming an entrepreneur with a great product, I have encouraged Alin to marry his love of economics and provide a service to small business in the understanding and importance of economics in business today.  His understanding of European economics and his desire to increase his knowledge in our economic system, gives him a competitive edge in providing a much-needed service in today’s global economy.”

For further information, contact United International College at (954) 607-4344. Learn more about UIC’s Business Programs.