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Post by Marcela Moyano
Exploring Your Limitless Potential
United International College celebrated its 15th Annual Entrepreneurial Conference Uniempresarios on October 24 from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The conference focused on “Maximizing your Highest Potential” applied to the college’s fields of study in Business, Tourism and Communications and Media.
Angelica Moyano, Academic Director of United International College welcomed participants to the conference and promised the audience that they would leave the conference with a positive mind and ready to conquer their dreams.
Professional coach, Karen Machuca, opened the conference with an inspirational presentation to explain the meaning of maximizing one’s potential. She went over important concepts such as the effect of memories on the human’s present, releasing the past, the circle of excellence, living in the present and creating one’s own future.
Following Machuca’s presentation, Vancho Ivanov “Vanoti”, a native of Macedonia, innate artist and visionary restaurant manager, told the story of how he brought the Italian chain of restaurants Piola, to a great success in various cities including his current location in South Beach. Along with him, Joseph Munoz, a 26-year-old pilot, shared with the audience his incredible motivation to become a professional pilot for Spirit Airlines, owner and founder of the flight school 1StepPrep, a motivator and inspirational speaker at his young age. Angelica moderated this panel.
The second panel of the conference was on Maximizing your Potential Applied to the Business and International Business. Steve Pressman, founder and owner of Pill Box Pharmacies and Medical Supply, told the audience how he opened his first pharmacy on Taft and Flamingo when he was only 26 years old and he talked about the drive behind his great success. Also, David Alfanday, a native of Cali, Colombia, and owner of Pa Ya To Go, talked about the importance of technology to compete with the American food processing, which has made of his signature product a well-known baked item in South Florida. He adds “I want to make the Pandebono as popular as the Mexican tortilla in the United States.” Ofelia Zambrano, CEO and Founder of Presto Marketing stated that the most important aspect of her business is customer service. She mentioned how many of her customers have been with her for over 15 years because of her personalized service. Robert Goltz, CEO and President of the Miramar/Pembroke Pines Chamber of Commerce moderated this panel.
The last panel of the conference, moderated by Dr. Marcela Moyano, was on Communications and Mass Media and Ailyn Luaces, radio personality and voice over talent, told the audience how she was able to reach her dream of becoming a radio personality and her experience of listening for the first time her voice live on the radio. Mauricio Cadena, producer of the newscast of Canal 8 Miami talked about the importance of teamwork in the field and about his first jobs as Assistant Producer. He advised attendees to have fun and be happy regardless of the job as long as they are doing it the best way possible. Blas Giffuni, senior digital marketing and SEO specialist, talked about content development and the importance for any company to optimize their websites. His dream is to become a top educator in his field.
Following the panels, Luis Capo, president of El Dorado Furniture, gave a presentation on how the Capo Family has maximized its potential to become the Hispanic leading Furniture Company in the United States with 18 stores serving the South Florida market. The story of the Capo family is very inspirational as Luis tells the story of how his father, Manuel, and one of his brother, where in the ocean for days when they left Cuba and promised to name the furniture store they would open after the name of the boat, if they would make it alive to land, El Dorado. Luis told the audience that the only limitation to achieve one’s dreams is in the mind of each individual and those limits can be broken and be set free. This is the 15th year that Luis Capo, and Ela Chavez, have joined UIC’s Entrepreneurial Conference to inspire future entrepreneurs and UIC students.
The conference was concluded by Lydia Bautista Moller, the founder and president of United International College who told the story of endurance of the Moyano family despite the adversities that migrating to the United States bring; and a few years later, the decease of the co-founder, husband, and father, J. Alberto Moyano. She reminded participants that life may bring adversities but there is always a way out and beautiful outcomes will always flourish.
The event was sponsored by El Dorado Furniture, 1on1 Real Estate, IFA Insurance and financial Advisor, Sergio’s Cuban Kitchen and Bar, Presto Advertising and the Miramar Pembroke Pines Chamber of Commerce.
The UIC family appreciates all the speakers, sponsors, students, faculty and staff who made this event possible. We look forward to our next year’s conference for more learning, laughter and some tears as well.
