>> welcome to "comunidad del valle." i'm damian trujillo. today in the studio, a leadership summit for latinos. >> we begin with an industry that's thriving during this down economy, it's latina owned businesses right here in the bay area. a program called count me in is providing a lot of these needed resources. the children's book illustrator here in the bay area is successful. she won a grant by the make mine

a million business program. welcome to the show. >> thank you very much. >> tell us first of all about your business. you're a children's book illustrator. >> yes. that's my background. i did 16 children's books so far, i own a company and we do children's accessories so we do everything from mobiles to posters and prints on wall to decorate children's rooms. we sell our books in 500 stores in the country so i have these, licensing and products and selling. >> when you illustrate do you have to put your mind in a child's mind and think the way they think or not necessarily? >> sometimes. sometimes. depending on the age group and i do some writing and administration depending on the books, yeah, i try to think. i do have a daughter that helps. >> i can relate to that. now, talk about the make mine a million program. it's like a challenge grant to

make sure that your business, you being a latina entrepreneur, a female entrepreneur that you make the million dollar mark. >> yes. i was lucky enough to find out about them from the renaissance center in san francisco. and they reached out to let us all know that this program was coming to the bay area last november. so i applied and with other 200 ladies throughout the country and 20 of us made finalists so we participated in this conference, three days here in downtown san francisco. and through a live audience of different people who are participating and a panel of five judges, we were lucky enough to be awarded the ten finalists so after winning this we won a lot of resources to take our business to the next level. basically what they are saying is you have our blessing and we think your business is good enough to grow really fast and hopefully make it to the 1 million dollar mark of revenues

in the next two years. >> you're going to hit that. >> i'm hoping so. >> now you mentioned the entrepreneur center, entrepreneurship center. they are going to be in the show in a couple of other segments. it's funny you're here talking about that because you are a success story of them. how scary or is it scary right now to start your own business given this down economy? >> well, you know, sometimes it's maybe the best moment because if you can make it in this time you can make it any time. and you know, luckily we are kind of like getting out of the roughest patch we so hope. and it's been a challenge but business has been growing steady and i think babies are still being born, a lot of them, we are one of the biggest baby booms in the u.s. history. that benefits my business of course and you know, we have a lot of passion for what we do. so we are there, and you know, since i won this in november, it's been really nice to have

the business coaching and all of the research level and just connect with the other women business owners so you have a group and we communicate and we are all advising each other. such a business not run your business alone. >> the pr company who recommended you said that in 2002, women held about half of the privately owned companies in this country. but made 0 or earned significantly less in profits than the other companies. how troubling is that statistic and how much strides do you think we made since then? >> it is really troubling and also one of the other figures that we have is that the women-owned businesses only 2% raise the million dollar mark. we think women drive the economy and the ones doing the shopping, right. so, one of the visions of the make mine a million was the founder and is to have in her lifetime one million women raise

the mark. like change the economy really and also basically create new jobs that help our communities. so i think one of the things about winning this award is not only you know, the benefits you get right away but it's the kind of like you feel like you belong and sometimes being a women business owner you feel lonely. the guys have a different group where they belong. the ladies a little different. it does become kind of like this club where we all help each other, the sisters we call it. it is a very nice feeling to kind of have that kind of like background. >> awesome. give us a sneak peek on your 17th book you are working on. >> i actually have four more books. yes, i'm work on that i have final rights on so i have two more books coming up and i have two full illustrated picture books by me. one is with a monkey, that's all

i can say. it's great fun and i learned a lot from what i do, and so good stuff. >> if you buy children's books look at the illustrator, you never know. very well educated and well doing. she is doing good with her business up in san francisco. if you would like to participate at all we'll give you the web address for the make mine a million.org foundation. there is the address. petite collage.com. thank you so much and good look on 17, 18, 19 and 20. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. up next on "comunidad del valle," we'll have the latina leadership summit. ur

>> brent is back with us today on "comunidad del valle." he is having a latino leadership summit in may. he's back with us. welcome back to the show, frank. >> thank you. >> you know, you met lorena before here.

great entrepreneur, she's a community leader. is that kind of what you are trying to create or help people become through your leadership summits? >> that in addition to entrepreneurs, first i'd like to say that i want to acknowledge and thank my partners hispanic net as well as gracefully global and juan escobar. with the entrepreneurship that's a piece of it but one of the things that we're seeing and we witness in our community is education and how we lack and we're far behind the fact that in california alone, it's recorded that within the past two years 37% in santa clara county, latinos dropped out of high school and 30% dropped out in the state of california. so, the summit is to bring leaders together, have two panels, one in the morning which

is an educational panel, one in the afternoon which is an executive panel, to really not only close the achievement gap but add latino talent into the pipeline. as lorena as an entrepreneur, it's fantastic that we witness entrepreneurs such as lorena. more importantly we need to see more not only entrepreneurs but executives, that is why i decided to have and comprise an executive leadership panel. >> talk about last year's event. sounds like it was a success. >> it was a success. it sold out. this one has gained momentum from last year. it's working toward selling out as well. i brought to this summit this year at stanford so stanford being a mecca, institution not only in the country but globally, i have a morning panel

with frank alvarez who is the ceo of hispanic scholarship fund, i have martin from the ivy league project and with frank alvarez, for example, he believes in first generation graduates and that's to access scholarships to be the first in your family to graduate from college, to overcome the cultural, not only cultural fear or intimidating factors that we as latinos are accustomed to. but, to actually advocate for these students to say that you know, many of us are the first generation graduates to not only attain a bachelor's degree but to push it further. pursue a master's degree. >> look who else, the mayor of san antonio and keynote speaker in the evening is a former sba administrator. that's a powerful group you're bringing. >> thank you. yes.

alvarez is a person who worked under president clinton and she's currently on the board of directors for walmart. and the mayor is doing the opening remarks and he's been written about in "the new york times" to possibly be the first hispanic u.s. president. he is a stanford alumni, he is a person who believes in mentorship and that is one of the most important factors and elements to the summit is meeting not only mentors but really the sustainability of this summit i could see it continuing on. so, as a latino it's my responsibility to really bring these summits to stanford or sand hill road year after year. >> who should go to this? who would benefit most? >> well, i would say there's three tier. there's professional, there's students that are either high school students, for example,

martin is bringing students from fresno who were identified as not only honor roll students but grew up in the farming community in fresno and martin helped place over 125 latinos into ivy league schools. yes. and he's bringing about ten high school students. undergraduate students, whether they are transferring from a junior college to a four-year institution or graduate students as well as middle management and senior management, have already registered for this summit. >> that is awesome. it's happening up here in may, at stanford university. there is the web address. final thoughts from you about this great event, frank? >> yeah. i think one of the things that in mentioning closing the achievement gap and really building tonight latino pipeline, is this year it's going to be the first year we honor a visionary leadership award that's going to victor

adias. victor is a board of trustees emeritus. he is an mba from stanford. he works for corn ferry, the largest executive firm search firm in the country, and a person that is very humble, person from humble beginnings to extraordinary success. >> that's 2011 leadership summit at stanford university. thank you for what you're doing in educating and empowering our community. >> thank you so much. >> up next on "comunidad del valle" speaking of entrepreneurship, stay with us.

>> they are helping people start their own businesses. sharon miller is a ceo of the renaissance entrepreneurship center and also with us is a business professor there at this academy. can i call it an akatd me? this is a fabulous program. you guys are on every year. we want to have you back because your classes are going to be

starting soon here this coming tuesday. >> right. >> tell us about the renaissance center and who you are helping and why. >> renaissance entrepreneurship center is a small business development center. what we do is we provide all sorts of services, classes, resources, access to capital, business incubation, to help people to start and grow their own businesses. >> there is a theme going on this afternoon here on the show that's about starting your own business and becoming leaders and what not. i asked lorena is it scary to do that this day and age now with the economy being what it is. what's your answer to that? >> it's always a challenge to start your own business regardless of the economy. the beauty right now is that small business owners can be flexible. so, what they can do is modify their businesses so that they can really satisfy certain niches that sometimes a larger business can't just make those transitions as quickly. >> that's why there are centers

like renaissance that kind of helps them give them the tools. what kind of tools are you giving them in those classrooms? >> you have all sorts of tools. the training is mainly about how to write a business plan. you get into marketing, financing, through everything related with operations. so until you get everything you need either to start up, to grow your business, or to change things, modify things in your business. you find all of the information and resources. >> do you find maybe some people want to become entrepreneurs who maybe thought they didn't have the tools and mechanisms and then you saw that their capabilities were beyond expectations? >> that's amazing because really a person that is shy and they really not sure what they are doing. at the end, doing the eight weeks you see somebody else. they grow so much and they, i mean, they have a lot of confidence about themselves and

they start really brightening like stars. unbelievable. >> we mentioned in the previous segment with lorena in 2002, 50% of businesses were run by women but they didn't make half the profits that the other businesses make. is that trend changing? >> the trend is changing but it's unfortunately changing slowly but we are seeing much more growth with women-owned businesses. >> talk about some of the success stories. how does it make you feel when you see maybe a sign on a business that makes you look back and think we had something to do with that. >> well, it's so gratifying and it's of course the business owners who are doing all of the really hard work. we are facilitating that and providing the access that they may need, but we're seeing great things happen. we have a party planning business right here in san jose, and that's just doing extremely well. they are doing all sorts of

parties and we're actually joined by that business owner here tonight. and the work she's doing is ext extraordinary. >> tell us about. that we don't have room for three on the show but maybe she can join us and stand behind the ladies so we can see who she is. how proud are you of what she accomplished and where she's come? >> well, she not only has a service business where she's out doing parties for people, she also has a retail establishment so people can come in and rent things from her on site. and her whole way of organizing parties is so creative and different. so, she's essentially bringing a new product and service into the marketplace that wasn't here before. >> it's called delegan's chair covers and rentals. behind the ladies, there is her web address right there. elegance rentals.com. did -- is she one of those who didn't know if she had the tools, then --

>> she was -- i have her mother and her. when they start the class there was -- trying to understand how to operate a business. at the end it was amazing how it clicked together and see how they have purposely understanding how they work together. it was a miracle, unbelievable. there is a bright star providing parties and doing unbelievable work. she is also providing services for all sorts of parties. so creative. her mother, genius. >> how much pride is there in being able to say you had something to do with developing women-owned and latina-owned businesses? >> i think i feel, i mean, there is no words to express. it's a gratitude and satisfaction. they provide jobs, they become successful, and they become examples for a lot of latinos outside. so i do believe that they are

really for me a bright star that people are following and they want to be like them. they come to the club to say i like to be like her. can you help me. >> there you go. quickly, tuesday the classes start. >> we have a class starting up next week on tuesday, the 22nd, there will be a spanish class and english class and there is space in the class so if you are interested call. >> how long is the class and what's the commit snmt. >> it's a 10-week class and it's really important that you commit to the whole class. there is so much information that gets distilled. and with instructors like carlina people come with brilliant ideas and they leave as business owners. >> awesome. congratulations. i show you the information again to the renaissance entrepreneurship center. there is the web address. if you want your party rentals there is a place to go. thank you so much. congratulations. >> thank you. >> up next. stay with us.

>> free and low cost legal advice for those who are low income. the director of legal services and carol is an immigration attorney also who helps without the center. welcome to the show. >> thank you for having us. >> tell us who you help and why this group of people. >> we help clients who are from prosecute i mayorly alameda county, low cost or pro bono. we work with tenants and employees and those searching for status in our housing employment and immigration units respectively. >> how busy has your office been? i can imagine. >> it's been pretty busy. >> free or low cost. >> there is a high volume of calls. never a dull moment. >> how do you go home at the end of the day when you hear some of the stories some of the folks give you at the center?

>> you know, it's a really gratifying experience, and it's always a challenge to try to separate both but i think what keeps me going is knowing that there is -- there will be a next day and the next day there will be a need and then it will be on going and you do the best you can. >> my sister-in-law is an immigration attorney so i know that she didn't get into it for the money. tell us why you got into it. >> well, i've always been attracted to international human rights and immigration law is really i think the intersection of international human rights with our domestic policy. i find it a fascinating area of law and also extremely gratifying like patty said, the stories of the clients that we serve are incredibly compelling and moving and the strength that we see among our clients is really inspiring. >> i can imagine. you have a youth academy. >> we do. the academy is for the next

generation of attorneys and judges who we're hoping will come back to the community to provide services in the areas that we provide services for. >> there actually is can be lucrative doing immigration law. sometimes you have the folks that come with money. >> you are absolutely right and unfortunately we don't do that. >> in celebration of the good work that you all are doing, having a special gala and you have special guests coming. >> yes. the theme of the dinner is keeping immigrant families together. we'll be presenting the lifetime achievement award to the founder and author of the immigrant legal resource center in san francisco and is also professor at the university of san francisco school of law. we'll also be honoring law firm for their work in challenging the constitutionality of arizona's anti-immigrant bill. >> and you have who is your emcee for the night? >> with kcsm.

we're lucky. we also have live music that we're extremely excited about from the san francisco jazz group. >> very nice. >> looking forward to it. >> you've done a great job in selling the center. expand on it if you will, you drove a long way to tell us about the center. tell us about how great it is. >> it's really great. one thing that we're extremely proud of, we provide really high quality comprehensive legal services in a variety of areas that our clients need help. we represent people. we provide advice and counsel, access to legal representation and we also accompany people throughout their cases so across the spectrum. we have in-house, we have housing employment and immigration staff attorneys, we also provide access to information and advice relating to family law, consumer protection, workers

compensation, personal injury. >> anything that really affects our clients we try to help them out. >> talk about how comfortable you go to sleep. patty touched on it a little. you have to go to sleep knowing though you might hear sob stories you are doing the good and the work that probably isn't acclaimed by many but you do what you're doing. >> we certainly do the best we can and the thing that makes it easiest for me to sleep is when i have gotten someone their green card or citizenship and the thing that makes it hardest i know one of my clients is detained in immigration custody sleeping in a county jail because of an immigration violation. that i find very upsetting. >> sure. is there a link because there is a central in san francisco. >> reverse. on oakland. >> is there a link in the bay

area of immigration attorneys who want to do the best for the community? >> well, there is definitely a strong community of immigration attorneys. with central legal we pride ourselves on being a very small handful of organizations that provide direct legal service in immigration context. but in san francisco that you mentioned is definitely a sister organization to us. we are different but similar. >> and the unique thing about it we all have cooperation with east bay based organizations in housing and employment. say you are a tenant fighting an increase, we work closely with the city and other organizations to assure that the tenants aren't subject to illegal rent increases, we try to prevent homelessness. >> you're doing some great work. we show that information. we're running out of time but we thank you for joining us.