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Laura Palau: Happiness Inc
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September 9, 2010
By Carlos Macías
The act of smiling involves 12 facial muscles working in unison to produce a universal gesture that opens doors in a way that no other human sign can. It can convey love, kindness, or optimism to anyone that crosses your path in a split second. The power of smiling is limitless. In PorColombia, we have someone who knows how to harness the power of a single smile and gracefully multiply it with infusions of Colombian swagger into outbursts of joy. Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to meet the CEO of Happiness Inc., Laura Palau.
Laura was born from a couple of Colombian professionals that migrated from Bucaramanga to New Hampshire. Her father is an architect and her mother works as a medical translator and interpreter. She has a younger brother who just turned 18 years old and is now a University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) freshman. They are her best friends and biggest fans. After finishing high school, she studied her undergraduate years at New York University (NYU) where she was a founding member of our NYU chapter; she started working for AOL in NYC as an intern to then after graduation make the big move over to the West Coast and work for MySpace Latino. She later accepted a gig in Los Angeles as Digital Sales Planner for ImpreMedia. But something was missing, and not even the West Hollywood glamour could complete the picture for her. In her own words, “it was time to pick up and go.”
Laura is a river of joy and after chatting with her for a while you begin to doubt the idea that happiness is ephemeral. She breathes, wears, and speaks happiness with such ease that it makes you wish that if this is a contagious condition, you want to get infected without delay. But what makes Laura so happy? As her mother Margarita Tobar says, “[Laura] has a sweet character, she enjoys everything, from the biggest to the tinniest things in life. Life smiles at her because she always smiles back.” Her former boss, publisher of Vista Magazine and Senior Vice President of Digital Sales at ImpreMedia Digital Liz Sarachek thinks, “Laura is an eternal optimist with a warm and bubbly personality which is contagious and refreshing. She always came across very positive with solutions for our clients’ needs both internally and externally.”
Besides her outgoing personality, her affection for Colombia is what makes her glow brighter. When you ask Laura, “What does Colombia mean to you?”, she gets both nervous and spirited, and says (all these while smiling): “My pulse is galloping just thinking about it. Colombia? País bello, tierra querida de mi corazón, con su flora, su fauna, su gente, su música y pasión.” (Colombia? Beautiful country, beloved land of my heart, with its flora, fauna, its people, its music and passion). Despite her sporadic visits to Colombia, Laura’s love for the country of her parents has become her dominant cultural identity. “I love to be part of it, it is an integral part of me,” Laura says.
This is the reason why she was one of the founding members of our current chapter at NYU. “For me, joining PC was a no-brainer,” Laura says. She thanks her tenure as a student member of PC because this time helped her to learn much more about Colombia, make lifetime friends, and put Colombia on the map at NYU. “My advice for all freshmen in any chapter at PC is the following: Take advantage of as many networking events as you can, make PC your prime extracurricular activity, and volunteer for any of the leadership positions available. You will not regret it,” Laura adds.
In her constant search for nirvana, Laura decided to quit her job in L.A in August and book a flight to the land of passion. Vacation? Nope. The time was right for her to go to Colombia, look for a job and finally make one of her dearest dreams come true: To officially live in Colombia for the first time. As a professional Latina, she feels that her connection with her Colombian roots gives her an edge at the work place. “Being Latina has never been challenging for me, I think maybe the opposite, it has helped my career a lot in digital marketing,” Laura says, now as a PC alumni.
Before leaving for Bogotá, she shared 3 tips to help us on our way to happiness:
1. Be your own best friend. You must be comfortable in your skin and be happy with yourself.
2. Keep family close and make them your best friends.
3. Celebrate and delight in the tinniest beauties, in the small things that may look normal but always carry good meaning.
Colombia Celebrates Bicentennial 1810-2010
By Carlos Macías
PorColombia celebrates with pride, passion, and hope Colombia’s 200th Independence anniversary on July 20. As our country’s ambassadors living in a foreign land, that has welcomed us with open arms, Colombians rejoice about our rich heritage and invite people from all cultures to celebrate with us the anniversary of two centuries since we declared our independence and became a republic.
The Colombian government has organized 3 days of festivities, including a great national concert featuring over 200,000 artists performing simultaneously at 1,102 different localities. The goal is to play the nation anthem at unison nationwide at noon on July 20 and then enjoy the artists’ repertoires.
Here in the United States, the Colombian Diaspora also commemorates this democratic milestone with multiple cultural and social events across the country. Our friend in Facebook Colombianos en Estados Unidos has compiled a list of activities to be held in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, North Carolina and more. Also, they’ve created a photo album in Facebook with flyers, photos, and logos related to the events and the independence celebration.
Download a PDF (in Spanish) provided by the Asociación Colombiana de Profesionales y Estudiantes Colombianos en el Exterior (PEXC) and Colombianos en Estados Unidos. Here it’s the list of events happening from July 18 to August 1 (in English):
Meet PorColombia’s First Couple: Estefanía & Federico
February 9, 2010
By Carlos Macías
Estefanía Montoya and Federico Guzmán belong to the first crop of PorColombians who envisioned our organization as a rallying point to improve Colombia from abroad. They are also the first PorColombian couple to get married. While fabricating the building blocks of our organization they realized that they shared an overflowing passion for Colombia and also made one terrific professional team. As Valentine’s Day approaches, what a better chance to learn what inspired them to help create PorColombia and how this experience nurtured their relationship up to the point of tying the knot in late 2008.
We would love to say that Estefa and Fede (as their close friends call them) met in PC, then started dating and eventually became engaged because of their role as founding members. But their story pre-dates PC and even their college life. They met at the age of four in Bogotá; they received their first communion in the same ceremony, and knew each other since then. However, the love flare ignited in 2003 while attending The George Washington University in Washington D.C. (they created the present PC chapter at the university) They were both pursuing a degree in international relations. They now live in Barranquilla and own a West Highland white terrier named Caos.
The summer of 2005 was the pivotal moment when our group was conceived in an effort to fulfill “the deep-rooted necessity of all Colombians living abroad to help our country from afar,” says Fede. According to Estefa, “PC was intended as a vehicle for Colombian students living in the United States to help our own and improve our cultural identity.” Furthermore, PC was also created as a theater for real-life working experiences, an opportunity to gain a competitive edge when looking for jobs after graduation. “While learning how to run the organization just like any company, we wanted to experiment and learn from our mistakes in the process. We wanted to make the most and best mistakes possible,” Fede adds.
When we asked them about how they see PC almost five years after its creation, Estefa expressed her utter satisfaction given the sustained and exponential growth that PC has shown in the last year. Fede shares her emotion and feels pleased the slogan he created for PC “from passion to action,” has gone so far. “For me, PorColombia means brotherhood, duty, and responsibility,” Estefa adds.
Their passion inspired a new group to take their banners and carry on. “Estefanía and Federico forged many ties with other Colombian students early in the game that eventually helped PC to flourish,” says Sergio Guzmán, Fede’s younger brother and PC alumni. He refers to the second crop of PC leaders including José Felipe Andrade, Jeffrey Navarro, and our current President Marcela Sarmiento.
“I feel privileged to count myself as a personal friend of both of them and I can attest to their incredible love for this organization. They transform every challenge in their lives in opportunities, always striving for excellence,” writes Sarmiento in her blog. “I met them during my sophomore year in college and since then both have been an inspiration to me and probably to many more students,” Andrade says.
After graduation, Fede worked for the Inter-American Development Bank and now is the Strategic Planning Coordinator of the Barranquilla-based multinational Acerías de Colombia-Acesco. Estefa went to Mali in Western Africa in 2005 in a cultural interchange program “that completely changed my life,” Estefa says. “Since I left Africa, I only dream about going back, it is a mesmerizing land with amazing people and a history not far from being a fairy tale,” she adds with excitement. Now, Estefa works as a consultant for the International Planned Parenthood Federation while finishing her Masters in Public Health at the Universidad del Norte. As PC alumni, they are currently working with the national board in developing new partnerships with companies in Colombia and motivating new students to lead.
For the immediate future, Fede plans to get his MBA abroad and he is currently preparing to take his GMAT exam. Estefa will decide which route to take afterwards depending on where Fede gets accepted for his masters. Afterwards, they would love to venture into Africa again, wherever they can both find jobs. Having family remains low in their priority list, they will settle with Caos in the meantime.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Estefanía Montoya y Federico Guzmán dressed up for Barranquilla’s carnival.
PorColombia: A Lifetime Experience
October 23, 2009
By Carlos Macías
When freshmen go to their first PorColombia (PC) meeting, they don’t know what to expect. They may think PC is a social club, like a party central, others just want to connect with people that share their cultural identity. Others may just be looking for a future novio, novia, or something in between. But once they get a taste of the potential to grow, the opportunities to learn from, and the people to share with, they feel excited and waste no time in becoming active members.
As their college career advances, PC members see first hand the results of their hard work, and their passion for Colombia starts transforming into action. And make no mistake, living your college years surrounded by amazing peers and accomplishing so much in your academic, social, cultural, and philanthropic life is something that gets embedded in your memory and stamped on your heart. To prove these assertions, we got a hold of a handful of PC alumni and asked them to briefly summarize what PorColombia means to them.
Community Service
For Carolina Gallego, who graduated from New York University (NYU) with a degree in Biology, PorColombia is one of the most important milestones in her life so far. But being an active member of NYU’s PC chapter, and eventually its president from 2008 to 2009, awakened in Carolina the strong commitment to help the Colombian community in the United States change its negative image in front of the world’s eyes. “PC opened the doors to a different world for me, a new world that helped me grow as an individual and as a leader as well,” Carolina says. But her experience in the organization gave her even more. “For me, PC is more than a student group, it is a family and it will always be present in my life.”
The Pioneers
This 2009-2010 academic year marks the fifth anniversary of PC. The idea of creating the organization came out after a handful of adventurous and dedicated college students went to the first Colombian Student Congress in the Spring of 2004 held in Yale University. “PC started with a spark of passion between college students that one day decided to put indifference aside, and started sharing the image of Colombia that each of us carry in our hearts, to talk with candor about its problems, and looking for solutions even if we live thousands of miles away,” says Federico Guzman, a graduate from George Washington University (GWU).
After the congress and elaborating on the idea of creating a student-run organization, on February 25, 2005, PorColombia was born. Since then, it has transformed itself into a maturing collective with 8 university chapters and more than 200 members. “In a nutshell, PorColombia conjugates talented individuals and their fervent desire to help Colombia grow prosperous and successful” says Jose Felipe Andrade-Sinning, former PC National president from 2006 until 2008. Andrade-Sinning and Guzman belong to that group of visionaries that started chapters at GWU and Baruch College respectively, laying the foundations that enable us today to keep growing.
Native Fervor
Those who have met Laura Palau can tell you that she is a proud ambassador of anything Colombian. After graduating from NYU in 2008, Laura moved to Los Angeles following a career opportunity but she never broke her ties with us. “PC is a living, breathing piece of Colombia’s beating global heart. I remember when PC started as a small group of college students who had one thing in common: We loved Colombia and we’re dying to celebrate it, to celebrate us, and where we came from. The group did it right: Fervor came by default, then the constitution, and then momentum! Hence: “De la pasión a la acción!”
Moreover, we just want to leave you with what NYU’s alumni Joanna Arredondo feels about PC:
Porque PorColombia? Why PorColombia?
Por Amistad For Friendship
Por Solidaridad For Solidarity
Por La Familia For Family
Por La Juventud For our Youth
Por La Justicia For Justice
Por La Pobreza Against Poverty
Por la Fortaleza For Strength
Por el Fututro For our Future
Por El Amor For Love
Por La Paz For Peace
POR COLOMBIA! FOR COLOMBIA!
On the Record: Colombia is Passion’s Saúl Cardozo
Monday, September 21, 2009
By Carlos Macías
PorColombia’s editorial team was able to get a hold of Colombia is Passion Director of Strategic Alliances Saúl Cardozo, in the heat of one the most successful public relations initiatives done by the Colombian government to improve its international image. Via email, Cardozo spells out how the “hearts” exhibition was conceived, what they are going to do with all the feedback and experiences gathered from thousands of people visiting the show, and what are the next stops for the campaign.
The “Discover Colombia through its Heart” campaign finished its first leg of its United States tour in Washington D.C. on September 15 with tremendous success. More than 250,000 people visited the city-wide exhibit, 25,000 flowers were handed out, and 15,000 cups of freshly brewed Colombian coffee were served, according to the Colombia is Passion website.
Starting on September 22, New York City’s Grand Central Station will host the exhibition until Monday, September 28. This week’s agenda includes fresh Colombian coffee tastings along with the presence of Juan Valdez, free flowers given away, and Colombian urban folklore shows.
PC: How did the Colombia is Passion heart logo get transformed into 47 art displays? How did this idea develop and how was it brought to life?
SC: Exhaustive research with tourism professionals and influential journalists who visited our country last year, showed us that Colombia’s perception from the United States public is distorted. But at the same time, they also stated that such perception has begun to change in a favorable way.
We decided that this was an excellent time and opportunity to launch an effort to change the way the world thinks about Colombia. To achieve this goal, the country brand “Colombia is Passion,” who’s mission is to diminish the gap that exists between negative perception and positive reality, created an strategy to teach people from around the world about “The heart of Colombia.”
We want the world to know that Colombia has lived through many changes, that it is a hospitable and secure country for the tourists, full of happy, good-hearted, and talented people, with vibrant cities and great cultural diversity.
PC: What are you going to do with all the feedback that these interactive hearts generate?
SC: We are using it to show others around the world, including the media, that once people learn about Colombia, they see it in a positive light. They see our positive reality, so their perception of Colombia changes for the better.
PC: To deploy these massive art displays in major cities like Washington D.C. and New York City, you needed plenty of collaboration from local officials. Tell us what kind of relationship your organization has forged with local and federal authorities thanks to this campaign?
SC: An exhibit of this magnitude is a huge undertaking, not only takes the help of many Colombians in local communities, but it also takes extensive collaboration with local governments. For months, we met with officials to learn the process and procedures to have the hearts placed along streets and sidewalks. All our efforts have paid off and now we are able to have all 40 hearts placed in compliance with the stringent local laws.
PC: The international media reports mostly the bad and ugly about Colombia. How do you guys manage to keep the positive note when only negative stories are the ones heard by most foreigners about the country?
SC: In fact, this campaign has the main goal of mitigating the bad image that has been reinforced by the negative publications, because bad news attracts viewers and readers. The idea is to end with the lack of information that citizens all around the world have about Colombia.
Since we can’t take the world to Colombia to see what it has to offer, we are taking Colombia to the world. We are bringing them a little piece of Colombia so the international community learns about our reality. We want to give them surprising information and tell them new things that the people don’t know about our country.
PC: Are you planning to take this exhibition/promotional campaign to other countries?
SC: Yes, after ending our exhibition here in the United States, the hearts will travel to Shanghai’s Expo 2010 in China and then to Europe. We want to show the world the real Colombia!
Leave your questions and comments for the editor at cmacias@porcolombia.net.
Carlos Macías Web 