00:00
We had to teach culture and language to the police officers
00:04
who were all non Hispanics.
00:06
They knew nothing about the culture.
00:08
They were arresting some people simply because they were
00:11
talking like this and very hostile to each other when they
00:14
were only arguing about politics.
00:21
My name is Ida Thomas Levitan.
00:25
I was born in Havana, Cuba and I'm Cuban American.
00:29
I loved uh being with my family uh on the terrace, what they
00:35
called el Portal in Cuba uh with the smell of a jasmine uh plant
00:42
that was all over that uh terrace and the smell of jasmine is
00:47
something I have never forgotten.
00:49
And my mother and my aunt would tell me stories would sing songs
00:55
uh to me and uh my my brother when we were Children.
00:59
So it was a lovely memory.
01:01
That's one of the best memories I have of Cuba.
01:04
My mother was divorced when uh we were little Children.
01:08
So my father was not really a presence in our lives only occasionally
01:13
Uh my mother was sort of the head of household and my aunt also
01:20
Uh We also had a housekeeper who took care of us the poor woman
01:25
uh always went through hell with us because we were very naughty
01:30
Uh And we would always like to run around the Nuevo area, which
01:37
Uh We would have a whole bunch of kids that we could run around
01:41
uh and have a great time.
01:43
And uh she was always, you know, after us to take our bath to
01:48
eat our food, you know how Cuban parents are, they are very
01:52
focused on making sure that you eat well.
01:56
So we would come from Phillips school where we were going to
01:59
school uh during the lunch hour and during the lunch hour,
02:04
they would serve us this really full lunch that usually included
02:09
some kind of puree or soup, a main dish.
02:13
And then they would serve us a glass of milk with chocolate
02:19
Now tell me why I have a weight problem nowadays.
02:23
I mean, it was incredible and then at night, you would be expected
02:27
So it was incredible.
02:32
The Phillips school was uh founded by two people from Vermont
02:37
uh Mr and Mrs Sergeant.
02:40
And it was a really fantastic school, very advanced.
02:43
Uh for the time we're talking now about the 19 fifties.
02:47
Uh This school had classes in the morning in English and then
02:52
classes in the afternoon in Spanish.
02:55
Jane Powers was responsible in her youth for helping Children
03:00
from Germany escape the Nazis and come to England.
03:05
And then she went to Cuba and she was my seventh grade teacher
03:10
she taught me to outline, which was probably the most valuable
03:14
skill that I learned that year.
03:17
Because ever since whenever I've had to take notes that are
03:22
rather difficult in a class or in a conference, I outlined
03:28
And because of that, many of my uh fellow students copied my
03:32
notes because they were so organized and she was very insistent
03:36
that we take notes in the, in the outline form.
03:39
Well, Miss Powers was recruited by um I believe the name was
03:45
James Baker of Roston Academy, a very similar school, also
03:50
He was an American who was working with uh Ramon Grau.
03:56
Uh and I believe polio and Monsignor Walsh in Miami to get 14,000
04:03
Children out of Cuba because we were about to be sent to the
04:07
camps to alphabetize the country.
04:11
People who did not know how to read and write.
04:14
My mother did not think it would be a very good thing for me to
04:19
be sent by the communist uh dictatorship.
04:22
It was already a dictatorship uh back in 61 uh to the countryside
04:28
at the age of 13, which is a rather delicate thing for, for a
04:33
young lady to be sent at that time.
04:36
Uh Jane Powers was instrumental in coordinating the effort
04:40
to get the kids out.
04:42
And I was one of those kids.
04:44
I did not uh have the privilege of coming to Miami with my mother
04:50
I had to come by myself under Pedro Pan Operation, Peter Pan
04:56
I was very lucky because one month later, my mother came with
05:01
my brother and um I get emotional because it was the most incredible
05:09
It was just um a wonderful, wonderful thing.
05:14
Um I had um I had for a whole month, cried every night thinking
05:21
that perhaps we would never be reunited again.
05:24
I had spent a month uh yearning for my mother to come.
05:28
And uh I was very lucky that she was given permission to leave
05:33
And a month later, uh my brother and I were reunited with my
05:38
mother and we were placed by the refugee center in a home in
05:46
It was really scary and we stayed in our room and we didn't venture
05:51
out of the room because it was just the weirdest place that
05:55
So I, once my mother was with us, the security and confidence
06:01
that my mother always inspired because she was such an intelligent
06:07
Uh It was there and that's all I needed that security, that
06:11
safety that my mother offered.
06:14
And my mother sent me to Ada Mary junior high school, uh which
06:19
was a good high sa a junior high school, but a rather dangerous
06:25
place uh where a kid at the age of 14 was killed in a gang war.
06:31
Um I also remember a very funny guy by the name of Johnny Gonzalez
06:36
who came from New York, he was Puerto Rican and he would take
06:40
me to school every day to protect me against the gangs.
06:44
And it was really interesting in this junior high school,
06:48
Raul Martinez who later became mayor of Hialeah, and my friend
06:53
from Phillips, George Hopgood, who later became the head
06:57
of the DEA in Texas were the two biggest kids in the junior high
07:02
school and they always had to separate all the kids who were
07:06
constantly fighting.
07:07
So to me, it was really wonderful.
07:10
Um I really didn't feel traumatized.
07:14
Um I had no money, of course, so it was difficult.
07:19
Uh What is interesting also is that I won an award uh in ninth
07:25
grade, which was an amazing thing for me.
07:28
I had no idea that I was doing so well.
07:30
And in one of the school auditorium uh meetings, they called
07:35
me to the stage to give me this award.
07:37
So that was the beginning of my feeling even secure in a school
07:46
The period of 1961 I would say to 1965 my mother moved us to Miami
07:54
Miami Beach was a very safe place full of elderly people who
07:59
And my mother started working at the Jefferson Hotel in the
08:03
We were at 13 34 Collins Avenue, right smack in the Art Deco
08:08
The elderly people who were usually uh from, from Europe and
08:14
many of them had escaped uh miraculously, they even had some
08:19
of them had the numbers of the camps uh inscribed or tattooed
08:26
I think they were kind of shocked to see all these kids who were
08:30
speaking another language even though they were speaking
08:32
Yiddish, which was kind of funny.
08:34
I used to wake up in the morning and hear Yiddish.
08:37
Um And they got upset with us once in a while And I remember one
08:41
of the elderly persons when my brother and I were sitting sitting
08:44
in the back of the stairs of this building where we lived calling
08:49
us the N word because we were very dark from the sun because
08:53
we were always on the beach.
08:55
Uh and calling us speaks.
08:58
So that was my first contact with prejudice.
09:01
And I told my mother what this man had called us.
09:05
And my mother said, you know, people who do those things are
09:09
People don't mind that, you know who you are.
09:12
Uh don't worry about it and take it in your stride.
09:15
In, in Cuban culture, you have to have tab means taking it in
09:22
And you know, we weren't traumatized by that either.
09:25
But when we got to school uh to beach high, we were, there was
09:29
a very small contingent of Cuban kids.
09:33
The school was probably 99% Jewish.
09:37
Uh There were Cuban Jewish kids with us and Cuban Catholic
09:42
kids, very small group whenever there was a Jewish holiday
09:45
The school was empty and we were the only kids there.
09:48
Um, and there were some kids who made fun of us.
09:51
Uh, they asked us things like, did you live in the trees in Cuba
09:58
You know, things like that.
10:00
And they basically ignored us.
10:01
I think we were basically invisible to those kids.
10:05
They were very wealthy.
10:07
They rode to school in incredible cars.
10:10
They wore the most amazing clothes.
10:12
Um So we did feel a little bit frustrated with that.
10:17
But I would say again, I found a group of very fun kids.
10:22
I was the only one who learned how to drive at the age of 16.
10:27
So I would pick them all up and we would go to parties in Miami
10:31
Beach and Coral Gables.
10:33
And I had a blast, even though we had no money, we would get dressed
10:37
up in clothes that my mother made for, uh for me.
10:40
Um, the kids wore jackets and ties because they came from the
10:45
tradition of the 19 fifties night life.
10:49
We would go to Los Violin with the chaperone and to be with the
10:54
chaperon and it was lots of fun.
10:56
So I can't say that I was traumatized by, by that period of exile
11:00
However, I must say that one of the most frustrating things
11:04
was to be undervalued, um which is something that I've had
11:09
to face in my life many times.
11:12
And the first time, first time I faced it was when I told my counselor
11:18
Mr Jack Ruby, I never forgot his name that I wanted to go to
11:24
And he said, well, why don't you become a secretary?
11:28
You're so good in typing and shorthand.
11:30
Uh That'll be a lot easier.
11:32
And I told him Mr Ruby, I'm sorry, but find me a scholarship
11:35
because I'm going to the university.
11:37
I had almost straight ass.
11:39
So I knew that a scholarship was possible.
11:42
And he did find me a scholarship by Chase Bank.
11:45
Chase Bank gave me my first scholarship and I got a Cuban loan
11:52
Uh and I went to the University of Miami, which was then for
11:56
me, almost an impossible dream.
11:59
So that was my first frustration of being told, even even my
12:04
mother and aunt wanted me to, you know, maybe become a stewardess
12:08
and that way you can travel the world free, free of charge.
12:12
And I, I told them, oh, no, I wanna go to the university.
12:15
I was very sure what I wanted to do.
12:19
My mother was an extraordinary person she had and I think it
12:23
came from my grandfather, my grandfather who had been a uh
12:28
uh trained and educated pharmacist and had his own pharmacy
12:32
in and come away, became a congressman and then a senator and
12:37
then became a businessman, he had uh sugar uh mills in Cuba
12:40
This was back in 1925.
12:44
And my grandfather was so advanced that he sent my mother to
12:48
a bilingual school in Cuba in the 19 twenties, the cathedral
12:51
school, which is fascinating to me.
12:54
And later he sent her to finishing school in Geneva in Switzerland
12:59
And I think back to that time when Cuban women were not supposed
13:04
to be really educated.
13:05
And yet my grandfather believed in that and my mother believed
13:09
in education as well.
13:10
So she sent me to the best school she could afford in Cuba.
13:14
And she also moved me to Miami Beach so I could go to the best
13:18
school we could go to.
13:20
Because Miami Beach High School at that time was a fantastic
13:24
It was the equivalent of what ransom Everglades would be.
13:26
Now, uh my mother was very funny because she hated cooking
13:32
and didn't know a thing about cooking.
13:34
But she learned in some classes that the refugee center gave
13:38
for these ladies who have never had to cook in Cuba.
13:42
And she learned how to make, for example, with powder, um mashed
13:48
potatoes, she would make mashed potatoes with spinach.
13:52
Uh She would make uh she would put cheese on top, which we loved
13:56
She would serve us the spam which was atrocious, but we thought
13:59
it was great and she would learn all these recipes so that we
14:03
could feel that we were taken care of and that we were well fed
14:07
and that's the way she handled everything she was incredibly
14:11
She never owed anything to anyone.
14:14
She got a wonderful job um that demanded a lot from her.
14:18
She became the manager of a hotel in uh the art Deco district
14:23
uh the Jefferson Hotel and they were not easy bosses.
14:28
These two this couple, they demanded a lot from her, but she
14:33
managed it just fine.
14:35
And then she retired early and she enjoyed life because she
14:38
traveled all over the world with my aunt and they had a blast
14:42
So it was really an interesting thing that she was able to adapt
14:46
after losing the house that she had worked so hard to buy in
14:53
And, and to her, that was a big blow.
14:56
And here she was with no money and yet she was able to survive
15:02
They were the foundation of the success of the exile community
15:07
If Cuban women who had brought some really can do attitudes
15:14
to, to the exile experience if they haven't done what they
15:18
did, many of the men who later became millionaires and leaders
15:23
of industry and leaders in government would not have been
15:26
able to do what they did.
15:28
And many of these women became business women and also opened
15:32
up their own companies, something that maybe they wouldn't
15:34
have done in Cuba or they became political leaders or they
15:39
became community leaders.
15:40
I think of someone like Lourdes Aguila, Lourdes Aguila was
15:46
the person who created the League against cancer.
15:49
La Liga contract cancer, which for many years and still today
15:54
was one of the most admired charities in the State of Florida
15:59
And Lourdes Aguila would do all of her organization and work
16:04
at La Liga and would then go home to cook for her husband who
16:10
I don't know how she managed that one.
16:13
And uh this is the kind of person that created a New Miami.
16:18
I think that there are many women that I that served as a model
16:23
One of them was Marlena to Marlena did a conference in 1976
16:29
called the Emerging Latin woman with Alicia Casanova, who
16:34
was then also a very prominent Republican.
16:37
And uh this was remember 1976 we were still at the beginning
16:43
of the Exile experience and they did this conference that
16:47
300 women showed up for.
16:49
And Marlena later became the owner of her own business and
16:53
she became the only Cuban American woman to serve in three
16:57
presidential administrations.
17:00
So to me, she was definitely a role model.
17:02
Alicia was two Alicia Barros who is a Puerto Rican woman who
17:06
was a friend of theirs.
17:07
So the three women were dynamos.
17:10
Uh there was another woman Maria Hernandez who was a chase
17:14
banker uh Ivo Santa Maria, who was also a very successful uh
17:19
business woman later re di who became uh you know, the leader
17:25
of a very important bottling company.
17:28
Uh Lilian Machado, I mean, there's all kinds of stories of
17:33
women who people did not expect them to succeed.
17:37
And yet they were able to do the transitioning from being a
17:42
housekeeper and the wife off and becoming major business
17:47
And then of course, in terms of government, Iana Rosen who
17:52
became a congresswoman and is now one of the people who we most
17:58
Uh And of course, people don't think of Gloria Stefan as a business
18:01
woman, but she is a business woman as well as a, a major artist
18:05
Uh So there's all kinds of women's stories.
18:08
Now, Carmen Reinhart, who is uh the the most admired economists
18:14
probably in the world today, chief economist, I believe of
18:17
the World Bank, Cuban American.
18:19
Very few people know that uh all kinds of people that uh that
18:24
really deserve recognition.
18:26
But I don't think these women were very used to the idea of mentoring
18:32
And I don't feel that I had the benefit of mentors.
18:37
Um I did get some advice occasionally from them but not the
18:42
relationship that I have seen among men where you really have
18:46
some very good and continued mentoring going on between an
18:51
older man and a younger man.
18:53
I feel that that was a problem that many of us, not only Cuban
18:57
American women, but also Hispanic women have faced in general
19:01
in the Hispanic culture.
19:03
I think it was just simply lack of awareness on the part of the
19:06
older women and even of the older men because you could have
19:09
an older man mentor you um to give you that kind of counseling
19:16
I wish I had had that because I made many mistakes in my life
19:20
and had I had that kind of person that I could go to for advice
19:25
Maybe I could have avoided some of them.
19:28
I intended originally to become a college professor.
19:33
So I got a scholarship to go to Mru University after finishing
19:37
my bachelor's degrees uh at the University of Miami.
19:41
And I studied Spanish literature from Spain, not Latin Americas
19:46
from Spain, especially baroque literature.
19:49
And I obtained a, a phd, a doctorate in philosophy from Emory
19:55
But I found that there were no jobs for phd S in Spanish literature
20:03
The only thing I could get was a job teaching English as a second
20:07
language at Miami Dade College.
20:11
Um I was also a teacher of police officers at the Miami Police
20:16
Department to prepare them for the University of Chicago
20:20
test, which was such a block to minorities who wanted to enter
20:24
the police department.
20:26
And he was led by Eduardo Suarez Viva Viva.
20:31
And I was the second in command and we had to teach culture and
20:36
language some basic language to the police officers who were
20:42
So they did not speak Spanish.
20:44
They knew nothing about the culture of the Cuban community
20:48
They were arresting some people simply because they were
20:50
talking like this and very hostile to each other when they
20:54
were only arguing about politics.
20:56
You know, this is a very, very old story as the African American
21:00
and, and many of the Latino communities, uh they know about
21:05
Uh but they've known about this for decades and let me tell
21:09
you about that period in the city of Miami.
21:13
This was the early seventies and there was a lot of prejudice
21:18
in that city Police Department, a lot of prejudice and they
21:23
did not want these minorities African Americans and Cubans
21:27
who were applying to the police department to enter.
21:31
So there was a movement within the police department on the
21:34
part of some Cuban officers and they brought the Department
21:38
of Justice down and the Department of Justice had a consent
21:44
decree that forced the police department to integrate Maurice
21:49
f became the mayor of Miami.
21:52
And of course, he insisted that this be done as quickly as possible
21:58
And this is where you started seeing Cuban officers and African
22:03
American officers become police officers.
22:07
So to me, this story was an illustration of what happens when
22:11
people are in the police department are not trained to deal
22:16
with hostility or to deal with difficult situations instead
22:22
of resorting to terrible violence.
22:25
And I think we need a lot more training.
22:27
I respect the police officers and the risks that they run every
22:32
But I am very much in favor of training and creating better
22:37
community policing that will enhance understanding between
22:41
the police officers and the community.
22:47
I finally became an Assistant Dean for Latin Affairs under
22:51
the leadership of Antonio Jorge, who was Provost of Bisque
22:55
College, what is now Saint Thomas University?
22:59
And then I saw an opportunity, there was a very widely publicized
23:04
uh search for a Director of Latin Affairs, an office that was
23:09
very recognizable because there was a bilingual bicultural
23:14
ordinance on the books in metro government.
23:19
And this person had to be the bridge between the Cuban Exile
23:23
community and the Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics.
23:27
There were very few other Hispanics at the time and the government
23:30
the metro date, what is now Miami?
23:32
Dade county government, 250 people applied for the position
23:37
and I studied everything I could get my hands on from the league
23:42
of women voters about Dade County government.
23:45
I also moved every influence that I could move.
23:49
And I got to the finals and the finals was a round table of leaders
23:55
from the government and from the community asking you questions
23:59
And what happened is I found out later that some people had
24:03
already chosen a candidate, but the county manager and a couple
24:08
of others were so impressed with my interview that they insisted
24:13
that I become the Director of Land Affairs.
24:15
And that was my first experience with public information
24:18
which later became another public information experience
24:24
at the city of Miami as director of information and visitors
24:27
And that led to my career in public relations, well as a director
24:32
of very uh recognizable departments in Metro date and later
24:37
in the city of Miami with Mayor Maurice, who, as you know, was
24:40
a very charismatic mayor, like the one we have.
24:43
Now I had the opportunity to be very recognized by the media
24:49
and by the community.
24:51
So I leveraged that opportunity.
24:54
Uh And I told Maurice, you know, I could continue doing the
25:00
journalist tours that I've been doing to combat the terrible
25:04
image that Miami has as a result of the 1980 Mariel influx and
25:10
the disturbances that and the drug problems.
25:13
Um I could do this as a private citizen instead of as the director
25:18
of the office, it would save you a lot of money.
25:20
Uh You could actually get the office, uh you know, at a lower
25:25
level of expenditure.
25:27
Uh And I could continue doing public relations for the city
25:31
of Miami and he believed in me and he gave me my first contract
25:35
and the second contract came from Mayor Steve Clark again
25:39
because of my experience with Metro.
25:41
He gave me the contract of coordinating and publicizing the
25:45
Sister Cities program.
25:47
Then I met Fausto Sanchez and Andy Garcia and Mario who came
25:53
here to make a movie.
25:55
And I love the idea of the project and I worked free of charge
25:59
for them and I helped them in every way.
26:02
And then one day said, you know, you have this pr agency.
26:06
Why don't we join forces?
26:08
I've been doing advertising and production in Los Angeles
26:13
I have a film degree and I could do very well with you and your
26:18
pr knowledge in creating an advertising agency.
26:21
And in 1986 we incorporated Sanchez and Leviton.
26:27
Well, the Florida Lottery was sort of our signature um client
26:33
because it allowed us to do very creative work.
26:36
At the time, the Florida Lottery had um a very enlightened
26:41
director and Bob Gallo allowed us to do a lot of the advertising
26:51
Instead of just translating what the general market agency
26:56
We actually convince uh Governor Childs who was very, very
27:02
in favor of the Hispanic community to allow us also to plan
27:07
and place the media, you know, in the Hispanic advertising
27:11
business that is very difficult to do so that gave us a lot of
27:14
power and a lot of clout with media then, uh was instrumental
27:20
in helping us get the Bell South account.
27:23
And uh the Bell South account was an incredible account which
27:27
again allowed us to grow tremendously because they measured
27:32
the result of each and every TV spot, each and every radio spot
27:37
each and every print out.
27:39
So every time they saw that the performance had given them
27:43
results, we got more of a budget and we had a wonderful client
27:49
there that allowed us to grow as an agency Fausto was able to
27:53
win national awards.
27:56
We won the first uh beverage world ethnic advertising award
28:01
with the Chivas Regal and Crown Royal campaigns.
28:04
We won um the Radio Mercury Award, the first one ever given
28:11
And I believe we were the only agency that had a full service
28:15
public relations division, the only agency here in Miami
28:18
that offered that kind of very ample public relations uh resource
28:26
She was Regal was a fantastic client.
28:29
We were able to be very creative with them, not only in terms
28:32
of advertising nationally, but also in terms of event marketing
28:37
And many of our clients got involved in our crazy ideas.
28:41
For example, Absolute Vodka became the title sponsor of the
28:45
Absolute Seville in Miami, which attracted 10,000 people
28:49
who bought tickets to get into this imitation of the Seville
28:54
And then later on, the Fair of Spain attracted 40,000 people
28:59
and we were able to involve clients like Marshalls and Chivas
29:04
and so on the Andy Garcia concerts.
29:10
Um I got Jesse a from Anheuser Busch to become the the presenting
29:15
sponsor to uh this wonderful series that won the PR S A Multicultural
29:21
Excellence Award and was able to get um the cameraman and so
29:28
And Jose can gave us the money to film the concert which later
29:32
became uh there is nothing like its rhythm.
29:35
So we did incredible things and got our clients involved and
29:39
it was a lot of fun at the same time, incredible amount of work
29:43
But uh I felt it was a very creative agency.
29:46
It was, it was kind of a golden age because, you know, the original
29:51
agencies, uh which I have documented the history of, of how
29:56
Cuban Americans contributed to the creation of the Hispanic
30:00
advertising agency business.
30:02
I documented this in Cubans, the Epic journey chapter 40 32
30:07
So everybody read it.
30:08
And this original group of Cubans who came from Cuba in the
30:14
I'm talking about Rafael.
30:17
I'm talking about Diaz Albertini.
30:20
I'm talking about Castor Fernandez.
30:22
I mean, these were incredible people who were, who had the
30:26
I cannot say anything else to create a Hispanic market when
30:31
it was tiny at the time.
30:33
And Eduardo Caval who, you know, created a national network
30:39
of, of, of radio representatives for the Hispanic market
30:43
for the Hispanic radio stations.
30:45
Um you know, and what he did with the Hispanic Radio, Herb Levi
30:52
and what he did with uh quean corporation with the radio stations
30:56
like UB A here in Miami.
30:58
These were pioneers, they hired to do the hard work that of
31:04
actually convincing all these major companies that there
31:07
was a Hispanic market and then can strategy research corporation
31:12
And he did amazing things to try to document the existence
31:19
and the characteristics of the Hispanic market.
31:22
And that's the period that I lived with Teresa, which is the
31:27
period of using strategy research and very little census
31:31
data because there wasn't that much to show the corporations
31:36
that what had been done in the sixties had been successful
31:40
And that now in the eighties, sixties and seventies now in
31:44
the eighties, they should be doing even more and investing
31:50
I think every company has to have a vision and the vision.
31:55
And I learned this from Hugh Cole who created Bank of America
32:00
And he told me, well, we were doing a media tour.
32:02
He told me that a person or a company has got to create a vision
32:10
and idea up here and that reality would catch up to that idea
32:16
And I thought, well, you know, I'm going to do the same thing
32:20
And in 1995 I told the agency that I intended for Sanchez and
32:24
Leviton to become the number one Hispanic agency in the US
32:28
And that was pretty absurd at the time because we were quite
32:31
small compared, for example, to Zubi or even I ac uh certainly
32:36
smaller than a lot of the agencies in L A and Texas.
32:41
Um But in the world today, especially now even more now, agility
32:47
is one of the qualities that will enable you to succeed if you
32:52
wait and wait and wait.
32:54
Oh no, because maybe in the near future it's gonna go to somebody
32:59
And I remember in 1999 I read several articles and advertising
33:06
age about agencies that were being acquired by huge holding
33:11
companies, a American and foreign holding companies.
33:15
And I finally read an article about publicis acquiring an
33:20
African American agency.
33:22
And I saw that a gentleman by the name of Bob Bloom was involved
33:27
and that he was the chairman of public USA.
33:31
So I took the phone, I called Bob Bloom and I said, I think Sanchez
33:37
Leviton could be an excellent strategic partner for you to
33:41
target the Hispanic market and to give public clients a full
33:46
service Hispanic advertising agency.
33:49
The next day because Bob Bloom moved very quickly.
33:52
The next day, I had a man that was who was sent by Bob Bloom in
33:57
our agency to talk about it.
34:00
And a year later, we had signed the deal to have Sanchez and
34:03
Leviton sold to publicist, Maurice Levy who is the man who
34:12
had the vision to create the giant that public is today by acquiring
34:17
agencies all over the world.
34:19
He was an entrepreneur, he was not just an agency chairman
34:24
he had the entrepreneurial mindset.
34:27
And I think that helped us a lot that we could continue to be
34:30
entrepreneurial and try to get new business and take advantage
34:34
of the clients that they had to present our capabilities to
34:39
But it was difficult because, you know, some of the clients
34:42
were a little bit hesitant about our agency.
34:46
Um You know, they were used to a different type of culture.
34:50
They de dealt more with Mexican Americans, for example, in
34:56
Um you know that Cuban Americans, we can sometimes be seen
35:01
as arrogant or a little bit too by people who are prejudiced
35:09
And I did have a few encounters like that with, with some clients
35:13
that I do remember not fondly.
35:15
Um There were other opportunities that were magnificent
35:19
For example, with BMW, we became the national agency uh for
35:23
BMW, we became the national agency for 15 Nestle brands.
35:29
Uh We were able to do some work with the l'oreal Business and
35:34
Uh There were many opportunities for us to be much bigger,
35:38
not only in terms of national clients, but also bigger in terms
35:43
of our ability uh to work in various markets.
35:48
Because acquired C ONE A in Texas and Los Angeles.
35:53
And we became the leaders of a, an agency that had an L A office
35:59
a Texas Dallas office, a New York office which they opened
36:04
later for us and a Miami office.
36:07
So from going from 30 employees, we became the leaders of 100
36:13
employees and those were challenging times, you know, getting
36:16
used to that kind of size and complexity and also, you know
36:20
financial financially, we wanted to make sure that we were
36:25
profitable, which we were very much.
36:27
Uh So it was quite a challenge.
36:31
In 2003, I saw that had acquired another Hispanic agency.
36:39
They already had and Connell was their Toyota, you know, arm
36:46
for the Hispanic market.
36:48
And then they acquired Brumley.
36:51
And I thought to myself, well, you know, one of us is gonna go
36:56
and we're smaller and, uh, you know, we're number eight and
37:02
Bromley is number two.
37:04
So I think I better, I've already been with them for three years
37:09
My contract was going to end, uh, at the end of 2003, I believe
37:15
it was because I the, the, the purchase was over a period of
37:22
At that point, I thought it would be strategic on my part to
37:27
talk to Ernesto about a merger that would produce the number
37:31
one agency in the US, which was my vision.
37:36
So I went to Ernesto and uh I I proposed this to him.
37:42
Um he went to visit the chairman of, I think I should have gone
37:46
with him, but he went to visit them and they like the idea as
37:52
And that's how we merged Pub Sanchez and Leviton into Bromley
37:57
Bromley because they were bigger became Bromley the the name
38:02
So we were sort of taken out of the picture except that I became
38:06
the president and vice chairman and Ernesto became the chairman
38:10
and that's how we brought to Miami, the number one Hispanic
38:16
And that's how it happened.
38:18
2004 advertising age declared us the number one agency in
38:23
buildings when we created the Seville in Miami.
38:28
In 1995 we decided to do it through a nonprofit that would receive
38:34
free services from Sanchez.
38:38
At that time, it was called Hispanic Events.
38:40
And it was also used a nonprofit to organize the Fair of Spain
38:46
But when I left pub uh publicist in January of 2005, I decided
38:54
that I didn't have the 100 employees or the 30 employees to
38:58
help me, do you know, produce events at the level of Affair
39:04
And that I wanted to transition into a different direction
39:08
So I got advice from my son who is so creative and so wonderful
39:14
And he told me, let's call it Miami.
39:17
And he started giving me some ideas on logos and so on.
39:21
And we decided that our direction was to sort of fill a hole
39:26
that had been created in Miami, where many foundations and
39:31
government were giving help to the major organizations like
39:36
the Florida Opera, like the Perez Art Museum, uh different
39:41
uh new World Symphony and so on.
39:44
There were many other smaller cultural organizations and
39:49
there were many Hispanic artists and writers, playwrights
39:52
directors of films that were not getting much help.
39:56
And we decided that our focus was going to be to try to help them
40:01
And then we had a secondary focus which was to also educate
40:08
the American public about the value of the Hispanic culture
40:12
And that took me to the Smithsonian when I was named to a commission
40:18
to create a Smithsonian Latino Museum where Art Miami also
40:23
I'm sort of an informal counselor.
40:26
I was the originally on the commission to create the study
40:30
that has led eventually to congress approving the museum
40:36
And then I became a member of the friends of the National Museum
40:40
of the American Latino and or on their board.
40:43
And finally, I became the vice chairman of the Smithsonian
40:48
I served on that in that capacity for a few years.
40:52
And now uh since I didn't want to travel that much, I decided
40:57
to resign but serve as an informal fundraiser counselor to
41:03
Eduardo Diaz, the director who I respect very much.
41:06
And for example, last week, we were advising him on the Spanish
41:12
American League against discrimination, which was an organization
41:17
created in the 19 seventies by many who are now very respected
41:23
leaders in the Cuban American community to fight discrimination
41:27
People like Eduardo Padron man, who became Mayor Manie Medina
41:33
who became the creator of emerge Americas and a billionaire
41:36
ambassador Paul, who also became a billionaire um Maria Corbe
41:42
who became a judge uh Margarita, who became a judge.
41:48
It was an amazing group of people.
41:49
And the Smithsonian Latino Center will actually include
41:53
a section about Salad in one of their exhibitions that will
41:58
come to the Smithsonian Latino Gallery at the American History
42:02
Museum sometime hopefully in 2021 the reason we need a museum
42:09
about the contributions of American Latinos to the United
42:12
States is because we have seen a lack of knowledge that has
42:18
led to prejudice, misunderstandings, even hate crimes.
42:23
Um that is really terrible.
42:27
And this is something that can be solved by having Children
42:33
adults, visitors from other countries, be able to see the
42:38
many aspects of what us Latinos have contributed to the development
42:43
of American society and the defense of democracy.
42:47
Because let's not forget that many Hispanics have served
42:51
in the armed forces in wars to defend the United States.
42:57
And then we have, of course, all of the business people who
43:01
have created amazing things like Roberto, a Cuban exile who
43:07
became the chairman of Coca Cola International and took Coca
43:11
Cola to the next level, not set by me, recognized by business
43:15
people all over the world.
43:17
Uh We had people like Carlos Gutierrez who became Ceo of Kelloggs
43:22
Uh We have people in the arts uh major artists like the Cuban
43:27
American, Carlos Alfonso, who was the subject of a retrospective
43:32
at the Smithsonian Hirschhorn Museum.
43:34
And at the Perez Art Museum, you have people like Celia Cruz
43:39
who was probably the most beloved salsa artist in the world
43:44
Will Chino Emilia Stepan all in the arts.
43:48
You have filmmakers, you have novelists like Oscar who won
43:55
Uh So there's so much to show in that museum and the food, I mean
44:03
You know, when you have, when you think about what the cafeteria
44:06
of the museum can offer in terms of a variety of food.
44:11
Uh If you think that salsa is more popular than catch up nowadays
44:14
in the United States, the African American Museum has shown
44:20
that there is no more demand in any of the other Smithsonian
44:24
museums than at the African American Museum.
44:26
Hundreds of thousands of people go through it every month
44:32
Why not a Latino museum that will also bring that wealth and
44:37
and beauty of experience of the US Latinos to the United States
44:43
Well, I think one if not the greatest accomplishment of my
44:47
life has been my son.
44:49
Alex is a person with a good heart to me, that is the most important
44:55
He's a good, good man, but he's also incredibly talented and
45:02
I don't have much of a sense of humor, but he really compensates
45:06
for everything I don't have.
45:08
My son is a producer in Hollywood.
45:11
He produced much, much more the legend of Walter Mercado,
45:15
which is now in Netflix.
45:17
I'm very proud of that film.
45:19
It's a documentary film of the best type directed by Karim
45:24
touch and Cristina Constantini, who are incredible people
45:28
of different backgrounds.
45:29
Karim is Cuban Lebanese and Christina is Argentinian American
45:34
and of course, Alex is Cuban American, although he was born
45:37
here, but he still considers himself a Cuban American.
45:40
And right now he has multiplicity of projects that he's working
45:44
on and I know some of those projects are going to be award winners
45:49
My son originally wrote uh with Marco Ramirez, another huge
45:55
talent in Hollywood also from Miami from Hi art Miami published
46:01
this book because we thought it was hilarious.
46:04
They took the Haiku form of Japan and they put in that Haiku
46:10
form, the Spanglish experience of living in Miami.
46:15
And the book has sold out several times.
46:18
I I'm already on the third edition.
46:21
Alex has been in the entertainment business since the age
46:24
of 2.5 when he did his first print out.
46:28
And Alex is really experienced when I hear him talking about
46:33
I'm amazed at how smart he is, how much he knows.
46:37
He's a graduate of the NYU School of the Arts.
46:40
But I think it goes beyond his education.
46:43
He's just an incredibly well read person.
46:47
He's just an amazing person.
46:48
Married to a wonderful uh American lady by the name of Lizzie
46:53
Redner, who's a nurse and used to be an actress.
46:56
I'm very proud of her as well, very accomplished and very smart
47:00
And uh what can I tell you?
47:02
This is the happiest period of my life.
47:03
I'm married to a fantastic man, Fernando Petit, who was an
47:08
architect in Argentina and came to work here in the United
47:11
And uh I'm also very proud of the fact that we decided to help
47:16
poets, poets never get their books published in Spanish here
47:24
in Miami because nobody wants to sell poetry because it doesn't
47:29
So they want to publish novels or essay type of books and so
47:33
So we decided to create a division that would publish the poetry
47:38
of Hispanic poets based in Miami.
47:42
And we created several books.
47:44
One of the books is called The City of Possible Unity.
47:48
And we collected 100 and seven poems from more than 35 poets
47:54
locally from different nationalities.
47:56
But all live in Miami.
47:58
That book in particular, I thought was wonderful because
48:01
we did it in Spanish first.
48:03
And then we had it translated by professionals who specialized
48:07
in translating Spanish poetry into English.
48:11
And they translated it for us.
48:13
And we have the book in English.
48:16
And then we created another collection called which Luis
48:22
And we have also published several poets as well.
48:25
I'm very proud of that.
48:27
Becoming the only Cuban American female to become or to be
48:32
named elected chairman of the board of a bank in Florida was
48:37
one of the biggest surprises of my life.
48:39
I became chairman of the board when one of the major investors
48:45
in the bank suggested that he wanted me to run for chairman
48:50
And I was so shocked because I didn't consider myself to be
48:55
an expert in banking.
48:56
I was an expert in management.
48:58
I was an expert in human resources.
49:00
I was an expert, of course, in, in all of the public relations
49:04
aspects that the bank needed.
49:06
But I'm not a finance expert, but he considered that my contributions
49:11
to the bank were so valuable.
49:13
My community contacts, my ability to uh see things that they
49:18
were not able to see because they're from outside um that he
49:22
wanted me to, to head the bank uh as a chairman.
49:26
And I brought in a CEO who is Luis De Aguilera, who has been in
49:32
the banking business for 35 years.
49:34
And he's brought in an unequal team of bankers.
49:38
I consider us bank right now to be the best commercial community
49:43
bank in Florida because of the depth of expertise of, of the
49:48
And it has been an amazing experience.
49:52
I work with six men on the board.
49:56
I'm hoping in the future as the board becomes bigger that I
49:59
can bring other women and the men are tremendously smart.
50:05
Uh I, they bring in very valuable insights.
50:09
Uh and I hope that I do too.
50:11
These are people who bring in different points of view and
50:15
different experiences and it has enabled our bank to become
50:20
profitable every quarter for the last four years and to grow
50:24
to 1.5 billion in assets, we could not have envisioned how
50:28
successful the bank has become.
50:30
So it's been a tremendous experience for me and I've really
50:34
I am really enjoying it if I could speak directly to a young
50:41
immigrant girl arriving recently in the US is number one,
50:49
Don't get frustrated, don't get sad, it gets better and second
50:54
value education above everything else.
50:57
Don't let anybody tell you that you cannot go to a university
51:01
There are many scholarships out there.
51:04
Uh You will be able to get into college with scholarships and
51:08
be able to reach a level of knowledge and expertise that will
51:14
then transition you into a good job.
51:17
The other thing is to be very persistent, you will not achieve
51:22
your goals right away.
51:23
You have to be very patient and be very willing to work very
51:27
hard in order to reach the kind of dream that you want to reach
51:31
But more than anything else, don't forget your family, your
51:35
family is going to be always the center of your life because
51:40
when you get sick, when your career fails and it will sometimes
51:45
when you lose a job, it's your family that's out there supporting
51:49
you and encouraging you.
51:51
So I think uh those are basic things that I would say to a young
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