Florida Latinos
by Latin Times Magazine
Name : Jackeline Vallejo Toledo Profession : Civil Engineer Business Owner
Home Town : Tampa , Florida Pais : Peru
Latin-Times : Tell us about your job / career ? Jackie : I graduated with a Civil Engineering degree from the University of South Florida in 2000 . I obtained my Professional Engineering ( PE ) certification in 2005 .
I am also a mom . I became an instant mom when I met my husband Jose and my Stepson Sam , and in 2005 our daughter Julia was born , she is now 6 years old , Julia was followed by Anthony who is 4 , Alec who is 3 , and Joselyn who was born in April of this year . I find that being a mommy is the most fulfilling job of all !
My love of children has allowed me to pursue other ventures , and last year this passion led me to open up a Performing Arts Enrichment Program for kids .
Latin Times : Who ( here or departed ) do you consider to be a Latino / Hispanic role model for you , and why ? Jackie : My grandfather , the late Teobaldo Bocanegra M . D . He was a physician in Perú--I always saw him as the people ’ s doctor . He treated people despite their class , despite whether or not they had insurance . My Grandfather relentlessly helped his community . His patients were his passion , and I saw this first hand , how he positively changed the lives of people . Although he ’ s no longer with us he remains my inspiration .
Locally , Maritza Rovira - Forino is my role model and was my sponsor in college . She has taught me to give selflessly . Early on I saw how she was involved in the community and that I would follow in her footsteps . Those are very big shoes to fill , so I didn ’ t waste any time . In college I got involved in my sorority , student council , I was a USF ambassador and I was in every professional organization on campus relating to my degree . Maritza believed in me and likewise I believed in myself and strove to make her proud . Maritza ’ s involvement in the community is outstanding and I ’ m still trying to fill those shoes . This year she will be honored as the 2011 Hispanic Woman of the Year .
Name : Maria I . Caban
Home Town : Orlando , Florida Country : USA & Puerto Rico
Latin-Times : What do you do for a living ? Maria Caban : I co-own Gold Star Title & Escrow Inc . with my business partner , Jennifer Correa .
Latin-Times : What type of community projects are you involved in ? Maria Caban : We are involved in and support Partners in Education , Habitat for Humanity , Back to School Backpack Drive and my business partner is a veteran and her husband is currently deployed so we do what we can for U . S . troops by sending care packages , Christmas cards , and letters to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan .
Latin-Times : In your life , who is your inspiration and hero ? Maria Caban : Virgen Cartagena , my mother , who was also a single mother . She worked so hard her whole life to provide for me , my sister and brother . She was a true inspiration for me growing up . Also , my two best friends Jennifer Correa and Adalida Gerges , they are like sisters to me . I met them both very shortly after I moved here . They “ adopted ” me and gave me strength to keep going when it was difficult , to keep moving up and were both such positive influences on me as a woman and a business person .
Latin-Times : What has been your biggest challenge , and how did you overcome it ? Maria Caban : The biggest challenge for me has been opening our business . We opened it at the absolute peak of the real estate market less than a year before the big crash . I ’ m not sure we have completely overcome that yet . But I can see a bright light at the end of our tunnel . I feel confident and proud to say that we survived the hardest market and time period in real estate history and we did that because we had a very conservative business plan , with very low overhead and we put everything into our customer service . Real estate is a business of trust and relationships . Our customers ( which includes realtors , mortgage lenders , buyers and sellers ) need to put their trust in us and feel that we have their best interests at heart . And you can ’ t do that without building a relationship with them . Without that philosophy and business motto , we would not have made it this far .
Name : Mayra Calo Profession : Attorney at Law
Home Town : Tampa , Florida Pais : Puerto Rico
Latin Times : Mayra , please share with our readers , how our children ’ s birthright citizenship is in danger . Mayra Calo : Well , for the past year I have been participating in community outreach seeking to educate the public on an issue I am quite passionate about . I have spoken to Chamber groups , Rotarians and many other groups about the issue of birthright citizenship .
The next big immigration battle centers on the children of illegal immigrants , who are granted automatic citizenship like all other babies born on American soil . Arguing for an end to the policy , which is rooted in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution , anti-immigration hard-liners describe a wave of migrants stepping across the border in the advanced stages of pregnancy to have what are dismissively called anchor babies .
A coalition of lawmakers from across the country seek to avoid the painstaking process of amending the Constitution , since the federal government decides who is to be deemed a citizen , the lawmakers are considering instead a move to create two kinds of birth certificates in their states , one for the children of citizens and another for the children of illegal immigrants .
The U . S . is one of several countries in the world that follow the rule of jus solis , which is a Latin term meaning of the soil . Once born in the U . S . one is considered an automatic citizen of that country . Many other countries follow the rule of jus sanguine , which mean of the blood . For those countries , only blood lineage leads to citizenship of that country .