16th Annual National
LATINA Symposium
By Gloria Romano-Barrera
Photos by Juan Carlos Briceño
(fotobriceno.com)
On the evening of Wednesday, September
4th, LATINA Style kicked off the 16th
Annual National LATINA Symposium with
a leadership reception where sponsor remarks were
provided by Lauren Bacon, Senior Manager, Military
Programs, Hilton and Pepe Estrada, Director, Public
Affairs, Walmart.
After an eventful evening, attendees gathered
the next morning at the Hilton Crystal City in
Arlington, VA where attendees were welcomed by
opening remarks provided by Robert E. Bard,
President & CEO, LATINA Style, Inc. In addition,
breakfast sponsor remarks were delivered by James
F. Schenck, Chief Executive Officer, PENFED and
Mariana Barrientos Roig, Co-Founder & VP of
Strategy, ROIG Communications, LLC served as
mistress of ceremonies.
The first panel of the day titled “Nurturing
Latina Success,” focused on ways to maximize
2019 Distinguished Military Service Award recipients.
the visibility of leadership skills. Panelists shared
their strategies for success and provided
insights on how to prepare for new professional
opportunities.
Moderated by Martha Flores, Senior Computer
Scientist, 453 Electronic Warfare Squadron, U.S.
Air Force, panelists included Elsa Gudiel, SHARP
BDE Victim Advocate, D-SAACP Level IV
(ET-6234-0523), U.S. Army; Sara Salas, Deputy
Director, EEO, Fleet Readiness Center Southwest,
U.S. Navy; Xiomara Torres Department Manager,
Coast Guard Exchange System, U.S. Coast Guard
and Roxannet K., Agent, CIA.
Pepe Estrada, Director,
Public Affairs, Walmart.
Lauren Bacon,
Senior Manager, Military
Programs, Hilton.
(L-R) Major General Linda R.
Urrutia-Varhall (Ret); Odalys
Fajardo-Guerrero, Walmart’s VP of
Global Investigations-Latin America,
and Pepe Estrada, Director, Public
Affairs, Walmart.
James F. Schenck, CEO,
PENFED provides
breakfast sponsor remarks
at NLS.
24 www. lat inastyle.com LATINAStyle Vol . 25, No. 6, 2019
/(fotobriceno.com
/inastyle.com
