NOMINATED BY Representative Antonio F.D. Cabral - 13th Bristol
BIOGRAPHY
This year, I am proud to nominate Von Marie Moniz for the Latina Excellence Awards. Von Marie's professional and personal endeavors illustrate her deep commitment to representing, empowering, and advancing the growing Hispanic population in the South Coast. Von Marie first became involved with E For All! SouthCoast as a Certified Event and Wedding Planner looking to expand her wedding planning business, Von Marie Moniz and that experience led her to become E for All SouthCoast's Program Manager. Throughout her tenure over the last three years, Von Marie has built and sustained a network of local entrepreneurs and small-business owners, providing them with the professional development and technical assistance to help their businesses thrive. Throughout that time, she also witnessed barriers that the Spanish-speaking small-business community consistently faced. Armed with the knowledge, first-hand experience, and respect of the community, Von Marie founded Latinas in the SouthCoast in 2021, a mission-driven group for Latina professionals that provides a number of resources and opportunities, including but not limited to: vendor and small business showcases; professional development workshops and resources in Spanish; health and wellness-themed networking events; and charitable giving to those organizations serving the Spanish-speaking community.
Von Marie saw the barriers her community was facing, resulting from both the pandemic as well as an exclusive, male-dominated, English-centric business community, which sparked her latest creation: the first South Coast Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Von Marie is fiercely proud of her Hispanic heritage and building and cultivating spaces that affirm that pride, culture, and connection. She is empowering fellow entrepreneurs and small-business owners, connecting them to resources and, most importantly, connecting the Greater New Bedford community to these businesses, which aren't always found “on the beaten path." In closing, one of Von Marie's greatest contributions as a Latina Excellence Awardee is her commitment to building up the women around her and creating avenues for them to learn, improve, and ultimately thrive. When a young, Spanish-speaking aspiring photographer reached out to Von Marie to assist with her career, she told Von Marie that she feared no one would give her a chance because of her language barrier. From that point on, Von Marie served as her liaison and translator, and even hired her to photograph Latinas in the SouthCoast events, providing the experience and opportunity to learn, receive feedback from trusted sources, improve her skills, and build the confidence she needed to expand her business to the wider community. It for these reasons I proudly nominate Von Marie Moniz for this year's Latina Excellence Award.
