By Juliana Rico
Nelly Galán was five years old when her parents brought her to the United States from Cuba. As every immigrant, she had to learn the language and the new culture. One day, she heard a conversation on which her parents were talking about having financial issues to pay for the school she was going to. Galan, who was just a ten year old girl, began selling AVON products in her school. During the first month she sold 800 dollars, which allowed her to help her parents pay for her studies.
Galán has been an inspiration for many young Latino women in the United States. She became the first Latina to direct a Spanish television station in Telemundo, as well as other television programs, which in her day, broke tuning ratings such as “The Swan” and “El Show del Padre Alberto”.
Galán was awarded an , and she was the first Latina who participated representing a foundation in The Celebrity Apprentice realty show in 2008. Galán has her own media company, Galan Entertainment since 1994.
“It takes the support of a lot of people to create a successful person, you should always ask for help, get involved with the chambers of commerce in your cities, and learn to listen to others when you are doing something wrong with your business”, stated Galán at the conference.
Currently, Galán is the founder of the Adelante Movement, which helps Latino women owners of businesses get educated on how to handle their own businesses. The movement also promotes strategies so that Latino women take on leadership roles within their communities.
“The best friend one may have as a woman is fear as well as failure. We all feel fear, and we all are afraid of failure, but fear is not real, it is a feeling so it is good to keep you going”, added Galán.
El Adelante Movement Tour is sponsored by the Coca Cola Company and it has opened the opportunity for Galan to inspire millions of Latino women around the country. The series of conferences, which are generally in English, aim to train five million Latino women by the year 2020.
“Being a Latina in the United States is having the best of both worlds; you may double opportunities in your business because you can reach two types of customers, American and Latinos” stated Galán.
During the conference, Galán highlighted that Latino women are going to become the most important economic group in the United States in the next 20 years.
“The Hispanic market has ripened in our country, sometimes, we are afraid to explore new marketing strategies”, said the Cuban American business woman.
With participation from San Diego County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Chase Bank, Galán was the guest of honor at the Adelante Movement Seminar held in the Sheraton Hotel in Carlsbad on Tuesday, December first.
“Movimiento Adelante has been created to unite us socially, economically, and politically. We can show you how to make the right decisions for your business, as well as how to use social networks to promote it; we guide you through whatever you need to drive your business to success”, stated Galán.
To get more information about events Nelly will be attending in upcoming months, you can visit the website www.theadelantemovement.com or call (310) 823-2822.