Entrepreneur alumna to speak at student leadership summit

By: Mathew Messa/Contributing Writer

 

On Saturday, Feb. 2, the University will be holding its annual Student Leadership Summit. The Summit is open to all FIU students and will feature a number of faculty, administrators, as well as alumni, who will be sharing information on topics revolving around eight leadership competencies.

Ana M. Gomez, a member of the Summit’s organization committee and Graduate Assistant at FIU’s Center for Leadership and Service, promises students access to a wide variety of information at the Summit.

“We have a variety of speakers who all come from different backgrounds and are going to cover a range of topics, each covering at least two competencies,” said Gomez. “Students can expect to be able to pursue topics that interest them and where they feel they need development.”

As listed by the Center for Student Leadership and Service, the competencies are: Learning and Reasoning, Self-Awareness and Development, Interpersonal Interaction, Group Dynamics, Civic Responsibility, Communication, Strategic Planning, and Personal Behavior.

“Leadership has such a broad scope, and we really focus on developing students in these eight competencies. They come from years of research on which key factors help build leaders. Leadership isn’t just about being a boss, there are leaders in every position, at every level,” said Gomez.

Gomez will hold a presentation at the Summit called Power in Community: A History of Social Change, which will focus on the common factors behind some of history’s largest social movements both in the United States and around the world.

The Keynote speaker for the Summit is Afro-Latina Social Entrepreneur and Philanthropist, Leyanis Diaz. Diaz is also an FIU alumna who graduated from the University in 2015 with a degree in Broadcast Media.

In 2017, Diaz founded Major Marketplace, an online marketplace that acts as a platform for minority businesses to promote their products.

“We curate local and international products and services made, sold, and offered by passionate minority business owners and we connect them to conscious consumers, corporations, and governments,” said Diaz to Student Media via email. “We work alongside minority businesses to help them scale, gain traction, and qualify for more opportunities.”

Major Marketplace has garnered accolades such as the 2017 American Entrepreneurship Award and winner of the 2018 Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge. Diaz has also worked with various non-profit organizations like the Embrace Girls Foundation, and Health in the Hood.

Some of the main things that Diaz wants to get across during her speech at the summit are life lessons she has learned about patience and adaptability.

“First, students should be patient. Success does not happen overnight. Likewise, success is a combination of hard work, experience… and frankly, luck. Second, that they should be flexible,” said Diaz. “They should be open to change and see where their personal journey takes them.”

Gomez told Student Media that one of the reasons the University chose Diaz to be a keynote speaker was to inspire students through her success story.

“At the end of the day we really want to show our students that it is possible to pursue your dreams and attain your goals, and that’s something Leyanis has really succeeded in doing.”

Students can register for the Summit for free online at go.fiu.edu/studentleadershipsummit. The event will be held in the Wolfe University Center on the Biscayne Bay Campus.