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Apr 3, 2025 9:52 am
Lisette Vega: Diversity helps make America great.
Lisette Vega arrived at a “Hispanic Business Excellence” celebration with a vision of starting her own international trade business one day — and an ear open for advice.
Vega was one of the Southern Connecticut State University students selected to present awards to local Latino leaders Tuesday night.
Southern’s School of Business hosted a diversity celebration centered around “Honoring the Hispanic Business Community.”
Nine Latino New Haveners received honors for their contributions to the city: construction attorney Raymond Garcia, political consultant Paul Nuñez, aerospace entrepreneur Pedro Soto, affordable housing and community theater champion Rafael Ramos, La Voz Hispana editor Abelardo King and publisher Norma Rodríguez, branding designer Ramon Peralta, and chef and restaurateur Arturo Franco.
The honorees spoke on a panel moderated by local philanthropist, state economic development official, and Southern Connecticut State University supporter Lindy Lee Gold.
Vega, a business administration major at Southern, was assigned to present the award to Rodríguez and King. “I feel so honored and proud to be here,” she said, noting that some day, she hopes to be a mentor as a successful business leader within the Latino community.
Vega grew up in Ecuador until her family moved to the New Haven area at the age of 15. When she first started college at Gateway Community College, she thought she would pursue a career in healthcare, perhaps as a nurse. But she soon found that the field was not for her.
When the Covid-19 pandemic came to New Haven in full force, Vega decided to take some time off from school, taking a job as an insurance agent. She found that she enjoyed the work. “I really like talking to people, connecting with people,” she said. The experience helped her find a new passion for business.
Vega is focusing her studies on international business, with a particular interest in the import and export world. The field interests her in part because of an opportunity to support cultural exchange.
In her completely unbiased opinion, she said for example, the best plantains on the planet are from Ecuador. She added that Ecuadorean shrimp is also unparalleled. The prospect of broadening access to those foods is one of many ideas Vega has for a future business.
“America is great, having a lot of diversity,” Vega said, referring to the anti-immigrant sentiments of President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” supporters.
Vega said she came to the event prepared to glean as much advice as possible from the honorees on what it takes to find success as a business leader.
Here are some snippets of what she heard:
“The economy, for us, has always been bad,” said Rafael Ramos. “But somehow we made it happen.”
“Every single thing in my life has not been planned,” said Norma Rodríguez. “In fact, everything that has been planned has not worked out.”
“If, having gone through the worst day of your business, you wake up and know that this is what you are going to do, know you’re on the right track,” said Pedro Soto.
Norma Rodríguez. (Rodríguez chairs the board of the Online Journalism Project, which publishes the New Haven Independent.)
It happened to be Rafael Ramos’ birthday — prompting cake and a song.
