Patricia Gracia will be honored during National Small Business Week 2010.

The United States Small Business Administration’s Los Angeles District Office selected Patricia Gracia, founder and president of Power Media Group, as the Minority Small Business Champion of the Year.
Chosen for her commitment to support minority entrepreneurship through the creation of a business incubator in Santa Clarita, Gracia will be honored during the National Small Business Week 2010 awards ceremony and luncheon this summer.
Gracia, who launched the Hispanic advertising agency Power Media Group in 2001 along with her husband Tony, recently sponsored the business incubator Power Woman Business Center to help minority entrepreneurs start or grow their businesses during the difficult economic recession. The Center provides low-cost office facilities as well as the training and resources necessary to guide entrepreneurs towards professional success. The Center operates in the 11,000 sq. ft. Spanish style multi-story house, which became the agency’s new headquarters, and which was purchased in 2008 with the help of an SBA 504 Loan for $406,000.
Born in Peru, Gracia migrated to the United States by crossing the Mexican Border from Tijuana illegally and at the age of 18, alone and full of goals and dreams, set out to start her new American life in the San Fernando Valley. She quickly mastered the English language and began working for the Peninsula Hotel, a five-diamond and five-star hotel in Beverly Hills that sponsored her education at UCLA where she received a degree in public relations. She immediately followed that personal achievement with an internship at the ad agency CRUZ/KRAVETZ: IDEAS where, after just 40 hours of training, she was offered a full-time position in the production department in charge of one of the most important accounts of the agency.

Today, Gracia -now a U.S. citizen- and her husband, manage the successful advertising agency that specializes in creating Spanish language media campaigns for high-profile clients seeking to reach the growing Hispanic market, which experts indicate will exceed a buying power of $1 trillion in 2010.
Small Business Champion awards are made to individuals or organizations dedicated to supporting small businesses. The SBA selects award recipients at the district level, the state level (from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam) and the national level. The National Small Business Champion awards are selected from the State winners.
The nation’s top entrepreneurs will be honored at the U.S. Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week events to be held May 23-25, in Washington, D.C. A series of events and educational forums will mark the 57th anniversary of the agency and the 47th annual proclamation of National Small Business Week.

The increasing percentage of the US demographic profile represented by ethnic minorities presents an opportunity to marketers and retailers, according to The Nielsen Company.

Hispanic Shoppers

• Tend to spend more on categories for babies and children. Hispanic households represent 11.8% of CPG total spending, but 16.6% of disposable diaper sales.
  
• Tend to spend more in traditional mass merchandise and warehouse clubs.
  
• Tend to spend more on food consumed at home.
  

About Power News

Power News is a free, monthly publication, designed to provide information about the advertising agency Power Media Group, its clients, projects and campaigns, as well as the latest trends and analysis about issues affecting the advertising industry.

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