After checking in with us on the 16th floor for your nametag and program, join us for breakfast, networking, and a little local shopping at our Marketplace!

Nadege Green
Director of Community Research and Storytelling, Community Justice Project, Inc.

Nadege Green is a journalist and community historian based in Miami. Her work centers the lived experiences of Black people in South Florida. Green’s practice and approach to storytelling is deeply rooted in history and first-person narratives that explore and connect issues around race, culture, climate justice and displacement. 

She is the director of Community Research and Storytelling at Community Justice Project, a local non-profit that supports Black and Brown people in Florida organizing for power, racial justice and human rights with innovative lawyering, research, and creative strategy tools.  

Green is also the founder of Black Miami-Dade, a history and storytelling platform that resists the erasure of Miami’s Black past. Earlier this year, she created the first ever exhibit in Miami to honor and uplift the history of Black LGBTQ+ Miamians called “Give Them Their Flowers.” The Miami Herald called it “the most relevant exhibit in Miami” at the time.  

Her reporting and essays have appeared on NPR, WLRN News, and in the Gravy Journal, the Miami Herald, The Atlantic and Harper’s Bazaar.  

Green is currently a Senior Civic Media Fellow at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Innovation Lab. She was the 2022 Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University’s Center for Black Visual Culture at the Institute of African American Affairs, and she was the inaugural Community Scholar in Residence at the University of Miami’s Center for Global Black Studies in 2021. 

A child of Haitian immigrants and former farmworkers, she was born and raised in the county of Dade where she is raising her two magical sons.

Discover how Catalyst Miami, in collaboration with partners, small businesses, and local government, is driving economic development to create pathways and policies that expand opportunities for small businesses, workers, and residents. Join us as we share key insights from our journey so far and discuss the next steps toward building a more just and inclusive economy in Miami.

Ahmed Mori | he/him
Community Economic Development Consultant, Catalyst Miami

As the former Vice President of Community Economic Development at Catalyst Miami, Ahmed oversaw worker and investment cooperative development, small business assistance and community building, and other programs centered on community wealth and economic democracy. An attorney and community economic development activist, Ahmed has worked with and represented worker cooperatives, tenants battling eviction in both courts and through advocacy, and affordable housing and community development nonprofits in Miami, South Texas, and New York City. He has a JD from Columbia Law School, an MA in Political Economy from Columbia University, and a BA in Philosophy from Florida International University. Ahmed serves on the board of The Allapattah Collaborative CDC.

Shayna Johnson | she/her
Senior Director of Worker-Owned Businesses, Catalyst Miami

Shayna directs the Worker-Owned Business Program's strategy, supports cooperatives under incubation, and connects cooperatives with partnership, business development, and funding opportunities. Prior to joining Catalyst Miami, Shayna was the Head of Education Programs for a social impact consulting firm, where she managed workforce development, community engagement, and leadership development programs for clients like Columbia University. Her previous work experience also includes strategic planning, operations management, and people management at a maintenance and repair operations company.

Shayna holds an MBA with a focus on Social Enterprise from Columbia Business School and a BA in Economics from Spelman College. She is passionate about eliminating education and health disparities in communities of color and is dedicated to empowering people to thrive.

Nathalie Setoute
Small Business Support Director, Catalyst Miami

Nathalie Setoute serves as the Small Business Support Director for Catalyst Miami. She brings to the team her background in community organizing and empowerment. Nathalie has a heart for underserved communities and hopes to empower impacted people and connect them to the resources they need to thrive. Prior to Catalyst Miami, Nathalie worked as an educator and has extensive experience in nonprofits. Her goal is to bridge programming and community work together to accomplish and implement initiatives that are practical, effective, and sustainable for everyone. She earned her B.S. and M.S. Degrees in Public Administration from Florida International University.

Santra Denis
Executive Director, Miami Workers Center

A South Florida native, Santra Denis is the Executive Director of the Miami Workers Center, a power-building, member-led organization, organizing working-class care workers, tenants, women, and families for the rights, respect, and resources that we need and deserve. Miami Workers Center founded in 1999, has a legacy of fighting against the demolition of public housing, the displacement of working-class people, and for equitable wages, safer working conditions and treatment, and benefits for all workers. Most recently, in 2022, Tenants and organizers with the Miami Workers Center won a Tenants Bill of Rights and $2.9 million for Eviction Diversion in 2023. 

Ms. Denis has developed her leadership as a working-class, feminist, anti-classist, and anti-racist community organizer and is committed to centering the leadership of Black and Immigrant working-class people. Ms. Denis has been very active in her community, founding Avanse Ansanm, an organization that preserves culture and builds economic and political power in South Florida’s Haitian-American communities. Ms. Denis has been recognized for her commitment to social justice in South Florida by the Broward County Commission on the Status of Women as a Valiant Woman of the Vote; Ruth’s List Broward as a “Breaking the Glass Ceiling” Award Recipient; the Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce of Florida as part of the Inaugural Class of Leaders for the esteemed award of “20 Under 40 Young Professionals” as well as “40 under 40” Leaders of Today, among others.

Ms. Denis is a first-generation Haitian-American. She graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor’s in Health Science and from Florida International University with a Master of Public Health in Policy and Management. Ms. Denis is a lover of all people and her life’s mission is to dismantle systems of oppression for the liberation of all people. 

Shekeria Brown
Vice President, Corporate Responsibility at JPMorgan Chase

Shekeria Brown leads community engagement for JPMorgan Chase Corporate Responsibility in the Southeast U.S. She is tasked with developing and maintaining authentic, enduring relationships with key stakeholders to shape and influence the firm’s approach to serving clients, customers, and communities. She engages community organizations involved in advocacy, thought leadership, and service to low-to-moderate-income communities. Additionally, she supports various leadership development initiatives and organizational capacity-building efforts for nonprofit partners focused on advancing an economy that works for all.

Shekeria joined JPMorgan Chase, in 2018, with deep experience in the community and economic development field, including serving as the executive director for a Miami-based nonprofit membership and advocacy organization, where she collaboratively advanced solutions around nonprofit capacity building, affordable housing and community economic development programs and policy. She has also led affordable housing and community development planning efforts for various municipalities in South Florida and administered over $100 million in federal, state, and local grant funding.

We will hear from local organizations that are addressing rising rents, displacement, and gentrification by helping residents and local business owners purchase their commercial properties and affordable housing buildings. We’ll also explore other innovative initiatives from across the country that are making both housing and commercial property more affordable.

Brittany Morgan
Senior Director of Economic Resilience, Miami Foundation

Brittany Morgan, Senior Director of Economic Resilience, was born and raised in Miami and joined the foundation in 2022 to design and launch the Open for Business fund, a $20 million investment in asset building for Miami-Dade’s minority entrepreneurs. Through this program, she pioneered a commercial down payment fund that helps business owners and nonprofit leaders acquire shared equity property in Miami’s most underinvested communities. As an extension of this work, she is building a place-based impact investing fund that will drive capital towards community development projects in housing, small business, climate, and more. 

A seasoned community economic development professional, she brings nearly 15 years of experience working in diverse program and project management roles spanning the small business, public health, education, and workforce sectors. Brittany is ardently passionate about economic parity, social equality, and racial justice. Brittany holds a bachelor’s from the University of Chicago in international studies with a minor in human rights, and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.

Ahmed Mori | he/him
Co-Director, Community Ownership of Housing & Neighborhood Assets Project, University of Miami
Principal, Commonhold Strategies

Ahmed Mori is committed to building grassroots, civil society spaces of resistance and neighborhood economics that preserve the collective labor of long-time residents. A throughline in his work is identifying and advising on how we can topple the institutional arrangements and ideological tenets that impede our communities from staying in place. 

Ahmed’s current work at the University of Miami, his research, and through his own consultancy, Commonhold, is centered on the exploration of tenant and worker political consciousness, and social movements that present alternatives, both through on-the-ground civil society experiments and through changes to the policy, legal, and capital environments. His research investigates how economic and extra-economic institutions, organizations, norms, and conventions both enable and limit alternatives like worker cooperatives and residential and commercial forms of community-owned properties.

As the former Vice President of Community Economic Development at Catalyst Miami, Ahmed oversaw worker and investment cooperative development, small business assistance and community building, and other programs centered on community wealth and economic democracy. As a consultant, Ahmed remains committed to worker cooperative development and economic development advocacy at Catalyst through the organization’s worker-owned business program, working with partners on establishing flexible financing opportunities for small businesses and cooperatives,  and its Florida Thrives program, which convenes economic development organizations to together, build capacity for, and pursue ambitious policy and programmatic interventions to improve conditions for small businesses in Miami-Dade County.

Prior to Catalyst, Ahmed worked with and legally represented worker cooperatives, community groups involved in anti-gentrification and anti-displacement struggles, tenants battling eviction in both courts and through advocacy, and affordable housing and community development nonprofits in Miami and South Texas at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, and worked on legal and policy advocacy for immigrants and disenfranched workers New York City through the Center for Popular Democracy and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He is a doctoral candidate in sociology at Johns Hopkins University, and has earned a JD from Columbia Law School, an MA in Political Economy from Columbia University, and a BA in Philosophy from Florida International University. Ahmed serves on the board of The Allapattah Collaborative CDC and the Miami Institute for the Social Sciences. Ahmed has been the recipient of several fellowships, including the Center for Community Investment’s Fulcrum Fellowship in 2023-25, the BLANK in 2021, and the Law 4 Black Lives Divest/Invest fellowship in 2019-2020.

Santander Arguelles
Chief Community Asset & Preservation Officer, The Allapattah Collaborative, CDC

Santander Arguelles brings extensive experience in banking and has successfully secured over $5 million in loans and grants for small businesses within the Allapattah commercial corridor. In 2024, Santander completed the prestigious NALCAB Pete Garcia Community Economic Development Fellowship and is currently spearheading our commercial real estate acquisition and development initiatives. With deep cultural and generational competency, Santander is dedicated to empowering local business owners to transition into storefront ownership, helping prevent displacement and fostering generational wealth within the community. In addition to his expertise in banking and economic development, Santander is a licensed real estate professional and a chemical engineer, offering a unique blend of technical and financial acumen to drive impactful community preservation and growth.

Adrian Alberto Madriz | He/Him/El
Co-Executive Director of Development and Infrastructure, SMASH

Born in New Orleans to Nicaraguan and Venezuelan immigrants, and raised in South Florida, Adrian is a community organizer by trade, with transformative organizing and development experience. His past causes include both of Barack Obama's Presidential campaigns in Florida, student organizing at the Episcopal Chapel at the University of New Orleans and Housing Organizing in Liberty City through the Miami Workers Center.

In addition to organizing, Adrian has an accomplished administrative and development background, having won large federal grants for his organizations, like the $768,000 Affordable Care Act Patient Navigator Grant for the Epilepsy Foundation in 2013. Through his housing organizing, he has become a local leader on the issues of gentrification, slumlords, climate change, queer advocacy, racial equity and on the technical aspects of affordable housing development for extremely low-income residents in Miami.

Adrian's life changed when he learned of the terrible conditions that Miamians face every day in buildings run by slumlords. He is inspired by the stories of brave tenants fighting for housing justice like Porgie Town, Sharice Taylor, Jemeena Grimes, Gaynisha Williams and other black women who accomplish the daily feat of survival. After being taught about the Community Land Trust concept by veteran community leader Trenise Bryant, he became a vocal advocate of the model. He serves as Executive Director of SMASH at the pleasure of the majority-black and grassroots Board of Directors.

Adrian has a BA in Political Science and in Screen Arts from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He lives with his husband, Armando Carranza Ventura in Overtown, Miami, FL.

This panel will feature initiatives aimed at engaging residents in community development projects as well as in small business initiatives and incentives planning at the city and county levels. It will also highlight an education and outreach program designed to educate residents about city planning, zoning, and development processes so that they can be more involved in shaping and preserving their neighborhoods.

Jorge Damian de la Paz
Director of Policy for the Office of the Mayor, Miami-Dade County

Jorge Damian de la Paz has a background in affordable housing, public interest technology, and community development. Before joining the County, he oversaw affordable housing initiatives at the University of Miami’s Office of Civic and Community Engagement and created online tools focused on regional housing issues. Jorge also served as a policy analyst at Miami Homes for All, managing successful advocacy efforts at the city and county level. In addition, as a winner of the Knight Cities Challenge, he helped create free software that tracks public meetings across various cities to increase in-person engagement.

Veronica Ayala Flores
Program Manager, Philadelphia Citizens Planning Institute

Verónica firmly believes in everyone's ability to participate in a greater conversation; one that affects the way we live, and the pursuit to improve it. For over a decade, in both volunteer and professional capacities, they have been facilitating collaborations, organizing, developing strategies, leading creative initiatives, and building the skills of leaders to advance social transformation. Previously to the Citizens Planning Institute, Verónica worked at Philadelphia LISC, where they facilitated the Community Connectors program and  co-facilitated the Experience Eastern North tour program.

Michael Roman
Community Partnerships & Strategy Manager/LGBTQ+ Liaison, City of Miami

Michael Roman plays an important role in managing initiatives and creating strategies that have resulted in innovative approaches to community development projects that promote social change and healthier neighborhoods. Michael oversees Community Partnerships, Policy & Strategic Development, Health Initiatives, and is also Liaison for the City of Miami’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board.

He currently sits on the Board of Directors for SAVE. He is also a Maven Leadership Collective Alumni and Coach, investing in creative social impact leaders who are queer and trans people of color and allies. Additionally, His previous position with the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute’s Office of Communications and Public Liaison has provided him with extensive experience in public health communications, program development and management, and public engagement. Michael graduated from Florida International University with a BS in Mass Communications.

Camilo Mejia
Directory of Policy & Advocacy, Catalyst Miami

Camilo Mejia’s background as a peace and immigrant rights activist is what originally led him to Catalyst Miami, where he currently serves as Director of Policy and Advocacy, and where his work revolves around community-led policy and engagement initiatives designed to build collective power and achieve collective gains, with a special focus on housing, climate, financial and health equity. Camilo has a bachelor's degree in Psychology and a master's in conflict resolution. He lives in Coconut Grove with his daughter.

Enjoy performances from Haitian Konpa dancers, offerings from local small businesses, and more during our lunch hour.

A discussion on how advocating for policies and practices that support small businesses and community economic development can increase profits, improve conditions for residents, and strengthen our local economy as a whole. We will hear about advocacy that has led to anti-harassment commercial tenant protections, a commercial lease assistance program, a commercial vacancy registry, and more, as well as initiatives that will facilitate advocacy and coalition building in Miami-Dade. 

Emily Goldstein | she/her
Director of Organizing and Advocacy, Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development

Emily Goldstein (she/her) is the Director of Organizing and Advocacy at the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD). She oversees all of ANHD’s campaigns and coalitions, working with staff, members and allies to win impactful policy reforms while building power across the community development movement. In her time at ANHD, Emily launched the organization’s Land Use Justice work, led a successful campaign for Certificate of No Harassment legislation, and at various times has coordinated nearly all of ANHD’s active coalitions. Prior to joining ANHD, Emily worked as a tenant organizer, a union organizer, and a technical assistance provider for non-profit affordable housing developers. Emily is a lifelong New Yorker, and an avid reader and knitter.

Santiago Bunce
Founder and CEO, Viabosque Group

Santiago Bunce is a dynamic performance and emergence coach, facilitator, and the founder and CEO of Viabosque Group. With nearly two decades of experience, he has guided more than 200 organizations across North America, Latin America, and Europe, including leading nonprofits, foundations, and Fortune 500 companies.

Santiago's expertise encompasses executive coaching, strategic planning, team development, social network analysis, organizational development, and network building. Through Viabosque's Bedrock Leadership Training, he teaches a nature-inspired framework that integrates Performance (setting goals and implementing strategy while effectively managing teams), Emergence (creating conditions for innovation and exploration), and Ecosystems (systems thinking and networked solutions) to help leaders and teams address the most pressing opportunities and issues facing their organizations, enterprises, and communities. He specializes in helping organizations navigate complex challenges through meeting and retreat facilitation, performance- and emergence-driven coaching, program design and evaluation, ecosystem analysis and development, team culture building, and organizational change management. His diverse client portfolio includes global technology leader HP, the Rockefeller Foundation's Economic Equity and Opportunity initiative, and the American Heart Association's Voices for Healthy Kids program, among others.

As an executive coach for the NeighborWorks America Achieving Excellence program, conducted in partnership with the Harvard Kennedy School, Santiago helps senior executives develop transformative leadership capabilities to address critical organizational and community challenges. His academic background includes a former position as an adjunct professor at Lynn University's Watson Institute, where he taught transformative leadership and business model validation.

Santiago holds a master's degree in nonprofit management and international economics and development from the University of California-San Diego and a bachelor's degree in comparative theology from Boston College. His professional training encompasses multiple advanced frameworks including performance-driven change, facilitative leadership, human-centered design, collective impact, results-based leadership, and asset-based community development. Fluent in both English and Spanish, Santiago brings a global perspective to his work with organizations across sectors and industries.

Matthew Pigatt
Director of Small Business & Membership Services, Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce

As a former mayor of Opa-Locka, community organizer, and dedicated advocate for education, Matthew Pigatt has built his career on empowering individuals and communities to reach their full potential. Matthew firmly believes in giving back and passing down education, experiences, and useful advice to others, especially young adults. His book The Academic Hustle: The Ultimate Game Plan for Scholarships, Internships, and Job Offers has helped uncountable students lock in millions in funding to pay for school and move forward in their careers.

As director at the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce and founder of The Academic Hustle, he helps students secure scholarships, businesses scale, and leaders influence government to create lasting change.

Matthew graduated magna cum laude from Morehouse with a B.A. in African American Studies and Psychology.

Destini Smith
Director of Popular Education and Grassroots Leadership, Catalyst Miami

Destini has worked with several non-profit organizations for redemptive justice. From serving as founding staff and fitness coach with Noble Clay Fitness to advocating for fair housing recommendations in Atlanta, Destini has a passion for cultivating thriving Black communities.

Additionally, Destini serves on the board of SMASH, a housing justice organization, community land trust, and cooperative. Destini has a passion for empowering youth leaders, championing Black women, and igniting faith leaders to pursue equity and justice.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Emory University and a Master of Education in Community Building and Social Change from the University of Miami.

We are exploring innovative ways to increase funding that make housing, homeownership, and commercial property more accessible and affordable. Through community-led revitalization projects, fostering cross-sector partnerships, fostering funder collaboratives, and supporting affordable housing initiatives at the County level, these organizations are finding new ways to invest in our neighborhoods that expand opportunities for residents and local businesses.

Dwayne Rankin
Community Development Loan Officer, Florida Community Loan Fund

Dwayne Rankin underwrites community and economic development loans for FCLF’s commercial loan programs and provides technical assistance to borrowers throughout Tampa, West and Southwest Florida. Mr. Rankin brings 20+ years of commercial lending, economic development finance and community development expertise to FCLF. His experience includes working for both nonprofit lending organizations and regional banks. Mr. Rankin worked as a Relationship Manager for Citizens Bank, a regional bank based in Providence Rhode Island, where he helped large corporate clients by providing loans and banking services. He also worked as the Chief Lending Officer for Bridgeway Capital, a Community Development Financial Institution based in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, where during his nearly 8 years with the organization helped to invest $100 million into low-income communities.

Mr. Rankin is dedicated to helping to bring opportunity and dignity to people and places outside the economic mainstream.

Sam Chesser
South Florida Vice President, Self-Help Credit Union

Sam Chesser is the South Florida VP at Self-Help, a family of nonprofit organizations which includes a CDFI loan fund, two CDFI credit unions, and the National Center for Responsible Lending, which protects consumers from predatory financial practices. Self-Help’s mission is creating and protecting ownership and economic opportunity for all, especially low-wealth families, communities of color, women, children, and immigrants, as well as on clean energy and affordable housing. Sam has worked in the nonprofit financial sector for 30 years. In his spare time, Sam is also the Artistic Director of a community theater in Miami.

Audrey Aradanas
Deputy Director, Miami Homes For All

Audrey Aradanas is a passionate advocate for youth and families experiencing housing insecurity. She serves as the Deputy Director at Miami Homes For All (MHFA), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to ensure every Miami-Dade resident has a safe, affordable place to call home. Aradanas is a Filipino American born in California and spent her early childhood in the Cayman Islands. Since 2023, she has served on the Florida Supportive Housing Coalition board. In 2020, she was a member of Miami’s Next Leaders, and in 2019, she was a Community Scholar in Affordable Housing. She is a proud triple Florida International University graduate, earning her dual Bachelor’s degrees in 2016 and her Master’s in Business Administration in 2022.

Lia Yaffar-Pena
Executive Director, Community Fund of North Miami Dade

Lia Yaffar-Pena is an independent consultant in the areas of Strategic Thought Partnership and Execution. She is an entrepreneurial-minded, self-motivated, multilingual/cultural, strategic thinker and problem solver, focused on innovating and improving processes by thinking critically, strategically, and creatively.

Lia’s experience spans over 25 years in the area of Financial Services, including positions of various levels of responsibility in the retail and private banking, brokerage, and investment advisor platforms including HSBC Securities, Espirito Santo Bank, and Charles Schwab. The positions she has held include responsibility for leading sales teams, managing P&L, as well as strategy design and implementation of products platforms, pricing, and execution. She has served on the Board of Directors of a Florida Chartered bank, Broker/dealer, and Investment Advisor. She currently serves as Director on the Board of the Salvadoran American Humanitarian Foundation (SAHF), a Florida non-profit organization whose mission is to help the underserved in El Salvador through human development programs.

Lia received a Bachelor in Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of Miami and a MBA from George Washington University. She is a native speaker/writer in English and Spanish, fluent in French, and has working knowledge of Portuguese. She holds several FINRA Investments licenses as well as Agent Insurance License.

A conversation about how education, technology, and innovation can support both workers and small businesses in advancing their growth and goals. Learn more about some of these innovative programs to address workforce gaps and small businesses’ needs through educational programs and opportunities.

Jorge I. Guillen
Small Business Program Manager, The Idea Center at Miami Dade College

Jorge I. Guillen is an economist, entrepreneur, and business growth consultant dedicated to empowering small businesses. As the Small Business Program Manager at The Idea Center at Miami Dade College, he leads initiatives that foster entrepreneurship across Miami-Dade County. With a strong academic background and real-world experience as the founder of a successful tourism company, Jorge is passionate about creating opportunities, driving economic growth, and building vibrant business communities.

Carlos Vazquez
Founder, Miami EdTech

As the founder of Miami EdTech, Carlos is passionate about closing the skills gap and improving economic opportunities for the community through computer science advocacy and integration, digital skilling and workforce development. Miami EdTech has impacted the lives of thousands of learners and educators alike, particularly in the areas of STEM and Computer Science. He combines a passion for education and technology with a commitment to solving the biggest challenges in education. Carlos is an educator with over 20 years of experience in the K-12 and Higher Education sectors. He has a unique ability to translate complex ideas into accessible learning experiences.

Myrna Sonora
South Florida Regional Vice President, Prospera

In 2011, Myrna became the first Regional Vice President of Prospera for the South Florida region. As such, she has been responsible for establishing and overseeing the day-to-day
operations and growth of the organization's regional office, promoting the Prospera brand, raising local support for the mission, and building and developing a strong business consulting team for all services within the region. During its first decade of service to South Florida, under Myrna’s leadership, Prospera has provided individual business consulting
to more than 5,000 clients and marketed over $23 million in loans, helping those with established businesses to create or retain over 9,900 local jobs. Prospera’s total economic output in the region has been $1.84 billion, with $586.3 million in labor income and $40.9 million in direct state and local tax revenues.

Prior to working at Prospera, Myrna had a very successful career in the broadcast and media industry. Professionally trained as a journalist, Myrna began her career as a reporter for WLTV Univision 23 in Miami, where she rose through the ranks to become Central American Bureau Chief and Senior Correspondent for the Univision Network, Hispanic Affairs Director for Fox Affiliate WSVN 7, News Director for WSCV Telemundo 51, and later Vice-President for News and Public Affairs of her first station, WLTV Univision 23. Myrna then became the first General Manager of a Univision television station to have come from the field of professional journalism.

As Vice-president and General Manager of the Univision and Telefutura television properties in Arizona, Myrna was tasked with building a state-of-the-art broadcast facility in Phoenix, Arizona, from where she managed the Univision television stations in Tucson, Flagstaff and Douglas, AZ with a staff of over 100 employees. She returned to Miami in 2005 to start her own media consulting firm, Media Strategies, a multi-service broadcast consulting firm.

Myrna serves as Co-Chair of the SFCDC (South Florida Community Development Coalition) and Anchor Host for the Aspen Institute Latinos & Society Program (AILAS) Miami Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Steering Committee. She was appointed by Commissioner Eileen Higgins to serve on the Miami-Dade County
Economic Recovery Task Force formed during the COVID-19 pandemic. She lives in Miami and is the proud mother of Julia.

This discussion will ground us in how current federal policies around immigration and tariffs are already impacting and can potentially affect small businesses and how to best prepare and protect small businesses, workers, and our local economy.

Sui Chung
Executive Director, Americans for Immigrant Justice

A national leader of the immigration defense bar during her many years in private law practice, Sui Chung has planned and presented at hundreds of conferences and trainings, providing cutting-edge information, updates, and legal strategies to practitioners and advocates nationwide. In 2023, the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild honored Sui with the Lisa Brodyaga Award for her contributions in advancing the rights of immigrants. She is the 2019 recipient of the inaugural American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) National Diversity & Inclusion Award and was previously honored by AILA National with its Michael Maggio Pro Bono Service Award. Sui chaired the board of directors of the American Immigration Council; served as vice president of the board of Catholic Legal Services, Archdiocese of Miami; and was appointed as a vice chair of the Florida Bar Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She is currently an elected director of the AILA National Board of Governors.  Sui previously served as Chair of AILA National’s EOIR/ICE Joint Committee, President of the AILA South Florida Chapter, and Co-Chair of AILA’s Asian Interest Group, and was a member of the boards of Immigrants’ List Political Action Committee and Immigrants’ List Civic Action. Highlights of her practice have included co-representing the lead Florida Supreme Court case addressing immigrants’ right to effective representation in criminal proceedings, as well as representing Enrique from the award-winning nonfiction novel, Enrique’s Journey. She began her career at the Board of Immigration Appeals through the United States Department of Justice Attorney General Honors Program, after receiving a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, and Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees from Oberlin College.

Lathan Craig Austin
Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Marketing and Logistics - FIU

Lathan Craig Austin, Ph.D. is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Marketing and Logistics at Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA. He consults widely on various aspects of the logistics industry across various media as a noted supply chain expert, has trained a diverse group of exporting companies and freight forwarders on compliance issues, and has published on logistics capabilities, international trade, collaboration, the importance of visibility, and the role of logistics education.

Make sure to stick around for our close-out with Catalyst Miami CEO, Zelalem Adefris! All attendees are entered into our raffle giveaway and must be present at the end of the day to claim their prize. Giveaways include a generator, local small business gift cards, tickets to the Third Horizon Film Festival, and more.

Zelalem Adefris
Chief Executive Officer, Catalyst Miami

Before being named CEO in April 2023, Zelalem was Catalyst Miami’s deputy CEO where she oversaw the implementation of the organization’s critical programs, policy agenda, and strategic plan. Zelalem joined Catalyst Miami in 2016, and has a deep passion for achieving climate, social, and racial justice.

In addition to her role at Catalyst Miami, Zelalem serves as a co-chair of the Miami Climate Alliance and as a philanthropic trustee of the Solutions Project. She has been recognized as a 2023 Rockwood Leadership Institute Fellow, 2020 Grist 50 Fixer, 2020 Florida International University Emerging Leader Finalist, and 2017 Miami Times New Generation of Dreamers awardee.

Zelalem holds an MPH in Global Environmental Health from Emory University and a Bachelor of Arts in Community Health from Brown University.