S&C Advertising & Public Relations:


Barbara Kasoff, co-founder of Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) celebrates the successful WIPP Gala held in Washington, D.C. with Earline Lagueruela, President of S&C Advertising & Public Relations, September 18, 2007. Lagueruela is a national founding member of WIPP, which is a non-partisan 503(c) organization representing 505,000 women business owners in the U.S. www.wipp.org	Earline Lagueruela and Barbara Kasoff
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Ms. Lagueruela:

Your recent participation in the panel at the PRSA workshop, “How to Maximize the Relationship between a PR Firm and a Client” on June 1 was informative and refreshing. Your words of expertise and wisdom made a noticeable impact on the PRSA members and attendees. Their questions to you and your insightful responses were truly demonstrative of your rich experience in the communications and public relations industry.

In addition, the tip list you distributed really shed light on the many nuances involved in a successful working relationship between client and agency. I received a lot of positive feedback from the attendees – they were very impressed by your presentation and your company.

Thank you for taking the time to enlighten your peers in the public relations industry.

Sincerely,

Lorraine Pulido-Ramirez
Vice President of Programs

Spontaneous publicity teacher

THEY DREAMED and
THEY PREVAILED

Without experience she opened her agency and now she has 20 clients
LOLBÉ CORONA

The inauguration of a club put in motion the career of Earline Lagueruela in public relations.
   This Puerto Rican and her husband, Andre's-born in Cuba arrived in this city in 1975 and opened the night club "Burgundy Woods". He was in charge to administering the club and she would promote it..
   "I did not know anything about producing ads in radio or in the press", says Earline I was 24 years old and had studied psychology.
   "But when one is young they think that it can do any thing". Earline thencreated the public company of advertising and public relations - Sounds & Creations, now S&C Advertising and Public Relations.
  In a year the club earned more than $1 million and other clients began to knock on S&C's door. First it was a car wash and later an airplane company.
   "I wasn't scared because I did not know what I was doing", Earline says, alone and from her house she handled everything. In order to improve her preparation she took courses in creative writing at San Antonio College and looked for consultant's office of people of advertising means.
   At the beginning of the 80's, she contracted her first employee, ex- vice-president of Ogilvy agency. "his experience helped me to compete in another level and to look for national accounts", says Earline.
   Nevertheless, when she was ready to grow an economic depression appeared in Texas, for that reason she had to provide new services. That is how she became one of the first agencies in offering services of marketing research and commerce in English and Spanish on the Internet.

ALICIA WAGNER CALZADA

EARLINE LAGUERUELA, began her company and from her house. She poses with some of the first Telly prizes that S&C Advertising & Public Relations have won .

HER SECRETS
TO HER SUCCESS

The ability to change and adapt to circumstances when necessary
EARLINE LAGUERUELA

Her Advice

1	Promote the product or service so that people look for it
2	Have a web page on the Internet. Technology is your best ally to make contacts.
3	Identify the organizations who make loans.
Her business in numbers
$1,000of initial investment: million helped her first client to obtain sales of $1 million
19 employees and three offices, including Kota Kinabalu, in Malaysia.
20 clients, like the National Office of Drug Control of the White House and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

    S&C has handled the public relations for Burger King in five states and also of some departments of the federal government.
   "She is a very professional woman. she helped us find a name for our institution ", said Ana Maria Garza, director of public relations of Centro del Barrio.
   Earline wants to learn new methods that would allow her to get more clients. "the others come on their own, daily you learn something", she says.

Branding 101
By Earline Lagueruela, President

1. How do you establish your brand?
There are three main components of a brand:

ATTRIBUTES, BEHAVIOR and CIRCUMSTANCES.

An example is Southwest Airlines

The attributes of Southwest (SW) are straightforward: friendly, inexpensive, frequent flights, quick turns, fun flight attendants, etc. On their web site, www.southwest.com, you'll see their mission statement mirrors reality:
"The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit."

2. What is your brand's image, vision?
A brand is a promise of the value your clients will receive. To become a brand, you've got to become relentlessly focused on what you do that adds value.

Do you deliver your work on time, every time?

Do you anticipate and solve problems before they become crises?

Do your clients save money and headaches just by having you on the team?

Do you complete projects within the allotted budget?

Branding integrates customer service, sales promotion, public relations, direct mail, newsletters, discounts, event sponsorship, word of mouth and other communications tactics to present a unified message about the company, its products or services.

Example: "Harley-Davidson motorcycles are considered by their owners to be a companion as much as a vehicle because consumers have affirmed the brand's positioning as a motorcycle will change your view of by conferring its personality as an American-style, machismo original."

3. What attributes of the company, product, and service should be highlighted?
All

4. Are there bad aspects of branding?
No

5. How can you use the characteristics of your product, company, service to attract and retain more customers?
Branding occurs when a distinct head and heart response happens in relationship to a company symbol or logo. This reaction is the purpose of branding because positive thoughts and feelings inspire such behaviors as saying favorable things about services and products, joining clubs that relate to brands, paying higher prices, tolerating errors and shortfalls, and purchasing more of branded products and services.

6. How will you deliver your brand's promise?
You need to be consistent in every aspect of the delivery of the brand. You deliver the brand in many ways:

Web site; Intranet, E-marketing and communications with your strategic partners, suppliers and customers; through all your contacts with vendors, prospective customers and customers; whether in person, by phone, in writing, through your signage, advertising, packaging, merchandising, business cards, tradeshow displays, voice mails, holiday presents, advertising specialties. Anything that has your name, the business name or your logo or brand on it needs to deliver on the brand’s promise.

In order to go beyond products and objects, empower everyone who works for you to be an ambassador of your brand! Train your staff on your corporate brand strategy, values, vision and personality. Lead by example as the CEO, so your workers will understand the concepts, then they will begin to embrace them and will transmit the message to your customers and other stakeholders.

7. How should collateral materials integrate with the brand?
Every material whether printed or electronic should have the same brand ID, including colors, fonts, shape, etc. Consistency is a key to maintaining the brand.

An example of a brand success is Target
Target chose to compete with Wal-Mart by repositioning itself as a mass merchandiser of affordable chic goods. This "cheap-chic" strategy enabled Target to become a major brand and consumer-shopping destination, articulated around two main interrelated branding activities: designer partnerships and clever, creative advertising.
Target has transformed its signature bull's-eye logo into a lifestyle symbol. The bull's-eye is recognized by 96 percent of American consumers and considered a brand icon in a class with Nike's swoosh and McDonald's arches.

An article on Branding Smaller firms

The Brand Called You
Contributor - Steven Van Yoder
Every company has a reputation. Everyone you meet will form an opinion about your company, even if they have not done business with you yet. The challenge is to manage your reputation so that the opinion that people have of you is positive. This is what creates a brand.
Brands have a number of strategic functions, enabling you to:

Differentiate yourself from your competition
Position your focused message in the hearts and minds of your target customers
Persist and be consistent in your marketing efforts
Customize your services to reflect your personal brand
Deliver your message clearly and quickly
Project credibility
Strike an emotional chord
Create strong user loyalty

For small businesses, branding is not about slick advertisements. Small-business branding is about getting your target market to see you as the preferred choice. Building a slightly famous brand is not just about what you do; it's about what you do differently from everyone else.

Building Your Brand
A brand is a promise of the value your clients will receive. In an amazingly complex and competing world-where it is increasingly hard to know what is real and what is not-having your customers not only acknowledge but support the promise of your brand is the key to building a thriving business.

To become a brand, you've got to become relentlessly focused on what you do that adds value. Do you deliver your work on time, every time? Do you anticipate and solve problems before they become crises? Do your clients save money and headaches just by having you on the team? Do you complete projects within the allotted budget?
Branding integrates customer service, sales promotion, public relations, direct mail, newsletters, discounts, event sponsorship, word of mouth and other communications tactics to present a unified message about the company, its products or services.
Your brand will integrate all your marketing around a core idea and vision. As a result, you will find it easier to sell yourself, because your message will be uniform and powerful. Every business needs to evaluate its brand identity against the following criteria:

Relevance to the Market
A brand must stand for something that is meaningful to members of a target market. Your brand encompasses the total experience of doing business with you.

Consistency of Behavior
Customers must be able to depend on the brand to deliver the same experience every time. Because your market experiences your values through your brand, the only way they will truly become loyal to your brand is through your dedication and consistency.

Relationship-Building
A brand is not a logo or an advertising strategy. "The strength of any brand is in the relationship it has between a company and its customers. The stronger the relationship, the more business they will do, and the more likely it is that customers will refer them to their friends and business associates.

Loyalty to the Customer Is Returned
The test of a brand is, in fact, the strength of loyalty it generates. If you have a strong relationship with your target audience, then you have a strong brand and a strong business.

Reputation Is Priceless
The only way to be successful in business is by establishing a good reputation, and a brand can help you do that. Your reputation works as your strongest marketer by communicating the relationship you have with people who've done business with you, and your target market in general.

Good brands stand the test of time. To develop a brand that will last a lifetime, go beyond what you do right now. Think long term. Look at Coke, Ford and General Electric. No matter what they sell or how they change over time, they can rely on their brand equity build on a foundation of customer trust to take them deep into their customer is trust quotient and keep them there.

If you establish a place of trust and relevance in prospects' minds, you're already in the door. The more people believe in your brand, the more it will spread throughout your niche market without your pushing. If your brand is clear, distinctive, and easily understood, and expresses a unique, compelling benefit that people believe in, it will bring you all the business you can handle.

Contributor: Steven Van Yoder
Steven Van Yoder is the author of Get Slightly Famous™.

We interviewed vice presidents and CEOs, entrepreneurs and politicians, and discovered that there are a few key things they all do. Read on for their secrets.

BY AVIVA PATZ

don't focus only on your opinion
"One tip you often hear is that if you believe in somethin, don't give up—but there's a caveat. I think the key is to believe in something that others also really want. I've come up with a million ideas, but ultimately it's about what do I see that's missing [in the market], not about creating something that pleases me. Do your research and you'll be unstopable."
Concepción Lara, 44, mexicana, senior vice president of business development and marketing for Studio Latino in Los Angeles

find an understanding partner
My husband stays home with our toddler. We turn heads when we tell people that, but it has helped me tremendously.

Yara Delgado, 32, Puerto Rican, physician in Longmont, Colorado

celebrate every triumph, no matter how small "By learning to pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself when you win a little, you learn to take pride in and ownership of your efforts and their rewards. This develops self-esteem, allowing you to lay out even bigger dreams. Success builds upon success" Giselle Fernandez-Farrand, 44, Mexican American, owner of the Los Angleles-based production companies F Squared and Skinny Hippo Productions	listen carefully to what's not being said "Those who grasp the subtle, unspoken communication at work will make it. Pay attention to who's invited to meetings or lunches, who gets copied on memos. These cues give great insight into the feedback you're getting at work. If you're not the one brought in, then get more involved: Initiate conversations, and ask open-ended questions to get noticed." Earline Lagueruela, 53, Puerto Rican, award-winning president of her own advertising agency, S&C Advertising & Public Relations, in San Antonio	value your integrity "Your reputation is your biggest asset, so protect it. That means doing what you say you're going to do, always taking the high road--and even going easy on the cocktails at office parties!" Jessica Rossman Martin, 37, Peruvian American, senior attorney at Continental Airlines in Houston

	touch your toes every morning "A limber body is as important as a strong mind!" Adelo Dalto, 51, Mexican American, Latin-jazz artist and founder of the Young Woman's Empowerment Fair & Concert, a yearly event for Latina teenagers in the Bronx, New York

Trucking industry needs more Spanish-language recruiting efforts, report says

A white paper released by S&C Advertising & Public Relations shows that Hispanics are helping to fill the nation's shortage of truck drivers.

However, unless the industry responds with more English and Spanish language trucking news and information, it could make recruiting more difficult. Currently, there are about 480,000 Hispanic truck drivers, according to the San Antonio-based advertising and public relations firm.

To enhance recruitment of Hispanic drivers, the study recommends truck driving schools offer bilingual training, that firms post job listings in Spanish and that companies hire dispatchers who can speak in English and Spanish.

S&C commissioned the study to determine whether there is a need for additional trucking materials in Spanish. According to the study, which is based on interviews with Spanish-speaking drivers, fleet owners and other industry experts, about half of the nation's Hispanic drivers prefer to receive information in both English and Spanish. Drivers are still required by law to speak English to obtain a commercial driver's license.

The white paper "Filing the Gaps in the Road" is available through S&C's Web site (www.scpr.com).

S&C is a bilingual communications firm. In 2005, the firm created the Spanish language Web site for the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

June, 17, 2005

Hit the road and airwaves

San Antonio-based S&C Advertising & Public Relations’ TELLY award-winning television campaign for the Federal Highway Administration will be broadcast 350 times per week in 40 TV stations through-out the state of New York this summer, according to Richard Novick of the New York Broadcasters Association. “Work zones are the cause of many deaths and accidents and we needed to do something in this state,” he says. Members of the New York governor’s staff and the Federal Highway Administration’s office in New York heard that this specific campaign has been effective in generating awareness and changing behavior in other states, so they have selected it to start as early as this week on some stations, explains Earline Lagueruela, agency president.

The campaign is currently running in Alaska, Oregon, Washington and Arkansas. For a look at S&C’s campaign, visit www.scpr.com/jack.htm.

Media contacts:

Lauren Garvey
JKG Group
Ph: 561-989-9931, ext. 101
Cell: 561-702-0178
lauren@jkggroup.com

Lisa Foote
JKG Communications
561-989-9931, ext. 103
lfoote@jkggroup.com

Office Depot Honors San Antonio
Advertising Executive Earline Lagueruela
as 2005 Businesswoman of the Year
at Success Strategies for
Businesswomen Conference

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – February 28, 2005 – Office Depot (NYSE:ODP), one of the world’s leading resellers of office products, today announced it has selected San Antonio advertising executive, Earline Lagueruela, for the prestigious Office Depot “Businesswoman of the Year” award for 2005. Earline Lagueruela is President and Founder of S&C Advertising & Public Relations, a full-service national bilingual communications firm headquartered in San Antonio.

The award was presented last evening during the sold-out opening session of Office Depot’s Success Strategies for Businesswomen Conference taking place this week at the Boca Resort & Club in Boca Raton, Florida. Following the presentation of the award to Lagueruela, Dr. Maya Angelou, best-selling author and poet captivated attendees with an inspirational keynote address.

With more than 1,000 attendees, this fifth annual conference is recognized as one of the nation’s most prominent and significant events offered to female small business owners.
Office Depot executives, Patricia Morrison, Chief Information Officer, Lynn Connelly, Director of Strategic Alliances, joined Terry Neese, President of the Women Impacting Public Policy, Inc. (WIPP) which nominated Lagueruela in presenting her the award.

Only nine businesswomen were selected to receive Office Depot’s 2005 “Businesswoman of the Year” awards, following a widespread response from professional women’s associations nationwide. Ms. Connelly reports that each of the winners was nominated by her respective organization for leadership ability, mentoring of other businesswomen, and altruistic commitment to her community.

Earline Lagueruela

“I am thrilled to be recognized by Office Depot and grateful to WIPP for the nomination, for this wonderful award, but it is an honor I proudly share with my colleagues,” said Lagueruela.

Earline Lagueruela, born in Puerto Rico, has paved her own way in the business world. She started her company in 1976, using her heritage as an asset to open a bilingual and bicultural communications firm. Her dedication and tenacity has made her a successful business woman who has embraced her roots all the while embracing American’s free enterprise system.

In 1999, her firm spearheaded the launch of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy’s National Hispanic Outreach campaign. Her impressive client roster includes the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, M2 Technology, Inc., CentroMed, with capitalized billings of $3,600,000.00

“Continuous reinvention, technology and the web have attracted new clients, which prompted our company to create a new trademarked technology: WebLEP™ aimed at helping Hispanics who lack proficiency in English be able to access the U.S. business and social mainstream,” said Lagueruela.

According to Lagueruela, her company’s new innovative technology, WebLEP™ is being embraced by federal agencies and corporations who have large Spanish speaking customer bases. The interface allows these companies to better communicate with customers, clients and vendors in Spanish through the Web, written materials, public outreach and more.

“Earline strives daily to continue her success. Her multi tasking efforts have earned her respect within her company, her community, her state, and her nation. She is a success story and a mentor to women in business around the globe,” noted Neese.

Lagueruela attended the University of Geneva, Switzlerland and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Manhattanville College, Westchester, New York. She furthered her education by completing MBA studies for Entrepreneurs at the Tucks School of Business at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

Other honors and awards include a long list of exemplary achievements including being inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame for Communications, San Antonio; a 1999 National TELLY TV Award winner; the SBA Administrators Award (1996); a Founding Member of WIPP and many more noteworthy accolades.

Other keynote presenters at the conference speaking later this week include Barbara Walters, ABC Correspondent and Emmy-Award Winning Co-Host and Co-Executive Producer of “The View,” Kathy Ireland, Chief Designer and CEO of Kathy Ireland Worldwide (KIWW) and Anne Mulcahy, Chairman and CEO of Xerox Corporation, the presenting sponsor for the conference.

About S&C Advertising

Founded in 1976, S&C Advertising & Public Relations (S&C) is a national & international advertising, public relations and web design firm headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. To learn more about S&C and WebLEP™ visit www.scpr.com

Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) is a national bi-partisan public policy organization that advocates for and on behalf of 505,000 women business owners and women in business on economic issues. WIPP and its 30 women business associations work as a single voice to strengthen its sphere of influence in the legislative process of our nation, create economic opportunities and build bridges and alliances for business women and small business organizations. Through WIPP, the collective voice of its membership makes a powerful impact on Capitol Hill and with the Administration (www.wipp.org)

About the Conference

The Office Depot Success Strategies for Businesswomen Conference was created in 2001 to provide women in business with networking opportunities, while offering programs and seminars that help them manage their businesses more successfully.

In addition to honoring female entrepreneurs from national professional women’s organizations, top women in business are also presented with Office Depot Visionary Awards.

In addition to Xerox Corporation as the presenting sponsor for the 2005 conference, Platinum sponsors are MassMutual and Hewlett Packard. Supporting sponsors include Acco, Bic, Canon, Energizer, International Paper, JKG Group, Microsoft and Smead.

About Office Depot

With annual sales of more than $13 billion, Office Depot sells more office products to more customers in more countries than any other company. Incorporated in 1986 and headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida, Office Depot conducts business in 23 countries and employs 46,000 people worldwide. The Company operates under the Office Depot®, Viking Office Products®, Viking Direct®, Guilbert®, and Tech Depot® brand names.

Office Depot is a leader in every distribution channel - from retail stores and contract delivery to catalogs and e-commerce. With $3.1 billion in online sales in FY’04, the Company is the world’s number three Internet retailer. In North America, Office Depot has 969 retail stores in addition to a national business-to-business delivery network supported by 22 delivery centers and more than 60 local sales offices. Internationally, the Company conducts wholly-owned operations in 14 countries via 78 retail stores and 25 distribution centers, and operates 153 retail stores under joint venture and license arrangements in another seven countries.

The company’s common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP and is included in the S&P 500 Index. Additional press information can be found at:
http://mediarelations.officedepot.com/.

First "SNOW" in San Antonio, Texas in 19 years

Video
HI Res
LOW Res

S&C staged a media event for the grand opening of the
Primrose School of Stone Oak. The event was covered
and aired by many of the major network news affiliates
of San Antonio.

S&C’s clever idea to bring snow to San Antonio children
resulted in a day of fun and excitement.

Primrose School of Stone Oak Grand Opening & Open House Celebration,
Children and their families played in the "snow" which was generated as part of the offical Grand Opening Celebration of the Primrose School Franchising Company's first franchise school in San Antonio, TX.

Primrose Schools is The Leader in Educational CareSM and offers a Balanced LearningSM curriculum for infants and children ages six weeks through private kindergarten.
It also offers children up to the age of 12 engaging after school programs.

Distinguished
Minority Women
in Business

Earline Lagueruela
President S&C Advertising & Public Relations
San Antonio, Texas

Earline Lagueruela was born in Puerto Rico and, in 1976, became the first Woman in San Antonio to form an advertising firm. She has grown S&C from a one-person shop to a full service national bilingual communications firm. Her experience encompasses every aspect of communications, including public relations, advertising creation and placement, community outreach, media relations, audio and video production, public information campaigns, new product launches, e-marketing, E-commerce and web design with content both in English and Spanish. S&C has been the prime contractor for Air Intelligence Agency, Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, FHWA, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, EPA Region VI, and other large and small commercial clients.

Mrs. Lagueruela helped launch the White House Office of Drug Control Policy’s National Hispanic Outreach campaign. This included creating and producing ads suitable to various and distinct Hispanic audiences; transcreating web content, brochures, press releases, fact sheets and other campaign information to Spanish; writing opinion editorials for major Hispanic newspapers. She has provided environmental public and community relations to a variety of clients since 1994, including Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Montgomery Watson Harza, EnSafe, Parson Science Engineering and other private and public organizations. Mrs. Lagueruela teaches media coaching & training, minority outreach as well as risk and crisis communications programs nationally. She has helped organize citizen advisory boards to manage communications in highly controversial projects.

Mrs. Lagueruela is Chair Emeritus of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Nursing Advisory Council; a founding member of Women Impacting Public Policy and a member of the San Antonio Advertising Agency Owners Association and San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists. She also served as Vice President Public Relations for the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame and National Association of Women Business Owners, San Antonio Chapter.

Among the many honors Mrs. Lagueruela has received is her induction into the Women’s Hall of Fame for Communications, San Antonio, TX; Women of Color Technology Award National Entrepreneur of the Year 2000; National TELLY Award Winner, 1999 Best TV PSA in the Nation; SBA’s Administrator Award 1996; Who’s Who in Advertising; Who’s Who in the South and Southwest; Who’s Who in American Women and Most Notable Women in Texas.

Mrs. Lagueruela attended the University of Geneva, Switzerland and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Manhattanville College, Westchester, New York, and completed MBA studies for Entrepreneurs at the Tucks School of Business at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire.

From Left to Right: Patricia Pliego Stout, President, The Alamo Travel Group, Inc.; Omega Arteaga-Gamboa, President, Omega Health Group; Teresa Vasquez Romero, Owner, El Sol Bakery; and Earline Lagueruela, President, S&C Advertising & Public Relations

click here for 8 Important Tips for Running a Successful Business


Robert E. Bard, Publisher of LatinaStyle Magazine	Honorable Anna Escobedo Cabral, U.S. Treasurer, U.S. Department of the Treasury

On April 1, 2005 LATINA Style held their Business Series Seminar in San Antonio, TX at the Sheraton Gunter Hotel in conjunction with the national MANA annual conference. A National Latino Organization (MANA) and LATINA Style Publisher Robert E. Bard hosted a luncheon, whose keynote speakers included President of MANA, Alma Morales Riojas and U.S. Treasurer, Honorable Anna Escobedo Cabral.

The luncheon was followed by the Latina Entrepreneur Panel, designed to help Latina business women in expanding their business and overcoming challenges that they may face on a daily basis.

The Panel was moderated by Patricia Pliego Stout, who was honored that day with the LATINA Style Entrepreneur Award. Three Latina business owners shared their personal stories and gave advice on how to succeed the hardships of owning a business. An audience of more than 50 aspiring Latina business owners actively participated in this exchange of experiences and advice provided by the three women panelists:

Earline Lagueruela, President, S&C Advertising & Public Relations; Omega Arteaga-Gamboa, President, Omega Health Group; and Teresa Vasquez Romero, Owner, El Sol Bakery. Panelists answered questions concerning financial resources and barriers faced as a Latina business owner. Earline Lagueruela shared 8 important tips for running a successful business with the audience.

Click here to view and print a copy of the list.

LATINA Style Magazine has become the most influential publication reaching the contemporary Hispanic woman. LATINA Style broke new ground in 1994 by launching the first national magazine dedicated to the needs and concerns of the contemporary Latina professional workingwoman and the Latina business owner in the United States. With a national circulation of 150,000 and a readership of nearly 600,000, LATINA Style is unique in its ability to reach both the seasoned professional and the young Latina entering the workforce for the first time. The culturally sensitive editorial environment we provided showcases Latina achievements in all areas, including business, science, civic affairs, education, entertainment, sports, and the arts. We also offer technology tips and reviews, entertainment reviews, travel recommendations, investment guidance, beauty tips, food and drink recipes, automotive updates, and career advice—in summary, all of the things that impact the quality of life.

The LATINA Style Business Series, launched in 1998 with the assistance of the U.S. Small Business Administration, is the most successful business development program for Latina business owners in the nation. The program has been featured on NBC, ABC and CNN, and in The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times. This program has created a unique forum for Latina business owners to learn everything they need to start their own businesses or make their existing one more successful. Over 8,000 Latina business owners in forty cities have participated already in this program. Seven new cities are on the schedule for 2005.

Source: LatinaStyle Magazine

Earline Lagueruela and Norman Y. Mineta

Norman Y. Mineta, U. S. Secretary of Transportation congratulates Earline Lagueruela for the great contributions S&C Advertising & Public Relations has made to the safety of the nation through S&C’s work for the Federal Highway Adminsitration (FHWA) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

2004 Women Who Mean Business

It is with distinct pleasure that we present our 2004 Women Who Mean Business for Minority Business News Texas.
These entrepreneurs and corporate women come from diverse backgrounds with myriad talents from various parts of the Lone Star State, but they share several common traits and values.
They are all committed to their chosen fields, valued education and continued learning, strive to reach new heights and never lose sight of the vision they hold for their companies and the people who rely on them. These women are involved in their communities, in professional and business organizations and especially the minority business development councils.

We would like to thank these women for the long hours, the endless committee meetings and their often overlooked endeavors in making the playing ground a little more level.

Bilingual and bicultural professional Earline Lagueruela, born in Puerto Rico, has lived throughout the United States and Mexico. An alumna of Manhattanville College in Westchester, N.Y., she earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology. She has achieved accomplishments throughout her nearly three decade career.

In 1976, Lagueruela was the first woman to form an advertising agency in San Antonio, Texas, earning her induction into the San Antonio’s Women’s Hall of Fame in Communications in 2000. As a national communication firm, S&C Advertising & Public Relations has been responsible for nationally recognized outreach campaigns, won the 1999 National Telly award for Best PSA in the Nation, an Addy Award and other regional and national awards.

Earline Lagueruela
President
S&C Advertising & Public Relations

Lagueruela is actively involved in professional associations, such as the San Antonio Advertising Agency Owners Association, San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists and she chairs the Advisory Council of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Nursing.

Her passion is to make a difference creating national quality work and help more organizations spread their messages to their key audiences.

She is driven to help clients through leading an expert team of communicators to meet clients’ complex communication needs in either English or Spanish.

Words of wisdom she would share with those interested in a similar career path are, “be persistent, flexible, continually reinvent yourself to meet the new world realities and have a sense of humor to succeed in business and life.”

University of Texas
Health Science Center
at San Antonio
School of Nursing
“One of the nation’s top 50
nursing schools”

NAC president wants members’ ideas

Earline Lagueruela, chair of the Nursing Advisory Council (NAC), is an enthusiastic leader who looks forward to involving as many NAC members and SoN alums as possible in promoting the school. She joined the NAC several years ago when she reaized that the SoN, one of the top nursing schools in the country, was without appropriate recognition in the San Antonio community. Experiences with nurses who helped during family illness and hospitalization made her aware of the many skills and abili- ties of nursing professionals. Now, she says, "I'm really excited about being the cheerleader for this group of very talented people because they are really committed and excited, and they come up with great ideas."

She looks for support and ideas not only to members of the NAC but to all alums. One major project of the NAC is the Community Health Promotion seminar series which has endowed a scholarship with $10,000. "Every year we are able to provide a $500 scholarship, which for some may make the difference between staying in school and having to drop out."

One focus is to enlarge the endowment and increase the number of scholarships. "It's with the $25 and $30 donations that we have been able to make up this endowment," she continues, "so if you have ideas of ways to do more outreach or people who might donate to scholarships, please contact Carol Swartz." Swartz, SoN director of development, is also eager to involve alums in promoting and supporting the school. She can be reached by e-mail at swartz@uthscsa.edu or by telephone at 210-567-5313.

Lagueruela became aware of challenges and changes in health care both through her experiences and through her family which includes both doctors and nurses. As a public relations professional, she has worked with the local press to generate articles about the SoN as well as the variety of skills and abilities of nurses. And as a bilingual and bicultural woman, she has a sensitivity to the need for cultural awareness as well as for a holistic approach to health that nurses bring to patient care.

Increased alum participation is a priority for NAC President Earline Lagueruela (left) and SoN Director of Development Carol Swartz.

Lagueruela was born in Puerto Rico, studied in the US and Europe, and has a degree in psychology from Manhattanville College in New York. She has been married to Cuban Andy Lagueruela for 30 years. She opened her own ad agency some 25 years ago, becoming the first woman in San Antonio to own such a business.

Note: Lagueruela served her term as President and has been named Chair Emeritus.

Media Ambush

Posing as hostile media are (l-r) Wilson McKinney, Earline Lagueruela
and Bob Brus.

Media Ambush

You're the CEO of a mid-size manufacturing company. Near the end of the workday, your public relations officer tells you that a local environmental group has gone to the media with accusations that your company is polluting. You've been aware of intermittent difficulty with waste disposal, and you've hired of a couple of environmental consultants to supplement your own staff. As far as you know, they're solving the problem, so you tell your PR person to handle it and hang up as soon as you glance at the clock. Wonderful, now you're running late for a mixer with your major shareholders. You grab your jacket and briefcase, and hurry out toward the parking lot. As you corner the building, you're blinded by a bright light and a microphone is shoved under your nose. A harsh voice pulls you up short, :When will your company clean up the toxic waste it produces that threatens our community?" The light is so bright you can't even see the questioner, and as you take a breath to start an answer, three other questioners chime in with equally strident scrutiny.

by Sunnie Scarlet

Media Ambush. Sound like the nightmare from hell? It doesn't have to be if you know how to handle it.

The staff at S&C Advertising & Public Relations have designed a program that teaches people the most effective way to communicate through the media. Earline Lagueruela, president of S&C, along with three staff members, Wilson McKinney, Bob Brus and Byron Spencer, put clients through three kinds of interview that are designed to challenge their readiiness and build their confidence.

"The main idea of this thing is to get a person to feel as comfortable as possible in this situation. The way to become comfortable is to understand what can happen during the course of an interview: What are the types of questions I'm likely to get? Have I thought through my answers? What are my key communication ideas? Awareness of these gives a speaker confidence. We try to build confidence in people by having them practice," says Brus.

Media training also helps clients to identify trick questions and questions that spring from false premises, how to re-phrase the question and then answer it without side-stepping the issue.
Clients also learn how to give themselves time to think, time to decide on th ebest answer, to get comfortable with response, "I don't know, but I'll find out for you," and how to avoid jargon and "sound bites" that can easily be taken out of context.

"They need you, not the other way around," says Spencer. "You're in charge. You set the pace. Re-phrase the question, and then answer it. But not so broadly that it seems you're side-stepping the issue."

"It's tough to teach someone the skill sin the middle of the crisis," says Brus. "That's why we tell our clients to develop the skill sin advance, before they are in the heat of battle, so we can sit down and reflect on what we're doing and how wer're doing and why. Hopefully, they'll remember some of it when the heat is on and interviewers are in their faces.

"For example," says Lagueruela, "When a company goes public, there are several audiences including investment bankers, the media, potential investors, lawyers, etc., and each one of those groups are searching for 'dirt' on that company. That's called 'due diligence'. It's worse than normal reporting, seeking out skeletons that may be in the company's closet. We try to analyze all the negatives that each company executive will likely encounter and hold all information in complete confidence. To help clients, we have to know the worst that can happen. Our job is really to ask them the nastiest questions that can possibly be asked. Many of them initially are very offended. But we keep hammering at them. For them to say 'No comment'is not acceptable."

The traning session takes about two hours and includes coaching on a client's appearance, presentation and credibility, followed by three interviews and critiques.

The first interview is just to get the client used to speaking into a microphone and having bright lights on them while they talk. The session is videotaped and critiques for voice, body language, eye movement and any unconscious nervous habits. The second session is more like a television studio interview. Easy questions are followed by excursions into more sensitive areas as the client gains a certain level of comfort. The second tape is critiques, and then comes the 'ambush' interview. Three of four "reporters" question the client on issues relevant to his or her company's present situation, just like a press conference about a contentious issue. "Reporters" will come at the client from different angles, and the client has to field questions from people representing print adn broadcast media.

Lagueruela points out the media training with S&C has a much broader application that just dealing with the media or a crisis communication situation. "It gives the trainee the tools and confidence to make presentations to hteir board, stockholders and the general public," she said. "They come away knowing how to prepare the presentations for maximum impact; confident they can maintain their composure and answer any question posed to them. Besides, it's a lot of fun!" she added. The team trains clients how to communicate in high-risk situations either on-site or at their headquarters here in San Antonio.

In today's contentious, litigious world a little bit of confidence may be a company's best asset.

Local PR CEO to be honored for
high-tech professionalism

Earline Lagueruela, President and CEO of San Antonio-based S&C Advertising & Public Relations, has just been selected to reeive the Women of Color Tchnology Award in the Entrepreneur of the Year category, as part of a contect sponsored by the media company Career Communications Group. Among the corporations sponsoring the award event are Corning Inc., Daimler-Chrysler Corp and Sun Microsystems.

Lagueruela will be honored for her achievement on Sept. 30 in Atlanta.

"We have invested heavily in creating high-tech infrastructure in our company," Lagueruela explains. "Our agency uses high-tech to reach and get better communications nad better results for our clients by using high-technology."

"We've been successful at integrating communications, through press releases, e-mail, broadcast faxes, creating special web sites that are project specific," she continues. "We actually create the program, set up the web site and host the web site with our own servers. We also have redundant mirrored sites to make sure our clients are always on the air."

"Part of our strategy has been to grow nationally with crisis communications and environmental community relations programs," added Lagueruela, whose agency has 18 full-time employees.

Recent project works includes the U.S. Polo Association, Montgomery Watson Americas Engineering Co., a national Hispanic outreach program for the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, and a speech-writing contract with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Region 6.

It's been a red-letter year for S&C. Lagueruela was inducted into the San Antonio's Women's Hall of Fame in April for outstanding communications, and her agency won three national Telly awards last year for a U.S. Department of Transportation public awareness camoaign that the S&C team carried out in 34 states.

Lagueruela has staff in satellite offices and employees throughout the country who work with the agency on national projects throught the virtual private network. Although most of the agency's clients are national, she says she's interected in applying breadth and depth of her company's national expertise and experience to this market, in particular her San Antonio and Austin clients.

Current projects include work with renowned photographer Gray Hawn (who is known for a popular photo of George W. Bush), Focal Point Vision Correction and the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance.

"A great deal of our recent work has been concentrating on public relations, web design, and in hosting web sites, in addition to advertising and public relations projects," says Lagueurela.

Business-to-business and consumer
Service companies claim top spot
With female owners

By Suzanne B. Squyres

Earliine Lagueruela
S&C Advertising & Public Relations

Even at the age of 24, Earline Lagueruela was not intimidated as she made sales pitches to the men who ran the companies that she hoped would become clients. “If they wanted to pat me on the head or call me ‘Sweetie,’ that was OK” she says. “It didn’t take them long to realize I had a brain and forget I was a woman.”

Today, while many of those men are still her clients, a majority of her customers are women. “It’s about a 60/40 split,” she says of her clientele at San Antonio-based S&C Advertising & Public Relations.

But other trends have changed the very nature of the advertising and PR business, one that finds itself in constant transition. “The Internet has changed everything!” says Lagueruela, president of the firm.

With chat rooms and electronic message boards, public opinion and perceptions are receiving new attention. S&C’s clients are increasingly realizing the importance of their corporate name and its ability to sell, Lagueruela notes.

“We are no longer order-takers. We have to be proactive now. We tell our clients what the issues are and what is being said. We’ve gone from trying to get airtime and ink to strategic planning and consulting.”

“Plus, with so many mergers and acquisitions, there is a real change in what clients expect,” she adds. “They want to take a more sophisticated, more customized approach.”
The proliferation of media vehicles in the past 20 years has helped meet the demands, she says. “We used to have three television networks and you could easily reach 90 percent of the audience. We also had radio, outdoor and print, but now we have telemarketing, e-mail, Web sites and cable TV. We’re able to target the audience more specifically.”

S&C Advertising & Public Relations, which specializes in environmental issues and crisis communications, employs 16 people and offers advertising, marketing, research, public relations and Web design and hosting. Clients served include US Polo Association, SC Johnson Wax Professional, Burger King, US Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state transportation departments in California, Connecticut and Minnesota.

Latin Businesswomen Help to Propel the National Economy

Andrea Acosta
El Pregonero

Of the nine million businesses that are owned by women in the United States, almost half a million are in hands of Hispanic women.

According to numbers of the Center of Investigations for Women's businesses, these companies employ approximately 200 thousand workers and generate 30 billion dollars for the economy of this country, indexes that increase to a rhythm superior to the national average.

“ I see how businesswomen are stimulating our economy by producing more works for American workers ,” said Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao during the Businesswomen’s Conference in the 21st Century which was carried out last Monday and Tuesday in Washington.

Ready to listen to them to advance towards managerial growth and the expansion of the economy, she mentioned that women are vital for the prosperity of the nation.

“These women are real representatives of everything that is good of American society. During the disaster they gave their time and efforts to reconstruct their communities,” said Ciao in reference to a group of 50 businesswomen affected by the terrorist attacks of September 11 who were present at the event.

“My business is lacking 30 % to return to normality and reach the level of productivity of last year”, mentioned Patricia Pliego, president of National Association of Women Business Owners in San Antonio, Texas and a federal contractor.

Patricia Pliego,
President
Alamo Travel

Earline Lagueruela,
President
S&C Advertising & Public Relations

For businesswomen like Earline Lagueruela, the challenge of the Latin woman in this era of recession is to survive in business without collapsing. “Persistence is the key,” said she, who also thinks that the moral support of the family is fundamental.

As the founder of the first advertising agency of San Antonio, Texas, 25 years ago, this Puerto Rican thinks that although a lot of money and awards can be obtained, without having God you have nothing. “This is what fills your heart and allows you to bear the difficult moments,” she affirmed. “Without spirituality you do not advance.”

More than a thousand businesswomen and leaders like them took part in this national forum so that the women could celebrate their successes, share ideas and analyze the obstacles that prevent the growth of their businesses.

Organized by the Department of Labor, Women Impacting Public Policy and the Small Business Administration, this event put businesswomen within reach of workshops on business, health insurance, taxes, sources of capital, retirement and how to develop a healthy balance between work and life.