The National Latino Education Institute honored distinguished and emerging Latino leaders at its 4th annual Celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month on October 5th. The celebration, held at John Barleycorn, 149 W. Kinzie in Chicago, was hosted by the Emerging Leaders Board of NLEI with event co-emcees Dan Ponce, co-anchor of the WGN 9 Morning News, and Anthony Ponce, co-anchor and general assignment reporter for NBC 5 Chicago. The event honored NLEI Emerging Leader Award recipients Trina M. Fresco, Vice President of Nielsen and Ezequiel Flores, CEO of Flying Retail LLC. Now in its 43rd year, NLEI’s mission is to connect trained individuals with in-demand jobs, to forge strong partnerships with business, and anticipate the needs of industry by increasing the supply of skilled professionals. “NLEI fills a void in the workplace landscape by offering meaningful and rich opportunities to those who face barriers to academic and personal success,” said Aranda-Suh, NLEI executive director. “We hold this annual Hispanic Heritage Month event to celebrate all that our community has accomplished together, and to call attention to the work we need to continue to do together as a community as we move forward.” For more information about NLEI, or to learn how to get involved, please visit http://nlei.org.

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From left to right: Trina M. Fresco, Vice President of Nielsen; Elba Aranda-Suh, NLEI Executive Director; Ezequiel Flores, CEO of Flying Retail LLC and Alfonso Barrera Chairman of NLEI Emerging Leaders Board.

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Members of NLEI Emerging Leaders