{"id":10877,"date":"2011-01-27T11:02:21","date_gmt":"2011-01-27T15:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/?p=10877"},"modified":"2014-11-14T15:35:21","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T20:35:21","slug":"lifes-challenges-turn-banker-into-social-entrepreneur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/2011\/01\/lifes-challenges-turn-banker-into-social-entrepreneur\/","title":{"rendered":"Life\u2019s challenges turn banker into social entrepreneur."},"content":{"rendered":"

The biggest challenges the United States has faced this century also have personally affected a recent graduate of Chapman Graduate School of Business at Florida International University (FIU).<\/p>\n

But, like the country, Brenda Leguisamo <\/strong>(PMBA \u201909) has shown strength in overcoming obstacles; they, in fact, helped transform her from a banker to a social entrepreneur.<\/p>\n

Leguisamo was at work at Merrill Lynch, a block away from the Twin Towers, when the September 11th tragedy occurred. She helped 250 new hires escape her building.<\/p>\n

\u201cShortly after that, I had an \u2018aha\u2019 moment and got busy pursuing my dreams,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Brenda Leguisamo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Leguisamo opened an accessory business, giving 10 to 100 percent of profits to charity. She also made sure her career moves at Merrill Lynch would teach her a range of business skills; she accepted a position in their Miami office in 2006.<\/p>\n

Just three months after beginning the Professional MBA program at FIU, Leguisamo was among 4,000 employees at her company who lost their jobs, part of a nationwide economic downturn.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of sulking, I kept working on my degree and volunteering,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Leguisamo volunteered as much as 60 hours a week on the board for a community association. She also developed a Facebook page for her family business, starting her venture into social networking.<\/p>\n

2010 brings a new degree, new opportunities.<\/em><\/p>\n

After receiving her MBA, Leguisamo began consulting projects, focusing on social responsibility and sustainable initiatives.<\/p>\n

She also developed Passion Mindset<\/a>, business programs helping brands improve customer experience and create jobs through alliances.<\/p>\n

This energetic 39-year old is founder and CEO of Social Biz Members,<\/a> which helps membership organizations with social media strategies, including the College of Business Administration\u2019s Alumni Chapter. Twenty percent of company profits are donated to charity.<\/p>\n

Leguisamo, who serves as advisor to the Empowered Woman Success Summit and was a panel member for the highly successful 2010 summit, credits her experiences in the business school as a positive factor in her many successful ventures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe MBA curriculum at FIU is strong and helped me tremendously on the exciting paths I\u2019ve taken,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The biggest challenges the United States has faced this century also have personally affected a recent graduate of Chapman Graduate School of Business at Florida International University (FIU). But, like the country, Brenda Leguisamo (PMBA \u201909) has shown strength in overcoming obstacles; they, in fact, helped transform her from a banker to a social entrepreneur. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2146,2163],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10877"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23755,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10877\/revisions\/23755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}