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If economic ties between Florida and Latin America are strengthened in coming years, it could be partly because of Maria Gonzalez '01. Gonzalez, an economics-mathematics major from Caracas, Venezuela, spent last summer working for the Venezuelan-American Chamber of Commerce in her hometown. As an intern, she was assigned to redo a brochure that attempted to explain how Venezuelan companies can do business in Florida. "It was four pages long and all the information was messed up," Gonzalez said. So she rolled up her sleeves and went to work. Gonzalez, who already had three internships in human resources and corporate financial consulting under her belt, says she spent a month finding information on business regulations, the application process, what products could be exported or imported, "what each tax is about, what you should know." She then spent two months compiling the brochure pertaining to business in Florida. Her superiors liked it so much, they asked her to expand it to New York, Texas and California. "I'm glad that I managed to know everything I needed to know before I got [to the job]," Gonzalez said. She said much of her training for the task came from Associate Professor of Economics Debra Barbezat's course on labor markets, which acquainted students with ways to find the kind of information the brochure needed to convey. That training apparently paid off; Gonzalez learned Florida officials may award a grant that would pay for her to do similar brochures to be used to encourage trade between their state and Latin America. She plans to return to Caracas to do an independent study in Jan Plan with the Chamber of Commerce, and after graduation she may go back to Venezuela to begin her business career. "I would like to do some kind of finance," Gonzalez said. "Financial consulting would be nice." Speaking in the Spa, Gonzalez said her business model and inspiration is her grandfather, a self-made Caracas businessman who was successful in banking and other areas. "If it weren't for him, we wouldn't be standing here right now," she said. |
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