Annual Compañeros Awards Luncheon - Latin American Association

POSTPONED | Georgia Aquarium | 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

The annual Compañeros Awards Luncheon honors exceptional individuals and organizations who are making meaningful contributions to advance the Latino community. This well-known and anticipated event draws over 500 corporate and community leaders each year.

Compañeros features a renowned keynote speaker and showcases the great work being done in our community. Compañeros is also a powerful networking event, bringing together Atlanta’s best-known companies, top small businesses, leading consulting firms, entrepreneurs, and individuals.

The returning presenting sponsor of the 2020 Compañeros Awards Luncheon is The Coca-Cola Company.

The 2020 Honorees include Mercy Care Chamblee (Olga C. de Goizueta Pacesetter Award), Cox Enterprises (Corporate Champion), Augusto Michael Trujillo (Volunteer of the Year), Alicia Philipp – President of the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta (LAA Ambassador of the Year), and to be announced (Inspiration Award).

Keynote Speaker

Joelle Martinez

Joelle is a nationally recognized executive, strategist, inspirational speaker, and trainer. A visionary leader, Joelle dedicates her life to helping cross-sector leaders realize their potential and the potential presented by rapidly changing demographics. Joelle is a subject matter expert in Neuroleadership, Latino identity, civic engagement, demographic shifts, diversity and inclusion, and cultural intelligence. Since 2015, Joelle has served as the Executive Director of the Latino Leadership Institute. Previously, she spent more than 15 years building winning business development and public affairs strategies for both the public and private sectors. In 2017, Joelle was named one of the 25 most powerful women by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce. She currently serves on the Hispanic Advisory Council for Coca-Cola and has served on several national and regional boards over the years. Joelle is a member of the NeuroLeadership Institute and is a certified practitioner of both Insights Discovery® and i4®.

EMCEE

Jorge Estevez

The son of Cuban immigrants, with a Puerto Rican background Jorge is from West New York, New Jersey, where he graduated from Rutgers University with a dual degree in journalism and communication.
Jorge joined WSB-TV Channel 2 as the station’s 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. anchor in January 2020. With more than 20 years of experience as a journalist, Jorge is excited to tell the stories that impact the people of North Georgia. Jorge comes to Atlanta from our sister station WFTV, where he started in 2001.
In Orlando at WFTV, Jorge covered the effects of 9/11 on Central Florida tourism, reported on NASA’s Shuttle Columbia Disaster, and was in the elements for the severe hurricane season of 2004, during which several back to back storms impacted the Orlando area. He was also on the air to cover the devastation left behind on the island of Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria in 2017. The story is of special significance to Orlando because of Central Florida’s large Puerto Rican population.
But the most impactful moment that Jorge covered was the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub where 49 people lost their lives in June of 2016.
For a short time, Jorge left Orlando and worked at the CBS station, WFOR, in Miami. There, he won his first of nine Emmy Awards for one of his special reports on traffic patterns in South Florida. He returned to WFTV a few years later.
Jorge landed his first broadcasting job as a reporter at News 12 The Bronx in the 1990s and was promoted to the position of morning anchor in less than a year. Jorge will remember his time in New York City for his Emmy-nominated story of a 12-year-old boy-turned-author after his battle with bone marrow cancer.

Presented by:

Mariela Romero
Award Winning Journalist
Director of Community Empowerment for Univision Communications

Inspiration Award Nomination

Tell us who inspires you!

We invite you to tell us who you think should receive the 2020 Inspiration Award to be presented at the 31^st Annual Compañeros Awards Luncheon on April 16, 2020 at the Georgia Aquarium.

To submit a nomination, please fill out this form: Inspiration Award Nomination Form

Nominations must be received via the LAA’s website by March 16, 2020 to be considered.

For eligibility information, click here