Tech Conversations at FIU’s Ratcliffe Art + Design Incubator

Emerge Americas is celebrating 10 years!

Melissa Medina, CEO, President and Co-Founder of Emerge Americas is back to talk about a decade of tech! The magic city now hosts a number of companies that have set up headquarters around the city.

Where is Miami a decade after Emerge launched the tech movement? Is the Metaverse outdated - all this and more!

Welcome back to President Kenneth A. Jessell.

We're thrilled to have President Kenneth A. Jessell back with us in season 5. In this talk we showcase and breakdown the recent rankings naming FIU one of Americas best colleges - fourth in the nation among public universities and 29th overall by the Wall Street Journal.

The importance of building entrepreneur and tech , while innovating our curriculum to create the leaders of tomorrow.

Persistent! Meet Constance Jones from NBC6 News Today! As a two-time Emmy-nominated journalist, she has reported on news stories in South Florida, New York, Oklahoma City, and Virginia.

In our podcast conversation, we delve into the application of ChatGPT and the forthcoming advancements in fact-checking.

We shift gears to talk about her own message-- Offering valuable insights not only on discussing success, but also on understanding how failures contribute to personal and professional growth.

 Alison Grooms is a notable serial entrepreneur who has made her mark in the world of business. She is the CEO of Jules and James Boutique in Carllton, Georgia, and the founder of JAZ cosmetics. Her journey as an entrepreneur is marked by resilience and a willingness to adapt and evolve.

Alison's entrepreneurial journey is a testament to the fact that success often comes after overcoming failures and learning from them. Her initial venture might not have succeeded as planned, but she didn't give up. Instead, she reorganized and refocused her efforts to create a more successful business model.

One of the key highlights of her career is the way she embraced the e-commerce model, starting her business online. This approach allowed her to reach a wider audience and establish her brand in the competitive world of fashion and cosmetics. After building a strong online presence and customer base, she took the next step by opening a flagship brick and mortar store, which is a significant achievement in the retail industry.

Stay tuned there's more Jules & James coming!

Meet Frances Rios, CEO and Founder of Women Who Lead.

It's important to address the challenges women often face in the workplace and encourage them to ask for what they want to advance in their careers.

Frances Rios also founded Men Who Lead, focusing on helping male leaders become more inclusive leaders. This indicates a holistic approach to gender equality in the workplace. By involving men in the conversation and helping them understand the importance of inclusivity, we can create more diverse and equitable work environments for everyone.

Welcome back to Mariana Atencio, Peabody award winning journalist, author and speaker.

Did you know there will be a Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino to showcase the changing face of the new America?

Mariana Atencio spokesperson for Friends of the National American Latino Museum explains the process and journey for designating a building to begin the curation and recognize the contribution of Latinos to this great country.

We also discuss her podcast "Lost in Panama ", an Apple top 10 that followed the disappearance of two white female tourists. Plus, we preview a soon to be released podcast, " The Unforgotten" a new investigative format about missing women and girls from underrepresented communities in the United States.

#AI in Journalism and Fact Checking with Jose Zamora

What happens when the power of social media helps a journalist get out of a hostage situation? This was the case a few years ago after Univision journalist, Jorge Ramos and his staff were held captive in Venezuela during an interview.

We take a close look at Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the impact of Fact Checking in the upcoming elections.

The streaming wars have opened up a new world in the media universe.

Our guest Amanda Lotz, Professor, Author and Media consultant discusses the challenges that TV, cable, and consumers face in the rapidly evolving media landscape.

Welcome to 'Mixing Minds: The FIU Chaplin School of Tourism and Hospitality Management & The Bacardi Center for Excellence,' where we blend the worlds of entrepreneurship and hospitality.

In this episode we welcome Brian Connors, Founding Director and Cristina Moguel, Assistant Director of the Bacardi Center of Excellence.

Join us as we embark on a journey to explore the innovative spirits and entrepreneurial visions emerging at the intersection of these two domains. Here, exceptional minds are crafting the future of hospitality, one entrepreneurial venture at a time. At the heart of our school lies Cecilia AI, a robotic bartender that's shaking up the industry.

Tune in to discover inspiring stories, cutting-edge ideas, and the cocktails of creativity shaken and stirred by these brilliant minds. Welcome to the world where hospitality meets entrepreneurship. Cheers! 🍹🎙️

In this episode “Tech doesn't mean you plug it in” hosted by Neil Ramsay our guest is Bethany Edwards.

Bethany Edwards is an entrepreneur, multidisciplinary designer, and materials technologist. She is the inventor and co-founder of Lia, the only FDA cleared plastic-free, flushable pregnancy test – the first significant innovation in the industry in over 30 years.

Her invention and work helped pioneer the field of water-dispersible, biodegradable diagnostic test kits; she holds over 80 patents related to Lia’s novel design and temporary materials. The technology, product, and brand received global recognition and was named one of Fortune’s Greatest Designs of Modern Times, Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas, an ADC Gold Cube winner, and TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions.

Bethany has represented the U.S. at Global Entrepreneurship Summits, won TechCrunch Battlefield, and was a regional Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year winner. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Oprah Magazine, Forbes, Gizmodo, and The Wall Street Journal, and has been included in exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Triennale in Milan, and The Design Museum in London.

Meet Martina Potlach one of our FIU Ratcliffe Fellows and the founder of her own podcast Seed Talk. She is completing a thesis investigating coastal ecosystems, green-blue infrastructure, nature-based adaptations, and urban shoreline infrastructure resilience in South Florida. In this conversation we talk about her journey and the ways all of us as citizens can get involved to clean up our beaches, parks and other areas. We also discuss the ways the public and private sectors can come together to create a better future.

Ever wonder how the Real Housewives franchise came to be? What role has social media technology played in making these ladies household names.

Meet Jerry Leo, Media Executive and Former Executive Vice President at Bravo ... He talks about the "Room where it all happened" with the rollout of the Housewives franchise and the strategy behind retaining audiences through the many seasons of Orange County, Atlanta, New Jersey, New York, Beverly Hills and Miami.

Jerry is also the creator of a monthly Pop Culture overview that takes a deep look at all content across platforms in today' s race to win viewers and subscribers.

In this podcast we're talking with Lissette Schaeffler and Bill Cruz about Eden’s Bridge. This exhibition is the result of a completed project residency at the Deering Estate. Their work is characterized by a duality in perspective informed by their diverse artistic backgrounds.

Lissette’s extensive experience in fine art photography along with Bill’s work in multimedia, music and writing combine to create a unique, multidisciplinary approach that fully captures the varied elements of the natural South Florida landscape.

Meet Melissa Harmon, Sr. Director of Production at South Florida PBS and media trailblazer. 

In this talk we discuss the role of technology over the last few years with the use of drones and editing software that make storytelling much more appealing for the audience. 

It's also Season 11 of Art Loft and we're talking about the project Geographies of Trash and the roles its pillars played in impacting community, biking, upcycle,  the environment and mental health. 

Science, Art, Design and Business for the Oceans Featuring Dr. Sylvia Earle hosted by Neil Ramsay

Have you heard of the #Storybook app?

Meet Francisco Cornejo, CEO of the Storybook app and entrepreneur that created this new concept for parents and young children 1-5.

Francisco quit his C-level job back in Ecuador to move to Australia with his wife and kids to study for a master’s degree and to start his professional career anew.  Still, that decision took him through enormous growth as a family and ultimately became the idea for Storybook (www.storybook-app.com), the app created with his wife to help families bond, relax and sleep better.

 Today this project has paved the way for over 2 million parents to bond with their kids before bedtime, resulting in emotional and physical health improvements for hundreds of thousands of kids in 155 countries.

Meet Maria Elena González

“Artists are Entrepreneurs”

María Elena González is an internationally recognized American sculptor based in Brooklyn, NY, and Oakland, CA. González interweaves the conceptual with a strong dedication to craft in her complex installations and poetic arrangements, exploring themes like identity, memory, and dislocation. 

She is currently working on systemic changes at the academic level to educate artists in climate change mitigation and a sustainable practice in her own sculpture practice. Over a career spanning thirty years she has won the Prix de Rome from the American Academy in Rome (2003) and Grand Prize at the 30th Biennial of Graphic Arts at Ljubljana, Slovenia (2013). She’s won a Eureka Fellowship from the Fleishhacker Foundation (2019), a Guggenheim Fellowship (2006) and has been awarded grants from numerous foundations including Creative Capital, Pollock-Krasner, Joan Mitchell, New York Foundation for the Arts, and Penny McCall. 

She has served as the Sculpture Commissioner for New York City’s Design Commission and has also taught at Cooper Union School of Art and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, among others. González was a tenured professor and Chair of the Sculpture Department at San Francisco Art Institute until it closed in 2022. In 1999, González received widespread acclaim for her site-specific sculpture Magic Carpet/Home, commissioned by the Public Art Fund, and another site-specific work titled You & Me (2010), commissioned by Storm King Art Center. 

Her Tree Talk Series culminated in a solo exhibition at The Mills College Art Museum on January 2019. González’s work can be found in numerous public collections including the Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland; Museum voor Modern Kunst, Arnhem, The Netherlands; Museum of Art, The Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI; The Museum of Arts and Design, New York; and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

In this talk we welcome Lindsey Brittain Collins with co-host Neil Ramsay in a unique conversation on how architecture and design can address social and economic challenges and exploring ways that the built environment can be a tool for creating equity. 

Meet Lindsey Brittain Collins a New York-based painter working across multiple mediums, including collage, sculpture, and installation. She creates architectural abstractions that narrate her encounters with built environments and urban spaces. Inspired by contemporary and historical events, memory, and personal experiences, her conceptually driven work focuses on sharing untold stories and examining the relationship between architecture and social and economic structures. 

She is particularly interested in investigating how architecture and design can address social and economic challenges and exploring ways that the built environment can be a tool for creating equity. Drawing on her academic background in business, economics, and sociology, she approaches the topics in her work through a critical lens.
Lindsey received her MFA from Columbia University in 2021. She received her B.A. in Economics and Sociology from the University of Virginia and her MBA from Columbia Business School. In 2018 she was appointed by the Governor to the Art & Architectural Review Board for the state of Virginia. Lindsey has been an artist-in-residence at the Vermont Studio Center, and in 2019 she was the recipient of the Washington DC Arena Stage Emerging Leader in the Arts Award. Currently, Brittain Collins is an artist-in- residence at Silver Art Projects at the World Trade Center, where this year's program focuses on social justice and activism.

In this episode our guest is Mac Alabre, CEO, Founder and Chairman of the Lien Library. 

Our talk this week takes us to learn more about the purpose, mission and vision behind the creation of the Lien Library.

More about the Lien Library:

We are a group of hungry minority problem-solvers who have background in business, real estate, and computer science who are committed to improving the manual process that both local government and title companies go through to prepare and obtain a lien report and we are happy to do it in the name of Lien Library. When we started a few years ago we wanted to build a good company, but our community’s support inspires us to build a great company.

https://www.lienlibrary.com/

In this episode were talking with Dr. Pablo G. Ortiz, Vice-President and Vice-Provost of Regional and World locations at Florida International University. 

A true #Panther he's been in the education landscape for over 27 years and leads campus innovation and engagement across FIU locations. One of his missions is to engage and bring our future leaders back to campus creating experiences, networking and sense of community. 

FIU has over 200 partners around the world participating as centers of collaboration and research- As examples Italy and Colombia are part of that growing list. 

Tune in and learn “Where in the world is FIU”—it may be near you! 

Welcome back to our FIU Alumni, Cari Hernandez!

A proud panther she is one of the few Black Latinas leading as a News Content Director in an  English language newsroom at WUSA-9 in Washington, DC. 

Her journey started right here at FIU and has taken her to report and produce countless breaking news events that have affected our communities. In this episode, we discuss coverage of minorities and misinformation in the age of #breakingnews. 

Cari is an Emmy award-winning journalist and is recognized along with journalist Jim Defede with the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for excellence in broadcast and digital journalism. She served as Executive Producer on the  2017 documentary “The Everglades: Where Politics, Money and Race Collide,” a one-hour documentary on the 2016 environmental disaster that hit the Treasure Coast and its relation to Everglades restoration.

About Cari Hernandez: 

Hernandez joined WSUA-9 as content discovery and producing lead in 2019. She previously spent 7 years as an executive producer of investigations and special projects at CBS4 Miami.

Previously, she also worked as an executive producer for CNN in Atlanta from 2008 to 2011. Before that, she was an executive producer at NBC6 in Miami.

Bienvenidos a la Casa Blanca. Meet Luisana Perez Fernandez, Director of Hispanic Media at The White House. 

We take a journey on what goes on behind the scenes at one of the nation's busiest news hubs- Our guest takes us through a typical day on  how information is gathered and identified for the Hispanic community. 

Luisana Pérez Fernández is a Venezuelan-American communications expert and political advisor. She currently serves as the director of Hispanic media for the Joe Biden administration.

Special music by our FIU Ratcliffe fellow @Jose Veliz

Spice it up! That was the theme at this year's Canela Media upfront with Isabel Rafferty Zavala, CEO and Founder. 

In this innovative conversation we hear the journey of a serial entrepreneur that has built three companies and her latest project CANELA MEDIA addresses the void in the streaming market where the Hispanic audience is an afterthought. 

The AVOD service was launched during the pandemic with surprising results that has led the company to report 50 million unique users! In developing the brand it has LAUNCHED news, music and soon Kids ! 

Isabel Rafferty Zavala is a digital marketing pioneer. She is the Founder and CEO of Canela Media, a leading digital media tech company that gives brands the tools they need to effectively connect with multicultural audiences through multiple touchpoints, including its free-to-stream platform Canela.TV, influencer marketing, branded content, and more than 180 exclusive Spanish-language sites. Prior to starting Canela Media, Rafferty founded Mobvious, a company dedicated to reaching U.S. Hispanic and African-American audiences via mobile advertising. Under Rafferty’s leadership, Mobvious quickly became the largest Hispanic-focused ad network, as ranked by Comscore, before being acquired by PRISA in 2017.

"Tech doesn’t mean you plug it in with Neil Ramsay"

Meet professor Mihaela Plugarasum Assistant Teaching Professor of Communication at Florida International Unviersity. In this insightful talk we learn about #Experiential learning in the 21st Century.

Ms. Plugarasu is a dynamic facilitator, moderator and presenter on empowering topics related to Personal Branding & The Power of Social Media, Communication and Leadership, Conscious Living, Conscious Parenting, Personal Development and Self Growth. She facilitated workshops and courses for college students in USA and Europe, not-for-profit organizations and women’s empowerment groups.

In her previous role as Director, Strategic Initiatives & Communications at FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, she was responsible for overseeing all communications and office operations including marketing, promotions, advertising, web and social media, public relations and analytics. In addition, Mihaela served as a member of the senior leadership team, providing direct support to the dean and the executive team by ensuring the implementation and management of key initiatives across the school related to the dean’s vision and mission. Under her leadership, the Chaplin School’s brand messaging and positioning improved significantly through successful accomplishment of massive projects such as E-merge Americas Technology Conference, international campus visits, industry conferences, media campaigns, new website launch, and institutional events. 

As a result of her strategic thinking abilities, Ms. Plugarasu was appointed to serve as one of only ten I-REAL commissioners, charged with making recommendations for FIU’s 2020 Strategic Plan. In 2016, she was selected to participate in FIU’s first cohort of the President’s Leadership Program, under the sponsorship of Dr. Mark B. Rosenberg.

Meet the godmother of the #Metaverse Cathy Hackl! 

We're talking in this episode about the definition of the #metaverse and the true meaning of navigating and building businesses around it. 

Cathy Hackl is a globally recognized metaverse/ web3 strategist, tech futurist, sought-after business executive, speaker and media personality with deep expertise working in metaverse-related fields with companies like HTC VIVE, Magic Leap, and Amazon Web Services. 

She’s the Chief Metaverse Officer & Co-founder of Journey, where she leads Journey's Metaverse Studio working with the world's top brands on metaverse/web3 strategies, NFTs, gaming, virtual fashion, and how to extend their brands into virtual worlds. Her consultancy, Futures Intelligence Group, was acquired in just 10 months and now a part of Journey.

The next episode kicks off Miami Tech Month! 

Our guest is Nathan Pettyjohn, President and Founder of VRAR Association and Commerical Lead at Lenovo. 

The future is here! What an exciting time to learn use and innovate with the tech tools around us. 

We discuss the mission and purpose of VRAR Association, the definition of the Metaverse, its innovation and benefits, as well as criticism towards isolation and addiction. 

The podcast presents this "Exclusive" interview with Dr. Elizabeth Bejar, making history at Florida International University, as the first Hispanic woman to serve as interim provost.  

How do we engage the students and offer an "A la Carte" learning experience? The future workforce is here, and we reflect on the success and  challenges with the pandemic. The learning process and curriculum has never been more dynamic and exciting to prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow. 

Entering the virtual world! 

In this podcast episode Meet Elizabeth Irizarry, a leading community manager, strategist, podcaster, and Web3 enthusiast. She is the founder of the Infinite Attraction Podcast, a local Miami-based podcast empowering the local builder community. In her current role as the Director of Strategic Partnership at Empire Office, she collaborates with the local real estate community to provide workplace solutions to her clients.

We enter the virtual world and learn about #NFTs, #blockchain and the #metaverse, its beginnings and define each term in this growing ecosystem. A simple answer to these questions and how we define each term, "they are still evolving". 

The future is yet to be defined. 

What is the Metaverse? Meet Carlos Fueyo, appointed as Knight Innovator in Residence at Florida International University CARTA's iStar (Immersive Studio For Altered Reality). Carlos will be advising on the use of new technologies and philosophies spanning across a multitude of fields. 

🎬We will be finding links between fields like communications, architecture, art, and new emerging technologies in the virtual production and XR spaces. The ultimate goal will be to educate and expand the horizons of the students, faculty and the community to create a new future into the Metaverse and beyond!

Winston E. Scott, a Miami native, retired navy captain and former NASA astronaut takes listeners to infinity and beyond. 

Scott, a veteran of two shuttle missions on Endeavour and Columbia logged a total of 24 days, 14 hours and 34 minutes in space, including three spacewalks totaling 19 hours and 26 minutes.

Did Winston Scott dream of being an astronaut growing up? We're talking the technology that is being used in NASA partnerships with SpaceX and his thoughts on the new space tourism with Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos expanding to reach the edge of space. When will the next crew go to the moon? Is there a Mars Mission in the next decade?  

Listen and find out all this and more in this out of this world conversation! 

Evan Shapiro, Emmy and Peabody award- winning producer, pundit and professor at NYU Stern School of Business. Our podcast talk takes through the stages of the #streamingwars and the many questions of who is winning and losing...  Who is profitable and why?  What influence did  technology have on the entertainment ecosystem and more!   

About Evan Shapiro

Over the last 30 years, Evan Shapiro has worked in media, entertainment and education, creating distinctive content, building iconic brands, teaching thousands of students and young executives, leading a charge for diversity and inclusion in media, and pushing for change in the industry as an executive, producer, board member, professor, writer and most recently, has become the industry’s official unofficial cartographer.

As Board Chair of The Ghetto Film School and Co-Founder of One Day Immersion, and as a writer, speaker and thought leader, for decades Shapiro has spent substantial time, energy and personal capital on pushing the entertainment community to increase opportunity, access and inclusion for those who have been historically under-represented on and behind the camera. As a producer and executive, his efforts have resulted in ground-breaking projects in film, television and podcasting, giving platforms to new, original and diverse voices.

Shapiro’s work has resulted in awards, critical acclaim, and, most importantly, a strong and diverse community of collaborators, across the spectrum of disciplines in the for-profit and non-profit spheres. His maps of the Media Universe have become touchstones in the industry.

Shapiro is an Emmy and Peabody Award winner, having produced or created more than 150 television series, specials, documentaries and podcasts, including Portlandia, Comedy Bang Bang, Maron, National Lampoon Radio Hour Podcast, The Roast Of Your Teenage Self, Dinner For Five, Please Like Me, Take My Wife, Bajillion Dollar Propertie$, Shrink, Trapped In The Closet, Harmonquest, Laurie Kilmartin’s 45 Jokes About My Dead Dad, Doug Stanhope’s No Place Like Home, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s HitRecord, Fortitude, Carlos, My Brother My Brother & Me, Brick City, This Film Is Not Yet Rated, and Funny Women of A Certain Age.

He is a Professor for TV and Media at NYU/Stern School of Business and for Media Studies at Fordham University, a sought-after guest speaker for conferences and universities, as well as a frequent guest writer for publishers such as Huffington Post, Deadline and The Wrap, where he has made some rather bold predictions about the future of the media and entertainment industry, many of which have come to fruition. He is also an in-demand lecturer for companies and government agencies about Generation Y and Gene