Running head: NETWORKING EVENTS

Networking Events
Federico R Lastra
Florida International University

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2
Networking Events
Bowtie Bash

It has been my experience that the LGBTQA community in South Florida is a very small
one, yet very powerful (i.e., Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Allies).
Many of whom are working in Human Resources related fields, especially in hotels and retail,
and even more so in Adult Education, within higher learning and in public schools. However,
those in public schools do not tend to be out about their lifestyle at work and tend to keep it
hidden from fears of persecution; not as much from the schools but from the parents of their
students. Because the atmosphere is more comfortable among my own people and because my
friend was DJing and I did not have to pay for the $125 ticket. I chose this networking event.
Honestly, also because at the other event I had tried, I was already out of my element and
additionally it seemed that the women were there for more than networking; moreover, they were
rather aggressive and it made me extremely uncomfortable. So I chose to be with my own;
besides, the Bowtie Bash was advertised as the premier LGBT networking event of the year
(A. Ferbeyre, personal communication, November 7, 2015).
The Bowtie Bash is OUT Miami Foundations annual cocktail networking reception event
that also helps to raise funds for the LGBT community and their allies. Their focus is on
fostering support in a united LGBT community in Greater Miami. There must have been well
over 200 people professionals in attendance. It was held in Brickell at Building.co, which is a
collaborative workspace for organizations and people serving the tech ecosystem. The event was
impressive, held on the rooftop, overlooking our gorgeous city, Miami.

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The food was amazing! The music was great but there was an open bar, and about more
than half of the people there were drinking plenty and since I do not drink, it was important to
me to find someone who was coherent enough to hold a conversation. Once I filtered through a
few people who were looking for dates; I found someone who was willing to talk and had
experience in Human Resources and even more surprising had a Masters of Science in Higher
Education Administration from Barry University, in Miami Springs, Florida.
With his degree Jason Zelcer had opened a tutoring center for children called A Place to
Grow for about three years on Miami Beach, until he ran across complications; stating that work
had its down seasons in the summer in which he then opened a swimming program and that his
tutors betrayed him and were taking customers away for private lessons. Moreover, he said he
hated it, he hated the children, and he hated their parents even more (J. Zelcer, personal
communication, November 7, 2015). He now owns a womens fashion showroom that carries
over 20 lines including apparel and accessories, but most interestingly, shoes that he designs for
his parents company, Sergio Zelcer shoes, that has been in business for over fifty years. It had
previously operated under the name of Spanish Leather Creations for more than half of those
years. I remember the Spanish Leather brand, my mother owned many pairs and still does (M.
Lastra, personal communication, November 8, 2015). He said that he has a team of about half a
dozen employees, some of which who are family, but even though he had people working for
him his phone would not stop ringing. So I asked him, if you have a team of employees? Why
are you taking all of these calls that sound simple staff issues, and I asked him if his employees
were trained, and if so, how? He had no response, his sister worked in his office and so did his
niece. He said he felt as if he did all the work, so I asked than what are you paying them for. I

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also told him that I had the same schooling and could train his employees for him. I have met
with him since then to make some money helping and am set to train his employees after
graduation. JZS is located at 1756 NW 23rd Street, Miami, FL 33142, telephone (786) 283-0356.
Spotlight Mega-Mixer Networking and Business Expo
The LGBTQA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Allies)
community in South Florida is tight knit and supportive of each other especially in supporting
gay friendly business. Many LGBT people work in Human Resources related fields, especially
in hotels and retail, as well as in Adult Education. I chose a LGBT networking event because I
am more comfortable among my own people and find that they are more eager to help each other
selflessly, pay it forward. Moreover, if advances are made I am much more comfortable handling
it among my own community than with heterosexuals and having to answer questions or explain
about being gay. I chose to attend the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerces
Spotlight Mega-Mixer Networking and Business Expo that was held on Thursday, November 12th,
2015 at the former Sofitel hotel by Miami International Airport on Blue Lagoon Drive, which is
now part of the Pullman Hotel chain. The hotel is still as beautiful as it was when it opened, with
a few renovations but not overdone; my uncle would stay there with his second and third wives
when he visited from Mexico.
The Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (MDGLCC) (2015) is the
biggest LGBT organization in Miami-Dade County, Florida. According to its marketing director
its mission is to promote a unified and thriving, gay and gay-friendly, business and professional
community throughout Miami-Dade County (J. Richa, personal communication, November 12,
2015). And according to their website their goals are to promote networking within the

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existing gay and gay-friendly business and professional community, to promote business
opportunities for Chamber members, to promote Miami as a year-round, gay and gay-friendly
tourist destination, to provide resources for our members, and to provide outreach from our
community to other organizations (MDGLCC, 2015, para. 2).
The event was impressive and had a three hour time limit and was sponsored by Bacardi
Rum and Grey Goose Vodka, which was not surprising as they also support SAVE (formerly
SAVE Dade) at their recent Halloween fundraiser, Hellrotika, which I have attended for the past
six years. Both of these liquors tend to promote equality and the event's major sponsor was Royal
Caribbean, for whom many of my gay friends work and was hoping they could introduce me to
someone in their Human Resources Department. The event had about over a hundred people in
attendance, about half of the Bowtie Bash. They did have a very cool bulletin board with
business cards all over it with representatives clearly identified to talk to for making connections.
This idea was innovative and made the event a little friendlier; however, all of my business cards
are for FedericoSuper Tutor and all I got asked were questions about writing papers in APA.
However, they also had some booths with information, like the kind that you would find at a job
fair, which reminded me of orientation tabling events at the university. Again both my friends
were also working the event, Alex Ferbeyre the DJ and Juan Saco Mironoff the photographer and
creator of Miami-Gay-Blog.com. I used to promote for Bear Nation, gay organization promoting
socialization among the bear community, a subculture within the gay culture; this is how we have
gotten to know each other; but, since the beginning of the AE/HRD program have seen very little
of me on the social scene.

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In attendance at the event was Ben Boudreau, whom I had not seen since he moved away
to San Francisco, California, in 2009. I was happy to see him since none of my friends from
Royal Caribbean could introduce me to someone in Human Resources. Ben, on the other hand, I
knew worked for Chevron. Ben Boudreau was the former Senior Human Resources Business
Partner at Chevron, and was visiting Miami, because he loved it here, and to reconnect with old
acquaintances, like me. At first, I was a little dismayed, because he said he had left
Chevron; so, I thought he was looking for work but I was wrong. He left Chevron for a major
technology company in Employee Relations. He designs and manages programs that improve
employee relations via the training of managers and employees. He also investigates formal
complaints. Moreover, he continually creates methods of improving HR to minimize liability
exposures; so much so that he cannot mention he works for them, confidentiality rules that could
cost him his job. He then asked me what I was up to and what I was doing there, so I told him
about my assignment and that I was graduating this semester. Moreover, I told him that he was
living in my favorite city in the world, San Francisco, California. To which he responded: Come
on over! You can actually come work at my company - don't rule out corporations too. Many
companies are developing their own internal training and development "universities" so you can
do the same work making double the money and better benefits! Check out my companys
website for postings in HR... we have hundreds of openings (B. Boudreau, personal
communication, November 12, 2015). I Linkedin with him later and we continued our
conversation on Whatsapp, I told him that I had absolutely no clue that they hired internally, I
thought they subcontracted instead, to which he responded: Absolutely! Big companies that do
their own thing are Apple, Chevron, Facebook, Linkedin, Google, Twitter, Success Factors, SAP,
and many gaming companies like EA or Zynga. Almost all have college recruiting programs so

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you can get and offer before you graduate and have a job waiting once you graduate (B.
Boudreau, personal communication, November 12, 2015). He again reminded me that he can
only speak as an HR professional and his experiences over the years. His employer is very strict
about it and he can be terminated (B. Boudreau, personal communication, November 12, 2015).
We are planning a visit this March 2015, during my birthday month, to speak face-to-face, and he
has sent me a job application link for employment with his company.