UNF LGBTQ Center director honored with national Latino leader award
Manny Velásquez-Paredes, director of UNF’s LGBTQ Center, has been named a 2021 National Latino Leader Award winner by the Council for Latino Workplace Equity (CLWE), an initiative under the National Diversity Council. Velasquez is honored for his outstanding leadership efforts and record of professional accomplishments. The award will be presented virtually at the 6th Annual National Latino Leadership Conference on Tuesday, September 14.
The CLWE seeks to both promote workplace equity for Latinos and recognize those who have overcome barriers to rise to the top of their organizations. The Top Latino Leaders list highlights individuals who have achieved success in their career while paving the way for other Latinos to advance in the corporate arena. Recipients of the award actively contribute to creating and promoting a culture where Latino talent is supported and leveraged for organizational success, demonstrate leadership excellence and high visibility in the Latino community, operate with the highest integrity and ethical behavior and retain a commendable reputation with colleagues and superiors.
Velasquez is an award-winning, experienced marketing and personal branding manager, with nearly a decade of experience working in professions focused on multicultural diversity and LGBTQ communities. His experience includes providing training and education to organizations, communities, and government agencies on gender identity and how to serve the LGBTQ community and advocacy. In addition, Velasquez has years of experience working with and mentoring young people, as well as developing programming and workshops to help students with gender identity issues, coming out, bullying, financial literacy and selfcare.
Velasquez serves as a mentor on the Board of Directors for the New York Chapter of Prospanica, where he also held the positions of Marketing VP, Executive Vice President and President. He has also served on the MBA Advisory Board for Monroe College in New York and was honored by Latino Leaders Magazine chosen as one of the Top 25 Latino Leaders in New York. He was the first recipient of the NLGJA (National LGBTQ Journalists Association) Excellence in Travel Writing and was also awarded the Empire Star Public Service Award for his work within the Hispanic and LGBTQ Community.