Juan Pablo Giometti

When Juan Pablo Giometti (MBA ‘06) moved from his native Argentina to Chapel Hill to attend UNC Kenan-Flagler, he faced many challenges. He had to learn English slang, adapt to a new university and adjust to living far from his family.

Giometti learned quickly. He moved to Greenville after business school to be the marketing manager at NACCO Materials Handling Group. There, Giometti tried to find a Latino network. No luck. In 2006 he started a network himself, called Viva Greenville. Now called vivacarolina!, the network has grown into a multimedia company with a print and online magazine. Both provide resources for Latinos in business, health care and education. Viva means "go" in Spanish, as in rooting for a team.

"Coming to a new country is not easy for anyone," Giometti says. "That’s the main goal of vivacarolina, to integrate people."

Giometti moved the free magazine to Charlotte in 2008. It offers local news, information about community services and features on non-Hispanics learning Spanish. "There were some misconceptions about Latinos," Giometti says. "We want to show they go to school, they make progress and they work hard. That’s our goal, to inspire young people to go that way and to show non-Hispanics the activities of our community."

The monthly print magazine is mostly in Spanish with 10,000 copies distributed in the Charlotte and Rock Hill, S.C., areas. Next year Giometti plans to expand to Greensboro.

Charlotte is the test market for Viva Carolina en la Escuela (Viva Carolina in school). This program highlights achievements of Hispanics in school and college in the magazines. So far, about 20 schools and colleges participate. Some use vivacarolina in the classroom.

Giometti cites North Carolina’s growing Hispanic population and Latino school dropouts in Charlotte. "The only way that you have to advance in a community is to get involved. And the best way is with education, information," he says. "We want to use media as a way of social change."

A UNC Kenan-Flagler course on social entrepreneurship with Ted Zoller gave Giometti ideas about how to address social issues while delivering value to the community.

"Sometimes you can generate business or education that works with social needs or social problems."

Giometti, 35, creates bridges between cultures in other ways. He is managing director of The Latin Focus, a media and marketing company that publishes vivacarolina, and he educates clients about the Hispanic market. He also is founding president and CEO of the nonprofit National Hispanic Entrepreneurs’ Organization, a mentoring and networking group.

"I don’t think ethnicity should be a difference among people," Giometti says. "People can advance no matter what ethnicity they are and have a voice and opinion just like everyone else."