Suddenly, Awards With Minority Faces

You can see the six smiling faces on the cover of this week’s Orange County Business Journal. They look like happy high achievers spotlighted by the publication for their success, often against the odds.

All women. All winners.

But not all white.

Half of this year’s honorees in the weekly publication’s Women in Business Awards are minorities: two Latinas and a Native American. That’s the highest level of minority representation in the six years the journal has organized the program, which includes an awards luncheon and a special supplement.

The ethnic mix didn’t happen by accident.

What you don’t see in those smiling faces is the story of how they got so diverse. That’s a story of pressure applied behind the scenes. Of the increasing frustration gnawing at one of the event’s corporate sponsors, Southern California Edison Co. And of Edison’s threat this year to yank its $10,000 contribution if the journal did not do more to attract minority women to its awards competition.

“Edison said, ‘Ya basta! (Enough already!)’ ” said Santa Ana businesswoman Teresa Saldivar, one of this year’s Latina nominees.

The journal made an extra effort to recruit Saldivar and other women of color to participate in its awards program this year. It was a classic example of affirmative action at work in the private sector.

To succeed, such efforts require an advocate with conviction and clout. In this case, that would be Frank J. Quevedo, Edison’s maven of diversity. He’s a vice president for affirmative action, based in Rosemead and residing in Irvine. He’s 55, bearded, well-liked--but hard-nosed when necessary.

Quevedo decided to put his company’s money behind the journal’s effort, from its inception, to recognize and encourage women in business. The choice was natural, since part of his job is to make sure Edison’s suppliers include firms owned by women and minorities. Plus, Quevedo personally believes in promoting equal opportunity.

But he had mixed feelings at the journal’s first awards luncheon six years ago.

“I was absolutely overwhelmed at the [good] turnout,” Quevedo said this week. “But I was astounded at the lack of minority women among the nominees and in the audience.”

It bothered him, but he admits he didn’t raise the issue with the paper right away. In subsequent years, an occasional minority would be honored--”an Asian woman here or there,” as Quevedo puts it.

Meanwhile, more and more new businesses were being started by minority women, especially Latinas. Nationwide, studies showed Latinas were getting into business faster than anybody else. Between 1987 and 1996, the number of Latina-owned enterprises grew by 206%, compared with 47% for business start-ups overall. Two years ago, that was front-page news in The Times.

Though no precise figures are available, Orange County ranks as one of the top 10 areas for firms owned by minority women. But that reality still wasn’t fully reflected in the ranks of women recognized annually by the Orange County Business Journal.

Quevedo, a Vietnam vet, decided to take the offensive.

He broached the topic with the journal’s staff but said he got no results. Last year, he and his staff offered to help get the word out to the minority business community.

Edison takes some credit for last year’s results: Two minority business owners emerged among the six winners.

Yet Quevedo was not happy.

Wait a minute, he thought. Why should Edison have to do the recruiting? Shouldn’t it be the journal’s job to ensure diversity at its own event?

It was time for a showdown. In February, Quevedo made an appointment with a man he considers an old friend, Richard Reisman, the journal’s publisher.

He thought it best to deliver the following message in person: No action, no more bucks.

“I went over to tell them, cold, that I wasn’t going to support the . . . event unless they understood that it was their responsibility to do more outreach,” Quevedo said.

The publisher’s response: Hey, Frank, you’re preaching to the choir.

“He was asking for something I was happy to do,” Reisman said.

The women’s program always was intended to be inclusive, the publisher explained. Yes, it makes money for the paper, but it also has a higher purpose. It shows that women are capable of rising to the top in business, where they are still underrepresented.

“I’ve got two daughters [ages 11 and 13],” Reisman said this week. “I want them to grow up in a world where they perceive no barriers. They should aspire to the highest ambitions their minds can imagine.”

Does he want the same for minority women?

Reisman said he doesn’t keep track of the percentage of minority women who are nominated for his paper’s awards. Nominees aren’t asked to state their race or ethnicity. But the fact that five minority women have emerged as winners in the past two years shows good faith, he argued.

Quevedo agrees.

“They’re decent people; we just needed to get their attention,” he said. “Richard Reisman is a terrific guy, a progressive guy. . . . This is not some ogre. He’s a thoughtful guy. But you know how these things go.”

The two men decided to invite minority women to a breakfast held in March at Edison Field. Some 50 women showed up to hear the publisher explain the importance of the awards program and Quevedo urged them to participate.

Saldivar, the Santa Ana jeweler, had attended the awards luncheon last year. But the breakfast pep talk pushed her to throw her hat in the ring this time around.

“I felt there was an urgency there, a mission for everyone to partake,” Saldivar said.

This year, 110 women were nominated for the journal’s award, the highest number in the program’s history. Elva Rubalcava, an Edison spokeswoman who helps the journal select the winners, estimates that some 15 minorities were nominated this time, which is more than in past years. They included Latinas, Asians, and one African-American; several made finalist.

“This is important because it reflects our community,” Rubalcava said. “In Orange County, talented women in business come in all colors.”

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Agustin Gurza’s column appears Tuesday and Saturday. Readers can reach Gurza at (714) 966-7712 or agustin.gurza@latimes.com

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Business Journal Winners

Here are the six winners of this year’s Orange County Business Journal’s sixth annual Women in Business Awards. Three of the winners are minorities: Sobrino is from Mexico, Chavez Wilcox is from Peru, and Williams is a member of the Juaneno-Acjachemen Indian tribe of Orange County.

* Linda Burkett, CIO, Bergen Brunswig Corp.

* Karen Caplan, president, Frieda’s Inc.

* Maria Chavez Wilcox, president/CEO, United Way of Orange County

* Kimberly Charalas Cripe, president/CEO, Children’s Hospital of Orange County

* Maria de Lourdes Sobrino, president, Lulu’s Desserts

* Dr. Laura Williams, assistant clinical professor, UC Irvine Medical Center