- Fiske will speak about her rise to the top of PRSA’s leadership as part of opening reception that will reveal results of the national Hispanic PR Census

- Corporate and agency human resource managers and other recruiters expected to attend the biggest assembly of Hispanic PR and social media professionals ever gathered at one time

(BLACK PR WIRE) DALLAS, TX (April 26, 2010) — Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) CEO and Chair-elect Rosanna Fiske, APR will headline the powerful diversity-focused agenda of the Hispanic PR & Social Media Marketing Conference with an opening night reception keynote about diversity in PR.
Fiske, the first Latina CEO of PRSA and the first Hispanic president of the Miami chapter of PRSA, will deliver an inspiring, revealing speech titled “The Context of Diversity in PR: A Latina’s Journey.”

“Whenever you talk about Rosanna, you talk about trailblazer,” said Manny Ruiz, conference organizer and co-publisher of the Hispanic PR Blog. “We are both proud and delighted to have a Latina PR leader of her stature deliver the inaugural speech of the conference at a reception appropriately focused on advancing diversity. Our diversity focus underscores why corporate and marketing agency human resource directors need to come to Dallas.”

The opening reception/networking event is sponsored by national conference partner PRSA and is slated for 6:30 p.m. on Monday, May 10. During the reception Ruiz and Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA) President Lourdes Rodriguez will also present the results of the national Hispanic PR Census sponsored by Latina-owned RL Public Relations.

Co-presented by HPRA and the Hispanic PR Blog in partnership with PRSA, the conference features more than 24 professional development opportunities, keynote presentations and panels focused on best practices in Hispanic public relations and social media.

The diversity and multicultural-related events and sessions on the conference agenda include:
- “Advancing Diversity Opening Reception.” The results of the Hispanic PR Census will be revealed on the evening of May 10. The two-minute online survey attempts to account for every PR professional – Latino and non-Latino alike – who spends 30% or more of their time in Hispanic PR and/or social media work. The survey can still be taken at www.tinyurl.com/HPRCensus.

- A keynote address by William Whitman, Jr., Vice President of Communications for McDonald’s USA. Whitman, Jr.’s speech will focus on why a multicultural approach is key to a winning strategy.

- “Diversity in America: A Moral and Strategic Imperative that Must and Can be Fixed.” This session features Maria Dahl-Smith, Director of Communications and Development for Hispanic Initiatives of the Boy Scouts of America, Glenn Llopis, Chairman of the Center for Hispanic Leadership, Bernadette Morris, President/CEO of Black PR Wire and Sonshine Communications and Doris Aguirre of DCA Professional Search. Armando Azarloza, President of The Axis Agency, will moderate this panel.

- “Diversity Forum on How to Help Hispanic Media Cover Issue of Structural Racism.” Presented by the Kellogg Foundation, this session features a panel with Clara Padilla, President of the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP), Sergio Salmeron, Director of Development for the Hispanic College Fund and Jim Estrada, Founder of Estrada Communications and a co-founder of HPRA. Robert Bard, Publisher of Latina Style Magazine, will moderate this forum.

The most updated version of the full conference schedule can be viewed at http://www.hispanicprconference.com/conference-agenda/schedule.

The conference is being sponsored by: the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA); the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA); the Hispanic College Fund, Sony Electronics (Technology Partner); Southwest Airlines; McDonalds; Fleishman; The Axis Agency; Ketchum; VPE Public Relations; the Jeffrey Group; the W.K. Kellogg Foundation; RL Public Relations; TeleNoticias; PR Newswire; Comerica Bank; Cision; and the Dallas Conventions and Visitors Bureau. Social media sponsors include the Zocalo Group (Conference Twitter sponsor) and Sensis (social media session sponsor). The conference’s lead media partner is Latino Leaders Magazine. Other media partners include Black PR Wire, LATINA Style Magazine and My Latino Voice.

For more information on the Hispanic PR & Social Marketing Conference, visit www.hispanicprconference.com or contact show director, Ray Bianchi, at info@hispanicprblog.com or 305-321-5002. You also may subscribe to conference-related “Tweets”; the Twitter hash-tag for the conference is #HPRConf.

About the Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA)
HPRA was founded in 1984 as a non-profit organization to establish a network of Hispanics employed in the public relations profession. HPRA has more than 250 members representing public relations, marketing and advertising professionals from agencies, government, non-profit and corporate companies. HPRA is dedicated to the advancement of Hispanic professionals and provides educational seminars and workshops throughout the year. The organization has awarded more than $220,000 in scholarships to Latino students pursuing a career in communications during the last 25 years. HPRA strives to be a resource for communications professionals and for those seeking insights into the Hispanic market.

About the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
With more than 31,000 members, PRSA is the largest organization of public relations professionals and students. PRSA is comprised of 111 local Chapters organized into 10 geographic Districts; 16 Professional Interest Sections that focus on issues, trends and research relevant to specialized practice areas, such as technology, health care, financial communications, entertainment and sports, and travel tourism; and the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), which has more than 300 Chapters at colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. PRSA is headquartered in New York.�

About the Hispanic PR Blog
Founded by multicultural public relations veterans Manny Ruiz, former CEO of Hispanic PR Wire, and Angela Sustaita-Ruiz of Hispanic Media Trainers, LLC, the Hispanic PR Blog is the Hispanic market industry’s authoritative source for news and views focused on Hispanic public relations and social media marketing. The blog and its accompanying daily newsletter, Hispanicize, feature columns, stories, white papers, job postings, calendar events and more. Hispanic Media Trainers, LLC, is the parent company of the Hispanic PR & Social Media Marketing Conference