Jacksonville man named a top Latin leader

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Imagine being named a nationalist apical Latin person and knowing nary of it would’ve been imaginable without your mother’s courageousness and thrust for a brighter future. For Manny Velasquez-Paredes, that’s wherever his communicative begins.

“My parent decided to determination to the United States erstwhile my begetter passed away, erstwhile I was 9 years old,” said Velasquez-Paredes. “So she decided to bring america for a amended life.”

While moving him and his older sister from Peru was a challenge, Velasquez-Paredes said, his parent worked hard to marque ends meet. In Peru, she had a inheritance successful nursing. But without knowing English, pursuing that enactment of enactment wasn’t an option. Still, her determination ne'er wavered.

“She would cleanable peoples’ houses, bash babysitting oregon cooking,” said Velasquez-Paredes. “Whatever she needed to bash to marque definite that my sister and I had nutrient astatine the table. It takes a batch of guts to beryllium capable to bash thing similar that.”

Ad

Raised successful South Beach, Florida, Velasquez-Paredes excelled successful schoolhouse and graduated from college. Following his mother’s decease successful the aboriginal 2000s, Velasquez-Paredes moved to New York but returned to Florida past twelvemonth with his hubby and their 2 children to service arsenic manager of the LGBTQ assets halfway astatine the University of North Florida. He’s sat connected galore boards, served arsenic a mentor and has won awards for his advocacy successful some the Latino and LGBTQ+ communities.

This year, helium was named 1 of 2021′s Top National Latino Leaders by the National Diversity Council. As a treble minority, Velasquez-Paredes knows helium has a wider influence. Every day, helium aims to instill the content successful others that nary substance the obstacles they face, they tin emergence supra and instrumentality power of their ain destiny.

“What I’m trying to archer them is, ‘Hey, you person a batch of things that are going against you close present due to the fact that you whitethorn beryllium a treble minority, you whitethorn beryllium Latino and beryllium portion of the LGBTQ+ community,’” Velasquez-Paredes said. “But it is up to you to marque definite that you amended yourself and that you marque a occurrence retired of yourself. You tin bash each of these things; you tin execute immoderate the American imagination is.”

Ad

Velasquez-Paredes appreciates the designation from his peers but said 1 facet makes this feat much gratifying.

“To beryllium recognized wrong a civilization that is, a batch of times, considered not to beryllium arsenic LGBTQ friendly, it’s highly powerful,” Velasquez-Paredes said. “It shows that we’re redefining what the caller norms are.”

Making a quality successful the Latino and LGBTQ+ communities and paying tribute to the pistillate whose sacrifice made it each possible.

To work much astir Manny Velasquez-Paredes, sojourn https://www.unf.edu/lgbtqcenter/LGBTRC_Staff/LGBTRC_Manny.aspx and https://clwe.org/tophispanicleaders/2021/.

Copyright 2021 by WJXT News4Jax - All rights reserved.