Highlighting LGBTQ Cultural Events and Destination Markets Miami and Brazil

Global Chamber® Miami in collaboration with top regional organizations completed a discussion highlighting LGBTQ cultural events and destination markets between Miami and Brazil.

Special thanks to to the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, Miami-Dade County International Trade Consortium and all the groups and leaders below for their participation and collaboration!

Watch the dynamic and informative globinar HERE.

Participating organization videos are shown here.

Agenda

1:00 pm: Welcome - Lynare Robbins

1:01 pm: Introductory words from Jonathan Ward, Miami-Dade County International Trade Consortium (Jonathan Ward, ITC)

1:03 pm: Miami-Dade County: The LGBTQ+ travel gateway for Brazil & the Americas (Dan Rios, GMCVB)

1:05 pm: Expedia LGBTQ+ Travel Presentation (Zach Leonardi, Expedia Group)

1:15 pm: LGBTQ+ Destinations (Miami & Brazil) Flash Chat

Speakers:

• Craig Smith, Source Events
• Clovis Casemiro, IGLTA Brazil

Moderated by:

• Dan Rios, GMCVB

1:30 pm: Roundtable: LGBTQ+ Cultural Events and Economic Development in Miami & Brazil.

Speakers:

• Ananda Puchta, Country Director of ELLA Brazil
• Vania Cabral, Cabral Expeditions
• Paul Thomas, Miami Beach Pride
• Jonathan Casanas, Gay8 Festival

Moderated by:

• Lynare Robbins, Global Chamber Miami

2:15: Q & A from the audience.

2:30 pm: Pride Forum Concludes.

Leadership

Lynare Robbins is the Director of the Global Chamber® Miami. She is a veteran of the United States Navy and serves on the Florida Advisory Committee for the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, an organization which promotes bipartisan support for international development and diplomacy to strengthen national security and foreign relations. Lynare holds an Associates in Arts in Behavioral Science, a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, and Masters degrees in Human Behavior and International Relations & Conflict Resolution. She has conducted research work to identify how technology and innovation can promote equality and equity. She is the founder and president of Robbins Global Innovations, a boutique international relations consultancy firm specializing in communications & strategic relationship building, research & policy, curriculum development, global networking and internationally driven programs and events. Lynare serves on the Board of Directors for Care Resource and the United Nations Association- Miami Chapter.

Dan Rios is the Director of LGBTQ Marketing at the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. He is a marketing and communication design professional with more than 20 years of experience and is creating and implementing tourism programs that are targeted to the LGBTQ traveler and that showcase Greater Miami as a premier LGBTQ destination. Dan is a magazine/editorial design aficionado and expert in the development of high-end print collateral for the luxury travel, destination and exhibition markets.

Maria Dreyfus-Ulvert is the Assistant Director of the Miami-Dade County International Trade Consortium (ITC) within the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners, Office of the Chair. Maria has been an employee of the Miami-Dade County Government since 2007 and leads the trade division for South America.

Phil Disant is the Director of the Global Chamber® Joinville. A French citizen, originally from Paris, he has been working as a Business Developer and Consultant since 2003 in Brazil, the United States and in Europe, in support of small and medium-sized companies in their export expansion on these same markets. Over the course of his career, apart from his current business, Phil has evolved also as an Account Director for 7 Years at AT&T Solutions based out of Paris area, France and then out of New York Metro Area, USA. He is a Business Developer, a Team Leader and a Project Coordinator, he has a solid background in Outsourcing Services and implementation of integrated Solutions in various business sectors, such as the automotive industry (General Motors, Delphi, Textron Industries, Valéo), aeronautic industry (Cessna Citation, Textron Industries), thermal insulation and waterproofing (Owens Corning, Grace, Envirotrol), finance (Citibank). Phil has successful record in the field of Export Outsourcing, International Business Development a Global Business Advisory. Phil is a graduate of IAC Business School in Management and International Business in Paris, France. He also completed a specialization in General Management at ESCP-EAP Senior in Paris, France.

SPEAKERS:

Zach Leonardi is a Senior Growth Marketing Manager in the lodging division at Expedia Group. He’s been with the company for four years and is responsible for building the “LGBTQ+ Welcoming” lodging supply that fuels inventory on Orbitz and Expedia points of sale. He designs, builds and implements marketing strategies to help all of Expedia Group’s lodging partners achieve their specific revenue goals..

Craig Smith is the President of Source Events. He left a successful law practice in San Francisco to follow his dream – the dream of creating extraordinary travel experiences for the mind, body & spirit with and for like-minded friends. Through conversations with some of these friends, and a shared vision of crafting unique and inspiring experiences, Source Events was born in 2001. Over the past 19 years, Source Events has become a recognized leader in luxury gay travel, producing all-gay cruises and adventures around the world. Craig has assembled a team of professionals with expertise in every facet of travel and event production. He brings to Source Events his years of experience as Director of Events for the Winter Party Festival and as an elected public official. Under Craig’s leadership, Source Events has continued to make a difference in the community by supporting LGBT organizations such as the National LGBTQ Task Force, Pridelines, StandUp Foundation, Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. In 2014, Craig was honored with the Morgan Stanley Business Person of the Year Award by the Miami Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

Clovis Casemiro is the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA) Membership Coordinator in Brazil. Clovis has extensive sales, marketing, product and new business management experience. He has developed his career in Brazil and in the United States in the hotel, travel operator and reception sectors in Brazil and abroad.

Paul Thomas is originally from New York and has made South Beach his home for the last 10 years. He has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare and education fields specializing in AIDS/HIV treatments as well as an Activist/Advocate for Marginalized Communities. Locally Paul works with many of our Non-Profit and FQHC'S providing a wide range of services. Paul is currently the Chairman of the LGBTQ Advisory Committee to the City of Miami Beach, Board Member ( 5 years and counting) of Miami Beach Pride, Board of Trustee Member of the Point Foundation and on the Endorsement Committee (7 years and counting) for SAVE..

Jonathan Casañas is a Senior Associate at Boyden. He has devoted his career to identifying, acquiring and managing top talent. As an executive search consultant, he has earned a strong reputation, delivering talent solutions for clients in the U.S. and Latin America. His professional focus expands to recruitment and business development in a range of industries: aviation/aerospace, industrial, engineering, automotive, communications, media and technology, financial, government, healthcare, retail and e-commerce, travel and hospitality. Jonathan was educated at the American Musical & Dramatic Academy and was an opera singer at the Florida Grand Opera. He volunteers as a Producer and Stage Manager for the Gay8 Festival and also directs community outreach for the festival.

Ananda Puchta is a human rights defender, intersectional activist and feminist. She worked alongside the Brazilian LGBTI+ National Alliance for almost five years as Legal Coordinator of International Organizations on Human Rights, representing the same institution within the Brazilian Supreme Court defending the criminalization of LGBTQ phobia. Global Fellow at Out & Equal Workplace Advocates in 2018, she was nominated to the 24th Claudia Awards in the Public Policy category in 2019, and now works as Country Director for Brazil at ELLA Global Community.

Vania Cabral is the owner of Cabral Expeditions, an LGBTQ owned event experience taking LGBTQ & allied guests through tours of the Amazon, with overnight experience in lodges & admission to the Parintins Folklore Festival. Vania is native from São Paulo, but was raised in Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas. She inherited her passion from her father who was an aeronautics soldier who she says taught her to love and respect the Amazon rainforest, and through the work of tourism, to help generating jobs and income for the riverside population. Her first job was at Transbrasil airlines, where I she spent 6 years. She then started working at the operational department of Ariau Amazon Tower Jungle Hotel and there she fell in love with the possibility of showing the Amazon to the world. She says she remembered the adventures in the forest with her father ... working in the middle of the jungle, feeling the energy of the green, rivers, birds, and animals. It brought her peace and she saw that preserving the Amazon and showing it to the world is what she wanted to do. That’s what Vania has been doing ever since. She has worked in other lodges, boat expeditions, sport fishing and at the Tropical Hotel. She established her company Cabral Expeditions, and it has been in operation for the past 17 years. With Cabral Expeditions she has managed to do everything she loves the most .... welcoming tourists and showing her city and Brazilian culture.