SBA Selects Power Media Group's Founder as Minority Small Business Champion of the Year

    SANTA CLARITA, CA, February 28, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Patricia Gracia, Founder of Power Media Group and recently founder of Power Woman Business center is selected for her commitment to support minority entrepreneurship through the creation of a business incubator in Santa Clarita, Gracia will be honored during the National Small Business Week 2010 awards ceremony and luncheon this summer.

Gracia, who grew up in Peru, migrated to the United States by crossing the Mexican Border from Tijuana illegally. At age 18, alone and full of goals and dreams, the Peruvian native started her new American life in the San Fernando Valley, and quickly mastered the English language. She began working for the Peninsula Hotel, a five-diamond and five-star hotel in Beverly Hills that sponsored her education at UCLA where she received a degree in public relations. She immediately followed that enormous personal achievement with an internship at the ad agency CRUZ/KRAVETZ: IDEAS where, after just 40 hours of training, she was offered a full-time position in the production department.

In 2001 she launched Power Media Group from her small living room in the San Fernando Valley. Today, she and her husband Tony Gracia, manage a successful advertising agency that specializes in creating Spanish language media campaigns for high-profile clients seeking to reach the growing Hispanic market, which experts indicate will exceed a buying power of $1 trillion in 2010.

Recently, the Gracias founded the business incubator Power Woman Business Center, to help minority entrepreneurs start or grow their businesses during the difficult economic recession. The Center provides low-cost office facilities as well as the training and resources necessary to guide entrepreneurs towards professional success. Her dream was to create a business center for potential and current small business owners that are being affected by the economic recession. "Business incubator during our recession time to help the economy is our goal"- Patricia Gracia

PWBC-The Center operates in the 11,000 sq. ft. Spanish style multi-story house, which became the agency's new headquarters, and which was purchased in 2008 with the help of an SBA 504 Loan.

Small Business Champion awards are made to individuals or organizations dedicated to supporting small businesses. SBA will make Small Business Champion awards on the district level (in multi-district states), the state level (from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam) and the national level. The National Small Business Champion awards are selected from the State winners.

The nation's top entrepreneurs will be honored at the U.S. Small Business Administration's National Small Business Week events to be held May 23-25, in Washington, D.C. A series of events and educational forums will mark the 57th anniversary of the agency and the 47th annual proclamation of National Small Business Week.

About SBA
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 as an independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy. The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands and Guam.

About Power Media Group
Power Media Group is an Advertising and Public Relations Agency specialized in the Hispanic Market. Since its founding in 2001 the company has represented an impressive roster of clients including entertainment giants Universal Music Latin and Vivendi Visual Entertainment. The agency promoted the DVD release of Palm Picture's Cronicas - John Leguizamo's first Spanish-language movie. Power Media Group is also behind the national TV campaign for Creativa Interior Primor, featuring popular Hispanic actress and singer Laura Flores.

The agency has received the following awards and achievements over the past year:
- Winner Latin Business Association 2008 Sol Award as Business of the Year.
- Commended by Los Angeles County Board Supervisor Mike Antonovich and U.S. Congressman Howard "Buck" McKeon - 25th District of California, among others.
- 2009 Addy Awards for Excellence in Creativity for a TV ad in the General Market - Catalog Sales.
- Patricia Gracia, Winner of La Opinion 2009 Distinguished Woman in the category of Business and Technology.
- Patricia Gracia, panelist to the Latin Business Association 2009 annual conference and expo, presented, "The Transforming Role of Latinas in Business"
- Patricia Gracia, nominated for the Santa Clarita Valley Business Leadership Awards and for Women in Business 2009 Award.
- Tony Gracia, nominated by the San Fernando Business Journal as one of the Top Valley's CFO of 2009.
- Power Media Group named among the 50 Fastest Growing Private Companies of 2009 by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.
- Patricia Gracia-United States SBA Minority Small Business Champion of the Year 2010.

Telemundo- Al Rojo Vivo Segment- "Aplausos"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWFIaXHOhYc

For more information please visit:

Power Media Group www.powermediagroup.com

Power Woman Business Center www.powerwomanbc.com

# # #