DEBORAH ROSADO SHAW

Raised in the nations poorest congressional district, Deborah's strategies for success formed a bridge from tough inner-city beginnings to award-winning entrepreneur and advisor to Fortune 500 CEO's.

Founder of Umbrellas Plus, LLC and Dream BIG! Enterprises, Deborah has designed, negotiated and closed multi-million dollar deals with some of the toughest buyers in the world. Her companies have delivered successful programs to accounts that include Costco, Toys-R-Us, Wal-Mart and the Walt Disney Company.

Deborah’s strategies for success have appeared in Business Week, Family Circle, Forbes, "O" Magazine, USA Today and many others. She is a frequent television guest and has been seen on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” as well as on ABC, CNN, FOX and NBC affiliates nationwide. Her achievements have been used as a case study in several textbooks.

She is the critically acclaimed author of Dream BIG! – A Roadmap for Facing Life’s Challenges and Creating the Life You Deserve, and with its publication by Simon & Schuster became the first Hispanic person to have a self-help book published by a major publisher.

Deborah is a successful entrepreneur and has been recognized with numerous awards including the SBA sponsored “Women of Enterprise Award”, Dialogue on Diversity’s “Entrepreneurial Excellence Award”, the Women’s Leadership Exchange “Compass Award” and the “Free Enterprise Legend Award”. In 2001, she was named “Hispanic Businesswoman of the Year” by the National Hispanic Business Group. In 2004, she joined the ranks of Billie Jean King and Madeline Albright to receive the “Office Depot Visionary Award.” In 2002, 2003 and 2004, she was listed as one of the “100 Most Successful Latinas in the US” by Hispanic Magazine.

An international speaker on issues of personal empowerment, diversity, business strategy and entrepreneurship, Deborah has keynoted and led seminars for American Express, Avon, IBM, Frito-Lay, Office Depot, JPMorgan Chase, NYU Stern School of Business, Proctor & Gamble, Prudential, The Society of Human Resource Professionals, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Verizon, Wal-Mart and many others.

Deborah is a board member of the non-profit organization “Count-Me-In for Women’s Economic Independence” and also serves on the “Frito-Lay Hispanic Latino Advisory Board” and the “Office Depot Women’s Advisory Board”.

Deborah is a graduate of Barnard College and lives in New Jersey and Florida with her three sons.