College of Business Administration Award Recipients
Entrepreneurial Award
NANCY HERNANDEZ, GRAD '02
Milwaukee
Students in Nancy Hernandez’s accounting class could have forecast her eventual entrepreneurial success. After all, during exams, they nicknamed her LIFO — last in, first out.
Nancy founded ABRAZO Multicultural Marketing & Communications, an independent Hispanic-owned and -operated company for which she serves as president. Abrazo means embrace, something she’s used to doing whenever she sees an opportunity.
“I never take no for an answer,” she says. “And coupled with my requisite eternal-optimist/glass-is-half-full viewpoint, it has served me well.”
Nancy also has served her clients well, employing every minute of her 10-plus years of marketing experience in the process. Before opening her own agency, she worked in hospitality operations and special event marketing for Hilton Hotels and the Kohler Corp.
When Nancy isn’t busy keeping clients happy, she volunteers her time for causes important to her. She serves on the board of directors for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin, the MMAC Council of Small Business Executives and Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee, a 700-plus member organization of which she is a founding member. She’s also a member of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs and past president of TEMPO Milwaukee.
Before that, she earned bachelor of arts degrees in business and marketing from Lakeland College and an executive M.B.A. from Marquette.
Concerning her career, it all comes down to this: See an opportunity. Embrace it. Repeat.
Fun facts: Nancy enjoys Alfred Hitchcock (and his inspirations). Her favorite Hitchcock movie is Rebecca, and her favorite book is Daphne du Morier’s title of the same name, upon which Hitchcock’s film was based. But when she decides to throw on some tunes, she opts for oldies of a different era. “I’m a classic swing jazz fanatic,” she says.
