Milos | Experience the Unexpected

Sep 3, 2026 | On the Menu

HL | ON THE MENU • MANHATTAN

Milos | Experience the Unexpected

An unexpected lunch at Estiatorio Milos Midtown became another memorable part of our Manhattan experience.

Photos and article by
Richard Sandoval

ometimes the best dining experiences begin by allowing someone else to order. During a day exploring Manhattan with Lucy Wu, our conversations eventually brought us to Estiatorio Milos Midtown. Lucy knew the restaurant. I trusted Lucy. That seemed like a reasonable arrangement.

Milos is known for its Mediterranean approach to seafood, and from the moment we arrived, lunch felt less like simply stopping somewhere to eat and more like another experience Lucy wanted to share.

Then came the Carabinero shrimp.

At some point, I found myself being encouraged to bite the head off a shrimp and follow it with sherry wine. I wasn’t entirely convinced. But I had already decided this was a day for going with the flow. So I did.

It was delicious.

Maybe that sounds a little goofy. But it is also one of the things I enjoy about traveling and spending time with people who know a city better than I do.

They introduce you to things you probably would not have ordered yourself. Food becomes part of the conversation. Lunch becomes part of the story.

Our table at Milos was filled with both. We talked about Manhattan, business, real estate, family, relationships and what might be next in our respective professional journeys.

There was no agenda. Just good food and good conversation.

I have eaten at plenty of restaurants while traveling over the years. The memorable ones are not necessarily defined by the most expensive dish or elaborate presentation.

Sometimes you remember a place because of who was sitting across the table. Sometimes you remember what you talked about. Sometimes you remember biting the head off a shrimp and thinking: Okay, Lucy was right.

HL | PHOTO JOURNAL

Experience Milos through our lens. Explore photographs from our visit to Estiatorio Milos Midtown and discover more from the HL | Photo Journal archive.

Photography by Richard Sandoval | HL Media Network

Milos | Experience the Unexpected — Manhattan

EDITOR NOTES

On the Menu is one of several perspectives within HL | New York – People. Places. Conversations. During this particular day with Lucy Wu, food, real estate, business and relationships became different parts of the same New York experience.

CONTINUE EXPLORING: Lucy Wu | Adapting to What’s Next • A $65 Million View of Manhattan • 500 Feet From Times Square, New York Becoming Part of the Conversation

← On the Menu | An Afternoon at Café Ginori

New York | Becoming Part of the Conversation

Sep 3, 2026 | Business

HL | INSIGHTS • NEW YORK

New York | Becoming Part of the Conversation

Building relationships, sharing experiences and engaging in meaningful conversations are shaping the way we see New York.

Photos and article by
Richard Sandoval

n the middle of May, we produced the HL | Milestone Series — New York at Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point in the Bronx. It was our third HL event in the New York area in two years.

Our relationship with New York did not begin with this particular trip. In fact, each event and visit has given us another opportunity to meet people, strengthen existing relationships and better understand the communities we are covering.

After the Milestone event, we stayed a few extra days in Manhattan. There wasn’t much of an agenda. We grabbed a slice at Joe’s Pizza, did a little shopping, got caught up in the excitement surrounding the Knicks’ playoff run and spent some time sightseeing along the Hudson River. We had such a good time that before we left, we were already talking about coming back.

What I didn’t anticipate was how different the next visit would be.

HL | Milestone Series — New York — From left, Lisa Sorin, President, Bronx Chamber of Commerce; Lucy Wu, Real Estate Advisor, The Corcoran Group; Eric Gotsch, Wells Fargo Home Lending; Sandra Bonilla, Financial Advisor, The Voyage Group of Wells Fargo Advisors; and Esperanza Teasdale, Founder, Mariposa Zenith, participate in a conversation on capital, real estate and wealth during the 2026 HL | Milestone Series — New York at Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point. The discussion was moderated by Nelson Ramos of Wells Fargo, whose image appears on the display behind the panel.

During Milestone New York, our colleague Nelson Ramos of Wells Fargo had introduced me to one of our panelists, Lucy Wu. That introduction continued beyond the event, and by the time I returned to Manhattan, Lucy had helped put together a remarkable series of experiences that allowed me to see the city from an entirely different perspective.

This time, Manhattan wasn’t simply about sightseeing.

We stepped inside a residence valued at approximately $65 million, explored a new development along Billionaires’ Row, shared an unexpected lunch at Estiatorio Milos and attended a gathering of New York real estate professionals and industry leaders. More importantly, we talked about business, real estate, family, entrepreneurship, New York, California and where people are choosing to live and work.

Conversations Worth Remembering

NAHREP Upper Manhattan Event: (Left to right) Moderator David Schechtman, Danijella Dragas, Jose Ramirez, Alexandra Marolda, and Andrew Berry attend the NAHREP Upper Manhattan chapter event in July

Among the people I had an opportunity to meet were Sandhya Espitia of the Real Estate Board of New York, Devin Maher of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and David Schechtman of Meridian Capital Group. Schechtman moderated a panel discussion that particularly caught my attention.

One theme I took away from his discussion was the interconnected nature of Manhattan’s commercial and residential real estate markets. Drawing on market trends and information discussed during the panel, he spoke about a strengthening office market, employers bringing more workers back into the workplace and how those changes can influence where people ultimately choose to live.

A five-day commute changes the calculation. Time, traffic and quality of life suddenly become part of the housing decision. For someone who moved farther away during the work-from-home era, living closer to Manhattan can begin to look attractive again.

The broader idea stayed with me: commercial activity, employment and housing do not necessarily move independently. One can begin influencing another.

Another idea raised during Schechtman’s discussion connected California’s role in developing artificial intelligence with New York’s role as a marketplace. My takeaway was that while a great deal of AI technology may be developed in California, New York can become an important place where those ideas meet customers, capital, business and the realities of going to market.

That made this Californian stop and think.

After the panel, I introduced myself specifically to tell him that I appreciated the directness of the discussion. Some conversations reinforce what you already believe. Others make you reconsider what may be coming next.

Those are usually the conversations worth having.

Pictured in the photo at the NAHREP Upper Manhattan Event: Sandhya Espitia, Chief Operating Officer of REBNY, and Jacqueline Plaza, past NAHREP Manhattan Chapter President, attend the chapter’s “Built to Grow” event in July.

Showing Up Matters

I’m a California native, and California is my home base. But I have a passion for traveling, meeting people and developing professional relationships throughout the country and even internationally.

Over the years, I have learned that you cannot meaningfully cover what is happening in New York while sitting in an office in Southern California.

You need to be there.

The same would be true for someone attempting to understand California without spending time here.

There is an old expression that showing up is half the battle. In a time when a video meeting can connect us almost instantly, I still believe there is something important about being in the room.

At a conference, business meeting or networking activity, you experience things that do not always translate through a screen. You see how people interact. You hear the conversations happening around you. You get a better sense of someone’s sincerity and begin developing the trust that can eventually lead to a working relationship.

The more often you show up, the more those relationships have an opportunity to develop.

Eddie Batiz, owner of Ebatiz.com, attends the HL | Milestone Event in the Bronx.

My colleague Eddie Batiz gave me another perspective on what it means to establish a presence in New York. Eddie lives not too far from me in Southern California, yet he spends a considerable amount of time in New York, which he describes as a significant market for his company.

For a while, I’ll admit that I didn’t completely understand the idea of regularly commuting back and forth across the country for business. After watching Eddie in action seeing the relationships he has developed, the people he knows and the way he moves comfortably between both markets I understand it much better now.

Maybe it is the people I have met or the relationships we are beginning to develop ourselves, but New York no longer feels quite as far away.

I get it now.

There is another part of relationship building that should never be discounted: a trusted introduction.

When someone you respect introduces you to someone they respect, you enter that conversation with a degree of credibility already established.

Nelson Ramos introducing me to Lucy Wu is a perfect example.

That introduction led to a relationship with Lucy, which has since opened the door to additional people, experiences and conversations.

Our relationship with New York has developed over several years, through events, return visits, introductions and conversations. Each time we come back, we reconnect with people we already know and inevitably meet someone new.

What feels different now is that those individual experiences are beginning to connect.

Becoming Part of the Conversation

This was my second visit to Manhattan in three months.

Another visit is already ahead.

What is changing is the reason for returning.

New York is beginning to feel less like somewhere we occasionally visit and more like a place where we are developing relationships, participating in conversations and discovering stories worth sharing.

For someone reading from California, the Midwest or anywhere else, perhaps that is also what makes New York more manageable. You do not have to understand the entire city at once. You can experience it one neighborhood, one meal, one conversation and one relationship at a time. Perhaps that is how you become part of the conversation.

You show up. You listen. You build relationships. You return.

Maybe that is when your relationship with a city begins to change. You stop simply recognizing the landmarks. You start recognizing the people.

EDITOR NOTES

Our relationship with New York continues to evolve through the people we meet, the places we experience and the conversations that stay with us long after we return home.

New York | Becoming Part of the Conversation is part of HL | New York — People. Places. Conversations., our continuing collection exploring the city through our experiences and the relationships we develop along the way.

CONTINUE EXPLORING: Lucy Wu | Adapting to What’s Next • A $65 Million View of Manhattan • Milos | Experience the Unexpected • 500 Feet From Times Square

← NHORA | A Path to Homeownership Michelle Juarez- Perry | Leadership, Homeownership and Building a Legacy →

NHORA | A Path to Homeownership

Aug 28, 2026 | Business, Events

HL | Culture and Influence

NHORA | A Path to Homeownership

The National Hispanic Organization of Real Estate Associates brings together real estate professionals, industry leaders and community advocates around homeownership, leadership and economic opportunity.

Photos and article by
Richard Sandoval

or many families, homeownership represents much more than purchasing a property. It can represent stability, financial opportunity, community and an important step toward building generational wealth.

Helping more families navigate that path is part of the mission of the National Hispanic Organization of Real Estate Associates (NHORA), a national organization focused on promoting responsible and sustainable homeownership while developing professional and community leadership.

NHORA brings together professionals from real estate, lending and related industries and provides opportunities for education, professional development, community involvement and relationship building.

The organization describes its work as encouraging members to serve as trusted advisors within the Hispanic community while providing educational forums, sharing industry information and advocating for policies affecting the communities its members serve.

That work happens both nationally and through NHORA’s network of local chapters, where professionals participate in educational programs, community outreach and industry events.

An important extension of that mission is the NHORA Foundation, which focuses on housing, financial literacy, entrepreneurship and financial empowerment.

Among its signature initiatives is Road to Homeownership, a series of community programs designed to connect prospective homebuyers with real estate professionals, lenders and resources that can help them better understand the homebuying process.

Elevate. Lead. Serve.

On September 11, NHORA will bring its national network together in Silicon Valley for the 2026 NHORA National Conference at Hayes Mansion in San Jose.

Under the theme “Elevate. Lead. Serve.”, the conference is expected to bring together real estate professionals, industry leaders, entrepreneurs and community advocates for a day of education, networking and conversations surrounding homeownership, leadership and economic empowerment.

The National Conference follows a September 10 Chapter Retreat, also at Hayes Mansion, where NHORA chapter leaders and board members will gather for leadership development, collaboration and relationship building.

For those unfamiliar with NHORA, the September gathering provides an opportunity to learn more about an organization working at the intersection of real estate, professional leadership and homeownership.

It also raises some interesting conversations worth following: What does the path to homeownership look like today? How are real estate and lending professionals responding to changing economic conditions? How can greater financial knowledge help prepare the next generation of homeowners? And what role can organizations such as NHORA play in connecting communities with the people and resources needed to move forward?

Those are conversations we look forward to exploring.

The 2026 NHORA National Conference takes place Friday, September 11, 2026, at Hayes Mansion in San Jose, California.

Beyond Success: What Comes Next?

Aug 28, 2026 | Culture and Influence, Women and Leadership

HL | Culture and Influence

Beyond Success: What Comes Next?

Dr. Betty® Uribe’s ELEVATE program brings accomplished women together to examine leadership, purpose and what comes after professional success.

Photos and article by
Richard Sandoval

n a Saturday at Pepperdine University, eight women stood before an audience to share presentations representing the culmination of months of work as participants in Dr. Betty® Uribe’s ELEVATE program. Their subjects were as varied as their professional and personal experiences. There were conversations about leadership and artificial intelligence, reflections on childhood and family, and candid stories about navigating personal challenges, loss and change. One participant spoke about overcoming ADHD and the challenges associated with preparing and delivering presentations.

There was no single definition of leadership offered that afternoon. Instead, each woman approached the subject through the experiences that had shaped her, providing a glimpse into not only what she had learned through the program, but also what she had learned about herself.

HL Media Network was invited to document the final presentations and graduation ceremony. As we recorded the participants and listened to their stories, another part of the experience became increasingly interesting. These were not women at the beginning of their professional journeys searching for their first opportunity. They were educated and accomplished women business owners, managers and professionals who had already assumed significant responsibilities within their respective careers.

Yet each had made an intentional decision to invest months of her time, along with the financial commitment required to participate in an executive development program, to become a better communicator and leader.

That decision may say as much about leadership as anything presented from the stage.

ELEVATE participants and program leaders gathered at Pepperdine University in Malibu to celebrate the completion of the program. Pictured: Stephanie Paul, Maggie O’Sullivan, Diana Jundi, Teresa Razo, Dr. Betty® Uribe, Carolyn Ebersole, Lina Safa, Marisa Sato, Maryl Petreccia, Carolina Chavez and Dawn Robinson.

Creating the Conditions to ELEVATE

For Dr. Betty® Uribe, the program grew from a question she says she has spent much of her life studying: What causes human beings to transcend and how do we create the conditions for that to happen?

Throughout her career working with accomplished leaders and organizations, Uribe says she repeatedly observed that sustainable success begins with alignment understanding who you are, what you value and what you uniquely bring to the world, and then allowing those principles to become the foundation from which you lead.

“I developed ELEVATE to give accomplished leaders space to step away from external demands and examine their lives and leadership more deeply,” Uribe explained.

The program was designed to address a broad range of areas affecting modern leadership, including values, identity, strengths, trust, relationships, negotiation, executive presence, communication, storytelling, branding, technology and artificial intelligence, strategy and legacy. Importantly, Uribe says the objective is to move beyond simply acquiring knowledge and toward putting that knowledge into practice.

“My hope was that each leader would leave with greater clarity about who they are, what they uniquely bring to the world, and how they want to use their influence in this next season of life.”

That idea the next season was particularly relevant as we listened to the women present.

The Investment in Yourself

Success has an interesting way of changing the questions we ask ourselves. Early in a career, the goals can appear relatively straightforward: find an opportunity, develop experience, earn a promotion, build a business or establish yourself professionally. Eventually, however, many accomplished professionals reach a point where the next move is less obvious.

The skills that helped someone become a successful manager may not necessarily be the same skills required to become an executive vice president. Building a successful business does not automatically prepare its founder to lead a significantly larger organization. Professional knowledge and experience can open doors, but increased responsibility brings new expectations surrounding communication, negotiation, decision-making, strategic thinking and leadership.

Throughout the ELEVATE presentations, we heard a great deal about what the participants had experienced and what they had discovered about themselves. There were moments of vulnerability and stories of perseverance. Some reflected on difficult personal chapters, including divorce, the death of loved ones and periods when life’s circumstances required them to regain their focus.

Their stories were reminders that professional development rarely occurs independently of everything else happening in someone’s life. Leadership is shaped by all of it.

Uribe describes one of the most significant outcomes of the inaugural ELEVATE cohort as “clarity accompanied by agency.”

“These leaders entered ELEVATE already accomplished,” she said. “Through the experience, they became more intentional about how they wanted to lead, make decisions, communicate, negotiate, build relationships, and invest their time.”

Their reflection papers and final presentations, according to Uribe, demonstrated greater clarity surrounding values and identity, stronger executive presence and communication, increased confidence in negotiation and decision-making, and a greater ability to recognize both patterns that needed to be released and opportunities worth pursuing.

That last point deserves attention.

Confidence at this stage of a professional career isn’t simply the ability to deliver a presentation or speak comfortably before an audience. At increasingly higher levels of leadership, confidence can mean trusting your judgment when the consequences of a decision become larger. It can mean expressing an opinion in a room filled with accomplished people, pursuing an executive position before someone else tells you that you are ready, expanding a business beyond its comfortable boundaries or recognizing that years of experience have earned you a place at the table.

The women participating in ELEVATE had already demonstrated that they possessed many of the tools necessary to succeed. Their professional accomplishments were evidence of that. Their participation suggested something equally important: successful people can recognize that there are still tools they need to acquire.

From Success to Stewardship

Something else happened as the cohort progressed. Uribe saw the participants begin thinking beyond their individual success.
She points to the trust developed among the women as an important part of the experience. That community created an environment for vulnerability, accountability, encouragement and learning that extended beyond the formal curriculum.

More significantly, she said their thinking began shifting toward stewardship and legacy.

“What have I been entrusted with? Who can benefit from what I know? What do I want my leadership to produce beyond my own success?”

For Uribe, that is the point where personal transformation has the potential to become something larger.

“That is where transformation becomes multiplication.”

It also presents an interesting evolution in the way we think about professional success. At some point, the question may no longer simply be how much someone can accomplish personally. The question becomes what their experience, knowledge, relationships and influence can create for other people.

Dawn E. Robinson, MBA, served as Master of Ceremonies for the ELEVATE graduation ceremony at Pepperdine University in Malibu.

Graduation Is a Milestone, Not an Ending

As the presentations concluded and the women were recognized for completing the program, I found myself thinking less about graduation and more about what happens afterward.

It turns out Dr. Betty® was thinking about the same thing.

“The inaugural cohort taught us something important: ELEVATE cannot end at graduation,” she said.

Uribe is now developing ELEVATE as what she describes as an ecosystem—a continuum intended to support leaders through discovery, executive development, application, accountability, integration and eventually legacy.

The journey begins with Discovery Foundations™, where participants examine their values, strengths, identity, purpose and areas requiring greater alignment. Leaders can then move into the Executive Leadership Master Certification™, an intensive experience incorporating values-centered leadership, negotiation, executive presence, storytelling and branding, trust and belonging, strategic thinking, ethical AI and real-world application.

Graduates can continue their development through the Impact Circle™, designed around ongoing reflection, accountability, peer learning and leadership development. Uribe is also building Integration & Expansion™, which will include immersive global experiences intended to deepen the work by removing participants from the pressures and routines of everyday life.

Over time, selected graduates may also return as Fellows, faculty collaborators, mentors or understudies, allowing the lessons and methodology to move from one generation of participants to another.

This begins to redefine what graduation represents.

Instead of being the conclusion of an educational experience, graduation becomes one marker along a much longer leadership journey.

What Comes Next?

That idea also raises a broader question about women and leadership.

For decades, HL has had the opportunity to meet, interview and recognize accomplished women across numerous industries and at virtually every stage of their careers. Many no longer need someone to convince them that they are capable. Their résumés demonstrate their abilities. They have built companies, managed employees, led organizations, raised families, survived difficult circumstances and established themselves professionally.

For this group of women, the conversation may need to evolve beyond simply encouraging them to succeed. The more interesting question is what they need to reach the next level.

For one woman, that may mean stronger executive communication skills. For another, it could be financial education, understanding artificial intelligence, developing strategic relationships, learning how to negotiate at a higher level or preparing to serve on a corporate board. A successful entrepreneur may need to understand capital and scaling. An experienced corporate executive may need greater visibility and relationships outside her organization before she can realistically compete for a CEO position.

There isn’t one missing skill because there isn’t one definition of what comes next.

Perhaps that is one of the most valuable lessons from spending an afternoon listening to the ELEVATE participants. Professional development doesn’t end when someone becomes successful. In many respects, success simply creates another set of questions.

Dr. Betty® sees an even longer horizon for the program. While the graduation HL documented predominantly featured women, ELEVATE itself is not exclusively a women’s leadership program. The founding cohort included one male participant who joined from Croatia, and Uribe says the next cohort, planned for this fall, will bring together a more balanced representation of accomplished women and men.

“It was an extraordinary honor to lead this founding cohort of remarkable leaders,” Uribe said. “There was something very special about watching this group challenge themselves, support one another, and ultimately discover that ELEVATE is about far more than professional success—it is about who we become, the impact we are called to make, and the legacy we are leaving behind for a time we will never see.”

As she looks toward the next cohort, Uribe believes bringing together a broader range of perspectives, experiences and leadership styles will add another dimension to the experience. Her larger vision is for ELEVATE to eventually become a global community of values-centered leaders who understand leadership as stewardship. Success, she believes, should ultimately be measured by what happens beyond the classroom: the organizations participants strengthen, the people they develop, the families and communities they influence, the decisions they make when nobody is watching and the opportunities they create for those who follow.

“That is what I believe ELEVATE can become: transformation that multiplies from one leader to another, to an organization, to a community and ultimately across generations.”

At HL, we have always been interested in asking people a deceptively simple question: What’s next?

For these eight women, we now have another reason to ask it.

They invested in themselves. They challenged themselves. They completed ELEVATE. Their graduation at Pepperdine University marked an accomplishment worth celebrating, but both the experience we witnessed and Dr. Betty® Uribe’s vision for the program suggest that graduation isn’t where this story ends.

It may be where the more interesting story begins.

Now we look forward to discovering what they do next.

Exclusive photos taken at the ELEVATE graduation ceremony at Pepperdine University in Malibu. Photos by HL Media Network.

2026 Elevate Executive Certification Program | Pepperdine University

EDITOR NOTES

HL Media Network was invited to document the ELEVATE final presentations and graduation at Pepperdine University in Malibu. What began as an opportunity to capture an important milestone became an opportunity to listen to accomplished women sharing their experiences, challenges and ambitions for what comes next.

Their stories reinforce our belief that leadership development does not end with professional success. We look forward to following their journeys and continuing the conversation about the skills, relationships and opportunities that help accomplished women reach their next level.

Summer Vacation 2026

Aug 19, 2026 | Culture and Influence, The Way We Travel

ISSUE 02 | August 2026

SUMMER VACATION

Message from Richard Sandoval

Looking Back. Looking Around. Looking Forward.

ne of the things I have always enjoyed about what we do is that you never quite know where the next story will take us.

In this edition of HL | Culture & Influence, we recognize the career and contributions of Patricia Pérez as she begins her next chapter. We travel to Los Cabos, not looking for a story, but discovering one during a summer family vacation. We consider what happens to our communities when familiar local voices suddenly go silent. We reach into the Hispanic Lifestyle archives to revisit Halloween memories from Disneyland that, more than a decade later, continue to find a new audience.

Leadership. Travel. Media. Culture. Memories.

On the surface, they may seem like very different stories. I believe that is precisely the point.

This edition gives us an opportunity to look back at the people and moments worth remembering, look around at the places and changes shaping our experiences today, and look forward to the stories still waiting to be discovered.

For more than 30 years, Hispanic Lifestyle has been about discovering, documenting and sharing the people, places, organizations and experiences that define our communities. Culture & Influence brings those stories together some new, some rediscovered, and all worth sharing.

We invite you to settle in and enjoy the stories.

Richard Sandoval
Publisher
HL | Culture & Influence – HL | Media Network

About the Cover Photograph

Los Cabos, Mexico
Photographed by Richard Sandoval | August 2026

While walking through Hilton Los Cabos, I noticed several hallways and passageways that opened to magnificent views of the property and the landscape beyond. It was not lost on me what the architects and designers were trying to accomplish. The architecture seemed to intentionally frame each view, allowing the artwork, furnishings, natural light and surrounding landscape to complement one another.

These are carefully designed commercial spaces, yet nothing felt accidental. Everything seemed to work together. This photograph captured one of those moments when architecture, art and the natural beauty of Los Cabos became part of the same composition.