NOLABA is proud to announce that Alejandra Guzman, Vice President of Program Development and Strategy, won the 2017 Millennial Award in Economic Development. The fifth annual Millennial Awards were presented Saturday at the New Orleans Civic Theatre.

“Economic development is about people and improving their quality of life,” Guzman said. “I’m grateful to be able to contribute to this at the New Orleans Business Alliance.”

The Millennial Awards – selected by a panel of judges – honor dynamic young professionals in 19 categories who contribute to the community through public service, make significant strides in business sectors or serve as cultural ambassadors. The ceremony culminated a weekend celebrating young professional development in New Orleans.

Guzman’s Millennial Award continues an exciting month for her and NOLABA, as Biz New Orleans included Guzman in its inaugural class of New & Notables. The group includes 17 individuals “daring to try something new,” and Guzman’s “passion for creating positive social change” helped land her in the elite class.

“The Crescent City is benefiting from her seemingly endless drive,” the story continues.

Read the rest of Guzman’s profile in Biz New Orleans below:

Guzman is on the board of Fund 17, which works to combat opportunity inequality in the 17 wards of New Orleans by providing financial and educational tools to entrepreneurs who otherwise would not have access to the resources and knowledge necessary to grow their enterprises. She was also part of the Young Leadership Council’s COP NOLA program, which earned $5,000 in seed money to develop a free workshop series to help NOPD applicants in the application process and preparing for Civil Service exams.

While these examples would be a career for many, they are just two of her extracurricular activities.

As vice president of program development and strategy at The New Orleans Business Alliance (NOLABA), she has been working to reposition New Orleans’ brand as the ideal intersection of commerce and culture. The ProsperityNOLA program is a comprehensive economic development plan and catalyst for economic transformation, which builds upon the city’s economic cornerstones — its people, innate culture and geographic advantages — to create jobs and wealth for all New Orleanians. Additionally, she is involved in the development of a holistic talent cultivation and management strategy to attract the best and brightest to the Crescent City, and to engage and retain them and their families.

“The No. 1 reason a business decides to relocate to a region is the availability of qualified talent,” Guzman said.

“Talent attraction and retention are extremely important for economic development because the better equipped a community is to attract skill and retain talent, the better it will fare in attracting businesses.”