Mother’s Day is a very special time of the year. It is a time of remembrance, thanks, giving, laughter and sadness as well. The irony of it all is that every day should be Mother’s Day. Our expressions of love, gratitude and admiration should not be chained to just one day, why not Mother’s Week? Or Mother’s Month? Or Year? How about Forever Mom? Doesn’t that make more sense? In this issue, we requested our readers to send us some messages to send to their moms. I hope you enjoy reading them. The submissions were too many to publish so we apologize if yours did not make it, but to all of you who sent them, I hope that just taking the time to write them filled your heart with warmth and joy. Give it to her just the same. Thinking about Mother’s day took me back to a long time ago. I lost my mom when I was 14 years old and miss her ever since. Who knows what my life would have been if she had been around. But even after all these years, the feelings that I have for her have not faded. I wish I could have told her what she meant to me over and over back then. I just hope that she knows it anyway. The reason I tell you this is because all of you that do have the chance to tell mom how much you love her, should do so, often and repeatedly. It will never be enough. You never know what life may bring and you may not have the chance one day. All moms are special but Latina moms are quite unique. As we travel the country with LATINA Style, we get to meet some amazing mothers. Some of them are raising their children as single moms and for the life of me; I cannot begin to comprehend how they do it all. Business owners, sailors, soldiers, airwomen, teachers, corporate executives, pta mothers, soccer moms, political leaders, you name it. These hard working women have made the personal commitment to take care of their children, their parents, their communities and we all benefit from it. For the guys who are lucky enough to be married to one of these superstars, I sincerely hope that you are getting the red carpet ready for a day your spouse will not forget. So to all our moms, Happy Mother’s Day! We are delighted in this issue to bring you the rare accomplishments of Alondra de la Parra and Sonia Marie De León de Vega who graces our cover. Against all odds they have managed to succeed in yet another male dominated field. You can see from our cover how they shine in their profession. Conducting an orchestra is something that we’ve all done (in front of the mirror!) but doing it for real is quite an accomplishment. We will post on www.latinastyle.com the sweet and powerful sounds of their work. Finally, we provide you the coverage of the LATINA Style 50 Awards which took place in D.C. To all of you who braved the snow storm to be with us, thank you! Congratulations to Gisel Ruiz from Walmart in her selection as the Latina Executive of the Year. It is a well-deserved recognition. We look forward to seeing you at the LATINA Style 50 Awards again next year. Robert E. Bard