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GABRIELA CONTRERAS-MISIRLIOGLU: Director, Counseling Committee Chair

Gabriela is also an experienced small business counselor and certified small business training instructor, having a long history of launching business enterprises as well as designing specific programs for other nonprofit organizations throughout San Diego. Her past and present relationships with organizations such as the San Diego Small Business Development and International Trade Center, the San Diego County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the San Diego National Latina Business Women's Association support the WBCC's core mission of community collaboration.

Gabriela's dedication to the WBCC has been a driving force behind the organization's success. Gabriela also holds a law degree and is a 100% Spanish-English bilingual.

Gabriela's Bio
Gabriela graduated Magna cum laude from the University of the Valley of Mexico, Mexico City with a Bachelor of Arts in Law and is licensed in California (License # OE58935). She is a State of Mexico Bar Association Member, Founding Board Member of the National Latina Business Women Association San Diego, and Board Member of the Catholic Business Directory Network.

Gabriela began her career as an Assistant Attorney for the Procuraduria de la Defensa del Menor y la Familia, Desarrollo Integral de la Familia (Child and Family Protective Agency of Mexico, D.I.F.) where she provided legal advice and representation on Mexican Family Law, including alimony, child custody, dissolution of marriage and abused/neglected minors. During her tenure she designed, directed and delivered domestic violence workshops to the community.

Gabriela then went on to serve as Attorney for Contreras, Tevera y Asociados., S. C. in Mexico City as head of the International Adoptions Practice Group and handled international adoptions mostly from Quebec, Canada; and toured Quebec to supervise the integration of adopted minors to their new environment.

Entrepreneurial Experience
Upon relocating to the United States, Gabriela began a career as an entrepreneur in 1997 as a consultant for Management Dynamics in El Paso, TX, where she counseled American and Mexican companies on international trade and business issues. Specifically, she developed and designed workshops in English and Spanish for startups and advised American companies in international business transactions (contracts).

Gabriela moved to San Diego in 2000 and began her own venture, as Owner and President of Superior Industrial Finishing (SIF); a coatings distributor company serving markets in CA, AZ and Mexico. As President Gabriela coordinated and managed the overall operations including staff supervision, purchasing, inventory, budgeting, AP/AR, customer service, and sales.

After facing the challenges of owning, operating, and growing a small business, Gabriela then focused her career on assisting others in doing the same,and launched the Quantum Financial Group. Quantum Financial Group assists entrepreneurs with business planning and capital advisory services, provides business advice and coaching to startups and medium sized companies and helps to prepare loan packages for SBA loans. Key accomplishments include designing and presenting literacy programs (and workshops) in Spanish to a defined and predetermined audience and consulting business owners on business acquisitions and purchases by providing them strategic investment analysis.

Gabriela joined the WBCC in April, 2007 and is credited with increasing the efficiency of WBCC counseling and advising services. Gabriela counsels WBCC clients on business planning topics, assesses client needs and designs a scope of work by providing advice and guidance via one-on-one counseling sessions and training via seminars and workshops, and monitors client progress.

Gabriela's specialized abilities include determining where a business fits on life cycle in order to foresee upcoming challenges to help the entrepreneur make business planning decisions, directing clients to specialized business consultants establishing goals and projecting outcomes in the legal, financial, financing, management and marketing areas, and implementing strategic plans.

Gabriela also coordinates specialty advising services provided by the WBCC Board of Directors and Volunteer Advisors. Contact Me: gcontreras@wbcc-sd.org

Non-profit Counseling and Training Experience
Gabriela's experiences operating Quantum Financial Group led her to the non-profit community where she realized she could provide the same services to a greater number of entrepreneurs at a more affordable rate and began working with the San Diego Small Business Development and International Trade Center, a U.S. Small Business Administration funded grant program at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, CA, as a small business counselor and technical training instructor.

Gabriela also designed, developed, implemented and managed the San Diego County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Business Accelerator/Incubator (BAIP) Program. She led the creation of the BAIP business plan; developed the program structure; coordinated all aspects of the program and provided technical assistance in the areas of business development, marketing, procurement/certifications and others.

The WBCC is fortunate to have Gabriela as part of the core team and is excited for the future as Gabriela continues to improve and grow the WBCC small business counseling program.