By all accounts, Cuban-American sculptor Teresita Fernández is reaching her pinnacle. Her works recently became part of the permanent collections at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art and Los Angeles’s Museum of Contemporary Art, among other nationally respected art institutions.

Now based in Brooklyn, Teresita also debuted her prints, (named “Silver Screen/30 Dissolves”) inspired by the moon and shades of silver, at the 10th Art Basel Miami Beach, which ranks top among the most prestigious art shows in the Americas.

The moon-spun inspiration came to her during a month-long stay in Ubud, a lush island town in Bali, in August, as the first-ever artist in residence for the John Hardy fine jewelry house.

In October, Fernández was appointed by President Obama to serve a four-year term on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, a seven-member advisory group that consults with the president and Congress on national matters of design import, such as prospective sites of future national memorials and museums. She won the 2005 MacArthur Genius Grant and was the youngest artist to be commissioned by the Seattle Art Museum for the recently opened Olympic Sculpture Park. Her laminated Cloud Cover offers visitors a view of the cityscape through shifting glass.

Fernández is most celebrated for her room-size installations and impressively large-scale public sculptures, often made with uncanny materials, such as graphite. Her work is influenced by natural phenomena and landscapes. It challenges perception and explores the psychology of seeing. Her pieces evoke natural wonders -- fire, sunlight, rainbows, water -- and breaks new sculptural ground by embracing architecture and landscape architecture as powerful influences. In a few words, her art is raw and contemplative, edged with a playfully direct the-bigger-the-better attitude.

Photo Credit: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Shayla Rivera was the type of kid who took things apart to understand how they worked. “I was such a geek,” she says. So when the family uprooted from Puerto Rico to Houston, Texas, it wasn’t entirely surprising that she would attend Texas A&M University, graduate with an aerospace engineering degree, and become a rocket scientist for NASA’s Space Shuttle and Space Station programs.

What shocked Rivera instead was how she felt after attending her first motivational work training session. “I was blown away,” she says. “In that moment, I decided I wanted to make other people feel something positive.”

In 1993, Rivera quit her job and began traveling around the country to give motivational speeches. Then, people started telling her, ‘You should be a comedian.’ Hearing the suggestion so often, she finally tried it out. “Once I did my first five minutes, I knew I had arrived at the place I needed to be.” She then merged her standup comedy routines with motivational speaking, creating an “entertational” career.

In her spare time, Rivera devotes herself to motivating young Latinas to reach for their goals. “As a whole, they’re a tremendous force, apt to accomplish great things.” But from a cultural standpoint, she says, they are not encouraged to study in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math). “I have a lot to tell them about that,” she says. “I really believe in their potential because I believe in mine.”

“You can’t come home. No one here wants you.” These were the words Susana De Anda heard from her brother -- her only close remaining family member since her parents died -- when she called home from college, crying.

In spite of feeling lost and alone during her first year, De Anda went on to pursue a double major at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in environmental Studies and geography. She worked in several different organizations on water issues and environmental justice before serving as a community organizer at The Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment.

Susana eventually co-founded the Community Water Center, a nonprofit that she now directs. The organization is solely dedicated to helping low-income communities gain access to clean, safe and affordable drinking water -- a cause to which she is devoted.

Susana works with 11 communities in Central California, each of which is struggling with water-quality issues because their tap water is contaminated by cancer-causing agents. Her organization acts as a catalyst for community water-driven solutions through advocacy and education.

In 2005, Susana was awarded the Rising Tortuga Award from the Latino Issues Forum for her willingness to “stick her neck out” for California’s Latino communities.

In retelling the story, Susana says she later realized that her brother, who has always been her anchor throughout her life and continues to be, had said this in order to give her the strength to keep going. Having lost their parents at a young age, they were there for each other.

From a meager past, Susana -- still a young woman -- has created work, a family and a life she loves.

Julia Alarcon quit her lucrative sales job at 39 and dove headfirst in the cutthroat world of fashion design. As the legend goes, Alarcon was pulled into her boss’s office and offered a promotion, a plum job that would’ve made her the envy of all her peers. Rather than jump for joy, Alarcon felt trepidations. “It came out of nowhere,” she says. “I realized I didn’t want the promotion and really wanted to be a fashion designer.”

Alarcon’s Spanish parents frowned upon her desire to study fashion in college, so she instead studied international business and Spanish, later earning her master’s degree in international affairs. But it was her love for the big fashion houses, like Yves Saint Laurent, that truly quenched her thirst. She quit her job, enrolled in Parsons the News School for Design and outlined a 6-month business plan with her sister Natalia (who has since left the business).

Lialia was born in 2005 and has turned into a down-to-earth but lovely women’s wear line for a lady who Alarcon says, “has a little more life experience.” You could easily picture Michelle Obama or Carla Bruni attending a high-profile luncheon in one of Alarcon’s smartly cut and sophisticated dresses, often in interesting prints or soft grays and whites. After a successful stint on Sundance’s “All On The Line,” Alarcon is in negotiations to sell her wares in Nordstrom. Fingers crossed.

Trying to follow your dreams? We took a look at the accomplishments of four entrepreneurs who are using their culture to change their field.

	Sisters Claudia and Silvia Ortiz loved baking as young girls in Chicago. As adults in 2010, they turned their passion into Casa Girl Cupcakes, a much-frequented cupcake store. From horchata, to churro, to arroz con leche, you won’t find these typical Latin flavors in cupcakes anywhere else in Chi-Town or beyond.
	As a working mom with three young boys, Tanya Diaz had little time to exercise. But when she met personal trainer and makeup artist Maria Barrerra, the pair wanted to help other busy women stay in shape. In 2010, they started Knockout Fitness and Beauty, a women-only beauty and fitness regime in Chicago. They offer many packages, including a 10-week boot camp with hair and beauty makeovers.
	While writing an article about online wedding-planning for Latinos, Lilian de la Torre-Jiménez realized little was offered in Spanish. In 2008, she began publishing Bodas La Revista USA, the first Spanish-language bridal magazine in the country. The California-based glossy has since won several prestigious awards.
	As a teen mom in Tularosa, N.M., Tina Cordova knew early on that she’d have to work twice as hard to succeed. After learning about an opportunity in the construction business, Cordova took $5,000 -- her life savings -- and started Queston Construction Inc. Despite the recession, in 2012 Cordova will celebrate 20 years of constructing and repairing roofs. A tireless advocate for Hispanic business owners, Cordova is also the president of the New Mexico Minority Business Association.