Deborah Wainstein, President of Priority Staffing Solutions, Inc., and a Hispanic New Yorker understands the needs of a diverse New York and the employers in this market. Priority Staffing, a temporary employment agency, has expanded into the bilingual sector to better serve companies that work in the multicultural NY market. This program, which has proven invaluable in today's labor market, has helped fuel Priority Staffing Solution's rapid growth in its first year of business. Many companies seek diverse employees and staff with language skills. Currently Priority Staffing provides employees who speak Chinese, Korean and Spanish. Priority fields include public relations/advertising, accounting/finance, banking/brokerage, cosmetics industry, information technology support, legal, medical, and non-profit organizations. Areas of specialization include administrative assistants, computer graphics, data entry/clerical, legal office support, proofreaders, word processing and bilingual secretaries. Priority Staffing Solutions, Inc. is dedicated to helping client companies resolve their immediate staffing needs with cost effective strategies while distinguishing and responding to the ever changing needs of each individual organization. Priority Staffing Solutions, Inc. helps businesses staff for peak periods and special projects, eliminate payroll tax collection, save on administration costs and try out a good temp for possible hire. Call Deborah Wainstein, 212-213-2277 or email dwainstein@prioritystaff.com.

Is something missing from your marketing, pr and recruitment strategies? California's multi-ethnic media -- your most direct connection to California's new majority of ethnic minorities -- invites you to New California Media's 2001 Expo & Awards on Feb. 15 from 9am-9pm at The Masonic Auditorium, 1111 California St., San Francisco. There will be over 200 print, broadcast, online media exhibitors plus daylong workshops with mainstream, ethnic and online media and marketers. Discover why California is Ground Zero for multi-ethnic media. Meet the new generation of media entrepreneurs who are reproducing ethnic media-in English--to reach America's youth, the most diverse population. Network with some of the most forward-looking advertisers and ad agency reps in the nation who are sponsoring the Expo. Call 415-438-4755, email ncm@pacificnews.org or visit www.ncmonline.com.

Prudential honors the contributions of many cultures to help its employees understand and appreciate the various customs and traditions that exist in today's workforce and global marketplace. During the month of February 2001 Prudential will partner with Minority Interchange Inc., a not-for-profit corporation that provides networking, career development skills and techniques for employees in the corporate sector, in hosting seminars, cultural exhibits and other activities to raise awareness of the accomplishments of African-Americans. The objective of the celebration is to strengthen the ability of employees to work together effectively as Prudential prepares to go public. At Prudential, we feel diversity improves the quality of the job experience and adds to the productivity of the work force, especially in creativity. Prudential links diversity to every business unit strategy and to performance appraisal for managers. Minority Interchange, Inc., organized in 1976, initially invested its efforts in helping minority employees for advancement within the insurance industry. Today, Minority Interchange works with all industries. Call Marilyn Crawford at 973 802-6056 or email marilyn.crawford@prudential.com.

BlackPlanet.com is the definitive and most highly trafficked black site on the Net, with more than 650,000 unique visitors a month and 305 million monthly page views. The site connects African Americans to each other with unprecedented ease in a free and friendly online community. Features such as personal pages, forums and instant messaging have enabled the already 1.46 million registered members to cultivate meaningful relationships, and gain access to relevant goods and services. As one of the stickiest Web destinations, users spend an average of 2.5 hours on the site per month, BlackPlanet.com is the most effective way to reach the growing African American online presence. Through marketing and advertising vehicles that include promotions, partnerships, targeted banner ads, newsletters and sponsorships, BlackPlanet.com harnesses the power of the Net to offer marketers a world of opportunity. Call Maheen Shaikh, Senior Sales Manager, 212-431-4477 ext. 248, email mshaikh@mail.communityconnect.com.

For the past eleven years "Real Men Cook", a national Father's Day celebration taking place in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Miami, LA, New Orleans, NYC, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, has honored real men who demonstrate exceptional interest in their families and communities while raising funds for charity. The event fosters a true sense of community on Father's Day. Launched by Resource Associates International, last year "Real Men Cook 2000" provided more than 10,000 families with the opportunity to taste culinary delights prepared by 600+ volunteering chefs nationwide. The event also generated over $150,000 in net proceeds to charities. This year for the second consecutive year, The Home Depot, the nation's largest home improvement retailer, is the event's presenting sponsor. RAI is owned and operated by husband and wife business partners Kofi and Yvette Moyo. Headquartered in Chicago RAI is committed to the positive promotion and support of African American families, businesses, and communities. Call Yvette Moyo, 773-651-8008 or email ymoyo@mobe.com or visit www.realmencook.com.

Choe & Oh, P.C. is a multi-lingual and ethnically diverse law firm specializing in Immigration, Corporate/Real Estate and Personal Injury/Negligence Law. Choe & Oh is uniquely qualified to handle the numerous and diverse legal needs of the multicultural community because their attorneys and legal professionals are among the most qualified in their respective areas of expertise. Their immigration specialist, Gene Stith, Esq., skillfully handles H1B Visas, L-Visas, E-2 Investment Visas and Alien Immigration Employment or "Green Card" cases. Ki Young P. Choe, Esq. is their Corporate Law specialist and their Civil Litigation specialists is J. Tiffani Choe, Esq. Choe & Oh clients include multinational corporations and individuals from the United States and Asia. Call Gene Stith, Esq., 212-447-7220 or gmsesquire@yahoo.com.

Ethnic markets are growing at an increasingly rapid pace, leading many businesses to pay closer attention to them. Financial service providers are particularly anxious to expand their reach into the ethnic markets, but face an even greater challenge than other types of business-banks and insurance companies cannot and should not pitch their services to multicultural groups the same way they do to the general population. Leading specialists in the multicultural marketing field will join together this Feb 22-23 in NYC to discuss and provide insights into this complicated market at The Institute for International Research's 3rd Annual, "Marketing Financial Services to Multicultural Prospects and Customers". Hear from industry experts from Fannie Mae Corporation, Charles Schwab, Allstate Insurance Company, Milenio Financial Services, MetLife, and Bank of America who will share their real world success stories. Call Tracy Inserra, 212-661-3500 or visit www.iir-ny.com.

The "7th Annual Marketing to U.S. Hispanics" Conference in Miami Beach on January 25-26, 2001 will feature speakers from blue chip companies such as Lincoln Mercury, Levi Strauss, Pepsi, Tropicana, Washington Mutual, Marshalls, Nestle, Procter & Gamble brands, San Diego Padres and lots more. Cutting-edge research from Cheskin Research and Strategy Research Corporation will also be presented. The keynote speakers will be Sergio Bendixen, an on-air analyst from Hispanic Trends, who will speak on "The Hispanic Vote" and Eric Pfefffer, Chairman and CEO of Cendant Corp. The "2nd Annual E-Marketing to U.S. Hispanics & Latin America" Conference will be held on March 12-13 in Miami Beach, featuring IBM, Haagen Dazs, Gateway, Helena Rubenstein (Paris), Beyond Interactive (go.com Mexico) and brand new research and trends data. Call 1-212-967-0095x252 or 1-800-599-4950x252 or email rranganathan@srinstitute.com.

The Association of Asian American Advertising Agencies will host its 3rd Annual Conference on Feb 2nd at the Raddison Miyako Hotel in San Francisco. Mike Sherman, General Manager of KTSF-TV, will chair the event. The one-day conference will feature a case study from SBC Communications; Peggy Kennedy of Kennedy Marketing, which oversees SF's Chinese Lunar New Year Parade, will speak on "How to Target the Asian American Community with Events"; Jay "Stone" Shih, Host of KTSF's "China Crosstalk", will also present, among others. Call 212-242-3351 or visit www.3af.org.

The AAF Foundation is hosting the 5th annual "AAF's Most Promising Minority Advertising Students" program and the gala luncheon "Building Bridges for our Future" on March 2, 2001, at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City. The event is the premier national advertising industry awards program and promotes hiring and networking opportunities for outstanding minority college graduates. Luncheon sponsorships and recruiting opportunities are still available. Current sponsors include trade media partner Advertising Age, as well as ABC, BBDO Worldwide, Burrell Communications, Campbell-Ewald, CBS, Daimler Chrysler, General Motors, Hearst Magazines, Knight-Ridder, Leo Burnett, Meredith, The New York Times, Ogilvy & Mather, Procter & Gamble, Saatchi & Saatchi, True North Communications, Vanguarde Media, and Young & Rubicam. Call Krista DePaul, 202-898-0089, kdepaul@aaf.org.

Access Worldwide/Cultural Access Group of Los Altos, CA, an independent research firm specializing in multicultural marketing research has completed a major online survey among African American, Hispanic, and General Market Internet users. Unlike previous research efforts that have focused solely on the issue of Internet access among minorities, this study goes a step further by targeting and identifying the unique needs and practices of online Hispanics and African-Americans. Based on nearly 6,000 online survey responses, results demonstrate that ethnic and cultural factors play an enormous role in shaping perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors on the Internet. Some findings include: African Americans are more likely to utilize the Internet to pursue career advancement opportunities than other groups; A majority of Hispanics online use the Internet to find international news content. General Market respondents, in contrast to African Americans and Hispanics, are the most comfortable conducting financial transactions online. Results of the survey are available by contacting Cultural Access Group. The final report will be posted on the site: http://www.accesscag.com by the end of December. Call Thomas Tseng, Director of Marketing, 323-782-3412 or email tdtseng@accesscag.com.

KSCI-TV, founded in 1976, is the pre-eminent Asian language TV station in the US, providing news, sports, dramas and entertainment in 14 languages including Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Tagalog. The station delivers upscale Asian families for advertisers such as AT&T, Colgate-Palmolive, Toyota, McDonald's, Metropolitan Life and Disneyland. The station's numerous community awards, including the Organization of Chinese Americans' Image Award and the Korean American Coalition's Community Service Award, shows its commitment to viewers. KSCI-TV was the first Asian-language station in LA to win an Emmy for its series, "U.S. Citizenship: A Dream Come True." Call Gannon Gray, General Sales Manager, 310-478-1818.