Abogados de Inmigracion

He helped organize a Hispanic advisory committee for U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf's office earlier this year and will host and produce a television show slated to debut on PAX this summer, focusing on Hispanic businesses.

A former Air Force intelligence officer, Vargas, 39, left the corporate world to start his company, VARCom Solutions, which helps other businesses with marketing, sales and communications. It also has a separate focus on helping smaller Hispanic-owned businesses market themselves to a broader audience and helping other businesses promote their products to the Hispanic community.

His background in marketing and knowledge of the Hispanic business community are what prompted the chamber to invite Vargas to be a board member and vice president of marketing, said Patricia Williams, the chamber's board chairman.

"He has a talent for seeing the future with new eyes and sheds a lot of new light on possibilities for business," Williams said.

Vargas has already helped the chamber form a partnership with the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and has facilitated several meetings between Wolf's office and chamber leaders, she said.

"He is very eloquent and very focused," Williams said of Vargas. "He really helps any group he's in ... get something accomplished."

Vargas' television show will also focus on Hispanic businesses with three segments: one for providing information for business owners, one putting a spotlight on successful businesses and wrapping up with a general interest segment featuring musical groups or other entertainment.

One thing that a lot of American businesses overlook is that the Hispanic population "is not monolithic," Vargas said in a meeting with Times editors and reporters and in a prior interview. There are more than 20 countries whose residents are lumped under the term "Hispanic," he said, and those that have immigrated to the United States are at varying levels of assimilation, language ability and education.

"It is a population that is very diverse; it is a growing population; it is a dynamic population," he said.

Vargas likes to focus on the positive aspects of his demographic fellows—that the majority of Hispanics are very hard-working and are often successful entrepreneurs.

He encourages Spanish-speaking immigrants to learn English as quickly as possible and to educate themselves about their new home. This does not mean giving up their heritage, he said. He is teaching his children to speak Spanish.

He also thinks it is important for undocumented immigrants to go through the process of gaining legal status.

"We can't have millions of people living on the fringe," he said. "I want to make sure that people are educated and empowered."

Though today he is every bit an American businessman, Vargas had to make the choice himself to become educated and empowered.

He was born in New York City to Puerto Rican immigrants. His parents divorced when he was 2 years old, leaving his mother to raise him and his three siblings. They lived on welfare, and his mother became an alcoholic, sometimes disappearing for days.

Spanish was Vargas' first language, and, to this day, his mother speaks only a few words of English. He now speaks English and Spanish fluently and knows a smattering of French from his days working for France Telecom.

Despite these factors, Vargas said he made the choice to seek a better life for himself.

"I got out of New York, joined the military and made my own way in life," he said. After leaving the Air Force, he put himself through college. "Not a whole lot's been thrown at me that I can't handle."

Vargas has lived in Northern Virginia for 14 years. He now lives in Herndon with his wife, Arlene, and their two children.

His childhood is also part of the reason he has gotten involved in gang prevention efforts. In addition to working with Wolf, he is on the board of a gang prevention and intervention group.

"I saw within my family and within my peer group the devastation that can come from gangs," he said. "I lost my sister as a result, and I would never wish that on anybody."