The Rochester Hispanic Business Association has named Mercedez Vázquez-Simmons, the owner of a boxing promotions company, as the Hispanic Business Person of the Year.
Vázquez-Simmons is founder and president of Pretty Girl Promotions, a boxing and mixed martial arts promotion company based in Rochester.
"She has broken another glass ceiling, becoming the first Latina to gain national recognition as a boxing promoter for both male and female athletes in a once male-dominated industry," Vilma Burgos Torres, RHBA’s chairwoman, stated in a press release.
In 2014, the Bare Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame in Belfast, Allegany County, recognized Vázquez-Simmons as its "Person of the Year." At that time, she was the only licensed female promoter of boxing in all of New York state, according to an El Mensajero Católico article at http://bit.ly/1PsnqEg.
Vázquez-Simmons will be honored Sept. 20 at the 27th-annual Rochester Hispanic Business Association luncheon at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/1PsnqEg.
