FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com FEBRUARY 6, 2014 • RISING STARS • THE QUEENS COURIER 21 rising stars H FEBRUARY 13, 2014 H H H s H CESAR GARCIA Real estate broker Keller Williams Realty Landmark II Cesar Garcia began his career in real estate in 2003. Under the tutelage of veteran realtor Jim Pappas, he learned to integrate sharp business acumen with a keen understanding of customer expectations. In 2008, Garcia joined Keller Williams Realty Landmark in the Bayside market center, where he was instrumental in catapulting the company to the top of the industry for three consecutive years. His success led to a new role as one of the founding Agent Leadership Council members at the brand new Keller Williams Realty offi ce in Jackson Heights — Landmark II. There, Garcia was integral to launching the groundbreaking tech solution “eEdge” — the fi rst fully integrated front and back end CRM platform for real estate professionals — which was successfully implemented at the new KW Offi ce. He has since earned several professional accreditations, including: ABR, CDPE, SFR, LIBOR Short Sale Certifi cation, and the Internet Marketing Specialist Designation for his profi ciency in using Internet marketing strategies. Most recently, Garcia was one of the honorees installed as Chapter Director by the Northeast Queens Chapter of LIBOR for 2014. Garcia is also a member of the Northern Queens NHS Board of Directors — a source of great personal pride, as it allows him to serve an organization committed to “helping individuals and families invest in, preserve and improve their neighborhoods”. Garcia continues to set a high standard as an ambassador for the Keller Williams brand, through his personal achievements, sharing knowledge with both clients and peers, and a steadfast commitment to elevating his industry. In 2013 he started mentoring his own team of realtors, Team Garcia NY. NICK HARDIE Director of Training Queens Economic Development Corporation Nick Hardie moved to China when he was a teenager and spent the better part of a decade there. His work now as Director of Training with the Queens Economic D e v e l o p m e n t Corporation is mostly related to the Chinese community. The Queens Economic Development Corporation hired him to create and pilot the Home Improvement Contractor Training program for Chinese-speaking contractors. At the time the goal was to license eight contractors. By the time the pilot program had run its course a few months later 88 individuals had been licensed, and to date they have trained and licensed nearly 300 people. RICH NIETO Sweetleaf Rich Nieto is a Queens born entrepreneur. After overseeing Dial A Mattress’ distribution center in the late 1990s, he left and opened his own business. The telecommunications industry was hot and he got in on the ground fl oor. Voice over Internet protocol was just beginning in the international market and Nieto took advantage of it. He opened Touchtone Communications, a wholesale provider of international telephone routes to Latin America. Eight years later Nieto found himself a partner in a little coffee shop in Long Island City called Sweetleaf. He fell in love with coffee, closed his other business and gave all his energy and passion to the art of brewing coffee. In 2010 Sweetleaf expanded into the storefront next door, thereby tripling in size. In 2012 they opened a location in Willamsburg on the corner of Kent and North 6th Street. Immediately it seems, they opened a third location, this one in a new TF Cornerstone building on Center Boulevard in Long Island City. This location had a twist, it turns into a cocktail bar in the evenings. As if this wasn’t enough to handle Nieto has just opened a coffee roasting business called Sweetleaf Coffee Roasters in which he roasts the beans himself. H H H H
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