(Santa Ana) - According to the Brookings Institution’s study, titled “Export Nation,” the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area (Los Angeles and Orange counties) is the top exporting metropolitan region in the U.S. with roughly $80 billion in goods and services exported in 2010. To support optimum growth in this economic sector, Rancho Santiago Community College District announces the availability of international trade consulting through its economic development program, the Orange County Small Business Development Center (SBDC). These consulting services are a joint venture with the Centers for International Trade Development and the Orange County SBDC.
Services offered include: determining export potential, assessing export readiness, developing export strategy, business plan development, market research, government resources, distribution options, preparing and adapting your product for export, export regulations, e-commerce, logistics, financing export transactions, conducting business internationally, and more. Business consulting is provided at no-cost to qualifying companies. Diana Todaro, MS, JD, leads the Orange County SBDC’s international trade services.
Todaro is a legal and international business professional and educator who brings a successful track record of building global and local relationships, connecting people and generating new opportunities. Her areas of expertise are international trade and marketing, global business development, multicultural business relations, consulting and business advising, mediation and dispute resolution, education, mentoring and public speaking. Prior to joining the Orange County SBDC, Todaro’s work experience and distinguished career included roles as CEO of an international food company, real estate sales manager, business development professional, travel expert, educator and a trusted advisor to business boards, councils and nonprofit organizations. She continues as a member of the International Business Advisory Council at Santa Ana College and an adjunct professor at University of Phoenix in the Colleges of Business and Criminal Justice.
Some career highlights include an appointment to the U.S. Department of Commerce District Export Council by the Secretary of Commerce, being featured as a guest speaker at White House Conferences on International Trade, serving on the board of directors for Southern California Special Olympics, being an Orange County Businesswoman of the Year Nominee and a National Association of Women Lawyers’ award honoree.
Todaro has been a featured guest and speaker on The Economic Journal at Chapman University, Working Woman TV, the BBC, KABC, KCAL, KOCE, KCBS Talk Radio, and the Hugh Hewitt Show, as well as at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Horizons International Exhibition, Dublin, Ireland. She has been featured in the following print media: “What No One Ever Tells You about Starting Your Own Business: 101 Successful Entrepreneurs,” Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, World Trade Magazine, Working Woman Magazine, USA Today, National Enquirer, Business America, The Orange County Register, O.C. Metro Magazine, and Orange County Business Journal.
As president and CEO of California Cookies, Inc., an international and private label producer of natural gourmet confections, Todaro established a distribution network that included marketing, sales, and packaging. California Cookies sold over a million cookies in its first four months of operation to companies such as Trader Joe’s, Universal Studios, Disney, SeaWorld and Marriott Hotels. California Cookies developed strategic business partners in Ireland, exported to the European Union and Japan, and imported to the United States.
In her role as director for the Apollo Group, Todaro cultivated, established and directed strategic relationships and the planning process for account development of Fortune 500 and top tier national employers working with senior level and key decision makers regionally, nationally and internationally.
Todaro holds a Juris Doctor degree from Chapman University Fowler School of Law, an M.S. in business globalization from California State University, Long Beach, where she was Graduate Student of the Year, and a B.A. in consumer science from Montclair State University and the University of Copenhagen.
For assistance with international trade, contact Diana Todaro at (714) 564-5200 or at todaro_diana@rsccd.edu.
About the Orange County SBDC
The Orange County Small Business Development Center (Orange County SBDC), an economic development program of Rancho Santiago Community College District, is partially supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), the California State University, Fullerton and the California Community College Chancellor’s Office. The Orange County SBDC is a one-stop source for business development, expansion strategies, contracting opportunities and access to capital.
About the Rancho Santiago Communality College District
The mission of the Rancho Santiago Community College District (RSCCD) is to respond to the educational needs of an ever-changing community and to provide programs and services that reflect academic excellence. Santa Ana College and Santiago Canyon College are public community colleges of RSCCD, which serve the residents of Anaheim Hills, East Garden Grove, Irvine, Orange, Santa Ana, Tustin and Villa Park. Both colleges provide education for academic transfer and careers, courses for personal and professional development, customized training for business and industry, and programs to train nurses, firefighters and law enforcement personnel.
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