Faith

Faith Communities in and around North Bay Village

North Bay Village and its surrounding areas offer a variety of places of worship, catering to diverse faith traditions. Here are some notable churches and temples in the vicinity:

Within North Bay Village:

Ummah of Miami Beach
- Address: 7904 West Dr, North Bay Village, FL 33141
- Phone: 786-216-7035
- Description: A local place of worship serving the Muslim community in North Bay Village.
- superpages.com

Nearby Places of Worship:

Calvary Chapel
- Address: 7141 Indian Creek Dr, Miami Beach, FL 33141
- Phone: 305-531-2730
- Description: A Christ-centered, cross-focused church offering services and community programs.
- superpages.com
Temple Moses Sephardic Congregation of Florida
- Address: 1200 Normandy Dr, Miami Beach, FL 33141
- Phone: 305-861-6308
- Description: A Sephardic Jewish congregation providing religious services and cultural events.
- superpages.com
Iglesia Jesus Es Rey
- Address: 1133 71st St, Miami Beach, FL 33141
- Phone: 305-867-7679
- Description: A Christian church offering worship services and community outreach programs.
- superpages.com
St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church
- Address: 17775 N Bay Rd, Sunny Isles Beach, FL 33160
- Phone: 305-931-0600
- Description: A Catholic parish providing mass services and religious education.
- FaithStreet
St. Bernard de Clairvaux Episcopal Church
- Address: 16711 W Dixie Hwy, North Miami Beach, FL 33160
- Phone: 305-945-1461
- Description: An Episcopal church known for its historic architecture and spiritual services.
- FaithStreet
St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral
- Address: 2401 SW 3rd Ave, Miami, FL 33129
- Phone: 305-854-2922
- Description: A Greek Orthodox cathedral offering liturgical services and cultural events.
- FaithStreet
New Revelation Alliance Church
- Address: 11900 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL 33181
- Phone: 305-893-8050
- Description: A Christian church focusing on community service and spiritual growth.
- FaithStreet

These establishments reflect the rich tapestry of faith communities accessible to residents and visitors of North Bay Village, fostering spiritual growth and community engagement.

Eddy Rosell

Eddy Rosell Is Building a Fitness Business Around Simplicity, Science and Sustainable Change
After losing 127 pounds and maintaining the transformation for more than two decades, the Miami fitness entrepreneur is helping others move beyond quick fixes and build healthier lives.
The fitness industry has no shortage of dramatic promises.
Lose weight quickly. Eliminate entire food groups. Complete a 30-day transformation. Follow a rigid routine that often becomes impossible to maintain once work, travel, family obligations and real life return.
Eddy Rosell believes there is a better approach.
As the founder of Eddy Rosell Fitness, Rosell has built his business around a straightforward philosophy: lasting health does not come from extremes. It comes from understanding the fundamentals, building repeatable habits and creating a lifestyle that can be sustained for years rather than weeks.
His perspective is not based solely on certification or theory. It is rooted in a personal transformation that began when he was 19 years old.
Rosell lost 127 pounds in six months. More importantly, he has maintained that weight loss for more than 20 years.
“That transformation changed the course of my life,” Rosell said. “Not simply because of the weight loss itself, but because I learned that true success comes from consistency, habits and identity change.”
That experience became the foundation for Eddy Rosell Fitness, which he launched in November 2022.
From Biochemistry to Behavior Change
Rosell’s approach to fitness is shaped by both science and lived experience.
He graduated from Florida International University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry and a concentration in biochemistry. He later became a National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer.
His education gave him a strong understanding of the science behind nutrition, metabolism and physical performance. However, his professional life also taught him something equally important: knowing what to do is not always the same as being able to do it consistently.
Before entering the fitness industry, Rosell spent more than a decade working in enterprise software sales. That career required travel, long hours, shifting priorities and the pressure of meeting demanding professional goals.
It also helped him understand the challenges his clients face.
Busy professionals may know that they need to exercise, improve their nutrition and get more sleep. The difficulty is creating a system that continues to work during business trips, stressful weeks, family commitments and changing schedules.
Rosell’s coaching is designed for that reality.
“Health doesn’t require perfection,” he said. “It requires systems and habits that work in the real world.”
A Business Built Against the Quick-Fix Culture
Eddy Rosell Fitness provides online health and fitness coaching, science-backed nutrition guidance, sustainable fat-loss strategies and education focused on fitness and longevity.
Rosell also creates educational content through Instagram and YouTube under the name @eddyrosellfit.
His goal is to help people filter out misinformation and focus on the principles that produce meaningful long-term results.
That often means rejecting the most marketable solution.
Extreme diets can produce rapid results, but those results may disappear when the diet becomes too restrictive to maintain. Intense short-term challenges may create momentum, but they can also leave people without a plan once the challenge ends.
Rosell encourages clients to think beyond the next month.
He asks them to consider how the decisions they make today may affect their energy, strength, independence and quality of life five, 10, 15 or 20 years from now.
That longer perspective changes the conversation.
The goal is no longer simply to reach a number on a scale. It becomes preserving the physical ability to travel, explore new cultures, remain active with family members, pursue new interests and continue enjoying life.
“Health is not the end goal,” Rosell said. “It’s the vehicle that allows us to fully experience life.”
Making Health Fit the Individual
Rosell serves busy professionals and everyday people who want to lose weight, improve their health and develop sustainable habits without becoming overwhelmed by conflicting information.
His method focuses on adaptability rather than rigidity.
A successful health plan should work during a normal week, but it should also survive vacations, work deadlines, social events and unexpected disruptions. It should allow room for enjoyment while providing enough structure to create progress.
That belief reflects Rosell’s own interests outside the gym.
He is passionate about travel, languages, cultural experiences, wine education and olive oil tastings. He is currently learning Italian and has previously studied French.
Rather than viewing those interests as distractions from health, Rosell sees them as reasons to remain healthy.
Fitness, in his view, should expand a person’s life rather than consume it.
That distinction is central to his brand.
He is not asking clients to organize their entire identity around exercise or dieting. He is helping them create enough strength, energy and resilience to continue pursuing the activities and relationships that matter to them.
The Competitive Advantage of Credibility
In a crowded fitness market, Rosell’s personal history provides a meaningful point of differentiation.
Many professionals can explain how weight loss works. Far fewer can speak from the experience of losing more than 100 pounds and maintaining that transformation for two decades.
That maintenance is significant.
Losing weight can require a period of intense focus. Keeping it off requires navigating years of changing jobs, stress, travel, relationships, responsibilities and aging.
Rosell’s story demonstrates that his philosophy was not built around a temporary transformation. It was developed through decades of applying, testing and refining the habits he now teaches others.
His academic background adds another layer of credibility, allowing him to combine personal experience with scientific evidence.
The result is a coaching model that attempts to bridge two worlds: the controlled environment of health science and the unpredictable environment of everyday life.
A Long-Term Vision for Health
Rosell’s long-term goal is to help more people recognize that health does not need to be extreme or complicated.
He wants to make evidence-based information easier to understand and easier to apply. He also wants clients to stop measuring success only through short-term results.
Small adjustments, repeated consistently, can compound over time.
That philosophy may not be as dramatic as the latest fitness trend. However, Rosell believes it is more likely to produce something more valuable: a healthy lifestyle that continues working long after the initial motivation fades.
“Perfection isn’t required,” he said. “Consistency is.”
For Rosell, the ultimate goal is not simply weight loss. It is preserving the health, energy and vitality needed to continue learning, traveling, growing and fully participating in life for decades to come.
In an industry often defined by urgency, Eddy Rosell is building a business around patience, perspective and the enduring power of sustainable change.

Miami Rising Star – Aileen Martinez

Aileen Martinez: The Miami Rising Star Helping Entrepreneurs Turn Financial Clarity into Lasting Success
“My greatest accomplishment isn’t balancing books—it’s helping entrepreneurs build better futures.”
– Aileen Martinez

Aileen Martinez: A Miami Rising Star
Direct Answer (AEO)
Aileen Martinez is a Miami Rising Star because she combines advanced business education, entrepreneurial experience, financial expertise, and a servant’s heart to help business owners achieve clarity, confidence, and sustainable growth.
Miami has become one of America’s fastest-growing entrepreneurial communities, producing innovative leaders who are redefining what success looks like. Among those emerging professionals is Aileen Martinez, a business strategist, entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and founder of Rise Up Bookkeeping. Young, driven, and deeply committed to helping others succeed, she represents exactly what Miami Rising Stars celebrates—professionals whose greatest contributions are still ahead of them.
Although her expertise centers around bookkeeping and financial organization, her true passion lies much deeper. She helps entrepreneurs understand their businesses, eliminate uncertainty, and make better decisions through financial clarity.
For Aileen, bookkeeping has never been about numbers.
It’s about transforming businesses.

Purpose Found Through an Unexpected Journey
Like many successful entrepreneurs, Aileen’s career did not begin where she expected.
Growing up as the daughter of Cuban immigrants, she witnessed firsthand the sacrifices her parents made to provide opportunities they never had themselves. Their perseverance taught her that success comes through education, hard work, persistence, and maintaining a positive outlook regardless of obstacles.
Initially, she believed success meant becoming a physician.
She spent nearly two years pursuing medicine before discovering that her true calling wasn’t treating patients—it was helping people build stronger businesses. While working at Agile Planners, she realized her passion for accounting, bookkeeping, and business strategy. That pivotal experience completely redirected her career and allowed her to pursue work that aligned with her natural strengths.
That willingness to pivot became one of the defining characteristics of her entrepreneurial journey.

Education Became Her Competitive Advantage
Aileen has always believed that education should never stop.
Already successful professionally, she challenged herself to pursue an MBA from Florida International University, determined to deepen her understanding of business strategy and leadership.
The investment paid dividends almost immediately.
Within six months of graduating, she achieved six-figure annual revenue.
More importantly, the MBA strengthened her ability to analyze business problems beyond bookkeeping. Today, she helps entrepreneurs interpret financial information, improve operations, identify opportunities, and create long-term strategies that support sustainable growth.
Her clients don’t simply receive reports.
They receive direction.

Rise Up Bookkeeping: More Than Accounting
Many business owners mistakenly believe bookkeeping is simply data entry.
Aileen sees something entirely different.
Financial records tell the story of every business.
They reveal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, inefficiencies, and future possibilities.
That philosophy became especially clear during one of the defining moments of her career.
Early on, she was asked to completely reconstruct a client’s bookkeeping records. The project demanded organization, patience, analytical thinking, and attention to detail.
After the financial cleanup was complete, the client successfully secured a contract worth approximately $150,000.
The client later credited organized financial records with giving the company the credibility needed to earn the opportunity.
That experience forever changed how Aileen viewed her profession.
She wasn’t organizing numbers.
She was creating opportunities.

The Strength Behind the Success
One reason clients continue working with Aileen is her unique combination of technical expertise and genuine care for people.
Years ago, while completing a graduate-level strengths assessment, multiple personality and career evaluations consistently identified similar characteristics.
She is highly results-oriented, exceptionally helpful to others, naturally observant, and excels at completing complex tasks with accuracy. She even describes herself as “a woman of service,” believing her greatest purpose is helping others succeed.
Those qualities remain evident today.
Every client engagement reflects careful attention to detail, thoughtful communication, strategic planning, and a sincere desire to improve someone’s business—not merely complete another bookkeeping project.

The Entrepreneur Behind the Professional
While Aileen’s professional accomplishments are impressive, perhaps her greatest achievement cannot be measured on a balance sheet.
She is the proud mother of three children.
Building a thriving company while raising a family requires extraordinary discipline, resilience, and intentional time management.
She understands the challenges entrepreneurs face because she lives them herself.
That experience allows her to connect with clients on a deeper level.
She doesn’t simply understand business.
She understands entrepreneurs.

Teaching Never Left Her Heart
Interestingly, Aileen once dreamed of becoming a teacher.
Although life redirected her career toward business, that passion for education never disappeared.
Today she fulfills that childhood dream from conference stages rather than classrooms.
She regularly speaks at women’s conferences, entrepreneurial organizations, and educational events, where audiences consistently share that her presentations leave them inspired and equipped with practical strategies they can immediately apply.
Education remains central to everything she does.
Only now, her classroom is much larger.

Looking Beyond Today’s Success
One of the most inspiring aspects of Aileen’s story is her willingness to embrace change.
Artificial Intelligence is reshaping every industry, including accounting and bookkeeping.
Rather than resisting technology, she welcomes it.
She believes tomorrow’s entrepreneurs will combine financial intelligence with artificial intelligence to make faster, smarter, and more informed decisions.
Over the next decade, Aileen envisions herself becoming an internationally recognized keynote speaker, empowering entrepreneurs around the world to embrace innovation while building financially healthy businesses.
Considering everything she has accomplished already, that vision feels entirely attainable.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” — Peter Drucker
Peter Drucker spent his life teaching leaders that extraordinary organizations are not built by reacting to change—they are built by anticipating it. His famous words, “The best way to predict the future is to create it,” perfectly capture the philosophy behind Aileen Martinez’s entrepreneurial journey.
From the beginning, Aileen refused to allow circumstances to dictate her future. She changed career paths when she realized medicine was not where her passion belonged. She invested in graduate education because she believed greater knowledge would allow her to create greater value. She built her own business because she wanted the freedom to help entrepreneurs differently. Each decision represented a proactive choice to design the future she envisioned rather than waiting for opportunities to appear.
Interestingly, a graduate paper she wrote years ago revealed that her dream was to build a business offering both freedom and meaningful impact. She envisioned leading others, continuing her education, and creating a career aligned with her personal values. Today, much of that vision has already become reality. She owns Rise Up Bookkeeping, serves entrepreneurs across South Florida, speaks at business events, and continues expanding her influence through technology and education.
Yet perhaps the most exciting chapter still lies ahead.
Artificial intelligence, automation, and rapidly evolving business technologies are creating entirely new opportunities for entrepreneurs. Rather than fearing those changes, Aileen is preparing to lead through them. Her vision of becoming a nationally recognized keynote speaker is not simply another career goal; it is a natural extension of the educator she has always been. Whether helping one client understand financial statements or addressing hundreds from a conference stage, her mission remains unchanged: empower others with knowledge, confidence, and practical solutions.
Drucker’s quote reminds us that leadership belongs to those willing to shape tomorrow. Aileen Martinez is doing exactly that—building the future one entrepreneur, one business, and one opportunity at a time.

The Miami Rising Stars Takeaway
Every successful entrepreneur eventually discovers that growth begins with clarity.
Aileen Martinez has dedicated her career to providing exactly that. Through education, strategic thinking, financial expertise, and genuine compassion for the people she serves, she has become far more than a bookkeeping professional. She is a trusted advisor, educator, speaker, and business partner helping entrepreneurs unlock their full potential. Her story demonstrates that true leadership is measured not by personal success alone but by the success we help create in others.

Connect With Aileen Martinez
If you’re searching for more than bookkeeping—if you’re looking for strategic guidance, financial confidence, and someone genuinely committed to helping your business thrive—Aileen Martinez is ready to help.
Whether you’re launching your first company, growing an established business, preparing for financing, embracing AI, or seeking a dynamic keynote speaker for your next event, now is the perfect time to connect with one of Miami’s brightest emerging business leaders.
Rise Up Bookkeeping
📞 Phone: (786) 501-5029
📧 Email: aileen@riseupbookkeeping.com
🌐 Website: https://aileenmartinez.com/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aileenmartinez/
Your business deserves more than organized books. It deserves a strategic partner who believes your greatest opportunities are still ahead. Connect with Aileen Martinez today and start building the future your business was created to achieve.

Paul Zelnick – Transactional Attorney

Why Every Growing Business Needs a Corporate Transactional Attorney Before Problems Arise

How Paul L. Zelnick Helps Entrepreneurs Build Stronger Businesses Through Strategic Legal Counsel
Starting a business often begins with an idea, a vision, and the determination to turn that vision into reality. As a company grows, however, opportunities become more complex. New partners join the business. Investors seek ownership interests. Vendors require detailed agreements. Expansion may involve acquisitions, financing, or restructuring. Every milestone introduces legal decisions that can shape the future of the company.
Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs wait until a dispute arises before contacting an attorney. By then, the damage may already be done.
Paul L. Zelnick, Corporate Transactional Attorney at Caldera Law in Miami, believes that the best legal strategy is proactive rather than reactive. His practice focuses on serving as outside counsel for entrepreneurs and privately held businesses, helping them establish sound legal foundations that support sustainable growth while minimizing unnecessary risk.
More Than Legal Documents
Many business owners think of an attorney only when litigation becomes unavoidable. Transactional attorneys play a very different role.
Instead of resolving lawsuits after they occur, transactional attorneys help prevent them by carefully structuring businesses, negotiating agreements, documenting ownership rights, and identifying potential legal issues before they become costly disputes.
For entrepreneurs, this approach provides confidence to make strategic business decisions knowing that their legal foundation has been thoughtfully designed.
Building the Right Foundation
Every successful company begins with choosing the appropriate legal structure.
Whether forming a limited liability company, corporation, or partnership, each decision carries implications for ownership, taxation, governance, financing, and future expansion.
Paul regularly advises clients on:

Business entity formation
Corporate restructurings
Ownership reorganizations
Equity and debt conversions
Corporate governance
Shareholder and operating agreements

These foundational documents establish how businesses operate today while providing flexibility for tomorrow’s opportunities.
Contracts That Protect Relationships
Business relationships depend upon clear expectations.
Poorly written agreements often become the source of expensive misunderstandings between owners, vendors, customers, employees, contractors, and strategic partners.
Paul prepares, reviews, and negotiates a broad range of commercial agreements, including:

Service agreements
Vendor contracts
Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)
Licensing agreements
Joint venture agreements
Software as a Service (SaaS) agreements
Distribution agreements
Hotel and restaurant management agreements
Car rental agreements
Liability waivers

Well-drafted contracts not only reduce legal exposure—they also strengthen business relationships by clearly defining each party’s responsibilities.
Helping Businesses Grow Through Strategic Transactions
Growth often comes through acquisition rather than organic expansion.
Whether purchasing another company or preparing a business for sale, every transaction involves legal, financial, and operational complexities that require careful planning.
Paul represents both buyers and sellers in:

Asset purchase transactions
Stock purchase transactions
Membership interest acquisitions
Corporate mergers

His role extends beyond document preparation. By identifying risks, negotiating terms, and coordinating with accountants, lenders, and advisors, he helps clients navigate transactions with greater clarity and confidence.
Financing Future Growth
Access to capital remains one of the greatest challenges facing growing businesses.
Paul assists clients with financing transactions ranging from traditional commercial loans to sophisticated private investment structures.
His experience includes advising companies on:

Commercial lending
Private loan transactions
Regulation D securities offerings
Seed financing rounds
SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) investments
Convertible promissory notes

For entrepreneurs seeking to scale their companies, experienced legal guidance can help ensure financing arrangements align with long-term business objectives.
Experience Across Multiple Industries
One of Paul’s strengths is his ability to advise companies operating in diverse industries.
His clients include businesses involved in:

Automotive
Hospitality
Food and beverage
Healthcare
Financial services
Real estate
Technology
Marketing
Entertainment

This cross-industry experience allows him to recognize common legal challenges while understanding the unique operational realities of each business sector.
Trusted Counsel for Significant Transactions
Throughout his career, Paul has advised clients on transactions involving substantial financial value.
His representative experience includes:

Representing a premier commercial truck driving school in the sale of its assets and membership interests.
Advising an entrepreneur in the $20 million acquisition of multiple cellular retail locations.
Serving as corporate and securities counsel on Regulation D offerings exceeding $500 million in aggregate capital raises.
Negotiating and closing more than $250 million in mezzanine financing transactions for commercial and residential real estate developers.
Serving as outside counsel to franchisees and affiliates of nationally recognized vehicle rental brands.

These transactions reflect both technical legal knowledge and a practical understanding of business strategy.
A Long-Term Business Partner
Perhaps the greatest value of outside corporate counsel is continuity.
Rather than becoming involved only when problems arise, Paul works alongside business owners throughout the lifecycle of their companies—from formation and growth to financing, acquisitions, succession planning, and eventual exit strategies.
For entrepreneurs, having a trusted legal advisor means spending less time worrying about legal obstacles and more time focusing on innovation, customers, and growth.
Looking Ahead
South Florida continues to attract entrepreneurs, investors, and companies from around the world. As businesses expand in an increasingly competitive marketplace, strategic legal planning has become an essential component of sustainable success.
For business owners seeking practical legal guidance backed by transactional experience, Paul L. Zelnick provides more than legal representation. He offers a collaborative approach focused on helping entrepreneurs make informed decisions, protect what they have built, and position their companies for the opportunities ahead.

About Paul L. Zelnick
Paul L. Zelnick is a Corporate Transactional Attorney with Caldera Law, where he represents entrepreneurs and privately held businesses in matters involving corporate governance, commercial contracts, mergers and acquisitions, financing transactions, and business growth strategies.
Caldera Law
7275 NW 1st Ct., Unit 104
Miami, FL 33150
Website: www.caldera.law
Email: paul.zelnick@gmail.com
Instagram: @zelnickbusinesslaw

Why Every Growing Business Needs a Corporate Transactional Attorney Before Problems Arise
How Paul L. Zelnick Helps Entrepreneurs Build Stronger Businesses Through Strategic Legal Counsel
Starting a business often begins with an idea, a vision, and the determination to turn that vision into reality. As a company grows, however, opportunities become more complex. New partners join the business. Investors seek ownership interests. Vendors require detailed agreements. Expansion may involve acquisitions, financing, or restructuring. Every milestone introduces legal decisions that can shape the future of the company.
Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs wait until a dispute arises before contacting an attorney. By then, the damage may already be done.
Paul L. Zelnick, Corporate Transactional Attorney at Caldera Law in Miami, believes that the best legal strategy is proactive rather than reactive. His practice focuses on serving as outside counsel for entrepreneurs and privately held businesses, helping them establish sound legal foundations that support sustainable growth while minimizing unnecessary risk.
More Than Legal Documents
Many business owners think of an attorney only when litigation becomes unavoidable. Transactional attorneys play a very different role.
Instead of resolving lawsuits after they occur, transactional attorneys help prevent them by carefully structuring businesses, negotiating agreements, documenting ownership rights, and identifying potential legal issues before they become costly disputes.
For entrepreneurs, this approach provides confidence to make strategic business decisions knowing that their legal foundation has been thoughtfully designed.
Building the Right Foundation
Every successful company begins with choosing the appropriate legal structure.
Whether forming a limited liability company, corporation, or partnership, each decision carries implications for ownership, taxation, governance, financing, and future expansion.
Paul regularly advises clients on:

Business entity formation
Corporate restructurings
Ownership reorganizations
Equity and debt conversions
Corporate governance
Shareholder and operating agreements

Asset purchase transactions
Stock purchase transactions
Membership interest acquisitions
Corporate mergers

Commercial lending
Private loan transactions
Regulation D securities offerings
Seed financing rounds
SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) investments
Convertible promissory notes

Automotive
Hospitality
Food and beverage
Healthcare
Financial services
Real estate
Technology
Marketing
Entertainment

SEO
Focus Keyphrase: Business Law Attorney Miami
SEO Title: Business Law Attorney in Miami | Paul Zelnick of Caldera Law
Slug: business-law-attorney-miami-paul-zelnick
Meta Description: Learn how Miami corporate transactional attorney Paul L. Zelnick helps entrepreneurs build, protect, finance, and grow their businesses through strategic legal counsel and practical business solutions.
Excerpt: From business formation and commercial contracts to mergers, acquisitions, and financing, Paul L. Zelnick helps entrepreneurs navigate the legal challenges of growing successful companies.

Sonia Veliz Brings the 4KIDS Mission to Miami’s Business Community

A Home for Every Child: Sonia Veliz Brings the 4KIDS Mission to Miami’s Business Community
The faith-based nonprofit is calling on local companies, churches, foster families, and community leaders to help provide hope, homes, and healing to children in crisis.
For Sonia Veliz, joining 4KIDS Miami was more than a career change. It was an opportunity to turn decades of professional experience—and a deeply personal understanding of childhood loss—into meaningful service.
During a recent BNI presentation supporting a back-to-school donation drive, Veliz introduced local business leaders to the work of 4KIDS Miami. She spoke candidly about her journey from corporate marketing and business development into the nonprofit world.
After approximately 20 years in corporate America, Veliz began questioning what she wanted her work and life to represent. She left the corporate sector and eventually served organizations including St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and World Vision.
Having lost both parents at a young age, she understands how profoundly loss can affect a child.
“I wanted to be in a place where I made a difference,” Veliz told the group.
Today, her role at 4KIDS Miami is to invite businesses, churches, professionals, families, and individuals into a mission expressed through five simple words:
A Home for Every Child.
Hope, Homes, and Healing
4KIDS is a Christian, faith-based nonprofit serving children and families across Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, the Treasure Coast, and Southwest Florida. The organization began in 1997 through a church-led movement to recruit and support Christian foster parents. (4KIDS)
Its work is organized around three promises: Hope, Homes, and Healing.
Homes come through the recruitment, licensing, and support of foster families. Hope grows through family preservation, mentoring, practical assistance, and community partnerships. Healing is supported through trauma-informed therapy and caregiver education.
Veliz explained that children may remain in foster care for several days, several months, or several years. Regardless of how long the placement lasts, every child deserves to feel loved, protected, and cared for.
Stability matters because removing a child from home is already traumatic. Moving that child repeatedly between foster placements can deepen the fear, uncertainty, and loss.
4KIDS therefore works to support foster parents so children can remain in a stable home for as long as necessary.
Keeping Brothers and Sisters Together
Another priority is keeping siblings together.
Children entering foster care have already been separated from their parents, surroundings, schools, and familiar routines. Separating brothers and sisters can compound that loss.
4KIDS recruits families capable of welcoming sibling groups and has developed specialized homes to help brothers and sisters remain together.
Veliz described one of the most painful realities of foster care: some children leave their homes carrying their belongings in a plastic bag.
It is a simple image, but it reveals the scale of the disruption.
For a child, a foster home is not merely a place to sleep. It can become the first stable environment available during one of the most frightening moments of that child’s life.
Connection as a Path to Healing
4KIDS also uses trauma-informed approaches to help parents and caregivers understand the needs behind a child’s behavior.
Veliz discussed Trust-Based Relational Intervention, commonly called TBRI. Developed by the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development at Texas Christian University, TBRI is an attachment-based, trauma-informed model designed to support children who have experienced adversity. It emphasizes physical well-being, safe relationships, connection, and compassionate responses to fear-based behavior. (KPICD)
The goal is not simply to correct behavior. It is to understand what happened to the child and help rebuild trust.
That distinction can transform the way parents, teachers, counselors, caregivers, and other adults respond to children experiencing trauma.
Family Reunification Remains the Goal
Veliz also addressed a common misunderstanding.
4KIDS does not exist to break families apart.
Whenever it is safe and possible, the goal is family reunification. Parents may need time, treatment, guidance, housing stability, or other assistance before their children can return home.
Through CarePortal, 4KIDS connects churches, businesses, and individuals with urgent needs identified by child-welfare professionals. Items such as beds, cribs, dressers, car seats, and household necessities can sometimes help stabilize a family and prevent a child from entering foster care. (4KIDS)
Adoption may become the appropriate outcome in some cases. However, strengthening families and supporting safe reunification remain important parts of the mission.
An Invitation to Miami’s Business Community
Companies do not need to become foster-care experts to participate.
4KIDS Miami offers corporate partnerships through employee matching gifts, service projects, event sponsorships, workplace engagement, and customized initiatives. Veliz serves as a contact for companies interested in becoming 4KIDS business partners. (4KIDS)
Businesses can also support back-to-school collections, volunteer activities, fundraising events, Vision Tours, and monthly giving.
The opportunity extends beyond writing a check. Companies can introduce the mission to employees, clients, professional networks, and faith communities.
“Together, we can reverse this,” Veliz told the audience.
Her message was direct: Miami’s foster-care challenges cannot be solved by one organization alone. They require foster parents, churches, clinicians, businesses, donors, volunteers, and advocates willing to stand beside children and families.
For 4KIDS Miami, every donation, partnership, training session, and supported foster home advances the same bold vision:
Until every child has a home.
Learn How Your Business Can Support 4KIDS Miami
Sonia VelizPartner Engagement Officer305-298-3088SoniaV@4KIDS.us4KIDS.us

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Eddy Rosell

Miami Rising Star – Aileen Martinez

Paul Zelnick – Transactional Attorney

Sonia Veliz Brings the 4KIDS Mission to Miami’s Business Community

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