After a quarter-century of creating music for some of the industry's greatest and brightest performers, including his celebrity wife, Gloria, as well as Shakira, Ricky Martin, and others, he has decided to retire. Emilio has also made a name for himself in the television and film industries.
His major goal has always been to dispel the misconceptions that have plagued the Latino community in cinema and television for decades. Emilio created and directed his first full-length documentary film, "90 Millas," in 2008, on Cuban music's pioneers and history.
After screening at the Tribecca Film Festival, the Dubai Film Festival, and the Miami International Film Festival, the film earned critical acclaim. Emilio has demonstrated the same enthusiasm and ambition in the hospitality sector as he has in music, cinema, and television.
Emilio had the idea in the early 1990s that Miami's South Beach would become an international attraction, so he bought the Cardozo hotel on Ocean Drive.
With the success of Larios on the Beach (Miami Beach) and Bongo's Cuban Café, he had a Midas touch that was instant and obvious (Downtown Disney at the Walt Disney Resort in Orlando, Fl, at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, and at the Seminole Hard Rock & Casino in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida).
The Estefans own and run Costa d' Este Beach Resort in Vero Beach, Florida, which is located north of Miami. His goal is to make Vero Beach the next big tourism destination.
People will have excellent opportunity to explore this magnificent paradise because of what we are doing.” Emilio became the first Cuban-American to possess a minority stake in an NFL team in 2009 when he joined the Miami Dolphins' ownership group.
With the publication of The Rhythm of Success - How an Immigrant Produced His Own American Dream in 2010, Emilio added the label of the best-selling author to his extensive list of accomplishments. It tells the narrative of his tenacity in achieving success in both his personal and professional lives.
From his modest beginnings as a Cuban exile to becoming one of America's most successful businessmen, he offers his unorthodox and pioneering career as a guide, empowering readers to develop the tools, ethics, beliefs, and strategies they need to realize their own economic potential. The next year, he collaborated with The Miami Herald on a presentation.
The Exile Experience: Journey to Freedom is a remarkable historical record that chronicles the personal tales of people who escaped Cuba and honors the achievements of the Cuban-American community. The book is available in three different editions, each one tailored to people who arrived by Operation Pedro Pan, Freedom Flights, or the Mariel boatlift.
Each volume includes the names of every Cuban who came in one of the three exoduses, a total of over 400,000 names in all. For a guy who came to the United States from Cuba as a teenager in the 1960s, he experienced and confronted the cultural and racial disparities that have accompanied Latino integration in the United States.
Emilio has maintained his sense of humor, humility, charm, and alchemical characteristics despite the struggle. To successfully integrate two cultures, they must be recognized and regarded as complete and whole entities. Emilio's success has been largely due to this factor. Respectfully, I can claim that I am familiar with both Latino and Anglo cultures.
I understand how people feel and what motivates them, and it is by filling in the gaps that I have been able to develop my body of work. Emilio Estefan is a musician, producer, creator, visionary, husband, father, friend, and prominent member of the community who represents and embellishes the new Latino in the globe.
