Vilma R. Diaz is the founder and CEO of Promotions Rock. She has over 25 years of marketing and sales experience, including coordinating special events and campaigns for the City of Miami. She earned her BASI in July 2016.

Who in the business world do you admire most or strive to emulate?
I admire Bill Gates because he created a product that changed the world for communications, business and education. I also admire that he gives back to the community.

If they made a movie about your life, what would it be about and what actor would play you?
It would be called Go Girl Go and would be about a person who immigrated to the U.S. as a baby but reached greatness many times over, both in business and in her personal life and was able to help a lot of people. It would be a positive thinking movie, with a "can do" theme showing a "if you think you can, you can" attitude and that persistence pays. I would play the lead character.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Do unto others as you would like others to do into you.

What’s one thing you’d do to improve the ad specialty industry?
I would like to promote more to the advertising, marketing, public relations and the media industries the importance of using advertising specialties as a viable part of their marketing mix. All campaigns should have Advertising Specialties, because they are products that keep on promoting. They don’t go away after the campaign ends. It’s the means of marketing that keeps on giving and promoting.

What’s on your business and personal bucket list?
On my business bucket list is to grow Promotions Rock into a multibillion-dollar business that keeps on giving when I am gone. On my personal bucket list is to help my family and friends to be happy and successful and to travel and explore the world and all its greatness.

What’s one sentence you’d like to hear from your boss?
“Congratulations, you’ve reached a billion dollars in sales!”

If you could choose an age to remain forever, which age would you choose? Why?
It would be 37 because by then I had knowledge, experience, education and my children, and was in my prime physically.

What would you do with your “15 minutes” of fame?
I’d thank all of my family, business associates and friends for helping me get there and let everyone know my secrets to getting there. I’d also promote the importance of positive thinking, working hard and playing hard and being true to your inner voice and instinct about how you should live your life.