A new survey commissioned by UPS Business Monitor shows surprising optimism among America's small business owners. In contrast, executives contacted by HispanicBusiness.com offered starkly opposing assessments of the short-term economic outlook for small businesses and expressed surprise at the survey's optimism.

Education executive and preschool advocate Celia Ayala has been appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California Early Learning Quality Improvement System Advisory Committee.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is rapidly gaining popularity in the U.S., particularly, it seems, among Hispanics. A newly launched MMA league, the Bellator Fighting Championships, trying to capitalize on this trend, betting that the largest growing demographic in the U.S. will continue to be intrigued by the action-packed sport. A deal with ESPN Deportes and a stable of Hispanic fighters are only part of the company's plan.

Staying a step ahead of those who wish to do harm through computers is a tough business. Enabling business networks and home PCs to fend them off is Juan Santana's business. As the CEO of Panda Security -- a Spanish firm that's attempting to grow its business worldwide -- Mr. Santana has to contend not only with viruses, hacking, and malware, but with bigger security companies, like Symantec or McAfee, and, perhaps more notably, the misinformation that most computer users operate under.

The number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States is expected to grow 41.8 percent in the next six years to 4.3 million, with total revenues surging 39 percent to more than $539 billion, according to new estimates by HispanTelligence. Spurred by growing entrepreneurial trends and affluence among the nation's largest minority population, the increase is expected to come at a robust rate of 8.5 and 8.7 percent, respectfully, over the next couple years.

For more than two decades, the annual Hispanic Business 500 directory has served as a barometer of the U.S. Hispanic economy. A purchase of the 2007 directory provides the top 500 Hispanic-owned companies list in Excel format including: CEO names; company addresses and telephone numbers; e-mail addresses for 375 companies and Web addresses for 430 companies; and company revenue and employees numbers for 2005 and 2006.

Troubled by her low chemistry grades, Lydia Villa-Komaroff turned to her adviser at the University of Washington for some career direction. He turned to her said, "of course you are doing badly. Don't you know that women don't do well in chemistry?" That misguided advice only served to motivate the New Mexico native into becoming one of the country's foremost and influential scientists. Hispanic Business recently honored Ms. Villa-Komaroff with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

In the world of information technology, Hispanic innovators and risk-takers are at the frontier of some of the Web's most dynamic business ventures. They are forging new marketing models and redefining business-to-business relationships in the vanguard of tomorrow's business environment. Hispanic Business magazine recently caught up with three online entrepreneurs who are leading the way.

He was young, charismatic, and making great money at a Fortune 500 company. At 23, Detroit-native David Segura was living the good life. But like so many entrepreneurs, Mr. Segura had fire in his heart and a yearning to do something more. He walked away from his job at Ford Motor Co. in search of something more personally enriching. More than a decade later, there's no doubt that he made the right move.