Latest news with #Cuba
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
A $6 billion logistics CEO credits an ice cream flavor with helping him understand why customers need fresh innovation
CEO Robert Sanchez led the transformation of a nearly century-old trucking and logistics company by applying a lesson he learned as a teenager about ice cream. The key, according to Sanchez, lies in challenging the 'we've always done it this way' method of thinking and focusing on the way customer needs have evolved. Ryder System, with $12.6 billion in revenue, is a leading provider of logistics and transportation services with more than 50,000 employees in North America operating a fleet of more than 250,000 trucks. It's come a long way since it was founded in 1933 by James Ryder with a single Model A Ford truck and a $35 down payment. But the Ryder board, about a decade ago, wanted CEO Robert Sanchez to focus on innovation and how to lead the company beyond the core strategy and services that had sustained it for decades. The answer, for Sanchez, had its roots in a job he worked every weekend as a teenager: scooping ice cream at Carvel. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Sanchez worked at a Carvel ice cream shop in Miami during a time the city saw an influx of Cuban immigrants. Cuban customers would stop into the store and ask if Carvel carried a flavor called mamey (mah-MAY) ice cream. The creamy Caribbean fruit has a delicate but firm texture like a papaya, but tastes like a delicious pumpkin pie. Kids grow up eating it fresh or in desserts, and it's often blended into ice cream. 'Folks would come into Carvel and ask if we had mamey, and obviously we didn't have mamey because we're Carvel, and they don't have mamey,' Sanchez told Fortune. 'So the owner of the ice cream store kept trying to lobby Carvel to make mamey ice cream, but they wouldn't.' Disappointed customers would leave Carvel and go across the street to the Cuban restaurant to get their mamey ice cream fix. Finally, the store owner had enough. 'One day, the owner of the ice cream store got upset and he said, 'You know what? I'm gonna make my own ice cream,'' Sanchez recalled. 'So he went, and he bought mamey at the store and he mixed it with the Carvel ice cream mix and he created Carvel mamey ice cream.' Within two weeks, it was the third-best selling ice cream in the shop. 'It's what people wanted—they wanted mamey,' said Sanchez. 'Carvel actually has great ice cream and you mix that with the right flavor and it sold great.' Fast forward to about 10 years ago and the Ryder board was pressing Sanchez about innovation, pointing out that the company was still selling essentially the same services Jim Ryder had launched decades earlier. With mamey on his mind, Sanchez led Ryder to innovate by combining existing capabilities in new ways to solve customers' problems. 'This guy, it's not like he split the atom, but he invented Carvel mamey ice cream by putting these two things together and giving the customers what they wanted,' Sanchez said. 'We at Ryder keep selling vanilla and chocolate, but maybe there are customers that want something different.' The company launched an e-commerce fulfillment business, which was an entirely new area for Ryder; a mobile maintenance business; and technology to track customer freight that it didn't have before. Sanchez said the company also launched what he described as 'the first Airbnb for trucks,' which ultimately didn't work out as expected, but the company pivoted. 'We now have a muscle for developing new products and services and innovating,' he said, which is similar to what his former boss at Carvel did with mamey ice cream. 'You're not inventing the next iPhone, but you're putting together services in a different way to meet customers' needs.' And if you think a CEO whose first job was at an ice cream store would put them off ice cream, that isn't the case for Sanchez. Ice cream, he admits, probably has nothing to do with being fit or healthy, but it keeps him happy. Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia flavor and a chocolate and vanilla soft-serve swirl—like the kind Carvel serves—are his two favorites. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Washington Post
NTSB urges quick fix on Boeing plane engines to prevent smoke from filling cabin after a bird strike
Safety experts recommended Wednesday that the engines on Boeing's troubled 737 Max airplanes be modified quickly to prevent smoke from filling the cockpit or cabin after a safety feature is activated following a bird strike. The problem detailed by the National Transportation Safety Board emerged after two bird strikes involving Southwest Airlines planes in 2023 — one in Havana, Cuba, and another in New Orleans. The Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing already warned airlines and pilots about the problem and the engine maker has been working on a fix.
CBS News
2 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Video shows ICE detaining Cuban immigrant after Miami court asylum hearing
A Cuban immigrant was abruptly detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the hallway of a Miami federal courthouse Monday, following what was supposed to be his final immigration hearing. "This is unfair… It's not fair," screamed Daysis Salvador, the wife of 44-year-old Didie Espinoza, as she recorded video of her husband being handcuffed and taken into an elevator by plainclothes ICE agents with covered faces. Surprise detention after case dismissed "As they see you come out of court, these men immediately run to detain you," Salvador told CBS News Miami. A U.S. citizen, Salvador met Espinoza two years ago and the couple married this June after waiting for his divorce to finalize. Espinoza, originally from Cuba, arrived at the U.S. southern border in May 2022 and requested political asylum. He was granted I-220A status, a parole designation given to thousands of Cuban migrants at the time. Under current federal policy, that status disqualifies him from applying under the Cuban Adjustment Act, which allows Cuban nationals who enter with a visa to adjust their status more easily. "This is an immigrant who came to the United States in May of 2022. He came to the southern border to request political asylum," said immigration attorney Laura Jimenez, who represented Espinoza in court. "By September of 2022, being diligent on his case, he submitted his asylum application." According to Jimenez, Espinoza had received notice to appear in court for a hearing on June 16. She says that during the hearing, the government's prosecutor announced, "The federal government is dismissing the case." "Since the asylum is filed with the immigration court, which is the one that has jurisdiction over the case, if they dismiss the case, there's no asylum," Jimenez explained. She has since filed an appeal and told Salvador that while the case is pending, Espinoza should not be deported. Plea to lawmakers Espinoza is currently being held at the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach. "My message is to our legislators, Maria Elvira Salazar, (Mario) Diaz-Balart and others, please comply with everything you promised… my husband has not committed any crime… he has been a law-abiding citizen who wanted to live in a free country," Salvador said. She is now calling on South Florida's Cuban American members of Congress to intervene in her husband's case.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Following Mesmerising Tate Modern 25th Anniversary Performance, KaMag Bring Boundary-Pushing Art Performance To São Paulo Biennial This Fall
KaMag Acclaimed Cuban artist and academic María Magdalena Campos-Pons–whose interdisciplinary work often explores themes of diaspora, memory, ritual and spirituality–has collaborated with Kamaal Malak, musician, academic and former member of two-time Grammy Award-winning hip-hop group Arrested Development on many boundary-pushing performances. The partners in life and in art collaborated in May this year on I Am Soil. My Tears Are Water–a seminal performance at Tate Modern commissioned in celebration of the museum's 25th anniversary. María Magdalena Campos-Pons and Kamaal Malak "I Am Soil. My Tears Are Water" at Tate Modern 25th Anniversary. Tate Modern at 25: A Stage for Radical Love María Magdalena Campos-Pons and Kamaal Malak chose the auspicious occasion of their triumphant performance at Tate Modern's quarter century birthday to reveal their new artist moniker of KaMag. I Am Soil. My Tears Are Water is a multi-sensory performance merging visual installations with choreographed dance, music, food, flowers, symbolic ritual and bespoke costume to create a sonic, sensory experience performed by KaMag with a troupe of dancers and musicians. Campos-Pons and Malak rose to the auspicious occasion of TATE Modern's quarter century with an immersive performance that took the audience in the subterranean Tanks on a sensory journey, inviting reflection on universal themes of healing, resilience and transformation. KaMag created a vibrant tapestry of diaspora and spirituality exploring their concept of Radical Love as a regenerative, healing force in a fractured world. Ritual, Sound, and Storytelling: The Ingredients of KaMag's Alchemy Campos-Pons enacted a metaphor of soil nourished by a Mother's River of Tears with the help of dancers, music and objects, fusing it with a sonic journey composed by Malak to guide audiences through an emotional arc of grief and ultimately of hope. The performance also featured video projections and live drawing curated to create a dialogue with engaging with Tate Modern's architecture. KaMag adapted their performance for London and Tate, sourcing local talent including choreographer Naz Choudhury and emerging designers Omer Asim and Maya Antoun of OMER ASIM. Those who missed the epic Tate Modern performance and are keen to experience Campos-Pons' artwork can view her installation–acquired by Tate from Documenta 14 (2017)–in an exhibition dedicated to 25 works by 25 artists on the occasion of Tate's 25th birthday, until 24th October, 2025. María Magdalena Campos-Pons and Kamaal Malak "I Am Soil. My Tears Are Water" at Tate Modern 25th Anniversary. I met Maria and Kamaal on a balmy day in London's Soho, and spoke to them about the experience of performing their seminal Tate Modern performance and how they are pushing the boundaries of performance art at the intersection of music and dance in a bid to foreground the concept of radical love as a force for healing and transformation. KaMag: A New Creative Union for a New Era Campos-Pons and Malak were still radiating the positive vibrations released during their Tate performance, and they announced that–after four decades of performance practice–they have made a symbolic merger of their names to KaMag, an anacronym that summarises their vision of spreading radical love through art at a time of great distress and unrest for the world and humanity. So where did the title I am Soil, My Tears Are Water come from? KaMag explain: 'For the past three years we were working on a project and we were both thinking about geography, thinking about the Universe and thinking about energy, and trying to find a sentiment of the time we are living in. So I am Soil, My Tears are Water is almost like a continuation of the idea that grounded us together as creators, as individuals, and collectively thinking together about what are the themes of our time that touch us the most, and how do we want to create ways of communicating that. So we are sensitive to everything that happens around us and open to observe that. The complexities and sometimes the gravitas of events that surround us.' It seems like the right moment to push a message of humanity and human beings looking after each other and spreading love. It sounds like a cliché, but it's sad that John Lennon and Yoko Ono were saying this in the 1970s and we are still caught in a cycle of war and destruction, and it's artists and performers like KaMag who digest and comment on seismic world events through their art–whether it's painting, drawing, song lyrics, installation or performance–and propose solutions or reactions to the world around us. So what motivated KaMag to conceive the mantra of Radical Love that is the beating heart of every one of their performances? 'In a very complex, challenging world, we are trying to create conduits we want to find restorative powers that allow new things to come. 'Radical Love' means how to love each other and how to love everything around us.' Installation Photography of Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons & Neil Leonard at Tate Modern, 2025. © Tate Photography. Reece Straw. On Influence and Lineage: From Yoko Ono to Yoruba Traditions Did performance artists such as Ono, Lennon and Marina Abramovic influenced KaMag's work at all? Maria cites Brazilian performance artist Lydia Clark as an influence as well Felix Gonzalez Torres, the ritualistic healing traditions of Maria's Cuban Yoriba tradition, and Yoko Ono's sonic explorations. María: 'Yoko Ono's sonic explorations were quite visceral and unique. I actually met Yoko Ono in 1989 at Riverside studios in London for the first time. I liked these idea of expanding materiality. But Lydia Clark is my Guru, as a woman who opened up extraordinary opportunities of performativity. And also a lot of the influence for my performance comes from my tradition of Cuba, from the practice of ritual and healing process in the Yoruba school.' Kamaal composed the musical score for the Tate performance–which has also been performed at other prestigious arts venues such as the Guggenheim in Los Angeles–and cites as an influence John Lennon's Idea of expanding materiality and the idea of not limiting ourselves to where we are but thinking about where we can go during our performance by using our imagination. Kamaal explains: 'In our performance (at Tate) we had images that were meditative, and also we put calming frequencies in the music. Most of them were subsonic, 40khz frequencies that regenerate brain cells. Our friend is a brain surgeon who developed an apparatus that uses subsonic frequencies of music to regenerate the brain cells of people who've had strokes, and his work was a big influence on the music I composed for our performances.' María tells me that through their performance at Tate and in other cultural venues around the world, KaMag are asking 'How do we create a path of connections and engagement that is new, and is different? Their response to this question appears to be a fusion of María's Cuban heritage, Yoruban traditions and multi-disciplinary artistry, with Kamaal's finely tuned musicality and roots embedded in the Hip Hop scene. This combination of art, performance, ritual, music and dance is sprinkled with a dose of KaMag's 'radical love' and the result is a multi-sensory alchemy that transports audiences to another realm where anything is possible if we project a message of compassion and humanity. Installation Photography of Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons & Neil Leonard at Tate Modern, 2025. © Tate Photography. Reece Straw. Healing Through Frequency: Music as Medicine Kamaal says his musical background played a part in the duo's new manifestation of KaMag: 'Music has been a circle. We are in an area where love is kind of corny. Because Hip Hop started from oppression and disruption–in Brooklyn, New York. It started from that grind, and it stayed in that area of struggle, oppression and trying to get your message out. But in the 90s it kind of shifted and we (Arrested Development) had songs like Mr Wendal (about a homeless man) and Tennessee (a kind of prayer song). Then that changed and we had gangsta rap and hip hop. And now, here we are again, we're at this point–this eclipse–where it's OK to say certain words that we didn't say, and we can say 'let's do some love songs'. I call our music 'feel good music', because we want people to feel good. That's where we're at right now with KaMag, and that's what we want to push–that and Five senses–the taste, the smell, the sound, the touch and the view–that's what we cover in our performance. All of those senses. And I haven't seen that kind of performance lately, although it's out there I'm sure. That's what we want to push right now, to touch all the senses.' Final Reflections: Love as Resistance, Art as Renewal My experience of spending an hour with KaMag–partners in life and in art–was heart-warming. They radiated an infectiously positive aura and I left with a feeling that– despite the overwhelming barrage of the news cycle reporting seemingly perpetual war and conflict–artists with the glass half full mindset of KaMag have the power to change the world for the better, by creating life-affirming art that invites people to look at life through a different lens and manifesting a more inclusive world where we enact positive change through their message of radical love. From London to São Paulo: An Artistic Journey Continues Shortly after my meeting with the enigmatic artist duo, it was announced that they will be performing a new version of I Am Soil. My Tears Are Water at the 36th Bienal de São Paulo–titled Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice–taking place from 6th September, 2025 until 11th January, 2026 at the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion in São Paulo. KaMag seem like a perfect choice for a Biennial whose title is derived from Conceição Evaristo's poemDa calma e do silêncio. The São Paulo Biennial's theme is centred around the importance of nature, humanity and of listening–particularly during times of global crisis–and KaMag's Radical Love sentiment with its humanist roots couldn't be more timely or more vital. Commenting on their selection for São Paulo Biennial KaMag said: 'This is an amazing opportunity. São Paulo has an extraordinary tradition and we are very grateful for the opportunity. The core theme of the edition is very close to the ideas of our practice. We are bringing a new Performance to São Paulo.'
RNZ News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Heading Off: Cuba
This afternoon in 'Heading Off' Jesse jets to Cuba. It's a country known for its vibrant culture as well as its complex political history. But there's got to be more to it than vintage cars and cigars - what is it actually like to travel there? RNZ's Tony Stamp has first-hand experience, and he joins Jesse to share the ins and outs. Drivers in Cuba must pick up hitchhikers. Photo: Unsplash
