{"id":114,"date":"2021-06-08T08:00:42","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T12:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/business\/?p=114"},"modified":"2021-06-08T08:00:42","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T12:00:42","slug":"entrepreneur-mimi-feliciano-receives-honorary-degree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/business\/2021\/06\/08\/entrepreneur-mimi-feliciano-receives-honorary-degree\/","title":{"rendered":"Entrepreneur Mimi Feliciano Receives Honorary Degree"},"content":{"rendered":"

Montclair State University awarded Mimi Turco Feliciano an honorary Bachelor of Science degree at the Monday evening Feliciano School of Business Commencement ceremony on opening day of a week of ceremonies.<\/p>\n

It was a milestone long delayed for Feliciano who has credited the University with providing the foundation for her successful career even though she did not complete her degree when she attended decades ago.<\/p>\n

In conferring the honor, President Susan A. Cole told Feliciano, \u201cYou have achieved distinction in your career as a successful entrepreneur and business leader, and have made outstanding contributions to Montclair State University and to the business community of New Jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feliciano is the Chief Executive Officer of FEM Real Estate, which she co-founded with her husband, Edwin Feliciano, after serving as the Chief Executive Officer of Lincoln Park Healthcare. Feliciano has been named to ROI-NJ\u2019s Influencer: Women in Business 2021 list and NJBIZ<\/em>\u2019s Top 50 Power List, and has been named a New Jersey Business Hall of Fame Laureate, and received the University\u2019s Carpe Diem Award in 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour generosity and commitment have left their mark on the University in many ways, including the Mimi and Edwin Feliciano School of Business, the Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, and The Global Center on Human Trafficking,\u201d said Cole. \u201cYou continue to support the University and its students by serving on the advisory boards of the Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation and School of Business, and even by teaching master ballroom dance classes in the College of the Arts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole\u2019s remarks then turned more personal: \u201cMimi, today, many years since you first came to Montclair State as a freshman, I am proud to say that you are earning your degree.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honorary degree recipient Mimi Feliciano on the platform with her husband, Edwin Feliciano ’82.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWith the many hundreds graduating today, you now become an alumna of Montclair State University, and we are proud to call you one of our own.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her remarks, Feliciano shared a story of her early days at Montclair State, fresh out of high school with her only business experience being that of working on her father\u2019s books in the family construction business.<\/p>\n

As a first generation student, Feliciano said two things dominated her thinking: \u201cI felt like I wasn’t good enough and that I never had enough money.\u201d She recalled a story in an accounting class where the professor chastised her when she protested that her father\u2019s checkbooks were always overdrawn and his business was successful. She went home and promptly informed her father that, per her professor, he was bankrupt.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at what we’re building,\u201d Feliciano\u2019s father told her. \u201cWe started from nothing. \u2026 You can look at it as you have nothing. Or look at it as you are building an empire and you are short on cash.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a true entrepreneur. He had a big vision and he always believed in growing the business,\u201d said Feliciano.<\/p>\n

Feliciano\u2019s father told her: \u201cYou know, Mimi, you’ve got to believe in yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, my name is on the School of Business,\u201d Felicano proclaimed, \u201cand it’s in reach for you too. Believe in yourself and don’t sweat it if you’re a little short on cash.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"Michele
Michele Ansbacher received a Distinguished Alumna Award at the evening Feliciano School of Business ceremony on June 7, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>
\n

The ceremony also held significance as Feliciano\u2019s friend and fellow supporter of the University Michele Ansbacher was awarded with the Distinguished Alumna Award for the Feliciano School of Business.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongrats to my friend, Mimi, who I met through our work on the Advisory Board. I\u2019m struck by the fact that two Jersey girls from Nutley and Belleville are sharing the stage today,\u201d Ansbacher said in her address. Then to students, she said, \u201cI congratulate each of you on your achievement.\u00a0Your diploma represents the courage, character and sacrifice you needed to be sitting here today.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

The ceremony was one of three for the Feliciano School of Business and one of 18 ceremonies held by Montclair State in an effort to have safe outdoor ceremonies during the pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Montclair State University awarded Mimi Turco Feliciano an honorary Bachelor of Science degree at the Monday evening Feliciano School of Business Commencement ceremony on opening day of a week of ceremonies. It was a milestone long delayed for Feliciano who has credited the University with providing the foundation for her successful career even though she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-friends","category-feliciano-school-of-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}