I embarked on my mission for Chile Lindo in 1995 with the long term vision of bridging my two worlds, the United States and Chile.

Looking around me nowadays... I was not too far off!

During the mid-nineties Chilean wine started making its way into the US market, and you could get a really good bottle of vino chileno at rock bottom prices. In 1996, I produced "Fiesta Chilena," a Chilean Independence Day celebration in San Francisco's Mission District that was sponsored by Robert Mondavi, Kendal Jackson, and Gundlach Bundschu--the first California wineries to have joint ventures with Chilean vintners.

This was only the beginning of many collaborations that are still developing between Chile and California. So let's toast their continued success with some good Chilean wine.

Since then, alliances between Chile and California have exploded. This beautiful Southern country is making serious headway on a number of fronts in the Golden State.

Chilean artists are crossing over in the film and music industry.

This year, Pablo Larraín's "NO" was nominated for the Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film, and Andrés Wood was honored with the Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Jury Prize for "Violeta Went to Heaven."

The French-Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux was nominated twice for a Grammy in the category Best Latin Rock, Alternative, or Urban Album. Once in 2011 for her album "1977" and this year for "La Bala."

And there's lots more... the San Francisco based non-profit Chile California Council has as its mission to empower "cooperation initiatives between Chile and California."

ChileGlobal is actively linking the Chilean diaspora through social networks. Start-Up Chile, a government program to inspire entrepreneurs to launch in Chile, has hundreds of applicants from California's top universities and its admission process is supported by San Francisco-based company YouNoodle.

The Sausalito-Viña del Mar Sister Cities council is active again after decades (it was founded in 1960) and recently hosted a very successful seven day program for seven women representing Agep-V--a women's small business association in Viña del Mar. Yet another group of Chilean women toured Silicon Valley, hosted by Bárbara Silva, founder of the networking firm BST Innovation.

Also, by the way, Marin based author Isabel Allende is on a book tour for her recently published English version of Maya's Notebook.

Check out her blog, My Invented Isabel

Great minds think alike--the vision of Chile California cross cultural exchange is booming.

The idea of symbolically extending the Golden Gate Bridge from the port of San Francisco to the port of Valparaíso is getting loooooooots of traction.

By now it's pretty much common knowledge that Chile and California share a great deal: in terms of geography, the long Pacific coast; in terms of history, we know of Chilean 49ers; in terms of import-export businesses, California imports its off-season produce from Chile as well as fish and sea food. Numerous government and cultural alliances have come and gone over the years, many of which are reviving. However, the growth of the wine industry in both regions is perhaps the most obvious. The West Coast Ambassador for Wines of Chile is Rebecca Chapa, founder of Tannin Management .

....AND here goes the reason for my Newsletter in the first place. May I present to you yet another energetic group of Chileans that are inspired by innovation, that are motivated by the desire to create connections, and that are producing a one in a lifetime opportunity to network with Chilean key players in varying fields and schools of thought... I'm talking about Encuentros Boston 2013I assure you Encuentros Boston 2013 will not disappoint. Check it out below and I hope to see you there!

Saludos,
Paula Tejeda