CONTRIBUTORS

Sydney Silva

Sydney Silva was raised in Freeport, Maine and moved to Lakeland Florida to attend Florida Southern College. She is currently working to earn her Bachelor of Fine Arts as a graphic design student. She is our design intern here at The Lakelander and is continuing to take classes over the summer. In her freetime, when she's not designing or studying, she enjoys photography and painting as other creative outlets as well as hanging with her animals, Charlie and Henry, and hanging with friends.

@ssquid.ink

Jordan Randall

Jordan Randall is a 28-year-old photographer and digital media specialist from Upstate New York, and a graphic design graduate from Southeastern University. In his career, Jordan has worked with artists such as Bastille and Andy Grammer, and author Sadie Robertson.

You can find more of his work on Instagram at @ imjordanrandall.

Victoria Bardega

Victoria Bardega is a content creator based out of Central Florida who is passionate about building community. She earned her bachelor's degree in journalism/public relations at Southeastern University, and has worked in marketing at a large non-profit and was a leader at a regional digital media company. She is gifted in photography, writing, social media and marketing.

When she's not photographing a love story or writing lifestyle pieces, she's making memories with her husband, Alan, and their sweet daughter, Valley. She loves team work, the Oxford comma, laughter, and endless cups of tea lattes!

front of the iconic Bartow Ford dealership along US-98 just south of Lakeland, there is a brick pathway that dealership President Benny Robles Jr. started constructing when he took over in 2017. Every brick represents an exceptional employee who epitomizes the excellence and loyalty that characterize a dealership that was opened in 1948 by Ernest Smith, and eventually sold to Benny’s father, Benny Robles Sr., in the late 1970s. Through economic highs and lows, vast changes to the car industry, and even a pandemic, Bartow Ford has been home to hundreds of incredible employees who have served thousands of customers, all part of constructing a distinctive path to 75 years in business.

“I'm so looking forward to 50 years from now, looking out there and seeing hundreds of names of people from Hispanic to Caucasian to Black that [shows] all the different people that have contributed to the success of Bartow Ford,” Robles Jr. said about the brick pathway. “It'll be like our little walk of fame.”

No two bricks are exactly the same, but they align almost perfectly, which can also be said of the people who have made Bartow Ford a Top 100 volume dealer in the United States.

Robles Sr. was born in Spain and then lived in Cuba with his family for nearly a decade, before they fled due to political unrest under Fidel Castro’s regime. Robles attended the University of South Florida, and after college he worked at Ford Credit, where he met Smith.

Although he and Smith—who was born and raised in Polk County and worked for the family construction business at a young age—experienced very different journeys through adolescence, ultimately their paths and missions converged, and the foundation they created at Bartow Ford is being built on by Benny Sr.’s namesake.

“It's crazy how well Ernest Smith passed along his philosophy of doing business and how identical my dad's feelings are on the way we treat employees and our customers,” Robles Jr. said, reminiscing about how he used to soak up infinite wisdom from his dad and Smith as they frequented the Pizza Hut buffet together years ago. “And then, you know, what a great job [my dad] did at relaying that message to me and my business partners because it's identical. If you could somehow, theoretically take Ernest and my father and all my business partners and put us in several rooms and say, ‘How would you handle this issue?’ I guarantee you the answer would be exactly the same.”

“IF YOU COULD SOMEHOW, THEORETICALLY, TAKE ERNEST AND MY FATHER AND ALL MY BUSINESS PARTNERS AND PUT US IN SEVERAL ROOMS AND SAY, 'HOW WOULD YOU HANDLE THIS ISSUE?' I GUARANTEE THE ANSWER WOULD BE EXACTLY THE SAME."

Part of the current leadership team includes minority owner Carlos Sandoval, who runs fixed operations at the dealership. He is 100 percent Mexican, and Benny Jr. said Sandoval is a reflection of the hard work of many people who move to America to seize opportunities not afforded to them in their home country.

“More so than ever I think there’s not as many people willing to do the hard work,” he said. “There’s a great advantage for anyone that’s come over recently from another country…or someone who is a second generation [American] because they have the opportunity to shine.”

The 44-year-old father of three constantly reiterates how blessed he feels to be leading a successful business where the employees feel more like family to him, but he’s quick to note that Benny Sr. certainly made him work for the opportunity.

“He was very particular about making me work for everything, and I had to take out a loan to buy it. But I got a great deal, so I’m not complaining,” he says with his trademark grin and a chuckle.

Benny Jr. started washing cars at Bartow Ford before his 13th birthday, and one thing that has always been instilled in him is to treat everyone the same, whether it’s the vice president of Ford Motor Company or the waiter down the road serving you lunch.

When it comes to the idea of legacy, Benny Jr. isn’t trying to one-up what’s been done in the past, he’s just trying to put his mark on the brand, and hopefully create more opportunities for others to succeed.

Last year he helped pull off a first-ofits-kind “Concert on the Lot” featuring country music star Michael Ray, just the latest community event to draw people to the Bartow Ford campus.

But his big next move, that he’s been priming for, is adding another dealership to his portfolio. He is hopeful that could happen in the next two years, and ideally that location would be within a 90-minute drive of Bartow Ford.

“I have a logjam of leadership at the dealership. My managers are somewhat young and buying a new store would allow some of my managers to move on and move up,” he said. “I don’t want to grow irresponsibly and I never wanna be so aggressive that I hurt our original baby…but right now, numbers wise, we are running the most efficient we’ve ever been, so that makes me less nervous on taking a chance on a [new] store.”

Lakeland Hispanic Festival is celebrating 25 years of bringing the Latin flare to Lake Mirror.

More than 60 vendors participated last year, and additional vendors for the 2023 event continue to sign up to be part of the celebration according to festival coordinator Claudio Eligio. Through his company Master Music he hopes to bring thousands of people in the Hispanic community, from Central Florida and beyond, together for a memorable event that will run from noon to 9 p.m. on September 30.

“Around the world, we make concerts in Mexico, Spain, Europe, France, and Caribbean Colombia,” Eligio says. “So I am a professional musician, and I know about events. So I am still doing events in a lot of places and with big venues, venues of 20,000 people, 15,000 people.”

Eligio is a musician by trade, having toured around the world with artists like Willie Colon, using his expertise to bring the beats, rhythms, and melodies that propel people to dance. He’s making it his mission to bring local performers to show Lakeland’s Latin flare and bring people to the dance floor.

“The best that we can do is to make a perfect and nice event every year for the people. They can hear nice music, with live music there are going to be a lot of people.

Like last year, we bring a lot of people from Puerto Rico,” Eligio says.

The music is alongside authentic Latin food, creative street vendors, arts and crafts, games and more.

More than 4,000 people attended last year’s festival.

At Home

Ron DeSantis recently appointed Lakeland judge Meredith Sasso to the Florida Supreme Court, making her the fourth Hispanic justice DeSantis has appointed to the high court since taking office in 2019.

The Cuban-American Sasso has served as the Chief Judge at the Florida Sixth District Court of Appeal, located in Lakeland, since January 1, 2023. She served as a judge for the Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal for four years prior.

“I am proud to appoint Judge Meredith Sasso to the Florida Supreme Court because her fidelity to the Constitution will help preserve freedom in our state for generations to come,” DeSantis said in a press release from the governor’s office. “As a CubanAmerican woman who understands the importance of our constitutional system and the rule of law, Judge Sasso will serve our state well.”

With Sasso's appointment, three women will serve on the Florida Supreme Court simultaneously for the first time in state history.

“I am incredibly honored that Governor Ron DeSantis is entrusting me with this position,” said Judge Meredith Sasso in the release. “The judiciary plays a critical and unique role in our constitutional government, and I am resolutely committed to upholding the rule of law for as long as I am privileged to serve.”

Sasso was chosen by DeSantis to lead the development of and launch the Sixth District Court of Appeal in Lakeland, which is currently located on Main Street while funding is identified to construct a new facility.

Before being appointed a judge, Sasso served as Chief Deputy General Counsel for Gov. Rick Scott, representing the governor's office in litigation before the Florida Supreme Court, the First District Court of Appeal, and state and federal trial courts.

Prior to starting her career in government, Sasso represented clients in large loss general liability, auto negligence, and complex commercial claims in state and federal courts at trial and on appeal. She also served as a guardian ad litem, representing abused or neglected children.

Judge Sasso received her undergraduate degree from the University of Florida in 2005 and her law degree from the University of Florida in 2008, where she was a member of the Justice Campbell Thornal Moot Court Board. She was raised in Tallahassee, and is married with two children. She currently serves as an appointed member of the Florida Bar Appellate Court Rules Committee. She is also a member of the American Enterprise Institute Leadership Network and the Federalist Society.

Sasso is replacing Judge Ricky Polston who retired from the high court earlier this year.