The Latte Training Academy, Inc. did not get a BOOST grant, but the organization is steadfast in continuing toward the development of its Content Curation Center. As part of the organization\u2019s focus on expanding technology opportunities within the CNMI, the organization applied for the development of a Digital Content Curation Center. The proposal, if fully funded, would have created 10 positions across Saipan, Tinian and Rota focused on development of social media content and account management for clients across the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost people don\u2019t even know that the Latte Training Academy conceived and partnered with InteliSecure, Inc. to stand up the region\u2019s fist Security Operations Center within the Cybersecurity space. We did this prior to the pandemic; however, during the pandemic, our effort created 25 full-time positions for local residents who are still employed to this day. We know that technology is a viable and clean option for the CNMI. As such, we applied to develop and start the region\u2019s first Digital Content Creation Center as part of the BOOST application. Despite the outcome, we are continuing to develop the effort and will launch in the second quarter of this year\u201d said LTA board treasurer Kimberly Camacho.<\/p>\n
The Digital Content Curation Center is focused on the commercialization of content creation and account management in the digital marketing space. With thousands of small businesses, millions of high school, and amateur athletes as a target market, the Content Curation Center is focused on development and management of social media content across multiple platforms, mainly Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Snapchat. The Latte Training Academy, Inc. has already begun securing clients and is set to begin providing service once its workforce is prepared to begin.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were originally looking at hiring individual employees, but we shifted our strategy to subcontracting out the services to the local content creation community. To ensure we are able meet the demand we anticipate, we are holding a variety of training courses this year, starting with our Information of Technology Fundamentals course this month,\u201d said Austin Hocog, LTA business lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have already demonstrated that technology jobs are viable within the CNMI. We demonstrated that there is an interest in utilizing the CNMI\u2019s employment base to support tech firms. We know that digital marketing is widely used in commerce and we know that we have the talent pool and opportunity within the CNMI to make this a reality\u201d said LTA board president Juan-Carlos Benitez.<\/p>\n