5 under 35 alumni are leaders in tech, music, international business and more

George Arango ‘15

You might know George Arango as the popular Mr. Eats. The lawyer-turned-influencer spreads his love of Miami and good food by sharing content on social media that showcases his journey exploring the cuisine and lifestyle of his hometown.

With nearly half a million people following Arango across platforms, this Panther is proud to rep FIU and the Miami community.

“I’m a Miami guy through and through,” Arango says. “The best part about what I do is being able to connect mom and pops restaurants with real people and build community doing that. There’s nothing better than breaking bread with people.”

Arango majored in criminal justice at FIU, where he was involved in the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. As a student, he worked as a professional DJ at places ranging from home parties to Miami Beach venues. He later attended law school at Nova Southeastern University.

He started the Mr. Eats social media accounts with his wife, FIU alumna Alexandra Brown ’17, to document their journey enjoying some of the best food spots in Miami. People ate up the content (pun intended).

In just five years, Mr. Eats went from being Arango’s hobby to his side hustle to his job. Today, Arango is a full-time content creator. Besides showcasing delicious eating options in Miami and across the country, he also regularly partners with major brands like McDonald’s, Disney, American Express and DoorDash to create content.

Arango usually garners an average of five million views a month on Instagram alone. People frequently recognize him in real life. “It’s rewarding when people come up to me. Often guys will tell me, ‘My wife and I find our eating spots from you. Thank you.’”

He says FIU helped him discover his interests and hone his creative side. Coming back to campus for the 5 Under 35 award had special significance. 

“It’s a blessing to be honored for the work I do,” Arango says. “It’s a full circle moment in the sense that I built a community through our community. It was all to uplift Miami even more. Uplifting Miami is uplifting FIU. The more I grow, the more I can share the FIU footprint, values and all the things that makes FIU who we are.”

Janet Careaga ‘10

Janet Careaga is a communications manager at Amazon, where she leads internal corporate communications for community impact and sustainability.

She is an accomplished public relations and communications leader who has worked at a variety of organizations and has been at the helm of campaigns for major brands such as Target, McDonald’s, DISH Network and Neutrogena.

Deeply appreciative of her community and her Cuban American roots, Careaga has dedicated most of her career to developing campaigns that speak directly to the Hispanic community in Miami and across the country. She moved to Seattle to start her journey with Amazon in 2021. In her first role at the company, Careaga led communications strategies to help U.S. Hispanic audiences connect with Amazon and its fully Spanish-language retail website.

“Community is really important to me,” she says. “I definitely credit my career path to growing up in Miami and to my time at FIU. I don’t think I would have realized that these opportunities were available to me if it weren’t for FIU. All the opportunities, schooling, experiences, internships that I participated in before I graduated helped set me up for success.”

Careaga was a journalism student at FIU. She interned at the Miami Herald, NBC 6 and the Clear Channel 94.9 radio station (now an iHeartMedia Station). She found her first job thanks to a school newsletter that listed local job openings.

Today, Careaga is on the board of directors of Ventures, a business education and incubation nonprofit. She keeps her connection to FIU strong and has previously served as an advisor for her sorority Alpha Omicron Pi. At the recommendation of a fellow FIU sorority sister, Careaga has become involved in SEO, an organization that pairs established professionals like Careaga with younger professionals for mentorship opportunities.

Careaga says uplifting communities is her motivation. “At the end of the day it’s about creating connections to your community, to FIU and to young professionals that are the next generation of changemakers.”

Marcus Norris ‘17

How can you combine orchestra with hip hop and R&B?

Marcus Norris had a vision. He fleshed out his dream to blend the genres while earning his master’s in music at FIU. During music-business courses, Norris developed his plan to “start a fusion orchestra playing new takes on soul, R&B and hip hop with masterful orchestration.”

Fast forward several years, and the project was real: The South Side Symphony was born.

“I basically did exactly what I proposed in the class when I started South Side Symphony,” he says. The symphony brings to life the orchestral world with urban sounds. His orchestra takes on an impressive range of projects, from recording music for TV shows to mounting a concert around the ancient Chinese instrument known as erhu with a jazz-fusion ensemble backing it up.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Norris says. “Being the director, I get to steer the ship. My favorite part is that I get to work with people who care about me and want me to succeed. The same orchestra members who record scores, work on records and TV. After years of that work, some of these people are going to be playing at my wedding soon. We’re close.”

In just a few years, Norris has found himself in the limelight working with some of the biggest names in the industry. Most notably, Beyoncé asked Norris to orchestrate several songs for her 2023 live performance for the opening of a luxury resort in Dubai.

Norris’ orchestra performed live at Tina Knowles’ Wearable Art Gala, alongside talents like Chloe and Halle Bailey. Norris did the orchestration for one of artist Andra Day’s albums. And he composed the whole score to various TV series and films, including the AppleTV+ series Lady in the Lake, which starred Natalie Portman.

Norris was also a composer-in-residence for Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program, during which he composed a piece for Julliard in the style of Southside Symphony. Norris’ newest opera with Adamma Ebo premiered with The Atlanta Opera in 2024. 

He was happy to return to FIU to accept the 5 Under 35 award. “I’m just excited for the opportunity to come back,” he says. “I’m going to be talking to some of the music students. I’m just honored to reconnect with the FIU community.”

Laura Takacs '15

Study abroad trips to Brazil and France changed Laura Takacs’ life.

“Those trips were amazing,” Takacs recalls. “They opened my eyes to international business, which is really what helped me figure out my career path.”

Fast forward to today, and Takacs has worked with clients all across Latin America ranging from Mexico and Brazil to Argentina and Urugay, as well as the Hispanic market in Miami. She has collaborated with family offices, foundations, endowments, RIAs, private banks and broker-dealers to deliver customized alternative investment solutions.

“I’m literally working with every kind of client from every culture possible, and I love it,” Takacs says.

As a student, Takacs majored in international business and learned to speak Portuguese, which she says opened doors for her career. She was part of student organizations such as the Phoenician’s Investment Group, which exposed her to the world of investment banking, and the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA), which allowed her to prepare for interviews and continue building her professional network.

Through a weeklong roster of events that ALPFA hosted in conjunction with JP Morgan, Takacs found her first big opportunity. “I went to every single event,” she says. “At the end of the week, the recruiters knew me on a first name basis.”

She was selected for an internship at JP Morgan and later worked full-time at the company’s Latin American Private Bank. She then transitioned into a role at the Alternative Investments Group at JP Morgan’s Private Bank and, most recently, worked at Blackstone.

Takacs is an active Panther, mentoring FIU students and making it a personal goal of hers to speak with students at least once every single month, whether it’s through informal chats or other professional platforms and events.

She has spoken at ALPFA events, and when students or alumni in her network move to New York (her new home), she keeps in touch with them and offers mentorship. She also regularly sends internship opportunities to FIU folks who work in alumni relations, career services and other areas to spread the word among Panthers.

“I want to see as many FIU students as I can be in leadership and amazing roles in finance in New York,” she says. “The only way to do that is [by] giving back.”

Cesar Villa-Garcia ‘19

Cesar Villa-Garcia is a product manager at American Express. In his role, Villa-Garcia is responsible for driving the strategy and execution behind enterprise-level digital platforms. He partners closely with engineers, designers and business stakeholders to deliver and improve application suites that power customer experiences.

He is currently part of the Amex Ads team and is helping develop a digital advertising platform that allows brands to connect with the company’s millions of card members. In his previous role at the company, Villa-Garcia launched a customer support system for the company’s developer portal platform, which helped employees save time and increased customer satisfaction.

Villa-Garcia began his career as a software engineer and worked at both JP Morgan and Microsoft before starting his journey at American Express.

He balances his career with another role dear to his heart: co-founder of INIT, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering college students to launch careers in technology. The organization is an outgrowth of an FIU student group (INIT FIU) that Villa-Garcia led as a student. He loved the group so much that he and a team of alumni remained active as alumni advisors even after graduation. The group later blossomed into a multi-institutional nonprofit recognized across Florida with chapters at various local institutions, including the original chapter at FIU.

Through INIT’s programs and partnerships with leading companies like Google, Microsoft and Netflix, the organization has served thousands of students, many of them Panthers. The organization offers students numerous opportunities to network with recruiters from top companies and to learn about available internships and jobs.

Helping run the nonprofit is a lot like having a second job. Villa-Garcia dedicates hours to outreach, fundraising and planning to support students.

“I love helping students,” Villa-Garcia says. “It’s super rewarding. I feel like we, as alumni, have a wealth of resources and connections. We know how difficult it is to get a job in the technology space. I’m always happy to help students connect with opportunities.”

He says his time at FIU and his work with the nonprofit have been essential to his career.

“It’s really changed my life and really impacted me,” he says. “The work I do for the nonprofit, it’s made me a better leader, a better person. I credit a lot to FIU and to all the people who supported me. INIT is really special to me. I’m passionate about helping to continue build it.”