As a Business Advisor for the Kansas Small Business Development Center’s Manhattan District, Nadia Arbelo is located at the (SBDC) office in the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. Over the past four years Nadia worked in a similar role with Western North Carolina SBTDC, and as an independent consultant in both public and private sectors.
As a native Kansan, Nadia brings a broad international consulting background back to Kansas. As an entrepreneur, Nadia has owned and operated several small businesses, from computing, art and interior design.
In the larger business world Nadia has worked across sectors, from educational and administrative services to public and private k-12 schools from Kansas City to Abu Dhabi, UAE. During her sojourn as head administrator for a private UAE American school, she also obtained a British master’s degree in Management and Leadership. Furthering her belief in lifelong learning Nadia entered the European Union’s only PhD program of Philosophy & Theory of Visual Culture, focusing her research on gender equity and Female Identity in Public Spaces.
While in Europe, she continued educational consulting, developing a joint Hungarian-USA International English Language secondary school program. Since her return to the US six years ago, she has volunteered for civic organizations and served as a Board member for the national Center for Creativity, Craft and Design. She also worked with the local community college developing a mentoring program for female STEM students and minority male retention.
A long-time advocate for the arts, and after a two-decade hiatus from direct involvement Nadia opened a new venue the Silk Road Gallery-Asheville, a curatorial and educational consultancy
focused on Eurasia cultures, arts and artifacts. Now back home and in addition to her work with SBDC, Nadia serves as a Board Member for Friends of the Mulvane Art Museum.
As a Manhattan area SBDC Business Advisor Nadia believes that supporting lifelong learning and learning-by-doing develops the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit in every individual. Nadia also believes that her role in SBDC and in cooperation with affiliate organizations is to encourage, support, inspire ideas, and fulfill individual dreams that lift communities, towns, and country.