MARION LUNA BREM

President and CEO, Love Enterprises Marion Luna Brem had her near-perfect home life shattered when she was diagnosed with a terminal illness and told she had only 2 to 5 years to live.

Battling life-threatening breast cancer with no health insurance, no employment and no resume Marion Luna Brem, newly divorced, the head of her household and the mother of two young sons, decided to try her hand at sales. Selling her first automobile at 32, she was by age 36 President and CEO of her own auto dealership, Love Chrysler, Inc. Founded in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1989, her dealership ranks nationally in Hispanic Business and Working Woman magazine's Top 500.

Marion has since opened 6 additional companies including a second auto dealership, an ad agency and a real estate holding company. Her book, The 7 Greatest Truths About Successful Women, was ranked as one of the "Top Ten Business Books" for 2001.

Appointed by former Texas Governor George W. Bush to the Texas Workers Compensation Board, she is also one of 40 women worldwide named the Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World for 2001. She has also been honored by the White House Office of Women's Initiatives, and holds the Avon Women of Enterprise Award.

As one of Hispanic Business magazine's "100 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States," Marion directs her influence to the fight against breast cancer as well as the improvement of education, having founded and funded a program to recognize civic-minded high school students. As part of this program, her company has awarded several new cars to "Love Chrysler's Top High School Students."

Marion's inspirational story has been profiled in The Washington Post, Readers' Digest and USA Today, and she has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and ABC's Good Morning America.