Paula DaSilva recently celebrated 30 years since moving to the United States from Brazil, but her home country, a land best known for soccer stars and samba, is still in her heart, especially around the holidays. “It’s customary to celebrate Christmas Eve. It’s sort of our really big holiday there. It’s a huge party of food and a smorgasbord of all kinds of stuff,” she says.

Ricardo Jose Bueso is only 25 years old but already has the philanthropic spirit and business savvy of the Dalai Lama and Warren Buffet put together. Last year, he, along with his brother Ricardo Juan, founded the Thx Co., a “social good” brand company based in Hollywood that allows customers to donate to any nonprofit of their choosing with the purchase of the company’s products.