On The Radar founder Gabe P joins Bísness School host Ashley Chaparro to discuss what he learned from Puerto Rican-American radio producer Angie Martinez, why he decided to take a chance on 'drill' music, and how he secured a collaboration with Drake and Central Cee for one of his most-watched freestyle videos. This episode was produced by Miguel Estrada. It was edited by James Jeffrey. Follow Gabe P at @gabepnyc. Follow On The Radar at @ontheradarradio. Follow Ashley Chaparro at @ashleychaparro...
Jun 25, 2025•27 min•Ep. 28
Kind Healthy Snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky joins Bísness School host Ashley Chaparro to discuss the influence of his father in developing his entrepreneurial spirit, the business lessons he learned from launching his first company and the qualities he looks for when investing in a business. This episode was produced by Miguel Estrada. It was edited by James Jeffrey. Follow Ashley Chaparro at @ashleychaparro23.
May 28, 2025•26 min•Ep. 27
When Kayla Casteñeda was a child, she spent several days at her grandparent's house in Central California — where she learned how to prepare “aguas frescas” with the ripe fruit that her grandfather, a farmworker, collected from the fields. “Agua fresca,” which literally translates to “fresh water,” is a popular type of beverage in Mexico and Latin America. The drink is made from an array of fruits, flowers or seeds blended with water and sugar. In the middle of the pandemic, Castañeda decided to...
Apr 30, 2025•26 min•Ep. 26
Tequila has become one of the favorite spirits in the U.S. So much so that according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, the consumption of the iconic Mexican beverage has grown 294% since 2003. The industry is so competitive that when Spanish American actor Diego Osorio decided to venture into the spirits world, he knew he needed to distinguish himself from other brands, so he launched Lobos 1707, a tequila brand inspired by his family that blends Mexican and Spanish aging te...
Mar 26, 2025•27 min•Ep. 25
If somebody could name a quintessential symbol of Mexican gastronomy, that ingredient would be salsa. Whether it’s hot sauce, salsa verde or habanero, salsas help enhance the flavor of many Mexican traditional recipes by adding depth, and most commonly, spice to the food. So when Hector Saldivar moved from Mexico to CA, he realized salsa options at U.S. grocery stores didn’t resemble the flavors he was used to growing up in Monterrey. Inspired by his mother’s traditional recipes, Hector decided ...
Feb 26, 2025•26 min•Ep. 23
Bísness School is coming back for another season! New episodes start Feb. 26.
Feb 24, 2025•53 sec•Ep. 24
This is our last episode for season 2. As usual, we are a cool school, which means we definitely do not have episodes during winter break. We will be back with more episodes early 2025. Olympian and former pro soccer player Melissa Ortiz joins us for our last episode of this season. She represented Colombia at the U20 World Cup in 2010 and at the 2012 London Olympics. She's worked as a sideline reporter and analyst for TNT, FOX Sports and Apple TV+. In 2021, the retired soccer player and her bro...
Dec 17, 2024•45 min•Ep. 21
They represent the most expensive women’s soccer player in history, are responsible for the biggest contract in NWSL soccer history and have 41 clients who’ve played in the World Cup. TMJ, formerly known as The Marketing Jersey, wants you to know that they are the heart and soul of women’s soccer. But it wasn’t always that way. When Guillermo Zamarripa started TMJ in 2014, there were zero training facilities dedicated exclusively to women’s soccer, the average National Women’s Soccer League sala...
Dec 03, 2024•46 min•Ep. 20
NOTE: This is a bonus episode in Spanish. ¿Cómo se reproduce el éxito que un artista está teniendo en México al otro lado de la frontera? Ese es el superpoder de MATS, una agencia que ayuda a artistas de Latinoamérica, como Gera MX y Kenia Os, a conquistar el mercado estadounidense. Sigue a @MATS Sigue a @byfernandoh
Nov 19, 2024•52 min•Ep. 18
When sisters Mafe and Coco Cabezas moved to the United States from Venezuela, they missed many foods, but one stood out more than others: arepas. Arepas are a staple in Venezuela. They're corn dough cakes that can be filled with anything from meats to vegetables. The sisters went from eating homemade arepas every single day in Venezuela to not having the time to make them, nor the calorie balance to allow a daily dose of arepas in the United States. In the middle of the pandemic, Mafe and Coco d...
Nov 19, 2024•48 min•Ep. 19
When Martin Cabrera’s high school teacher asked Martin what the difference between a stock and a bond was, Martin proudly raised his hand and explained that a bond something between a man and a woman. He would later learn the definition his high school economics teacher was looking for and use it to launch Cabrera Capital Markets, one of the biggest Hispanic-owned financial firms in the country. The Chicago native joins Bísness School today to explain how an unexpected fax convinced him to start...
Nov 05, 2024•53 min•Ep. 17
One of Mexico's most versatile sauces may not be salsa verde or roja, but rather, chamoy. It's a blend of dehydrated fruit with chili powder, salt, sugar and citrus. It's an ingredient that can go on everything from a mango to a margarita. But one of the ingredients in chamoy is exactly what made it impossible for Annie Leal's dad to eat it after he was diagnosed with diabetes. That's why Annie decided to make I Love Chamoy, a sugar-free version of the popular Mexican candy sauce that her dad co...
Oct 22, 2024•50 min•Ep. 16
BIG NEWS: We are nominated for a Signal Award! Bísness School is a finalist in the Business People and Entrepreneurs Shaping Culture category, and now we just need your help to win. You can vote for us here: https://vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting#/2024/shows/general/business-people-entrepreneurs-shaping-culture On today's episode, we're bringing you the story of PepsiCo's latest $1.2 billion acquisition: Siete Foods. They’re been called the fastest-growing Hispanic food brand in the United St...
Oct 09, 2024•35 min•Ep. 15
You’ve seen the headlines. "All-star third baseman Jose Ramirez agrees to 5-year, $124M extension with Cleveland." Behind those deals is a lesser known negotiator trying to craft the best possible deal for a baseball player: the agent. Rafa Nieves is one of them, founding sports agency Republik Sports in 2020. His agency is responsible for that headline you read seconds ago and represents players like Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez and the Yankees’ Luis Gil. Rafa joins Bísness School to te...
Sep 24, 2024•54 min•Ep. 14
When Julissa Prado was a child, she spent several summers with her grandmother in Mexico — where she learned how to mix natural ingredients, such as lemon, sugar and aloe vera to prepare homemade remedies. She realized she could use other similar ingredients for something she had long struggled with: her curly hair. Frustrated with the lack of products in the United States to reduce frizz and provide long lasting hold for textured hair, Julissa, with the help of her brother Tony, wanted to show ...
Sep 10, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 13
Bísness School is coming back for another season! Hear from the Latino entrepreneurs behind companies like Rizos Curls, Siete Foods and I Love Chamoy. New episodes start Sept. 10.
Aug 27, 2024•1 min
What do music mogul Emilio Estefan, filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and Oscar Muñoz, the first Latino CEO of United Airlines, have in common? They’ve all done business with Gary Acosta, a man who Hispanic Business Magazine has named as one of 100 most influential Hispanics in the United States. Gary Acosta has been on a 20-plus year mission to increase Hispanic homeownership. In 2001, he co-founded the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals or NAHREP. Today, NAHREP is one of the l...
Jun 25, 2024•58 min•Ep. 12
When companies like Honda want to launch a new pickup truck, and they want that vehicle to do well with Hispanic consumers, they don’t just go with their gut feeling to figure out what that consumer wants. Instead, they hire a market research firm to tell them what that consumer wants. Yet 20 years ago, market research firms couldn’t really tell you. They could tell you what general American consumers wanted, but not Hispanic Americans wanted. Mario Carrasco built the largest online Hispanic res...
Jun 11, 2024•46 min•Ep. 11
When you go to an urgent care or emergency room, chances are you’ll have to wait an hour or so to be seen. Then you get screened by a general practitioner who has to know a little bit of everything, only to find out you have a broken hand. The doctor gives you an ice pack, anti-inflammatory meds and refers you to an orthopedist for specialized care who you have to wait a few days to see. Oh, and you’re out $200 for your visit. After spending more than 13 years as an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Aleja...
May 28, 2024•46 min•Ep. 10
When Miguel Leal was in college, he had the chance to live with his grandma, and it was precisely at her kitchen where he learned how to make Mexican recipes. But as he grew older, he realized that a lot of people who loved Mexican food, especially in the U.S, didn't have an abuela that could teach them how to make these recipes. Miguel wanted to change that. He wanted to show Americans that Mexican food at home was more than hardshell tacos and greasy dishes, so he and his co-founders Daniel Lu...
May 14, 2024•54 min•Ep. 9
When Pedro A. Guerrero entered corporate America, there was one national magazine covering Latinos in business, Hispanic Business. Yet at the time, 1 in 10 people in the U.S. was Hispanic, and the number was growing rapidly. Pedro Guerrero, once a frustrated art school graduate, wanted to make sure there was more than just one magazine for the community. He wanted to create a magazine that would highlight the stories of Latinos in powerful positions across some of the United States’ biggest comp...
Apr 30, 2024•49 min•Ep. 8
What do you do after you lose your job, you’re $110,000 in debt, are raising a daughter, and you need to make ends meet fast? For San Diego-native Sandra Velasquez, the answer was starting Nopalera, a luxury brand of bath and body products using the nopal cactus. Nopalera is sold at over 400 retailers, including Nordstrom and Free People. Sandra Velasquez joins Bísness School to tell us why she launched a soap company when she herself is not obsessed with soaps, how she managed to build her busi...
Apr 16, 2024•44 min•Ep. 7
Growing up in Monterrey, Mexico, Ricardo Cervantes and Alfredo Livas were used to the smell of pan dulce, or sweet bread, enveloping block after block. When Ricardo and Alfredo moved to the California for graduate school, they realized Mexican panaderías weren't as uniquitous as they were in Mexico. That wasn't necessarily surprising, but what was surprising was the difference in taste. Armed with a business degree from Stanford, Ricardo and Alfredo set out to create a chain of Mexican bakeries ...
Apr 02, 2024•54 min•Ep. 6
Many know Pepe Aguilar as the Grammy-winning artist whose last name is almost synonymous with Mexican music. What many don't know is that more than 20 years ago, Aguilar launched his own record label, Equinoccio Records, followed years later by Machín Records. Aguilar joins Bísness School to explain why he broke off from the big music labels early on in his career, what business lessons he learned from his parents, Antonio Aguilar and Flor Silvestre, and why he says his kids have the best contra...
Mar 19, 2024•57 min•Ep. 5
Ricardo Sucre, Gabriel González and Gustavo Darquea experienced culture shock when they came to the United States from South America for college. It wasn't just the language or the food — it was what college students drank that was surprising. Beer, vodka and hard seltzers reigned, while rum was nowhere to be found. After graduating from college, the trio decided to create a hard seltzer that was distinctly Latino. Ricardo Sucre and Gustavo Darquea explain how the idea for Casalú, a rum-based ha...
Mar 05, 2024•52 min•Ep. 4
How do you make a Spanglish music star? Charlie Guerrero and Paloma Hecht don't have a formula, but they know what's worked for them. "Authenticity," they say. The duo, who managers singer Sofía Reyes, explains what drove them to make music mixing English and Spanish when executives told them that was a bad idea and they share how they've produced massive hits with artists like Jason Derulo, De La Guetto and Wisin with their company, MITH Media. Follow Paloma and Charlie at @palomahecht and @cha...
Feb 20, 2024•52 min•Ep. 3
Mike Alfaro was home in Guatemala taking a break from his career fast-paced career in advertising in the United States when he saw it: the yellow Lotería game box he used to play all the time growing up. The game held a special place in Mike's heart, but the cards inside the box stood out like a sore thumb. Cards portraying a woman as a reserved woman clad in formal apparel stood at odds with the #MeToo movement that was sweeping the nation at the time. Mike decided to create a "millennial" vers...
Feb 06, 2024•49 min•Ep. 2
Patty Rodriguez had a dream job as producer for one of the most popular radio shows in America: On Air with Ryan Seacrest. But her first baby and a house fire gave her the perfect conditions to pursue a dream she had been to scared to pursue: launching a line of bilingual books for kids with her childhood best friend, Ariana Stein. Learn more about Lil' Libros at lillibros.com , and follow Patty at @pattyrodriguez . This episode was produced and edited by Fernando Hurtado....
Jan 23, 2024•54 min•Ep. 1
NBC and Telemundo join forces to map the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in the United States: Latinos. In Bísness School, Latino founders share how they’ve built successful business and the lessons they’ve learned along the way. It sounds like business school, but it’s not. There are no early classes, no homework — and best of all, it’s free. Look out for new episodes the last Wednesday of the month.
Jan 18, 2024•1 min
