Pabel Martinez, Global Account Director at Tik Tok, founder of Plurawl, and podcaster at ¿Quién Tú Eres?. In this conversation, he talks about his journey to work in his dream company and how he overcame imposter syndrome. We discuss the importance of therapy, navigating corporate America as a Latinx in tech. Pabel also shared the skills he developed to land jobs at social media companies such as Facebook and Tik Tok. Listen and get inspired!
Dec 31, 2021•33 min
Henry Quintana, Operations Manager at Capsule in New York, shares the skills and resources that helped him develop professionally. He talks about his experience at different startups, how he overcame challenges, and how companies could develop more inclusive cultures. Learn about his story and connect with Henry via LinkedIn.
Dec 22, 2021•32 min
Cuco Vega is the founder of Bexi, the tool that helps people who have never run a digital marketing campaign or run their digital marketing for their business according to the goals they want to accomplish. Cuco talks about his journey as a co-founder and how to inspire others to follow the same path or learn from some of the challenges and opportunities that come his way. https://bexi.io
Dec 16, 2021•32 min
Jennifer Garcia is the founder of Fluential Leadership and the COO of the Latino Business Network (LBAN). Through her company, she provides individual solutions for personal and professional growth, equipping individuals to uplevel their leadership ability. In this episode, we talk about Leadership shift, personal development shift, and passion shift amongst other topics. Learn about her story and connect with her: https://www.fluentialleadership.com/...
Dec 02, 2021•23 min
Jennifer Garcia is the founder of Fluential Leadership and the COO of the Latino Business Network (LBAN). Through her company, she provides individual solutions for personal and professional growth, equipping individuals to uplevel their leadership ability. Fluential Leadership also supports small businesses with growth strategies, retaining top talent, and maximizing productivity. In this episode, we focus on how and why leaders can develop effective communication skills as we focus on helping ...
Nov 26, 2021•32 min
Cristina Trujillo talks about her path to becoming a founder of REEM. REEM Media is a full-service bilingual MediaTech agency owned and operated by Women of Color, leading a diverse talent pool of high-caliber creatives in media and tech. https://www.reemmedia.org/
Nov 18, 2021•26 min
Miguel Gomez, CFP is a is Financial Advisor for Hispanic Investors. In addition to being a Financial Advisor, he is passionate about helping people take the mystery out of personal finance through “Dinero en Español”, a podcast where he talk about money and finances in a clear way and also interview experts and successful entrepreneurs. https://www.linkedin.com/in/miguelggarcia/
Nov 10, 2021•30 min
Cheryl Campos Talks About VCFamilia and Building a Community of Latinx Investors VCFamilia founding member Cheryl Campos talks about the future of the organization and how others can join and become active members. VCFamilia is a community of 200+ Latinx investors supporting current & emerging VCs + founders - posting venture jobs, opportunities, and events.This is a second interview with Cheryl where we talk about her career advancement as an investor and other exciting opportunities in the...
Oct 15, 2021•19 min
VCFamilia founding member Af Hernandez is an investor focused on cleantech, IoT, industrials sustainability. He was previously at Ecosystem Integrity fund where his responsibilities include sector research, pipeline development and tracking, and investment due diligence support. Before EIF, Af was a Senior Strategic Planner at the newly formed Lockheed Martin (LM) Energy. At LM Energy, Af oversaw the research and development investment portfolio and was key in developing the long-term strategy. ...
Oct 14, 2021•36 min
VCFamilia member Rebecca Danta is the Managing Director of Miami Angels, the largest angel network in Florida, which funds pre-seed and seed software companies with early traction across various sectors. Miami Angels has deployed $18M into 33 companies since 2014, and Rebecca built a sustainable, independent business model for the organization. Prior to joining Miami Angels, Rebecca managed global campus operations for General Assembly in New York City, the first accelerated learning provider, a...
Oct 13, 2021•27 min
VCFamilia member Marco Casas is a Venezuelan-born professional who has been named to Business Insider's "100 rising stars who represent the future of venture capital." His career extends across early-stage ventures and global public companies. Marco is passionate about fintech and other disruptive technologies closing gaps of access to capital, opportunity, and outcomes. Marco pursues these interests via a partnerships and business development full-time role at American Express, and via Angel in...
Oct 12, 2021•33 min
VCFamilia member Samantha Batista is a native New Yorker who deeply admires entrepreneurial hustle. Sam started her career on Wall Street before making her way to investing in 2015. Since then, she's worked on debt and equity transactions in both the U.S. and Latin America across several different industries. In 2017, she co-founded Who Is Raising?—a deal sourcing newsletter that aims to connect early-stage founders to investors. Today, she is an investor at a Mexico-based family office and cons...
Oct 11, 2021•35 min
A VCFamilia member, Carlos is currently the co-founder of Novel Capital a Kansas City firm that leverages Revenue-Based Financing to provide growth capital to early-stage software companies that don’t fit the traditional venture or banking models. In the last two years, Novel has invested over $9M in 26 companies across the US and Canada. He is an active member of the prestigious Kauffman Fellows and Pipeline Entrepreneurial Fellowship. In addition, he serves as board member for LeanLab Educatio...
Oct 07, 2021•29 min
Taj Ahmad Eldridge is a 25+ year investment professional whose career has included high level executive roles in banking, asset management, alternative investments, and entrepreneurship. As General Partner of Include Venture Partners and Senior Director of Investments at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), Taj has built a longstanding career with expertise in the fields of fintech, media, energy, transportation, and the circular economy. Taj is also one of the 70 Black Investors in Bevy....
Oct 06, 2021•35 min
A VCFamilia member, Jesús Salas is rooted in the belief that making culturally conscious investments is a path to increasing opportunity and positive economic outcomes for otherwise overlooked communities and founders. Jesús is a former Associate with Omidyar Network where he supported the sourcing and evaluation of venture investments and tools that catalyzed the supply of purpose-driven technology. Jesús has worked domestically and abroad in a variety of capacities such as a management consult...
Oct 05, 2021•28 min
A VCFamilia Member, Adriana C. Embus Figueroa is a first-generation Afro-Latina working at the intersection of business, policy, and technology. Currently, Adriana serves on the Investments Team at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI). In this role, she manages the LACI Impact and Debt Funds and supports entrepreneurs in accessing and securing capital from investors across the world. Prior to LACI, Adriana served as a Financial Analyst at Samuel A. Ramirez & Co., Inc., the largest Lati...
Oct 04, 2021•35 min
Mariana Garza is an associate at XYZ Venture Capital. While at school she researched venture capital, innovation, and intellectual property and interned at Bessemer Venture Partners on the investment team and on the entrepreneur selection and growth team at Endeavor Global. Outside of her interests in entrepreneurship and tech, Mariana loves todo stand-up comedy and boxing and talk about Mexican art and culture. Mariana goes by Mars (like the planet) and is based on the East Coast. She graduated...
Oct 01, 2021•39 min
A VCFamilia member, Leandro Bedolla is a VC at M25 in Chicago, the most active Pre-Seed and Seed stage firm investing in Midwest-based startups across most industries (14 states, 117 companies). He sources and meets with founders, conducts analysis and due diligence, supports portfolio companies and firm operations, and initiatives including MidwestStartups.com and the Midwest Startup City Rankings. Additionally, Leandro volunteers with LatinxVC co-leading the Breaking into VC Fellowship, VCFami...
Sep 30, 2021•35 min
A VCFamilia member, Daisy Garcia is a passionate Sr. Investment Analyst at JetBlue Technology Ventures, where she optimizes investments by conducting in-depth analyses and due diligence of early stage startups. Her analytical focus is on startups that operate at the intersection of travel, hospitality, and technology. Some of her areas of interest include artificial intelligence, sustainability, and cybersecurity. She previously lived in Sweden for over two years, where she worked with an early ...
Sep 29, 2021•21 min
VCFamilia member Ashley Aydin, a Principal at Vamos Ventures talks about early stage investing in critical areas. She started her career in Capital Markets at Morgan Stanley and moved into strategic roles at Y-Combinator Shoptiques.com , Saks Fifth Avenue, and Estee Lauder. She has been an investor at Brand Foundry Ventures, Founders Factory and Dorm Room Ventures.
Sep 28, 2021•30 min
A VC Familia member, Yesenia Avila Gallardo from Occam Advisors helps clients execute their impact investment strategies. As a Principal at Occam, she works primarily with Potencia Ventures, a family office, to source, diligence, and manage early-stage venture investments in companies with business models that serve or impact low-income customers. She is also the founder of Papalotzin where she works with artisanal mezcal producers in Mexico to import distilled agave spirits into the US. http://...
Sep 27, 2021•31 min
A VCFamilia member, Amelia Gandara is a Principal at Nationwide Ventures. She has a dual role, managing the fund’s operations and investing alongside the team. She focuses on Nationwide’s early-stage investments with a passion for insurtechs. Amelia has additional experience in investing, operations, strategy and partnerships with stints at GE and a pre-seed funding program. We talk about trends in insurtech, her passion for ballet and art, and advice for people wanting to transition into the co...
Sep 24, 2021•28 min
This is another episode in the VCFamilia series where we highlight Latinx in Venture Capital. In this episode, we highlight Bianca Caban who is a Principal at Heartland Ventures (HV), a Seed & Series A fund with an investor base of strategic corporations located throughout the Midwest. At HV, Bianca is responsible for leading the firm’s deal sourcing, co-investor relations, and founder interactions in Silicon Valley. Prior to that she was Head of Partnerships at Republic, an AngelList spin-o...
Sep 23, 2021•35 min
Monique Villa leads Mucker Capital's Nashville office, investing in companies across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. She is also the co-founder of Build In SE, a community of startup founders and ecosystem partners committed to company building in the Southeast. Prior to joining Mucker's investment team, Monique's career in early-stage venture capital began in 2013 leading investor relations for Velos Partners, and more recently with Core Innovation Capital. Earlier in her career, Monique advised ...
Sep 22, 2021•40 min
Alejandro Guerrero is a co-founder and General Partner at Act One Ventures, a Los Angeles-based pre-seed/seed fund investing in business software. Since 2015 the team of Alejandro Guerrero and Michael Silton have raised $65mm in AUM. They have invested in more than 40 companies, 70% of which were founded by women or minorities. He is the creator of the Diversity Term Sheet Rider for Representation at the Cap Table and the Diversity Riders Podcast. Previously, Alejandro was the co-founder and CEO...
Sep 21, 2021•43 min
VCFamilia member Marcos Gonzalez, founder and managing partner of Vamos Ventures, is being recognized in this special series co-hosted by VCFamilia. Marcos is committed to supporting founders in high-growth and overlooked opportunity: early-stage tech companies led by Hispanic and other diverse founders. VamosVentures has successfully closed Fund I at $50mm and is now deploying capital. Learn about his journey and how his commitment to the community, coupled with his extensive experience in fina...
Sep 20, 2021•36 min
VCFamilia member Adrian Mendoza is the Founder and General Partner of Mendoza Ventures. After having two VC-funded startups in Boston, he started Mendoza Ventures to address the funding gap in the pre-seed investment stage for underrepresented founders. He launched his firm in 2016 focused on investments in AI, Fintech, and Cybersecurity companies. Mendoza Ventures is minority and women led as well the first VC firm in the east coast founded by a latino. Learn about his journey and how he approa...
Sep 17, 2021•46 min
Juleita Moradei is a partner and founding member of Hometeam Ventures. She drives dealflow and operations while focusing on bringing innovation to the world’s largest - but least innovative- industries: Construction and housing. Learn about her untraditional journey into VC and the innovation happening in impact driven construction tech led by companies like Icon whose team is building 3D printed homes.
Sep 16, 2021•32 min
As part of VCFamilia's Venture Capital Series, we highlight VCFamilia member Pilar Johnson and Debut Capital. She talks about her journey into VC and how she went from DNI trainer to co-founding a venture capital fund. Debut Capital invests in companies led by Indigenous, Latinx, Black and Brown founders who focus on impact and growth. https://debutcapital.com/
Sep 15, 2021•31 min
Dr. Chavez is the Director of Mental Health at Caminar, Inc. and an expert in Substance Use Disorders. This is one of two episodes focusing on diagnosis, treatment and how Latinx dealing with this chronic illness can access effective treatment options. We explore some case studies to help our listeners understand how to access treatment and/or advocate for a loved one experiencing addiction. https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamrachavez/...
Jul 24, 2021•41 min
