Marcelo Claure’s career has unfolded across some of the most competitive industries in the world — telecommunications, technology, private equity, artificial intelligence, fashion and professional sports.

Born in Guatemala to Bolivian parents and raised largely in Bolivia, Claure has become one of the most prominent Latino business leaders operating on the global stage. His trajectory is not simply a story of corporate advancement. It is the story of an entrepreneur who repeatedly entered industries undergoing transformation and found ways to build, restructure and invest at scale.

Today, Claure is Founder and CEO of Claure Group, a multibillion-dollar investment firm whose portfolio spans sectors including artificial intelligence and technology, energy transition, fashion, entertainment and sports. He is also Partner and Co-Chair of Brightstar Capital Partners, Chairman of Latin America-focused growth equity firm Bicycle Capital, and Co-Chair of Harvard Business School’s Digital Data Design Institute, known as D³.

From an Entrepreneurial Idea to a Global Company

Claure’s rise in business began with Brightstar.

Founded in Miami in 1997, Brightstar started as a relatively small wireless distribution business. Under Claure’s leadership, it evolved into a global wireless distribution and services company, generating more than $10 billion in annual gross revenue by 2013.

The scale of that expansion established Claure as an important figure in the telecommunications industry and ultimately brought him into the orbit of Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank.

But Brightstar would prove to be only the beginning.

Transforming Sprint

In 2014, Claure became CEO of Sprint at a particularly challenging moment for the U.S. wireless carrier.

His tenure placed him at the center of one of the most consequential periods in American telecommunications. He led Sprint through a multiyear transformation and later became its executive chairman as the company moved toward its combination with T-Mobile.

The proposed merger was valued at approximately $26 billion when announced in 2018 and ultimately closed in 2020, reshaping the competitive landscape of the U.S. wireless industry. Claure subsequently joined T-Mobile’s board of directors, where he continues to serve.

The experience reinforced a pattern that has followed Claure throughout his career: taking on complicated businesses and operating in environments where transformation is not optional.

A Global Role at SoftBank

Claure’s responsibilities expanded considerably during his years at SoftBank.

He served as CEO of SoftBank Group International and Chief Operating Officer of SoftBank Group between 2018 and January 2022. In those roles, he participated in the management of a vast portfolio of technology companies and investments around the world.

According to the World Economic Forum, Claure managed a portfolio exceeding $450 billion in assets during his time leading SoftBank International. He also served as executive chairman of WeWork during a pivotal period for the company.

The move from entrepreneur to operator and eventually global investor gave Claure a perspective that few executives possess: experience building companies from the ground up while also overseeing businesses and investments at enormous institutional scale.

Investing in the Next Generation

Claure’s current chapter is increasingly focused on capital allocation and identifying the companies that could shape the next generation of business.

Through Claure Group, he invests across several high-growth sectors. He also serves as Partner and Co-Chair of Brightstar Capital Partners, a private investment firm focused on middle-market companies and increasingly on the practical application of technology and artificial intelligence to business transformation.

His investment activities also include Bicycle Capital, focused on growth-stage companies in Latin America, and the Open Opportunity Fund, which supports Black and Hispanic technology founders in the United States.

That combination is significant.

After spending decades participating in the expansion of technology businesses, Claure is now positioned on the other side of the equation: identifying entrepreneurs, allocating capital and helping companies scale.

Betting on Latin America

Latin America remains an important part of Claure’s investment philosophy.

As Chairman of Bicycle Capital, he is helping direct growth capital toward companies emerging from a region that has produced an increasingly sophisticated technology and entrepreneurial ecosystem.

For Claure, Latin America is not simply a place connected to his heritage. It represents an investment market with the potential to create globally relevant companies.

His involvement also illustrates a broader evolution among successful Latino entrepreneurs: capital, knowledge and international networks accumulated in the United States and other global markets can increasingly be reinvested into the next generation of Latin American companies.

Business, Technology and Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence has become another important component of Claure’s current work.

In addition to investments involving AI and technology, he serves as Co-Chair of the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard Business School, an initiative focused on understanding how artificial intelligence and digital technologies are changing business and society.

The role reflects an important shift in Claure’s career.

He is no longer focused only on building individual companies. Increasingly, his attention is directed toward understanding the technologies and business models that may reshape entire industries.

A Passion for Football

Claure’s business interests also extend into professional football.

He is closely identified with Club Bolívar, one of Bolivia’s most historic football institutions, and currently serves as its president. Under his leadership, the club has pursued a long-term strategy centered on professionalization, infrastructure, youth development and international partnerships.

Club Bolívar became City Football Group’s first Partner Club in 2021, giving the Bolivian organization access to expertise in areas including scouting, coaching, technology and commercial development.

Claure also holds interests in Girona FC in Spain and New York City FC in the United States through his relationship with City Football Group.

For him, football represents more than ownership. His projects in Bolivia have incorporated infrastructure development and opportunities for young athletes, connecting business strategy with a long-term vision for the sport.

A Latino Leader Operating at Global Scale

What makes Marcelo Claure’s story particularly relevant is the scale at which he has operated.

He has moved from entrepreneur to Fortune 500 CEO, from telecommunications executive to global technology investor, and from company builder to capital allocator.

Throughout that evolution, his connection to Bolivia and Latin America has remained visible.

His career represents a version of Latino success that is increasingly important to recognize: leadership that is not limited by geography or by a single industry, but capable of influencing companies, capital and ideas across international markets.

For the next generation of Latino entrepreneurs, Claure’s trajectory offers a powerful example of what can happen when ambition is paired with execution, adaptability and the ability to continuously reinvent one’s role.

Marcelo Claure is no longer simply building companies.

He is helping decide which companies — and which entrepreneurs — may help build the future.

Photo by : Marco Bello/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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Gladys Mezrahi’s career has been built around a simple but powerful idea: meaningful experiences can create meaningful connections.

The Colombian-born entrepreneur, author, media personality and community leader has spent decades developing projects at the intersection of business, experiential marketing, communications and social impact. Today, her work extends far beyond event production, encompassing television, education, philanthropy and women’s leadership.

Based in South Florida, Mezrahi is the president of Indigo Events, the company through which she established herself in the events and experiential industry. Her professional background also includes studies at the University of Miami, while her career has increasingly evolved from producing experiences for others to building platforms of her own.

From Events to Entrepreneurship

For Mezrahi, events have never been simply about logistics.

Her approach has focused on understanding how an environment, message and audience can come together to create an experience that people remember. Over the years, that expertise became the foundation of her entrepreneurial identity and eventually the subject of her book, “Más Wow y Menos Oops” (“More Wow and Less Oops”).

The book translates lessons learned throughout her career into practical guidance for creating successful events while avoiding the mistakes that can undermine them. Mezrahi has expanded those ideas into workshops and educational programs designed for people who want to understand the fundamentals of planning and producing memorable experiences.

That evolution—from practitioner to author and educator—is an important part of her story. Rather than keeping decades of experience within her own company, Mezrahi has increasingly turned that knowledge into intellectual property that can be shared with others.

Finding a New Voice in Media

A major transformation in Mezrahi’s career came when she entered television.

She has explained that the idea originated after she was approached about developing a Spanish-language program aimed at Hispanic women. Initially uncertain about entering an industry in which she had little experience, she eventually embraced the opportunity.

The result became El Poder de los Tacones, a conversation platform centered on women, leadership, personal development, entrepreneurship and contemporary issues.

What began as a media project eventually grew into something larger.

The program has featured conversations with entrepreneurs, executives, public figures and women whose personal stories offer lessons about resilience, professional growth and leadership. Its podcast version has also extended those conversations digitally, with episodes addressing subjects ranging from financial independence and business growth to wellness and women navigating difficult circumstances.

By 2026, Mezrahi had taken an increasingly central leadership role in the show as it moved beyond its 100th episode, describing the milestone as a new chapter in the project’s evolution.

The Power of Women Helping Women

The philosophy behind the program also led to the creation of The Power of the Heels Foundation, founded by Mezrahi.

Its mission centers on bringing women together to connect, learn from one another and help mentor future generations. The organization describes its broader purpose as improving society through women’s empowerment and creating opportunities for women at different stages of their lives and careers to support one another.

This emphasis on mentorship represents a recurring theme throughout Mezrahi’s professional evolution.

Success, in her view, is not solely about individual achievement. It also involves creating networks through which experience, access and knowledge can be transferred to others.

Leadership Beyond Business

Mezrahi’s community involvement predates her work in media.

Her professional record includes seven years of service as president of a chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), where she helped organize programming for women entrepreneurs. She was also recognized in 2016 as International Business Woman of the Year by the South Florida chapter of the Organization of Women in International Trade.

Her civic engagement has continued to expand.

In 2025, Mezrahi announced her appointment to the Miami-Dade County Hispanic Affairs Advisory Board, representing District 4. In discussing the appointment, she emphasized both her Colombian heritage and her desire to help amplify Hispanic voices and strengthen community representation.

Her identity as an immigrant has also influenced the way she speaks about leadership and opportunity. Mezrahi has described being born in Colombia, growing up with strong Jewish values and later rebuilding her life in the United States after her family left Colombia. Nearly three decades later, she has reflected on the United States as the place where she was able to reinvent herself, build a business and dedicate part of her career to community service.

Reinvention as a Leadership Strategy

Perhaps one of the most distinctive aspects of Gladys Mezrahi’s career is her willingness to continually enter new spaces.

Event producer became entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur became author.

Author became educator.

And eventually, a professional who had spent much of her career behind the scenes became a television personality and advocate for women’s leadership.

That progression illustrates a broader reality about modern Latino leadership: careers no longer need to exist within a single category.

Mezrahi has used the credibility developed through decades of business experience to build new platforms in media, education and philanthropy, connecting each new chapter to the one that came before it.

Her work today sits at the intersection of entrepreneurship, experiential marketing, media, mentorship and community building.

And perhaps that is the central lesson of her trajectory: influence is not only created by occupying a position of leadership. It can also be built by creating spaces where other people have the opportunity to lead.

For Gladys Mezrahi, creating those spaces has become the next evolution of a career originally dedicated to creating experiences.

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Johanna Ortiz has become one of the most internationally recognized names in Latin American fashion, building a luxury brand that has taken the colors, landscapes and craftsmanship of Colombia into some of the most influential spaces in the global fashion industry.

Born in Cali, Colombia, Ortiz studied fashion design at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale before continuing her education in New York and Paris. She eventually returned home, where she launched the foundation of what would become her namesake brand in 2003. What began primarily around resort and swimwear gradually evolved into a full luxury lifestyle house spanning ready-to-wear, accessories, swim and home.

Rather than relocating the heart of the company abroad as the brand expanded, Ortiz kept Cali at the center of the operation.

Today, more than 90% of the brand’s production is made in-house at its atelier in Cali. The company employs more than 450 people, with women accounting for roughly three-quarters of its workforce. The brand also works with Indigenous communities and artisan associations across Colombia, integrating traditional techniques into a contemporary luxury business.

A Colombian Point of View

Ortiz’s design language is deeply connected to Latin America.

Tropical landscapes, dramatic prints, movement, femininity and craftsmanship have become recurring signatures of her collections. Instead of treating her Colombian heritage simply as inspiration, she has made it part of the commercial identity of the brand.

Her Spring 2026 collection, Magdalena, was inspired by Colombia’s Magdalena River and incorporated references to the country’s landscapes and artisanal traditions. Vogue noted that the collection also reflected Ortiz’s continued commitment to producing her work through the Cali atelier and preserving regional craftsmanship.

That approach has helped position Johanna Ortiz as part of a generation of Latin American designers demonstrating that luxury does not have to originate exclusively from the traditional fashion capitals.

It can also come from Cali.

From Cali to Madison Avenue

The United States has become particularly important to the company’s growth.

In 2024, Johanna Ortiz opened a standalone store on Madison Avenue in New York, one of the most prestigious luxury retail corridors in the world. By 2026, the United States had become the brand’s largest market, while the company maintained stores in Colombia and distribution through roughly 200 wholesale locations internationally.

The significance of that expansion goes beyond retail.

For a Colombian company created and largely produced in Cali to operate alongside established international luxury houses in New York represents a broader shift in how Latin American brands can participate in the global luxury economy.

Ortiz has also presented collections in major fashion destinations including New York and Paris. In March 2026, she opened Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid as a guest designer with her Fall/Winter 2026 collection, Alma, as the company continued expanding its presence in Europe.

Fashion as Economic Opportunity

One of the most significant parts of the Johanna Ortiz story happens behind the runway.

Through Escuela Johanna Ortiz, the company provides couture-level sewing training designed to give people from vulnerable communities professional skills and pathways toward economic independence. According to the company, more than 350 people have benefited from the initiative.

The brand also collaborates with 23 Indigenous communities and artisanal associations, supporting more than 260 artisans while helping preserve traditional techniques.

In that sense, Ortiz has created something larger than a designer label.

She has built an ecosystem in which design, manufacturing, cultural heritage and economic opportunity operate together.

Building a Latin American Luxury House

Johanna Ortiz’s rise illustrates an important evolution taking place across Latin American entrepreneurship.

For decades, many designers from the region believed international success required moving their companies to New York, Paris, London or Milan.

Ortiz followed a different path.

She took her company global while keeping much of its creative and manufacturing infrastructure in Colombia.

That decision has allowed the brand to scale internationally while maintaining a recognizable sense of origin.

Johanna Ortiz is no longer simply a Colombian designer selling internationally.

She represents something increasingly important for the region: a globally recognized Latin American luxury house built from Latin America itself.

And from Cali, Colombia, her vision continues to travel around the world.

LatinoSystem Profile
Johanna Ortiz | Fashion & Entrepreneurship | Taking Colombian Luxury to the Global Stage

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When David Vélez encountered the complexity, bureaucracy and high costs of traditional banking in Brazil, he did not simply see an inconvenience. He saw an opportunity to rethink an entire industry.

That vision eventually became Nubank, the digital financial services company he co-founded in 2013 and transformed into one of Latin America’s most influential technology companies.

Born in Medellín, Colombia, Vélez spent part of his childhood in Costa Rica after his family left Colombia amid the violence and instability of the era. He later moved to the United States to attend Stanford University, earning a degree in Management Science and Engineering before completing an MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Vélez built a career inside some of the world’s most prominent financial and investment institutions. He worked at Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and General Atlantic, and later became a partner at Sequoia Capital, where he focused on opportunities in Latin America.

But it was his own experience with the Brazilian banking system that helped crystallize his entrepreneurial vision. After moving to Brazil, Vélez encountered a highly concentrated financial sector characterized by cumbersome processes, high fees and limited competition. Opening a bank account reportedly took him months.

Challenging Latin America’s Banking Establishment

In 2013, Vélez co-founded Nubank alongside Cristina Junqueira and Edward Wible.

The initial proposition was relatively simple: use technology to create financial products that were easier to understand, less expensive and more customer-friendly than those offered by traditional banks.

What began with a no-fee credit card grew into a broad digital financial ecosystem.

By May 2026, Nubank reported more than 135 million customers across Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, including approximately 115 million in Brazil, 15 million in Mexico and nearly 5 million in Colombia. The company also said it had reached roughly $20 billion in annualized revenue, placing it among a relatively small group of companies worldwide operating at that scale.

The company’s rise represents more than the success of a fintech startup. It demonstrates how technology can challenge entrenched industries in markets where consumers have historically had limited alternatives.

A Colombian Founder With a Global Vision

Vélez’s journey is particularly significant within the broader story of Latino entrepreneurship.

Rather than building a company primarily around Silicon Valley or the U.S. market, he focused on one of Latin America’s most persistent challenges: access to better financial services.

His strategy combined Silicon Valley technology culture with a deep understanding of Latin American markets.

Nubank’s growth eventually led the company to the New York Stock Exchange in 2021, turning the once-small Brazilian startup into a publicly traded global financial institution.

That global ambition is continuing. In September 2026, Nubank announced its entry into the United States, initially offering products including savings accounts, credit cards and international transfers through a partnership with an FDIC-insured bank. The company has also identified U.S. Hispanic consumers as an important potential market.

The expansion marks a striking evolution: a company created to challenge Latin America’s traditional banks is now bringing its model into the world’s largest financial market.

Leadership Beyond Business

Vélez has also increasingly focused on philanthropy.

Together with his wife, Mariel Reyes Milk, he created VélezReyes+, a philanthropic platform focused on expanding opportunities and addressing social challenges in Latin America.

The couple has also joined The Giving Pledge, committing to donate the majority of their wealth during their lifetimes or through their estate.

For Vélez, the next chapter appears to extend beyond building a successful corporation. It is increasingly about using the resources, networks and influence created through entrepreneurship to generate broader social impact.

Redefining What a Latin American Company Can Become

David Vélez represents a generation of Latino entrepreneurs whose ambitions are not constrained by borders.

He did not simply digitize an existing banking model. He challenged assumptions about how banks should operate, how customers should be treated and whether companies born in Latin America could compete at global scale.

Today, Nubank’s hundreds of millions of customer relationships demonstrate the scale of that idea.

And perhaps Vélez’s most important contribution is larger than banking itself.

His story illustrates that some of the world’s most transformative companies can emerge from solving problems uniquely visible to people who understand Latin America from the inside.

For LatinoSystem, David Vélez is not only a fintech founder. He is part of a broader generation proving that Latino leadership can create companies capable of reshaping entire industries — first across Latin America, and increasingly, around the world.

The post David Vélez: Reinventing Banking for Millions Across Latin America appeared first on Latino System.

Antonella Farah Louis has built a career shaped by a consistent idea: creating connections between institutions, communities, economic development and opportunity.

Now, as the newly appointed Consul of Colombia in Miami, that experience enters a new international chapter.

Farah Louis was formally appointed through Presidential Decree 1317 of August 25, 2026, placing her at the head of one of Colombia’s most strategically important consular representations in the United States. South Florida is home to a significant Colombian community and serves as a major gateway for business, tourism, investment and cultural exchange between the United States and Latin America.

For LatinoSystem, her trajectory represents a broader evolution of Latino leadership: professionals whose influence moves across government, entrepreneurship, international relations and community building.

A Career Rooted in Economic Development

An economist by training, Farah Louis has developed experience across the public sector, foreign trade, competitiveness, institutional relations and regional development.

Much of her professional trajectory has been connected to Cartagena and Colombia’s Caribbean region, where she has participated in initiatives related to economic development and the international positioning of the region.

Her work has also included efforts connected to nautical tourism, an area with significant potential for investment, tourism development and international connectivity in the Colombian Caribbean.

That combination of economic understanding and institutional experience gives Farah Louis a profile that extends beyond traditional public administration.

It is a perspective centered on how cities and regions can connect their local strengths with global opportunities.

From Regional Leadership to Diplomacy

Farah Louis has also become increasingly visible in Colombia’s public and political landscape.

In Cartagena and Bolívar, she participated in political organization and regional leadership initiatives before entering diplomatic service. She holds a specialization in public relations in addition to her economics background.

Her appointment to Miami transforms that regional experience into an international responsibility.

As consul, her role will include serving Colombian citizens while helping strengthen institutional, commercial and cultural relationships between Colombia and South Florida.

In a city where Latin America and the United States intersect every day through commerce, media, finance, culture and migration, that responsibility carries particular significance.

An Entrepreneurial Dimension

Farah Louis’ profile also includes entrepreneurship.

She has been associated with Antonella Art, a sustainable fashion brand that reached New York Fashion Week in 2024 — an experience that adds another dimension to a career already spanning economics, public affairs and regional development.

That entrepreneurial experience matters.

Modern diplomacy increasingly operates alongside business, culture, tourism, innovation and creative industries. Leaders capable of understanding several of those worlds can bring a broader perspective to international representation.

Farah Louis enters her diplomatic role with precisely that multidisciplinary background.

Miami as a Strategic Platform

Miami is more than a consular destination.

It has become one of the most influential economic and cultural capitals of the Latino world in the United States — a place where companies, governments, entrepreneurs, investors, media organizations and communities from across Latin America converge.

For Colombia, the region represents an important platform for strengthening ties with its diaspora while expanding commercial, cultural and institutional relationships.

Farah Louis therefore assumes a position with the potential to become a bridge between several communities at once: Colombians living abroad, Colombian institutions, American organizations and the broader Latino ecosystem of South Florida.

A New Generation of Latina Leadership

Antonella Farah Louis’ story is still entering one of its most consequential chapters.

Her trajectory from regional development and entrepreneurship to public leadership and diplomacy demonstrates how contemporary Latino leadership is becoming increasingly multidimensional.

It is no longer defined by a single institution, industry or country.

Today’s Latino leaders operate across borders.

They connect communities.

They build networks between public and private sectors.

And they increasingly participate in the economic, cultural and institutional relationships shaping the future of the Americas.

With her arrival in Miami, Antonella Farah Louis joins that emerging generation of leaders — bringing Colombian experience to one of the most important Latino crossroads in the United States.

For LatinoSystem, her appointment represents more than a new diplomatic position.

It represents the growing presence of Latina leadership in the spaces where international relationships, economic opportunity and community influence converge.

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For more than two decades, Maria Teresa Kumar has worked at the intersection of technology, media, public policy and civic engagement, helping redefine how Latino communities participate in American democracy.

As the co-founder and president of Voto Latino, Kumar has emerged as one of the most influential Latina voices in the national conversation about political participation, representation and the growing power of the U.S. Latino electorate.

Her work reflects a broader transformation taking place across the country: Latinos are not simply an emerging demographic group, but an increasingly important force shaping America’s political, economic and cultural future.

Turning Demographic Change Into Civic Power

Kumar recognized early that America’s rapidly growing Latino population represented enormous potential — but that demographic growth alone would not automatically translate into influence.

The challenge was participation.

Voto Latino was created to engage younger generations of Latinos through communications strategies that reflected how they actually consumed information. Rather than relying exclusively on traditional political organizing, the organization embraced digital media, entertainment, technology and culturally relevant storytelling.

That approach helped Voto Latino grow into a major national civic engagement organization focused on registering, educating and mobilizing Latino voters.

Kumar’s leadership has helped position civic participation not simply as an Election Day activity, but as part of a larger conversation about representation, opportunity and belonging.

Innovation at the Intersection of Media and Democracy

One of Kumar’s defining strengths has been her ability to understand the relationship between communications and political power.

Long before digital organizing became standard practice in national campaigns, she saw technology as an opportunity to reach Latino communities at scale.

That combination of media, advocacy and technology became central to Voto Latino’s strategy.

The organization has also expanded its work to confront misinformation and disinformation targeting Latino communities, reflecting the increasingly complex role that digital platforms play in American civic life.

In 2024, Voto Latino partnered with the Service Employees International Union on an initiative to register and mobilize Latino voters across eight states, illustrating the scale and national reach of the organization Kumar helped build.

From Capitol Hill to National Leadership

Kumar’s understanding of government began before Voto Latino.

Early in her career, she worked on Capitol Hill as a senior legislative aide, focusing on appropriations and trade policy. She later earned a master’s degree from Harvard Kennedy School after studying international affairs at the University of California, Davis.

That combination of policy experience and communications expertise would become central to her leadership style.

Rather than viewing Latino advocacy as a separate political category, Kumar has consistently framed Latino participation as fundamental to the future of American democracy itself.

Her influence has extended beyond Voto Latino. She has been recognized as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has served on the board of EMILY’s List. She has also appeared nationally as an Emmy-nominated political analyst.

A Voice in the National Conversation

Kumar has increasingly become a prominent public voice on voting rights, immigration, citizenship and democratic institutions.

At the 2024 TIME100 Women’s Leadership Forum, she joined leaders including Sherrilyn Ifill and Kerry Washington for a discussion about advocacy and emphasized the importance of communicating with communities through the platforms and language that resonate with them.

That philosophy has been fundamental to her work.

Effective leadership, in Kumar’s model, means understanding that communities cannot simply be asked to participate. Institutions must first engage them, listen to them and demonstrate why their participation matters.

Her advocacy continues to place Latino communities at the center of major national debates. In 2026, for example, Kumar publicly addressed questions surrounding birthright citizenship and the constitutional protections of the 14th Amendment through her leadership at Voto Latino.

Shaping the Future of Latino Leadership

Maria Teresa Kumar represents a generation of Latino leaders whose influence extends far beyond traditional definitions of advocacy.

She has helped build infrastructure.

She has connected technology with civic engagement, culture with political participation and demographic growth with institutional power.

Most importantly, her work has helped change the way America thinks about Latino voters — not as a constituency waiting to be activated, but as citizens increasingly defining the direction of the country.

For LatinoSystem, Maria Teresa Kumar represents something larger than political participation alone: she demonstrates how Latino leadership can build institutions capable of shaping the future.

As the Latino population continues to grow in influence across the United States, leaders like Kumar are ensuring that representation is accompanied by something equally important — power, participation and a voice in the decisions shaping America.

The post Maria Teresa Kumar: Building Latino Political Power for a New American Generation appeared first on Latino System.

Long before Latin America became one of the world’s most dynamic startup regions, Linda Rottenberg saw something others were overlooking: extraordinary entrepreneurial talent waiting for an ecosystem that could help it grow.

In 1997, Rottenberg co-founded Endeavor with Peter Kellner around a powerful conviction—that talent is everywhere, even when access to capital, networks, mentorship and opportunity is not. What began as an experiment focused on Latin America would eventually become one of the world’s most influential networks for high-impact entrepreneurs.

Today, Rottenberg remains co-founder and CEO of Endeavor, leading an organization operating across more than 40 markets and helping entrepreneurs build companies capable of transforming industries, creating jobs and strengthening economies.

An Idea Born in Latin America

Rottenberg’s path to entrepreneurship was unconventional.

After studying at Harvard College and Yale Law School, she realized that a traditional legal career was not the future she wanted. Her journey eventually took her to Latin America, where she worked in Chile and Argentina and became fascinated by the region’s untapped entrepreneurial potential.

One experience in Buenos Aires became particularly important. During a taxi ride, Rottenberg discovered that her driver was a trained engineer. As they talked, she became increasingly aware of a larger structural problem: talented people with ambition and ideas often lacked the networks, capital and entrepreneurial role models necessary to build scalable companies.

At the time, Silicon Valley was producing a new generation of technology entrepreneurs, but similar opportunities were far more difficult to access across emerging markets.

Rottenberg began asking a deceptively simple question: Why couldn’t the next great global company come from Latin America?

That question became the foundation of Endeavor.

Betting on the Entrepreneurs Others Overlooked

The premise behind Endeavor was radical for its time.

Instead of focusing exclusively on Silicon Valley or other established innovation centers, Rottenberg and Kellner sought entrepreneurs in emerging and underserved markets with the potential to build rapidly growing businesses.

The organization initially established its model in Argentina and Chile before expanding throughout Latin America and eventually into Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

One of Endeavor’s earliest examples demonstrated just how powerful that thesis could become.

Argentine entrepreneur Wences Casares had struggled to convince local investors to back his vision for an online financial-services company. Endeavor selected him among its early entrepreneurs and helped connect him with talent and capital. His company, Patagon.com, was eventually sold to Banco Santander for $750 million.

Soon afterward, another generation of ambitious founders began emerging from the region—including entrepreneurs behind Mercado Libre, which would grow into one of Latin America’s most important technology companies.

These successes helped validate an idea that now seems obvious but was far from conventional in the late 1990s: Latin America could produce companies capable of competing on the global stage.

Building an Ecosystem, Not Just Companies

Rottenberg’s greatest contribution may not be any individual company Endeavor helped scale.

It is the ecosystem surrounding them.

Endeavor developed a model built around identifying high-potential founders and connecting them with mentors, investors and business leaders capable of helping them navigate the difficult transition from startup to scale-up.

But the model contains another important element: successful entrepreneurs are encouraged to reinvest their experience, networks and resources into the next generation.

One founder succeeds. Then that founder mentors, invests in or inspires others.

Over time, individual entrepreneurial successes can become entire innovation ecosystems.

That philosophy helped Endeavor expand from its Latin American roots into a global network spanning more than 40 markets.

From Mentorship to Investment

As the Endeavor network matured, Rottenberg recognized another challenge facing entrepreneurs outside traditional technology centers: access to growth capital.

That led to Endeavor Catalyst, the organization’s investment arm.

Rottenberg serves as president of Endeavor Catalyst, which co-invests in companies led by Endeavor Entrepreneurs. The platform has grown into a significant global investment operation, backing hundreds of companies while creating a model in which investment returns can help support Endeavor’s broader mission.

The evolution reflects Rottenberg’s broader philosophy about entrepreneurship: founders need more than inspiration. They need capital, networks, mentorship and access to people who understand what it takes to scale.

“Crazy” as a Leadership Philosophy

For years, Rottenberg was nicknamed “Chica Loca” for insisting that billion-dollar businesses could emerge from markets that global investors largely ignored.

Rather than reject the label, she embraced it.

The idea eventually inspired her book Crazy Is a Compliment, which explores why unconventional thinkers and entrepreneurs often need to challenge established expectations before they can create meaningful change.

For Rottenberg, being considered crazy can simply mean seeing an opportunity before everyone else does.

That mindset has defined much of her career.

She believed in Latin America’s entrepreneurs before startup ecosystems became fashionable. She believed founders outside Silicon Valley could build global businesses. And she believed successful entrepreneurs could become catalysts for economic transformation in their own communities.

Time proved many of those ideas right.

Changing the Geography of Innovation

Rottenberg’s story carries particular significance for LatinoSystem because her work helped change the global perception of entrepreneurship in Latin America.

Today, cities including São Paulo, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Bogotá and Santiago are recognized as important centers of technology and entrepreneurship. Latin American founders routinely build companies serving millions of consumers, attract international venture capital and expand across borders.

That reality was far less imaginable when Endeavor began.

Rottenberg helped demonstrate that geography should not determine the limits of ambition.

Her philosophy can be summarized by one of the ideas that continues to guide Endeavor: talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not.

By helping close that gap, Linda Rottenberg didn’t simply support entrepreneurs.

She helped build a global movement that changed where the world looks for the next generation of transformative founders.

And Latin America was where that movement began.

The post Linda Rottenberg: The Visionary Who Saw Latin America’s Entrepreneurial Potential Before the World Did appeared first on Latino System.

Richard Montañez’s story has become one of the most recognizable narratives of Latino ambition in corporate America.

Long before he became an author, motivational speaker and influential voice on multicultural marketing, Montañez entered Frito-Lay at the bottom of the organizational ladder. Over the course of his career, he moved from the factory floor into increasingly significant roles within the company, ultimately building a reputation around his understanding of Latino consumers and the cultural forces reshaping the American marketplace.

His journey offers a lesson that extends far beyond the snack-food industry: talent and ideas can emerge from places corporations do not always think to look.

From Humble Beginnings to Corporate America

Born into a Mexican American family in Southern California, Montañez grew up with limited resources and began working at a Frito-Lay plant in Rancho Cucamonga in the 1970s.

His early career was far removed from executive offices.

Montañez started in a plant position and eventually moved through different responsibilities inside the organization. Company records cited by the Los Angeles Times show that he became a machinist operator early in his tenure, later worked in technical and quality-control roles, and eventually advanced into a director-level position.

That progression is remarkable on its own.

Rather than allowing his initial position to define the limits of his career, Montañez learned the business around him and developed an understanding of a consumer segment that major American corporations were only beginning to recognize more strategically: the rapidly growing U.S. Hispanic market.

Seeing a Market Others Overlooked

One of Montañez’s most significant contributions was his ability to recognize culture as a business opportunity.

During his years at Frito-Lay, he became involved in initiatives aimed specifically at Latino consumers. Reporting on his career documents his involvement with products and marketing efforts connected to the Southern California Hispanic market, including the Sabrositas initiative in the 1990s.

That instinct — understanding that consumers want products and marketing that speak to their culture rather than simply translating mainstream campaigns — would eventually become fundamental to multicultural marketing in the United States.

For Latino professionals, his trajectory also represented something larger.

Montañez demonstrated that cultural knowledge acquired outside the traditional corporate environment could become an asset inside it.

The Flamin’ Hot Story — and the Controversy Around It

Montañez became internationally known through his account of helping create what would become the Flamin’ Hot phenomenon.

For years, he has told the story of developing a spicy snack concept inspired by Mexican flavors and presenting his idea to company leadership. His version of events became central to his books, speaking career and eventually the 2023 film Flamin’ Hot, directed by Eva Longoria.

However, the origins of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos have been disputed.

A 2021 Los Angeles Times investigation reported that archival records, former employees and Frito-Lay itself did not support the claim that Montañez created the original Flamin’ Hot Cheetos product. Frito-Lay said that while it valued his contributions — particularly his insights into Hispanic consumers — company records did not credit him with creating Flamin’ Hot Cheetos or the original Flamin’ Hot line.

Montañez has continued to defend his account. In 2024, he sued PepsiCo and Frito-Lay over their rejection of his claims, arguing that the companies had previously recognized his role and that their later statements damaged his reputation.

The disagreement has complicated one of corporate America’s most famous rags-to-riches narratives.

But it does not erase another, well-documented part of the story: Montañez built an extraordinary career inside a major American corporation and became an important advocate for understanding Latino consumers.

Turning Cultural Intelligence Into Business Strategy

Perhaps Montañez’s most enduring business lesson is not about a single product.

It is about perspective.

For decades, Latinos working inside major American companies often possessed cultural knowledge that organizations struggled to understand from the executive level. Montañez recognized that understanding language, family, food, community and cultural identity could translate into valuable business intelligence.

That idea now seems obvious.

It was far less obvious when multicultural marketing was still fighting for budgets, executive attention and influence inside major corporations.

Montañez’s career helped demonstrate that Latino consumers should not be treated simply as a demographic category. They represented — and continue to represent — a powerful cultural and economic force capable of influencing mainstream American consumption.

From Corporate Executive to Storyteller

After decades in the corporate world, Montañez transformed his experiences into another career.

He became a motivational speaker and author, bringing his message about initiative, leadership and cultural identity to companies, universities and organizations.

His memoir, Flamin’ Hot: The Incredible True Story of One Man’s Rise from Janitor to Top Executive, helped expand his story beyond corporate America and into popular culture. His official biography today presents him as a business executive, author, speaker and innovator whose career spans more than four decades.

The appeal of his message is easy to understand.

It speaks directly to people who have entered rooms where nobody expected them to lead.

A Latino Leadership Lesson

Richard Montañez’s legacy is more complex than the simplified version that made him famous.

And perhaps that complexity makes the broader lesson of his career even more relevant.

His documented rise from the factory environment into corporate leadership remains an unusual achievement. His understanding of Latino consumers anticipated a transformation that would eventually reshape American marketing. And his ability to turn his experiences into a global platform demonstrates the power of storytelling in building influence.

For the next generation of Latino entrepreneurs and executives, Montañez represents an important idea: your background can be more than part of your personal story — it can become part of your competitive advantage.

As Latino influence continues to expand across American business, media and culture, companies increasingly need leaders who understand communities not simply through market research, but through lived experience.

Richard Montañez built a career around that understanding.

And regardless of the continuing debate surrounding one famous bag of chips, his journey from the factory floor to becoming one of corporate America’s most recognizable Latino business storytellers remains a powerful example of what can happen when cultural insight finds its way into the rooms where decisions are made.

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Some of the most consequential innovations begin not in a laboratory or a boardroom, but with a problem that becomes impossible to ignore.

For Colombian physician-scientist, inventor and entrepreneur Dr. Maria Artunduaga, MD, MPH, MTM, that moment came after losing her grandmother, Sylvia, to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Today, Artunduaga is the founder and CEO of Samay, a medical technology company developing AI-assisted solutions designed to help patients and healthcare providers better understand respiratory health outside the hospital.

Her journey from Colombia to some of America’s leading academic institutions — and ultimately into entrepreneurship — represents the kind of Latino leadership increasingly shaping the future of science, medicine and technology.

When Personal Loss Becomes a Mission

Artunduaga was pursuing a demanding career in medicine and had begun training in plastic surgery at the University of Chicago when her grandmother’s health suddenly deteriorated in Colombia.

Sylvia lived with COPD, a progressive respiratory disease that can make breathing increasingly difficult. Although Artunduaga comes from a family that includes physicians, distance became a critical obstacle. Her grandmother lived hours away, and the family depended largely on conversations with her to understand how she was doing.

By the time the severity of her deterioration became clear, Sylvia required hospitalization and intensive care. She died after developing complications.

The experience fundamentally changed Artunduaga’s trajectory.

Rather than continuing along the career path she had spent years building, she became determined to address a fundamental problem she had experienced firsthand: patients with chronic respiratory disease often lack practical ways to objectively monitor changes in their lung function while they are at home.

Artunduaga left clinical medicine and turned toward invention and entrepreneurship.

The result became Samay — a name derived from a Quechua word associated with breathing deeply.

And its flagship technology would carry another deeply personal name: Sylvee, honoring the grandmother who inspired it.

From Colombia to America’s Innovation Ecosystem

Long before becoming a startup founder, Artunduaga had built an unusually multidisciplinary career.

She earned her medical degree in Colombia before continuing her education and research in the United States. Her trajectory included postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School, training in plastic surgery at the University of Chicago, a Master of Public Health from the University of Washington and a Master of Translational Medicine through UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco.

That combination of medicine, research, public health and translational science eventually became essential to her work as an entrepreneur.

Artunduaga wasn’t simply trying to create another health application. She was attempting to rethink how respiratory function could be measured outside traditional clinical environments.

Building Technology That Listens to the Lungs

At the center of Samay’s work is an idea that sounds deceptively simple: use sound to better understand what is happening inside the lungs.

The company’s technology uses acoustic signals and artificial intelligence to analyze respiratory function without requiring patients to perform the forceful breathing maneuvers traditionally associated with pulmonary function tests.

Sylvee is being developed as a non-invasive wearable capable of collecting respiratory information while a patient goes about everyday life.

According to MedTech Color, the technology has been tested in hundreds of subjects and has demonstrated accuracy of up to 98% in detecting respiratory conditions and biomarkers in testing. Samay’s broader vision is to give physicians a more continuous picture of what is happening between medical appointments — potentially identifying deterioration before it becomes an emergency.

For people living with chronic respiratory disease, that distinction could be significant.

It is also where Artunduaga’s experience as a physician becomes inseparable from her work as a founder.

She understands both sides of the problem: what clinicians need to make decisions and what patients experience when sophisticated medical infrastructure is no longer within reach.

Innovation With an Access Mission

Artunduaga’s vision extends beyond developing a successful medical device.

It addresses one of healthcare’s persistent inequalities: geography.

Specialized pulmonary care is not equally accessible across the United States, particularly for patients in rural and underserved communities. Chronic respiratory diseases can therefore become not only medical challenges but access challenges.

Technology capable of collecting meaningful respiratory information remotely could potentially expand the reach of telehealth, support physicians managing patients from a distance and provide researchers with new ways to understand disease progression outside controlled clinical settings.

It is a problem Artunduaga understands personally.

Distance played a role in her family’s inability to recognize her grandmother’s deterioration in time. Now, eliminating some of that distance between patients and healthcare providers sits at the heart of the company she created.

From Startup Founder to Award-Winning Inventor

The medical technology industry has taken notice.

In 2024, Samay won the MedTech Innovator Global Competition, one of the world’s leading accelerators and competitions for medical device and digital health companies. Artunduaga became the first Latina physician to achieve the distinction, while Samay made history as a Latino-led company in the program.

The recognition marked an important transition.

Samay was no longer simply an ambitious startup trying to prove an unconventional approach to respiratory monitoring. It was emerging as a serious MedTech company with independently recognized technology.

The company’s intellectual property portfolio has expanded as well. By 2026, The Lemelson Foundation reported that Samay had grown from a single prototype to a company with 18 patents and another 19 pending.

Artunduaga herself has accumulated more than 50 awards for her work as a physician-scientist and inventor, while her scientific work has appeared in major publications.

Her recognition has expanded beyond medicine. She was included on Inc.’s Female Founders list in 2025 and among Bloomberg Línea’s 100 Innovators in Latin America.

But those accolades tell only part of the story.

A Different Model of Latino Leadership

Artunduaga’s trajectory represents something larger than the success of one founder.

For decades, Latino achievement in the United States has often been framed around a relatively narrow group of highly visible industries. A new generation of Latino leaders is expanding that narrative into artificial intelligence, biotechnology, medicine, engineering, venture-backed entrepreneurship and deep technology.

Artunduaga belongs squarely within that generation.

She arrived in the United States from Colombia as a physician pursuing advanced training and ultimately moved through Harvard, the University of Chicago, the University of Washington, UC Berkeley and UCSF before becoming the founder of a technology company.

But perhaps the most remarkable part of her story is not the institutions attached to her résumé.

It is her willingness to walk away from a prestigious and carefully constructed career when she believed there was a more important problem to solve.

Entrepreneurship required her to become more than a doctor or scientist. She had to become an inventor, fundraiser, executive, team builder and advocate for an entirely new approach to respiratory medicine.

That transition also speaks to a characteristic she frequently emphasizes: resilience.

Innovation rarely moves in a straight line. Medical technology in particular requires navigating scientific validation, intellectual property, financing, engineering, clinical research and regulatory hurdles — often simultaneously.

For Artunduaga, those obstacles have become part of the process rather than reasons to abandon the mission.

Building Something Bigger Than a Device

Samay’s potential ultimately goes beyond Sylvee.

The larger opportunity is the creation of a platform capable of generating meaningful respiratory data continuously and outside the traditional healthcare setting.

That information could eventually have value not only for patients and physicians but also for pharmaceutical companies, medical technology developers and researchers studying how respiratory diseases progress and respond to treatment.

In that sense, Artunduaga is working toward something much larger than a wearable.

She is attempting to change where respiratory health can be understood.

Instead of waiting for the patient to arrive at the hospital, the technology could help bring a portion of the hospital’s diagnostic intelligence to the patient.

It is an ambitious idea born from an extraordinarily human experience.

Years ago, Maria Artunduaga and her family could speak to Sylvia on the phone, but they could not see what was happening inside her lungs.

Today, Artunduaga is building technology designed to make those invisible changes measurable.

Her grandmother’s life could not be saved.

But the company carrying her legacy may help other families recognize the warning signs sooner.

And that transformation — from loss to invention, from immigrant physician to technology founder, and from personal mission to potentially global impact — makes Maria Artunduaga one of the Latino innovators redefining the future of healthcare.

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Today, Longoria is redefining what it means to be an entertainment executive. She has built a career where business, storytelling, and social impact intersect, proving that success is not only measured by personal achievements but also by the opportunities created for others.

From Hollywood Star to Industry Leader

Eva Longoria’s rise to international fame came through television, but she quickly recognized that true influence extended beyond the camera.

Rather than remaining solely an actress, she began building a career behind the scenes, producing films, television series, documentaries, and digital content that place authentic, diverse voices at the center of the conversation.

Through her production company, Hyphenate Media Group, Longoria has helped develop projects that challenge stereotypes while opening doors for Latino writers, directors, and creators in an industry long criticized for its lack of representation.

Her evolution reflects a broader vision: creating the stories she wanted to see—and ensuring future generations have the opportunity to tell their own.

Building Businesses Beyond Entertainment

Longoria has never limited herself to Hollywood.

Over the years, she has developed a diverse business portfolio that spans media, consumer brands, hospitality, and strategic investments.

Her entrepreneurial philosophy centers on building companies that combine purpose with profitability. Rather than simply endorsing products, she has focused on businesses where she can contribute strategically, helping shape growth, branding, and long-term vision.

That approach has positioned her among a growing generation of Latino entrepreneurs who see business as a platform for cultural influence as much as financial success.

Investing in the Future

Beyond entrepreneurship, Longoria has become an active investor committed to increasing Latino participation in innovation and venture capital.

She has publicly advocated for greater access to funding for Latino founders, recognizing that one of the greatest barriers facing diverse entrepreneurs is access to capital.

By supporting startups and initiatives focused on inclusion, technology, and community development, she has demonstrated that investment can be a powerful tool for creating lasting economic opportunity.

Her work sends a clear message: representation should extend beyond boardrooms and movie screens into ownership, leadership, and wealth creation.

Championing Latino Voices

Throughout her career, Longoria has consistently used her platform to elevate Latino stories and challenge outdated narratives about Hispanic communities.

Whether producing documentaries, supporting emerging filmmakers, mentoring entrepreneurs, or speaking on issues affecting Latino families, she has remained committed to ensuring that authentic voices are heard.

Her advocacy is rooted in the belief that storytelling shapes perception—and that better representation leads to greater understanding, opportunity, and inclusion.

That commitment has made her one of the most influential cultural ambassadors for the Latino community in the United States.

Leadership Through Service

Longoria’s impact extends far beyond business and entertainment.

Through the Eva Longoria Foundation, she has championed education, entrepreneurship, and economic empowerment for Latinas, helping women gain access to the resources needed to build successful careers and businesses.

She has also collaborated with nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and civic leaders to expand opportunities for underserved communities.

For Longoria, leadership is not about visibility—it is about responsibility.

Reinventing Success

Eva Longoria’s journey illustrates the power of reinvention.

She transformed celebrity into influence.

Influence into entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship into investment.

And investment into lasting community impact.

Her career demonstrates that the most meaningful success comes from building ecosystems that empower others to thrive.

The LatinoSystem Perspective

Eva Longoria represents the evolution of modern Latino leadership.

She is more than an award-winning actress. She is a producer shaping culture, an entrepreneur building businesses, an investor supporting innovation, and a philanthropist committed to expanding opportunity for future generations.

Her story reminds us that leadership is most powerful when success becomes a platform for service.

As Latino entrepreneurs, creators, and executives continue to shape industries around the world, Eva Longoria stands as a compelling example of what is possible when talent, vision, and purpose come together.

She is helping redefine not only how Latinos are represented—but how they lead.

Photo by by Lara Parker /

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