LatinX

Born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico. (You can see the hospital where I came into the world by the trees in the picture) Immigrated to the United States. Now a dual citizen who has now lived in 3 countries and visited over 20 spanning across all continents, but Antarctica.

I guess one could say I was privileged not to look like a postcard kid of any country or ethnicity. Folks typically never guess I am Mexican, and maybe only half can identify I am of Latino/Hispanic descent. I always take these opportunities to share a bit about my culture and my journey.

It wasn't until I left San Antonio and moved to College Station for my university studies that I started noticing some differences. While I do not recall any direct signs of discrimination or racism in school, I do not recall being in a classroom with more than 8-10 Hispanic/LatinX students outside of the minority focused organizations. This lack of representation just escalated once I graduated and joined the workforce. While my direct supervisor and about 25% of my team were people of color, just about every senior manager or executive were Caucasian. The number just got smaller once I joined management consulting in both my team and my clients' organizations.

There are many drivers for the unmatching distribution of executives and equity shareholders to the country's demographic. The effort many organizations are undertaking to increase the diversity in the workplace is noticeable, but I do not believe that is the solution. I am a firm believer the real change will occur once we (each minority group) does what it takes to increase their representation in the cap table (list of company's owners).

I am committed to advancing the representation of LatinX in the cap tables. We need to buy shares, we need to start companies, we need to grow companies, we need to scale companies, we need to demand our board sit once we owe enough shares, we need to invest in start-ups, and the representation follows.