Corporate Cafecito

We made it through 2025.

That alone matters.

As we step into 2026, this episode of Corporate Cafecito is about choosing how we move forward. Not rushing. Not reacting. Choosing with intention.

This conversation is an honest look at what last year required from us and what it actually gave back.

What truly moved you forward in 2025?

What quietly drained your time, energy, or headspace?

What are you no longer willing to carry into this year?

We talk about taking a real audit of 2025 through return on investment. Time. Energy. Focus. We walk through Start, Stop, Continue as a way to move with clarity instead of obligation.

We also talk about visibility with intention.
Being seen by the right people.
For the right reasons.
Without shrinking who you are or hiding your cultura.

This episode is rooted in lived experience. Career and life. Ambition and rest. Growth with boundaries. Todo con intención y con corazón.

We would love to hear from you.
What is one thing you are choosing to start, stop, or continue in 2026?

Check out the trailer below, but head to our website, www.corpcafecito.com, to watch the entire episode.

Support the show

If you’d like to join Nallely y Carlos for a conversation, collaborate, or suggest a topic that matters to our community, we would love to hear from you. This podcast centers real conversations that move culture and careers forward. Visit www.corpcafecito.com/contact-us or email [email protected].

Elevar Development, founded by Nallely Suárez Gass, helps professionals and organizations grow with clarity and purpose. With over two decades of corporate experience, Nallely is known for helping people lead authentically, uncover strengths, and make confident, aligned decisions. Through personalized coaching and impactful workshops, Elevar creates practical, lasting change. Visit www.elevardevelopment.com or email [email protected] today.

Every business decision carries social, political, and economic considerations. Avizo Consulting helps organizations navigate complexity with intention, cultural awareness, and strategic insight. Carlos Butler Vale partners with leaders who want their values and actions aligned. Learn more at www.avizoconsulting.com or email [email protected]. 

Two leaders. One shared commitment to growth, cultura, and impact. 

Before we step into 2026, we wanted to pause and talk honestly about 2025. Not just what we survived, but what we learned, who showed up, and how our community kept moving forward even when things felt heavy.

In this episode, we reflect on the realities of 2025 for our community and our workplaces. We talk about fear and resilience, DEI shifts, AI changing the job market, cultural guilt, and the pressure so many of us felt to stay quiet just to stay afloat.

We also take time to lift up what mattered most. The teachings we shared throughout the year. The Latine-owned businesses and organizations we highlighted. The leaders, mentors, and community builders who reminded us that visibility, access, and community still matter.

If you’re looking for guidance, reflection, and real conversations rooted in experience, we invite you to explore the episodes, the stories, and the businesses we’ve highlighted along the way.

This is an honest look at 2025.  Lo bueno, lo difícil, y lo real.

Support the show

If you’d like to join Nallely y Carlos for a conversation, collaborate, or suggest a topic that matters to our community, we would love to hear from you. This podcast centers real conversations that move culture and careers forward. Visit www.corpcafecito.com/contact-us or email [email protected].

Elevar Development, founded by Nallely Suárez Gass, helps professionals and organizations grow with clarity and purpose. With over two decades of corporate experience, Nallely is known for helping people lead authentically, uncover strengths, and make confident, aligned decisions. Through personalized coaching and impactful workshops, Elevar creates practical, lasting change. Visit www.elevardevelopment.com or email [email protected] today.

Every business decision carries social, political, and economic considerations. Avizo Consulting helps organizations navigate complexity with intention, cultural awareness, and strategic insight. Carlos Butler Vale partners with leaders who want their values and actions aligned. Learn more at www.avizoconsulting.com or email [email protected]. 

Two leaders. One shared commitment to growth, cultura, and impact. 

When we first sat down with Sergio Suárez Jr., Founder and CEO of TackleAI, we were just beginning to understand artificial intelligence. We remember asking things like, “How does it even know what we like?” and wondering if AI could ever really replace human creativity.

Now, AI has evolved faster than any of us imagined, and having Sergio back on the podcast felt like coming full circle. 🔁

In this ☕ cafecito, we talk about how quickly the world is changing and what that means for our jobs, our families, and our comunidad. Sergio shares how 🤖 automation and robotics are reshaping industries, why 🎓 access and education matter more than ever, and how innovation can create new opportunities while also challenging the old ones.

💬 This conversation is honest, eye-opening, and deeply human. It is about courage, growth, and the future of our people in a world powered by technology and possibility.

💭 We would love to hear from you: How do you feel about the rise of AI? Are you curious, cautious, or a little bit of both?

🎧 Check out the entire episode below!

#CorporateCafecito #TackleAI #LatineLeaders #CulturaYAmbicion #RepresentationMatters #Leadership #Community #AIInnovation

Support the show

If you’d like to join Nallely y Carlos for a conversation, collaborate, or suggest a topic that matters to our community, we would love to hear from you. This podcast centers real conversations that move culture and careers forward. Visit www.corpcafecito.com/contact-us or email [email protected].

Elevar Development, founded by Nallely Suárez Gass, helps professionals and organizations grow with clarity and purpose. With over two decades of corporate experience, Nallely is known for helping people lead authentically, uncover strengths, and make confident, aligned decisions. Through personalized coaching and impactful workshops, Elevar creates practical, lasting change. Visit www.elevardevelopment.com or email [email protected] today.

Every business decision carries social, political, and economic considerations. Avizo Consulting helps organizations navigate complexity with intention, cultural awareness, and strategic insight. Carlos Butler Vale partners with leaders who want their values and actions aligned. Learn more at www.avizoconsulting.com or email [email protected]. 

Two leaders. One shared commitment to growth, cultura, and impact. 

In this week’s episode of Corporate Cafecito, we welcome an inspiring guest whose story beautifully blends cultura, comunidad, and emprendimiento Patricia Aguilar, Founder and President of FourStar Branding, joins us to share how her journey led to the creation of El Poder de La Marca®, a branding program empowering small business owners to rise, thrive, and build lasting impact within their communities.

Patricia has spent her career helping others find their voice and elevate their brands with authenticity and purpose. After completing the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program, she recognized a need for branding services at the same level as Fortune 500 companies but accessible to small businesses and nonprofits. Out of that vision, El Poder de La Marca® was born.

Through her collaboration with the Foundation of Little Village, Patricia has helped local entrepreneurs reimagine their businesses with professional branding, storytelling, and design. From taquerías to boutiques, her work goes far beyond logos and color palettes. It is about identity, pride, and community transformation. Each business she supports gains access to high-level branding funded through trusted organizations like the The Chicago Community Trust and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, giving small businesses the opportunity to shine and grow.

In this conversation, we explore how entrepreneurship rooted in cultura y corazón becomes a movement for change. Patricia shares what it means to lead with purpose, build partnerships that matter, and nurture the next generation of business leaders who will carry our communities forward.

Her story is a powerful reminder that every negocio, big or small, deserves to look and feel like success. When we invest in our people, our creativity, and our heritage, we create impact that lasts.

✨ Rooted in Community. Driven by Design. Built for Impact. ✨

🎥 Watch now: https://lnkd.in/gSYSxCK4

📍Learn More:
El Poder de La Marca® Branding Program
Contact: Patricia Aguilar
📧 Email:[email protected]
🌐 Website:www.fourstarbranding.com
📸 Instagram: @FourStarBranding
📘 Facebook: @4StarBranding
💼 LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/gXP468gj

Support the show

If you’d like to join Nallely y Carlos for a conversation, collaborate, or suggest a topic that matters to our community, we would love to hear from you. This podcast centers real conversations that move culture and careers forward. Visit www.corpcafecito.com/contact-us or email [email protected].

Elevar Development, founded by Nallely Suárez Gass, helps professionals and organizations grow with clarity and purpose. With over two decades of corporate experience, Nallely is known for helping people lead authentically, uncover strengths, and make confident, aligned decisions. Through personalized coaching and impactful workshops, Elevar creates practical, lasting change. Visit www.elevardevelopment.com or email [email protected] today.

Every business decision carries social, political, and economic considerations. Avizo Consulting helps organizations navigate complexity with intention, cultural awareness, and strategic insight. Carlos Butler Vale partners with leaders who want their values and actions aligned. Learn more at www.avizoconsulting.com or email [email protected]. 

Two leaders. One shared commitment to growth, cultura, and impact. 

This week’s cafecito hit deep. Refugio “Ref” Atilano joined us for a conversation that every professional, mentor, and dreamer in our comunidad needs to hear. We talked about what it really means to step into leadership and the courage it takes to quiet that inner voice that says, “you’re not ready.” 

Raf is a corporate executive, author of The Latino Leadership Playbook, and a powerful advocate for developing Latino and multicultural talent. What makes his story so meaningful is how it began, with a desire to help. For years, he mentored others one by one, teaching confidence, presence, and how to lead with authenticity. But as he listened, he noticed the same struggles again and again: imposter syndrome, hesitation to self-advocate, and the belief that hard work alone would be enough. 

Instead of letting those patterns continue, Raf decided to act. He poured his knowledge into a playbook filled with strategies, examples, and lessons from over 50 influential leaders. His goal wasn’t just to inspire, but to equip. To give our community the tools to lead with confidence and purpose. 

What we love most about Raf’s story is his heart. He believes leadership should be accessible to everyone and that the potential we’re searching for already lives within us. His message is simple but powerful. When we lift each other up, we all rise. 

 This episode is full of wisdom, honesty, and inspiration. If you’ve ever doubted yourself or wondered if you belong, this conversation will remind you that you do. Leadership doesn’t begin with a title. It begins the moment you believe in yourself. 

📚 Learn more about Raf’s work: 

– Book: https://a.co/d/dMQDDQx 

– Website: www.refugioatilano.com 

– Live Virtual Workshop: https://refugioatilano.com/live-virtual-llc-program/ 

– LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/refugio-a-atilano-00837912/

Support the show

If you’d like to join Nallely y Carlos for a conversation, collaborate, or suggest a topic that matters to our community, we would love to hear from you. This podcast centers real conversations that move culture and careers forward. Visit www.corpcafecito.com/contact-us or email [email protected].

Elevar Development, founded by Nallely Suárez Gass, helps professionals and organizations grow with clarity and purpose. With over two decades of corporate experience, Nallely is known for helping people lead authentically, uncover strengths, and make confident, aligned decisions. Through personalized coaching and impactful workshops, Elevar creates practical, lasting change. Visit www.elevardevelopment.com or email [email protected] today.

Every business decision carries social, political, and economic considerations. Avizo Consulting helps organizations navigate complexity with intention, cultural awareness, and strategic insight. Carlos Butler Vale partners with leaders who want their values and actions aligned. Learn more at www.avizoconsulting.com or email [email protected]. 

Two leaders. One shared commitment to growth, cultura, and impact. 

We’re back, familia 💛

After taking some time to pause, reflect, and refill our cups, Corporate Cafecito is back with an episode that reminds us why we started this journey in the first place.

This week, we’re joined once again by our amiga Olga Camargo, a leader who continues to inspire our comunidad to dream bigger and build a stronger foundation for the future. Olga was one of our most memorable guests a few seasons back when she joined us to talk about financial education and generational wealth. Now, she’s back to share her next chapter.

Her new book RISE: Embrace the Future You Can Build officially launches today, and her story will leave you feeling inspired to take action.

Olga opens up about how to start building financial confidence, one step at a time. She shares how to create a budget that works, join your 401(k), understand Roth versus pre-tax savings, and make small, intentional choices that lead to lasting growth.

Through her bilingual app, Olga is helping first-gen families, professionals & entrepreneurs learn to plan, save, and invest con intención.

This conversation is about more than money. It’s about believing in yourself, honoring where you come from, and taking care of your future with purpose and love. ❤️☕

🎥 The episode is out now. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/YXB89BhZ5Es
🌐 Visit our website to watch more episodes: www.corpcafecito.com

🎙Guest Info 

📚RISE: Embrace the Future You Can Build – Out Now - Amazon Paperback & Amazon eBook

💻@SHENIX_app | shenix.app
📲LinkedIn: Olga Camargo, AIF®
 
📰Featured Articles & Honors

2025 Chicago United BLC Honoree

Female Founder Interview – The Startup Magazine

Forbes Business Council Feature

NEIU News – Commencement Speaker

UIC Scholarship Named in Her Honor

Support the show

If you’d like to join Nallely y Carlos for a conversation, collaborate, or suggest a topic that matters to our community, we would love to hear from you. This podcast centers real conversations that move culture and careers forward. Visit www.corpcafecito.com/contact-us or email [email protected].

Elevar Development, founded by Nallely Suárez Gass, helps professionals and organizations grow with clarity and purpose. With over two decades of corporate experience, Nallely is known for helping people lead authentically, uncover strengths, and make confident, aligned decisions. Through personalized coaching and impactful workshops, Elevar creates practical, lasting change. Visit www.elevardevelopment.com or email [email protected] today.

Every business decision carries social, political, and economic considerations. Avizo Consulting helps organizations navigate complexity with intention, cultural awareness, and strategic insight. Carlos Butler Vale partners with leaders who want their values and actions aligned. Learn more at www.avizoconsulting.com or email [email protected]. 

Two leaders. One shared commitment to growth, cultura, and impact. 

👉 “Quiet cutting is the corporate trend no one asked for, but too many are living through.”

Behind polished HR terms are real people facing shifting roles, unclear expectations, and the weight of uncertainty.

In this cafecito, we open up about:
 ☕ Why quiet cutting is gaining traction in today’s workplace
 ☕ The toll it takes on trust and professional identity
 ☕ How to reclaim your voz, build resilience, and stay empowered
 ☕ Practical strategies to thrive even when the ground beneath you shifts

This isn’t just a buzzword. It’s a reminder to protect yourself and your comunidad in spaces that weren’t designed with us in mind.

Support the show

If you’d like to join Nallely y Carlos for a conversation, collaborate, or suggest a topic that matters to our community, we would love to hear from you. This podcast centers real conversations that move culture and careers forward. Visit www.corpcafecito.com/contact-us or email [email protected].

Elevar Development, founded by Nallely Suárez Gass, helps professionals and organizations grow with clarity and purpose. With over two decades of corporate experience, Nallely is known for helping people lead authentically, uncover strengths, and make confident, aligned decisions. Through personalized coaching and impactful workshops, Elevar creates practical, lasting change. Visit www.elevardevelopment.com or email [email protected] today.

Every business decision carries social, political, and economic considerations. Avizo Consulting helps organizations navigate complexity with intention, cultural awareness, and strategic insight. Carlos Butler Vale partners with leaders who want their values and actions aligned. Learn more at www.avizoconsulting.com or email [email protected]. 

Two leaders. One shared commitment to growth, cultura, and impact. 

🎧 NEW EPISODE – S8 E11: “Why Me… and Not Them?"

Have you ever reached a milestone you once dreamed of, only to feel a knot in your stomach instead of pure joy? That quiet voice that whispers, “Why me… and not them?”

Success is supposed to feel joyful. But for many of us, it also feels complicated.

There is a quiet weight that comes when your first bonus equals your parents’ monthly income, when you travel for work while your family never had the chance, or when you are seen as the “chosen one” who now carries everyone’s hopes.

That weight is called survivor's guilt. And in our comunidad, it shows up often.

In this cafecito, we open our hearts about what it means to achieve more than generations before us and how guilt, pride, and imposter syndrome collide along the way. We talk about:

☕ Why success can feel heavy instead of freeing
☕ The cultural tension between collective pride and individual achievement
☕ How to move from “Why me” to “Why not me”
☕ Reframing success as responsibility, not betrayal
☕ Celebrating our wins and bringing others along with us

We believe your éxito is not selfish. It is a path for others to follow.

💬 We invite you to join the conversation. Have you ever felt survivor's guilt in your career? What helped you move through it?

☕ P.S.: Partner with us. Sponsoring Corporate Cafecito is more than brand visibility. It is your company’s opportunity to stand proudly with one of the fastest-growing and most influential communities in the country. By joining us, you are investing in the next generation of Latine leaders, entrepreneurs, and changemakers.

Your support amplifies voices that deserve to be heard, fuels conversations that open doors, and builds a legacy of leadership that will carry forward for generations.

This is not just sponsorship. This is partnership, comunidad, and impact.

Let’s make it happen. Connect with us today at [email protected].








#CorporateCafecito #CorpCafecito #NallelySuarezGass #NallelyGass #CarlosButlerVale #CarlosVale #Latine #Latina #Latino #Latinx #Hispanic #Spanglish #Latine #Corporate #Podcast #Podcasting #Podcasters #YouTube #LinkedIn #ListenNow #Leadership #LatinxProfessionals #FirstGenProfessionals #ImposterSyndrome #CareerGrowth

Support the show

If you’d like to join Nallely y Carlos for a conversation, collaborate, or suggest a topic that matters to our community, we would love to hear from you. This podcast centers real conversations that move culture and careers forward. Visit www.corpcafecito.com/contact-us or email [email protected].

Elevar Development, founded by Nallely Suárez Gass, helps professionals and organizations grow with clarity and purpose. With over two decades of corporate experience, Nallely is known for helping people lead authentically, uncover strengths, and make confident, aligned decisions. Through personalized coaching and impactful workshops, Elevar creates practical, lasting change. Visit www.elevardevelopment.com or email [email protected] today.

Every business decision carries social, political, and economic considerations. Avizo Consulting helps organizations navigate complexity with intention, cultural awareness, and strategic insight. Carlos Butler Vale partners with leaders who want their values and actions aligned. Learn more at www.avizoconsulting.com or email [email protected]. 

Two leaders. One shared commitment to growth, cultura, and impact. 

S8 E10:  Más Datos, Más Dinero – Why Every Latine Professional Should Understand Business Metrics

Mid-year is the perfect moment to pause and ask: Am I on track to hit my goals? Do I know the números that truly tell me the answer?

Hard work opens doors, but knowing your business numbers is what keeps you in the room. Many Latine professionals are over-mentored and under-sponsored, and that includes not being taught the métricas that matter most or how to speak about them in a way that gets noticed.

💡 In this cafecito, we cover:
• The business métricas you should know, even if you are not in finance
• How to tie your work to revenue, retention, or ROI so your contributions are visible
• Why understanding ROI and opportunity cost changes how you spend your tiempo, dinero, and energy
• Simple ways to start learning, from sitting in on finance meetings to using free resources

This is more than a conversation about numbers. It is about using mid-year as your checkpoint to measure, adjust, and set yourself up to finish the year fuerte.

🎥 Watch the trailer now and head over to our website, www.corpcafecito.com, to watch the entire episode and subscribe so you can join us weekly. You can also listen on all major streaming platforms.

☕ PS: If you believe in the conversations we are having, you can help keep the cafecito brewing with a one-time donation or monthly membership at buymeacoffee.com/corpcafecito. Every contribution helps us uplift, educate, and inspire our comunidad.




#CorporateCafecito #CorpCafecito #NallelySuarezGass #NallelyGass #CarlosButlerVale #CarlosVale #Latine #Latina #Latino #Latinx #Hispanic #Spanglish #Latine #Corporate #Podcast #Podcasting #Podcasters #YouTube #LinkedIn #ListenNow #Leadership #LatinxProfessionals  #LatineProfessionals #MidYearReview #MasDatosMasDinero #CareerGrowth #ROI #LeadershipDevelopment #Comunidad

Support the show

If you’d like to join Nallely y Carlos for a conversation, collaborate, or suggest a topic that matters to our community, we would love to hear from you. This podcast centers real conversations that move culture and careers forward. Visit www.corpcafecito.com/contact-us or email [email protected].

Elevar Development, founded by Nallely Suárez Gass, helps professionals and organizations grow with clarity and purpose. With over two decades of corporate experience, Nallely is known for helping people lead authentically, uncover strengths, and make confident, aligned decisions. Through personalized coaching and impactful workshops, Elevar creates practical, lasting change. Visit www.elevardevelopment.com or email [email protected] today.

Every business decision carries social, political, and economic considerations. Avizo Consulting helps organizations navigate complexity with intention, cultural awareness, and strategic insight. Carlos Butler Vale partners with leaders who want their values and actions aligned. Learn more at www.avizoconsulting.com or email [email protected]. 

Two leaders. One shared commitment to growth, cultura, and impact. 

Let’s be real. Most of us are not exhausted from one big decision. We are drained by the hundreds of small ones we make before noon.

From “What should I wear?” to “Can I squeeze in this meeting?”, decision overload is real. And for many in our Latine community, the mental load runs even deeper. We are holding space for our families, our teams, and our dreams at once.

In this cafecito, we open up about the daily weight we carry and how to ease the pressure:
✅ What decision fatigue looks like at work and at home
✅ How culture and gender shape our mental load
✅ Boundaries that protect your peace without guilt
✅ How to lead with clarity, not just hustle

You are not lazy. You might just be overloaded.
Protecting your energy is not selfish.
It is leadership. It is love.

👇 Tell us in the comments:
Where does your decision fatigue hit the hardest. Work, home, or both?

🎧 Listen on your way to work, during a walk, or while sipping your cafecito. We are on all major streaming platforms.

🎥 Want to watch us in action? Subscribe to our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@CorporateCafecito

🌐 Explore more episodes and resources at:
www.corpcafecito.com

✨ If this episode speaks to you, support us by sharing it. Invite a friend to our page. Learn something new so you can help uplift someone else. Because when one of us grows, we all rise.




#CorporateCafecito #CorpCafecito #NallelySuarezGass #NallelyGass #CarlosButlerVale #CarlosVale #Latine #Latina #Latino #Latinx #Hispanic #Spanglish #Latin #Corporate #Podcast #Podcasting #Podcasting #YouTube #LinkedIn #WatchNow #ListenNow #Leadership #DecisionFatigue #MentalLoad #BoundariesArePower #LatinxProfessionals #AuthenticLeadership #CulturaYCarrera #LeadWithHeart #ThriveTogether

Support the show

If you’d like to join Nallely y Carlos for a conversation, collaborate, or suggest a topic that matters to our community, we would love to hear from you. This podcast centers real conversations that move culture and careers forward. Visit www.corpcafecito.com/contact-us or email [email protected].

Elevar Development, founded by Nallely Suárez Gass, helps professionals and organizations grow with clarity and purpose. With over two decades of corporate experience, Nallely is known for helping people lead authentically, uncover strengths, and make confident, aligned decisions. Through personalized coaching and impactful workshops, Elevar creates practical, lasting change. Visit www.elevardevelopment.com or email [email protected] today.

Every business decision carries social, political, and economic considerations. Avizo Consulting helps organizations navigate complexity with intention, cultural awareness, and strategic insight. Carlos Butler Vale partners with leaders who want their values and actions aligned. Learn more at www.avizoconsulting.com or email [email protected]. 

Two leaders. One shared commitment to growth, cultura, and impact.