Entrepreneurial Thinkers with Rob Ryan

In this episode, Rob and Ileana are joined by Oscar Eduardo Santiago Sevilla, a successful industrial engineer and entrepreneur from La Piedad Mexico. Oscar is the Founder and CEO of the Centro de Innovación y Competitividad A.C., where he helps entrepreneurs enhance their skills and fosters a culture of innovation. He is also a consultant, instructor, and external advisor on strategic planning, innovation, and new businesses.

During the interview, Oscar shares his life journey and how he became passionate about entrepreneurship, particularly in the La Piedad entrepreneurial economy. He talks about his various companies and initiatives, including CINCOM, which offers several programs and opportunities for entrepreneurs to learn and get support.

One of the key takeaways from the interview is Oscar's perspective on failure. He believes that it's inevitable and that we shouldn't avoid it. Instead, we should embrace it and learn from it. He also stresses the importance of entrepreneurship in creating economic opportunities for rural towns and cities in Mexico, and how it can break generational cycles.

Feel free to follow and engage with OSCAR here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oscar-sevilla/?originalSubdomain=mx 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/osantiagosevilla/?hl=en 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oscar.e.sevilla.9 

Website: https://www.cincom.com.mx/

We're so grateful to you, our growing audience of entrepreneurs, investors, builders, influencers and those interested in the entrepreneurial economies of Latin America and the under-represented entrepreneurial communities in the USA!

Plug in, relax and enjoy some Spanish, English and a fun dose of spanglish as always. We're here to help inspire, educate and empower you, so that you can build the future!

¡Salud y gracias!,

Mentors Today's Team

In this episode, Rob and Ileana are joined by Stéphanie Bermúdez, Founder and Principal at Startup Unidos, a dynamic entrepreneurial support organization serving the very unique region along the southern border of Arizona, USA/Northern border of Sonora, Mexico. If you are interested in entrepreneurship, innovation, and creating binational business opportunities, then you won't want to miss this episode. If you want to hear the stories of entrepreneurship beyond the biggest brand name cities in either the USA or Mexico, you'll want to hear this story.

Stephanie brings a wealth of professional and leadership experience and knowledge to the discussion, including expertise in lean startup methodology, scaling, pitching, and developing business plans. She is passionate about developing and implementing entrepreneurial and workforce education programs for youth, making this episode a must-listen for anyone interested in supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs. Don't miss the chance to learn from Stephanie's years of experience and hear about her unique journey as a LatinX innovator and entrepreneur. Stéphanie previously worked at America's SBDC as a Business Development Analyst in Southern Arizona and began building her experiences while attending the University of Arizona in Tucson. She is a proud Nogales native, of both Sonora Mexico and Arizona, who displays unwavering passion and commitment to make an impact in her communities lives.

We encourage you to follow and engage with Stéphanie here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniebermudez/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephberm 

Website: http://www.startupunidos.com

Guest mentions: https://www.facebook.com/bluebcafe/

We're so grateful to you, our growing audience of entrepreneurs, investors, builders, influencers and those interested in the entrepreneurial economies of Latin America and the under-represented entrepreneurial communities in the USA!

Plug in, relax and enjoy some Spanish, English and a fun dose of spanglish as always. We're here to help inspire, educate and empower you, so that you can build the future!

¡Salud y gracias!,

Mentors Today's Team

In this episode, Rob and Ileana are joined by one of our most diversely experienced and intellectually intense guests ever, Asher Jay, the Founder/CEO of Henoscene. She's been called by the NY Times, "a modern day Lara Croft." She's takes our audience on her adventure through her stories and cultural analysis of our place on our planet. She's talks about her entrepreneurial pursuits at the intersection of being a dedicated animal rights and climate advocate, professional storyteller and advisor to her Fortune 500 brand clients on their ESG strategies and brand communications. She's led an eclectic upbringing which, she tells us, has informed so much of her life and life's work today. She challenges our audience (and her clients) to live more holistically and authentically to preserve our life and the life of the species we share our planet with.

Henoscene, is the real time blockchain campaign platform for Corporate Brands, to connect with their consumers to drive measurable, better outcomes across an array of climate, animal welfare and public good efforts. Asher is a (literal) National Geographic Explorer turned entrepreneur. She is an international adventurer and public figure whose career arc has taken her from fashion designing in NYC to campaigning against blood ivory on the cities Billboards. Jay’s work has contributed to raising consumer awareness and empowering citizen action for well known brands like Prada, Adidas, Citizen Watches, Loreal and others. She advises corporations and multinational companies on their sense of purpose which informs their ESG program commitments. Asher is a graduate of the Parsons School of Design, The New School, who in addition to her work leading Henoscene, she sits on the Boards of ESG DAO, Wildlife Direct, OneGreen Thing and the Plastic Polution Coalition.

Feel free to follow and engage with ASHER here:

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/asherjay/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earthheiress/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EarthHeiress?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EarthHeiress/ 

Website: https://www.henoscene.com 

Personal Website: http://www.asherjay.com/the-work

We're so grateful to you, our growing audience of entrepreneurs, investors, builders, influencers and those interested in the entrepreneurial economies of Latin America and the under-represented entrepreneurial communities in the USA!

Plug in, relax and enjoy some Spanish, English and a fun dose of spanglish as always. We're here to help inspire, educate and empower you, so that you can build the future!

¡Salud y gracias!,

Mentors Today's Team

In this episode, Rob and Ileana are joined by the Founder of SKNMUSE, Ezinne Iroanya and her Chief Creative Officer, and partner in life, Ambrose Price to hear the story of the building of one of the hottest, fastest growing Black beauty brand companies in the market today. They hit on the difficulties of raising capital as under represented founders and their early success. Ezinne shares her incredible life journey from Nigeria, graduating high school at age 15, entering college to study engineering at age 16, while testing her entrepreneurial chops working numerous side hustles on campus while a student.... She talks about life in the the midwestern USA and now eventually, Los Angeles, as well as Ambrose's creative career and entrepreneurial roots which led him to leave New York City to LA and eventually find Ezinne. The couple brings so much authentic energy, love and wisdom that'll be inspirational and helpful for any founder.

Ezinne comes with over a decade of experience working for brands like Lancome, and Dior, and is the current President of The Black Beauty Club. Her brand, SKNMUSE, has been featured by Beyonce, Issa Rae, Essence, and Vogue, rated top 10 by ELLE USA. She is a recent Glossier and Cantu Grant winner. Ambrose is an experienced brand design and marketing consultant, with a variety of company experiences in both New York City and Los Angeles, and he’s a graduate, with honors, of the Fashion Institute of Technology, and he is of course, the other side of this dynamic duo.

Feel free to follow and engage with EZINNE & AMBROSE here:

LinkedIn Ezinne: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ezinne-iroanya-567a6515b/

LinkedIn Ambrose: https://www.linkedin.com/in/priceiii/

Instagram Business: https://www.instagram.com/sknmuse/

Website: https://sknmuse.com/

Instagram Ezinne: https://www.instagram.com/Avenue_z/

Instagram Ambrose: https://www.instagram.com/bythreenails/

We're so grateful to you, our growing audience of entrepreneurs, investors, builders, influencers and those interested in the entrepreneurial economies of Latin America and the under-represented entrepreneurial communities in the USA!

Plug in, relax and enjoy some Spanish, English and a fun dose of spanglish as always. We're here to help inspire, educate and empower you, so that you can build the future!

¡Salud y gracias!,

Mentors Today's Team

In this episode, Rob and Ileana are joined by Cristian Raygoza, Founder and Managing Partner at Illuminar Ventures. Great founders in Latin America will want to meet him, and Limited Partner investors interested in diversifying their holdings will want to as well! He sees a massive talent diversity development and company building opportunity in Latin America. He is a dynamic young Venture Capitalist, and leader in the LGBTQ+ community across the US. He's a self described finance nerd turned great company finder and investor and shares his specific theses on "developing talent and teams" to build better companies, from his own life experience and having worked inside the one of the world's biggest angel investment community, Gaingels.

Borne and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles, he built his early professional experience in Big Finance in New York City working in portfolio management at AIG Asset Management. He returned to the West Coast as an early team member at one of the world's largest Angel Investment groups, Gaingels, and has now spun that off into his firm, Illuminar Ventures with it's unique focus on diverse, inclusive investing in Latin America and the US markets. He has also been involved extensively in organizations at the intersection of the LGBTQ identity and business, including serving as a director for Out For Undergrad, the leading LGBTQ undergraduate business conference. Cristian graduated from the University of Chicago with a BA in Economics. He plays violin, loves attending the SF Symphony, cycling, Latin American contemporary art, and generally wandering his way into random niches that pique his interest. Iluminar Ventures is a San Francisco and Mexico City based venture firm investing in Spanish-speaking Latin America and is a spinout from Gaingels, one of the most active venture firms in the world today. Iluminar has already invested in over 30 startups in the region, with a strong focus on Seed and Series A.

Feel free to follow and engage with CRISTIAN here:

Links related to the organizations discussed on the episode:

https://gaingels.com/
https://www.outforundergrad.org/
https://www.questbridge.org/
https://startout.org/
Link to join LGBTQ LatAm WA group

We're so grateful to you, our growing audience of entrepreneurs, investors, builders, influencers and those interested in the entrepreneurial economies of Latin America and the under-represented entrepreneurial communities in the USA!

Plug in, relax and enjoy some Spanish, English and a fun dose of spanglish as always. We're here to help inspire, educate and empower you, so that you can build the future!

¡Salud y gracias!,

Mentors Today's Team

In this episode, Rob and Ileana are joined by Rachael Kim, Founder/CEO of MyCommaLife & the Femtech Salon. Rachael shares her own personal journey of adversity, accomplishment and cultural upbringing, while she highlights the immense importance of creating more female centered products and services for women consumers and their health and well being! She considers herself an ecosystem builder, and shares the stories of her global work within the Fortune 500 space in her earlier career and now within the entrepreneurial economies across the USA. She also sees a huge opportunity in LatAm, and encourages our Latin American femtech builders, founders and investors to build more and amplify more loudly.

Rachael is a Forbes Trailblazer, a Northwestern University and London School of Economics alumnus who spent 10 years working on Strategy, Risk, and Analytics at global consulting firm, Accenture. As an ex-corporate intrapreneur turned social impact entrepreneur, she now uses her superpowers for gender equity, particularly period equity, while supporting overlooked businesses. MyComma is an organic period care subscription platform amplifying women and BIPOC led brands to menstruators powering new routines. Her work in this space gave rise to the nationwide Femtech Salon series to support and amplify diverse femtech founders by creating more connected ecosystems in their respective local cities which has led to partners like Techstars, It All Media, Wefunder, LA Times, Crunchbase, BioscienceLA, Hawke Media and the Atlanta Tech Village to get involved.

Feel free to follow and engage with RACHAEL here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachael-m-kim/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rmhkim/ 

Website: https://mycomma.life

We're so grateful to you, our growing audience of entrepreneurs, investors, builders, influencers and those interested in the entrepreneurial economies of Latin America and the under-represented entrepreneurial communities in the USA!

Plug in, relax and enjoy some Spanish, English and a fun dose of spanglish as always. We're here to help inspire, educate and empower you, so that you can build the future!

¡Salud y gracias!,

Mentors Today's Team

In this episode, Rob and Ileana are joined by, co-founder of misFans, Hiram Altamirano. Hiram shares a harrowing and tragic childhood story of being kidnapped at 5 years old, from his family's home in Mexico City! He recounts how this traumatic period of nearly a year, in his young life, shaped his and his mom's life well into his 30's today! Ileana and Rob engage Hiram in an exploration of the duality of his place in this world as a proud Californian and Mexicano, with deep roots in both Los Angeles and Mexico City, before learning from him about the many entrepreneurial lessons embedded in him from his teen years that fuel him in his technology startup life today-- hustle, determination, his faith and an almost unshakable belief in himself. He's a gifted storyteller, and natural hustler and salesman. He's humble, engaging, street smart and sweet all in one. It's easy to root for him as we suspect you will too. 

He’s worked most of his life since age 15, either creating or supporting other creative artists and business builders. Currently he is Co-founder of MisFans, a venture backed, LatAm focused platform for creators, alongside his partner, Alex Ramirez, but in years prior has grown businesses in a variety of industries, with creativity at their core; He was co-owner of a popular restaurant in Tulum, Mexico (Hash Tag Poke), founder of an LA based Creative Agency, Black Canvas, co-owner of Cool Human Studios, and a teen childhood prodigy songwriter and video producer. 

Feel free to follow and engage with HIRAM here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hiram-altamirano-9bb42b184

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_iamhiram/

Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/_iamhiram

We're so grateful to you, our growing audience of entrepreneurs, investors, builders, influencers and those interested in the entrepreneurial economies of Latin America and the under-represented entrepreneurial communities in the USA!

Plug in, relax and enjoy some Spanish, English and a fun dose of spanglish as always. We're here to help inspire, educate and empower you, so that you can build the future!

¡Salud y gracias!,

Mentors Today's Team

In this episode, Rob and Ileana are joined by Ana Cecy Mata Rodriguez, Sub directora de Fomento Económico del Municipio de Saltillo. Ana Cecy is a passionate community leader and one of the key voices of entrepreneurship and economic development in the Saltillo region of Mexico. She shares some inspiring thoughts regarding modern day feminism, as well as her strong beliefs that Mexican culture needs to stop normalizing all types of "violence" against women as a mechanism to create more prosperity. Ana had a business career thrust upon her at a young age, following the passing of her father from cancer, and went on to build multiple successful companies, as a woman executive, in male dominated industries. 

She is currently helping developing the regions’ entrepreneurial economy from her position within the government, but has previously held leadership positions at the Universidad Carolina, as Coordinadora General de Universidad del Trabajador, an advisor to the Zona SHERO program via Tecnológico de Monterrey, and as co- founder /CEO of Innobakü Consultores, where she helps social entrepreneurs to professionalize their social startup.

Feel free to follow and engage with ANA CECY here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ana-cecilia-mata-rodriguez-56209364/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/anacecymata

Website: https://www.facebook.com/innobaku.mx/

Book mentioned during show: https://a.co/d/4JX6uh1 

We're so grateful to you, our growing audience of entrepreneurs, investors, builders, influencers and those interested in the entrepreneurial economies of Latin America and the under-represented entrepreneurial communities in the USA!

Plug in, relax and enjoy some Spanish, English and a fun dose of spanglish as always. We're here to help inspire, educate and empower you, so that you can build the future!

¡Salud y gracias!,

Mentors Today's Team

In this episode, Rob and Ileana are joined by Andrea Campos, CEO/Founder of Yana (You are not Alone) the Spanish language, AI driven mental health and wellness platform in Mexico y LatAm. Andrea shares her unique story of an exceptionally strong, resilient, accidental Mexican entrepreneur,  who struggled with depression and anxiety, dropped out of University and obsessively sought solutions to her own mental health needs. Ultimately she discovered that she was far from alone in the need for better mental health support. That journey led to Yana, which took six + years of trial and error as a solo founder, before exploding in popularity to 12 million + downloads during the last three years! Her company is one of the fastest growing in LatAm, has raised Venture Capital from some of the regions most reputable investors, but it's her incredibly humble and authentic personal story that will be inspiring to any listener. 

Feel free to follow and engage with Andrea and Yana here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-campos-guerra/?originalSubdomain=mx

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acamposguerra/?hl=en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreacamposg

Website: https://yana.com.mx/

We're so grateful to you, our growing audience of entrepreneurs, investors, builders, influencers and those interested in the entrepreneurial economies of Latin America and the under-represented entrepreneurial communities in the USA!

Plug in, relax and enjoy some Spanish, English and a fun dose of spanglish as always. We're here to help inspire, educate and empower you, so that you can build the future!

¡Salud y gracias!,

Mentors Today's Team

In this episode, Rob and Ileana are joined by Maria Morfin De La Parra, a Principal at Bimbo Ventures. She helps us understand Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) overall and in Latin America. We explore it's place in the entrepreneurial economy worldwide, and we learn the fascinating story how a 75yr+ global industrial giant like Bimbo Group, has innovated, gotten themselves invested into new and upcoming technologies and companies as well as built an unmatched corporate culture. Maria shares her human story of the journey of her very "renaissance woman" life in Mexico City, to now investor and innovator inside the world's largest Baked Goods company. 

She’s a rising star in the entrepreneurial economy of Mexico. After graduating from Universidad Anáhuac, Maria has built an extremely diverse CV which has exposed her to key trends at the right moments. She is a consummate relationship and community builder and has exercised these skills in roles in the fintech area in Mexico, such as “Discovering Mexico”, the Real estate crowdfunding platform, as well as AFICO, the early crowdfunding Industry association. She’s also experienced life in the ecosystem from the side of an entrepreneur, building HyperBlock MX, and is now building on all of her experiences in the Food Industry investment space, within the corporate Venture investment arm of Bimbo Group. Bimbo which of course, is the world’s largest bakery, whose mission statement is “ NOURISHING A BETTER WORLD” through their more than 134,000 associates in 33 countries.

Feel free to follow and engage with MARI here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-morfin-delaparra/?originalSubdomain=mx

Website: https://grupobimbo.com/

We're so grateful to you, our growing audience of entrepreneurs, investors, builders, influencers and those interested in the entrepreneurial economies of Latin America and the under-represented entrepreneurial communities in the USA!

Plug in, relax and enjoy some Spanish, English and a fun dose of spanglish as always. We're here to help inspire, educate and empower you, so that you can build the future!

¡Salud y gracias!,

Mentors Today's Team