WAY OVERDUE. I met Oscar R. García, President and CEO of Need2Say on LinkedIn right before the pandemic hit and put a huge wedge into life and everyone’s follow-up plans. He had created an extraordinary app inspired by the plight of immigrant construction workers who every single day face perilous situations at work because of language barriers. He knows what they go through because his dad was an immigrant construction worker who came to the U.S. six months out of each year to provide for his family, and young Oscar didn’t understand growing up, why his father tried to dissuade him from moving to the U.S. to pursue educational and work opportunities. In this episode of I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY Oscar and I have our second conversation – this time recorded – about his family’s story of sacrifice, perseverance, and his commitment to improving the construction industry, by improving the safety of the person who is doing most of the grueling work in it: the construction worker.

Oscar is a Linguist and English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher turned entrepreneur who has leveraged technology to develop the Need2Say app designed to provide construction workers with second language skills, OSHA awareness training, and tools for their tracking progress. The goal of the app is to eliminate language barriers that cause inefficiencies on construction job sites and it’s fascinating to actually see Oscar demonstrate some of its features. When we talk about innovation and technology, we are sometimes hard-pressed to think about how technology can help solve a “people problem” some might not consider important such as many employers’ dismissal of language barriers faced by immigrant workers who are a driver of our economy. These language barriers prevent them from exercising their talents and leadership fully in the workplace and from attaining social mobility more rapidly. Oscar shares a play-by-play of why and how the app came to be, culminating with his recent first-time participation in Eureka Fest last month where Need2Say won the prized Pitch Competition during this event that brings together creators and innovators at one of the biggest startup festivals in California. Congrats, my friend…this is just the beginning. Your story will be a box-office hit and award-winning movie one day.