In this episode of Let's Wine: Stories Uncorked™, Andrea Padilla, CEO & Founder of Square Root Marketing, sits down with Luis Carlos Ochoa, President and Founder of Valoriza Group, over a glass of Luigi Bosca in Medellín, Colombia.After two decades at Citibank across New York, the Bahamas, Miami and Panama, Luis Carlos returned to Antioquia with one mission: bring global investment banking standards to the SME owner who has never had access to a Wall Street caliber advisor. Valoriza Group has since closed over 270 processes in 14 countries and more than $1.5 billion in transactions.The conversation covers the three pillars every business owner should focus on before thinking about investment, why most entrepreneurs drive their companies without a fuel gauge, and the difference between building income and building value. Sharp, practical and deeply personal.Featured Guest:Luis Carlos OchoaPresident & Founder, Valoriza GroupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-carlos-ochoa-paris-39888658/ Connect with us:Square Root Marketingwww.squarerootmarketing.com 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/squarerootmarketing 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/squarerootmarketing/

In this episode of Let's Wine Stories Uncorked™, recorded at FIEXPO 2026 in San José, Costa Rica, Andrea Padilla, CEO & Founder of Square Root Marketing, sits down with Kike Ramírez, international speaker, entrepreneur and author of the bestselling book Prohibido Rendirse (Never Give Up), over a glass of Protos.Kike shares how Prohibido Rendirse started as a social media phrase that went viral before there was ever a conference or a book, and how that movement has taken him across Latin America and beyond. He talks about why identity drives mindset more than any motivational technique, the real risk AI poses to those who choose not to learn it, why Latin America needs to change the story it tells about itself, and why your purpose was never something you had to find. One of the most energizing conversations we have had on this podcast. Featured Guest:Kike RamírezSpeaker, Entrepreneur & Author, Prohibido RendirseLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soykikeramirez/Connect with us:Square Root Marketingwww.squarerootmarketing.com💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/squarerootmarketing📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/squarerootmarketing/

In this episode of Let's Wine Stories Uncorked™, recorded at FIEXPO 2026 in San José, Costa Rica, Andrea Padilla, CEO & Founder of Square Root Marketing, sits down with Borja Castelar, author of Power Skills and former President of LinkedIn for Latin America, over a glass of Protos. A Spaniard who moved from Dublin to São Paulo overnight when Microsoft acquired LinkedIn and rerouted his entire career plan, Borja has since become one of the most sought-after voices on personal brand, human skills, and the future of work across Latin America and Spain.The conversation covers why he refuses to call them soft skills and what he calls Power Skills instead, the study showing that 85% of professional success depends on them, the four elements every professional needs to build a career in the AI era, and how to actually interact with AI instead of just using it as a search engine. He also makes the case that imperfect action taken consistently will always beat perfect action taken someday. A practical, sharp, and energizing episode.Featured Guest:Borja CastelarAuthor, Power Skills | Former President, LinkedIn Latin AmericaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/borjacastelar/Connect with us:Square Root Marketingwww.squarerootmarketing.com💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/squarerootmarketing📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/squarerootmarketing/

In the 7th episode of our FIEXPO 2026 series, recorded in San Jose, Costa Rica, Andrea Padilla, CEO & Founder of Square Root Marketing, sits down with Martin Boyle, CEO of IAPCO and the first person ever to hold that title, over a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.Martin's career was never a straight line. It started with a microbrewery restaurant in Canada, moved through corporate events in Scotland, the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, and six years representing Business Events Sydney across Europe before arriving at IAPCO in 2019 as its inaugural CEO.In this conversation, he walks us through what IAPCO represents at scale (95 member companies, 23,000 events and €17.3 billion in economic impact in a single year), the association's commitment to Latin America and the Caribbean, and news he shared with us before it was announced that evening: the IAPCO and FIEXPO scholarship program in honor of Jorge Castex.Featured Guest:Martin BoyleCEO, IAPCOLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-boyle-54752a10/Connect with us:Square Root Marketing🌐 www.squarerootmarketing.com💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/squarerootmarketing📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/squarerootmarketing/

In the final episode of First In Line on Let's Wine: Stories Uncorked™, Andrea Padilla, CEO & Founder of Square Root Marketing, closes the mini series with Felicia Travaillot, CMO of StrategyCorps, over a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. This episode, titled Breaking the Silence, goes where most professional conversations never do: an open, honest conversation about perimenopause and why it is time to stop treating it as something to whisper about.Felicia shares her journey, the importance of advocating for your own health, the resources she found along the way, and how she has made it her mission to normalize these conversations — even in the middle of a workday. A powerful close to a series built on courage and honesty.Featured Guest:Felicia TravaillotCMO, StrategyCorpsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ftravaillot/ Connect with us:Square Root Marketingwww.squarerootmarketing.com💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/squarerootmarketing 📸 Instagram: @squarerootmarketing

In the 6th episode of the FIEXPO 2026 series of Let's Wine Stories Uncorked™, recorded in San José, Costa Rica, Andrea Padilla, CEO & Founder of Square Root Marketing, sits down with Juliana López, President of Grupo Heroica, over a cup of Costa Rican coffee. Juliana leads the operation of three convention centers across two countries: Cartagena de Indias, the Costa Rica Convention Center, and the Centro de Eventos Valle del Pacífico in Cali, a group that has hosted more than 6,000 events since 2010 and generated close to $100 million in economic impact for Cartagena alone in a single year.The conversation goes well beyond venue management. Juliana talks about the structural changes still needed for women who lead teams while raising children, the Legacy Link program that brings students from vulnerable communities into major congresses as full participants, and how Grupo Heroica built an internal team dedicated entirely to using AI and technology to remove friction and put the client first. She closes with the message she would give to any woman in the industry: dare more, take risks, and enjoy every step of the way.Featured Guest:Juliana LópezPresident, Grupo HeroicaLinkedIn:   / juliana-l%c3%b3pez   Connect with us:Square Root Marketing🌐 www.squarerootmarketing.com 💼 LinkedIn:   / squarerootmarketing   📸 Instagram:   / squarerootmarketing  

In Episode 5 of our FIEXPO 2026 series recorded in San Jose,Costa Rica, Andrea Padilla, CEO & Founder of Square Root Marketing, sits down with Annette Gregg, CEO of SITE (Society for Incentive Travel Excellence) and the first woman to hold that title in the association's 53 years ofhistory, over a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

Annette brings 30 years in the business events industry tothis conversation, including her time as Chief Revenue Officer at MPI before stepping into the CEO role at SITE. She gets into the industry's storytelling gap, why young professionals still accidentally find this career rather than choose it, the tension between logistics and strategic thinking, and how technology and nostalgia are pulling incentive travel in opposite directions. Honest, sharp, and worth every minute.

Featured Guest:
Annette GreggCEO, SITE — Society for Incentive Travel ExcellenceLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annettegregg/

Connect with us:
Square Root Marketing
🌐 www.squarerootmarketing.com
💼LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/squarerootmarketing📸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/squarerootmarketing/

In this episode of the Let's Wine Stories Uncorked™ FIEXPO 2026 series, recorded in San José, Costa Rica, Andrea Padilla, CEO & Founder of Square Root Marketing, sits down with Tammy Moore, VP of Learning & Professional Development at PCMA, one of the global business events industry's most respected associations, celebrating 70 years this year.Tammy spent 26 years as a planner, sourcing manager, and team leader before making the pivot into education. She now leads the programs that reached over 1,800 event professionals in 2025 alone, from on demand courses and micro credentials to the 57 plus learning opportunities at PCMA's flagship Convening Leaders conference.The conversation covers how the industry's most pressing shift is not technological but professional: moving from logistics and tactics to strategy and influence, learning to prove ROI, and earning a real seat at the table. Tammy also shares the metric she thinks the industry consistently gets wrong, how she sees AI reshaping professional development, and why Latin America is having a moment that the rest of the world should not miss.Featured Guest:Tammy MooreVP of Learning & Professional Development, PCMALinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tammy-moore/ Connect with us:Square Root Marketing🌐 squarerootmarketing.com💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/squarerootmarketing📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/squarerootmarketing/

In this episode of the Let's Wine Stories Uncorked™ FIEXPO 2026 series, recorded in San José, Costa Rica, Andrea Padilla, CEO & Founder of Square Root Marketing, sits down with Dr. Senthil Gopinath, CEO of ICCA, the global association tracking over 13,000 international congresses every year — and celebrates his birthday with a glass of wine at the event. Senthil's career began in Sri Lanka's government tourism sector, moved through a regional DMC, the meetings division at Emirates, and ICCA regional leadership for Middle East and Africa before reaching the global CEO role. In this conversation, he talks about nine visits to Latin America in eight months and why the region continues to surprise him, the ICCA Congress coming to Panama in November with 82% of its global membership having never set foot there, why AI investment needs to be a line item on every organization's balance sheet rather than just a conference topic, and the case he is actively building at the United Nations for business events to be recognized as drivers of economic development. His closing message is one of the most direct this series has produced: "Nations thrive through meeting and interacting. That is the only way economic development can take place."Featured Guest:Dr. Senthil GopinathCEO, ICCALinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-senthil-gopinath/ Connect with us:Square Root Marketing🌐 squarerootmarketing.com💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/squarerootmarketing 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/squarerootmarketing/

In this episode of the Let's Wine Stories Uncorked™ FIEXPO 2026 series, recorded in San José, Costa Rica over a glass of Protos, Andrea Padilla, CEO & Founder of Square Root Marketing, sits down with Christoph Tessmar, Executive Director of the Barcelona Convention Bureau.Christoph arrived in Barcelona from Germany in January 1990 for what was supposed to be a one year assignment and never left. By chance, a product launch in Berlin right as the Wall came down pulled him into the world of events, and he never looked back.The conversation covers what it took to turn Barcelona into one of the world's top three congress destinations, with €1.3 billion in economic impact in 2025 and 25 consecutive years in the ICCA top 5, the biggest challenge facing the industry right now, and why everything predicted about digital replacing events after COVID turned out to be completely wrong. He also promised the next episode will happen in Barcelona, with a glass of Roda Uno.Featured Guest:Christoph TessmarExecutive Director, Barcelona Convention BureauLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christoph-tessmar/Connect with us:Square Root Marketing🌐 squarerootmarketing.com💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/squarerootmarketing📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/squarerootmarketing/