Regardless of where you live you have probably heard about Nury Martinez and the circumstances that led to her resignation from Los Angeles City Council. The short story is Martinez, who was the first Latina to hold the position of president of the Los Angeles City Council was secretly recorded in a private conversation with other council members where she was heard making disparaging remarks about her colleagues and the two-year old…
This might be my most provocative blog in a while. Let me first state that I am happily married to a beautiful gringa. My kids are half- White and some of my best friends throughout my life have been White, so don’t let the title of this blog throw you.
The decision to invite President Barack Obama to the NAHREP Policy Conference last Spring was a decision I made with the NAHREP National Board. Anytime we have a political figure of that stature at one of our events, we know it will stimulate a lot of buzz among our members and stakeholders.
A few weeks ago, Twitter was blowing up when John Leguizamo spoke out against the recent casting of James Franco as Fidel Castro in the independent film ‘Alina of Cuba’. Leguizamo took plenty of heat for his stance and was ridiculed by some including Bill Maher.
L’ATTITUDE 2022 is less than two weeks away. This year’s event includes a concert at Rady Shell; the coolest new concert venue in America according to Forbes magazine. The concert is in partnership with La Musica, and will feature music superstars, Juanes and Farukko.
I am basically on lockdown from now until the NAHREP and L’ATTITUDE conference. This year we have a concert with Farruko and Juanes, a gala with Lin-Manuel Miranda, a basketball game with Manu Ginóbili, and our usual cadre of CEOs, VCs, entrepreneurs, and celebrities.
I had the honor of being the commencement speaker at the UC Irvine School of Business in June. I spoke about expecting the unexpected. I like to take a counterintuitive approach to business and life. I told the audience of 4000 students, faculty, and parents that regardless of how detailed your plans might be, your actual career will probably turn out very different than you expect.
In six weeks L’ATTITUDE will host its fifth annual event in San Diego, September 22 – 25, with another world-class lineup including CEOs, entertainers and some of the biggest names in business, media, sports and politics.
Last week, L’ATTITUDE Ventures closed its first institutional fund, raising over $100 million through a strategic anchor investment by JP Morgan Chase and initial investments from the Trujillo Group and Bank of America. Other key investors in this fund, which is aimed solely at investing in Latina(o)-owned companies with high growth potential, include UC Investments, MassMutual, Barclays, the Royal Bank of Canada, Polaris Limited Partners (Oscar Munoz), Cisco, Nuveen Investments, and Morgan Stanley.
For those of you that read my blog regularly, let me first say, thank you. The overwhelming comments I get from my blog are very positive and supportive. However, some of them make me feel like I have to periodically clarify what I do. As the CEO of NAHREP, I lead the largest Latino business organization in the country.