Gary Acosta is an entrepreneur, investor, and advocate for the Latino business community. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP), the largest Latino business organization in the nation with more than 58,000 members and 100 local chapters. He is also the Co-Founder of AVANCE Global, an event platform created with media entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author, Nely Galán.
Gary also founded AVANCE Sports, a non-profit dedicated to expanding Latino leadership and influence in the sports industry. He is a founding partner of L’ATTITUDE Ventures, the largest venture capital fund that invests exclusively in Latino-led startups. He is the creator of the Hispanic Wealth Project, a non-profit with a mission to advance economic mobility and generational wealth in the Latino community. His video series, “The Latino Brand,” shares his take on business, leadership, and the image of Latinos in America.
Gary attended the University of California in San Diego and Pomona College, where he played varsity basketball for Hall of Fame coach, Gregg Popovich. He lives with his family in San Diego.
The large majority of undocumented immigrants are decent, hard-working people desperate for a better life in America. However, there are also some bad apples, violent criminals that not only terrorize our communities but also damage the image of Latinos in America. Trump promised to prioritize criminals in his deportation plans. In the first few weeks in office, the data shows that…
When the government tries to tackle a specific issue with a policy, it often causes new variations of the problem to emerge in different areas. In other words, “any action has an equal and opposite reaction.” When taxes and regulations are reduced, as is expected in 2025, two things tend to happen: those at the bottom economically have it tougher because there are fewer safety nets and protections. Those at the top make a killing.
The image of Latinos is not just a nice thought; it affects everything from business opportunities and access to capital to how our children are treated at school. Latinos are among the hardest workers and most entrepreneurial of any group in America. However, negativity has dominated the narrative about Latinos for far too long. This one is on us.
We currently have 11 million unfilled jobs in America. Ending illegal immigration will either dramatically increase that number and have massive disruption to our economy, or we will have to…
Latinos are the youngest demographic in America, with the highest workforce participation rate. We are young and we are not afraid of hard work. Our dedication to God, family, and country is of the highest level. We contribute a lot to this country, but I’m not afraid to say, we are still vastly underachieving as a community.
I think most Latinos would agree that at our core, we are a generous people. If a member of our family is in need, Latinos as a rule, won’t hesitate to help financially. Family is central to Hispanic culture: our generosity has few limits. Maybe that explains why when it comes to making political donations and writing checks in support of actual philanthropic activities, Latinos come up short….When I interviewed Barack Obama last year at NAHREP at L’ATTITUDE, I pressed him about politicians not prioritizing issues that are important to Latino voters, he politely pushed back by saying…
We hear frequently how Latinos are not a monolithic community. In other words, we are not all the same. We come from different countries, have a variety of political views, and even eat different foods. I get all of that, but I also think focusing constantly on our differences versus our similarities undermines our political and economic power as a community…
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.
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.
Twenty-two years ago, when Ernie Reyes and I first launched NAHREP, I was told all the reasons why it wouldn’t work. “Latinos aren’t monolithic” … “Cubans are totally different from Mexicans” … “Jealousy, gossip, and infighting will bring you down” … “Not every Latino has the same political views” … However, fast forward to today,…
Two years ago, I met Richard Montañez in New York City. Richard was accompanying Indra Nooyi to a speaking engagement she had with the Latino Donor Collaborative. Nooyi was CEO of PepsiCo at the time. Prior to the meeting in New York, I had heard of Montañez. I knew that he had written a book…
Capital flows towards growth, so one of the biggest mysteries in the history of capitalism is how little capital has flowed to the U.S. Latino cohort. The Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI) says if Latino entrepreneurs had access to a proportional amount of capital as the overall market, it would add $1.5 Trillion to the…
Despite the pandemic, Latinos drove growth in the homeownership sector for the sixth consecutive year. Next week, NAHREP releases its 11th annual State of Hispanic Homeownership Report, and without giving too much away, the report is a blockbuster. The youth, work ethic, and vitality of the Latino market is burning up the market, and some…
I used to think I knew a lot about small businesses. I launched too many to count, and I have mentored a few as well. But the world of unicorn start-ups is not something I’ve understood very well until recently. Last Fall, Sol Trujillo and I launched L’ATTITUDE Ventures with a goal to raise $75…
After the George Floyd murder, and the hundreds of protests that followed, conversations about systemic racism and police reform dominated the airwaves for weeks. One general consensus was that government and major corporations had a responsibility to address the growing issue of racial economic inequality in America. This led to a groundswell of Fortune 100…
Tom Flores was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this past week. He is the first Hispanic quarterback in pro football and the first Hispanic head coach of an NFL franchise. His election to the Hall of Fame was celebrated by Latino organizations such as LULAC and the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.…
2020 will be known as the year coronavirus shut down the world as we knew it. It will also be known as the year when terms like systemic racism and economic disparity rose to the top of the national dialogue like never before. In his first week of presidency, President Joe Biden signed three executive…
Last month, some Democrats, including a number of Latino celebrities, called for a boycott of Goya Foods after their CEO Robert Unanue praised President Donald Trump at a White House event to announce the administration’s Hispanic Prosperity Initiative. I blogged about the issue to boycott or not to boycott. To my surprise, my blog about freedom…
For years I have been talking to corporations about the growth and profit opportunity of the Hispanic market. Factually speaking, Hispanics are the youngest and fastest-growing demographic segment in our economy. In the housing sector, Hispanics account for about 50% of the homeownership growth in America. The numbers are big and the opportunity is clear.…
