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.
“Boomerang” was a different kind of film. It was a movie about friendship, loyalty, and romance set in NYC at a medium-sized Black-led company that sold beauty products. Boomerang had an all-black cast and a plot that had nothing to do with being Black. While that was unheard of at the time, Murphy was such a big star that it didn’t seem like a big deal.
About a year ago, I was convinced by some of my closest friends that I should do a podcast. Today it seems like everyone has a podcast, and frankly, 99% of them aren’t very good. I wasn’t sure I could do much better, but I realized I do have some ideas that some people have found interesting in the past.
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.
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.
Latinos in film and television continue to face two problems: an astonishing lack of visibility and the negative and/or stereotypical manner that Latino characters are commonly portrayed. Both of these issues have implications that go beyond the industry itself. Studies have shown Americans spend 15.5 hours a week consuming traditional and digital media. The number…
Two weeks ago, Gary Vaynerchuk was the main keynote at NAHREP at L’ATTITUDE event in San Diego. I thought his presentation was great. One of the things I appreciate about him is that he does not hedge his opinions. He is fully committed to them, and I consider him one of the best experts on…
What do World Champion boxer Canelo Álvarez, actress Adria Arjona, Senator Alex Padilla, wellness guru Deepak Chopra, internet sensation Gary Vaynerchuk, music superstar Gloria Estefan, actor Andy García, and the CEOs of Disney, Nike, The Home Depot, Bank of America, Cisco, Sony Pictures, Dow Jones, and AT&T have in common? They will all be at…
Familia, We’re Back! Last week, NAHREP announced their headliners for the NAHREP at L’ATTITUDE convention in San Diego on September 29th – October 2nd. Chopra, Vaynerchuk, and Montañez headline this year’s event. Coming out of a once-in-a-century pandemic, we thought a focus on mindset and mental health should permeate throughout the event. Chopra is not…
I woke up on Saturday to some tragic news. Frank Amadeo, the president of Estefan Enterprises, passed away after suffering a heart attack on Friday night. He was 57 and in good health. When Emilio became a partner at L’ATTITUDE LLC, I became close to the family, but my working relationship was primarily with Frank.…
In the months prior to L’ATTITUDE 2020, I made it a point to watch a number of virtual events. Some like the Aspen Ideas Festival were well executed, but aimed relatively low in terms of program and production. The major events such as SXSW and Comic-Con offered smaller virtual versions of their massive live events…
L’ATTITUDE is an event platform that I launched three years ago, together with business leader Sol Trujillo, and with the support of the NAHREP leadership team and events staff. This past year, international superstar Emilio Estefan joined me and Sol. Because of their prolific careers in business and entertainment, Sol and Emilio have access to…
Netflix debuted Dave Chappelle’s most recent comedy special on YouTube. Like a lot of his work, 8:46 is brilliant. The title represents the eight minutes and forty-six seconds that former police officer, Derek Chauvin nonchalantly knelt on George Floyd’s neck until Floyd died. My son, Aaron and I listened to the show while we were…
Prior to the pandemic, NAHREP was building a world class lineup for the fall convention. I was convinced it was going to be our best ever. The goal was to create a program that would be rich with content and provided our members with an experience that would last a lifetime. While a live event…
This week I was in New York for L’ATTITUDE meetings with CNBC and American Express. I also had the chance to meet up with Claudia Romo Edelman, a career diplomat with the United Nations and the World Economic Forum. Claudia is a force of nature and recently launched an organization and campaign called “We Are All…
FORBES/KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES Several weeks ago, I mentioned that I had joined the board of the Latino Donor Collaborative – an organization started by Sol Trujillo that is focused on improving the narrative about Latinos in America. The board of the LDC looks like a “who’s who” of Latino executives and entrepreneurs including Linda Alvarado,…
I have been traveling quite a bit since the holidays. I’ve always traveled extensively for my work with NAHREP but this year I have supplemented that travel with a 20-city tour promoting L’ATTITUDE. The plan is to meet with Latino business leaders in twenty major markets throughout the country, creating awareness about L’ATTITUDE and getting…
Lin-Manuel Miranda says he began writing the musical, In the Heights, when he as a nineteen-year-old college student. After a couple of friends from Wesleyan University offered to help produce the show, Miranda took his idea first to a regional theater in Connecticut, and ultimately to Broadway, where in 2008, it won four Tony Awards,…
A couple of weeks ago, I met with Latino business leaders in New York City. This past week, I was in Dallas doing the same. The thrust behind the meetings is to start to build a network of Latino business professionals who could assist us in building our program and spreading the word about our…
After much consideration, I have decided to name my podcast “Latin Privilege”. I’m doing my research right now, but plan to launch immediately after the first of the year. Much like this blog, we will be discussing business, politics, sports and entertainment. I’m looking forward to it and hope you will join me.
I think I mentioned in a prior blog that I enjoyed the movie Crazy Rich Asians. It was a fun, feel-good, romantic comedy, and I must admit I like those movies a lot more than action films. Even though the movie is fictional, it helped perpetuate the image that Asians are a wealthy population. Conversely,…
