Gary Acosta is an entrepreneur, public policy advocate, investor, and thought leader passionate about advancing prosperity for Latinos and other underserved communities. As an industry leader, he protects and improves the business environment required to close the wealth gap, particularly via homeownership. Amongst other endeavors, he is Co-Founder & CEO of NAHREP, the country’s leading Hispanic business organization, and Co-Founder of L’ATTITUDE, the preeminent platform for Latino economic empowerment. Acosta is also a general partner of L’ATTITUDE Ventures, the nation’s largest venture capital fund exclusively focused on Latino-led start-ups. Join Gary as he dives into today’s issues through many creative formats.
For bribing an official to rig her daughter’s SAT score, the actor, Felicity Huffman, received 14 days in prison, a $30K fine, 250 hours of community service and one-year probation. A lot of people felt outraged by her sentence and believed if she were not a wealthy celebrity, she would have received a much stiffer…
College sports is a multi-billion-dollar industry. College coaches at top universities earn million-dollar salaries while the players get almost nothing. It doesn’t seem right, yet the NCAA, the entity that governs college athletics, has done nothing to address the issue. According to the NCAA, college athletes should receive an education and little more for their…
Just a short note this week to remind everyone that the L’ATTITUDE 2019 and the NAHREP at L’ATTITUDE conventions take place this week in San Diego. L’ATTITUDE is redefining the narrative for the U.S. Latino cohort. The Dow Jones Company, the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, MSNBC and Telemundo are covering the event as media partners. #LattitudeIsEverything Below is a list…
I’ve had the good fortune of being friends with some of the most successful people in the country. Not just people with large bank accounts, but people who have been trailblazers – who by the sheer virtue of their will have accomplished things that most people can only dream about. As I have said before,…
In today’s evolving economy, many of the jobs that exist today won’t exist in the near future. Robotics and artificial intelligence are changing the world as we know it. If your job can be automated, it will be automated. For someone, fifty years of age or older, this may not affect you as much, but…
The NFL Season opens today with a new controversy. Like a lot of us, I’ve been observing the blowback from the surprising partnership between the NFL and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Company. Under any other circumstances the partnership would be applauded by just about everyone, but given the NFL’s collateral damage from the Colin Kaepernick situation…
Americans like a lot of things including hamburgers, beer, television, and money. They also like the idea of living in a country where no matter how tough you might have it today, you could win the lottery or invent something and be rich tomorrow. Americans relish their freedoms, whether they are good for them or…
The highly anticipated rematch between World Heavyweight Champion, Andy Ruiz Jr. and former champion, Anthony Joshua is set for December 7th in Saudi Arabia. Ruiz, who is the first heavyweight champion of Mexican decent, won the title in May by defeating Joshua by TKO in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. Ruiz and…
Chris Rock once said, and I’m paraphrasing, that given the number of Latinos who live in LA, Hollywood must try NOT to hire Latinos. Last week the University of Southern California in partnership with the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) released the results of the most comprehensive analysis of Latinos in the film…
When I first read this, I thought it was a joke (and kind of still do). As a 30-year San Diego resident and longtime Chargers fan, I’ve seen this team underperform almost every year since 1995 – when they played in the Super Bowl for the first and only time. Thanks to the Spanos Family…
The playwright and activist George Bernard Shaw once said, “Those that can, do; those who can’t, teach.” Nowhere is this truer than in the “success” industry or success racket as I like to call it. The reason I call it a racket is because most of the people who are selling their services as “success”…
Presidential candidate Julián Castro has qualified for the next round of debates by meeting the fundraising and polling minimums established by the Democratic National Committee. So far, only 10 of the original 25 candidates have qualified, so this puts Julián in a smaller group of frontrunners. Julián’s unexpected surge has come from two outstanding debate…
Of all the speakers we have in the lineup for L’ATTITUDE 2019, I am most interested in seeing Marc Benioff. Benioff is the Chairman and Co-CEO of Salesforce and has a net worth of over $6 Billion. In addition to his success in business, Benioff is known for his philanthropy and the audacious way he challenges…
After the El Paso tragedy, I became as angry and distraught as anyone. We now know the shooter in El Paso was from Dallas, and drove to El Paso specifically to kill Hispanics and immigrants. Unbelievable! Prior to the attack, the killer posted a manifesto on social media where he essentially expressed that the demise…
Last week I was in Miami for NAHREP’s Entre Familia event. It was a big success and after a full day of real estate skills training, I had the chance to talk about the upcoming NAHREP at L’ATTITUDE event. I expressed to the group that some people come to NAHREP to acquire new skills and…
Of all the things wrong with our political system, the worst might be that our system rewards short term success at the expense of the long-term health of the country. Our growing deficit is one primary example of this phenomenon. America’s fiscal deficit is expected to reach over a trillion dollars per year over the…
This week my son showed me some videos of AAU highlights and I was stunned. Eighth graders doing tomahawk and 360 dunks…eighth graders! Makes you wonder what is happening and whether it is physically good for the kids. Researchers are starting to look at the injuries of todays young NBA stars, and whether they are…
Because of electoral college and gerrymandering, you probably live in a state that will play no material role in the 2020 presidential election. The large majority of the states are firmly red or blue, and they will likely stay that way in 2020. In fact, the election will likely come down to four states: Michigan,…
NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard decided a while back that he wanted to finish his career in SoCal where he grew up. Rather than being a part of a super team by joining LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the Lakers, Leonard surprised many by instead choosing the LA Clippers. However, this should not have…
Before Donald Trump denigrated Mexican immigrants in his speech where he announced his candidacy for President, the thought of a businessman like Trump running for president would have been interesting to me. Like a lot of people, I believe we need new blood in Washington with new ideas and free of the cesspool of special…
