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.
While SXSW continues to set attendance records, L’ATTITUDE will open registration soon for its 2019 event in San Diego on September 26-29. Once again NAHREP will host its national convention in tandem with L’ATTITUDE and will be joined by ALPFA and SLEI, two of the of leading organizations for Latino business professionals and entrepreneurs. Last…
Next weekend the most exciting spectacle in all of sports begins. I love the NCAA Tourney and expect this year to be just as good as it usually is. The emotion of March Madness is what makes it so special. Every year there is at least one team that defies all odds and advances much…
I’ve been a board member of the Latino Donor Collaborative for two years. The organization is chaired by Sol Trujillo and is governed by an impressive board of many of the top Latino business leaders and entrepreneurs in the country. The organization produces research reports and hosts twice annual convenings where LDC board members interview…
Last week, the U.S. Census Bureau released the final homeownership numbers for 2018 and indicated that Hispanic homeownership rose for the fourth consecutive year, and the gain was the largest since 2005. Hispanics are the only demographic to have its homeownership rate increase for four consecutive years. The increase is even more impressive if you…
I have been skeptical of the keto diet. How can a diet that says you can eat pig fat but not an orange be good for you? I don’t think it can be, but most studies show that the health benefits of a lower body mass index offset any possible negatives. I recently had my…
Last week, my friend Earl Watson arranged a breakfast meeting for me to meet with Starbucks founder, Howard Schultz. Watson and Armando Tam were also in attendance. Earl Watson’s relationship with Schultz goes back to when Schultz owned the Seattle Supersonics, the NBA team that drafted him out of UCLA. Schultz later sold the team…
NAHREP’s national president, Daisy Lopez-Cid was in town last week, and Marisa Calderon and I decided to take the afternoon off and take Daisy and the NAHREP staff to watch the Robert Rodriguez directed film Alita: Battle Angel. I got the chance to interview Rodriguez on stage last September at the L’ATTITDUE event, and could…
Famed Mexican director, Alfonso Cuarón’s semi-autobiographical story about a year in the life of the maid that helped raise him and his siblings. Cuarón who won the Oscar for Best Director for his 2013 film, Gravity, addresses several timely issues in Roma, including race, class and idiot fathers. Without being too preachy, the film subtly…
The twenty-six-year-old third-baseman from Hialeah, Florida signed the biggest free agency contract ($300,000,000) in MLB history to play for the San Diego Padres. As someone who lives in San Diego, I was as shocked as anyone because I always viewed the Padres as a sort of farm team for the bigger market teams. Maybe that’s…
Unemployment is low and the stock market is rising. Two of our primary indicators of how the economy is faring. Trump supporters say that it is the result of the president’s tax policy and curtailment of governmental regulations. Obama supporters say it is just the continuation of eight straight years of growth that began in…
A few business authors and online personalities including Peter Thiel, Grant Cardone, and Gary Vaynerchuk, have challenged the general notion that a college degree is necessary to having a successful career. I also have a few friends in the real estate industry who also believe that college is unnecessary at best and a total waste…
Amazon announced this week that they will no longer locate a secondary headquarters in Long Island after receiving a wave of backlash from local politicians and community groups. Last year, the retail juggernaut completed perhaps the largest RFP process in U.S. history when they selected Long Island, NY and Crystal City, VA to house their…
Today my son and the Colorado College Men’s basketball team played its last game of the season. Colorado College is an elite class of high academic liberal arts colleges with an admission rate of only 17%. The sports facilities rival most Division 1 schools. Coming out of high school, Aaron had other options but chose…
This past week we saw Kamala Harris and Cory Booker announce their intent to run for president of the United States. During the same week, the billionaire founder of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, announced that he is considering running as an independent. Harris, Booker, and Schultz join a field that already includes Tulsi Gabbard, Kirsten Gillibrand,…
The images of children being separated from their asylum-seeking parents are too horrible to bear. In fact, there are so many things about the immigration debate that bring out our strongest feelings it seems almost impertinent to try to make a logical, less emotional argument, but that is part of the problem. The fact is,…
Today is the Super Bowl and I am rooting for the LA Rams, but while my heart is with the Rams my head says the Patriots will win again. At 41 years old, Tom Brady does not seem to be slowing down and I reluctantly have to admit that he is probably the greatest football…
The storied UCLA Basketball program is struggling. With a strong recruiting class and a solid group of veterans, most preseason polls had UCLA back in the top 15 this year. However, the Bruins did not live up to the expectations, losing to several schools that they should have easily beaten. With the pressure mounting from…
A new study by the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative found that while the total number of U.S. businesses declined between 2007 and 2012, the number of Latino-owned businesses spiked by 46%. Latinos are driving small business growth in America with nearly one in four Latino households owning a business. That’s the good news. The challenge…
Most of you have probably heard by now that the 35-day government shutdown is over, at least for now. Congress and the President agreed to open the government for three weeks so that government employees can get paid while our elected officials can continue to negotiate a federal budget. What you probably don’t know is…
Been a while since I wrote about the housing market. Maybe because it’s my day job and I prefer to blog about other interests, but I have been working on an op-ed about the current state of the housing market and what I believe is the cavalry that is keeping it strong. Here is an…
