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.
Vanity Fair Magazine once again published its list of the 100 leaders of the New Establishment, a list of the movers and shakers in tech, media, and culture. Robert Mueller oddly appears as number one on the list followed by stalwarts like Jeff Bezos, Reed Hastings, and Bob Iger. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared the 94th slot…
My favorite young actress Allegra Acosta returns for season two of the Runaways on Hulu. The show is about a group of teenagers from diverse backgrounds who unite to fight against their criminal parents. Allegra stars as Molly Hernandez, the youngest member of the crew who discovers in season one that she has superhuman strength.…
This past week, interest rates on mortgages broke past the 5% barrier, the highest in almost ten years. The stock market had its biggest two-day drop since the collapse in 2008, and the projected deficit for 2018 was adjusted upward to nearly $1 trillion. Additionally, gas prices are spiking and Ford announced major job cuts.…
Last week I was flying back from NY to San Diego. It was the day of the Ford/Kavanaugh hearings and you could watch live television from the Direct TV feed on the plane. An older gentleman sitting across the aisle from me was watching the hearings and literally screaming at the television as senators questioned…
For whatever reason, I have never felt like I have learned all that I need to know. Learning is a constant in my life, and I think it has made me a happier person. I can’t think of anything more depressing than the thought of there being nothing left to achieve and nothing more to…
Last week I was in New York. I was in town for a meeting with CNBC, and Armando Tam was in town to meet with our local NAHREP chapters in the area. On Tuesday, we were having breakfast at the Soho Grand Hotel and were seated next to a young white couple who seemed annoyed.…
This past week, NAHREP launched the NAHREP 10 Certified Trainer Program. The goal is to certify 50 to 100 trainers who will deliver workshops to real estate agents, students, churches, and small business associations. For those of you who are not familiar with the NAHREP 10, you can read about them here. They are the principles…
For those of you who follow NAHREP or myself on social media, you probably know that the L’ATTITUDE event took place two weeks ago in San Diego. I have been contemplating an event like L’ATTITUDE for about three years. It’s my passion project and my “moon shot”, so when the event finally came and went it was…
Last weekend, boxing fans were treated to another great fight between Gennady Golovkin II and Canelo Álvarez. The two middleweights fought to a controversial draw last year and fight fans from around the globe were eagerly awaiting the rematch. The fighters are interesting in that Álvarez is from Mexico, who some say fights less like…
Last week I was in Mexico for the first time in almost two decades. The reason I haven’t been in Mexico is a long story. My parents are both U.S.-born so my only experience with Mexico was visiting resort cities like Cancún and Mazatlán. I didn’t love those places and always felt that the party…
As I am writing this blog, I am watching the memorial service in Washington, DC for Senator John McCain. McCain’s daughter Meghan gave one of the most heartfelt eulogies you’ll ever see punctuating the principles that guided her father’s life. Listening to the speeches, both today and earlier in the week, made me appreciate the…
Sol Trujillo wrote a Labor Day op-ed titled, “The ‘Latino Factor’ Will Save America’s Economy”. The article was published in the Wall Street Journal on August 29th and was peppered with data points about the real state of our workforce and why the country should be grateful that we have a Latino population who is…
Speaking of Sol Trujillo, as many of you know, NAHREP has spawned a new event in partnership with Sol called L’ATTITUDE and is deemed the ultimate celebration of the New Mainstream Economy. Next week L’ATTITUDE will be introduced to the world and rather than try to describe what L’ATTITUDE is all about, I thought I…
Lebron James is producing a three part documentary series on the changing role of athletes in the current political environment. The show, Shut up and Dribble, will appear on Showtime and takes its name from conservative pundit Laura Ingraham’s remarks to James after he voiced support for the players of the Golden State Warriors who declined…
I’m confused…with Amazon worth almost a trillion dollars and Millennials supposedly buying everything online, why is every parking spot at the mall filled every weekend? Perhaps it has something to do with how malls are evolving. Living in San Diego, the mall known as the University Town Center near La Jolla was all but dead…
Spike Lee pulled no punches in his latest film, BlacKkKlansman. I have been a fan of Lee’s since Do the Right Thing in 1989. Lee’s films are usually as provocative as they are entertaining and BlacKkKlansman is no exception. The film is based on a true story about the first Black police detective in Colorado Springs who infiltrates…
As much as we would like to believe there is a silver-bullet solution to everything we want to achieve in life, there rarely is. Trust me, I wish there was an easier way to get smarter, more successful, or in better physical condition — but there just isn’t. Being great at anything doesn’t come easy.…
During Bill Clinton’s candidacy for president, more than a dozen women came forward with claims of sexual impropriety. His supporters said that his extracurricular sex life was none of anybody’s business and should not be a factor in his ability to govern. I was one of those people and I was wrong. Regardless of what…
Comic-Con International is the largest annual comic and pop festival gathering in the world. Each year, more than 130,000 people make the pilgrimage to San Diego for a week of film screenings, panel sessions, interactive games and other experiential activities. Comic-Con began as a small gathering of comic book nerds in 1970 and over a…
With a market cap of more than 940 billion dollars, Apple is currently the most valuable company in the world, but Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Facebook are closing in quickly in the race to become the first company worth over a trillion dollars – that’s trillion with a “t”. In fact, these five platform companies…
