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.
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…
On the heels of his World Cup performance with Will Smith, Nicky Jam, AKA Nick Rivera Caminero, is the hottest Latin Hip Hop artist in the world. However, a few years ago, the current king of “Reggeaton” was struggling with his career and moved to Colombia for a few years, doing a little concert promoting…
I have been thinking a lot about leadership lately, especially considering NAHREP will have the great John C. Maxwell at the national convention in September. Maxwell is widely considered one of the foremost authorities on the subject of leadership. Unlike other more quantifiable skills such as those in accounting, legal, science, or technology, leadership skills…
We all know how Amazon is dominating the retail sales world. They can cause the stock valuations of an entire business sector to plummet just by sticking their toe in a new business category (see grocery and pharma). So who is going to challenge them? My bet is Walmart. Walmart has more cash flow and…
Shout out to Zoe Saldana for her viral video on the continued plight in PR. The mega movie star shared some historical information about the American territory and made the case why it is every bit as important as every other region in America. There are parts of Puerto Rico that are doing better, but…
What does conservative icon, Bill O’Reilly have in common with liberal talking head, Chris Matthews? They both consider former Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy a role model and a hero. I have been reading Matthews’ book Robert Kennedy “A Raging Spirit” and recognized how few politicians do things simply because they are the right things…
Almost everyone is aware that LeBron James, the greatest basketball player in a generation, exercised his option to become a free agent and promptly signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. After the worst five years in franchise history, Laker fans like me were thrilled with the news. However, it also reinforced the sobering fact that…
The signs are there. Interest rates are rising, gas prices are surging, and the deficit is blowing up. A recession is right around the corner. This is the time to start thinking lean, and avoid any new long-term liabilities. For self-employed people this is especially important. People who own their own business are by definition,…
On Friday, many of us awoke to the news that Anthony Bourdain, the rock star of the culinary world, had died by suicide. It was devastating news for millions of people from around the world and I must admit it made me tear-up. I was a fan of Bourdain, and referred to him on my…
If you follow the news at all, you know that Hispanics are dealing with discrimination and other problems to a greater degree than in previous years. Yet despite the heartbreaking stories about families being separated, and the idiots who denigrate our contributions to the American condition (which all will pass someday soon), there has never…
Is Lebron James the greatest basketball player of all time? Are the Warriors the best team ever? Who knows? The Warriors clinched their third NBA championship in the last four years and that puts them in a very small class of great teams. Lebron on the other hand, seemed to elevate his already brilliant game…
Some of you may have heard about Mamoudou Gassama, an undocumented immigrant from Africa who saved a little boy that was dangling from the balcony of an apartment building outside of Paris. For those who haven’t seen the video, Gassama, with Spiderman-like speed and strength, fearlessly scaled four stories up the side of the building…
