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.
The term “start-up” is one we all have heard hundreds of times, but I have never been totally clear on what the term actually means. I know it refers to companies that are relatively new, but I also know that not every new company is considered a start-up. I decided to ask a few people…
Social media didn’t create cancel culture, but it did make it stronger and faster. In case you don’t know, “cancel culture” is a form of boycotting; it’s the practice of withholding support or publicly deeming someone as no longer being socially acceptable. For people whose public image is how they make their living, like celebrities…
Devin Booker’s maternal grandfather was from Mexico. He was raised by his Puerto Rican-Mexican mother, while his father, who is Black, pursued a basketball career internationally. Booker, who was just named to the USA Olympic team, is 24 years old and has been one of the marquee stars of the NBA playoffs this season. He…
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers were knocked out of the NBA playoffs last week by the Phoenix Suns. As expected, the LeBron haters were in full force on social media calling him overrated and a fraud. At 36 years old, LeBron James has been in the NBA for more than half of his…
Two years ago, I met Richard Montañez in New York City. Richard was accompanying Indra Nooyi to a speaking engagement she had with the Latino Donor Collaborative. Nooyi was CEO of PepsiCo at the time. Prior to the meeting in New York, I had heard of Montañez. I knew that he had written a book…
Late last year, Spencer Rascoff, the former CEO of Zillow, reached out and invited me to be part of a new advisory board for his latest real estate start-up, Pacaso. I knew Spencer when he was at Zillow and we kept in touch over the years. I don’t sit on many advisory boards, but I…
In a recent memo to chapter leadership, NAHREP gave the green light to begin planning live events, subject to state and local health protocols. NAHREP will also host its first regional event in Miami on July 13th. The event will take place at the JW Marriott in Brickell and will take on one of the…
Capital flows towards growth, so one of the biggest mysteries in the history of capitalism is how little capital has flowed to the U.S. Latino cohort. The Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI) says if Latino entrepreneurs had access to a proportional amount of capital as the overall market, it would add $1.5 Trillion to the…
The pandemic has been devastating for all of us – especially those that lost loved ones, and even though it seems odd saying this, there were also some positives. With the vaccines, there is light at the end of the tunnel, but we can never forget some of the things we learned during the pandemic.…
Racial economic inequality is a serious issue. The implications go far and wide and I don’t think it hyperbole to say it poses an existential threat to the nation’s economic well-being. If we don’t do much better, our overall economy will suffer. The recent awakening by corporate America to the problem has prompted dozens of…
Despite the pandemic, Latinos drove growth in the homeownership sector for the sixth consecutive year. Next week, NAHREP releases its 11th annual State of Hispanic Homeownership Report, and without giving too much away, the report is a blockbuster. The youth, work ethic, and vitality of the Latino market is burning up the market, and some…
I used to think I knew a lot about small businesses. I launched too many to count, and I have mentored a few as well. But the world of unicorn start-ups is not something I’ve understood very well until recently. Last Fall, Sol Trujillo and I launched L’ATTITUDE Ventures with a goal to raise $75…
California has trailed much of the country in COVID-19 vaccine distribution, but last week, thanks to my friend Jason Madiedo, my wife, son and I all received our first dose of the Pfizer vaccine in Las Vegas. We were driving from Colorado Springs to San Diego and stopped in Las Vegas to get vaccinated. It…
What do Chris Duarte and Iverson Molinar have in common? They both eat patacones and are moving up NBA draft boards with a bullet. Duarte, who was born in the Dominican Republic and plays for the Oregon Ducks, was runner up for POY in the PAC 12 conference. Molinar, who is from Panama City and…
There is light at the end of the tunnel. A study of 1 million people conducted in Israel that was published by the New England Journal of Medicine confirms the Pfizer BioNTech’s vaccine is 94-95% effective in preventing COVID-19 with symptoms. The study is the largest to date and was greats news for all of…
In June of 2019, Len Wolfson, HUD’s then Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, wrote a letter to Congressman Pete Aguilar of California that stated individuals with DACA status remained ineligible for FHA loans. This sent shock waves through the mortgage lending industry because many lenders had been originating FHA loans for DACA recipients…
After the George Floyd murder, and the hundreds of protests that followed, conversations about systemic racism and police reform dominated the airwaves for weeks. One general consensus was that government and major corporations had a responsibility to address the growing issue of racial economic inequality in America. This led to a groundswell of Fortune 100…
Tom Flores was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this past week. He is the first Hispanic quarterback in pro football and the first Hispanic head coach of an NFL franchise. His election to the Hall of Fame was celebrated by Latino organizations such as LULAC and the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.…
I’ve been around real estate since I was in high school and my mother first worked at the Montebello MLS. Over the years, I have seen several cycles in this industry. I’ve seen my Realtor® friends go from living in mansions to sleeping in their cars and vice versa. Today, we are experiencing one of…
I recently stumbled on this 70s photo of Puerto Rican legend, Chi-Chi Rodríguez and his caddie, John Lynch at the Masters Golf Tournament held in Augusta, Georgia. Rodríguez, who turned 85 last October, was one of my favorite athletes growing up. It’s a great photo, but the back story is even more interesting. At the…
