How to Use Other People's Money and Raise Millions for Your Business I Beatriz Acevedo
This week we welcome Beatriz Acevedo, a Latina fintech entrepreneur with a $182 Billion potential. Her venture, Suma Wealth caters to young U.S. Latinos, creating a hybrid between culture and financial education.
Beatriz is beacon for Latino entrepreneurial excellence and shares her insider tips on how she has raised millions for her ventures, while centering her latinidad.
In this episode:
14:10 - Empowering The Latina Community Through Opening Doors
19:46 - Latinidad As Competitive Edge
30:06 - What Is Pre-Seed Funding
44:37 - Why Is It Crucial To Forge Your Own Path And Make Decisions Independently
52:34 - Embracing Latina Community Privilege
In this episode:
How to raise capital for your business
Why and how entrepreneurs can build social capital
How to listen to your gut in high-pressure environments
How to use your culture as a competitive advantage
Follow Our Guest Beatriz Acevedo:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beatrizacevedogreiff
Website: https://www.sumawealth.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beatrizacevedo
If you liked this episode, you'll love our next one—it's packed with similar insights and inspiration!
Mastering Money Conversations and Creative Worth | DJ Mode
LIMITED TIME ONLY: FREE Workbook
Top Hacks For Entrepreneurs
Claim it Here: https://www.victoriajenn.com/freeworkbook2025
Your opinion matters! Help us improve the podcast. Complete Our 1min Survey Here: https://forms.gle/iEDvZFiTqQuKCsVH7
Join Our VIP Email List & Never Miss an Episode: Sign Up here: https://www.victoriajenn.com/bankingoncultura_vip
Connect with our Host Victoria Jenn Rodriguez
Banking On Cultura:
Don't forget to tag #BankingOnCultura or @ us to let us know what you think of this week's episode!
Full Transcript:
Welcome back to Banking on Cultura where we discuss and celebrate the vibrancy and complexity of Latino culture entrepreneurship and of course all the bonchinche in between now today's guest uh has been on my vision board for quite some time I've been wanting to meet this woman literally for years and once I read her bio you guys are going to get the vibe as to why and once you get to learn more about her I promise you you will become a fan girl just like me so let's get into it she is an entrepreneur cultural strategist and social advocate she has raised over $55 million for her Ventures establishing herself as a beacon of Latino entrepreneurial Excellence we love that here on Banking on Cultura her current Venture Suma Wealth harnesses a 182 billion potential catering to Young us Latinos Suma Wealth is a Innovative fintech platform providing Financial tools and cultural education Beatriz is also a philanthropist leading the AMSO foundation in the US with an emphasis on economic empowerment for emerging Latino entrepreneurs without further Ado welcome Beatriz Acevedo thank you so much thanks for having me appreciate it I so pumped to have you here thank you so much from the West Coast in New York City all the way from La in New York I love it I love it so we love to open the show with some okay so give us something that we cannot Google about you oh my gosh something you cannot Google about me um I started if you Google my true career I started in in radio when I was eight uh because I was super in love with Menudo and with Ricky Martin and I thought I would marry him if I went into radio but that I think people can Google but the thing that you cannot Google is that I started my real side hustle from radio I had a second side hustle at 8 which was making pies and cookies so I'm a really good cook and Baker and I would after school sell pies and cookies and my dad's like apartment building where he had his his office and so I you know I would save up to be able to afford like all the cool stuff of the moment of the 70s like the Nike tennis shoes and Jordache jeans that my mom was like there's no way in hell we're going to be buying $40 jeans for an 8-year-old um so yeah so I hustled very hard after school um doing my baking um and yeah I think that's something few people know about me so where does that come from 8 years old radio personal like how does that happen uh well definitely privileged so I'm going to straight out say it cuz somebody was like well somebody must have you know given you that opportunity and yes uh my dad had a friend who owned a radio station and they were holding auditions for kids for this show called La hora menuda in Mexico in Mexico and there were a lot of other kids who their parents knew the owner so I guess we all got the call and other kids in general and um I got selected so that was great I guess after that you still have to be good but that first chance definitely came that way uh at least to get my foot in the door to be able to audition with thousands of other girls my age or older than me um and yeah and I and I was terrible that's the other thing that's super important to say I was a super shy girl mortified to be you know to speak um and I would practice after school for hours I had this mirror in my room and I'd be like you know like I but I say it over and over again and I be like shaking and mortified so I wasn't a natural you know there were there is this guy who is amazing and is still around called Marco Antonio Regil and he was a natural like he was just so good so talented like he was born with that Talent so I love to point that out because like if you have passion for something that you want to do you can absolutely do it might take you a little longer than somebody who's born with a talent but for me like Talent versus passion I mean if you have talent that's amazing but if you don't and you do have passion I'm a firm believer and like an example that you could really do anything in life you know now I have the privilege of speaking all over the world um and I could have never imagined that when I was a kid when I was just like mortified to you know say the name of a song or the time on the radio so you said you came from privilege so what what does that mean no I mean the privilege of my dad knowing the owner of the radio station should he not know him known him I don't know I mean if I would have even known that these auditions were happening that you know somebody makes a call so there's always somebody who opens a door for you and I think that um that he got me the job no you know I still had to audition and there were still hundreds of girls so I still had to have something different than everybody else but you have to be mindful yeah you have to be mindful that you know if somebody opens a door for you even for an opportunity not so much for a job you have to pay it back so I'm very mindful of that of sort of like okay you know I had a dad who knew an owner of a radio station and maybe there were more talented kids than I was and they never knew that there was an audition happening and they just didn't get the opportunity so from everything that I do um I'm mindful that I've been incredibly privileged throughout my career in many things right there is very few people that are able as entrepreneurs to raise Capital I'm definitely one of them there's very few people that have won an Emmy I'm definitely one of them doesn't mean that you know I lay in my bed and do nothing for it I mean I I've worked hard but there's a lot of people who work hard and never get the opportunity so for me it's always like how many doors can I open every single day I'm very mindful of that of like you know someone gave me different opportunities and I want to do the same for particularly other Latinas in my community that's where like my heart you know is definitely with Latinas who I think are amazing we're definitely going to dig into that part but what I found really interesting about your story is how you've been able to build such a powerful personal brand so an Emmy Award winner CNN contributor essentially becoming the face of moving the Latino agenda forward how how did you build this brand did you get trained did people just practice like how'd you do it no like I I like I know that there are people who have like seminars or boot camps on how you build your personal brand like I would not know how to teach that like I've I don't get you know I don't wake up and think okay let me build my personal brand like I I don't know what that mean like I don't know I mean there must be techniques cuz I see people teaching seminars on how you build maybe I should take one but um I just think like I think it just happened I think I think more than building a personal brand there's something that I learned recently and a friend of mine said it to me and she was like oh you have so much Social Capital okay which is very different to me than personal brand and I was like oh okay Google what is social capital and I learned what it was and I was like oh that's interesting right like but I also I did not wait cuz she was like oh yeah it's easy for you to raise Capital because you have so much Social Capital um I'm a generous person like my parents taught me to definitely be a giver more than a taker it's hard for me to ask for help I'm working on that so it's very easy for me to give very hard for me to ask so I definitely am that person that shows up that will you know support you in any way you need connect you with anybody like if I it's in my capacity I will always do it so I think that whenever you know people want to see you succeed right people are rooting for for you people um and and that's amazing right even when you're talking to investors are like oh you know I talked to so many people so and they had only great things to say and I don't do it for them to only say good things about me and I have flaws like everybody else but I think that just showing up and being a giver uh builds that Social Capital right personal brand I don't know I mean you're just who you are and you're authentic and you've been around long enough I mean I'm in my 50s so I'm certainly I've lived many more years than you have and so I guess it's expected that you've you know you've just done more in the additional years that you've been in this earth and I think also it starts to change when you're older I would say when I was in my 20s even in my early 30s it was all about me me right it was all about oh I want to accomplish this I want to win this award I want to be the first to do this I want to raise this cap I it was in service of the community but I was very focused of how I did it know how I can move the agenda forward how I can do this how I can be the the person you know writing the op-eds how I could be now it's more like listen there's other Latinas who are incredibly talented who deserve to be in the podcast and in the interviews and and I do a lot of that I would say more than 50% of the requests if not more I pass on to somebody else right I'm like I've I'm in too many podcasts I'm in too many um I write too many op-eds so there's other voices that are super interesting and I don't think I did that in my 20s or my 30s I think more starting in my 40s I was like okay my plus one is going to be another Latina um at a at a event that's important that could be transformational for somebody who's younger right that you're making those introductions or if I see that there's no Latinas on a panel I'm like I have my Excel spreadsheet ready to go to I'm like there's thousands of incredible Latinas that you could be having have this conversation so I think that's that's also changed and it sounds weird that the more you pass it on to other people in the community more people sort of like support you which is counterproductive in a way I don't I don't know but I don't know if that's what builds a personal brand or not I definitely don't think about it I don't wake up thinking how do I build a personal brand I'm just you know I'm just me and I've been a different me throughout the decades for sure Social Capital super important and there is a technique so aside from giving recommending others are there other strategies that have worked well for you building Social Capital well like I said I didn't I never woke up thinking let me build a strategy to to build social capital I just recently even knew what it meant so I I don't know I mean like I said the only thing I can think of is I mean show up for others you know open as many doors as you can be authentic um and that's it I mean so let's hone in on the giving part like give us example so you said you recommend other Latinas to be on panels when you can't make it or your your bandwidth doesn't allow what are other examples of how giving back so for example boards is another place that I'm incredibly privileged to be a part of uh which you know whether it's boards raising Capital doing Keynotes all these things when you go and look look like okay what's the percentage of Latinas that have that opportunity it's always like 1% there's we never pass this ridiculous 1% so for example so I gave the example of the interviews the boards are super super important right and and I want to make sure that Latinas are comfortable being on boards so I usually request to have Latinas as board Observer so that I can bring somebody and I say this to boards that are you know super super important that I'm on um can I bring an observer as part of something that I do to open doors for Latinas I want him to know what is a board what to expect my first board I had no idea what to do what to expect what to say how long to be it was like horrible and I just don't want that experience for other Latinas if I can do like so board and training is one definitely passing on the mic uh whenever I can for anything that's media related sometimes it's hard because they always want the CEO they always want the founder they so a way around it is to bring somebody else with you right so I'll say like okay you know she's really the um we we did this at my previous company at me too like she's really the engineer leading this part of the development of her product like she's going to talk to you about that right so they you can't get away from like you not showing up then bring somebody else and then you can sort of like let them have their moment in shine another thing that I remember um doing is any big meeting that you have with like another CEO I remember we there was a time when we had to do a big presentation for L'Oreal and we were in New York and we were presenting to the CEO and I was like okay well they want the CEO to the CEO but I'm like why don't we bring the Latina who's really in charge of this initiative to pitch to this CEO and she'd never been to New York obviously never pitched to a CEO of of a company like this and she was like no I can't do it I'm like you can do it like we took our time we practiced we went over it I'm like I'm going to be there with you you're going to be fine so it's intentional it's nothing is by chance that you it's not just opening the door like oh let me introduce you to my friend sure that's good too but in things where you're just like let me literally walk you in I'll sit next to you you'll be comfortable and then you'll be on your own so I I try to do as much as that like I said plus ones on events that are very important it's not just like let's come and have some drinks it's like okay these are the people you should meet let me make these introductions this is your target this so very very intentional on how I'm like connecting them hopefully for transformational opportunities so what is your advice to someone who is seeking an advisor like you someone who is seeking someone who would provide them those type of intentional opportunities and access how can somebody connect with an influencer such as yourself um well I'm I'm so terrible to connect with just myself because I'm so busy right like I literally kill myself working and I do my philanthropy and my terrible stuff and my connections like at nights and at weekends so if people tell me I want you to be my like personal Mentor like I don't have that time to devote a lot of time but I'll have time that I know it's going to be important and I'll you know get along some other people do have the time I I I know other Latinas like myself um that are in incredible positions that have the time and love to do it and that's amazing I do so many other things that it's hard for me to have a long time and I guess you know just ask like don't be I mean I I've done mentorship for people who are like um listen we met you at this conference we're students um do you like tamales we're going to bring you some tamales to your house and uh maybe you can tell us how we break into the business you know things like that I mean people get very creative and you can't resist it but yeah I think uh don't be shy to ask I'm not a good example of that like I said cuz I I'm like you know like I could do it uh but the older I get I think that you know I I really want to learn because I it gives me a lot of joy to give but it gives me a lot of anxiety to ask now I do ask but for others okay so I use my social capital mostly to support that's why I can always connect anybody right because I'm like oh if I know so and so oh don't worry like I'm going to get you that interview or that recommendation or whatever because I tend to use that Social Capital to connect others and I guess that just build it more because like the universe just gives it back to you I don't know how it works um so that I'm very comfortable with but for myself it gives me a lot of anxiety so I don't I don't but I still will give the advice of like definitely ask you know ask and just be honest like this is where I'm in my career like I you know it'd be incredible if I can have this sort of support from you or and start with little things like can I can we grab a 15-minute call and then you know because sometimes people are like can I have coffee with you I'm like o by the time I drive to the coffee have the coffee drive back to my my three hours it's just a big for the first time so sometimes just start smaller and then build that relationship I would think that's and then have you know I end up saying like oh let me connect to so so let me send you this it takes me a little while for so for people who know me I'm like give me a couple weeks and you'll get you know I'll ping the connections at 2: a.m. on a Saturday night but I'll I'll get there
got it so let's talk about raising Millions so as a woman as a Latina when has your credibility been tested and how have you been able to use your Latinidad as a competitive Advantage okay so two very different answers so I'm going to start with my Latinidad okay so I had never raised Capital until my previous company meu uh and I've had other companies but I bootstrapped them uh uh and um but this was was the first one that really needed a big amount of capital to really like because we were the first ones doing anything for Latinos on digital I mean Facebook didn't even have video at the time that's how early we were and you know early investors start to get paranoid of like oh somebody's gonna somebody bigger is going to come behind us and just like you know take your idea so they want you to go go go go so that's where you sort of like need that Capital to scale um um so I had no idea what to do what to expect um and it was a very you know to this day it's a big lesson but the one thing that I did know was that I I leaned very very hard on my Latinidad and I would walk i mean venture capital is known for not being diverse at all not gender not ethnically nothing so I would walk into these rooms which were really like a sea of sameness right like all the men looked identically the same same suit same haircut identical identical and um and i'd be so excited right like I don't think people are excited when they see that but just I don't know I mean it it worked in my advantage but I would walk in and I I my thought process instead of saying oh my God I'm the only woman here I'm the only Latina I'm the only person of color I'm the only Z I had none of those thoughts and I guess it also helped me that I was a recent immigrant so I just I never heard the data that you know we barely get 0.2% of the f I knew nothing so for me walking to the room seeing the Sea of sameness was like yes like I was so excited I like I've got this right like I have no competition here like I am like the one Latina that's like Beyond passionate about what I'm doing and building and like I have so much to say in this room and I did so I walked in with like a lot of swagger like white men Swagger Latina Swagger and i'd be like Latinos are the so you know like all the stats that we hear and these these men were just like oh my God with my hands and my hoops and my red lipstick and my eyelashes and like I was unapologetically me which I don't know I mean I read even like from a Harvard Business review article like oh no no okay if you use too much your hands and you're this and you don't get a promotion I'm like I have never done that but also I haven't worked in Corporate America since I'm 20 years old so I don't know maybe Corporate America is different but for me you know as an entrepreneur like it was amazing I mean it was amazing I am definitely an outlier of being able to raise Capital to raise over-subscribed rounds which means more Capital than what I intended to raise um up rounds which you know is at a higher valuation than your previous round cuz some people unfortunately sometimes have to lower their valuation and there's nothing wrong with that um but I credit that to just being unapologetically me and very very Latina and being very proud of like the problem I'm solving for my community really knowing my stats of why we matter where the Market's going like I'm like there's nobody more informed at least in this room than me and so you all need to give me your money because I'm the right person to build this company so that was incredible um the other part of the question of like um how was I kind of not taken seriously um I don't think that happened in the fundraising um side I think where I had a lot of that was in before I became an entrepreneur when I was a TV personality and I was probably 18 19 20 years old and I look like I was 14 um and I would be like asking hard questions to like Sting or you two or you know and they would be like how old are you you know like I'd be like 15 why like I was so annoyed but like I looked ate um and I was asking about like you know p and the mothers of the disappeared and like you know I was so into like my political questions and they just be like oh my God like who is this kid right so that that I remember very clearly being super annoyed and thinking like like I'm already 15 I would ask the same question to a year old kid but back then I just thought oh I cannot believe they're not taking me seriously I I don't think in the fundraising process there was ever that I mean I was already late 20s um and you know a lot of entrepreneurs are like college dropouts so I guess I was in the I was in the norm raising Capital where did that skill set come from
we interrupt our program to bring you this important message ooh this is really good you should know about this so I don't know about you but I've been known to procrastinate especially when things scare the hell out of me the fear alone would have me stuck overwhelmed confused and all types of self-doubt and don't even get me started on the impostor syndrome okay okay after getting laid off not once but three times honey I realized that the security blanket that I made up in my head was just an excuse because I didn't really want to bet on myself the corporate benefits that had me in that headlock girl they went out the window once my job decided that they no longer needed me it turns out that I'll save a whole nickel if I cut your salary completely the truth is the only security blanket guarantee is the one that you create for yourself in other words until you start a business you will always be at the mercy of a company's headcount and you will never have complete control over your time which means you'll be renting out your thought leadership and helping build someone else's dream instead of your own if you've been waiting for a sign this is it don't you think it's time you stop playing small and tap all the way into your powers click on the link above or below this video to learn my three-step process the exact three steps that I took to make the transition from corporate to entrepreneurship and this is helpful even if you don't know what type of business to start and have only one source of income and this is absolutely free it is my gift to you I want you to win it's winning season in fact what's that it smells like winning season okay so tap in and I'll see you inside the training let's go
mi gente I need your help look the real game behind podcast is we need to really understand our demo AKA you our audience so that when we go out to sponsors who help us put on this amazing show and deliver this content to you that they can clearly understand who we serve and what is significant to you and what you value and the only way for us to get that information is for you to give it to us so we just created this survey I'll put it in the show notes it will take you less than 3 minutes literally but it will be so helpful for us to get a better understanding of what it is that you care about what's important to you what do you value so that when we're out in these streets trying to secure the big bag and get sponsors for this show they know exactly who our audience is and what you care about so we can bring you the best products we can bring you the best organizations that are out here serving the Cultura the community you so please take a moment and fill out the survey I'll link it in the show notes appreciate you
nowhere I mean okay I like I just learned as I went I H now that I think back um I did have my training in a really funny way my parents as typical Mexican people would throw these carne asadas right like they would just do cookouts and they you know always be grilling steaks and they and people would show up on Sundays at our house right you didn't even invite them they would just come and there were always like rice beans carne asada and guacamole classic Mexicans and tortillas and um and whenever I saw like a big group of people like after lunch I would like do some sort of performance okay so I'd be like gymnastics uh I would put on a little play with like my Snoopy little character whatever it was and then I would run into the kitchen and get my mom's tortilla holder right and I pass it around like if it was church okay like around the people to like like like you know like put in some Capital here so when I think back to that I was like oh my God that was like I was getting my training on like my friends and family rounds of funding obviously my mom made me return all the money every time so I didn't really make any money but I guess the training started there but formal training I really didn't have I remember my first investor meeting and um it was with Peter Chernin who is this massive executive who really ran Fox for Rupert Murdoch and when he left Fox and started a fund he was our first investor and I remember meeting with him and him asking me if I was raising a Series A and I was like oh my God like in my mind I thought what could possibly come before a so I was like yes and of course I was not raising a Series A right like I should have been like no we're raising a pre-seed round but I had no idea so what is the difference what's the the difference between pre-seed and series A it's a very big difference because what people measure you against as far as like okay if you're in a pre-seed or in a friends and family even earlier they're betting on you and your idea there's nothing more than an idea okay who you are are you the right person to solve this problem obviously if you're doing friends and family it's all on you I believe in her I'm going to give her some money or my niece or whatever but if you're doing already like Venture Capital not from friends and family pre-seed is where you start and that is like you can show there's a huge Market there's a huge gap I have this incredible idea I have the right team I'm the right person and so that's all they look into okay to give you money if you say you're raising a Series A and and it tends to be they start to get larger so serious pre-seed you can raise half a million dollars I mean there's people who have raised hundreds of millions but that's an outlier then after that seed then after that a b c d exit whatever but every stage they're expecting you to deliver on something so a Series A most companies have already a lot of decent Revenue um some are profitable they have to have a product they have to have product Market fit which means like people like your product so pre-seed you're like okay the idea and it's you once you get into seed it's like okay do have you have to have revenue and how much recurring revenue and at least a million dollars in Revenue there's like there's like guidelines a like so many more millions in Revenue how close are you to being profitable how fast are you growing are you doubling your growth and your Revenue so there's guidelines for each stage and at each stage you raise potentially more and more more got it so if you say you go up in later letters it's more seasonality more revenue at that point correct got more traction more traction more like a business case more stress more expectations you know yeah you're not playing games you're not like oh yeah yeah yeah she's great I like her idea it's like okay where's the revenue okay where's the growth okay where's the profit like like yeah it gets so saying a when we were really pre-seed was dumb right cuz then now they're like okay so you got to deliver on all these M so what happened you told Peter right his name is Peter you told you said hey yeah of of course we so what happened when the meeting went on yeah he was like great and he I didn't even know how much money we were raising he was like uh are you raising what like $5 million I'm like yeah yeah $5 million for a Series A it's dumb and yeah and then he was like all right I'll I'll fund it and we were like oh okay and I was such an idiot not knowing that it's really hard to raise cap but also I was like oh let me go out and have some other meet cuz that's my first meeting and how'd you get that meeting because my husband and I used to be in entertainment my husband and I were co-founders of this and by the way happy anniversary just 24 years right I saw that or more than that no it's going to be 25 in August so I'm getting close I'm getting close to that congrats yeah so we knew we knew him from our entertainment days um they were Fox were exploring launching a cable channel that was just for Latinos and we went in and took a meeting and presented a project that never happened at Fox but like we knew him so we we knew he had a fund so we're like oh let's start with somebody that so there was a relationship already there okay so is it safe to say that you went into this first meeting there was some social capital already established so I assume there was some Grace given but you walked into that meeting not really knowing what you were doing but you had data and you knew your [ __ ] yeah I knew what I was doing in the company I just didn't know what I was doing you know like what are the letters and what are you know the guidelines of raising capital M uh but you know I wasn't the fund manager that needed to know that that's on them but yeah I had no clue yeah definitely safe to say okay um it's it's interesting because a lot of the stories you shared so far you've entered into the space with this level of not knowing and not being tainted from knowing right I think served yeah have served to your advantage I think it's better I mean this go around for this new company for Suma I was much more nervous because I knew I knew I knew that Latinas women women over 40 women with accents like all that place not in your favor so I was like oh God I have check of every single one of them it's going to be harder it's going to like I went into with so much more anxiety versus before that I was just like oh my god I've got this there's nobody like me here but you know so you got to keep yourself in check that ignorance is bliss sometimes absolutely yes so that's interesting so that could possibly be a strategy like maybe don't get caught up I wouldn't say be ignorant no not being ignorant but if you're exposed to the data and you're aware of the statistics don't allow that to correct make you feel less than to prevent you or prevent you from going after it right well if you know the data you definitely should not feel less than because the data is in our favor the data as far as like who we are as Latinos okay we're the biggest contributors to GDP growth which is what really matters in a strong economy it's us we are the demo that keeps America young like an aging country like there's so many in Asia and in Europe is terrible for that you know vibrant economy we are the demo that sets America to not be so old and aging so that we have in our favor Workforce Latinos will be 80% of the new workers in the next 10 years I mean every single number of data that you look into that data is in our favor the data that women women of color blah blah blah don't get funding that's a different other data but we should know the data of how powerful we are as Latinos and um the Latino donor collaborative um led by a really good friend of mine Ana Valdez um does an incredible job every year putting out this data if we were a country if us Latinos were its own country we'd be the fifth largest economy of the world and a lot of people are like oh we're investing in Brazil and Mexico and so and I'm not saying to not do that but like our GDP is stronger than any of all those countries combined right like it's like it's in your backyard the opportunity is in your backyard and it's called us Latinos and make no mistake that is the biggest opportunity anybody has and that is the biggest demo that any company needs to grow so that data amazing know it recite it be very proud of it the data that says oh but it's only 0000 1% you it's okay to know it but then know well if somebody did it I could do it too right we could be 2% instead of 1% you know adding myself there but you start to wonder like oh it's going to be difficult oh it's going to be this but you know you have to not play those Mind Games cuz that's just not serving
so let me ask you this because I'm very aware of the data our buying power our purchasing power we're buying the most online we're tuning in the most online yet it is still very difficult to get investment to get the Buy in with all that data so how how have you been able to showcase the data in such a way where people are either it's creating buyin or they're opening their their checkbooks I don't I don't know how I do it versus another entrepreneur doing it I I really couldn't tell you oh I do this that's completely different I mean I I'm passionate about the data um I don't know maybe I scare them that like if you don't do this like you're gonna fail uh so everybody should do that um I don't know I mean I I I think that for example raising capital for me too made a lot of sense for me because I came from media and entertainment and that was the digital media company so I'm like I've done this I've won the most Awards I've you know everything like I am your girl to fund so let me but go ahead but for this Venture which is finance that is not my background so I thought people are going to be like what like who are you to be coming to ask for Capital to build a fintech company so I don't know like my answer would have been been different before this company but with this company I was still incredibly lucky and privileged to be able to also raise over-subscribed rounds so far you know there's no M here but you never know you know it could be up today and down tomorrow but as of now yeah no it's incredible $185 billion potential is no small fee let me rephrase the question so the data is public y it is known we have advocates in the space such as yourself who are pounding the table bringing the data to the attention of decision makers but companies are still falling behind they're not hiring us they're not promoting us to Executive roles they're not investing in our projects they're not putting us in front of the camera so how how are we able to make the connection like the data is there well all the examples that you gave are more like on the you know not hiring us not promoting us not being on the whatever it is is investing the other is like you're like okay because they don't do that I see the opportunity so I'm going to build it right but then your question of like not investing in us I think like you know now there's more capital in hands of diverse fund managers and a lot of Latinos and and a lot of Latinas I have to say so you know when I raised my first round for for Suma it was primarily Latina investors okay I did not have to overly explain to them them why we mattered right they understood what it is to be a financial caregiver for older family members they were Financial Caregivers for their parents like I am so to them it was like oh my God this makes so much sense this makes so the more the more time that goes by where we're going to have people like us be these positions of privilege where whether it's to distribute Capital whether it's to hire you whether it's to promote you to the C-Suite people like us at the top matter I mean that's the reality now it's a question of time to get there right yesterday I was doing this conference and I had like the two most senior Latinos into two huge financial institutions Morgan Stanley and Bank of America a few years back there wasn't a Latino president at Bank of America there wasn't a Latina head of private wealth at Morgan Stanley right so that's going to start happening more and more and more and then when you show up and you're like you know I want to do a partnership with you this is who I am this is who I serve to them it's like we get you it's personal so things will get better by default my thing is how do I accelerate that right how do we push that forward faster with inertia it's going to happen my kids will definitely benefit from 10 more years of them whether being entrepreneurs or or being in Corporate America and they're kids will even benefit more right we will be the majority we will be in the C-Suite we will be the CEOs it just hasn't happened yet but so my goal in this lifetime is to push that to get us there faster the work that you do huge responsibility I know that Crown is heavy to wear you said you work all the time high stress in this era of soft life where it's being Market to us to like like calm down a little bit Center yourself right anti hustle culture and given your experience in the space and what you've been able to accomplish the accolades the rooms that you've been been in is it worth it um I think so I mean when I had young kids I question myself many times is it worth it without kids I would say yes so pre kids absolutely I had nothing else to do but you know to build my career give back um so I love it exactly exactly and now that my kids are in college like I have a lot of freedom too to you know I feel I have not freedom I had freedom I've always had freedom but I feel less guilt right to work all the time um so sometimes you're like you question it CU you're like oh I missed you know whatever a play or I missed a something at school or I missed that you know my daughter lost her first tooth or whatever it is um then as I you know you reflect back on that I mean there's no going back so would I do it differently would I work less maybe um but what's done done you know I think you know in an aggregate is worth it I don't know I mean may maybe I'd had a less hustle culture when I was a a young mom um but I can't go back so so what is your advice to a Latina who has the voice has the potential has the everything in her to really help with the acceleration of moving the community forward however she's conflicted with taking on that level of responsibility and all of those sacrifices uh in order to move the needle forward with the understanding of knowing how important it is to Center your happy right and how Paramount that is and just because you have money doesn't mean that you are happy no uh so what would be your advice to her if she's kind of going back and forth conflicted of whether or not she should like put the pedal to the metal or if she should just go and really just Center her peace depends depends on who you are you know like and cuz there's no right answer for everybody you know everybody's different I would just say you have to make your own choice like you can't even don't take my advice by any means cuz you you know you want to know like oh I regret not doing this or I don't but it was my decision I think that's what's really important right um I do think that there's a lot there with like self-care um I don't know that you can I mean I don't know I I I would love to be anti- hustle culture for sure and I have so many friends who I I see posting and promoting and I'm like super jealous in a good way but it depends on who you are you know like it depends like I know in my youth I would have not been happy with Tom or whatever you say Tom like that was just not that was just not me you know that's not my personality my personality is like go go go like like I'm excited with a new challenge a bigger challenge something you know like that that was just me in my youth as I'm in my 50s I'm excited with knowing that I have the power to open doors for others so it it also changes right like I I want to make sure that I can have weekends off I want to make sure that I can sleep later in and not every day be you know when I was in my like at 5:00 a.m. at the gym and doing this and like I'm like I'm not there yet anymore but things that give me a lot of excitement and pride and keep me going are very different in my 50s and my 40s and my 30s and my 20s so what's my advice guys to really listen and you know to your gut um uh you know more than you think uh look for the signs of where you have to be um I used to have a coach that would say like is that a whole body yes right and I be like what what is that but like you know when you're like say like yes but you're like uh but something is not sitting right with you that's not a whole body yes right like I like do you are you really loving doing that or not and then you have to reassess and recalibrate I have a lot of respect and admiration for younger Generations Millennials gen Z like my like my kids who have their priorities very straight you know what what they want I've been in meetings where I've had team members say I got to go cuz I have a yoga class I would have never ever ever in my life gotten up where my boss was in the middle of a meeting because I had a y but I applaud them I'd want to be them I don't tell them don't go to the yoga class I'm like wow that's amazing right now I have in my email something that says like not because you're receiving an email from me I thought you need to respond that because I send emails at 2: a.m. and now I you can schedule them so that's better but sometimes I forget to schedule I'll get better at that but for some people it's like oh my gosh that's affecting my mental health and and good for them to have those boundaries so I I respect that I wasn't that person when I was young so yeah there's no there's no one side fits all I don't think I think just follow your gut Follow Your Instinct follow your passion and then recheck with yourself right what is what you are doing feeling good to you or not and there's no rush also like you don't need to kill yourself because you have to get here at this age or that stage I had a dad who I adored but he was very much of like why not 10 why not A+ why not number one what like he was he wasn't a person who was like it's okay if you're a be you know if you you know if you're average if you're that's good enough it wasn't good enough Perfection was good and Perfection doesn't exist right so you get to a point in your life when you're like I have a child like that I have who is like no it has to be perfect and I think oh my gosh like he's not going to be that happy right and I have another child who is amazing and accomplished and smart and she's so much Happ she's so much more balanced than this needs to be so perfect and only straight A and only this so I'm like you know you have to you have to take all those things into consideration so sorry for not the perfect advice that I gave but be passionate and be true to yourself and follow your gut and follow your instinct
that sounds like amazing takeaways to me but I can see how some would feel pressure understanding the need to have more of us right in these executive roles to have more of us in CEO CEO r have more of us with the decision making power to say yes we're going to invest in this project of course of course so it's kind of like that that kind of like Dan and once you get there it's a lot of pressure because well first of all you don't want to screw up right you're the one Latina that was able to do this and if you screw up then you screw it up for everybody and if you are on this board and you're the only Latina you don't want to be the least prepared and if you so to take it easy once you're there is not that much of an option unless you don't really care right like I'm like God forbid I show up to a place where I'm not overly prepared nobody asks me to do that but I feel that responsibility I'm like oh my gosh as the only Latina how and there's a lot of people say you should not do that you should not overly prepare you should not my person I'm a Virgo type like and I'm 50 so I'm up from another generation and I don't think I'm gonna change in this lifetime but I definitely applaud and admire younger Generations who are like I'm good enough exactly as I am and that is amazing amazing amazing amazing I remember one time I was in like some um sound bath class and it's the first time I I heard the phrase this years ago like you are enough and I was sobbing cuz I was like oh my like I always think that like I need to be more right and give more do more like the expectation of just like it's exhausting and that time it was just like no no like you are enough and I was like oh my God it hit me and I know you know and now you hear this so often of you are enough and that's amazing so yes don't be like me be more Gen Z Millennial and yes take it easy when you feel the passion and want to do more do it because you want to do it uh but check in with yourself and make sure you know you're it's a whole body yes uh what you're do love the kids say F yes it's an F yes or an F no you got to make sure you know what it is exactly exactly
so let's get into the Talk That Talk segment where we tackle something Taboo in the C something controversial and you spoke about privilege uhhuh and you Mexicana and in today's world a lot of folks like to group us all as Mexicano like that's how we all are that's who we are I'm sure it's so annoying like I mean I'm a Mexicana but I'm just like oh my god well you remember that book The Social Club what was it called I can't believe it from Alisa Valdez and she was like oh dirty girl social club right and she was you everybody was like there were Dominicans and Puerto Ricans and Cubans and everybody asked them they're like oh where can I buy Mexican jumping beans like I'm not Mexican you know like it's just like so annoying I'm sure but anyway continue question I'm sorry I so no no no this is great because my question is that privilege that comes with being part of a community who is the most visible uhhuh of the community how has that served you uhhuh and also this is a separate but relevant question how are like kind of like these silos within the community doing more of a disadvantage to us I mean listen I I did not I was not born in the US I did not grow up in the US so for me the differences of like not being Mexican came at a much older age right of like oh okay obviously there's other nationalities and but it wasn't obvious until now and well even my my previous company where it was like oh what you guys do is too Mexican and I was like what like you just assume right you're just like oh yeah the chancla joke and the this abuela so we started to be mindful of like oh wait a second like there's 33 other countries of origin here from Latin America like how are we really serving everybody it's hard to serve everybody but at least how are we being the most inclusive and I think that was the first time when I was like okay who are we hiring who is writing is this going to be appropriate well I'm always asking like well how do you call this how do you say this cuz I'm like maybe that's not how it's done so I'm super mindful of that at least workwise right I definitely love living in La there's a lot of Mexicans in LA but I've lived in other parts of the country I've lived in Miami for example where I was was like 25 years ago an full outlier where there's not even cilantro in the supermarket right I'm just like how could live in a place with no cilantro uh but any in Miami there's no cilantro there's cilantro now but before you had to like drive like at the normal supermarkets they just did not have anything Mexican you have to drive I don't know an hour to get to some mercado but it was just nota like this is you're not the majority I guess that's the first time that I felt it there and I think it was a good lesson to just know okay like we should be mindful that that's exactly how everybody else who's not Mexican feels when everything is our food our music our I mean music has been definitely not just Mexican I mean obviously between Colombia and Puerto Rico that's been like the biggest crossover now we get some uh with with with Mexican music uh crossing over and obviously we had it with Selena but um but I'm mindful now I don't think I ever thought about it um um but and in a place like La it's just that continues to be the majority but for work I'm definitely mindful of okay how are we being inclusive to everyone else and now with AI we're doing some really cool stuff cuz AI lets you do hyper hyper personalization so the way you know we might greet you versus a Mexican versus of Venezuelan is very different we want you to feel like oh it's your abuelita talking to you and it's going to sound different and it's going to be different and the things that you grew up hearing or eating or you know whatever it is are very different and they we have a lot of commonalities but the things that are different we want to make sure that people feel very much seen and heard and um and that you know they're unique to their own backgrounds
so what is your advice to organizations who are putting us all in the Mexicano group yeah well listen in the Mexicano group obviously there's other 32 countries of origin so that's just dumb uh don't do that uh and also aside of that it's like there's so many differences yesterday I was speaking about it certainly we're not a monolith you hear that every time there's an election but keep it in mind um but you know acculturation is different um the whether you're us-born or an immigrant is very different whether your English-dominant or Spanish-dominant is a huge I mean it's there's so many even if we were all Mexicans we are not but even if we were all Puerto Rican or Cuban there would be so many differences in everything else that's acculturation levels uh education and that is how you target somebody so the worst thing you can do obviously is group everybody into you are this yes there are things that we do that yes we all care about family and we all you know are enthusiastic when we speak and we all like to have a good time and we are all a collective group of people we care about others more than self to a fault all those things so you can find the commonalities but never assume that we're the same obviously that's just a big Miss and I do think that technology is going to accelerate how you're able to hyper uh Target people to make them them feel like they truly belong as themselves um you know so I'm excited about using technology for good in that way I think the the key add-on there is whoever is training the technology and programming technology is actually from the Cultura from the community not just some random that Google things and is trying to program the technology well I think that's why AI is better than I mean obviously AI has not been programmed by us but you have the opportunity to retrain it which is something that makes me very excited somebody had asked me like oh well you know I'm like I I was never able to retrain Hollywood in the bias but I've been able to retrain open AI in the bias at least the first time I asked um Mid Journey which is a cool program uh to make images to give me a Latina CEO gave me pretty much a prostitute right and I was like oh my God like no like and then I had to like you know really inform what now when I ask Latina do that gives me the most spectacular images so I'm excited that I'm whoever programmed it for the first time might have had the bias but now that I have an opportunity to retrain it retrain it is very exciting to see that okay now it knows there's a variation from where we started right what who is a Latino who's a Latina CEO who are first-time home buyers that you know don't look like chich Chin chong like I mean you could not believe what it spit out at the beginning yeah because whoever trained it for the the first time had that bias and it wasn't us um but at least we have that ability to to redo it where we don't have that ability to do it in other places right so hopefully that will help well Beatriz thank you so much for this super insightful conversation all the nuggets of wisdom please tell the people where they can find you where they can learn more about Suma Wealth how can they get involved yeah so Suma Wealth super easy Sumawealth.com um that's our website and it has you know where you can download our app and all the educational uh programs that we have we have our Dinero Boot Camp which is amazing we have that in partnership with Arizona State University you're able to get a free personal finance certification when you completed the course is super easy fun even funny um we're launching our Jefa Business Boot Camp in May um that's going to be great for small business owners owners entrepreneurs solopreneurs so that's going to be super fun that all of that you find inside our app in the educational resources it's all free always our education is free uh but you're also able to get this coaching and AI find you savings opportunities and you know how you optimize your budget and all this stuff so everything is in our website and It'll point you to the classes to the app to the all this all the good stuff and then for me and we have socials we are Suma Instagram Tik Tok every Facebook um for me personally my best place is LinkedIn that's where I post whatever it is that I'm doing working on articles anything like that so for anybody who wants to connect um yeah super easy Beatriz Acevedo on LinkedIn thank you so much for being here I appreciate you making the time because I know how busy you are thank you so so much and shout out to all of you for tuning in I am your host Victoria Jen Rodriguez and I'll see you in the next episode mi gente I need your help look the real game behind podcast is we need to really understand our demo AKA you our audience so that when we go out to sponsors who help us put on this amazing show and deliver this content to you that they can clearly understand who we serve and what is significant to you and what you value and the only way for us to get that information is for you to give it to us so we just created this survey I'll put it in the show notes it will take you less than 3 minutes literally but it will be so helpful for us to get a better understanding of what it is that you care about what's important to you what do you value so that when we're out in these streets trying to secure the big bag and get sponsors for this show they know exactly who our audience is and what you care about so we can bring you the best products we can bring you the best organizations that are out here serving the Cultura the community you so please take a moment and fill out the survey I'll link it in the show notes appreciate you we interrupt our program to bring you this important message ooh this is really good you should know about this so I don't know about you but I've been known to procrastinate especially when things scare the hell out of me the fear alone would have me stuck overwhelmed confused and all types of self-doubt and don't even get me started on the impostor syndrome okay okay after getting laid off not once but three times honey I realized that the security blanket that I made up in my head was just an excuse because I didn't really want to bet on myself the corporate benefits that had me in that headlock girl they went out the window once my job decided that they no longer needed me it turns out that I'll save a whole nickel if I cut your salary completely the truth is the only security blanket guarantee is the one that you create for yourself in other words until you start a business you will always be at the mercy of a company's headcount and you will never have complete control over your time which means you'll be renting out your thought leadership and helping build someone else's dream instead of your own if you've been waiting for a sign this is it don't you think it's time you stop playing small and tap all the way into your powers click on the link above or below this video to learn my three-step process the exact three steps that I took to make the transition from corporate to entrepreneurship and this is helpful even if you don't know what type of business to start and have only one source of income and this is absolutely free it is my gift to you I want you to win it's winning season in fact what's that it's smells like winning season okay so tap in and I'll see you inside the training let's go hey guys if you enjoyed this video I'm pretty sure you're going to love the next one so make sure to click right here and tap in to the next episode