Latinas Empower Latinas

In celebration of the #NationalHispanicHeritageMonth, this past Sunday, Cristina Collazo, our founder was invited by Goldman Sachs (@goldmansachs) and its '10,000 Small Business Program' #10KSmallBiz to an intimate conversation in the Bronx, New York with other latina founders and entrepreneurs who had attended their program. Noelle Santos (@1st.noelle) served as an incredible host in her very own (and very amazing) The Lit Bar (@thelitbar), the only community bookstore in the Bronx.  It was an honor to be able to share thoughts and experiences with incredible VIP guests like David Solomon (@davidsolomon), CEO of Goldman Sachs, Asahi Pompey, President of Goldman Sachs Foundation, Small Business Administration's administrator Isabel Guzman (@sbaisabe), Dina Powell, Global Head of sustainability and inclusive growth for Goldman Sachs and guess who else... JLo!  (No, we are not kidding) That's right! Our beloved boricua diva was right there sharing this wonderful experience with us.

 

 

Together, JLo, JLo Beauty, and Goldman Sachs have created a partnership to share their power to help elevate Latina owned businesses. 

We were celebrating Goldman’s new $10 billion pledge over 10 years to advance racial equity and economic opportunity for Black women. 

(Jenny from the block suggested that same pledge should be done for latina women too!)

On her visit to her hometown, Jennifer Lopez took some time to sit with us and a group of other latina founders and entrepreneurs, to share an intimate conversation of what it means to be a latina woman in business.  She shared with us her early business experiences and talked on the value of educating oneself academically in subjects like finance or administration, when it comes to leading a business. 

The conversation shed some light not only on the hurdles of being a woman entrepreneur, but also on simply being Latina.  It was empowering to hear the amazing stories of each and every one of these women and their businesses.  At Valija, we are extremely grateful for Goldman Sachs and its team and to #10KSB for making events like this possible and for helping cultivate a community of latina women with whom together, with our knowledge and resources, will continue to grow.  

Can’t wait for more to come!