One of the signs of a great conference is its lasting, profound impact on you days, weeks, and even years after the event. Without a doubt, this year’s Silicon Valley Latino Leadership Summit (SVLLS) falls into this category of unforgettable summits.
One of the main highlights for me was hearing the acceptance speeches from all the amazing Latina awardees – yes, all Latinas! In my opinion, many of their acceptance speeches were comparable to a TedEx talk! Here are a few of the inspiring messages from the awardees:
Visionary Leadership Award: Rosanna Durruthy, Vice President, Global Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging, LinkedIn
“If you want a bright future, you have to create it. It’s not going to be given to you. You can’t learn your way into it. You can’t buy your way into it. You have to create it. And we are creators. To be an individual descended from the rich heritage and cultures we come from is to create and to create powerfully. To create intelligently, to create from a sense of community, a sense of family, a sense of being more than and never less than.”
Lifetime Leadership Award: Adela Cepeda, Angeles Investors, Board Leaders for Privately and Publicly Held Company
“We are the ones keeping the growth in this economy at all levels, birth rates, presence in the labor force, and presence as entrepreneurs. There will be no growth in America without Latinos.”
Pioneer Leadership Award: Marissa Solis, SVP, Global Brand and Consumer Marketing National Football League (NFL)
“Embrace your Latinidad. Use it to break barriers. Use it to be a pioneer. Bring your community up with you and become the ambassador we are all meant to be.”
Trailblazer Leadership Award: Monica Ramirez, Founder and President of Justice for Migrant Women and Co-founder and President of Latinx House
“We must tell the story of all the riches that we bring to this country. We must fight against the deficit narrative that people have tried to create about us and our community. Because of every single one of you in this room knows. Despite all the obstacles, despite all of the challenges, despite all of the systemic issues that exist. Our community, every single one of us, every single one of you, every single of the one of the 62 million Latinx people across this country, we rise every day.”
What I love about the SVLLS is the accessibility and approachability to all speakers who stayed at the conference and were available to talk with the attendees throughout the day. Some of the attendees included high school students from Cristo Rey San José Jesuit High School receiving the SVLLS Young Latinx Scholars Recognition and college students from San Jose State University Chicanx/Latinx Success Center and SJSU Latino Alumni Network had the opportunity to network with a room full of supportive Latino professionals who are rooting for their success and they had the chance to speak with the awardees.
An inspiring new message of resilient leadership
Summit attendees gained valuable leadership insights and access to skill-building resources. The Author Spotlight featured Latinx Business Success by Frank Carbajal and Jose Morey, MD, a book perfect for managers, executives, and business leaders who seek a new and refreshing perspective on leadership.
Here is the book synopsis:
The book explores the authors’ DIGITAL framework―which includes the principles of Decision, Intelligence, Game Plan, Insight, Technology, Abundance, and Leverage―and explains how each element of the system contributes to leadership success for current and aspiring Latinx leaders. The book features interviews with renowned and accomplished leaders from the Latinx community, including Ramiro Cavazos, President and CEO of the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Esther Aguilera, President & CEO at Latino Corporate Directors Association (LCDA), and Silvina Moschini, Executive Producer at The Unicorn Hunters Show, and Cofounder, President, & Chairwoman of the Board of Transparent Business.
Latinx Business Success delivers a powerful and inspiring message of Latinx leadership. Via interviews with many of the most accomplished Latin business leaders in the United States, authors Frank Carbajal and José Morey offer readers a full picture of what it takes to succeed in modern leadership and how to close the digital divide that keeps Latinx people underrepresented in positions of authority.
The conference concluded with Ana Valdez, President and CEO of the Latino Donor Collaborative. The Latino Donor Collaborative is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to reshaping the perception of Latinos as part of the American social mainstream. We are self-funded and independent, and created by an accomplished group of Latino national leaders that generously donate their time to promote friendly high-level dialogue, with the goal of finding best ways to grow revenue and market share – by targeting and serving the Latino audiences.
Ana presented critical data from the report, and here are some of the key takeaways:
- Latinos are driving the population growth in the top DMAs in America, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia
- One in every four children in the U.S. were of Hispanic Origin in 2020
- Latinos represent 19.1% of the U.S. population
- 25% of young people in the U.S. are Latinos
- $3.2 Trillion dollars the U.S. Latino GDP in 2021 and if it were a standalone economy, it would be the 5th largest in the world
- U.S. Latinos represented the third fastest-growing economy from 2011 to 2021
- 90% of Latino youth were born in the U.S.
- The Hispanic population spends $2.7 trillion annually, of which 86% of Latinas control the household spending
You can view the full report here .
Lastly, one thing that makes a conference so rewarding is the new connections you make and reconnecting with old friends.
Save the date for the next SVLLS on October 24, 2024.