Transcript
Speaker: Good grief. Oh, come on, Charlie Brown. Oh, hello, Amara. Hi, Jeremy. How are you?
Speaker: I'm doing great. I am blessed, healthy, and successful because everybody that I love is okay. How are you?
Speaker: I'm great. I'm great. We had a very fun session catching up right before this. We sure did. Congrats on the new home. Congrats on rolling up your sleeves, getting some new things done. I appreciate that. I know who you are. I have the pleasure of getting to know you over the past couple of years, but more importantly, over the past month, we've had a handful of different meetings and it's been really enjoyable.
Speaker: Why don't you tell our audience who is either listening to you through their earbuds, their AirPods, or watching who you are, who I have the pleasure of speaking with right now. Who am I? Wow, such a daunting question, but I will try.
Speaker: For those of you that don't know me, my name is Aymara Rodriguez. I'm a first generation undernier working in tech. I've had the opportunity to work in tech for over 10 years now. And I like to say that years in tech or years working in startups are kind of like dog years. So even though in 10 years, it feels like a lot longer in the best way possible. I've dedicated my career to not just
Speaker: bettering my skill set and bettering my understanding and business acumen. But more importantly, I've dedicated my career to help open doors for other men and women that either look like me or don't look like me, that come from all different types of cultures and communities. Because as a first generation Latina, I am the first in my family to not only do something like this, but to
Speaker: You know, have to think about certain things that come with building a career, that come with making a certain amount of money. The responsibilities that come with leveraging all of the opportunities and knowledge that you've had the opportunity to be exposed to and sharing that with your family, with your community. And that's what drives me. I do what I do so fearlessly and fiercely and passionately.
Speaker: Because I know it matters, you know, taking time, 10 minute conversation with someone to review their resume or make an introduction or just give them the time of day. That's a game changer. And so in short, I am.
Speaker: lover of all things product. I like understanding how things work, how they can be optimized, but it's not just about me. My journey is not just about me. It's about how I can leverage everything that I've been exposed to to continue helping open doors for people so that hopefully one day our conversation around DEI shifts from we don't have enough to
Speaker: These are the people that are now making the decisions and shifting the cultural norm that has been why the tech ecosystem has suffered so much and why employees of color have continuously been unsupported, not heard, and not invested in. And I hope I can be a small change that impacts what that looks like in the future. Love that. That was an amazing introduction.
Speaker: We are so excited to have you on the Oh Hello platform being part of our community and being able to just help bridge that knowledge and being able to help so many other people. So thank you for that. With that said, specifically Amara, how would you characterize that skill set that you're gonna be sharing within the Oh Hello community? Just your areas of expertise professionally and personally
Speaker: you definitely have a few different flavors that not everybody on the platform has. So we'd love to have a better understanding of what you're gonna be able to offer to this community and tell us a little bit about your career history thus far. Of course. So I love this question because I've always seen myself as a career chameleon because so much of my, both early part of my career and kind of sprinkled throughout
Speaker: I worked heavily with early stage startups. I was a founding employee of an early stage startup as well that at the end of my tenure, we had the opportunity to partner with Verizon and kind of the scale of where the business started to where the business was when I departed, you know, all of that really gave me fundamental understandings of how do you build a business? You know, business modeling, raising money,
Speaker: employee onboarding. How do you effectively market? How do you approach customer acquisition? How do you find product market fit or general market fit? So in terms of expertise, I kind of like to break it down into three key areas where the first is
Speaker: As a person who's worked in startups and with startups for many, many years, and as a person who also actively advises founders who are building their own companies, I like to get into the nitty gritty. So we can talk about, you know, how to build your own business, how to get your own business up and running.
Speaker: how do you find the best pathways to raise capital? We were just talking about this in our catch -up. It doesn't always have to be the VC route. I meet so many founders on a day -to -day basis, specifically founders of color that have the conviction, have the insight, have the data, pretty much have everything that they need to make this a successful business, but yet they're still not given the time of day. I really dedicate
Speaker: myself and always carve out time in my calendar to talk about, like, what does this look like, holistically speaking? What areas can I hop into and help? And in terms of the, oh, hello platform, I really want to make my content geared towards founders of color who are trying to get from point A to point B to point C and all of the intricacies that are involved and come with navigating a career as an entrepreneur.
Speaker: The second is I also am the chapter lead for Latinas in Tech here in Denver. And for anyone that doesn't know, Latinas in Tech is a global nonprofit organization with over 25 ,000 members with a specific focus on supporting Latinas across all sectors. Yes, we started in tech, but our main goal is
Speaker: How are we continuing to generate access and support the journey that is wanting to get into tech from all the way of being into tech for X amount of years
Speaker: and still trying to get to that next level. And so in that regard, as it pertains to topic on the platform, I want to talk about how to embrace your experience as a first -generation Latina or, you know, embrace the insights and perspectives that you may bring into, you know, your virtual or physical room with your, you know, leadership and your stakeholders. And also talking about topics such as
Speaker: you know, DEI and how to actually create an equitable environment. And, you know, Jeremy, you know this about me at this point. I am very vocal and I'm very honest. And in my personal experience, I've dealt with a multitude of leaders, to be quite frank, white leaders who are self -appointed DEI champions and will say everything they need to say, but where it matters the most.
Speaker: they miss the mark every time. And I know that a shadow of a doubt, that experience is not isolated to me. If anything, I am in a privileged position because I had the option to leave that work environment most recently. And there are many, many people like me who
Speaker: Honestly would not be able to leave and I want to shed a light on that dialogue because it's important that we talk about that It's not just absolutely us and saying it, you know, we have you know diverse people on our team Let's call it a day. Are we being supported? Are we being invested in are we ultimately being put in a position to grow into the decision -maker? so I'd say that's the second bucket and last but not least is
Speaker: I recognize that one of the things I enjoy is communicating, whether that is speaking at events, generating my own content, which I do quite a bit of, you know, moderating events or just simply talking about topics that are important to me, like the interview we're having today. I work with founders, professionals, all types of folks who are, one, trying to get more comfortable with public speaking, you know, whether they have an event coming up or
Speaker: They have a particular topic that they feel really passionate about and want to curate, you know, a script for themselves. I support people in that regard. Scripts for job interviews, you know, scripts for any sort of thing that you want to speak about, but maybe you're not as comfortable just winging it or doing it yourself.
Speaker: But then secondly, from a business perspective, I work with a multitude of people on crafting your business narrative. How do you want to talk to your customers? How do you want to convey that narrative? How do you want to leverage
Speaker: more prevalent platforms like a TikTok or an Instagram and the futures that they provide to continue evangelizing your message, your mission, and what it is that your business is trying to do. So I would say in a nutshell, building a business 101, navigating a corporate tech career as a Latina, and how to build your brand
Speaker: narrative, right? And your brand could be yourself, right? Because at the end of the day, you are an extension of your brand. But your brand can also be the literal business that you're building. And I like to support folks at any, you know, at any point in their journey where they require content like that.
Speaker: I really appreciate the organizational step -by -step aspect of how you are going to be offering just your knowledge, your expertise, your commitment to making change. So thank you for explaining it the way that you did. You exemplified yourself, your personality, and your professional exuberance all in a very succinct way. So thank you.
Speaker: With that specifically, I would love to basically hear a little bit more about do some name dropping. Tell us about some professional or personal mentors in the next few minutes of who has made a big impact on you. Like who has helped you become a mentor and just what they've meant to you and how they've impacted helped shape who you are today.
Speaker: Absolutely. I'll try to do this quickly, but I think in a nutshell, mentorship is so important. And I don't mean the way that we typically talk about it in today's kind of ecosystem that is entrepreneurship and tech and whatever you want to call it, right? Cause there are so many mentors, right? People that have been asked to mentor or a part of all of these well -known and respected programs.
Speaker: Right. But sometimes a mentor could be more focused on telling you about their journey. Whereas in actuality, it would be much more impactful if they focus on your journey and how they can help you through that. And the only reason that I call that out in the beginning is because the mentors in my life have been life changing. There are people that have seen me at my lowest. There are people that,
Speaker: When I first started in my career, 18, 19 years old, and I didn't know what the hell was going on and what wave was up, they took me under their wing. They looked after me. And essentially, they transitioned from being what we typically would call a mentor into an advocate. And there is a fundamental difference between a mentor and an advocate. There are so many people I need to and want to thank that have been there to lend a hand and pay it forward in my career.
Speaker: you know, fortunately I don't have time to shout all of those people out, but two individuals that have made a fundamental impact in my life. One is Jeff Nanum. He is someone that I met when I was living in New York when I started at my first company that was previously known as Allie Powered by Verizon. And I've known him at this point for over nine years. And he met me when
Speaker: I was just starting out and he took me under his wing. And even to this day, you know, nine years later, we talk frequently. He was one of the people I consulted when I decided to leave my role at Adobe. And he is always in my corner. And that, again, has been life changing because he's not just mentored me, he's advocated for me.
Speaker: The second person I would have to say without a shadow of a doubt, her name is Melissa Mackey. She goes by Mac. I also met her when I worked at Ally Powered by Verizon and she was the former head of innovation for the Verizon Innovation Garage. And just from day one, I knew that that's my girl, right? Like that is someone who sees you and also is about her shit. Like she is one of the most stellar
Speaker: businesswoman I've ever met. She's a serial entrepreneur. She's also worked with some of the most notable Fortune 500 companies. And again, similar to Jeff, she advocated for me. And even to this day, she advocated for me and supported me in my departure from Adobe. And she's continuing to support me as I venture into full -time entrepreneurship. And again,
Speaker: That's been life changing because when you have people in your corner that give you any time of day, no matter what it is, and want to feed your soul and believe in you, that makes all the difference. Amara, with that said, I appreciate you. This is so awesome. We're going to have you come back on for a second episode, and I'm very excited to record with you. Thank you, my friend. Thank you for being part of this community. Thank you for everybody listening. Thank you. Bye, Amara. Thank you, everyone.
