Moving Targets
Emissions goals lack accountability
Alex Ortiz has a pointed question for the startup world he’s encountered: Where are all the Latinos?
“I’ve worked in venture capital. I’ve worked in marketing. I’ve worked in technology. And there are very few Latinos,” says Ortiz, who’s now a marketing consultant at his startup, Bright Growth, which serves venture-backed B2B companies. “I can’t tell you how many times in the last two decades where [I think], ‘I’m the only Latino in this space.’ It’s bothered me for a long time.”
Ortiz got a chance to do something about it last year when he spoke on a panel about career pivots as part of an event to jumpstart a new Latinx affinity group, Somos Haas Alumni. His message? Go for it.
“Any immigrant group has to contend with impostor syndrome. I wanted Latinos to know they can join the venture capital firm, they can be a marketing leader, and they don’t have to ask for permission,” he says.
Ortiz credits his own Latino pride, or orgullo, to his family and an early job he took with a Spanish banking startup where he was suddenly in the majority.
“It was this moment of pride where I realized what a deep history Latinos have across the globe,” he recalls.
When he came to Haas, Ortiz found his people again through the Latin American and Hispanic Business Association. He hopes his contribution to Somos Haas Alumni helps ignite a new generation of minority entrepreneurs. “If I inspired one person then it was worth it,” he says.
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