Latinos Who Tech

In this episode I spoke with Lauren Valdez. A native Californian, entrepreneur and public health expert. She is cofounder of Forte Labs an organization that helps people become more productive than they ever thought possible. Lauren is a digital nomad. Along with her partner, Tiago Forte, they’ve managed to build a business that is run fully remote and they run it from the comfort of their h...

Cyber Security is a field that is often misunderstood. It seems that there is a massive data breach every other day and that our personal information is common knowledge to hackers. In 2018 alone, there were over 1200 massive data breaches affecting 174 million records. However, we seldom hear from the thousands of data breaches and cyber-attacks that are avoided every day. Organizations count on...

In this episode, I spoke with Brianne C. Martin, Senior Manager for Membership Relations at Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). Brianne is one of the most authentic persons I know. She has a passion for career development and growth that is impossible to ignore. Brianne is a mechanical engineer, musician, and speaker. She has extensive experience in advanced manufacturing techniques...

Code for Venezuela Fireside Chat In this episode I spoke with Joaquin Delgado, PhD a Venezuelan-American Engineer and Head of Music Search-Applied Sciences at Amazon music. Joaquin is a veteran from Silicon Valley Startups and tech giants such as Oracle, Intel, Yahoo and was a cofounder for Lending Club. We spoke about his experience and the advice he has for people looking to build a career in Si...

Happy 2020! We kick-off our first episode of the year touching on what we accomplished on 2019 and the systems that helped us do it. We also talk about one of my favorite habit-tracking apps, everyday.app This episode is brought to you by Code for Venezuela: a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing together technologists and innovators who care about Venezuela leveraging their talent and ne...

In this episode, I spoke with Yuri W. Ramirez, Puerto Rican, with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Universidad de Puerto Rico, and an M.B.A. in Operations and Technology Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Once Yuri graduated, he came to the US in search of a Ph. D., and with the enthusiasm of knowing what the implications of the business were, he started taking business clas...

In this episode, I spoke with Mariana Briones, Incoming Hardware Program Manager at Microsoft and Alejandro Davila, FDSE at Palantir Technologies, both born in Mexico and raised in the north of the country. They share their experience as international students studying in the US and crossing the border every day to go to UCLE in El Paso, Texas. Having gone through so many struggles to get their fi...

In this episode, we catch up with my favorite Cuban American engineer, Emily Anne Vargas. Emily is an Industrial Engineer and a 2nd year PhD student in materials sciences and engineering at the M.C. Gill Composites Center at the University of Southern California. We previously talked with Emily about mental health for high achievers in episode 11 of my other podcast: Conexiones. Click here and tak...

In this episode, we spoke with Rosa Delgado, a Civil Engineer & Sr. Project Manager. Rosa is a 1st generation engineer and shared with us her challenges and key learnings as a woman in STEM. We spoke about civil engineering, productivity and the art of having difficult conversations. Notes: Follow us on IG: @LatinosWhoTech and sign up for our newsletter at latinoswhotech.com Resources: The DES...

First-ever live episode! Over 150 people attended a panel we hosted at the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Convention in Phoenix, Arizona. The SHPE National Convention happens every year and over 9k students and professionals converge during 4 days to network, attend workshops and find career opportunities. In this panel we explored the question: “What Drives Us?” with a pan...

I recently got back from my 11th SHPE Conference. This particular one was held in Phoenix, Arizona where 9000+ professionals, students, and STEM advocates gathered for 4 days of workshops and networking. A big highlight of the conference is the 200+ companies that attend to recruit talent. Attending as a professional is different. Granted, you have less stress since you already have a job. Still,...

In this episode, I spoke with Aaron Ramirez, Mexican American, Technical Solutions Engineer at Google. We spoke about how he got to Google and how being a SHPE member helped him with the interview process, his role at Google and his definition for Googliness, advice on how to get prepared for an interview and other words of advice. Latinos Who Tech is brought to you by Audible. Go to&nbs...

In this episode I share with you a conversation I had with Adriana Flores Ragade, Social Entrepreneur and host of the podcast LatinxAmerica. She asked me about my story and my journey from Electronics Engineering to Technical Marketing. We also spoke about how I got to Silicon Valley, my involvement with SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers) and podcasting. Latinos Who Tech is bro...

In this episode I spoke with Jimmy Galvez, a Project Manager @ Sherwood Design Engineers. We spoke about his journey coming from Guatemala to the US, his experience managing civil engineering projects in California, Texas and overseas and his involvement with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineer (SHPE). Latinos Who Tech is brought to you by Audible. Go to  www.audibletrial....

In this episode, I spoke with Dushka Zapata, Executive Communications at Zendesk, writer, and author of seven books. We spoke about writing as a part of her life and how she captures ideas to do so, her work at Zendesk, Quora and her seven books, the process she goes through to write a book, and her encouraging words to audience. Latinos Who Tech is brought to you by Audible. Go to ...

In this episode, I spoke with Carlos  Sarmiento, Software Engineer at Facebook. Originally from Venezuela, Carlos joined Facebook in 2017. We spoke about how he got to Facebook, the company’s recruiting events and engineering bootcamps, his day in the life as a software engineer, and all about referrals.  Latinos Who Tech is brought to you by Audible. Go to  www.audibletri...

In this episode, I spoke with Angela Romero, Principal Manager at Coursera.  We spoke about her experience working in a PR agency, cold calling and her role in sales at Google, Duolingo as a startup with an e-learning environment giving people practical and fun learning opportunities through technology and access to better jobs, all about Coursera, and the importance of Employee Resource Grou...

In this episode, I spoke with Erika Torres, PhD., a Product Manager and Social Scientist, Marketing Officer at Prospanica Sillicon Valley. Erika has a PhD. in Clinical Psychology from Alliant International University . We spoke about her path to a PhD, her work as a professor and in hospitals, the 100 career discovery interviews she had for breaking into tech, and what would she do differently if...

In this episode, I spoke with Ismael Verduzco III , aka DJ Ish, Social Marketing Lead at LinkedIn. Ish graduated from ​the University of California, Merced​ with a B.S. in Management. We spoke about life at LinkedIn, how he found his way into tech and his role as a Social Media Lead. Latinos Who Tech is brought to you by Audible. Go to  www.audibletrial.com/latinos  to claim yo...

Everyday 1 billion people take at least one pill that was manufactured by Gilead Sciences. A company devoted to manufacture antiviral drugs that treat HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and influenza.  One of the many researchers at Gilead Sciences is Liliana de la Paz, PhD. A Bay Area native with Mexican roots. She has the unique distinction of being the first ever Latina to graduate from Stanfor...

In this episode I spoke with Juan Lopez Marcano, Software Engineer at Uber. Juan has been at Fortune 100 companies, startups and Silicon Valley Unicorns like Uber. In this conversation we spoke about his strategy, the in-demand skills he has developed, how he preps for technical interviews, salary negotiation techniques and the 3M framework to define whether an opportunity is for you or not. One o...

In this episode, Hugo welcomes Amir Abou Baker , an American Lebanese-Puerto Rican Industrial Engineer with a masters in Engineering Management and Business Strategy working at WhatsApp Inc. , as the Head of Global Markets. He is a technology and operations executive with skills in retail, operational transformations and scaling strategy for global operations that has travelled a lot and worked an...

In this episode, Hugo welcomes Rocio Mendez , a Mexican American industrial engineer at Tesla . Rocio was fascinated by engineering early on and earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Industrial Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. #GoMustangs! Rocio shares her journey from her first job at Covidien , a medical device company that was acquired by Medtronic in 2015, to her current...

In this episode, Hugo welcomes Roxana Ruvalcaba , a Mexican-American industrial engineer born in LA, working as an operations finance specialist at Intel Corporation . Roxana went to Berkeley University to study industry engineering and operations research, and at the time, had her first exposure to business school in an intense summer venture at Harvard Business School. Once graduated, she joined...

In this first episode, Hugo welcomes Nicole Gonzalez and Elio Morillo , Puerto Rican engineers working at Nasa JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory). Nicole is an electronic engineer who develops electronic systems for both the Mars 2020 and Psyche exploration missions, and Elio is a testbed engineer that verifies avionics, payloads, and software, to ensure that operations on route and on the surface of...