Agents of Innovation

Vance is the founder & owner of My Latin Life. He was born and raised in Canada and holds dual Canadian and U.S. Citizenships as well as residences in a number of Latin American countries. He currently lives in a small city in Mexico. Vance was our guest on Episode 143 of the Agents of Innovation podcast. You can also watch this episode on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/3zvV0Izs4X0 In this episode...

Gaby Vivas is the founder & owner of Global Spanish & Global Portuguese. Gaby is originally from Venezuela. She finished high school in France, where she lived for a year. She then emigrated from Venezuela to Colombia, from where she first invested in Bitcoin in 2017. Later, in 2019, she lived in Russia for a year. Just before the pandemic shut the world down, she returned to Colombia. That's wher...

Jerz Chrysler describes himself as "a recovering American." Born and raised in California, he left the United States 16 years ago after a successful stint in real estate. Around the time the 2008 bubble burst, he decided to spend a few months traveling throughout Latin America. He never went back home permanently. He has lived in Panama, Brazil, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, and Paraguay. He holds a...

Always on the forefront of new ideas, Matthew Farrar has dedicated his career to developing creative solutions to advance brands and advocate for causes. From his experience running an industry-leading marketing firm to harnessing communications and marketing tactics as a government affairs consultant, Matthew deeply understands the importance of authentic and creative storytelling. Matthew grew u...

Alejandro Storni is a visionary rooted in the vibrant streets of Buenos Aires, effortlessly intertwines creativity into every facet of his life. Leading Shock Your Cocktail, he crafts immersive event experiences while championing CoolturaBA, a cultural cornerstone online honored by the City Government. As Senior Creative at Drago for IQOS global communication, Alejandro deftly navigates the dynami...

Alexander McCobin is a co-founder and General Partner of Liberty Ventures. He has helped start or led many organizations, both nonprofit and for-profit. He is best known for being the founder and President of Students For Liberty and CEO of Conscious Capitalism. In addition to Liberty Ventures, Alexander is the CEO of Leap, which helps organizations integrate their purpose, people, and profits to...

Michael Sayman is the author of "App Kid: How a Child of Immigrants Grabbed a Piece of the American Dream," an inspiring and deeply personal story of one of Silicon Valley's most extraordinary entrepreneurs, who taught himself to code when he was thirteen and thus began his American dream. Watching his parents lose their jobs in the Great Recession, Michael Sayman, then thirteen, did a Google sear...

Harold Hughes is the founder & CEO of Bandwagon, a South Carolina-based experience technology company. Under his leadership, Bandwagon has raised more than $3M in venture capital and successfully acquired IdealSeat, Inc. in 2020. Harold has had his ideas validated as a graduate of the Founder Institute Accelerator (and now serves as Director for their Austin chapter), one of the inaugural companie...

Chris Wilson was born and raised in Washington D.C, and grew up under extremely difficult circumstances. Poverty, drug addiction, and gun violence was the everyday norm in his community. At the age of 17, he was charged with a crime, convicted, and sentenced to natural life in prison. It was during times of isolation that he decided to not only to turn his life around, but to make a difference in...

Brian Merchant is the technology columnist at the Los Angeles Times and author of the new book, "Blood in the Machine: the Origins of the Rebellion against Big Tech." He is also the author of the 2017 book, "The One Device: the Secret History of the iPhone." Brian is a founder of VICE’s speculative fiction outlet Terraform, and published a best-of anthology, "Terraform: Watch/Worlds/Burn, with MCD...

Philip Wilson is the founder and CEO of Ecofiltro, a social enterprise dedicated to providing clean water to the rural poor of Mexico and Central America. He graduated with an MBA from Wharton and a BA from Notre Dame. He has over twenty-five years of experience as an entrepreneur in the United States and Guatemala, and firmly believes that the world’s most pressing problems can be solved by apply...

James Nuveen is a U.S. citizen who left his job and left the country in 2021. He started his own company and traveled and lived in multiple countries in Latin America. He has lived in Medellin, Colombia for two years and recently purchased a home there. Is this what the American Dream is supposed to look like? To James, it is. He is the happiest he's ever been, the fittest he's ever been, is earni...

James Grant served as the Chief Information Officer for the State of Florida, serving as the agency head of Florida Digital Service from 2020-2023, appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis in 2020. Previously, he served in the Florida Legislature between 2010-2020. He was the co-founder of a health care technology company (CareSync), where he served as Senior Solutions Architect and Strategic Partnershi...

Joe Lindsley is the editor-in-chief of Ukrainian Freedom News. Joe is an independent American journalist living and working in Ukraine. We conducted this interview when Joe was based in Lviv, Ukraine on September 10, 2023, Day 565 of Russia's war in Ukraine. Joe is the only journalist who has reported every single weekday live from Ukraine since Russia began its full-scale invasion. You can find h...

Maria Camila Puliodo is is the founder of Target Translations & Interpretations, a federally certified Women-owned Small Business, and a Florida Minority Business Enterprise. Ms. Pulido is a passionate advocate for language access in the healthcare and legal systems in the United States of America. Ms. Pulido was born in Bogotá, Colombia. She has she attended the Universidad Nacional de Colombia w...

Parker Rex is a programmer who has been building businesses and tinkering with computer since he was 13 years old. He was one of the first employees of Delivery Dudes, where he worked for 7 years. He has launched 2 startups and today is working in the AI space, helping to make AI agents accessible. He also builds high-speed websites, helps early stage entrepreneurs start generating their first sal...

Dr. Arthur Keiser is the founder and Chancellor of Keiser University. He founded Kesier University in 1977. Today, he oversees and manages all operations at Keiser’s 21 Florida campuses, three international campuses, two in China and the other in Nicaragua, as well as the graduate and online school. Under his leadership, Keiser University, a private not-for-profit university, has become Florida’s...

Enrique Buero is the General Manager at Parque de las Ciencias Free Zone, which is one of 14 free trade zones in the nation of Uruguay. Host Francisco Gonzalez led a Fearless Journeys group trip to Uruguay in March and had the opportunity to bring the group to Parque de las Ciencias. We now bring you their story through this interview with the Enrique Buero, the general manager of the free trade z...

Cody Marx Bailey is a co-contributor to Andromeda, the first 100% on-chain operating system for web3. Cody is also the Founder of XRAM Capital, a long-only fundamental crypto asset investment company (dormant). Prior to his involvement in blockchain and crypto assets, he worked as systems engineer, security analyst, and software developer. He had short stints with the NSA, Dell Computer, and Texas...

Esther Davy is an entrepreneur, passionate connector, avid skier and hiker, friend, wife and mother to 3 littles. After a successful sales career, she said goodbye to cushy Corporate America and launched Esther Davy Strategies. They help clients build meaningful connections to give them a competitive edge in the marketplace. They develop and coach through human-to-human sales strategies that feel...

Ben Fossen is the co-founder and chairman of the board of Adoptees with Guatemalan Roots. Founding in 2019, it is a global community of people adopted from Guatemala. Ben is also an investor and has more recently invested in Mil Alas, a Guatemalan cacao liquor company, where he is a minority owner. His new project is to help Guatemalan adoptees invest in Guatemalan companies. You an learn more abo...

Lyne & Uwe are the co-founders of Antigua Cigars, located in Antigua, Guatemala. Uwe is originally from Germany; Lyne is originally from Quebec City, Canada. They met a few decades ago while Uwe was living in Canada. Cigars are part of the story that brought them together. For the past 17 years, they have lived in Antigua, Guatemala, and for almost that entire time they have had a cigar business,...

Fernando Pontaza is the co-founder and managing general partner of Invariantes Fund. As Guatemala’s first venture capital fund and one of the most active venture capital funds in Latin America, Invariantes focuses on connecting founders and investors with the best opportunities across the Americas. Fernando was born and raised in Guatemala City, is a graduate of the Universidad Francisco Marroquin...

Ronak Patel is the founder & CEO of Patel Digital, a nationwide web solutions company specializing in user experience, SEO, e-commerce, and fundraising. He is also the author of "Generation Startup: Become the CEO of Your Life." Ronak is a a first generation American. His parents came to the United States from India. Ronak started a company at 18 years old, during high school, experimenting with d...

Erin Collins is the Executive Director of the Florida Alliance to End Human Trafficking. The Florida Alliance to End Human Trafficking is a non-profit organization created by the Florida Legislature to provide funding, support and assistance to the statewide effort to end human trafficking. Prior to this role, Erin served as the External Affairs Manager for the Agency for State Technology overseei...