Today is #LatinaEqualPayDay
“No, I’m attending the event, not working it.” I was stunned and tried to rationalize why the attendant thought I was a vendor…my car, my clothes, my skin? I was at a tech conference in 2017 and this was my first introduction to the lack of diversity in tech. I come from the world of finance where Latinx is underrepresented too, so it was not really a surprise, but ugh. The (painful) truth is that Latinx is underrepresented in most wealth-generating professions. And today, on Latinx Equal Pay Day, we highlight that Latinas on average make 54 cents on the male dollar. (Ugh)
In 2011 I decided to blindly pursue a new career. I had my eyes set on an MBA from Berkeley-Haas convinced that I would find my calling there. I was on a mission to solve the wealth inequality I outlined above. I thought of countless ways to clear the field of active landmines. I realize now that the Latina pay gap is a symptom of misperceptions and regulations like Prop 209.
Latinx are among the youngest racial or ethnic groups in the U.S. (median age = 30.) Closing the gap and increasing income for young consumers simply makes economic sense, doesn’t it?
And yet, we have a long way to go. My business partner, Noramay Cadena and I have six degrees from top universities between us. Some folks find this impressive, but a Limited Partner (LP) I recently met with shrugged off our pedigree as table stakes. He told me that my and my business partner’s race and gender differentiate us. It is hard to argue that when Latinx partners manage approximately 1% of assets in venture capital.
Situations like the one I experienced at that tech conference will undoubtedly happen again and again until we collectively tackle conscious and unconscious bias. The Equal Pay Act was signed into law in 1963, it was a necessary system change, but more needs to happen to address the root cause. We need to create social and economic incentives to close the gap. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 created Opportunity Zones to unlock trillions of dollars of investable capital. Why not duplicate this effort to allocate to women and underrepresented asset managers? Underrepresented managers are LP Opportunity Zones.
My mom intentionally surrounded me with goodness. She encouraged me to aspire to greatness. And she fed my curiosity sometimes working three jobs so that I could live my dreams from karate kid to sorority girl at USC, (don’t judge.) She still believes me today when I tell her that my career in venture capital will pay off financially. It’s a long game play.
It’s been a wonderful, crazy ride since 2011 and I’m still smiling. I have been a leader always, and I know what it takes to win. My existing communities, All Raise, Pledge LA and LatinxVC, and communities that are emerging keep my dreams alive in the same way my mom did when I was a kid. Our communities are intentional about the change we want to see. We are creating an infrastructure to accelerate equality and increase opportunity. In tech, we make the pie bigger. It’s not “zero-sum.”
If you’re asking the VC cliché “How can I help?,” I have your answer. You can help optimize our human capital by understanding bias, challenging the status quo, and prioritizing diversity with your allocations of time and money. Together we can move the needle. Whatever your motivation may be, e.g., social justice/economic prosperity, when Latinx wins, we all win.
