From Musician to Diplomat to Advocate
Based on an episode with Gonzalo Peña 🇻🇪
Welcome to Latinx in Power, a podcast aiming to help to demystify tech, the way we do that is by interviewing Latinx and Caribbean leaders all over the world to hear their perspective and insights.
We talked with Gonzalo Peña (he/him), a dynamic storyteller with a talent for innovative leadership. With a diverse background that spans Wall Street, the United Nations, and the Utah Opera, Gonzalo brings a wealth of experience to his work as an Innovation & Leadership specialist.
In this episode, we’ll explore Gonzalo’s strategies for driving growth and achieving goals through strategic storytelling and innovative leadership. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting your career journey.
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What does it mean to be a Latino, for you, Gonzalo?
It means magical roots and roots of love that reside not only in Latin America, but also in Europe and Africa. It’s a collection of stories that really define me, have defined my family, and that I can communicate with other people.
One of the things that I love about our culture is that even if someone, say, was born in China and all of a sudden, starts hanging out with people with Latinos say, “Oh, do you want to join us? Fine, join us.” As long as you’re really part of the group and you’re not just taking away. I love that about us.
The whole cliche about “mi casa su casa” is something that we should not forget as a culture. We need to have that thing defining us still, that we welcome people.
How has your background and life experience shaped your approach to leadership and innovation?
I have a very eclectic background. In Venezuela, I studied 12 years of musical theory. My dad was a musician. I lost him last year, but he started singing for a living when he was 12 years old. I thought I was going to be just like my daddy. When I got my student visa to come to the US, I told, “Dad, I can fulfill my dream and study music and be like you professionally.” Back then, there wasn’t a professional degree of music in Venezuela. My dad looked at me and said, “You get your degree in business and then do whatever you want.”
I grew up watching my dad have five different jobs to support us. I didn’t have the same talent as my dad because he could play like five different instruments, and he was a great choral arranger. He was a choir director as well. Those things didn’t come easy to me. If I wanted to make a living as a musician here, I knew I was going to starve. I went to school in Utah Valley University or what’s now, Utah Valley, and got a degree in business. And yet, I knew that there was something else over there. I missed the music really badly. And also, I wanted to make a difference in the world.
After I graduated, my wife and I got married, and we went to the East Coast, so I can pursue a master’s degree in diplomacy, because I wanted to make a difference. The program I chose was a university called Seton Hall University, a small Catholic university that some people remember because it has a prominent basketball team. But I had never heard of it. I chose it because I wanted to work in the United Nations. Back in the day, they had a very close relationship with them. I thought, if I wanted to make a difference in the world, let’s go to an organization that is doing that. I was able to do that.
I was able to work in two different agencies of the United Nations. All of a sudden, this son of a musician and a secretary from the Third World country, namely Venezuela, was witnessing meetings with world dignitaries and diplomats. I even met the Secretary General of the UN once. To me, it was such a great experience. He exposed me to good and bad leadership at the same time. I learned a lot through the years. I knew that I wanted to communicate something to my people. When my wife and I moved back to the western United States in Utah, I had to start from scratch and I decided to commit myself to the Latino communities here, and that has made a difference in my life.
How was this process where you told your father about what you wanted to do, which was studying music, and then he said to you, “Oh, you should actually study business?”
My dad, he only had the equivalent of a sixth-grade education. My mom, equivalent to 9th grade education. But they were people who really believed in education, formal education. I have aunts and uncles that are pharmacists and doctors, and we really value it.
At the same time, well, I grew up in the shadow of my dad, because he had been a famous singer in Venezuela during the 1960s, and part of the 1970s. So, in the musician world, every time I say Gonzalo Peña, “Oh, you’re the son of Gonzalo Peña. Awesome.” I could not measure up and I thought, “Well, I could grow in the United States as a musician in my own way, but right now, with the limitations that one has in a student visa, that’s not going to work for me.”
My dad really wanted me to have an easier time that he had as a professional. Whether I’m having it or not, I don’t know, but it’s the path I chose. By the way, in 2012, I was able to join the Utah Opera as a singer. That has been my professional experience as a musician, and it’s been great being able to sing on stage with an orchestra, and that has been a great experience. I’ve been able to compare both paths and I’m treasuring the best of both.
How do you see technology shaping the future of innovation and leadership?
When I got here in Utah, I started working with my community, Latino community. And simultaneously, this area became a technology hub. A technology hub that came when different waves of technology innovation started happening. That was interesting because there was this word processing software called WordPerfect, the predecessor of Microsoft Word, and it was created here as well.
Several companies that have software have come here and there is a facility in the northern part of the state that tests rockets for NASA and everything. What I noticed is that our people were not present. I could not find a whole lot of Latinos, and furthermore, in this tech ecosystem, which they call Silicon Slopes. I don’t like that name and I don’t like the reference to Silicon Valley, but they are investing billions of dollars. None of that or very little of that is going to the Latino community.
I knew that there were folk or people that were working in the tech world and the innovation spaces that happened to the Latino, but there was no sense of community. I decided to create a Latino Chapter within the organization that represented technology here in the state of Utah. It’s called Silicon Slopes. I formed the Latino chapter. It was interesting because the people started coming out of the woodwork, like, “Oh, you guys existed? Where have you been? I didn’t think there were other Latinos here.” So, that was during COVID, by the way.
At first, we were only able to have online events. And yet, a sense of community started building. That’s something I’m proud of. Now within the technology sector in the state of Utah, and even though, let’s say, the western region of the United States is starting to grow, in the sense of Latinos in the technology sector. Obviously, I’m not the only person out there working there. As a matter of fact, the people that I recruited for my board are brilliant. There are founders and people that are both technology savvy and leadership savvy, with every single one of them, different talents and specializations and competitive advantages. I’m a firm believer in diversity. That’s one of the reasons why I picked them. Hopefully, we’ll keep accomplishing more, and growing our community, and integrating it more towards the mainstream, the technology ecosystem.
The Latino immigrant experience is very unique. Not only because of the language issues, it’s because if you want to really thrive in the US, you need to adopt new things into your life, adapt to this culture as well. Some people in that process, they lose their own Latino culture, or great part of their culture, or just leave it behind. This is not a criticism. It’s just sometimes out of the sense of survival. At the same time, the next generation then loses the languages, and some of them don’t even identify as Latinos or with the rest of the Latin American culture. Well, that’s something we should not attack, we should not criticize.
I think that what we need to do is just invite them. Invite people from other generations of people who don’t that are Latinos, that don’t speak Spanish or Portuguese like, “Hey, we’re still here for you, okay? Whenever you want to join us”
One of the guests in my podcast is Latino. She’s an actress, great person. She actually teaches people to improve or to diminish the accent a bit, but she said, “A Latino accent is something very personal to you, it’s part of your identity. So, you don’t need to lose it. You need to maybe adapt it in a way that is easier to sound.” Marabina Jaimes is her name. She has been in great projects with Netflix, Disney. Great actress and voice actress as well.
That’s something I learned tha-t your voice is an asset that is so important as part of your identity. You can adapt it however you want, but you don’t need to feel like your voice is any less because you have an accent, I accepted it. I’m grateful for the accent I have.
Sometimes, in some professional spaces, I’m going to imitate certain accents to sound whatever notion of professional that culture might be. It’s something I stopped caring about or worrying about, because it’s part of me and it tells where I’m coming from as well.
There are communities where Latinos are the majority-minority. Say, for example, some populations in Texas and California, New Mexico. There, it has become more like the norm. But when people from those areas sometimes go to a different locality, different cities, then you feel like, “Oh, my gosh, I actually have an accent. I thought I was normal.” There’s no need to feel like that.
What advice would you give to people who are just starting their career journey and want to make an impact in their field?
The career that you choose as an undergrad, I’m talking about formal education, is not as important as the experiences you’re going to have while you’re studying. Obviously, I’m going to invite you to be the best you can be. The reason why I’m saying this is because life can take you in very many different directions. If you come from a background in which you didn’t have access to formal education or to a whole lot of formal education, it’s okay, because the experiences you get along are still valid. Even if they’re not paid, even if they’re volunteers, even if you are a single mother who has to work a couple of jobs, you still have to coordinate meals, you have to coordinate schedules, you still have to run a home. That is a skill that not everyone has.
Whatever path you choose, make sure that you appreciate and learn and perfect some skills along with it. If you have the opportunity to have an internship, or co-op work, or you have to work while you go to school, try to get some experience in that field that you want to specialize in. Having said that, “I’ve had to pivot professionally a couple of times in my life.” that can be particularly hard and can bring some uncertainty in your life. What I’m telling you now is something I’m still telling myself, “Just keep the next step and make sure that you find a balance between what you wish and what’s possible.” But hear me out, it’s still okay to shoot for the stars and take it from a Venezuelan who ended up working in the United Nations.
Not all the dreams you have might be fulfilled, but still great dreams can be achieved by you. You just need to keep going at it, and be grateful for the opportunities you’re having, and still aim high no matter what. The road might not take you what you’re expecting, but still it’s going to be a great road if you choose it to be.
There are things, in fact, that I never learned in formal education. There are some skills, especially regarding creativity and innovation. Many educational systems do not teach children, do not teach us to be creative or how to be creative or innovative. You’re supposed to follow a regiment. I’m not going to criticize any system in particular, but you can still learn it.
One of the things, by which, I adopted innovation and creativity in my life was with the Boy Scouts of Venezuela, actually. When you have projects that you need to take on or tasks that you need to perform, and all of a sudden, you find yourself not knowing what to do next, then there is a part of your brain that needs to start thinking, “Okay, what do I do now with what little I have?” That is a skill in itself. I think that’s the root of creativity. It’s doing something with what you got and something of quality and of value.
How do you stay motivated and inspire others to adopt attitudes and mindsets that foster success?
I’m not going to lie and my wife knows this very well. I am very hard on myself. That’s not a trait I’m proud of. Sometimes, what I’m telling your listeners and whoever is listening now, and the listeners of my podcast, InnoLatino, is something I’m telling myself sometimes, or the lessons I’ve learned, or I’m still learning. “Don’t be too hard on yourself.”
One of the things to accomplish that is avoid comparing yourself to others. I’m following an influencer who happened to be a female F16 pilot. Super cool stuff. The videos she shows of her piloting, her jet along with the rest of the squadron is awesome and all that. Then one day she said, “Discover the power of comparing yourself to others.” My jaw dropped like, “What?”
I even made a comment, very respectful. “I know where you’re coming from, but I am afraid that you might alienate people with this.” I’m here to tell you that is not necessary. You can have a point of reference where you want to get and how you want to be. But if you keep comparing yourself to others, that is only going to bring you frustration because there’s always, always going to be someone who is better than you at something, a skill, and a career, a contest, a competition, something. So, have your goals, set them, work really hard for them.
Obviously, there are situations in which it is a competition, it is a race, and you’re trying to get first place. But if you just keep basing your self-esteem on your place relative to others, that’s going to make you miserable and unhappy in your life. Give yourself credit from what you have accomplished. On the way, help others get to the same level or even better. That’s leaving a legacy. The world doesn’t tell us that, especially the media.
When we see sports Gods, Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, I’m not saying that these are bad people at all. These are great, accomplished people that have worked hard. But for crying out loud, growing up while studying music theory, I was comparing myself to Mozart and Beethoven, and I was surrounded by geniuses that were getting picked for contests in Europe.
I was just feeling that I was inferior, just because I wasn’t accomplishing the same thing as them. That’s not healthy. It’s not necessary. You can carve your own path and it’s going to take hard work anyway, and that’s going to take discipline. But also take time to think how you’ve affected other lives and to recognize that, “Okay, I’ve done this and I’m proud of what I’ve done and I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had.”
Which advice would you give to your younger self?
You’re better than you think you are and not everything is your fault. I grew up feeling responsible for everyone around me. I think that it’s good to feel a sense of responsibility for your community, your family, but it’s not good to feel that you have bad things that happen because of you all the time, and that you should have done better just because someone chose not to better. I’ve had to carry that and learn for three years. Even right now with this community that I’m trying to move forward, or my podcast, for instance. You know better than me, you know how hard it can be to have a good following or people listening and it’s okay. Do your best and be grateful that you’re able to do your best.
Which resource helped you in your journey?
I love this question, because I really like movies that inspire us. So, for example, in 2016, there was a film that came out here in the US. It was called Spare Parts. That film in itself was the one who motivated me to pursue a path of integrating Latinos in the technology ecosystem. It’s a story about four Latino high school students in Arizona. A couple of them are actually undocumented. They are part of the robotics team at their high school. They’ve very rough neighborhoods, very poor resources, and they decide to compete in this competition about aquatic robotics. This is Arizona. It’s not like they have the sea right there.
They create a robot and go against the top universities, including MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and they end up winning, beating those guys, titans of technology. These are Latino high school students competing against college students from top colleges in the United States. To me, it’s like, “Dang, they don’t know it, but they have inspired so many people.” Because sometimes we don’t see as Latinos that there is any evidence that we can make it big. Our communities, sometimes, we only see poverty, we only see violence, we only see mediocrity, bad leadership, and vice.
We don’t think that as a people, as a community, have the potential to achieve, to get top spaces, and to become world leaders at something, except for the rappers or the really exceptional athletes. It doesn’t have to be like that. The measurements can vary and we can achieve great things. If we can let others know by giving a good example or telling the stories of those who achieved as well, that is one of the things that makes me happy in this world. That’s why I started the InnoLatino podcast, as a matter of fact.
I hope you enjoyed the podcast. We will have more interviews with amazing Latinx leaders the first Tuesday of every month. Check out our website Latinx In Power to hear more. Don’t forget to share comments and feedback, always with kindness. See you soon.
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