Latinos Who Tech

Latest Episodes:

Breaking into Product Management: Why SEO is Alive and Well: Marcos Ciarrocchi, Partner @ Graphite Mar 29, 2020

Show notes

About Marcos Ciarrocchi
In this episode, I spoke with Marcos Ciarrocchi, a Venezuelan electronics engineer turned product manager. Marcos is a partner at Graphite, a boutique digital marketing firm that builds scalable growth engines for consumer technology companies. Customers include Ticketmaster, Thumbtack, MasterClass, and Honey. Additionally, Marcos is the co-founder of the Code for Venezuela, a non-profit side project dedicated to gathering talented technologists to address Venezuela’s needs.
About “Breaking into Product Management“
We spoke about product management, what is product growth,
strategies to build the audience of digital products. Learn how to get started
in a career as a product manager and the basic approach for informational
interviews. Marcos talks about the qualities someone should have to be great at
growth, as well as Code for Venezuela and one of the data-driven projects they
are working on.
Connect with Marcos
via Linkedin:
* Marcos Ciarrocchi
Want to help us grow?
You can:
* Leave us
an iTunes review:* Send us a note with your thoughts to LatinosWhoTech@gmail.com* Share it with a friend
Mentioned Resources:
* Universidad Simon
Bolivar* Politecnico Di
Torino* Code
for Venezuela – To learn more about their initiatives* Opencollective – For whoever wants to support Code for
Venezuela* Podcast
episode on SEO with Graphite Founder, Ethan Smith* Diseño
Chachacha – The podcast about Latinos in design careers* MasterClass* Ticketmaster* Thumbtack* Honey* Sachi* “Chaos
Monkeys” – author of book: Antonio García Martinez and quote, “If we have data, let’s look at the data. If
all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine.” By Jim Barksdale, the former
CEO of Netscape – book and quote summarizing growth* Angostura– One of Code for Venezuela’s projects
Who is Hugo Castellanos?
Learn more about him on Linkedin
Thanks so much for
listening to the show! If you want to know more about this and comment on the
show, please join us on LatinosWhoTech or go to Conexiones.io
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/latinoswhotech/message

Building a Second Brain and Becoming a Digital Nomad with Lauren Valdez, Cofounder @ Forte Labs Mar 26, 2020

Show notes

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 home in Mexico City.
We spoke about her decision to relocate from the San Francisco Bay Area to Mexico City, what is it like to run a business with her partner and the idea of “building a second brain” for all those ideas, conversations, articles and knowledge that inspires you and you want to use in the future.
You can check out Forte Labs on their website https://fortelabs.co/ and subscribe to Lauren’s newsletter here: https://laurenvaldez.substack.com/
I’ve been using the P.A.R.A. System to organize my projects and reference materials since mid 2019 and it’s been a life changer. I no longer worry about missing articles, podcast notes, meeting notes or even memes that I want to share with others using Evernote. I strongly suggest you consider it for your digital notes. You can read more about it here https://fortelabs.co/blog/para
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How to build a career in Cyber Security: Diego Alvarez Molina, Manager @ Deloitte Mar 15, 2020

Show notes

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 cyber security professionals like Diego Alvarez Molina to help them create a strategy to minimize their risk and be prepared for when cyber-attacks come.
Diego Alvarez Molina currently works as a Cyber Risk Manager
in the Risk and Financial Advisory practice of Deloitte & Touche in
Chicago, Illinois. He is also the Hispanic Network President for Deloitte
Chicago.
In his episode we spoke about Diego and how he broke into
consulting, what a cyber risk manager does and potential career paths for young
professionals that want to be part of the growing field of cyber security. We
also talked about different cyber-attacks, how to be prepared for them and
cyber awareness campaigns, ethical hacking and governments at federal and state
level using privacy rules.
Connect with Diego
via:
* Linkedin: Diego Alvarez
Molina* Identity Force
Want to help us grow?
You can:
* Leave us
an iTunes review:* Send us a note with your thoughts to LatinosWhoTech@gmail.com* Share it with a friend* Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/latinoswhotech/creators
Mentioned Resources:
* Deloitte* Creighton
University’s Heider College of Business* Nike* Tik Tok* Alexa* CCPA for
California* CISSP (Certified Information
Systems Security Professional)* CISM (Certified Information
Security Manager)* CEH
(Certified Ethical Hacker)
Who is Hugo
Castellanos? Learn more about him on Linkedin
Thanks so much for
listening to the show! If you want to know more about this and comment on the
show, please join us on LatinosWhoTech or go to Conexiones.io
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/latinoswhotech/message

How to Be an Ally to Women in STEM: Brianne C. Martin, Senior Manager for Membership Relations at the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Feb 28, 2020

Show notes

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 and project management.
We spoke about why she chose mechanical engineering, what it
means to be an “ally” for others, how men become allies and advocates for women
that work in STEM, and how people can find their own values. Finally, we
discussed at length ideas of mansplaining, microaggressions, and how
micro-affirmations can help build a stronger team.
Connect with Brianne
via Linkedin:
* Brianne C. Martin
Want to help us grow?
You can:
* Leave us
an iTunes review:* Send us a note with your thoughts to LatinosWhoTech@gmail.com* Share it with a friend
Mentioned Resources:
* Support
us on Patreon* The
Values Game: Find out your top 10 values* Brianne’s
interview on Buzzfeed* Brianne’s
blog* The
People Engineer podcast* How
to know if you are mansplaining* SHPE
Who is Hugo
Castellanos? Learn more about him on Linkedin
Thanks so much for
listening to the show! If you want to know more about this and comment on the
show, please join us on LatinosWhoTech or go to Conexiones.io
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/latinoswhotech/message

Fireside Chat with Joaquin Delgado, PhD @ Code for Venezuela 2020 Hackaton Feb 19, 2020

Show notes

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 Silicon Valley and the field of business analytics.
I had the opportunity to record this episode in front of a live audience as part of the 2020 Data Analytics Hackathon organized by Code for Venezuela and students from the Hult International Business School.
During this particular event more than 100 students and volunteers got to work together to build data analytics solutions to benefit Medicos por la salud, a Venezuelan non-for-profit at the front lines of the current health crisis in Venezuela.
Follow Joaquin Delgado on Twitter: @Joaquind

Follow me, Hugo Castellanos on Twitter: @hugocast_

Would you like to study in Japan? Here is a helpful guide to Japanese Government Scholarships: https://www.studyinjapan.go.jp/en/planning/about-scholarship/

Amazon Music reaches 55 million users: https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/22/21077187/amazon-music-service-55-million-customers-spotify-apple-music-prime-members

Learn more about Code for Venezuela, a community of technologists and innovators: https://www.codeforvenezuela.org/

Latinos Who Tech is brought to you by Audible. Go to www.audibletrial.com/latinos to claim your free audiobook!

Sign up to our monthly newsletter where we share networking strategies and other personal development tools: Here or at LatinosWhoTech.com
Who is Hugo Castellanos?
Learn more about him on Linkedin
Thanks so much for
listening to the show! If you want to know more about this and comment on the
show, please join us on LatinosWhoTech or go to Conexiones

--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/latinoswhotech/message

How to make 2020 your best year yet, building systems and Everyday.App Feb 01, 2020

Show notes

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 network to solve the most pressing needs of the country.
Learn more about them via: https://www.codeforvenezuela.org/about-us-1
If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, you can sign up for their February Hackaton @ the Hult International Business School here: https://www.codeforvenezuela.org/sf-hackathon-2020
If you can’t attend, you can still support by donating here: https://opencollective.com/code-for-venezuela
Resources Mentioned:
http://everyday.app/ https://www.omnigroup.com/omnifocus/ Getting Things Done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCswMsONkwY
Join our Slack Community clicking here or going to LatinosWhoTech.com
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/latinoswhotech/message

Life of a Program Manager: Yuri Ramirez, Technical Program Manager @ Intel Dec 26, 2019

Show notes

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 classes. He ended up with an M.B.A. in Operations and Technology Management.
Yuri is working as a Technical Program Manager at Intel and has been there for more than thirteen years. Yuri wants to bridge the gap between engineering and business, mediating and negotiating conflicts between people and organizations. He does managing through influence and cross-functional matrices organizations, with a focus on strategic development and execution. He is very active in the Intel LatinX Network and other professional organizations.
We spoke about engineering seen as depth versus M.B.A. seen as breadth, his Technical Program Manager role, and his approach to a conversation when trying to optimize somebody else’s product that isn’t good enough. We discussed if he manages any people, his leverage, and how he approaches it. We cover his purpose and jobs in the company, the reason why he has built a long career at Intel, and the difference between program management and project management.
Latinos Who Tech is brought to you by Audible. Go to www.audibletrial.com/latinos to claim your free audiobook!
Sign up to our monthly newsletter where we share networking strategies and other personal development tools: Here or at LatinosWhoTech.com
Connect with Yuri via
Linkedin:
* Yuri W. Ramirez
Want to help us grow?
You can:
* Leave us an iTunes review:* Send us a note with your
thoughts to LatinosWhoTech@gmail.com* Share it with a friend
Mentioned Resources:
* Universidad de Puerto Rico* University of Wisconsin-Madison* Intel
corporation* SHPE* Intel Latino Network
In this episode, we
talked about:
* 01:42 – Welcoming Yuri* 01:54 – About Yuri* 04:15 – Engineering seen
as depth versus M.B.A. seen as breadth* 06:57 – About a Technical
Program Manager role* 12:33 – Optimizing
somebody else’s product that isn’t good enough; how Yuri approaches the
conversation * 14:30 – Do you manage any
people right now?* 15:24 – Yuri’s leverage
and how he approaches it* 17:35 – Thirteen years at
Intel. Purpose and jobs in the company* 26:01 – Reasons why Yuri has
built a long career at Intel* 32:07 – Difference between
program management and project management, and last words to audience
Who is Hugo Castellanos?
Learn more about him on Linkedin
Thanks so much for
listening to the show! If you want to know more about this and comment on the
show, please join us on LatinosWhoTech or go to Conexiones
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/latinoswhotech/message

How We Built This: InternMakers: Mariana Briones and Alejandro Davila Dec 12, 2019

Show notes

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 first internship and trying to make it easier for others, Mariana and Alejandro founded InternMakers, a YouTube channel with resources in one place to help students get prepared for their intern opportunities and full-time opportunities. They are Latino content creators in STEM that want to bring more people like us to conferences and careers.
We spoke about how they got into tech, Mariana as a Latina in Microsoft, her experience when crossing the border, and the time she met Satya Nadella, InternMakers, and finally, about what students can start doing right now to get an internship.
Sign up to our monthly newsletter where we share networking strategies and other personal development tools: Here or at LatinosWhoTech.com
Latinos Who Tech is brought to you by Audible. Go to www.audibletrial.com/latinos to claim your free audiobook!
Connect with Mariana
and Alejandro via Linkedin:
* Mariana Briones* Alejandro Davila
Want to help us grow?
You can:
* Leave us
an iTunes review:* Send us a note with your thoughts to LatinosWhoTech@gmail.com* Share it with a friend
Mentioned resources:
* UTEP* Palantir* Cummins Inc.* Satya Nadella* GitHub* Cracking the Coding Interview* Cplusplus* InternMakers* NACE* SHPE
In this episode, we talked about:
* 01:42 – Welcoming Mariana and Alejandro to LWT* 04:12 – Getting into tech * 15:38 – The time Mariana met Satya Nadella * 20:40 – About crossing the border* 25:32 – A Latina in Microsoft* 27:30 – Both at university together; Mariana in Seattle and Alejandro in New York; what about InternMakers?* 37:48 – Main things students can start doing right now to get an internship* 44:41 – Last words of advice
Who is Hugo Castellanos?
Learn more about him on Linkedin
Thanks so much for
listening to the show! If you want to know more about this and comment on the
show, please join us on LatinosWhoTech or go to Conexiones
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/latinoswhotech/message

The PhD Chronicles: Year 2 with Emily Anne Vargas Dec 06, 2019

Show notes

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 take a listen.On this new episode we talk about her road to grad school, what her experience pursuing her PhD has been like so far plus EVERYTHING you wanted to know about ceramics and composites 🙂 ResourcesGE on Ceramic Matrix Composites (2:40)Follow Emily’s Lab
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The road to Engineering & How to have difficult conversations Nov 18, 2019

Show notes

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 DESC framework to succeed at difficult conversations Books: How Women Rise The Power of Vulnerability Sign up to Audible and listen to them for free + support our podcast
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