Oscar Garcia’s Story
Oscar migrated to the United States and he still continues to live the experience as a first gen entrepreneur. Growing up with that label of being the first generation, being a minority, or a “melted pot” has led him to think it had a negative connotation. Throughout his career and even today, as he looks back, he realized that No, all these qualifications are actually positive.
Now, it’s time to own our culture.
How can we see our culture in a positive connotation?
We have to honor our past. What does that mean? Going back into our personal journey and thinking about life experiences. Also, acknowledge the ugly, yucky feeling. Why? Because we want to own that yucky, ugly feeling and heal from some of that trauma. Look and uncover the positive skills, and the positive experience out of that.
There are two simple ways you can look at the past and you can think about it: one is why this happens to me, or the second one, this happened FOR me.
Is there any Latinx trauma keeping us from being able to get better jobs?
We Latinxs tend to put up with things, believing that we’re not worth it.
Latino culture has many positive traits, but as anything, you take it to the other end of the spectrum and it could be a detriment.
Top five things that you feel people can do to really create a brand and land the job that they want?
- Why do we do what we do?
- What are our values?
- What is your vision?
- Where are you going?
- What is that image? What do you want people when they see you?
How can we reach a hiring manager?
If you have been referred to an opportunity and the person is at a director level or higher in the organization, you have almost a 97% chance of getting hired. So 3% chance of an interview versus a very high probability of getting hired.
LinkedIn is a great way to reach out to a Hiring Manager.
What can we do if we’re already within a company?
We can continue to build those relationships, to really create what Oscar calls a dream team.
A dream team is made up of 5 people, a mentor, a coach, a sponsor, a close friend, a promoter.
A coach is someone that can give us some guidance on how to do our job. A sponsor is someone that knows the quality of your work, obviously knows you, and has their antennas up so that when there are opportunities come up, maybe a promotion or so forth, they’ll let you know. A close friend is someone that you give permission to be brutally honest with you and let you know when you’re doing great and when you’re messing up.
A good way to acknowledge what you do is to start creating a Kudos folder. If you get any awards, if you get any recognition from your manager, from a client, etc., just save those emails, those files on just a personal, maybe take a screenshot and so forth and start creating it.
How can we as Latinxs create generational wealth?
Investing doesn’t have to be difficult. There are so many ways to invest now in the stock market that are super simple.
You can get a financial advisor. Don’t be afraid to say to them “I understand what you’re telling me to do but tell me why this is the best way and what other options are there available for me to meet this particular goal that I have?”
A quote…
“Don’t aim to impress others, Inspire others through your imperfections.”
