Latinos Talk Tech

By Maria Hinojosa, Latino USA

In 2013, you can’t talk money without talking tech. It isn’t just the industry of the future, it is the industry of now. But despite research that shows that Latinos adopt new technologies at rates equal to, and sometimes higher than, other Americans, Latinos are rarely part of the tech conversation.

We plan on talking to more Latinos in tech, or Techinistas – in 2014, but this week we are speaking to two people who are working hard to get more Latinos involved in the tech sector.

Guests

Luz RivasLuz Rivas is the Founder and Executive Director of DIY Girls, a nonprofit organization that develops and implements educational programs and events for girls and women designed to encourage exploration with technology, promote self-confidence and support aspiration to technical careers. Like young girls in the DIY Girls program, Luz is a daughter of Mexican immigrants and grew up in the Pacoima neighborhood of Los Angeles. Luz started her career at Motorola where she was an Electrical Design Engineer working on position and navigation systems for the automotive industry.  For the last 10 years, she has worked on developing out-of school science and engineering education programs and has developed higher education programs focused on recruiting and retaining underrepresented minorities in STEM fields. Luz has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from MIT and a Masters in Technology in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

EDWARD AVILAEdward Avila is a native of San Jose and has worked at high-tech companies in Silicon Valley over the last 20 years as a Human Resources executive. He advised and nurtured talent for emerging businesses within corporations. He has a proven track record in the areas of leadership development, executive coaching, and talent management. In 2010, he co-founded myJoblinx, the industry’s first employee-centric enterprise solution, leveraging both social recruiting and employment branding into a single unique application on Facebook. In 2012, Edward was featured as a ‘Game Changer’ in Hispanic Executive Magazine. He graduated with a Master’s Degree in Organization Development from the University of San Francisco.

This article was originally published in Latino USA.

[Photo courtesy of Latino USA]

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