Just 1.5% of computing occupations in the country are filled by Latinas, a startling Bureau of Labor Statistics number that illustrates the importance of pushing Latinas into the tech space.
There are a variety of different ways to promote and encourage Latinas into the tech space, and Becky Arreaga, president of Mercury Mambo, and Rebecca Gonzales, assistant director of Avindé, discussed several during their panel Friday, “Chicapreneurs: Latinas in Technology.”
More Latinas than ever are graduating from college, and this is changing the dynamics of entrepreneurship, said Arreaga. In a sense, entrepreneurship is engrained in Latinas — “How many of our moms were the Avon ladies of the neighborhood?” she asked — but the bigger question is figuring out how to harness that passion and those skills in a more formal way.
After all, she said, 1 in 10 women-owned businesses are owned by a Latina.
Oftentimes, what holds Latinas back from becoming entrepreneurs is not a lack of ability, but a lack of a specific set of skills, said Gonzales. For example, how do you scale your business? How do you pitch to venture capitalists? Not everyone will thrive in a shark tank-like entrepreneur environment, but it wouldn’t hurt to learn to fight for what you need, either, said Gonzales.
“We’re going to have to learn to speak up, we have to get outside of our community,” Arreaga said, noting that Latinos need to take conversations of inclusion to the mainstream.
Gonzales spoke about her experience as a former journalist, learning technology in a startup, and now working to bring more Latinas into the tech fold. Less than 8% of startups pitched to VCs for funding are run by people of color — even less are women.
If more Latinas can pitch to VCs, Gonzales argues, more Latinas can get funded.
“If we can get more people to pitch, then we can get on track,” she said.
Sara Inés Calderón is a journalist and writer who lives between Texas and California. Follow her on Twitter @SaraChicaD.
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