I'm a First-generation, Latina entrepreneur, founder/CEO, former CMO, speaker, and award-winning marketing strategist. For over two decades, I have worked at the intersection of business and social impact, with the largest brands like Google, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Crisis Text Line, among others, striving to close the wealth and health equity gap for underserved communities.

In 2024, I founded Cura, Inc., a career accelerator to help early career talent launch and grow their careers. And, to help the 60% of employers who say Gen Z is not ready for the workforce, source untapped talent and get their early career talent work ready faster.

Cura is built around the resources I wished I had during my early career, including job opportunities, friendlier or more accessible networking, and our marquis program, the Cura Academy (TM).

Outside of the office, I am a board member for Sacred Heart Nativity School in San Jose, a Jesuit middle school in a low-income neighborhood. Sacred Heart is committed to helping students through a 12-year journey from middle school to a private Jesuit high school and supporting their college journey. I feel a deep connection with the staff, the board, and especially the students. I see how powerful their grit is.

In 2021, I reached out to the alumni of Sacred Heart Nativity to learn what unique challenges Covid brought to them. With an increased need for networking, mentors, and tools to navigate early careers for these emerging leaders, I launched Cura to provide them with resources to find jobs and build their networks.

I also love reading books, playing outside, seeing live music, spending time with my husband, and chasing my two boys around. We live in San Jose, CA. We're living through a profound shift in how young people enter and experience work, but we're using an outdated playbook to manage it. The numbers tell a striking story: 60% of hiring managers say recent graduates aren't ready for the workplace, while first-generation students - many facing unique systemic barriers - now make up a majority of college enrollment for the first time in American history. This isn't just a skills gap - it's a fundamental mismatch between how we prepare young people for work and what modern work actually requires.

Drawing on extensive research and real-world cases, this session explores how the intersection of Gen Z characteristics, first-generation status, and rapidly evolving workplace demands has created a perfect storm that's costing U.S. companies an estimated $570 billion. But there's hope: new models of early career development are emerging that could transform how we bridge this divide.