Episode #156: "I Have SOMETHING To Say" with special guest, Ana Valdez

I have SOMETHING to say!

Data drives business decisions, right? And investments, right? OK, then listen up. In this episode of I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY the conversation is all about fact-based data that provides REAL economic information about who Latinos are in the U.S. Ana Valdez, President and CEO of the Latino Donor Collaborative (LDC), is a wonderful guest because she doesn’t hold back. LDC is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to elevate the national discourse on the role and contributions of Latinos to American society supported by data.

It all started over 10 years ago when a group of Latino leaders decided to bring together their resources and invest in conducting independent deep-dive research regarding the growing Hispanic population in the U.S. “This group was founded by Sol Trujillo and Henry Cisneros. They said, you know what, we need to present data that really shows who Latinos are in this country because we know instinctively that Latinos are incredible, but we really don’t have the means to show that. The country is really better because of us, and our economic impact is tremendous, but we don’t have the numbers,” Ana shares.

Since then, LDC has developed more than 25 original reports and research pieces that highlight the economic impact of Latinos across all industries and levels. They have secured partnerships of the caliber of Stanford, UCLA, Columbia University, and Accenture, to name a few, to conduct evidence-based research that informs new ways to stimulate the economy, influence how major corporations engage with Latinos, and ultimately provide the data that confirms that investing in Hispanic employees, talent, stories, suppliers, and communities will absolutely 1000% pay off from a business standpoint.

One of LDC’s many jewels is the Latino GDP Report, updated in 2022, which reflects that if U.S. Hispanics were a standalone country TODAY, we would be the 5th largest GDP in the world right after the United States, China, Japan and Germany, to a tune of 2.8 trillion dollars. Ana explains, “The first report came out in 2017, and we were back then the 8th largest economy in the world. These numbers show that we are incredibly hard-working that we are reliable and we’re incredibly loyal. We just want to create a better life for families. What is more of an American dream? And that’s what we want to show people. We are not the enemy. We are not invading anything we’ve been in this country even before this country was a country.”

Bottom line, LDC is providing free access to data about Latinos in the U.S. with a business lens and to counter racial profiling. “We chose to not go with the social justice argument, because although we believe that it’s a great argument, sometimes people are really scared. We believe that the reason why the LDC has been able to get to the places we have been is that we actually come to them with a business premise of growth. So, for us, it’s about telling you where you can get growth and where you actually have a blind spot. Who doesn’t want to know a blind spot in terms of getting more money?,” Ana quips.

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