The New Revolution for Women
Entrepreneurs Will Be Latina Led
By Nathalie Molina Niño, CEO of BRAVA Investments
Idon’t know about you, but I have never, in my entire life, read a book
about launching a business that remotely reflected my experience as
a woman, as a Latina and as someone who didn’t start out having
friends and family who could write big checks.
About the Author
“Fail fast” wasn’t an option for me
because bouncing back from bankruptcy
isn’t as simple when you don’t have family
wealth or a trust fund (the dirty little secret
most startup successes leave out when
they’re constructing their romantic origin
stories). Meanwhile women are starting
businesses more than men, and 8 out of
every 10 new women-led businesses is
started by a woman of color. So I thought,
someone really needs to collect the best
hacks from entrepreneurs that look and
live like most people, and write a realistic
handbook to starting a business from the
perspective of most of us, the majority. Or
as my fellow investor, Arlan Hamilton,
calls us, the underestimated.
Then I remembered, I’m someone.
So I did. It’s called LEAPFROG, The New
Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs.
And it’s filled with stories of amazing
entrepreneurs that have figured out how to
win the startup game on their terms. People
like Nina Vaca who once and for all proves
that Venture Capital (VC) is not the only
game in town. Like my dad, she’s an
Ecuadorian immigrant, who never took a
penny of outside investment. Her company
is slated to hit $1 billion in annual revenues
and it’s officially the fastest growing
woman-owned company in the U.S. So
to all the VC’s that would tell you that the
only way to grow and grow fast is by giving
them material ownership in your company
and being obsessed with a quick acquisition
or IPO, I say two words: NINA VACA.
Speaking of quick exits, here’s an
alternative. How about Lida Orzeck and
Gail Epstein from Hanky Panky? They
also never took outside investment and
last November they rounded up their 170
employees at their factory in Jamaica,
Queens, many of whom have been with
them for decades, to celebrate their 40th
anniversary by announcing their exit. Not
an IPO. Not an acquisition. An employee
stock ownership plan (ESOP) that essentially
leaves the company to the dedicated
employees who have made Hanky Panky the
amazing cult favorite brand that it is.
The World Economic Forum says that
at the rate we’re going, women will get to
gender parity in 170 years. Unacceptable.
Yet many of us hear the word shortcut and
think “cheating.” We have, collectively,
been so traumatized by the isms around us,
the ones that are eager and ready to suggest we
only got in because of affirmative action or
we only got that role because we were the
token women, that we feel the only way to
survive is to follow the rules and be perfect.
But we forget that the people with power,
capital and influence got there by taking
shortcuts. Even if that shortcut wasn’t a
trust fund, maybe it was just the good luck
of not having been born in the south side
of Chicago.
We have to change the system, yes. But
right now, today, we have to make lemonade
out of the lemons we’ve inherited and that
means creating our own shortcuts. We owe
it to our daughters and everyone that
will come after us to leapfrog (i.e. shortcut)
the status quo.
So here’s my pitch to you. Embrace the
shortcut. In fact, DEMAND it. Then tell
the world. Or just tell me and I’ll tell the
world! Now more than ever, we need your
stories, your leapfrogs. And we need your
courage to stand up and resist those who
would have us stay small.
Nathalie Molina Niño is the CEO of BRAVA
Investments and the author of LEAPFROG,
The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs
(Tarcher Perigee, a Penguin Random House
imprint). She is committed to delivering returns
to investors while making a catalytic impact
on women in the world. A technologist and
coder by training, Nathalie is a consummate
entrepreneur, and a storyteller at heart. LS
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58 www.latinastyle.com LATINAStyle Vol. 24, No. 4, 2018
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