As the children of immigrant parents who started businesses in the U.S., we believe in the power of the American Dream. We witnessed first-hand the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, and the grit and tenacity needed to succeed. Access to the American Dream through entrepreneurship is key to economic growth and prosperity, both in the U.S. and globally. Yet, access is not a given.

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For us, we sought the American Dream through education and social good. While we were influenced by our parents to pursue entrepreneurship, our time in community college was our launching pad. While there, we accessed opportunities to leverage our social entrepreneurial mind-set: Maia as a founding member, mentor, and advisor for Latino Empowerment at DeAnza (LEAD); and Gabe as a Student Senator, President and Co-Founder of Latinos Unidos, and Nominated Member of the American Student Association of Community Colleges at the College of San Mateo.

 

From there, we went on to receive undergraduate and professional degrees from UC Berkeley, Johns Hopkins University, and American University. We continued the work we started in community college, by pursuing careers in the public and humanitarian sectors. We gained experience at local, state, and national levels, on issues like human trafficking, civic engagement, higher education, and immigrant rights. Through it all, the common thread has been our desire to launch big ideas that make an impact, and represent the communities we come from.

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Unfortunately, many of the leading ideas in today's economy do not reflect the breadth of diversity of the American people. The neglect of under-served communities experiences in the product development process, means that their needs are omitted in the final outcome. As such, there is huge untapped potential for service design, business and technology solutions to address the needs of 80% of the U.S. population (women, people of color, or both) who have a combined buying power of $3.4 trillion (which is projected to increase exponentially over the next few years).

 

For this reason, we are driven to educate and empower the next generation of problem solvers who will be tackling these challenges. We're dedicated to designing ecosystems of change, particularly those communities serving the needs of "the 80%". Such ecosystems are particularly well-suited to provide these solutions, because they too are often the ones who represent "the 80%". 

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Our problem solving framework acknowledges the values and constraints of our constituencies, the ventures we work with and the individuals we seek to train, and helps them build empathy for users, design strategic implementation plans, and clear pathways to success - and the American Dream.