At UCLA, generations of Latinx students pursue higher education, build a cultural identity and create a legacy for future Bruins.
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In 2023–24, the Alliance for Latinx Management at Anderson and Latin American Business Association will be augmenting the celebration of Latinx and Hispanic cultures in the Anderson community by introducing new programming around National Hispanic Heritage Month and focusing on ally engagement more than ever before.
“National Hispanic Heritage Month brings awareness to sacrifices overcome by Latinx Americans and gives us a chance to share our pride with the wider community.”
Marysela Garza (’24)
Co-President, Alliance for Latinx Management at Anderson
“Latinx culture has made very influential contributions in America. Having a month when we can showcase our beautiful culture brings a sense of belonging and community to all.”
Jessica Naves (B.A. ’16, Riordan MBA Fellow, ’20, ’24)
Co-President, Alliance for Latinx Management at Anderson
“In addition to our classic Latin parties, a new speaker series and the traditional Mexico trek, LABA is introducing a thrilling Colombian trek to the Anderson student experience.”
Maria Ignacia Marchant (’24)
Co-President, Latin American Business Association
Riordan Programs Alumni: Where Are They Now?
Meet a new generation of transformative leaders
Noel Varela (EMBA ’25)
Program Manager, Drata
Riordan MBA Fellows Program, 2021
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Riordan MBA Fellows Program, 2017
Capital Group
Riordan Scholars Program, 2001–04
For more than 35 years, the Riordan Programs at UCLA Anderson have opened up leadership and management education opportunities to students traditionally underrepresented in business. Among alumni of the Riordan Scholars and Riordan MBA Fellows programs are success stories that include a UCLA physician involved in bringing health care technologies to underserved communities, a U.S. Navy officer who now works in cybersecurity and an investor who also serves as an instructor in the Riordan Programs’ annual Stock Market Analyst Competition.
Our Stories
In Service to Several California Governors
Bridging the Physical World with the Magic of Tech at UberEats
UCLA Anderson alumnus Sergio Gonzalez (’14) strikes the balance in his pick of cities
This UCLA Anderson EMBA’s Through-Line Is a Fast Pace
California Senator Alex Padilla Urges Students to Dream Big
The Riordan Programs’ Legacy Award recipient was a first-generation college graduate
Being Latina Is Not a Seasonal Thing
Shorter Lessons and a Cinematic Look Increase Student Engagement
Grounded in Equity, Justice and Community
U.S. Army Reservist’s Career Could Be a Movie
At UCLA Anderson, Tech and Social Awareness Go Hand in Hand
A Pitch to Sleep-Deprived Nursing Mothers
The Summer of a Lifetime at Jordan Brand
In The News
How Changing College Admissions Could Affect the U.S. Workforce
UCLA Anderson’s Miguel Unzueta says Black and Latino people will feel the impact
UCLA to Become a Hispanic-Serving Institution by 2025
25% of undergraduate students must identify as Hispanic or Latinx
UCLA Anderson Forecast Supports Economists from Diverse Backgrounds
Guillermina Molina Is Building Long-Range Strategies with Alumni Community and Donors
Featured Entrepreneurs
Michael Vilardo (’21)
President and Co-Founder, Subject
LATAM Gold Medalist, Colombian National Hockey Team
Alumnus, Venture Accelerator at UCLA Anderson
Serial entrepreneur Michael Vilardo (’21) took the pulse of the TikTok generation to launch EdTech startup Subject (formerly Emile Learning), which has earned more than $5 million in seed funding. Vilardo and his Latinx co-founders, Felix Ruano and Jon Quiros, made headlines for changing e-learning’s status quo.
Alejandra Perez (’22)
Founder, IMA Blends
Alumna, Venture Accelerator at UCLA Anderson
Entrepreneur Alejandra Perez (’22) holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from Universidad Simon Bolivar, Venezuela’s No. 1 engineering school. She represented her school at Harvard’s Model United Nations conferences in Singapore and Vancouver. At UCLA Anderson, she served as president of the Entrepreneur Association and mentored high school and college students in the Riordan Programs, which provide a pathway for young people in underrepresented groups to excel in business education and leadership.
With this broad, international reach, Perez is certain of one thing: nursing mothers the world over face exhaustion and flagging nutrition. “Motherhood is a bumpy ride,” she says. “I could not keep up with my baby’s appetite and felt guilty. I was desperate for a solution.” So she pioneered IMA Blends, a line of healthy “lactation snacks” for moms at every stage, including preconception, pregnancy, postpartum, nursing and beyond.
Alejandra Perez (’22)
Founder, IMA Blends
Overcoming adversity made me realize that I could achieve anything I set my mind to, as long as I did it with love and purpose.
When you incubated your startup in the Venture Accelerator at UCLA Anderson, what were the main resources and lessons that informed your company launch?
I completed the Accelerator’s summer 2022 Activate program, where we had weekly sessions with industry experts and successful entrepreneurs, and met with a team of lawyers who guided us in business law. The most valuable aspect of the Accelerator is its community, and being able to reach out to others who have launched before. For instance, a fellow Accelerator founder introduced me to a food scientist he had worked with. This introduction was pivotal to my CPG business, IMA Blends. The scientist helped me develop my product, source ingredients and find the best co-packer to manufacture it. The Accelerator has also provided very useful feedback to my pitch and helped me fine-tune it.
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Have you secured funding to back your startup? What have you learned about raising capital?
So far, I’ve used my own savings to get started. My next steps include a crowdfunding campaign and a pre-seed round. I have also been applying for grants for new entrepreneurs. This fall, I will launch a Kickstarter campaign — stay tuned, I will need all the help I can get to bring my product to consumers in early 2023!
Raising capital tests our resilience, since we constantly face rejection. However, I’ve learned that finding investors is mostly about qualifying them first, researching online and asking as many questions as possible before scheduling a meeting. It’s easy to feel as if you are making progress by booking meetings, and it’s nice to feel validated. Your business might be exciting, and the investor might love it, but they won’t invest if it does not match their portfolio or their profile. Truth is, most investors will agree to talk even if they are not planning on investing, because they are curious about what founders are doing. Save your time and energy for the important meetings and tasks.
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What in your background prepared you to become an entrepreneur?
I grew up in Venezuela, a once prosperous country that has been facing a socioeconomic crisis and turmoil for the past two decades. I had the wonderful opportunity to start a more auspicious career in the U.S., but before doing so, I wanted to provide financial support to my parents, so I started a transport business that they would operate. This was my first entrepreneurial experience, which happened more by chance than by planning. I continued with my career as a chemical engineer, and then transitioned into sales and marketing. I kept thinking of my days as an entrepreneur but was not sure what kind of business I could create, or how to start. As I was starting to consider an MBA, I became a mother. I took a year off to focus on this stage, and felt firsthand the pressure to juggle that new role with a career. I then discovered that my “why” was to help mothers achieve their full potential.
I realized that the MBA was the missing piece that would lead me to discover my “how,” to bring my business idea/solution into reality. At Anderson, I learned from peers and faculty, polished my skill set, grew my network and utilized school resources to launch a business that would support women throughout motherhood, I hope setting an example and blazing a path for other young women and mothers.
Will you continue as a serial entrepreneur?
My biggest motivation is to help others. I am passionate about finding ways to make other people’s lives easier in some way, and figuring out how a product or brand can address a pain point or bring joy into someone’s daily life. On the macro level, I see my entrepreneurial journey and what I am learning today as the stepping stone to becoming a mentor to others in the future, helping someone else’s vision come become reality.
On the micro level, I started IMA Blends wanting to help other moms who are struggling in their motherhood journey. I experienced first hand specific nutritional needs and discomfort, nausea, constipation and milk supply problems when breastfeeding — plus the pressure to be the perfect mother. I slowly discovered ways to make the journey easier, and I want to help other women achieve their full potential.
What was the most valuable lesson in business school you feel like you can apply every day to developing your own company and products?
Business school trained me to handle many things at once and to divide big projects into smaller tasks to tackle so I could succeed at the end. The MBA experience was one of overcoming adversity, starting from my application process. I struggled to achieve the GMAT score I needed to get accepted. Then, as a mother (especially during the first half of the pandemic when schools and daycare were closed), I had to push myself to work while parenting and juggling what felt like thousands of projects at the same time: academics, staying highly involved in the Anderson community (including student leadership roles) and recruiting for brand management internships. Every single day, I had to push myself to keep on going, and that is something that has served me in my entrepreneurial journey.
Another lesson is that half of the work is just showing up. Go to that event and bring all your enthusiasm and best self. You never know who you might meet when you go.
Research Spotlight
Fernanda Bravo
Assistant Professor of Decisions, Operations and Technology Management
“The management of health care delivery systems, health organizations and policy-focused institutions affects everybody, not just providers.”
From timely research that demystifies the complicated FDA approval process to collaborations that improve hospital efficiency and patient outcomes, Fernanda Bravo’s goal is to inform health care policy and decision making to help ensure that good business is also good medicine.
In Their Words
“Many young people in our community don’t have someone in their lives who knows how to help them get on the road to success.”
“Here at Anderson, we really are an ecosystem and we all support each other in different ways.”
Coming from the creative side of public relations, communications professional Marcella Thompkins (’23) enrolled in UCLA Anderson’s Fully Employed MBA program to fill in gaps in her knowledge about the business side. She is building a solid foundation in finance and strategy, but finds that Anderson’s challenging curriculum offers so much more, and she looks forward to continuing to take classes that are outside her comfort zone. “No matter how difficult the course is,” she says, “I have so many incredible resources surrounding me and so many brilliant classmates to learn from.” Now manager of fine wines at Constellation Brands, Marcella says, “I can honestly say this program has impacted my career immeasurably. This program is the very reason I have the job that I have today.”
“I always wanted to start a business ... Brewing is an alternative career in chemistry.”
What’s it like to come to the United States with no undergraduate degree, earn a Ph.D. in chemistry from Caltech, publish more than 45 peer-reviewed articles, pivot to brewing beer and then embark on your MBA? With credit for contributing to prize-winning research by two Nobel laureates, alumnus Diego Benitez (’19) founded Progress Brewing in South El Monte, California, in 2012. The former academic, now a successful full-time businessman, said as an Anderson student, “FEMBA is one of the best decisions of my life.”
“How great would it be if we unlocked each person’s potential?”
Faculty Spotlight
Professor of Management and Organizations
Award-winning instruction in diversity and organizational behavior
“It is often said that perception is reality. My research explores the psychological motivations that underlie people’s perceptions of diversity-related phenomena in the present day.”
Professor of Management and Organizations
Organizations Have Committed to Better Representation, But Really?
¿Cuál es el Problema Exactamente?
UCLA Anderson Professor Miguel Unzueta teaches students that negotiation isn’t about conflict
Most Deserved
Recognized by his peers for classroom performance and innovation
Have Organizations Committed to Better Representation?
The state of equity, biases and microaggressions in the workplace
Diversity: Measuring How and Why Groups See It Differently
Perceived differences between “diverse” and “sufficiently diverse”
Welcome to the Club
Latin American Business Association (LABA)
Through a broad offering of professional and social events, the Latin American Business Association (LABA) aims to showcasing the region’s diverse cultures and business opportunities for the mutual benefit of our members and the broader Anderson community.
The Alliance for Latinx Management at Anderson (ALMA)
ALMA is committed to building a diverse, inclusive and collaborative space to promote fellowship and professional development while celebrating American Latinx culture.
UCLA Anderson Review
5 Questions
Riordan Programs
Providing a pathway for underrepresented students to excel in business and leadership
Tomorrow's leaders emerge from a transformational experience with Riordan mentors, educational workshops and community service. The Riordan Scholars Program, College to Career Program and MBA Fellows Program provide leadership and management training to diverse individuals all over the country.
