Hispanic Women Executives Innovating In Tech, Fashion, Business And More

Hispanic women are leading the way in the C-suite, innovating in the tech, media and business industries. As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, we’ve pulled together a list of the top Hispanic women executive you should know about.

Chile native Javiera Balmaceda, is the head of local originals for Latin America, Canada and Australia for Amazon Studios where she works to place stories of Latino and Hispanic artists in front of audiences. In her time at Amazon Studios, she has helped produce and launch more than 30 movies and series in the past year alone, according to Hispanic Executive.

Her work has seen great success: the historical drama Agentina 1985 won a Golden Globe, LOL: Last One Laughing received widespread acclaim, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Balmaceda, who happens to be the older sister of actor Pedro Pascal, has leaned on her experience as the daughter of exiled Chilean parents living in the United States when it comes to advocating for making and creating space for Latino and Hispanic voices, according to Glamour.

Carla Vernón, CEO of The Honest Co., became the first Afro-Latina to lead a U.S. publicly-traded company in January 2023. The company was co-founded by actress Jessica Alba and is dedicated to creating clean and sustainably designed personal care products, according to its website. Her leadership signaled a shift toward active inclusion efforts at the company, according toHispanic Executive.

On her advice for women of color aspiring to enter the C-suite, she told Her Agenda, “You will get so many signals from either the work being very hard, everything not being a win, or people who just don’t see your gifts in you. If you know you have your own assets and your own gifts, never stop reminding yourself what you know to be true about your gifts. That is your inner superpower. That is your battery pack to stay energized for the tough sledding that we will all encounter.”

Since taking over leadership of the company, Vernón has worked to preserve the company’s goal of bringing trustworthy products to the market, according to the BBC. She previously held executive positions at Amazon and General Mills and told the BBC she came to The Honest Company because she saw it as an opportunity to do good work on a large scale.

Priscilla Almodovar, the first woman and first Latina CEO of Fannie Mae, is the only current Latina CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Almodovar has more than 30 years experience in finance, real estate and community development, according to a release announcing her selection as CEO.

She previously worked at JPMorgan Chase, New York State Housing Finance Agency and the Affordable Housing Corporation. She has been named to Fortune’s “50 Most Powerful Latinas” list and Hispanic Business’ “100 Most Influential Hispanics” list.

Lidiane Jones assumed the role of CEO at Bumble, Inc in January, bringing with her more than two decades of experience in product development, according toHispanic Executive. Jones grew up in Brazil and followed her passion for engineering through a career at Slack Technologies and Salesforce, according to NBC News.

Since joining Bumble, Jones has spearheaded an effort to relaunch the dating app and incorporate artificial intelligence to enrich the user experience, according to the BBC. She and her team at Bumble have launched the AI-powered Deception Detector, which has a 99.5% accuracy rate in identifying spam and scam profiles, according to Mashable.

Sandra Martínez, CEO at Nestlé Oceania, oversees Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands and was the first woman in Nestlé’s history to lead operations in a Latin American country. She has worked at Nestlé for nearly 40 years and has held executive positions in Venezuela, the United States, Canada, and Switzerland, according to SBS Australia.

As one of the most prominent Latina executives in business, Martínez has advocated for more sustainable production efforts, gender equity, and sustainability.