SILVINA MOSHINI WAS BORN IN Tandil, a province in Buenos Aires located about four hours from the city. Her family later moved to Buenos Aires, where she obtained her undergraduate degree in Public Relations from UADE University and a degree in marketing from New York University. Later she moved to Texas, where she completed a master's course in communications from the University of Houston. While living in Italy, she completed graduate courses in web communications and social media at the Libera Università di Lingue e Comunicazione and the Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, both in Milan.

Silvina is a second‐generation college graduate. Her parents always taught her that if she wanted to be independent, she would need to be financially secure. The clearest path to that was to obtain a college degree and, most important, to have the necessary knowledge to pursue her dreams. The greatest challenge was to stay committed to her long‐term goal, because when you are young so many roadblocks get in the way – emotional, financial, and even physical. Moving away from her family was a life‐changing decision for her. At times, it seemed impossible, but she kept going and today she is very grateful for everyone who supported her – family, professors, and peers.

When the pandemic hit, nearly 40 percent of Latinos did not have broadband internet access at home and 32 percent did not have a computer. The digital divide, which existed long before the crisis, was exacerbated because of it. This is one of the greatest issues of our time, and one that must be addressed by the public sector.

In the era of digital transformation, technology levels the playing field: Students can succeed, businesses can compete, and workers can tap into remote working opportunities no matter where they are based.

Access to the internet should not be viewed as a privilege, but rather a fundamental right.

Governments in advanced economies, such as the United States, have a responsibility to ensure that digital access is provided to all populations – regardless of income or location – and the private sector must continue to show its support with social impact programs that address the needs of underserved populations and advocate for equitable access.

One of the greatest benefits of remote work is that it makes diversity and inclusion the norm. Companies no longer have to hire within a four‐mile radius of their headquarters, so they hire the best talent regardless of location, and often this talent is more diverse.

Diversity and inclusion are deeply important to Silvina as a Latinx entrepreneur, because she has experienced first‐hand the challenges associated with building a business while being a minority. When the pandemic hit, they donated licenses for start‐ups founded by women as well as small and medium businesses (of up to 100 employees) because she wanted to make sure that they too benefited from the digital transformation. In California, they donated $1 million‐worth of licenses to local small businesses – the majority of which were Latino‐owned because they were disproportionately affected by the crisis.

A great majority of the Latinx community operates small and medium businesses that are the engine of many important economies, from Miami to Los Angeles to Houston. They created a program called FREE25, whose goal is to democratize digitalization. They launched this initiative because Silvina believes that the benefits of digital transformation should not be reserved for big tech companies or multinational corporations. Visit: http://www.transparentbusiness.com.

Sandra Lopez grew up in Foster City, California, which at that time was arguably upper middle class, with the majority of Caucasian descent. As a first‐generation American, her greatest obstacle was learning the ropes. Sandra was the first to leave for college and did not have parents who understood the admission process or college living. Given her parents were traditional Mexican‐Catholic, the geographical setting of the college became an important criterion in the college selection process. From their perspective, a woman should not be too distant from the family. As such, Sandra identified colleges within the state as she did not want to disappoint her parents. Ultimately, her greatest challenge in college was her parents. They both grew up in a small town in Mexico and exposure to college living was nonexistent. They understood the importance of college, yet how to experience college was always a challenge for them to understand.

The digital divide follows the economic divide. If one does not have the financial means to purchase electronics and/or if the children do not have access to technology at school, they will be forever at a disadvantage. The pandemic punctuated the digital divide with virtual classes. It has seen so many images of kids going to their nearby school to obtain Wi‐Fi access that should not happen in a first‐world country. Sandra believes the digital divide provides an opportunity for both the public and private sector to work together to address the gap. Sandra's current company has done a lot to give back to the community and provide some communities with access to PCs.

Sandra is a Latina who believes it is her responsibility to help further open the door for the next generation. Thus, she does her best to ensure that in her every action, she has a diversity and inclusion filter. Sandra is an example; if hiring, she starts with a diverse pool of candidates. If Sandra knows there is an introvert in the room, she establishes an environment to ensure their voice is heard. Finally, she continuously evaluates her organization to ensure Intel is addressing pay equity and promotions.

As the Latinx community becomes a growing majority, they have seen their influence in politics. Technology companies must ensure their voices are represented in the algorithms that are being designed and the products and services that are being engineered.

Latinx face similar obstacles across various industries. To overcome them, one must first have understanding. In the technology industry, it must begin with the parents understanding the career path of a technologist. Oftentimes, Latinx parents focus on “known” careers: doctor, lawyer, business. As a result, they can easily influence their child not to pursue a career in technology. As one enters the technology industry, finding one's voice becomes critical; however, in Latinx culture we have been influenced by the concept of respeto. How we were conditioned as a child affects us in the corporate world because we are hired to challenge the status quo, have a point of view, and so on. Yet, growing up we are conditioned to obey and do what abuelita tells us to do and not to question her.

Understanding the various roles that can exist within technology is integral to success. One does not have to be an engineer to succeed in technology. Latinos can be great marketers, great financers, great people who succeed in technology. One must realize that technology is shaping society and if one is interested in affecting change, then they should seriously consider a career in technology. It begins with curiosity and open‐mindedness and allowing one's professional journey to zigzag. Sometimes the unexpected route provides the greatest growth trajectory.

Diana Juarez Madera was born and raised in central Mexico. Diana is a first‐generation college graduate as her mother did not attend high school and her father did not finish elementary school. Her mother was a stay‐at‐home mom and her father dedicated to cultivate the land. The lack of light pollution in her humble community allowed her to have a first‐row‐seat view of the night sky, which touched her deeply. Since she was a little girl she wanted to understand the portion of the universe she was able to see from outside her home, and while growing up she was good at math and science. Growing up, she heard stories about her grandfather promoting education in his extreme‐poverty community, where he made every effort to teach children what he had learned through books. She believes those stories motivated her to pursue excellence in the academic setting. Unfortunately, in her remote and rural community, a woman associated with college is scarce, let alone involved in physics and space. That was unheard of! For her future, she was expected to live a more conventional life. She was expected to get married early and stay at home to raise the children. This, however, was not for her. There were moments when she wanted to walk away from conventional norms. She did not feel supported to do things outside the standard for a woman from a rural community in Mexico. To make matters worse, the challenges toward becoming a space professional started at home. Unfortunately, her home environment was very dysfunctional, and her father was affected by alcoholism. More times than not it was very difficult to maintain the motivation, even the meaning of life at all. Moreover, her youngest sister's health problems aggravated the despair. Despite the distress, her mother kept strong, motivating her siblings and her to excel at school. “La única herencia que les puedo dejar es el estudio,” her mother constantly stated as part of her encouragement. For the most part the education she received in Mexico was low cost or free, so her mother contributed by preparing food for them and keeping the house clean so they could focus on studying.

There were times when her father offered some motivation when her sadness was at its deepest depths. Although he lacked a much‐needed loving tone, she believes he had noble intentions.

After all, it must have been difficult to deal with a daughter who rejected the standard way of life and who threatened to drag him into a future he did not understand. Sadly, others find their escape from such a dysfunctional toxic family nucleus through drugs and poor decisions. Fortunately, all the effort that her mother put into her was the fuel that kept her going, and she is thankful that studying hard became her escape. Diana believes the Latinx society should cultivate interest in science and technology in their daily lives. This highlights the importance of Ad Astra Media, which is seeking to inspire kids to study and enter the STEM fields. Once we are there, the interest in learning something new, such as becoming proficient in digital technologies, can become second nature. Our current lifestyle within an interconnected world makes access to the internet a necessity, not a luxury.

To narrow the digital divide, providing free access to underserved communities is key. Expand the resources allocated for facilities such as public libraries and community centers, and make the Latinx community aware that the resources are free at those locations. Also, schools partnering with government to provide hotspots for every student for home use could help us narrow the digital divide faster.

Once larger‐scale access is achieved, members of the Latinx community have to stop being afraid of learning new things and dive into the online world. Diana would encourage them to not give up just because it did not work the first few times. On the point about “How can we be at the decision‐making table?” Diana believes that Latinx people came to this country to build a better life. In a sense they felt their own governments failed them back home. Some of those governments cannot get anything done because they don't get serious.

To be at the decision‐making table, the Latinx community has to get serious. Latinx immigrants in the United States have the opportunity to get serious. We strongly encourage Latinx community members to not put limits on themselves and to not be influenced by foolish stereotypes and prejudice such as sexism/machismo that blinds fruitful action. Fathers have to embrace their daughters' potential and make sure they let them know they can become anything in life without limits. Diana would encourage members of the Latinx community to not ignore problems and instead tackle them directly to get ahead. See a problem? Work on a solution, don't put it off until later. This is the core of innovation. It takes work. Everything takes work. Nothing is accomplished without work. We as Latinx have to awaken, organize, and go take the power that belongs to us; no one is going to give it to us unless we start taking risks.

The encouragement of someone close to us is the little push we all need to get ahead. That someone can be a mother, a father, an uncle, a friend. When she was a teenager, her uncle and aunt constantly asked her: “¿Qué vas a estudiar cuando seas grande?” That simple question made her realize that a career was something to consider in her life and it was of big importance. Diana came to realize that, with the lack of an astronomy career option in Central Mexico, studying physics was going to get her closer to fulfilling her desires. From elementary school she competed in academic contests, and she constantly brought home multiple recognitions and awards. One such award distributed computer systems to top students. This was a game changer as her parents did not have the means to purchase a computer for her that could help her turn in better homework assignments. She believes that her academic discipline and God's favor compensated her during the last year of her undergraduate education when she became the first winner of the John N. Bahcall Award, in honor of his pioneering work in astro‐particle physics.

She was in a national competition in Mexico that granted her a summer position at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) as specialist in the field of astrophysics. She graduated with a BS in physics from Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas with honors, and later she went on to work toward her MS in physics at San Francisco State University (SFSU) alongside her husband. She graduated with honors from SFSU. Close to graduation, she discovered her passion for rocket science! The daily drive by the San Francisco International Airport made her realize that aerospace engineering was the bridge that would connect her to the exploration of the night sky she had observed as a girl. She then pursued a PhD in aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University, which offered one of the top programs of the nation in the field.

Her parents were not much involved in her higher education because they did not understand what physics or astronautics was. As a first‐generation student, her path in college and graduate school was not easy, since she had to figure out for herself what was the next step to take every time. During the most difficult times at San Francisco State and Stanford, she came across people who cared, friends, certain professors, and people in higher roles such as associate deans of engineering.

Those encounters kept her going as she realized that someone actually cared if she graduated. As Diana mentioned, one must always be willing to learn something new. Immigrants come to this country with the desire to build a better future. However, the society in this country is dominated by the English language. In order to have access to optimum opportunities offered by this country we could make a bigger effort to become English proficient. Spanish is a beautiful language that we must continue to pass to future generations, but bilingualism and biliteracy can only put us at an advantage. If you are shy about speaking English because you are just starting to learn, don't be afraid to speak, leave your comfort zone and say what you need to say. The right pronunciation will come with practice, practice, practice! Latinx youth have to start populating colleges and universities. Even more so graduate schools, because finishing graduate school becomes “part of the solution.” Do not be afraid of graduate school. For certain programs, among them STEM fields, graduate school can get paid for with scholarships and fellowships. That removes the loan borrowing factor. You don't have to be awarded a big fellowship, but you can have multiple smaller fellowships to make ends meet. A higher presence of Latinx members in higher education can be a model for future generations to help them to believe they belong there. Sadly, stereotyping and racism also exist among members of the Latinx community. We must start practicing more equality among ourselves, among women and men, stop the “machismo” culture. Stop thinking of someone else as a less person because of the color of their skin. And do not downplay the achievements of other Latinxs. If we cannot change this mindset, we have lost the battle. Diana believes that we have to be open to build relationships with people from other cultures. Educating youth is a shared responsibility. By opening to the world, the world can open to us. In this way we can build a broader sense of community. Engaging with others on intellectual and emotional levels can help us create opportunities for access and at the same time share responsibility and accountability. Members of the Latinx community must organize to be more involved in advocacy activities and help facilitate such practices.

Make involvement easier for hard‐working parents. Diana believes that the constraint that weights the most and impedes the involvement of Spanish‐speaking parents in their child's education is long working hours. Legislation should be passed that permits work leave to allow parents the time to attend school activities with their kids. Additionally, community centers could establish sessions to help Spanish‐speaking parents learn to access the internet and establish online parent‐teacher connections to guide parents on their children's needs and update parents of academic events through social media. However, she also believes that there are special cases in which Spanish‐speaking parents are not involved in their child's education because they themselves did not attend school, and do not know how to guide their children. This is vital because parents or family members that show even the smallest interest in one's education could be a driving force for kids and teenagers to achieve greater goals.

After 20 years of a great career at Cisco, leading the IT, Technology, and Transformation department, Guillermo Diaz mentions it was time to move into a new phase, one that combines what he has built on his foundation and career thus far.

Guillermo wanted to combine his purpose of building that intersection and something that would change the world. Guillermo mentioned that he is leading Kloudspot as CEO to “Inspire Lives – in Real Time,” using AI and the power of the network to give people insights, in real time, to make decisions on their next actions – shoppers, employees, and students.

Also, as Chairman of HITEC, he is laser‐focused on raising the next generation of Technology Leaders, who happen to be Latino – all the way down to the students at (Cristo Rey San José Jesuit High School, in San José, California). He is also on the board of directors of Blue Shield of California, in the heart of the biggest issue that the world is facing: healthcare.

When Guillermo looks back, he recalls his first glimpse of his platform as a young Navy sailor. He had no concept of diversity because he grew up on the eastside of Pueblo, Colorado, which is a mostly Latino community. Looking back, he realizes this made him a bit sheltered. One day, in a Navy boot‐camp inspection, the commander asked him to remove his cover (hat). He took a look at Guillermo's hair, which was just growing back from “the shave,” and was slicked back. He said, “How did they let a cholo like you in my Navy?”

Guillermo did everything he could to not do something stupid, but in reality that was a powerful moment for him. A moment when he told himself that he would never, ever let anyone tell him what he could or could not do. It created a fire, an inspiration, a determination to “Never allow himself to let color, race, gender, or whatever get in the way of moving myself and others forward. Adelante.”

He didn't realize it at the time, but the Navy helped lay the groundwork for his platform. A platform that bridges people and technology.

In addition to inspiring his drive to move forward, Guillermo credits the Navy for his introduction to technology. It's where he learned about an exciting field called telecommunications and networks. The technology experience he gained allowed him to accelerate his career and would ultimately provide him the privilege of becoming an executive leader at one of the greatest technology companies in the world: Cisco.

In the early days of the internet and communications, it became evident that this was a hot area, and Guillermo felt like it was in the right place at the right time. So, a bit of luck – and a lot of ganas and passion – helped him find his path.

Along the way, although he loved his job, he knew he had even more to offer. Guillermo asked himself, “Why am I on this earth? How did I end up here, where all this technology is taking off?” The answer came to him over time.

“Always remember where you came from to know where you are going.” This phrase stuck with him and now he can share it with others. Guillermo reminds us that our past makes us who we are and creates our foundation. That foundation can be used as a springboard to do new and exciting things that impact the world.

A short time later, he was at a community event for Cisco Conexión where they were giving out backpacks to students – an event he didn't feel he had time for because he was too busy at work. A little boy cried when he gave him a backpack. When he asked why, he replied, “I've never had a backpack before.” He had to take a moment. He told himself, “You have to step up here, buddy.” It was then he realized that his role wasn't just about work anymore; it was broader. “I now had a clear purpose: to help raise the next generation of leaders – of Hispanic technology leaders.”

In the technology industry, the bar seems to be set at 5 percent. If your company has a Hispanic/Latinx demographic of 5 percent, then you're doing pretty well. With Hispanic women the numbers dwindle even more. And that's just not good enough. This is where he believes that he can make an impact and has fully embraced his purpose of raising the next generation of Hispanic technology leaders.

He is very proud of the work being done by the Hispanic IT Executive Council (HITEC) Foundation, which focuses on students in technology. He served as the board chair of the foundation and has worked with incredible people who share his purpose. In 2020, he was blessed to become chairman of the broader HITEC organization, and they are laser‐focused on building executive leadership in technology and bridging to the pipeline provided by the HITEC Foundation.

He often has the opportunity to connect with peers and customers, and when he asked them about the biggest impediment to driving a transformation or change, the answer he used to expect was “technology.”

Culture is propagated and inspired by the leader, and as leaders we have the opportunity to influence real change. Leaders have to believe in the vision they set with all their heart. (Leaders wear their heart on their sleeve, to believe in something big.)

More importantly, leaders have to believe in the power of relationships. He calls his philosophy ROI, which stands for Relationships Over Issues – something he learned from a great mentor of his. Every day we deal with issues. But just like financial ROI (return on investment), when you invest in relationships, the business and emotional returns from resolving issues can be exponential. So really, ROI equals ROI.

Every year, Guillermo sets the tone for his teams with a word or phrase for the year. This year's phrase is: “Inspire reinvention.” He would ask himself every day, “Are you living up to that phrase?” He has driven reinvention in the past, but this year it has a more profound personal meaning. He shifted his role at Cisco and his role in HITEC, so he is resilient in changing his whole mindset. After having been in IT for decades, he is taking the foundation he built to reinvent himself.

Guillermo feels very strongly about leveraging his platform to fulfill his purpose. His hope is that all of you feel the same responsibility to raise the next generation to walk in your shoes someday.

Felicidades!

Jose Hernandez's story began well before he was born. His father, at age 15, first came to the United States out of economic necessity to work in the only area he knew, which was agriculture. Like many of his fellow Michoacanos from Mexico, he quickly established a routine where he would cross the border without proper documentation and follow the harvest. First he would work two months in Southern California and afterward move to Central California, near Salinas, for another two months, and finally he would move on to the Northern California in the Stockton area, where he would spend five months.

Jose's dad would return to Mexico for three months in the wintertime and the cycle would repeat itself year after year. After turning 18 his father was able to get his documents in order and was free to come and go as he pleased.

His parents were married very young, and his father included his mother in this corrida, or nomadic lifestyle, in which they spent nine months in California and three months in Michoacan, Mexico. With marriage came the kids, and Jose is the youngest of four. Where one was born was dictated by the month of birth. Two siblings were born during peak harvest season and thus were born in California, while the two eldest siblings were born in the winter months and thus call Mexico their birthplace.

Going to school was difficult for Jose in the beginning, as he had three different teachers in three different cities in one school year. To make matters worse, the children self‐studied in Mexico for three months by taking three months' worth of homework from their teachers. This was not a very conducive environment in which to learn the English language, let alone the lesson plan of the teachers! Things improved when his second‐grade teacher paid a visit to his parents and convinced them to leave this nomadic lifestyle. This was when the family began to call Stockton, California, their home. They still went to Mexico every year but their three‐month trips shrank to only three weeks centered on the Christmas vacation. It was then when the children's education finally began to gain traction.

Jose's dream of becoming an astronaut was conceived when he was 10 years old. If you can picture a 10‐year‐old boy kneeling in front of an old black‐and‐white vacuum‐tube television with rabbit‐ear antennas watching the very last Apollo mission, well, that was Jose. The Apollo era was when the United States was first sending humans to the moon. When this occurred the family could watch the launch, the landing on the moon, and the astronauts walking in low gravity, ending with the splashdown return to Earth. He was lucky enough to have caught the very last mission of this era, which was the Apollo 17 mission. Upon seeing and hearing astronaut Eugene Cernan walk on the moon, he knew that this was what he wanted to be! He shared this dream with his father that same evening. Jose recalls that although his father and mother only had third‐grade educations, they had the wisdom to empower his dreams and make him believe he could reach it! With this empowerment he set out on his journey to become an astronaut.

The journey was long and arduous. It is not easy for a young boy growing up in a bicultural environment to succeed, particularly a boy living with the great socioeconomic challenges he had. But he forged ahead, and instead of getting distracted with drugs, low‐riders, and the way of life in their barrio, Jose focused on his studies. He still assimilated in his neighborhood as he drove around in a slightly lowered 1964 Chevy Impala Super Sport. It was out of necessity that one assimilates so as not to be targeted by neighborhood gang members. Paying for college was another challenge, but through his high school counselor, he got a decent paying job at a cannery that turned tomatoes into ketchup and fruit into canned fruit cocktail. Once graduating from college, he decided to continue his studies and went to pursue his graduate degree. From there he was hired at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and, when eligible, immediately began to apply to the NASA Astronaut program. Getting selected was not easy. One has to not let rejection bring you down. Instead one needs to learn from failures so that one can better prepare oneself before making another attempt. Perseverance is another trait he needed: NASA rejected him 11 times before he was finally accepted to the 19th class of astronauts on his 12th attempt.

The digital divide is a phenomenon that especially affects the Latino community. For those of us who take having access to the internet and knowing how to use computers for granted, Jose makes a comparison that perhaps will help you appreciate just how real this divide is. He sees teaching computer literacy as difficult as teaching another language. In other words, if someone came and spoke to you in a language you did not understand, imagine how frustrating it would be if you needed to fill out forms in that particular language. The same occurs with people who have not been around computers or the internet, and yet they are expected to fill forms online, have parent‐teacher meetings via Zoom, download the grades of their children, and so on.

The solution? Jose believes greater and more concentrated efforts should be made in offering courses and workshops to people who want to learn. But it does not have to stop there, because resources are also required to close the gap on this great digital divide. Some families simply cannot afford a monthly internet bill, let alone a computer. To solve this problem, he believes computer manufacturers should partner with government and give families that demonstrate the need some basic training, and that service providers should be required to give free access to the internet to these families. Furthermore, community centers should have hot spots and courses on using the computers and internet. In doing so, we can make the Latino community more computer‐literate, allowing them to take advantage of online social and medical services.

Isaura S. Gaeta was born in Chicago, Illinois, to a family that lived in a Spanish‐speaking barrio. She didn't learn to speak English until she was five years old and her family moved to California. Isaura is between the first and second generation in the United States, but there is some interesting background to her U.S. status. Her father was also born in Chicago in 1930, but soon thereafter, during the Mexican Repatriation, his family was deported to Jalisco, Mexico. Her father then returned to the United States in his late teens and was a farmworker in Bakersfield until he was drafted into the U.S. Army. Her mother is from Guadalajara, Mexico, and married Isaura's father when he finished his service in the army and they settled in Chicago. Her father learned to be a machinist in the army and then held a blue‐collar job in Chicago. Since both of her parents did not finish high school, they strongly encouraged her and her brothers to study and do well in school. Isaura and her older brother are the first generation to go to college within a year of each other. They both received scholarships to study engineering.

Going to college and studying engineering was not originally the plan for both of them. Isaura attended public schools in Santa Clara County, and the system did not encourage Latino kids to prepare for college in those days. Her high school counselor would not allow her to take Drafting and Electronics because “girls don't take those classes,” and he scoffed when she told him her desire was to apply to Stanford University. He told her she would never be accepted and that she would be better off applying to the local state university. Luckily, she did not follow his advice and eventually did take the classes she wanted to take and applied and was accepted to Stanford University, where Isaura studied Electrical Engineering.

Studying electrical engineering at Stanford was very difficult, especially since Isaura's high school had not offered Calculus or advanced science courses, so she was experiencing most of the math and science concepts for the very first time. Competing against private school kids who were very well prepared was intimidating and made Isaura feel like she didn't belong. Thankfully, Stanford was just starting to have Chicano student groups, and she joined the pre‐engineering group and, together with her peers, they powered through the courses. If she had not had this Latino student community, she doesn't think she would have made it through her first year. In her senior year, Isaura was the president of the pre‐engineering group, the Stanford Society of Chicano and Latino Engineers and Scientists – a position that helped her develop her early leadership skills. She stayed at Stanford for her master's degree, also in Electrical Engineering, with a focus on logic design and semiconductor processing.

One of the best decisions she made in graduate school was to focus on her coursework in semiconductor processing. This combination of science, chemistry, physics, electrical engineering, and computer modeling was not only fun to learn but is also the basis for computer chip manufacturing, which is what made Santa Clara Valley become “Silicon Valley.” Upon graduation, she started working at Fairchild Semiconductor in Mountain View at an astounding salary of $27,900 per year. Isaura was ready to lean in, but the workplace was not ready for someone like her.

In the early 1980s, the semiconductor industry was still in the wild west days of chip design. Many business decisions were made through wheeling and dealing during cigarette‐smoke‐filled lunches, and those decisions were mainly in the hands of the white male engineers who dominated the workforce at that time. Imagine that along comes a petite young Latina engineer with Stanford ideas on how to design experiments or write up their technical reports: Isaura either received startled looks or was ignored by her colleagues. They couldn't ignore her results though, so she managed to power through once again due to perseverance and hard work.

Isaura's secret power during this time is that she spent a lot of time in the wafer fabrication area (the Fab) learning how things worked. Most of the technicians in the Fab were Latino or Filipino, so she bonded with them and learned a lot from them. They would run her experiments with extra care and give her advice on which tools were running the best, which helped her to achieve the best outcomes on these experiments. Although her engineering colleagues had a hard time accepting her, her Fab buddies were her communidad and helped her develop the skills that made her a great engineer. One of the little‐known Silicon Valley stories is about these amazing technicians who enabled the success of semiconductor companies, and many of these technicians were Latinas!

After two years at Fairchild, Isaura left to go to Intel Corporation, where she was promoted quickly based on her experience developing semiconductor technologies. She has been at Intel for more than 35 years and has worked in multiple sectors of the business.

Growing up in Silicon Valley, she experienced the digital divide, but she truly believed the situation would improve quickly over time. During her generation, there were scholarships and outreach to get more Latinx students to go into engineering. In the early 1980s, they formed the San José Coalition of Latino Engineers and Scientists (CLES) a group of like‐minded young professional Latinos from IBM, General Electric, Lockheed, Westinghouse, PG&E, and Intel. They held workshops on engineering and did a lot of activities with students. It seemed at the time that more students were going into engineering than ever before. But then in the late 1980s, with growing demand for computer scientists, many professors joined the industry and left universities unprepared to handle a surge of students. Admission was limited and, ultimately, the number of computer science graduates declined. As the demand was filled by foreign graduates, U.S. students steered away from engineering because the opportunities were limited. The number of scholarships for engineering students reduced, and the number of Latinos going into engineering also declined as a result. Sadly, the interest in engineering careers dwindled, especially in the Latino community.

In the era of the internet and with the allure of entrepreneurial successes of companies like Google and Facebook, technology careers have made a comeback. For the Latino community, it has been difficult to shift gears because preparation for a career in technology starts in middle school. It is important to take the right middle school math and science classes to enable eligibility for college prep classes in high school. Unfortunately, many public schools in predominately Latino neighborhoods don't have enough resources to offer these courses. Many of these gaps are made up for by nonprofit groups focused on education (e.g., the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley) or charter/private schools with a focus on outreach to Latino students, or private sector companies like Ad Astra Media.

What can industry do to help bridge the digital divide? First, it is in the best interest of the technology sector to help improve the educational outcome of the communities where they are located, partnering private sector and nonprofit entities to create specific content to teach appropriate skills training. Not only does this create a future workforce from which to hire, but it also provides a retention incentive for current employees if the community provides a high‐quality education for their children. Second, internship opportunities are a win‐win employment situation. An intern gains the exposure and skills during an internship, making them a more desirable hire once they graduate. The company that takes on the intern can assess that student's strengths and weaknesses and can train them to be a great fit for their unique needs. With the modest investment of an internship, the company may generate a pipeline of diverse talent.

For companies to see the opportunities that may exist in their own backyard, it is important to have ears and eyes in their surrounding communities. One easy way to do this is by supporting employee resource groups or affinity groups that do outreach in the community. By listening to these employee voices, they can learn specifically where they can have the biggest impact. For example, if awareness of career opportunities is a gap, the company can support employees to visit local schools or universities to talk about careers with students. If the gap is in school resources, the company may offer grants or allow employees to volunteer time to fill these gaps. If every company pitched in a bit, the entire community would benefit, and we could go a long way in closing the digital divide across communities.

Isaura is the Vice President of Security Research in the Product Assurance and Security group at Intel Corporation. She currently leads a team of hackers and they try to break their products before they go into production. Isaura has worked in semiconductor processing, hardware design, and now security research – all which has an under‐representation of women and Latinos. She is very motivated to raise awareness and open doors to improve representation in these fields. When they have job openings, they try hard to fill them with diverse individuals. Within her company, she sits on the Executive Diversity Council with their company's CEO, where they advocate for internal and external diversity, inclusion, and equity measures to improve their workplace and the industry. She is an advisor for employee resource groups for Latinos, technical women, LGBTQ, and Latin American–region employees. In addition, she sits on the board of a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring community philanthropy and engaging people to invest in the educational achievement in the Hispanic Community.

Isaura states she is not an overnight success. She has gotten to where she is in her career due to hard work and perseverance steadily over three decades. One of her strongest attributes is persistence. She does not give up easily. She can point to several times during her career when opportunities that she was interested in were not offered to her. She remembers one case where her leadership team was considering relocating their group from California to Oregon. The leader of the group went to every manager and asked them specifically if they would make the move and what position they would be interested to take in this new organization. She noticed that he didn't ask her. When she asked him about it, he said, “Oh, you are married and have kids, so I didn't think you would be interested in moving.” There were other more subtle snubs where she was not automatically selected for the new project or for upcoming promotions. She is certain many of these were due to unconscious bias where they don't even think of the petite Latina and revert to their “go‐to guys” almost by instinct. She had to learn, through trial and error, how to get her voice heard and how to advocate for herself in a way that was acceptable in the workforce. It was difficult, but this is how she progressed.

Isaura can't point to a specific mentor she had during the first two decades of her career, but she did have several allies. These allies could be colleagues who really respected her work and would support her ideas when she spoke up in meetings. The allies were also other female engineers; they were few and far between, so it was a survival skill to have each other's backs and share information on upcoming jobs or individuals to avoid in the workplace. Her allies were also other Latinos (mostly men) either at work or in the professional engineering organizations that she participated in outside of work. Those organizations, such as the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), for which she was the San José chapter president in the mid‐ 1980s, helped build leadership skills that were completely fungible to the workplace and thus also played a part in her career growth.

More recently, she has had mentors and sponsors in her life. She really values the senior leadership advice they gave her as there were few role models early in her life who attained the level of VP, SVP, or CEO. Learning to navigate corporate America at the highest levels requires a strong support group, mentors, allies, and sponsors.

Growing up, Isaura's father taught her to treat everyone with respect. So, she chose the following quote from Benito Juarez for her high school yearbook, under her graduation photo, “El derecho ajeno es la paz.” She makes it a point to say hello and thank you to all custodial and cafeteria workers at her workplace, as she believes their jobs are just as important as hers.

More recently, Isaura started to use the following acronym to represent her mission – CPU. As a woman in the industry, she focused on building CPUs, the central processing unit or so‐called brains of the computer. Her own CPU acronym stands for Commit, Persist, and Unite. Commit to be your best self every day. Persist despite setbacks. And Unite, because you can't get there alone.