Dante and Itzel are working to empower the next generation of Computer Science Latina Leaders across California

Meet Dante and Itzel, co-founders of Latina Engineers Leadership Program (LELP)—a 4-month virtual mentorship experience to empower the next generation of Computer Science Latina Leaders across California.

Dante and Itzel before LELP

Itzel was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, and is a first-generation immigrant and DACA recipient. Though she has not been able to return home, she cherishes it more and feels very proud of her customs. When Itzel was 7 years old, she immigrated to Los Angeles and later moved up to the Bay Area for college. She is the first in her family to attend college and double majored in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Berkley. Upon graduating in 2017, Itzel has been working as a Software Engineer at Pandora Media in Oakland, California.

Dante, a second-generation Latinx of Mexican and Chinese heritage, was born in Chula Vista, CA, and grew up in the US-Mexico border between San Diego and Tijuana. Throughout elementary and middle school, Dante crossed the border every morning to attain better education and opportunities in the US. He then moved to San Diego to attend high school and the Bay Area for college. Also a UC Berkeley alumn, he majored in Business Administration at the Haas School of Business and earned a Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Technology from the College of Engineering. He worked at Facebook for almost two years on the Instagram Shopping and Ads product teams in Silicon Valley, and recently joined Airbnb in San Francisco, where he is part of the Research and Design organization working on their Payments platform.

Latina Engineers takes hold

In 2017, Dante and Itzel started Latina Engineers as a passion project, which blossomed from the challenging experiences that Itzel faced as a first-generation Latina college student pursuing Computer Science. According to NCWIT, Hispanic women made up only 2% of the computing workforce in 2018. To increase representation and elevate Latinas, they have developed a personalized curriculum that consists of 15 virtual workshops, guest speaker sessions, mock technical interviews with engineers, personalized 1-1 mentorship, a strong network of Latina undergrads and a tour of the top tech companies in Silicon Valley. 

Here are some of the positive results they have accumulated since the launch of LELP:

• 15 total student participants in LELP from 2018 – 2019
• 2 students from the 2018 cohort landed Software Engineering internships at Google and Facebook.
• This year, so far 2 students have landed internships at Northrop Grumman and ADP
• 30 workshops = 50+ hrs of virtual workshops and 1-1 technical mentorship sessions with our students
• After their program, all students felt confident and prepared to land technical internships, developed a professional resume, received technical interview preparation (participated in 3 mock interviews), and grew their professional network substantially by connecting with guest speakers and other cohort participants.
• Several of the students were invited to be part of the 2019 Grace Hopper Conference – Aspiring Technologists program thanks to the support and partnership with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation
• Runner-Ups for Google’s 2017 Hispanic Heritage Month “Pay It Forward” Challenge 

Last, but certainly not least, at the beginning of this year, the Westly Foundation recognized the work and impact they have on their community, and we were selected as a recipient of the 2019 Westly Prize.

“Our efforts to expose more Latinx students to the world of tech and computer science extend beyond the work that we do through the Latinas Engineering Leadership Program, throughout the past years we’ve also hosted several workshops and participated in multiple panels at colleges, high schools, and conferences to share advice that has helped us land opportunities in the tech industry and shows people in our community that we can be at the forefront of developing the technology of tomorrow.”

In addition to speaking engagements, they launched a Youtube Channel called Dante and Itzel to reach and help more students around the world to have access to career advice and exposure to different opportunities available to them.

Here are a couple of videos we recommend for students in tech or curious readers:

1. Resume Tips 2019: 5 Tips to Make Your Resume Stand Out! 
2. 15 Careers in Tech – What opportunities are there for me in tech?
3. A Day in the Life of a Software Engineer at Pandora 

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/embed?listType=playlist&list=UUYzsmMZvIlon5zEgOXKsPUw&layout=gallery[/embedyt]

Lessons from Dante and Itzel to fellow Latinopreneurs

Dante and Itzel faced difficulties spreading the word of their program and managing time while having full-time jobs in technology companies. They were able to recruit the first cohort through their community of Latinx professionals, social media channels, alumni from other leadership cohorts they have participated in and, especially, college counselors and advisors from their schools and professional network. Second, they have been able to time manage by planning all the workshops in advance and conducting all of the workshops on Saturday mornings.

The advice they would give Latinos trying to start a venture in the US is:

1. Act now: Latinxs are born entrepreneurs; it’s in the DNA of our community to solve problems, to persevere, be creative, and to help others. We need you!
2. Make a list of organizations that will fund your venture through grants or investments.
3. Create a website and social media profiles where people can find out about your venture—include a section for visitors to learn about the story behind your idea.
4. Empathy is key: constantly test your idea, and iterate as needed. Always put the users at the center of the experience and your venture’s decision-making.
5. Find mentors and people to support you. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people to ask for mentorship or learn more about the market you are working in.
6. Talk to people about what you are building and constantly get feedback. Share your ideas with your friends, when you are on a Lyft/Uber, at networking events, at school, online, and be constantly improving your pitch and evolving your idea based on the feedback that you receive, or research that you conduct.

Contact information

Be sure to follow Dante and Itzel on Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube. If you know someone who might be interested in this program for future cohorts, share this article with them and motivate them to join a community of Latinx Engineers!