Series
.

Adela Cepeda

Welcome to another empowering episode of A LA LATINA: The Playbook to Succeed Being Your Authentic Self. Today we’re thrilled to share the insights and journey of an exceptional guest, Adela Cepeda, General Partner of Angeles Ventures.

With a profound expertise in the financial sector, she has played a pivotal role in advising municipalities and corporations, guiding them through capital markets transactions that cumulatively surpass $150 billion. Her leadership and strategic insights have also led her to serve on the boards of notable financial institutions, including UBS Funds, Mercer Funds, and BMO Bank.

Beyond her contributions to the finance industry, Adela holds the position of Board Chair at Pathway Funds and Angeles Investor. These roles underscore her commitment to empowering Hispanic and Latinx ventures, focusing on discovering, funding, and nurturing the growth of promising enterprises within these communities. Adela's influence extends into the non-profit realm as well, where she actively supports arts and education.

She is a board member of Teatro Vista, a theater company dedicated to showcasing multidisciplinary artists of color, reflecting her dedication to cultural representation and diversity. Additionally, her involvement with the NACD Chicago Chapter and Rush University demonstrates her commitment to governance excellence and healthcare advancement. In this episode, Adela offers invaluable wisdom for those looking to expand their horizons and break new ground in their professional and personal lives.

Her experiences and strategies provide a roadmap for success, tailored specifically to our vibrant Latino community. Here are the three key takeaways from our conversation:

Invest in Your Growth: Adela emphasizes the importance of dedicating 10 to 20% of your time to learning. This commitment to continuous education is crucial for personal and professional development, enabling you to grow beyond your current boundaries.

Leverage Your Multilingual Skills: As Latinos, our ability to navigate multiple languages is a significant advantage. Adela advises extending this skill to the professional domains we aspire to excel in. Whether it’s mastering the language of the boardroom or understanding the specific jargon of your field, speaking the right language opens doors and facilitates meaningful connections.

Design Your Pathway to the Boardroom: For those dreaming of landing a position on a board, Adela shares a practical playbook. The journey begins with becoming an expert in your field and strategically gaining visibility and exposure. Her advice offers a clear path to achieving this prestigious milestone, demonstrating that with the right approach, these goals are within reach.

This episode is more than just a conversation; it’s a beacon of hope and a source of actionable advice for anyone looking to navigate their path to success while staying true to their authentic self. Join us as we delve into Adela’s inspiring story and extract lessons that can light the way for your own journey.

Tune in now for a dose of inspiration and practical tips to elevate your life and career, the Latina way.

Be bold, be you, and let's make waves together.
Show transcript
00:00
We are Multilingual people.
00:02
Let's not forget, almost all professions have their language and being
00:07
on a board has a language.
00:08
It's the language of governance.
00:10
It's the language of the audit committee.
00:12
We already have learned two languages.
00:15
Let's embrace the language of our profession or of the career we
00:20
wanna have. Hola,
00:22
I'm Claudia Romo Edelman and I'm Cynthia Cleo Milner.
00:25
And this is a podcast,
00:26
a La Latina, the playbook to succeed being your authentic self
00:29
today, an incredible guest,
00:31
Adela Zepeda, general Partner of Angeles Ventures.
00:35
And here are the three key takeaways of this podcast.
00:38
Number one, devote 10 to 20% of your time to learning
00:42
continuous learning is going to enable you to grow.
00:46
Number two, we are already Multilingual as Latinos.
00:49
So it's important to speak the language of the profession and places
00:52
you want to be involved in.
00:54
For example, if you're interested in getting on a board,
00:56
learn the board language and speaking of getting on a board,
00:59
she gave us a playbook for how we can get on a
01:02
board. And that starts with being an expert on your field
01:06
and getting visibility and exposure all of that.
01:08
And more here at a la Latina Cynthia.
01:18
You're the Chief Marketing Officer of Money Lion.
01:21
But let me ask you,
01:21
what is Money Lion?
01:22
Money Lion is a finance app that was created to help everyone
01:26
make better financial decisions because the financial services industry has historically been
01:31
very focused on people that already have Money and Money Lion for
01:35
the last 10 years has been building products for the average American
01:39
products that will actually help you reach your financial dreams.
01:43
I'll give you the example of our raw money account,
01:45
which is our banking product that has all the features of premium
01:50
banking checking accounts, like no minimum balances,
01:53
no hidden fees, no ATM fees at over 55,000 locations.
01:57
The list goes on and on.
01:58
But we also build some very unique features for people like our
02:03
Latino community. We have something called round ups.
02:06
If you have spare change,
02:08
instead of just spending it on whatever you can invest it automatically
02:13
and start building wealth.
02:14
And for those moments when you paid hasn't arrived and you need
02:18
a little bit of cash.
02:19
We have a product called Inst Cash and you can get up
02:21
to $1000 in a cash advance.
02:23
We also have educational content that is really fun to watch but
02:27
actually helps you make financial decisions and a community of what we
02:31
call money lions like our Latinos who help each other out in
02:34
their journey to the American dream.
02:36
So how can Latinos and myself get on going with the Money
02:40
Lion download the app.
02:41
You can do that either on Money lion.com or in the App
02:44
Store or Google Store.
02:46
Today. Adela Zepeda.
02:48
Adela is a business leader with more than 40 years of experience
02:52
in the finance field.
02:53
She has advised municipalities and corporations on the structuring and execution of
02:58
capital market transactions exceeding $150 billion.
03:03
She is a board member of Funds Mercer Funds BM Bank and
03:07
a board chair of Pathways Funds Angeles Investors,
03:11
which has a mission to find fund and grow the most promising
03:16
Hispanic and Latinx Ventures.
03:17
On the non for profit side,
03:19
Adela is on the board of Teatro Vista,
03:21
a non for profit theater based company dedicated to multidisciplinary artists of
03:26
color, the N A CD Chicago chapter and Rush University.
03:31
So many things to have you,
03:34
Adela, you're a true Trailblazer.
03:36
Thank you. It's a true honor to have you with us
03:39
today. And we would like to start this podcast a La
03:42
Latina with Adela Zepeda asking you about our favorite subject,
03:45
which is your, what is your background?
03:47
What made you be,
03:48
who you are and what you do today?
03:50
Yeah, thanks. Thanks so much.
03:52
I'm really excited to be here with the two of you and
03:55
with an audience that's interested in what Latinas are doing.
03:58
Listen, I'm totally a product of my background and my family
04:03
my family immigrated to the United states in 1964.
04:09
And they brought me as a six year old with one mission
04:14
which was repeated to us every single day.
04:17
We left everything so that you could be well educated and become
04:21
a professional. The education I understood it meant going to school
04:25
I thought to do well,
04:27
the being a professional,
04:29
not so clear exactly what my father would say.
04:31
I don't want you to work with your hands like I do
04:34
he did air conditioning and refrigeration and I want you to
04:39
be in an office like your mother.
04:41
I think occasionally they might have said,
04:43
you know, be a doctor,
04:44
but they weren't that specific but be a professional.
04:47
And it was so repeated and so much a part of what
04:53
drove them that, you know,
04:55
eventually it gets into you and that becomes your goal.
05:00
So when did it stop being their dream and become my dream
05:04
I can't tell you for sure.
05:06
I knew I was competitive and wanted to be the best in
05:09
school. And then fortunately,
05:12
my mom had some background in education and she thought it was
05:17
a good thing to go to Harvard.
05:20
My father thought it was better if I stayed and went to
05:23
school on Long Island where we were then residing.
05:27
But she said no,
05:29
she needs to go to Harvard and that was that very easy
05:32
to get in. No.
05:33
So she said you should go to Harvard and you just showed
05:35
up with your, well,
05:36
no, I had already gotten in but I had many
05:39
choices everywhere I applied.
05:42
I, I was accepted Harvard,
05:43
Yale, Princeton like that.
05:45
And then also I had asked for some schools in Long Island
05:50
because I didn't think I would get into those schools.
05:52
But I did. And my mom said,
05:55
oh, no, Harvard,
05:56
can we just back up,
05:58
like backtrack for a second?
05:59
So you arrive from what country?
06:01
what was the English level?
06:03
The understanding of the country?
06:05
How is it that,
06:07
you know, how is it that they knew Harvard?
06:09
But also the Ivy Leagues?
06:11
And,, how is it that you made it to
06:14
apply to them and become,
06:16
you know, like a student that everybody wanted?
06:19
Yeah., they did not know English.
06:21
My parents struggled with the language and my father always spoke it
06:27
not. Well, they were well read.
06:30
My mom had gone through high school.
06:32
She had been trained to be a teacher.
06:34
She had wanted to go into law,
06:36
but it wasn't possible for her.
06:37
She didn't get a scholarship to go,
06:40
but she was very smart and she became a businesswoman in Colombia
06:44
when women didn't, certainly,
06:47
when married women didn't.
06:49
And then when women with Children didn't,
06:52
but she did. And my father in his business,
06:57
the refrigeration was very important.
07:00
We're from the coast.
07:01
So hospitals are, you know,
07:03
have good air conditioning systems.
07:06
He worked for the,
07:08
I mean,
07:08
Baptist Hospital and I think there must have been doctors that
07:13
came from the US to do be volunteers.
07:16
I don't know. And when we were born and the,
07:19
and started school, it was very expensive because you have to
07:22
go to private school in Colombia.
07:25
And I think the doctors said,
07:27
why don't you go to the US?
07:28
Education is free. So they had that idea.
07:32
I don't remember this because I came when I was six.
07:34
But my mom says the first two years I cried almost every
07:38
single day because I didn't understand the homework.
07:42
And I was in like slow classes.
07:44
I remember that because by third grade I was in a better
07:48
class. So they,
07:50
they kept moving me up by fourth grade or yeah.
07:55
Third. My father thought I was,
07:59
it was slow for me and he went to tell the teacher
08:03
she needs more and the teacher didn't like that and she took
08:07
a paperback copy of Bambi and threw it at me.
08:11
I remember it just flew and she said read that and write
08:15
a report.,
08:16
so I did by fourth grade,
08:18
I read honestly, maybe six times what everybody else did.
08:22
At least, maybe much more.
08:24
I just, the teacher was keeping track of what we read
08:27
and every, you got a star if you read a book
08:30
you know, I read 40 books and all the kids
08:32
read five books. I don't know.
08:34
So, you know,
08:35
that, that reading helped me get a bigger understanding,
08:40
a better understanding of the English language.
08:42
By sixth grade, I was a top student and by high
08:48
school, you know,
08:49
I, I heard how you got into the college from other
08:52
people. I heard you have to be well rounded and
08:57
that meant you have to be in sports and you have to
08:59
be in student government and you have to.
09:01
Whoa, I wasn't good in sports.
09:03
So I figured all those other things,
09:05
I was in student government.
09:06
I was, and I worked since I was 12,
09:09
I worked every day after school.
09:11
And you know, when I went for my interview for what
09:16
you're going to do in college and you're in,
09:17
in 11th grade, they said Harvard Ale in Princeton.
09:21
And I said, oh,
09:21
no, I need a local school too.
09:25
I think my father,
09:26
when he heard that they were both there,
09:28
maybe he heard she doesn't want to go away.
09:31
Which was probably true.
09:32
So that when I did get accepted,
09:34
he said, no,
09:35
we'll buy her a car and she can go here.
09:38
But no, that was the incentive.
09:40
No. And also I was never a good driver.
09:42
So that wasn't, that wasn't,
09:45
I'm very curious about how you knew that you needed to be
09:50
well rounded because you were like,
09:52
who was your network?
09:53
You didn't have uncles or like people that were giving you a
09:56
no. But in,
09:57
that's the, I told her,
09:58
I worked every, every day after school and also summer jobs
10:02
I was at a summer job at a social service agency
10:06
and a lady there had sons that were either in college or
10:11
applying. She had two or three of them and she said
10:14
it's not enough to have good grades.
10:15
Oh, my gosh.
10:16
That scared me because here I am the good grade girl.
10:19
And she said you have to be well rounded.
10:22
And I tried to understand what that meant and as soon as
10:26
I started ninth grade,
10:27
I joined student government,
10:29
the newspaper, things that I could do,
10:33
I could not be an athlete.
10:34
I already, you know,
10:36
I was the least popular person for,
10:38
group sports.
10:40
So I knew that wasn't possible but then that,
10:43
that and good grades.
10:45
And I think that what I hear is an incredible amount of
10:49
ambition from your parents for you.
10:52
What meant,,
10:53
talent from your side,
10:54
hard work from your side.
10:56
But there was also the role that your mom played in.
10:59
What I think that a lot of Latinas do not have the
11:02
privilege of having, which is breaking the root beliefs that some
11:06
parents have of attached and not letting the kids fly and go
11:09
as far as they go because they prefer to have them close
11:12
So, like you said,
11:14
I don't want to go.
11:16
Your parents probably, like your father probably picked it up so
11:19
many times we have heard.
11:21
From young Latinas that their dreams are bigger than their wings and
11:27
they, and their parents basically anchor them into a place.
11:30
So I think that there's something to be taught for Latinas that
11:35
are mo mothers right now of the role that you can play
11:38
in liberating your kids into,
11:41
you know, like allowing them to fly,
11:44
dream big but also have wings to fly.
11:46
Yeah, absolutely. You have to do that because these schools
11:51
some of them,
11:52
in addition to the education,
11:54
the network that these schools offer and I re I interviewed
11:59
and helped recruit students for Harvard for many years,
12:02
like 20 years. And sometimes with the Latino students,
12:06
that was a big problem,
12:07
the parents and I would talk to them,
12:10
it was either the,
12:11
you know, the loan and I would say,
12:13
well, if you get a car,
12:15
don't you take a loan?
12:16
Yes. I said,
12:17
well, that, that car isn't gonna be any good after
12:19
10 years, but his education is gonna be forever.
12:22
I tried so many things,
12:24
I would say half of them turned it down to stay local
12:28
to not go away.
12:30
So I wanna go back to,
12:32
to the previous answer that you gave because in,
12:34
in the little time that I've known you,
12:36
I can tell that you are a very good listener that when
12:40
somebody says something that resonates with you,
12:43
it can impact your life,
12:44
like you can actually make changes the two times that you said
12:47
it with me today are the first one.
12:49
Somebody said you should be well rounded and you like really go
12:53
out of your way to.
12:54
And then the second one,
12:55
which I would love to talk about it was when you apply
12:58
to H BS. And the dean said women are not
13:02
great at the quantitative stuff.
13:05
Can you tell us about that experience and what you did with
13:07
that new information? Yes.
13:09
One of the questions that you had for me was,
13:11
how did I get into finance?
13:13
You, you've interviewed other women but not in finance.
13:17
You know, finance is not historically a field for women.
13:21
Even recently, I'm reviewing some descriptive material of some leading firms
13:26
in finance and it's 30% women and that's not at the top
13:31
that's like maybe it's 40% at the lower level and at
13:35
the top, not 30%.
13:38
So it's an issue and finance in particular.
13:43
Well, I went to Harvard and it took me a while
13:45
to figure out what I was going to do.
13:47
I did study economics though.
13:50
And then I wanted to go to Harvard Business School.
13:53
I was involved in Harvard student agencies,
13:55
which is the student business organization.
13:58
It's where you run a business.
14:00
I ran the travel agency for three years.
14:03
I was the manager of it.
14:05
I got it hired for a fabulous summer job in,
14:09
AT&T, it was like the leading management program.
14:14
I got that. I was ready to go to Harvard Business
14:17
School. I applied the first day the door opened to apply
14:21
I walked over there,
14:22
I delivered my application when I got back the acceptance.
14:27
It was not for right away.
14:30
They asked for a two year deferral while that is very common
14:34
today. It was not common then.
14:37
So crises for me,
14:39
what am I going to do?
14:40
I didn't get in right away.
14:42
And the Dean of students of Harvard walked with me over to
14:47
the Business School to talk to them about it.
14:50
And the Dean of the Business School said,
14:52
yes, it's that we want students to have more business experience
14:56
I told him all my experiences.
14:57
He said, yeah,
14:58
I think it's good to go and get two years of experience
15:02
I said, well,
15:03
that's not so good.
15:03
If you're a woman,
15:04
when am I gonna be able to establish a family that's gonna
15:08
take so long? He said,
15:10
listen, it's, it's this is the way it's gonna be
15:14
And you know,
15:15
the women on H BS have more problems with the quantitative aspect
15:20
of the program. I said like what?
15:24
And he says Harvard Business School is not known for quantitative,
15:27
it's known for their case studies.
15:29
But he told me that I already had a job with AT&T
15:33
to go to their management program based on what he told me
15:38
because I wanted to excel at Harvard Business School.
15:41
I turned down that job and went to find a quantitative program
15:45
That's how I got into Smith Barney.
15:47
And then I wanted to excel and that took me 10 years
15:51
to do. Wow,
15:52
what a, what an incredible story.
15:54
But on Harvard and the Ivy Leagues you mentioned it is education
16:00
but the network as well and that many people turn it
16:03
down for whatever number of reasons.
16:06
But also many people do not even try because they have either
16:10
an imposter syndrome. They don't think that they can afford it
16:13
They don't think that they can do it.
16:15
And if I hear you or there's the head of the
16:18
Colombia Medical School that also is a Latina that went to Harvard
16:22
She said,
16:23
look, the only thing that I had was my hard work
16:27
and the opportunity to use my Latina credential to get a
16:30
scholarship and because, you know,
16:31
like they were needing more women and Latinas I got in so
16:35
being poor and being Latina helped me to try for the best
16:40
So I think that there's a message there about how women
16:43
particularly Latinas need to aim high or higher,
16:47
aim higher all the time because it's worth absolutely.
16:50
But listen, I had parents that were motivating me to aim
16:54
for the highest, like they said,
16:57
because when I raised well,
16:58
how, how are we gonna afford this?
17:01
My mom and my father both said,
17:03
whatever they would have to do they would do for me to
17:06
go, that I shouldn't be worried about that.
17:09
There was nothing that was gonna stop me from going there if
17:13
I had the opportunity and that's how they were.
17:16
And, you know,
17:18
I still worked all the way through college as many
17:21
as two jobs, even in the summer,
17:23
two jobs because I didn't want them.
17:25
I'm the oldest of five.
17:26
It was, it wasn't fair for me to get so much
17:29
of the resources. So I really paid other than the first
17:33
year I paid for myself.
17:34
But Harvard gave me a nice scholarship and I would say the
17:38
flip side, just like your friend at Colombia being a Latina
17:43
helped. I was told that year 1976 75 that Harvard was
17:49
looking for students of Latino background or Hispanic or whatever.
17:54
They didn't know exactly what it was.
17:57
And I can tell you on campus they didn't have any idea
18:00
what it was because they considered me on campus to be foreign
18:07
Whereas the Latino students that were Mexican American,
18:11
they were American Americanized and they were organizations for them
18:17
But not for me,
18:19
even when I went through the same because they used to tell
18:21
me, are you Latino in H BS,
18:24
there was a Latino association and I was like,
18:27
I don't know, I,
18:27
I Latino, I'm Mexican.
18:29
I, I'm, I'm an immigrant but now I feel very
18:31
Latina. But they had,
18:33
they had asked me people from Puerto Rican background,
18:38
Dominican. If there were any,
18:39
they weren't, they didn't consider it the same thing.
18:42
This has all changed.
18:43
Now, we have become more assertive about our identity.
18:48
And the fact that we come from Spanish speaking background is a
18:53
unifying force for Latinos that we need to embrace and not find
19:00
the differences between us.
19:02
But the similarities you talk to that.
19:05
Let's go. OK.
19:07
So let's take a trip through memory lane.
19:09
You have a very successful career in corporate America before you started
19:14
your own firm. Can you talk to us about how,
19:17
how did you succeed in corporate America?
19:20
What was your playbook?
19:21
What do you think were the,
19:22
the, the decisions that you made or how did you show
19:26
up at work that made you so successful?
19:29
I worked harder than anybody.
19:31
There was a time I remember it was like six or seven
19:36
weeks that I worked every single day and even though we were
19:39
investment bankers, we were investment bankers in Chicago.
19:42
That's not like investment banking in New York where you start at
19:47
nine and work till 12.
19:49
No, everybody there left to go have dinner at six o'clock
19:54
I came a little bit later but I stayed much later
19:57
and if I had to be there on the weekend,
19:58
I was and whatever,
20:00
so that anybody that needed something to be made by an analyst
20:05
If they gave it to me,
20:06
they knew they were gonna get it.
20:08
I you know, I just,
20:09
I learned, I learned,
20:10
I, I was curious,
20:12
I wanted to understand the language of finance,
20:15
which was honestly like a foreign language.
20:18
Took me a long time.
20:20
I can't tell you that I was proficient in it for at
20:23
least five years. It was hard,
20:27
even after studying economics,
20:29
it was very hard.
20:31
But I learned an incredible tool that I think is so
20:38
valuable to women and that is finance when you can open up
20:42
a financial statement and understand that company's position in the market,
20:48
in on and of itself,
20:49
does it need to sell debt?
20:50
Does it need more debt?
20:51
Does it need less debt?
20:53
What is it, what are the features that are making this
20:56
company great or not when you can do that?
21:00
Just on the numbers?
21:02
That's like such an amazing skill.
21:05
So working hard was one of the the superpowers that you brought
21:09
to the table to succeed in corporate America.
21:11
What else? Because I think that hearing that you pick up
21:14
from others, how did you learn to navigate?
21:16
Which is, you know,
21:17
like again as a first gen coming corporate America,
21:21
what else did you pick up from others that made you?
21:24
I Yeah, II I was the only woman for a while
21:28
for a long time.
21:29
professional woman, I learned how to market,
21:32
how to, how to sell,
21:34
how to, how did they position to get the business?
21:38
So I learned that I didn't have to use it so much
21:42
there. But when I had my own businesses,
21:44
I did. And why did you decide to leave corporate America
21:47
Well, the,
21:47
the business changed, you know,
21:49
Wall Street is very cyclical.
21:51
I was always in the capital markets.
21:54
So you go through like the last two years have been terrible
21:57
markets for initial public offerings.
21:59
That means in investment banking,
22:01
it's slow now. M and A is slow.
22:03
So those are times when,
22:05
and that was a moment when the firm changed and people left
22:10
and I and I had just had a third child.
22:14
I didn't want to be,
22:15
you know, running around the country,
22:17
taking clients to for institutional road shows to do an IP
22:22
O and there were no IP OS to be done.
22:24
And it was just seemed like a good moment with the third
22:28
child to stay home for a few years.
22:31
That's what I planned and was everything it seems to me like
22:35
you're such a superstar and you have such a value and resume
22:39
It was it everything sort of like,
22:41
did you have a plan?
22:42
Like for the next 30 years of my life,
22:44
I'm gonna do this.
22:45
Did you have a plan,
22:45
a strategy or did just happened to be that you had like
22:49
the most amazing career for the first chance few years in
22:54
investment banking. I had a plan.
22:56
That's how I would move up.
22:57
How much I would make all of that.
22:59
But then I took that break.
23:01
And so you did take a break when you had a few
23:04
months. But then somebody approached me about starting this new business
23:08
an investment management firm.
23:10
It would be women.
23:13
I didn't want to do it.
23:15
But I thought, ok,
23:16
if we find somebody to financially back up so that we get
23:19
paid something, I,
23:22
I'll do it and we found somebody to financially back us.
23:25
And so I had said I would do it under those circumstances
23:28
I did, I thought it would be,
23:30
I won't work so hard.
23:32
You don't work harder than you do for yourself.
23:35
I needed it to succeed.
23:37
Early in starting that.
23:39
I started that in May of 1991 in January of 1992 my
23:47
husband was diagnosed with a fatal cancer.
23:50
It was a secret.
23:53
The girls were the youngest wasn't even two.
23:58
I needed that business to succeed because I felt if it
24:01
succeeded, he would feel better,
24:04
he would not feel pressure.
24:07
He was a, a major success and he was a lawyer
24:10
and a partner in a law firm.
24:12
I didn't want him to feel pressure.
24:15
And I thought if I made this business succeed,
24:17
that would help him.
24:18
What else could I do?
24:20
He died. And the business wasn't enough for what I
24:25
needed to do with three Children,
24:28
a certain lifestyle that I didn't want to deprive them of because
24:33
Children don't sign up,
24:35
you know, they,
24:36
they sign up for two parents.
24:37
Now, they were only gonna have one.
24:39
I wasn't gonna change my lifestyle.
24:41
I had this great education,
24:42
this great experience. I was going to succeed at that in
24:47
a way that they could at least live.
24:49
Well, that's when you sold your business.
24:52
No, I, I left my interest there.
24:54
I mean, I,
24:55
I sold my little interest in the third and I started my
24:59
business advising governments. OK.
25:03
So suddenly I was a woman owned firm advising governments who were
25:08
supposedly wanting to do business with women.
25:12
Some of them Latinos maybe,
25:14
but mostly women. And I just took that as far as
25:17
I could. I had a lot of help.
25:19
Look. it being in Chicago was a big help.
25:23
My husband came from a political family.
25:27
Mayor Daley was great and supportive and all the other politicos in
25:33
Illinois were extremely helpful to me.
25:37
But then I won the New York City account on a Lark
25:42
just applied and, and,
25:45
and one to be the co advisor for New York City for
25:48
their major credits called the General Obligation Bonds for their specialized credits
25:54
Great experience. Had an office here,
25:57
still have my apartment here that took me to be the firm
26:02
that I started to be one of the top 10 in the
26:06
US for over 10 years in a row.
26:09
No other minority firm was in the top 10 every year.
26:14
And then I sold it,
26:15
which was right. It was 20 years old.
26:18
It was time. And,
26:20
you know,
26:20
II, I took the course at L Ban about scaling and
26:25
I thought about growing it and I didn't have the energy to
26:30
go more national. I already had the state of Connecticut as
26:34
well. They're very supportive state for,
26:37
women and minority owned businesses.
26:39
And I said,,
26:41
let me just sell,
26:42
let somebody else take it and I sold to the number
26:45
one in the industry.
26:46
They didn't take, you know,
26:47
they just, they assert it.
26:50
That's what they do.
26:51
I, I have to tell you how much of a degree
26:55
of respect I have.
26:57
now for you understanding your loss and what you had to
27:01
go through and being a single mother with three kids and no
27:05
one would actually see the Rob,
27:07
Rob the Adela Zepeda,
27:09
you know, like having go through all of that.
27:11
So you just meit sombrero and thank you so much for
27:15
sharing this powerful story with us,
27:17
your powerful story.
27:19
And, and again,
27:20
I think that a lot of Latinos have to go through so
27:22
much struggles and we don't share that because we just have to
27:25
be strong and keep going.
27:26
And it is it is when you make it that maybe
27:30
you have the moment to be vulnerable and accept that and I
27:32
wanna be grateful for that.
27:34
Thank you. But I think that if we feel that we
27:38
must, then we do.
27:40
Yeah. And you figure out what you have that can help
27:46
you what you don't have and then you get it with others
27:50
and building your, if it's,
27:51
you're building your business and if it's,
27:53
you're in a corporate career,
27:55
by the way, I'm a big supporter of people staying in
27:58
the corporate career, all the resources are there.
28:01
I mean, you know,
28:03
I, I did this because I kinda had to,
28:05
things kind of dissolved at Smith Barney at that moment in,
28:08
in Chicago. But I should have been an executive in a
28:15
large corporation. That is the path of an investment banker.
28:19
You do investment banking until you burn out because it's so time
28:23
consuming and exhausting and then you go in house just like a
28:27
law when you like law and you go in house as a
28:32
treasurer or assistant treasurer.
28:34
Well, I never got that opportunity.
28:36
It just no access to a network,
28:40
even though I went to Harvard to help me with that.
28:42
This is exactly why we launched a La Latina and why we
28:46
are very focused in corporate America because Latinas are having a really
28:51
hard time getting that first promotion because they don't have a network
28:55
they don't have sponsors or mentors or a playbook that tells
28:58
them this is actually how you get promoted besides working hard.
29:02
There are things that it's like a,
29:04
a secret to Latinas,
29:05
but everybody else knows that you need to get a mentor,
29:08
you need to volunteer for stuff.
29:09
Anyway., one more thing I've learned about you,
29:13
you somehow learn new things.
29:16
Like you, somehow you go from corporate to having your own
29:18
business and educate yourself and then educate yourself to be a board
29:23
member and educate yourself to be the chair.
29:25
How do you learn new things?
29:28
Well, that's a whole fabulous thing about doing things.
29:34
I mean, you don't want to be doing the same thing
29:35
over and over and over again.
29:37
You wanna learn, that's what keeps you interested and curious and
29:43
you have to have that.
29:45
Even if you have a business,
29:48
you have to see how it's changing and how you have to
29:50
change with it so that it continues to grow.
29:54
You have to, you have to read the tea leaves,
29:57
but I like what she's asking.
29:59
He's like, how do you do that?
30:00
Do you insert yourself on uncomfortable situations?
30:03
Like I don't know anything about planting,
30:05
but I'm going to come to the planting experts.
30:08
I'm going to start reading things that I don't know.
30:10
Like what? Ok.
30:12
Well, for example,
30:13
as a board member,
30:15
early on in 1992 I think I was invited to join a
30:21
board of a closed and mutual fund.
30:23
That's a specialized thing.
30:26
It was a, I was the first woman,
30:28
obviously only minority,
30:32
very young. You usually don't get these opportunities in your thirties
30:37
But because of building the woman owned investment management business.
30:42
It had received some publicity.
30:43
So people thought, oh,
30:45
she knows finance. So they invited me and then I knew
30:49
I had a lot to learn.
30:51
Well, I go back then there weren't,
30:54
you know, webcasts and things,
30:56
but I would go to seminars.
30:58
I would go, I am constantly in seminars about governing of
31:05
mutual funds. For example,
31:08
when I was on the board of Wyndham Hotels International,
31:12
I asked them about,
31:14
you know, getting more expertise.
31:16
They sent me to Harvard Business School to do the course for
31:21
audit chairs. I'm always going to those programs for
31:26
board directors. So would you have to,
31:29
could you quantify the amount of time you devote yourself to being
31:33
learning? Is it 10% of your time?
31:35
5% of your time so that we can put it out there
31:37
Definitely 10 or 20.
31:39
There you go. That's one key message.
31:41
You literally have to say the way that you put,
31:44
you know, like 30% of your budget to rent 20 percent
31:47
of your time to learn somebody that you would think she already
31:50
knows everything. No,
31:52
no, because there's no rules,
31:54
there's new things happening and you have to go and learn it
31:59
and you and you're being paid to represent shareholders as a director
32:05
and you have to know when to accept the proposals that are
32:09
being made by your own advisor of,
32:11
of the investment advisor you have to have developed judgment.
32:16
Now, judgment, you know,
32:18
it's not, it's not something like some people have judgment and
32:21
some people don't. No judgment is based on your knowledge of
32:25
things. Then you're able to go through your brain and well
32:29
that might work because of what you know,
32:32
but not because oh,
32:34
I happen to be a person with judgment.
32:36
No, you develop judgment because you,
32:39
you know, like another thing,
32:41
people talk a lot about the instinctive reaction or you know,
32:45
Latinas are instinctive and they just use their instincts.
32:49
Instinct. It's not a thing.
32:53
Instinct is the accumulation of everything,
32:55
you know, and suddenly something in your brain which is faster
33:01
than even you can articulate is telling you no,
33:04
no. Go this way is telling you go this way because
33:07
it's, it has assessed all the points and you have to
33:12
trust that you have those capabilities.
33:15
You can't. Oh,
33:16
no, wait. Now,
33:17
I have to quantify it.
33:19
I did that for too long.
33:20
Oh No, wait,
33:21
let me quantify it.
33:22
No self confidence. Like there's nothing about Adela de Cepeda that
33:28
doesn't spell self confidence.
33:29
How easy was it for you to get mentors or sponsors?
33:33
Particularly when you're like strong enough.
33:35
And people don't think that you need a hand because you seem
33:39
to figure it out on your own.
33:41
And how, how did you navigate?
33:44
Like how was the role of someone a mental sponsor in your
33:48
life in navigating and learning and,
33:50
and, and, and guiding you to where you are.
33:52
Well, I didn't have a lot of mentors but I saw
33:56
what the men did to succeed.
33:59
So that showed me you have to have your book of business
34:03
you have to market,
34:04
you have to, I also saw what they did because I
34:08
knew what they knew.
34:09
I, I had prepared the materials.
34:12
So I saw how they responded when asked difficult questions that maybe
34:18
I had not addressed and they were being asked and they knew
34:22
how to answer in a way that the person thought they were
34:25
experts and you didn't have mentors because you didn't ask for one
34:30
There wasn't like who would you ask?
34:32
It was, it was like it wasn't like that.
34:34
It was, you worked for people and you know,
34:38
I mean, they,
34:38
they wanted you to succeed because you would do more work for
34:42
them. You could be,
34:43
you could bring more revenue,
34:45
you could all those kind of things.
34:46
But mentors per se,
34:48
not like you do today.
34:51
I've been a mentor to my Children,
34:53
my daughters, I have three daughters.
34:54
I mentor them a lot.
34:58
I didn't have something like that.
34:59
My husband, he was very smart and he knew where to
35:03
get me a resource if I needed.
35:05
That's why it was difficult for me to make the move after
35:09
he wasn't there anymore to connect.
35:11
You know, he would have said you need to connect this
35:13
way and that way,
35:14
II, I didn't,
35:16
I think that based on what I hear from the network of
35:19
the white man, the CEO,
35:21
if you want the fortune 500 the 1% is that if you
35:25
don't ask, you don't get,
35:26
and that many times strong women don't ask.
35:29
would you have,
35:30
like, looking backwards?
35:31
Would you have changed and asked for,
35:34
for a mentor or not?
35:36
Yeah, I guess I would have,
35:37
I, I mean,
35:37
I, I thought it was the job of the senior people
35:40
to mentor the younger people.
35:42
I thought that was their job and I thought they were doing
35:45
it. But I did ask somebody to help me get
35:49
on a board, I consider him a sponsor,
35:51
right? I mean,
35:52
I just went directly.
35:53
I said, I,
35:54
I would like to be considered for a position in the bank
35:59
I'm already on the board of a smaller bank.
36:03
But if I were to be considered,
36:05
I could drop that.
36:06
And he said, really,
36:08
I don't, I didn't think you had time.
36:09
That's, and I said,
36:11
no, I would make time.
36:13
I have my own business and I can and I can manage
36:15
my time. That was the big advantage that having my own
36:18
business gave me I could do that.
36:21
And then that's how I got on the board of the bank
36:23
So on boards,
36:24
that's a dream of every Latina that we interview is getting to
36:28
that stage. You are in a multiple boards.
36:30
You started way earlier than normally.
36:33
People start getting into boards.
36:35
What have you learned?
36:36
What advice do you give?
36:37
How do we get there?
36:39
Truly. I do think that,
36:42
you know, it's,
36:42
there are many more tools today to help you get on a
36:46
board. For example,
36:47
we have Latino corporate directors so you could take advantage of that
36:52
network, figure out how to get involved there.
36:55
They have opportunities, they are women corporate directors,
36:59
but you can't be on the woman corporate director organization unless you're
37:03
already on a board.
37:04
But at least you could get other opportunities.
37:07
Once you are on one board,
37:10
you could go to some of the events of N
37:13
A CD National Association of corporate Directors and there's private directors association
37:18
which you know, is,
37:20
is smaller and there are smaller private companies,
37:23
but they show you a lot of opportunities for getting on boards
37:27
And the, the language again,
37:30
we are Multilingual people where we,
37:33
we speak Spanish, we speak English.
37:35
Let's not forget that many,
37:37
almost all professions have their language and being on a board has
37:42
a language. It's the language of governance.
37:44
It's the language of the audit committee because almost all people on
37:48
a board do a rotation on audit committee,
37:51
whether or not they're auditors.
37:54
I'm not an auditor.
37:55
I'm just an expert on,
37:57
on finances. So I,
37:58
I can be an audit.
38:00
Yes, but it's after the courses and,
38:04
and you know, being around that and,
38:07
and talking with the auditors and you know,
38:11
so learning the language,
38:12
we already have learned two languages.
38:15
Let's embrace the language of our profession or of the career we
38:20
want to have. And then I do say look,
38:24
searching for a board in abstract,
38:26
that's not productive. You have to be a leader in your
38:30
field. So the most important thing is to love what you
38:33
do and distinguish yourself there.
38:36
So, the reason I got on that board at a young
38:39
age is because we had started that money management firm and got
38:43
a lot of publicity.
38:44
So suddenly everybody knew we were in finance.
38:48
Wow, we were starting our own business.
38:50
Well, people were giving us millions of dollars to manage for
38:54
them. Yeah, it turned out not so much but to
38:58
the average person, millions is millions.
39:01
Never mind. The men were getting 50 times what we got
39:04
But ok, we still,
39:07
it was something to write about and talk about and,
39:09
you know, I find this as a Latina in particular,
39:14
you need the credentials,
39:15
the articles, you need all that because otherwise people,
39:18
like, don't believe like people would tell my father.
39:22
Oh, no, no,
39:22
your daughter doesn't go to Harvard.
39:24
He started to carry the letter.
39:26
Oh, wow. Yeah.
39:29
And I think they were open to him because he didn't speak
39:33
English well. And you know,
39:34
of course your daughter doesn't.
39:36
But I think they're also thinking that maybe when they see us
39:40
it doesn't matter to me.
39:42
I don't go around with the letter,
39:43
I don't go around with the credential,
39:45
but one thing I know what I have and I know what
39:49
I know and I know anybody wants to start a conversation about
39:53
finance about what their company strategy should be financially.
39:59
I can, I can carry that conversation.
40:02
I can find the holes in their strategy.
40:04
I can so invest in learning the board language.
40:09
Make sure, make sure that you are also seen and that
40:13
you have visibility and expertise in the area.
40:16
I think that those are really precious.
40:19
And talking of language learning,
40:21
the corporate language is one language.
40:23
Did you ever have to dial down like the Latina Latinidad in
40:28
order to talk that language to be in a corporation?
40:32
And I feel I have made tremendous concessions to be in the
40:38
roles that I am in today.
40:39
And the role that I was in,
40:42
in corporate finance, for example,
40:45
this is in my hair.
40:47
I mean, this is hair that I have done every week
40:52
and I didn't miss a week.
40:54
I didn't, I I never showed up with my natural hair
40:58
at work. That is the biggest concession I have made
41:02
The only one really I could make because the otherwise it's
41:06
this is I can't change me on the outside.
41:09
I never took my husband's name.
41:12
My name is my name.
41:13
I I it was a contentious issue between us.
41:16
I wouldn't change it.
41:18
There's not much more I can do.
41:20
I, I hear about Latinas dress a certain way.
41:24
It's more I wanted.
41:25
I, what I was selling was a very expensive service,
41:30
taking your company, public,
41:33
selling your company, buying your company.
41:36
I did not want to distract but I think I developed this
41:40
modesty., really as a married woman,
41:44
I just didn't wanna attract too much attention to me.
41:47
I would say more as a married woman than as a businesswoman
41:51
But it, it is,
41:53
you do try to fit a certain mold and I did have
41:56
a plenty of navy suits and,
41:58
and all of that trying to fit that role.
42:02
Look when you're dealing with finance and large sums of money.
42:08
The, the, the the client is looking for a certain
42:11
image and you know,
42:13
I can't be everything but II I,
42:15
this is AAA Concession and I don't know,
42:20
I do think about it sometimes whether I should stop but
42:25
I like my hair like this.
42:26
So what about the opposite?
42:29
Is there anything any of your Latina cha characteristics that you actually
42:33
leaned in and used?
42:36
I, I guess you have told us many times that you
42:38
got an opportunity because you were Latina.
42:40
But anything from your Yeah.
42:42
Well, I saw how my parents worked that I mean,
42:45
and look we come from families where everybody works so hard
42:51
So I took that I mean,
42:54
there's nothing like if I had told my parents I can't go
42:59
home for Christmas because I'm working.
43:01
They wouldn't have said,
43:03
oh, no, no,
43:04
they would have said,
43:04
oh, no, I understand.
43:05
You have to work,
43:06
work, work, work first.
43:09
They would say that that comes first.
43:12
So I, I have tremendous habits that I think I'm not
43:18
alone in having they're part of our culture.
43:21
It's why we're invisible in America because we work so hard.
43:25
We're just working, working,
43:27
working and nobody sees what we bring to the table.
43:31
That's why I love that movie about a day without Mexicans in
43:36
California. Yes, exactly.
43:40
But we have to make sure that people know that these habits
43:46
can be brought to different tables,
43:49
it can be brought to the boardroom table,
43:51
it can be brought to the office and that we have tremendous
43:55
capabilities to be productive.
43:58
And right now we're sitting atop the demographic in America that is
44:03
creating the growth for this country,
44:06
not the most growth,
44:09
the growth, there would be no growth in American demographics today
44:13
were not for the Latino population.
44:16
We have to build on that.
44:19
We have to make sure that people recognize the value of that
44:24
And we have to close this tremendous capital gap where we
44:30
are growing so fast.
44:31
But financially we are lagging and I love the framing of the
44:38
language you speak Spanish,
44:40
you speak English, you speak corporate,
44:42
you speak board language and then you can use them the way
44:45
that you use some Spanish and English and some Spanglish and
44:49
like that you are able to accommodate,
44:51
it's not that you have to dial it down.
44:53
And in that respect,
44:54
when you said that we're not visible,
44:57
we wanna hear from you of what of the cultural nuances of
45:00
Latinos? You think that we should flip the script that are
45:03
natural to us, whether we should continue having them or not
45:08
And I think that you were speaking about modesty and how
45:10
humble we are and how do you think we should flip that
45:14
Well, I think that,
45:15
you know, I,
45:16
I was raised the same way.
45:17
I still get uncomfortable.
45:19
So many awards recognitions,
45:21
it makes me uncomfortable.
45:22
But what I try to do is how do I bring somebody
45:26
else to get visibility to take advantage of my network?
45:31
I can't, you know,
45:32
I want other people to make the connections.
45:35
I've always invested in connecting people in a way that they can
45:41
advance that they can reach their goals and in a way that
45:45
maybe other people don't do this for others,
45:48
you know, and I don't expect something back from someone that
45:54
I do this for someone has already helped me.
45:57
I do think that it is my responsibility to do it for
46:00
others and I want to,
46:02
and that is the whole point of Angeles investors and take someone
46:06
with you is that.
46:07
But you also said that humble and modesty should be not misunderstood
46:12
as, you know,
46:14
like a submissive but as loyal.
46:17
Yes, we're, we're just being modest.
46:20
Doesn't mean we don't know how to do it.
46:23
But I will say that one lesson for corporate success is raise
46:29
your hand. That doesn't mean that you're bragging because you say
46:34
yes, I can do that if they're looking for somebody to
46:37
do something that's a little different to work this weekend to go
46:41
out of town to take on a project.
46:43
Raise your hand because you wanna be noticed.
46:47
You want people to know that you are capable of doing it
46:52
But sometimes if you're,
46:53
you know, going like this,
46:55
because you don't wanna take it away from somebody else
46:58
No, no,
46:59
no. Raise your hand.
47:00
Let them decide. But ma make yourself known.
47:03
Incredible. Let's take you back again.
47:05
Another trip through memory lane and I don't know.
47:07
where were you in your thirties?
47:10
I don't know if you already had your kids,
47:11
but what would you give yourself around in your thirties?
47:17
What advice, what advice from a,
47:18
from a career perspective.
47:19
Honestly, it, it's gone fine with me with my businesses
47:22
and everything. But I think I would have worked harder at
47:25
staying in the corporate sector.
47:27
I think I should have figured that out and gone to corporate
47:31
America as a treasurer.
47:34
I would have become a CFO eventually and it would be a
47:38
different path. It's never too late.
47:41
That is too late.
47:42
No. All right.
47:43
So who else should we have in this podcast?
47:46
You should have Esther Avi Aguilera.
47:48
She's done so much for so many women in the boardroom since
47:52
you seem to be very interested in the path to the boardroom
47:55
I have to say Adela Zepeda,
47:57
this podcast was incredibly insightful and it gave me so much respect
48:03
for you in your career.
48:04
And as a woman,
48:05
I am really grateful that you were here with us today.
48:08
I think our audience will really enjoy learning from you and seeing
48:11
that your career path was is outstanding.
48:14
There's so many nuggets of insight and knowledge,
48:18
but also your willingness to share the ups and downs were great
48:21
Thank you. Thank you so much.
48:23
I'm excited Adela Zepeda with your knowledge and wisdom.
48:27
We're gonna be able to learn to lead and succeed.