Miguel Matos and José Cabada Rose from Humble Beginnings

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Miguel Matos and José Cabada were drawn to the legal profession for the same reason: empowerment.

Matos, assistant vice president and part of the executive management group at USAA, and Cabada, associate general counsel, both grew up in underserved communities with societal odds stacked against them.

They developed skills that have helped them navigate a career where, as Latinos, they’ve often felt like unicorns in the legal industry, especially the higher up in the ranks one goes. Matos and Cabada ended up on the same team at USAA, one of America’s leading financial services companies, which offers insurance and banking services to the military community and their families.

Both men have Ivy League educations and extensive legal experience, having succeeded in law firm and in-house counsel settings. But their bond goes deeper than that. They have aging parents and teenage children. They’ve both dedicated hours to leveling up their skills to avoid embarrassing their kids on the Fortnite battlefield.

And the value of finding each other at the same point in their careers has given them a new sense of purpose and power.

“One of my biggest challenges is believing that I belong in the room, given that I grew up in a society that often told me the opposite,” Cabada said. “Miguel understands the insecurities that come with feeling like you don’t belong. And before now, I didn’t have a role model and mentor like him. It’s what I always wanted, but didn’t know I needed.”

Bronx meets El Paso

Both men understand what’s it like to grow up in challenging environments. Matos was reared in a rough area of the Bronx while Cabada grew up in El Paso, sharing walls with neighbors he often refers to as “the nicest drug dealers ever.” The police forced their way into Cabada’s home once, thinking it belonged to the people next door.

“That wasn’t a great introduction to the legal system,” Cabada says, laughing. “But my parents raised me to be respectful of those in uniform, and they were as polite as they could be despite the circumstances.”

Cabada’s parents also knew when to stand firm. Cabada’s parents came to the US as undocumented workers (his mother is now a US citizen, and his father is a US resident). During a bus raid from what was then Immigration and Naturalization Service, his mother realized she didn’t have her passport with her and, out of fear, refused the INS agent’s illegal order to get off the bus.

Thankfully, they left her alone. But the terrifying experience taught Cabada just how valuable knowledge of the law could be. Knowing the law meant understanding a person’s legal rights, and that steered him toward the legal profession.

Matos learned his own lessons in New York City. He was part of the Oliver Scholars program, which prepares students from underserved communities for success in college. He attended private school and summer programs that led him to Princeton University and Brooklyn Law School. Through those experiences, Matos knew he could define the future on his own terms.

“People of color often feel excluded, as though certain opportunities are out of reach,” Matos said. “However, through dedication to education and hard work, my success has granted me the access to what I once thought was an exclusive club, and with it a profound sense of empowerment.”

Mentorship, Service and Belonging

While the men share many similarities, their journeys to USAA were different. Matos’s first attorney role came with a meager salary, but it offered opportunities to do work that most first- or second-year associates wouldn’t encounter. Meanwhile, Cabada gained general corporate practice experience at multiple firms prior to going in-house.

“Before now, I didn’t have a role model and mentor like [Miguel]. It’s what I always wanted, but didn’t know I needed.”

José Cabada

Matos and Cabada now work for a global Fortune 500 company that supports more than 13.5 million members of the military community and their families. Matos is counsel for USAA’s commercial transaction, M&A, and venture capital areas. He also supports operations for IT, emerging AI technologies, corporate real estate and global procurement. Cabada provides counsel for property and casualty transactions and works on improving procurement processes and putting his technology experience to work.

At this point in their careers, Matos and Cabada are in positions where there are fewer people of color. They are focused on paying it forward, advocating for their communities. Most importantly, they are role models for others like them, drawing on their personal experiences and what it’s like to work for a mission-driven company like USAA that serves a diverse military community.

As a leader, Matos knows the power of having a team with different backgrounds, experiences, and thoughts—and he has made it a point to build a diverse team.

“I have spent a lot of my career noticing an absence of Latinos in executive leadership positions,” Matos says. “But in our legal department at USAA, we’ve made some incredible strides because we know that having a diverse team only makes us stronger.”

Matos mentors high school and law students and employees at USAA. Cabada previously served on the board of directors for the Workers Defense Project, which is dedicated to advocating for Texas–based construction workers, many of whom are immigrants vulnerable to workplace violations and unfair wages.

Both have taken part in the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, which focuses on building a diverse leadership pipeline in the legal industry. And both men have participated in a program at St. Mary’s School of Law in San Antonio that focuses on mentoring students who are the first in their families to pursue a professional career.

They know how valuable representation is. Cabada recounted an experience when he ran into a high school classmate in El Paso who asked what he was doing these days. He told her he was at Stanford Law School, studying to be an attorney.

Her response became a turning point for him.

“She said, ‘Do it for all of us,’” Cabada said. “It made me realize that I’m representing a community.”

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