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Many entrepreneurs first consider striking out on their own upon recognizing an unmet client need. In the case of former corporate executive Lili Gil Valletta, the client in question was herself.
“When I was at Johnson & Johnson pioneering a lot of early multicultural marketing work in pharma, I wished there was a company I could hire that had not only the strength and the rigor of data analytics, business intelligence, and market intelligence but also the creativity and the agility of a traditional marketing agency,” Gil Valletta explains. “That’s how what is today known as CIEN+ was born in 2010.”
Over a decade later, CIEN+ is just one component of Gil Valletta’s latest enterprise, Culture+ Group. As the name implies, Culture+ Group brings together an entire family of companies, all revolving around the signature idea of Cultural Intelligence Solutions united to accelerate business growth with the power of diverse markets. Cultural Intelligence, according to Gil Valletta, is a mindset and framework that transcends business intelligence or emotional intelligence and enables businesses to position themselves for success in an economy where the fastest-growing segments of the population—and the market—are diverse.
The rapid growth of Culture+ Group itself (confirmed by back-to-back inclusion in the Inc. 5000 as one of America’s Fastest Growing Privately Owned Companies) speaks to an increasing awareness of the value to be gained by investing and marketing to historically overlooked demographics. But Gil Valletta, her cofounder and also former corporate executive, Enrique Arbeleaz, and her team have been walking the walk since long before the business world at large arrived at its current tipping point—particularly post 2020 with the DEI awakening.
“Back in 2008, we were looking at projections for the 2010 census, which was already showing this spike in growth, especially among Hispanic market segments,” she says. “A lot of people ask us how our firm has been growing so fast, and it’s because our products, technologies, and proprietary solutions have been in the making for over a decade for a moment such as this.”
Playing the long game has also allowed Culture+ Group to exist above the noise when it comes to DEI. “All things inclusion in business need to graduate from being performative to refocusing on performance,” says Gil Valletta, a firm proponent of conscious capitalism. “It’s not emotional, it’s factual, and the numbers tell such a powerful story. No matter what, the biggest chunk of the growth potential points back to Hispanics.”
She continues, “It’s really hard not to pay attention and lean in if you’re a data-driven business leader, and anyone who doesn’t is letting their own personal bias get in the way of good business decision-making.”
“We’re a purpose-driven company using the power of data and creativity to do good and do well in society and business.”
Lili Gil Valletta
It’s a strong argument, and Culture+ Group has the receipts to prove it. The company counts among its clients many of the biggest names in business, from pharmaceutical giants like Gil Valletta’s ex-employer Johnson & Johnson to icons of culture like longtime strategic partner the Latin Recording Academy.
“This year is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Latin GRAMMYs,” Gil Valletta notes. “There will be a lot of momentum and a lot of activation that will unify the American capital of all things Latino, which is Miami, with one of the most powerful music genres—if not the most powerful genre—worldwide, which is Latin music.”
In addition to that upcoming musical celebration, Culture+ Group has an exciting Hispanic Heritage Month project in the works for a client in consumer-packaged goods. Gil Valletta is also proud to highlight the company’s depth of expertise in healthcare, the industry home to more than half its clients.
“We are growing and pushing the business decisions of big pharma to be inclusive, not just for the sake of health equity, but to demonstrate the ROI when you do it well,” she says. “It’s exciting to us to be that voice of influence in the highest places possible—beyond a scope, beyond a project, beyond a brand.”
The prospect of exerting such influence is what has kept Gil Valletta going for the past thirteen years, during which time her role as CEO has evolved away from day-to-day business operations and toward higher-level strategic planning and deal-making. “My leadership style is filtered through a very strong sense of responsibility, not just to others but to that greater purpose,” she says.
“We’re a purpose-driven company using the power of data and creativity to do good and do well in society and business. In fact, I tell my team we are in the business of ‘purposeful profits’ and that creates a higher level of performance of what can be conscious capitalism,” she continues. “It’s no longer enough to have an amazing product with amazing pricing; you need to have a consciousness compass that makes people believe, follow, and share beyond the sales pitch.”
If it sounds like Gil Valletta could write the book on conscious capitalism and Cultural Intelligence, rest assured that she plans to do exactly that in years to come—when she isn’t busy steering Culture+ Group along its ongoing upward trajectory of global expansion and acquisitions, that is.
“I see us as a global enterprise and a global phenomenon,” says Gil Valletta of the company’s future. “And I see us much bigger in our tent, with like-minded people underneath who can leverage each other’s expertise and infrastructure so that we are seen and recognized as the go-to partner for any corporation that wants to unlock growth with the power of culture, period.”
