Alex Páramo is a fellow at L’ATTITUDE Ventures, a venture capital firm with the mission to fuel and partner with the best US Latino entrepreneurs. As a fellow, Páramo supports the management and growth of the portfolio, which includes performance monitoring, deal origination, investment theme development, and firm operations. He is currently pursuing his MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
What is your greatest career accomplishment to date?
My experience at Cabrera Capital, the largest Latino-owned investment bank in the Midwest, has undoubtedly been my greatest professional achievement. Under the helm of Martin Cabrera, the firm’s founder and CEO, I had the opportunity to break into financial services as a public finance investment banker and raise capital on behalf of airports, schools, hospitals, cities, and states to build critical public infrastructure.
My success in this role led me to become the first-ever chief of staff to the CEO. During my two-and-a-half years as CoS, I supported policy initiatives that advocated for the inclusion of minority-owned financial services firms in the industry, helped launch Cabrera’s money market fund offerings, and laid the foundation for the integration of financial education and an investment program at a K-8, majority Latino Chicago Public School, among other high-profile initiatives. I even helped create my own off-ramp, becoming a founding member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory group and executing the firm’s first M&A transactions.
What is your greatest personal accomplishment to date?
On a personal level, one of my greatest achievements has been building the Joliet Latino Economic Development Association (LEDA) to where it is today. I founded LEDA with a vision to strengthen the Latino business ecosystem in Joliet, [Illinois], my hometown. Almost four years later I am lucky to have a dedicated staff and board who have obtained significant funding from state and local resources to further this vision. Just last year we helped start over twenty-five businesses, grew our membership to over fifty businesses, and executed creative ways to support our community’s entrepreneurs, such as our partnership with Joliet Junior College in launching a first-of-its-kind bilingual business bootcamp.
What do you do today to impact your community?
Aside from my work with LEDA, I serve on the board for Silver Cross Hospital, one of the only and largest independent hospital systems in Illinois. In addition, [I] serve on advisory boards for the Will County Center for Economic Development and the National Latino Education Institute. Previously, I have served on the boards of the largest nonprofits in Joliet, including the YMCA and United Way.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
While I can’t know for certain, I hope to look back at a transformational MBA experience that accelerates my journey towards entrepreneurship. While entrepreneurship through acquisition is becoming more “popular,” I’ve known many without an MBA that have successfully purchased and grown a business. I still remember buying my first property. I had no idea what I was doing and although I tried to read all the Reddit posts I could, nothing beat the experience of actually going through with it. My experiences in M&A, VC, and running a Latino Chamber of Commerce will serve as my guideposts in this next challenge as I look to acquire and grow a business.
What is the biggest issue that you want to help solve, and why?
To this day, Latino businesses struggle to access capital, equity, or debt, although the rate at which Latino businesses are started outpaces almost every demographic. Without capital, Latino businesses cannot grow and employ individuals in the communities in which they do business, meaning those individuals cannot buy homes, cars, and invest their savings—in other words, create wealth. Moreover, a weak business landscape unfortunately translates into a weak political environment, due to lack of influence and power.
This means that our community is disproportionately unrepresented in local, state, and federal politics and less funding goes towards schools, hospitals, culture, and social causes. I believe that if we can provide Latino entrepreneurs with capital that is currently disparately allocated, the socioeconomic fabric of our community will strengthen.
What is a moment when you realized the impact of your work?
LEDA became the first organization in Joliet’s history to be awarded a microenterprise capacity building grant from the Community Development Block Grant program, where we provide free business consulting for low-to-moderate income, Spanish speaking entrepreneurs—one of the only programs of its kind in Illinois. Our success in executing this program has attracted more funding, recently a $250,000 allocation in the state’s budget to continue to expand LEDA’s work in surrounding regions. These two signals continue to motivate and validate the work LEDA’s staff and board put into the organization.
Who inspires your leadership?
My community. Growing up I knew plenty of talented kids, but unfortunately some opportunities don’t ever present themselves simply because of your zip code. I dream of helping shape an environment where everyone can unlock their maximum potential and not need to move somewhere else to be able to do it. My parents, and all the parents like them, who gave their maximum effort to propel their children up while instilling a sense of pride in our culture, strong values, and humility to respect others and oneself. I’d like to continue to develop into a leader that makes my family and community proud.
What is a surprising hobby or interest that helps you stay creative and energized?
I love listening to regional Mexican music and all of its subgenres from gruperas, sonideras, banda, and nortenas. My senior year at Stanford I decided to buy an accordion and start practicing. I put a lot of time into it, mainly learning by way of YouTube tutorials. It’s a hobby that gives you back as much as you put in and hopefully, I can perform on stage sometime soon!
What is your Latino background?
I am a first-generation Mexican American born in Joliet, Illinois. My mother and father came to the US when they were seventeen and sixteen, respectively, from Cuamio, Michoacán, Mexico.
What song do you listen to that motivates you?
“Gente de Accionar” by Grupo Codiciado and “Sangre de Indio” by Banda Machos.
