Editor’s note: In this article, ADWEEK deviated from its style of using “Latinx” in the interviewee’s responses.
At age 50, Beatriz Acevedo was supposed to be scaling back the “hustle of the startup life.”
Her career had already seen multiple milestones. At age 8, she was a member of the union in Mexico for radio broadcasters. She’s written, produced, and hosted Emmy-winning shows, representing the 1% of showrunners in Hollywood who are Latinx. Her multiple startups catering to the Latinx audience in entertainment and media have proven to be more than successful—Mitú has become a leading media company that speaks to the “200% generation” (100% American and 100% Latinx) and has scored major investors.
But after seeing the community hit hard by the pandemic, both financially and physically, she used her “superpower” of raising capital through investors like Chingona Ventures and founded Suma, a wealth-building digital platform for the Latinx community via fintech, digital media, and soon a major experiential activation “Dinero Fest.”
Over the last three years, Suma’s year-over-year growth average exceeds 350%, and the app sees a monthly reach of 8 million unique users. Thirty percent of those users are not Latinx, which is in line with what Acevedo is doing—reimagining financial inclusion by making finance relatable and easy to understand through culture-first creative. To date, users have increased their savings 2.5 times over, compared to the national average.
Acevedo sat down with ADWEEK to discuss her work on rebranding finance for the Latinx community and beyond, why she is hyperfocused on connecting with the next generation, and her insights on cultural nuances that play a role in Latinx consumer behavior.
Her words have been edited for length and clarity.
Finance needed a reinvention
My father had a family foundation in Mexico that I wanted to bring to the U.S. After he passed away, I intended to run the foundation, sit on my boards, which I’m lucky to be asked to [be a part of], and do my social good.
Then the pandemic hit. In just looking at the data, our community took a hard hit, with not only deaths but economic hardship. I told my friend, [ImpactX Sports Group chairman and CEO] Xavier Gutierrez, I wanted to raise a fund and support Latina entrepreneurs. I was already an angel investor, but I wanted to do more. And he was like, “No, you don’t want to do this. You want to start a fintech company.” I said absolutely not. I know nothing about finance—there’s no way I’m gonna do it. He [reassured me I was] the right person because people who know about finance don’t know how to build companies at scale and engage audiences.