Meet Victoria Banuelos | Author, First-Gen

We had the good fortune of connecting with Victoria Banuelos and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Victoria, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
I think the factors to success change as your definition changes, but as cliche as it sounds, the first step is to understand what success looks like for you.

Much of my confusion and, frankly, stagnation in my early career came from being disconnected from myself and not exploring my own definition of success. It felt like I was always in pursuit of the next promotion, the next life milestone, the next opportunity to satiate what (I thought) were the ambitions I was supposed to have. In the end, I realized that all the things that made me happiest and most fulfilled — advocating for first-gen Latinx students, speaking on the importance of education, supporting my Latinx community — all happened outside of the arbitrary career ladder I had been trying to climb and didn’t exactly fit the definition of success that other people’s narratives had created for me.

Once I let that go and realized that success for me looked like freedom of choice and the gratification of seeing the Latinx first-gen students in my community thrive, the First-Gen, NextGen “brand” began to take shape and eventually paved the way for my marketing agency, PUESTO.

That’s why I think the most critical factor behind publishing “First-Gen, Next Gen” was taking a step back and releasing some of my previous corporate ambitions in favor of a mission I truly cared about. The book is centered on topics of mutual understanding, relatability and vulnerability within the first-gen Latinx community which are all themes I’ve explored at different periods in my life. I feel like you can’t go wrong if what you’re doing is aligned with your values. After that, things start to fall into place on their own. Again, such a cliche, but the hard part is getting the courage to start.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

My business all started with my book! I spent several years volunteering with Latinx students, talking to them about their college and workplace concerns and curiosities. Through speaking with the students, something clicked, and I saw the need for a guide I could use to validate their questions and, as a secondary function, a guide that could serve as a recruitment resource for employers interested in seeking diverse talent.

With that, the beginning of my book, “First-Gen, NextGen: A Guide to Thriving as a First-Generation Latinx in the Next Generation of the American Workforce,” came to be.

I felt that one way to put together such a guide for young Latinx individuals preparing to enter the workforce would be to curate advice, knowledge, and insight from successful Latinx professionals in various fields and industries. I began to conduct outreach to Latinx business leaders and started to storyboard “First-Gen, NextGen” to keep track of my different conversations and interactions. It took a total of seven years to make it happen. During that time, I had the privilege of conducting personal and secondary interviews with first-generation Latinx corporate directors, entrepreneurs, culinary artists, iconic leaders, politicians, and media personalities. Through these conversations, I was able to curate a list of career accelerants from these top performers and turn that into the basis of my book.

Since publishing, I’ve had the opportunity to open my consultancy called PUESTO Agency LLC. We’ve become a full-service content marketing agency for inclusive brands driven by empathy, fueled by social research, and motivated by curiosity. I’ve also had speaking opportunities at organizations like Meta and the Ivory Bridges Foundation. I hope to continue partnering with companies that are committed to diversity and representation. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to give up on perfectionist tendencies. Especially as a first-gen, there was always this feeling in the back of my mind that there’s little room for failure and experimentation when it comes to career and job decisions. Perfection does not exist — had I continued with this mindset, I’d still be stuck writing and trying to publish my book. I’ve taken the lessons from “First-Gen, NextGen” interviewees and applied them to my own life over and over again and have seen the success of focusing on progress rather than perfection.

It’s been such a whirlwind experience, and I couldn’t be more grateful to the community of people and organizations that have supported me each step of the way.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.

If I had it my way, we’d visit Leo’s Taco Truck for brunch, lunch, and dinner.

But realistically, I’d recommend we have a food-driven East –> West itinerary, starting with coffee at Cafe Santo in Montebello + a walk around the BLVD Market, followed by a pastry snack and matcha + stroll around Mid-City, then some tunes for a heavy-traffic drive to dinner in downtown Culver City. While in CC, check out the Museum of Jurassic Technology — a fun little blast from the past.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

I could write multiple pages of acknowledgments because I owe so much of this book and my personal growth to so many folks. Today, I’d like to highlight several individuals who took time out of their day to share their stories and offer advice to the next generation of Latinx employees and entrepreneurs in First-Gen, NextGen:

Frank Carbajal, Ingrid Otero-Smart, Dr. Wendy Castillo, Dr. Ingrid González Perezchica, Miri Rodriguez, Scarlet Peralta, Gabriella Robison, Pablo Stanley, Jocelyn Ramirez, Irving Torres, Jacqueline Agustin, all of whom continue to inspire me daily — thank you!

Website: www.victoriabanuelos.com

Instagram: @_hellovictoria_

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vfbanuelos/