Helping advance diversity in leadership

HERNAN LOPEZ

FOUNDER OF HLFF

Hernan Lopez, the founder of Wondery (acquired by Amazon in 2021), is a trailblazing entrepreneur and philanthropist best known for revolutionizing podcast storytelling with hits like Dr Death, Dirty John and WeCrashed, which were then adapted for TV. He recently founded Owl & Co., a management consulting company servicing media, tech, and the attention economy. Before Wondery, he led Fox International Channels, a $3b division of Fox (now Disney). As a thought leader he’s taken the stage at Cannes Lions, CES and SXSW, and actively champions diversity in leadership, both through his Foundation, current board role at StartOut and past board roles with GLAAD and the Latino Donor Collaborative. Hernan earned his MBA from the University of Miami and resides in Los Angeles with his family.

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A MESSAGE FROM OUR FOUNDER

So many talented, hard-working and well-intentioned people hit a ceiling in their professional and personal lives. They can’t land a good job or get promoted; they can’t raise money for a new business or adopt a child. Too often something gets in the way-maybe they are Black or Latino, LGBTQ, or a woman and they face biases; maybe they weren’t born in the United States and lack connections or a professional network-or maybe they just don’t interview well.

As a gay Latino immigrant, I have hit most of these ‘ceilings’ and have felt defeated and alone. But I was fortunate to find mentors who encouraged me to never give up and who provided guidance on how I could achieve my dreams. With thoughtful mentorship, training and support, I was finally able to break through, and now I want to give that opportunity to others through the creation of the Hernan Lopez Family Foundation.

The Foundation will seek to help progress the fight against systemic bias and racism, while also enabling underrepresented individuals to break through these ceilings through grants, training and networking programs. To do this effectively we must address both the demand and supply sides of the problem. On the demand side, those in a position to hire, promote, or invest need to address their systemic biases and proactively seek out people of all backgrounds. On the supply side, those who are hitting a ceiling can benefit from advice, training and connections.

The Foundation will partner with amazing organizations that share similar goals to help make a meaningful impact in the lives of the individuals they support. One organization that holds a special place in my heart and that we are proud to support is GLAAD. For over three decades, GLAAD has worked tirelessly to stamp out systemic bias against LGBTQ people in all areas of life, and I’m proud to have served on its Board of Directors for four years. GLAAD is the most visible LGBTQ organization in the world and its work to tell the stories of LGBTQ people uplifts and inspires. GLAAD is also the only organization with a program dedicated to growing the visibility of LGBTQ people and issues in Spanish-Language media. These efforts to raise visibility of LGBTQ people, as well as GLAAD’s work with global brands to create inclusive work environments, help countless LGBTQ people feel seen and better navigate their everyday lives, including their professional lives.

The Foundation is also proud to support the Latino Donor Collaborative (LDC), an important organization dedicated to reshaping the perception of Latinos as part of the American social mainstream. The LDC publishes regular reports that reinforce the significant impact Latinos have in driving America’s entrepreneurial and economic engines. I am proud and grateful to be affiliated with organizations like GLAAD and the LDC that are helping to stamp out biases against underrepresented groups and who are supporting long-lasting progress.

We will also be looking to partner with organizations capable of addressing the “supply-side”-by giving training, networking and professional development tools to talented people from under-represented groups who could leverage them.

For instance, when I had only lived in the US for a few years and my Argentinian accent was even stronger than it is today, my boss’ boss suggested I work on it. For a second I was tempted to think that having an MBA and working hard should have been enough, but I embraced her suggestion wholeheartedly and my career took off-and I will be forever grateful, and better off, for her advice. (And I still have an accent, part of my identity-but now it doesn’t get in the way of my being understood. Most of the time, anyway!)

She has since retired, and unfortunately most people in her position wouldn’t dare give that kind of advice today-for fear of offending people like me, or being accused of bias. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg: promising executives often don’t get candid advice about how to present, how to be heard, how to lead. That gap creates an opportunity, which the Foundation will seek to address in partnership with educational organizations.

While 2020 was a pivotal year in bringing diversity, equity and inclusion to the forefront of conversations in corporate America, there’s still so much work to do to fully stamp out racism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination and bias from every system where it’s rooted, and provide opportunities and training to every human being of any ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation. These challenges need to be addressed in parallel, and I am proud to start this new Foundation to make a humble contribution to both.