SPOTLIGHT
LATINO FOUNDERS
L AT I N O F O U N D E R S
Even though there is still so much growth and change to see within the entrepreneurial field, Latino Leaders celebrates the achievement of leaders, founders and innovators who are building great things. Meet some of the players out there. SUSIE JARAMILLO
Susie Jaramillo is an Emmy Nominated Director, an artist, a storyteller, an entrepreneur, and a mom. She currently serves as Co-founder, President, and Chief Creative Officer of Encantos. She is also the creator of the award-winning Canticos preschool brand. Her adorable characters & catchy songs have been beloved by millions of children who are growing up proud of their Latinx roots. Her magic extends to other storyworlds as well, including Tiny Travelers, encouraging kids to become World Citizens, and Skeletina, a gorgeous Day of the Dead universe where kids learn to conquer their fears and anxieties. Susie ensures everything Encantos does is in service to the child and advances our mission of developing life, literacy, and learning skills by marrying entertainment, education, and technology in ways that amaze and amuse. An accomplished speaker and advocate for her community, Susie has been featured in Forbes, NBC, NPR, Business Insider, NYT, etc., and has spoken at conferences across the country. About Encantos: Encantos’ mission is to inspire children to learn the 21st Century Learning, Literacy, and Life skills they need to thrive. We enable creators to teach the way kids learn best, through story. Our storyteaching platform uses games, activities, videos, books, and storycasts to bring 21st Century skills to life, all built by a diverse community of storyteachers from around the world. Our original brands include: Canticos: an Emmy-nominated, kidscreen award-winning blended learning platform helping kids become kindergarten ready in Spanish and English with Latin nursery rhymes. Tiny Travelers, teaching geography, culture, and world citizenship, and Skeletina, a brand that helps kids learn to conquer their fears and anxieties.
“I’m a two-time entrepreneur. The difference between this business and my first, which was successful and fueled me, is that I’m now building a purpose-based company that is setting out to make a substantial difference in my community. I am using my skills and superpowers to make a positive impact in the world, as well as a living for my family. There is nothing more empowering that building something you believe in, that is bigger than you. I have a tremendous sense of purpose and satisfaction.”
R U B E N A R T U R O G A R C I A
Ruben is a proven innovator in the testing industry. After two decades in product and business development, he founded Innovative Exams, LLC with the goal to provide more exam access by advancing the technology used for test proctoring. In 2012, Ruben was awarded a patent for his invention of new and innovative remote proctoring technologies. PSI Services later acquired Innovative Exams, which by then had a global footprint of testing kiosks and provided services to leaders such as Red Hat, Accenture and Cloudera. Today, Ruben continues to change the market and is focused on making more certification exams within reach for testing candidates. Far from the typical serial entrepreneur, however, Ruben is a naturalized U.S. citizen who used certifications to earn his way through college at nights and weekends. So when he decided to design a test development platform, Ruben's priorities were bringing greater access and value to test-takers. About Certiverse: Certiverse is fundamentally changing the way certification and credentialing exams are developed, transforming from today’s slow, capital-intensive process to a streamlined modern model that encourages innovation and provides more access to certifications. Certiverse’s online platform allows organizations and their industry experts to work together in real-time to develop new exams quickly without high upfront costs and enables professionals to participate in an exam's success. Certiverse helps learners succeed by democratizing the exam development process. Its revolutionary system uses industry-leading psychometric standards, intuitive machine learning, and asynchronous contributions from experts to quickly create rigorous, cost-effective exams. Certiverse is an industry innovator helping organizations to engage, expand and diversify their pools of experts, rapidly develop valid test content at scale, and create exams with lower environmental impact. Since launching in 2020, the company has raised $3M in funding and was the first start-up to receive the IT Certification Council’s Innovation Award.
“It takes a talented team sharing a vision to make transformative change in an industry. I feel lucky every day to be surrounded by people with the same passion to create something new and life-changing for learners and professionals.” 72 LATINO LEADERS MAY / JUNE 2021
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