Social equity and equality are a purpose and mission that we still work for. With the number of people of mixed-race communities growing, perspectives are also changing. In this episode, Stephen Jaye sits down for an insightful talk with entrepreneur and founder of Hispanics and Technology, James Foy, about diversity and community. James talks about his experiences as an American of mixed race and learning to see through the eyes of others. We also hear about James and his work in promoting diversity in the tech community. Tune in and get more insights and hear what action you can take to change the world.
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Diversity And Equity: The Perspective Of Mixed Race Communities With James Foy
We’ve had some previous episodes and discussions about issues of some divisions and inequities amongst different groups of people within the US. These apply to other places. The common phrase used is diversity, equity and inclusion. However, as we’ve learned from some of our previous guests some people prefer to leave off the word diversity. Others prefer to add a word belonging or something of a similar context. Either way, it’s on a lot of people’s minds.
People want to genuinely feel they belong and have the opportunity to go for the passions that they have. I don’t know all the answers to the questions but two things are apparent from the conversations I’ve had, as well as the observations I see is that one, the way we’ve been approaching the subject for the past several years has not been working. We are still grappling with a lot of the same issues we had at the beginning of these pursuits and a lot of people are grumpier about it now. Two, it seems apparent to me that one of the answers to these issues is that we need to talk, listen, communicate and get to know one another.
It’s hard to hate a group of people when you have several quality contacts, good relationships and good friends among them. It’s a good idea to get as many perspectives as we possibly can. Here to provide another perspective on the issue, my guest James Foy is the Hispanics and Tech Founder as well as an advocate for the Hispanic entrepreneurial community. James, welcome to the show.
Thank you. It’s fantastic to be here.
Let’s begin with a little background information for those that may not be aware of it. First of all, within Colorado, as well as within the US as a whole, what percentage of the population is Hispanic?
Colorado is fairly close to being a mirror, Colorado statewide I saw was 22% but there’s always because of our immigrant community that’s under-reported. The country also mirrors that. Let me also bring up a point, here in Denver, where we met, were 30%. Anywhere from 40% to 60% needed to get the DPS school children.
People of mixed are experiencing the highest rate of change. Click To TweetThe younger generation is pretty much half Hispanic. There have been more people of mixed race as intermarriage has happened a lot more frequently. Does that include a lot of these mixed-race communities as well?
The biggest soon will be Hispanic. Statewide, the nearest group is Asians. I know African-Americans are about 4% statewide. Asians are right around but nobody else comes close to Hispanics. If you’re looking at the rate of change, the fastest-growing by percentage are people like me, who are mixed and one or more. We can go into the anecdotal stories. I could go back 100 years from one of my grandmothers who moved from New Mexico to here. One place, she was White, here she was Hispanic too. The term is nebulous. It also comes from the ‘70s and ‘80s when Hispanics were being reported. To your point is people have mixed, they’re experiencing the highest rate of change. Chances are 5 to 10 years from now, you’re more likely to run into a Joe Smith that might be White and Hispanic or White and Asian or White and Black. You’ll never know it at times.
This increase in the mixed-race population, do you feel this is going to be a positive for some of the issues that we began discussing with some of the divisions and some of the inequities that people observe between different communities?
Yes and no. Short-term versus long-term. Genetic diversity on any level of genetics is always good because it’s good to have a bigger assortment, long-term 110%. Short-term, it’s going to be hard. Theme mixed is a unique perspective. First of all, I need to give my parents credit. I am a little bit older. My parents met and married in Colorado Springs in 1965. My dad had an Irish mix, married a light Latina in the height of the civil rights movements. What we’re seeing now is nothing compared to them. I got to give my parents credit. I lost my father a long time ago. I never got a chance to learn my father’s perspective of what it was like to step outside the boxes. I respect my father more than I can say for that.
Going back to where we’re at right now, everybody I talked to mixed, there’s one consistency. This is not reported in the news. If you’re being true to both sides, you can’t claim one without the other. I can’t claim Irish without claiming I’m Mexican. Am I dishonoring my father’s name or am I dishonoring the family I knew growing up? It’s a delicate dance. Like in my case, I’m never dark enough but I’m never White enough for both sides. International leaders do us no favors on this. For the short-term, it’s going to be beyond hard. It’s challenging. For people to change, it’s bloody. I hate using that term but figuratively. Hopefully not literally.
I’ve had this conversation and everybody looks at each other, says, “It’s tough.” I probably had 1,000-plus of these conversations in my life. I kid you not. I go down and we test it but there is also a unity that happens. When it’s long-term, when it’s more shared, even though it was like Asian, Black and Hispanic are different but when you’re mixed, there are also different ties that bind. As society becomes more mixed, it will be a more common narrative but it will be a lot of growing pains before then.
We’ve had a lot of discussions around issues of race, especially starting last summer of 2021 with some of the racial-related protests. One thing I’m wondering is as we’re trying to hear other perspectives, do you feel that the mixed-race perspective, the voice is being heard is getting out there, people of mixed race are getting their perspective heard by the general population in this general discussion that we’re having?
No, because each culture approaches things differently. Some of the narratives you hear, my culture agrees with and I guarantee you some of them don’t. A little bit about my background, I’m close to law enforcement. I will not deny it. I grew up in a rural redneck town, 40 miles of Kansas, 80 miles from Oklahoma. My family experienced red-lining. It happen where there was a line demarcation. One side was White and the other side was the unwanted minority. At times it was Irish and sometimes it was Polish. Probably the teens and 20s of the previous century and later on, it was mainly people of color. Hispanics, Blacks, Asians. For context at Denver, Five Points was where some of the red-lining happened. The North Side is where it happened.
Each culture deals with it differently. When it comes down to mixed, they’re not here because since we know what both sides. I’m close to law enforcement. My first cousin once removed as chief of police in my hometown. This is the early ‘80s, very redneck, racist town. His father worked the fields. His great grandfather came up from Chihuahua, Mexico. His grandmother was dark or him to be a police officer in that town, you see the hell. Ben was respected. He worked for 50 years in law enforcement. I was brought up differently when it comes down to law enforcement. You talk to them with respect, you know your rights and you make sure they don’t do anything but you also don’t put yourself in a stupid situation. At least for my Hispanic humanity, maybe not in Generation Z but I still see in Generation Y and forward, that’s a common thing. It’s not being heard. Also, there are a lot of things that aren’t necessarily in the mainstream media that people don’t get to hear.
One thing I wonder is whether or not people are having trouble understanding it because a lot of people in their head compartmentalize like, “This community here. This community is there.” When you start getting people with mixed races, especially as you get a few generations later, it’s harder for people to wrap their heads around. I’m not trying to discount people’s ability to understand things but there are some people out there that want everything to be simple, these 3 and 4 clusters.
My first overseas trip was in India for three weeks. Being Catholic, I knew the Missionaries of Charity here. I got to meet Mother Superior and I got told to learn the Indian way. Where I’m going with this is, I always could see both sides. When I learned from a completely different culture to see a different context, it opened up my mind. Most people in the United States are not forced to do that. We are so insulated and bubblized. There was a statistic in the Denver Post from several years ago about what groups had the most mixed. African-Americans were the least. Whites were middle. Hispanics were the most. That shows up how pervasive my people are.
I remember looking at it, I was like, “I know how diversity and changes of ideas are something close to my heart.” You’re right. They hear a narrative and it is then if they don’t get their ideas challenged at the same time, going back to what you’re saying about mixed-race, when you’re mixed, you’re always being challenged and you’re dancing, always. Let me give you another story. I was in a coffee shop, it’s a small boutique. The guy roasts some of his own beans. I’ve only gone there seven times, had some conversations with him. There was a Latina that walked in, he and I started talking. We both lit up. He looked at me and said, “Your both demeanors changed when you started talking. You have to see that happening. You have to see why and then you have to see the context of it. Once you understand that level then you can see what you’re saying about the views might be different.”
Genetic diversity on any level is always good because it's good to have a bigger assortment. Click To TweetOne thing I want to point out to my readers is we’ve had previous episodes where we’ve discussed the power of travel. It is to give us more different perspectives. If you want to learn more about that, Episode 20 with Mona Contractor down in Mumbai, India. She offers plenty of great travel packages to that country as well as other nearby countries.
Let me jump in one thing. There’s a travel and then there is working in a different culture. Not until you work in a different culture where they don’t have to be nice to you until you get it. They don’t see you for money. You have to be part of the machine or not. There’s a big difference. That’s what’s helped me probably more than anything besides my travel. It’s important but working in this culture is worlds apart, figuratively and literally.
You said that the perspectives and the stories of the mixed-race community are being underrepresented. You also feel that the Hispanic community is being underrepresented in certain communities especially your advocacy on behalf of Hispanic entrepreneurship. Tell us a little bit about what you observed there and what prompted you to start some of your advocacy as well as Hispanics and Tech.
I go back to Boulder Startup Week. There was a keynote speaker. He was talking about how diverse was Boulder. Every time I walked into the room and he asked some Anglo facing but I always looked for the communities of color because going back to where my demeanor changed in the previous conversation. I looked around the room and I went, “Here I am again. There are no other Hispanic.” I may not stand out as I serve them but I know I stand out like them.
For context, what year was this for Boulder Startup Week?
2013 to 2015. It’s not a little bit sooner. I challenged him. This was one of the founders of Boulder Startup Week. He says, “We have Hispanics in Boulder. They’re in Longmont.” There at the time, was an agricultural community. I never want to see that person again. I’m holding back my true language. You’ll never put my people in the fields. That was segregation in everything. Even though I didn’t work the fields, my grandfather made sure I knew where the fields would work. My grandfather drove concrete trucks and the school bus. I rode with the immigrant kids in the summer whose parents were working in the fields. That soar is close to me. That being said, it upset me. It still upsets me several years later with a very much passion. You will never relegate my people to that. If you think you do, we’re going to have fun.
Fast forward, I said, “What can I do?” I was used to looking around and then through my other advocacy, I’ve been blessed to do a lot of fun things on multiple levels. There is an opportunity to earn life-changing money if not change trajectories. I look at some of my own family. I have a cousin of a cousin who is serving life in Kenya. These are the people I know about. I have other cousins that have done felonies and stuff. A kid that bullied me that we became friends died of an overdose from my grade school. I can tell you these stories. This is a small rural town.
These are bad stories but they happen.
They are part of our lived experience. Going back to Hispanics and Tech, I had a little bit of a head start with my father being a pharmacist. Other issues came into play but then I looked at the statistics. President Obama, Candace Owens and somebody else put it like this, when there are two parents involved, the child going into the criminal justice system goes down dramatically. When you’re having two parents involved, you take the next step. For the more affluent, the chances of people falling behind become less. We are the hardest hit by COVID by percentage. Why are we hit the hardest by COVID? We were the frontline workers. We are working the slaughterhouses.
The Hispanics were 8% of the tech workforce. Every percentage difference is gigantic and there are fewer debts, less affected. Going back to when I found out about Hispanics, I kept on learning all these statistics and I said, “I’m tired.” I was tired and my heart hurt. I was like, “I’m going to make a difference.” It took about three years. I got thrown underneath the bus. I kept on grinding and I developed good relationships, partnerships and I founded Hispanics and Tech. The first event we held several years ago, we had 100 people at it.
That’s awesome for anyone else that’s started community groups. We’ve had some other discussions about community groups because the community is another topic that I’m passionate about, which we all need community. One hundred is a fantastic turnout. That shows that there’s interest in tech amongst the Hispanic community.
That was a general diversity but it was logged in as Hispanics and Tech. We had a lot of Hispanic speakers. We have one African-American, an Anglo woman who’s Molly from the US PTO is amazing. We had three Hispanics up there too. We had a woman entering. We had the president of the chamber and we had a woman who made hundreds of millions of dollars. There was a Latina and I that moderated the conversation and stuff. I took a month off. In pre-COVID, we’re meeting monthly, regularly. We can get anywhere from 3 to 15 people at a mean. The normal monthly meetings are bigger events. We had a job fair. We had twelve companies there and about 100 people came through. VC Pitch Night, we had well over 100 people and we got a bunch of press.
We're getting more genetic diversity in some ways, but we're less diverse because we're so polarized. Click To TweetAre you observing the needle moving as far as more Hispanics in Denver and the surrounding areas becoming interested in tech and more tech companies hiring more Hispanics in tech roles?
I see us becoming more involved but the numbers are bad that it’s hard for me to sing the praises. Maybe it’s moving. We get a lot more lip service and anything. That’s not politically correct. Knowing people, you give us more lip servicing than anything.
Talk is cheap. Anyone can say anything. If they don’t back it up then it doesn’t matter. This reminds me of a common struggle that a lot of people, entrepreneurs and anyone following their passions are going to encounter. You’re going to go and sometimes it takes a little while for the result to happen. It takes a little while for any traction to come along. As the years go by and you hear the lip service and you don’t see the needle moving as much as you’d like to see it moving, what keeps you going? What inspires you to say, “I need to keep doing this. I need to keep at it,” and that sometime in the future, that needle is going to move?
There is a little bit of a personal way in here. I’m more than likely will never have my own kids. I have kids I’m close to and being an only child. When my paternal grandmother died, I was at her funeral. I need to honor the way she lived her life but there was less in there. I remember her eulogy and she lived in a small town, farmer, country life eulogy. I said to myself, “That wouldn’t be me.” The second thing, may not any kids. If nobody ever remembers my name after this and I impacted lives, I will die a happy man. Don’t get me wrong. I have one kid that carries my name from good friends. I have other kids that, even though I’m an only child, were calling me uncle. My memory will at least live on past my generation, no questions asked.
At the same time, when you get to the age, you have to start asking yourself, what’s your legacy. Seeing where my grandmother and then knowing my father was a pharmacist and the impact that he made on people, I said, “I can serve and give to others.” I’m not perfect at this. I try to make it less than myself. What keeps my fire going is my late grandma, Franco, my Santa. My voice is breaking because I’m a good Mexican man. I will always cry over her. I know, through many conversations, what she valued and what she did right in the community. If there’s a gift I can give to honor my grandmother is to serve. I’m tearing up when I say it.
That’s a common pursuit amongst a lot of people who are following their passions. First of all, a lot of people discover their passions as a common story through this question, “What’s my legacy? What do I want to leave in the world?” I hear that question come about a lot when people are stuck in ruts and it’s like, “I’m not feeling what I’m doing. I’m lost a little bit.” You’ll say to yourself, “Think 40, 50, 70, however many years you think you have left into the future. What do I want my legacy to be?” I’m glad that you know what now. Also, that call to service is quite commonly a motivation for a lot of people. You’re looking at your community and it sounds like both jobs in tech as well as entrepreneurship, to be the greater part of the future of that community.
There are daily reminders. When you see a Mexican or Hispanic kid and you see the family, you can step outside. Whether you know the family or not, you could say, “The work I’m doing might give that kid more chances than many of my own family had.”
You’re looking at this young Hispanic family in Colorado or anywhere you might go because you do go to other places as well. You look at them right in the eye and you say, “This family is hopefully going to have their voices heard more.” They are going to have more opportunities for VC funding, which we haven’t gotten into. I know that’s something that you’re passionate about as well as more opportunities for jobs in tech.
Economic legacy is huge. Mine’s not there yet but I’ve put myself in a good position. In my culture, family is relative. We call a person a cousin quickly but words have meaning. Where I’m going with this is we know we’re all Hispanics and we’re all connected. The future is going to get us sooner or later, that’s a proverbial saying. What can we do now is to give others opportunities we didn’t. Also, the people who helped put us here, how can we honor them? There is a give to get in this community overall. I sell software sales. I know about the idea of selling intangible. You have to ask yourself, “What if I make a difference in one life? What if I help out people and their kids are?” If you can look at a family you don’t know and take a moment, you remove your sense of self from what you’re doing and you build a bigger way.
I may not talk to the family. I look at it and I remind myself, “I’m trying to maybe give that kid a chance.” You see a kid come out of prison. I talked to this one Latina who had met retail up North. I started talking to her. Now I’m connecting her with somebody in a coding school. Touring them, fantastic and partner with us. If I talked to her for the rest of my life, great. If I don’t and she goes on to terrain and she changes her life, that’s the success story that I couldn’t be happier for. They may never know my name.
It’s so good to set yourself up with a situation where you can almost consistently put yourself reminders. I know a lot of people like to write things on their walls or carry around pictures of people that they care about. What a lot of people need in their lives with their pursuits especially because any pursuit that’s in any way outside the box to use a generic term is going to encounter resistance, struggles and some amount of sacrifice. One of the challenges is getting through that sacrifice so that you can make a difference. The people that get through the sacrifice are people that oftentimes make the biggest difference. I attended and loved startup weekend events like that because I love being around those people that are making and have made the sacrifice to make the difference.
It is good to have a constant reminder because it is easy to get bogged down into the details in some of the nitty-gritty, especially some of the setbacks. Almost everyone that tries to do something is going to encounter some not positive statements from people, for lack of a better way to put it. Some things that people may say innocently but in a risk-averse way might discourage them. Knowing what people are counting on you. That’s another great thing. You see these little kids, you’re like, “These people are counting on me.” That’s another great way to look.
As we become more diverse, food becomes a microcosm of where everything's going to go. Click To TweetI’ll tell you a story about my grandfather. He would probably be 115 in 2021. He grew up in The Depression and did not have much past grade school education. He told me his story many times. I would sit at his foot and hear all the stories. Several years later, I’m retelling them. He worked hard. There’s an interesting legacy there but I go back to some of those stories where people gave him an opportunity. He busted his butt. He was a hard worker. He made sure the rest of us were hard workers but I see how people changed this perspective, which kept ongoing. He could see the legacy of that, where that vision is some things I learned, you see where it does. Also important now in the world of tattoos social influencers, “I am this. Look at me. I’m happy when I do things behind the scenes that people never see that I don’t put out on social media.” I’m looking at those kids. I’m thinking of that context because somebody did it for my grandfather. How can I repay the favor 100 years later?
That’s an interesting point as well because we’ve had some other discussions here about social media. Do you feel like social media is having an influence on people? One of the things that I often concern myself about is the culture of instant gratification. Social media facilitates that in a way where most of these important pursuits, the ones that are going to build a legacy and self-actualization in the sense of pride or are not instinct gratification. They take perseverance, day in and day out work and persistence. Do you feel like social media is having that influence on people’s minds in that respect as well as in the more I’m looking for external validation, as opposed to the internal validation that you’re talking about? You know what you understand that this person’s life or a whole bunch of people’s lives have more opportunities because of something you put forth into the world.
While I’m framing the question, I may ask you with another question. What’s considered long-form journalism right now, 3,000 words, maybe?
I know if my blogs go above 800 words, they get fewer reads.
The answer is yes because people don’t go down. They always want the skim in the milk and they’re not trained to look down. Going back to when you’re mixed race. When you are mixed, you have to look at more of the details. You have to be able to get the skim on the milk. Hopefully, they didn’t get some of the cream at the bottom. You have to put all the textures and stuff together there. Social media hurts us on that. They only hear one story and they expect everybody to be at the same because we’re cluster. Going back to where mixed-race going to be, I pray it’s not bloody but it’s going to be a hard path. Social media is a completely different story.
What it sounds to me, in general, is this need to dive deeper and when the easiest things to do when you meet someone is to make a quick judgment about who they are or get what I usually refer to as the three bullet-point summaries of a person or a group of people, whatever. It sounds like with respect to more people regardless but especially with respect to mixed-race people, it requires a little bit more attention and active listening to understand there is a lot more depth to people than we often assigned to in our quick diversion of attention culture, these days.
Most people have no clue. There are different skillsets that happen. When you’re in the mix, you can ask different level questions because there are different level instincts. You’ve lived at that granular level but you’re right because we don’t fit in a box. I’ve been told once if I choose to identify as Hispanic. It doesn’t get much more insulting than that. I don’t have a choice about my genetics, family history or grandfather being the first generation. I did not have a choice to tell him if he chose to identify with somebody will say, “When you’re mixed, you’re dead on.” Let’s say straight Hispanic. They may be first-generation. You have to understand that. There are gigantic differences in generational too, on the stories and those nuances tell you a lot. If you had 1,000 of those conversations, you get it quicker but most people are lucky to have five of them in their life.
First of all, I am not hearing the stories of straight-up Hispanics and not understanding the diversity of how it’s much different, Puerto Rican, Venezuelan, Cuban, Mexican, all that stuff. Also, I’m not hearing the voices of the mixed-race community. What do you think people are generally losing out on by not hearing these stories and not diving deeper into them?
For mine, our heart, real emotion, true selves and the Hispanic community. If we take a moment, you’ll see us talking over each other, yelling at each other and it’s not yelling. You’ll see us in one moment fighting and then you see giving each other a kiss on the cheek. It takes patience. You have to have a different eye to get that true heart. I’m trying to grab a word, our authentic self. I’ve used that. Our vulnerability and the beauty of it, passion, commitment and pull the fun praises. I met a Puerto Rican, an amazing woman smarter than me. Trust me, there are big differences there. When she shows her heart is different than I do, thank God.
There is a certain amount of sadness that I encounter myself when I think about people that can’t be their authentic selves for one reason or another. Our work culture has prevented that for a long time. As people bring their true, authentic selves, what do you see in the future like that? I’m not trying to be mindlessly optimistic but as it eventually will come to pass more, what do you see about that changing the world around us?
When you go back to the story at the beginning, you talk about Darwin. Darwin’s survival of the fittest, where people who were genetically diverse learn to adapt. In some ways, we’re getting more genetically diverse but we’re less diverse because we’re polarized and siloed. Where we’re getting for? I’ll say we’ve got more creativity and ingenuity. I struggle with this because I want the cultures to be but our perspectives will change. We’ll have to learn more about others’ history. It’s almost Darwinism in the best form but I’m also afraid we’ll lose some of our authentic histories too. It’s double-edged in the ideal form, the food will get better. A good friend of mine wrote a James Beard Award-winning cookbook called Soul Food. It talks about the influence of the slave on food week.
I’m mentioned in the book. I’ve cooked with him multiple times. The thing that’s interesting is you can see some of the foods that the slaves brought with them of how it’s been integrated from anywhere from Chile up to here in Colorado. You see the influence. The same goes as we become more diverse. Food is a microcosm of where everything’s going to go.
You have to learn the ability to see through others' eyes, not your context. Click To TweetAll those fusion restaurants that we see popping up are predecessors to that.
It’s our culture will be. Hopefully, we won’t lose authenticity. There always will be mixed in there. There always should be truly proven where some of us walk in and says, “This is a poser.” When I walk into a Mexican restaurant, I can tell you what it is by the smell of it. Tortillas, I’m a slob. I’ll tell you the tortillas and stuff. Green chili, we get into this. Don’t tell me you’re giving me chicken green chili or vegetarian green chili. If there’s green chili and there’s one only and leave me alone.
It reminds me of one of the challenges of our time because we have this real divide between people like to refer to as the Globalists and the Nationalists. What we’re looking for in a way is a way to combine both, where we get the benefits of knowing each other, benefits of those cross-culture being open to conversation. Also, while still maintaining our cultural roots and maintaining some of the things that are instinctively ours. I think about that growing up in the Italian-American community on Long Island. We have our own set of cultural, that five-course meal with the antipasto and all that stuff. No one ever fights and they wouldn’t even want you to ever take out your headphones because you say there are good and bad about everything. It would be sad to see that disappear.
There was a reason why I go over to Chubby’s 38th at Lipan, besides being close to the family. I need to go back to my people and to my roots. My first overseas trip was to India for three weeks, not buying cold cuts. It is that intense. I have a good friend. He’s Malaysian and we were both over there. Muslim, awesome man. It’s funny. I would go to the home house every day from the mass. He’ll be saying his prayers. That’s where we would touch base and we’d go eat breakfast together.
I was processing and I had nobody that I could talk to with a cultural context to defrag and work through and ask about it. I still have friends from them but going to where you’re going through the Globalist versus the Nationalists, the Nationalist is important but so is the Globalist. It’s in between but you don’t want to lose that national identity because there’s a threat that goes there too. Politically is a different one. I’m a big USA fan because there’s a reason why everyone wants to come here and start a business. There’s a reason why my people are coming across the border in many different ways to start a business too. Nonpolitical but political’s a different story. I don’t want to get into that.
It is fantastic to see people come to this country to start a business. The initial catch line for this episode you had given me was equity through economics. The economic advantage that it provides. It is getting Hispanics in tech and entrepreneurship to the point where you’re heard, leveled up and gain the opportunity. We’ll have an economic benefit for everybody in this great country. Do you see this unfolding? If not, what do you think we should all be doing to make this unfold?
I was at a Techstars event and they said, “Diversity equals dollars.” I’ve said, “Demographics determined equal destiny.” I was thinking of a good t-shirt if we ever going to do one for Hispanics and back. What it will be is demographics equal destiny equals the dollar sign. It’s coming no matter what. How you help out the people in there determines all of our future. I go back to Denver being 30% plus Hispanic. You don’t see us in positions of power and the board room. We’re the least represented in the boardroom. You only see us as 8% of the total tech force of it. If people want to make a difference and you see us 3 to 1 compared to Whites in the judicial system, 3 to 1, 4 to 1 I read, which is less than others but it’s still a pretty high number and then the numbers will scale up because of our general percentages.
What people need to be aware of it are things are changing. Their lens and perspectives need to change. They have to look around and say, “If I don’t help out the small businesses, get to know them, not under my terms but through their lens and how they’ll let me help them and be patient enough to earn their trust, everybody may not be in a great spot.” When the greatest number is earning less per capita, that’s a drag down on everybody else. Simple economics. It is an equalization game. It’s a mean game. There’s a reason why we use standard deviations in economics.
What you’re going through is people need to look at it like PPE loans. Elon Musk’s brother got a $3 million loan for his restaurant here. Many people in my community could not get any. There are some systematic problems here. That’s a telltale sign. That’s something that should have people being in the street raising hell about. People need to ask themselves like, “Where do I want my kids to be? Do I want my kids to stand better chances?” Great. I better help out the Hispanic humanity because we’ll be bigger and if we’re doing better financially, everybody else is.
I usually give this opportunity to every one of my guests. If people want to get a hold of you or want to talk to you about any of your initiatives. If anyone wants to join Hispanic and Tech or join any of your other advocacies on behalf of the Hispanic entrepreneurial community, how would someone best go about contacting you?
Via LinkedIn. My personal email is JamesAFoy@gmail.com. On Meetup, I run a group called San Juan Tech Meetup, which hopefully I’ll be moving to San Juan soon. I’ve run Hispanics and Tech Meetup.
Any last messages that you want to entail onto our readers as far as their own personal pursuits, how to go through, overcome the struggle, overcome the sacrifice, some of the setbacks as well as how to come and approach some of these issues that we’re talking about now?
Whether you know the family or not, you can say the work I'm doing might give that kid more chances than so many in my own family had. Click To TweetLet me answer in two parts. I mentioned I’m Catholic. I’ve served many years at my basilica. I got to know the local missionaries of charity here. Before I went to India, I was blessed enough to meet Mother Superior, missionary Jerry, which was a completely different story. I was told one thing and this is not politically correct. I was told to learn the Indian way. How that translates to our conversation is you have to learn the ability to see through others’ eyes. Not your context. For the other communities that may be involved, one thing I’m proud I do and I’m not great at. It can always be better but one thing I tested myself. There’s a gigantic Vietnamese community here. I go in from India and Vietnamese. This is how all over the place I am.
Every Sunday after mass, they have a dine-in community feat. I learned to use chopsticks there. For four years, I went there every Sunday and sat by myself with families. People barely said a word. I was the only Whitish person in there. Now I’m invited to help them cook on Sunday. Going back to what the nuns of the Missionaries of Charity said, “Learn the Indian way and learn to see other people’s eyes. It takes practice and work. It’s not going to be easy.” If I’m talking to underserved communities, Hispanics and Black, our heart, grit and story is our superpower. You will be standing alone many times. You will feel like you’re the only person in the room that happened but don’t be afraid to keep on looking. Don’t be afraid to get a reminder of where you came from. It’s happening to me. Remember what you’re working towards. Lose the sense of self to realize what you’re doing is making a difference to other people. That helps you keep the fire going.
That is an amazing message. Hopefully, we can all take it into our pursuits and we can all bring our pursuits to fruition through the hardworking grit that it’s inevitably been intake, whoever you are out there, whatever your pursuit is, whatever has ignited your passions. James, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your story from your perspective at one as well as some encouragement for everyone reading. For those reading, tune in again for more episodes where we’ll be talking with more interesting stories and pursuits that are making a difference in the world.
Important Links:
- James Foy
- Episode 20 – Previous Episode
- Soul Food
- JamesAFoy@gmail.com
- San Juan Tech Meetup
- Hispanics and Tech Meetup
About James Foy
James Foy as a person who got tired of being the only Hispanic in the room, led him to take his twenty years in technology to make a greater difference in his community. Mr. Foy whose technical career has been focused on enterprise software specifically in Big Data and Analytics from both a global and domestic level. Mr. Foy has worked with many trailblazers throughout his career including those who started the Open Source revolution and those who helped change the way we do every financial transaction. Mr. Foy has worked with domestic and international startups and led efforts around lead generation and SME sales. Mr. Foy has taken his problem-solving skills to address why there are so few Hispanics who work in technology and why so few of Hispanic startups get funded. Mr. Foy by being the Founder of Hispanics and Technology has created a platform to support, promote Hispanic professionals as well as economic empowerment. Hispanics and Technology while being founded only two years ago has grown to nearly seven-hundred members.
Mr. Foy has been very active in various activities on both a state and a local level. He was the Vice Chair of study by the Colorado Department of Agriculture that centered around Blockchain and Food Safety. Mr. Foy has been recognized by the Colorado Hispanic Chamber as volunteer of the Year. He has served on various neighborhood boards and is active in his local parish.