Why devLatino?
devLatino's goal is to share knowledge and information with the Latino community from leaders in science and technology, and the digital space. We will showcase contributions from Latinos and Latin-Americans including bloggers, marketers, entrepreneurs, startups, social media experts, web and app developers, engineers, scientists, and educators. devLatino seeks to promote industry experts making strides in these areas. We will ask the experts to share their journey so that we call all learn from their successes and failures.
About the Founder
Hey, my name is Jason Mazier. I currently reside in South Florida, but I was born and raised in New York City (Uptown baby!) and make it “up north” often. I decided to start this devLatino journey simply out of curiosity. The idea began when I launched my own marketing practice. As a small business owner, it is important that I stay well informed on the latest digital marketing trends. I read just about everything written by the top online experts, became involved with the local WordPress community (shout-out to WPMIA), and began networking with loads of smart people. My professional network grew to include bloggers, marketers, social media experts, developers, engineers, and photographers - all very bright people with whom I enjoy working. But, as it’s been well documented, the technology and digital space can be one that is dominated by white males. I thought to myself - surely, there have to be Latinos and Latinas who are making waves in technology. My curiosity got the best of me and I decided to start a journey to learn about and connect with other Latinos and Latinas working in technology.
So I initially created a podcast. The road to this podcast was a bit unexpected. I initially bought the devLatino domain in 2013 thinking it would simply be a blog. But it wasn’t until I attended a WordPress Miami meeting that focused on podcasting that the idea for devLatino truly began to take shape. The presenters at that meeting were Jared Easley, host of Starve the Doubts and co-founder of Podcast Movement, and Ralph Quintero, founder of Happy Someone. They gave a great presentation and discussed their passion for podcasting. I immediately made the connection: podcasting + interviewing amazing and influential Latinos in Tech would be much more interesting than simply writing a blog about the subject. I definitely owe a huge THANK YOU to Jared and Ralph as their presentation planted the seed of what has grown into this blog and podcast show.
In addition, my good friend Rafael (Ray) Collazo began a podcast in 2013, and listening to his shows really inspired me. I saw how he bravely jumped headfirst in the podcasting game and he has interviewed some of the most amazingly talented people on the planet. If you haven’t heard Ray's Podcast, I HIGHLY recommend it. I recall when he first started the show, I rushed to call him simply to tell him how COOL he was for starting this. I really applauded him and asked tons of questions. Ray often mentions on his show that more Latinos and Latinas need to lift their voices and start spreading OUR stories and successes. I took Ray’s advice to heart. I’m proud to say Ray has been a good friend for years, and he deserves a giant thank you for being a great ally and mentor as I began my podcasting journey. Ray has honored me by being my first guest!
As with many podcasts, I "podfaded" and the podcast is no longer live. Life happened and I completely lost my momentum on the podcast. Of course, I have more than a few regrets about that, but I still wanted to continue my work helping others. So that is what devLatino is today. A resource to help you find the courses, tools, and career opportunities to help you along your tech journey. Like all things, it’s a work in progress. We hope you find this information helpful.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey. I guarantee that you will learn something new, grow your network, and be entertained. I have no idea where this Digital Empowerment Voyage (D.E.V...get it? dev!) will take us but that is the fun part. Wherever we go, I’m sure we will all be better for it! Truly, a giant THANK YOU who were fans of the podcast and are now reading our blog.
Sincerely,
Jason Mazier
Follow me on Twitter: @jasonmazier