Yesenia Gallardo Avila
Lemnis Alliance
Portland, OR USA
"It’s important to trust your instincts about who is deserving of your time, your limited resources, and your capacity."
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Yesenia's work combines: Business, Numbers, and Accomplishing Goals
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
History
Willamette University
Graduate Degree
Business & Environmental Management
Yale University
Life & Career Milestones
I've taken a lot of twists and turns
1.
I studied history at Willamette University, thinking I might become a historian.
2.
After college, I worked at an immigration law firm on deportation defense, asylum, family reunification, and immigrant rights.
3.
I went to graduate school at Yale, planning to work in food policy and access, but building my first business there opened my eyes to entrepreneurship.
4.
I built my first company without knowing what I was doing, and although it failed, I learned that sometimes the best way to learn is by doing.
5.
I went on to build three businesses, and every failure gave me more experience and helped me become smarter and sharper the next time around.
6.
My experience as a founder became my break into venture capital—understanding how hard it is to build something helped me become a stronger investor.
7.
I found my way into impact investing, where I could bring together financial outcomes with my longstanding desire to create social impact.
8.
Today, I invest with a founder-first mentality, using capital as a creative tool to support people building organizations and create systems change.
