197: Hector Mujica (Google)

Hector Mujica on Innovation City

“When you’re trying to tend to some of the grave injustices and needs of marginalized societies, for that work to be done and executed by people that are reflective of the communities we’re trying to help it’s super significant.” -Hector Mujica

Welcome to Season 6 of Innovation City (The Miami Edition), a podcast featuring innovators, creators, and disruptors to discover how business is changing in the modern world.

Created and produced by SLAM! Agency and Aīre Ventures, Innovation City gives you an inside look at how rapidly business and culture are changing thanks to increasing diversity and heightened creativity, and a stronger and better-connected business community.

Welcome to Season 6 of Innovation City (The Miami Edition), a podcast featuring innovators, creators, and disruptors to discover how business is changing in the modern world.

Created and produced by SLAM! Agency and Aīre Ventures, Innovation City gives you an inside look at how rapidly business and culture are changing thanks to increasing diversity and inclusion, heightened creativity, and a stronger and better-connected business community.

Today’s guest is Hector Mujica, head of economic opportunity at Google across the Americas. In his work at Google, Hector works to create jobs and access to capital for minority-owned business owners. In this episode, Hector sits down with the team to discuss the challenges of corporate philanthropy, the importance of being a cultural ambassador in philanthropy work, and the momentum that currently exists in Miami.

They discuss:

• Hector’s Superpower
  • Hector is an empathetic connector. He connects with people, feels emotions heavily, and feels the weight of people’s journeys.
• Origin Story
  • Hector’s family immigrated to the US from Venezuela when he was five.
  • His parents took the opportunity to come to America- to Miami specifically.
  • Moving to Miami opened a lot of doors for him to develop his identity. At the same time, Hector had to straddle a lot of new things- learning a new language, new culture, and new norms.
  • His immigrant experience were formative years for him in becoming a cultural ambassador.
• Professional Experience as a Cultural Ambassador
  • Hector leads part of Google’s philanthropy around economic opportunity creating pathways to jobs and access to capital.
  • Coming from an underrepresented community, it was a rude awakening to leave South Florida and move into the Bay Area to work in tech where Latinos made up less than 2% of the company. He was forced to navigate and pioneer in a new way.
  • It’s important when you’re trying to cure injustice for the work to be executed by people who reflect the communities you’re working in.
  • Working in a corporate philanthropy means being an ambassador between the communities you’re serving and the corporate entity.
  • Google is more than just giving away advertising. They’re providing grant funding, volunteering, and providing in-kind support that helps give social justice warriors a stronger platform.
• Biggest Challenges in Philanthropy at Google
  • What’s most difficult is trying to bring the broader whole of Google along for the ride.
  • One of the biggest challenges for minority-owned small business owners is accessing capital so Hector focuses on catalytic impact.
• The Origins of  Hector’s Lens of Justice
  • Hector’s father is in tech and he was his initial exposure to the tech sector when he was very young. He’s always been very community-oriented. Every Thanksgiving they would go to the homeless shelters and homeless camps, and this resonated with him later in life.
• What excites you as an individual?
  • People. Hector is a high energy individual who feeds off people’s energy who believe in what they’re doing.
• Hector’s Relocation Back to Miami
  • Hector is one of many “boomerangs” coming back to Miami from California. When COVID happened, Google allowed Hector to relocate to the Miami office.
  • The silver lining of COVID was giving us an opportunity to pause and reflect on how we want to center our lives going forward.
  • Hector and his wife made a decision on where they want to invest and where they want to set up deep roots.
  • The momentum and moment in time that South Florida is in right now, it was the perfect moment for them to come back.

Lightning Round

• What moves you to tears or gives you goosebumps?
  • Movies
• What can you do that you could not do a year ago?
  • Acknowledging that he doesn’t have all the answers.
• What did you learn from your biggest regret?
  • To be more uniquely generous in praise and more measured in criticism.
• Where have you found peace?
  • Nature
• What would you ask a fortune teller?
  • Whether or not he and his wife should have a baby