S6 Ep67: Dr. Antonia O. Franco Chief Operating Officer and President of Digital Nest Is Helping To Create Economic Equity through Technology Skill Centers

Our 6th season opens up a deeper conversation, regarding higher education, community and resources for the next generation of workforce for our Latine Youth. Our guest is Dr. Antonia O. Franco, COO and President of DigitalNest.org. Dr. Antonia O. Franco’s career spans nearly thirty years of executive and management experience in the nonprofit, philanthropic and government sectors advancing access, equity and a voice to marginalized communities. She has worked extensively on leading organizational change, creating strategic partnerships and community building, and scaling the work of programs, initiatives and organizations. She oversees the programmatic and operational initiatives that support the scaling efforts spanning the five rural communities of Watsonville, Salinas, Gilroy, Modesto and Stockton. 

Dr. Antonia and I  discuss her inspiring journey into higher education, through perseverance and by highlighting the pivotal role her family, community support, and how she saw that representation matters. If you can see it, you can be it.  Growing up in an agricultural community in Arizona, Dr. Franco's story is a testament to the power of nurturing curiosity and providing opportunities for young people to envision and achieve their aspirations. Dr. Franco and I discuss the current lack of diversity in tech and educational leadership and stress the importance of motivating more of our Latine community to pursue careers in education, technology and the  STEM industries. By showcasing various career paths, organizations like Digital Nest are guiding young people toward building economic equity by fulfilling impactful careers by utilizing tech and helping them into their first career within tech organizations. 

We both emphasize how important it is to pay it forward to our future generations by the change we are setting in motion through organizations, such as Digital Nest and by using this podcast platform to lift our voices. We are delighted to have Dr. Antonia O. Franco and the Digital Nest team help make this audio production also as a recorded live video episode, which you can watch in full length on our YouTube Channel, at Latinasb2b and subscribe to follow us on longer content videos.  

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Executive Podcast production by Theresa E. Gonzales and Audio Engineered by Robert Lopez. 

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