Ep 17 Codie Sanchez, Championing Diversity and Encouraging Investment in Latin America

Nathan Lustig

7 years ago

Codie Sanchez is not your ordinary financial expert. She started out as a journalist, writing about human trafficking and abuses going on just over the southern border of the U.S. That is, until she wrote her last story about the abandoned women of Mexico. That’s when she realized that she needed to be doing more than just writing about the issues in the world – she needed to do something about them.

You’ll hear how Codie used the opportunities afforded her as a U.S. citizen to learn all she can about the power structures of the world so that she can leverage them to make a difference.

Where does power come from? Codie Sanchez discovered it’s the world of finance, so she got busy.

When Codie realized that she lacked the power to make changes in the real human situations she’d witnessed, it pushed her to explore what she COULD do. Her journalistic reporting skills served her well as she dug into the problems and discovered that money fuels most things in the world. That meant she needed to learn all she could about the way finance works in the world. That’s exactly what she did, for the sake of learning how to pull people out of the prejudices and poverty that has hurt them.

Without financial freedom, there isn’t really any other kind of freedom.

One of the cold hard facts that Codie referenced in our conversation is that money, or the lack of it, dramatically impacts the freedom experienced by real people. There has to be some degree of financial stability and security in order for the rest of the freedoms human beings need to even be possible.

Codie is a woman who’s gone on the offensive, not only learning how the world of finance and investment works, but she’s also leveraged her knowledge and growing notoriety in the world of finance to put a focus on Latin America and the problems people there face. You’ll enjoy my talk with Codie, on this episode of Crossing Borders.

We need more people who are serious and ethical in the hard areas.

Codie Sanchez knows there are many ways people in her generation are applying their savvy and intelligence to make a good income for themselves. But toward the end of our conversation, she threw out a challenge of sorts, daring those who are making their money doing things like fashion and food blogging to look higher, to consider ways they can invest in serious, difficult areas to bring about the change that will make a tremendous difference in the lives of suffering people. Are you up to the challenge?

Outline of This Episode

[0:09] Codie’s journey from journalism to angel investing in Latin America.
[2:19] Why companies should hire a diverse group of individuals.
[6:30] The point when Codie knew she was interested in business and Latin America.
[16:20] Making the transition from journalism to finance.
[30:30] Climbing the ranks in the investing world.
[34:18] Doing free work for her employer to make an opportunity for herself.
[37:25] The differences Codie sees in the Latin American markets and opportunities.
[42:57] Areas in Latin America where American investors have traditionally invested.
[45:29] The work Codie is doing to encourage and help entrepreneurs.
[51:54] Codie’s recommended resources.
[58:19] The goals Codie is pursuing in her work in Latin America.