Marlene Orozco – Latino Entrepreneurship

​Wednesday, October 20th, at 1:00pm

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Marlene Orozco

Marlene Orozco is the Lead Research Analyst at the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative at Stanford Graduate School of Business and CEO of Stratified Insights, a research consulting firm. She holds a PhD in Sociology from Stanford, a Master’s in Education Policy and Management from Harvard, and a BA from Stanford. As a mixed methods researcher by training, Marlene has over 250 hours of in-depth interview experience and quantitative expertise in big data. 

Through her public scholarship, Marlene’s research has been featured in over 100s of media outlets including Bloomberg, MarketWatch, Forbes, NBC News, CNN en Español, and Univision, among others. Marlene is the lead editor and co-author of an academic volume, Advancing U.S. Latino Entrepreneurship, has written academic publications in peer-reviewed journals like Small Business Economics, Social Science Quarterly and Qualitative Sociology, and authored several industry reports and research briefs. She has been previously named 40 Under 40, Top Young Professionals by Silicon Valley Business Journal and presented the Stanford Community Impact Award by the Stanford Alumni Association. 

Marlene’s work is guided by her passion for education and economic equity and exploring pathways of mobility for immigrants, women, and entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds. As a founding board member of CRESER Capital Fund and an Illumen Capital Ambassador, she regularly coaches and provides expertise to reduce systems-level bias facing women and people of color who are entrepreneurs, fund managers, or in the finance industry.

Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative

Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative is a research and education collaboration between Stanford University and the Latino Business Action Network.

Research

We operate a research program that explores and expands our knowledge of the Latino entrepreneurial segment of the U.S. economy through research, knowledge dissemination, and facilitated collaboration. The program, jointly supported by LBAN and the Stanford GSB Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, conducts an annual national survey to assess the current state of U.S. Latino entrepreneurship and is curating a significant panel of Latino entrepreneurs to enable longitudinal research to understand trends over time.

Specifically, our research aims to:

  • Understand the state of Latino entrepreneurship by collecting and analyzing data, and shaping research in this field.
  • Advance knowledge and discourse by disseminating the results of the research.
  • Stimulate more informed policy-making, business partnerships, and knowledge and skill development through its research findings.

Strategy

  • Conduct comprehensive quantitative and qualitative research on U.S. Latino-owned businesses using annual SLEI national surveys, U.S. census data, and discussions with Latino entrepreneurs.
  • Publish reports useful to a span of groups, ranging from policymakers to educators to business owners.
  • Connect with faculty and practitioners who can use our data to conduct quality research and promote business owner education.

Education Scaling Program

We also operate the SLEI Education Scaling Program as a collaboration between Stanford GSB Executive Education and Latino Business Action Network. It is an opportunity designed for U.S. Latino business owners who generate more than $1 million in annual gross revenues or have raised at least $500,000 of external funding. This seven-week immersive program provides business owners with education, enhanced networks, personal mentorship, and a better understanding of how to access and manage capital to scale their businesses.

(Source: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/centers-initiatives/slei)