![]() It’s not about reacting to social pressures or simply chasing representation, but anticipating market shifts and expectations with data, committed action, and dollars,” explains Gil Valletta. “Inclusion is not an altruistic mission it’s a superpower to future-proof your business. Cultural intelligence, on the other hand, strives to wake businesses up to the market share they are missing out on by not understanding and embedding an inclusive approach into decisions. More and more often, she says, D&I initiatives amount to little more than superficial box checking. However, as Gil Valletta points out, the word “diversity” fails to capture the full, profit-driving potential that cultural intelligence offers. In 2009, Gil Valletta transitioned from her fast-track corporate career and joined former J&J colleague and now cofounder and business partner Enrique Arbelaez to create the company she says she couldn’t find to hire.ĬIEN+ has since become an award-winning partner to Fortune 500 companies and other leading organizations seeking to understand and authentically engage with diverse, high-growth market segments worldwide. Prior to founding CIEN+, Gil Valletta helped pioneer multicultural and inclusive marketing strategies at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) as director of global marketing services and the cofounder of the Latino employee resource group, HOLA (Hispanic Organization of Leadership and Achievement). “We approach it from a place of empowerment we demonstrate how it is mathematically impossible for a company to achieve their goals or street expectations without an inclusive approach to their business.” “We have the privilege of influencing some of the biggest corporations in the world that want to better understand untapped opportunities and the impact of culture and market shifts to their business,” Gil Valletta explains. For a decade, this framework has inspired the mission of both her market research tech firm CulturIntel and the consultancy and cultural marketing agency CIEN+. This mindset inspired what she has codified and patented as cultural intelligence, the ability to be aware of, understand, and apply cultural competence and inclusive data into everyday business. ![]() I would think, ‘OK, people are ignorant I’ve got to teach them, to show them a better way.’” “I thought it was very innocent, maybe a little oblivious, but I would try to have an open heart and not get offended. “People would first assume I was Mexican, but then when they found out I was Colombian they would reference Pablo Escobar,” Gil Valletta says. Unfortunately, many of her initial experiences in the United States were colored by stereotypes and clichés about Latinos. “I moved here without speaking English, with a suitcase, a student visa, a pocket translator, and lots of ideas and dreams in my head,” she recalls. Gil Valletta moved to the United States from Colombia at just seventeen years old. This philosophy serves as the bedrock for Gil Valletta’s leadership and mission: that businesses need cultural intelligence to win. Where some might see an obstacle or a disadvantage, she sees a superpower. Where some might see an offensive comment, she sees an opportunity to educate. ![]() Lili Gil Valletta embodies the true meaning of optimism.
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