Anna Valdez managed to weave everything she loves into her career in ways that are

surprising, sometimes even to her.

Anna's passion for marketing, politics, and the Latino community has taken her from Nielsen,

the global marketing research

firm, to the UN's Human Rights Commission, to the White House. And it inspired her to launch

her own production companies. And now, to serve as the executive director of the Latino

donor collaborative, where she works to reframe the story of Latinos in this country.

When we talked, Anna offered invaluable advice about everything from launching a business to securing a seat on a corporate board and learning when to step up and when to step back.

Anna, you were 10 years old growing up in Mexico City the first time you witnessed the power of marketing. Take me back to that moment. Yes, I would remember perfectly. I was driving with my mom

and we knew that there was a huge problem in Mexico with water.

And we traditionally, unfortunately at that time, didn't have a lot of good experiences with

efforts from the government.

And suddenly I hear on the radio this campaign that was called Sierra Le. And Sierra Le in English

means, actually it doesn't have a real great translation, but it means turn it off, right?

And it meant that people when they are, you know, watering or when they are brushing their teeth

or whatever, just turn it off. You don't need to keep it open all the time. And I remember

thinking, this app just changed the way I do everything. I cannot even imagine what it's doing

for the rest of the country. And exactly that happened. Two years later, we were out of the crisis

and through the power of media, people had changed

the way Mexico was meant to suffer and avoided that huge drought, at least some of the

consequences of the drought. So I said, you know what? For me, this is it. I'm using media to

create change. Whatever happens in my life, that's what I'm going to do. But when did you actually realize that marketing

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