Ariana Gomez Is A Woman Using Technology And Women To Save Our Planet
Ariana Gomez is so full of passion, joy, intelligence, warmth, when you speak with her, it’s hard not to be inspired with your first introduction. Still, I had the pleasure recently of discussing Ariana’s journey, unequivocal themes throughout her life, and what led her to found Technology for Impact.
At her core, Ariana has always wanted to be a person to “protect nature and improve humanity”. Even as a child, her vivid memory highlights stories that show in her character today. Even when she was a mere eight-years old she started her first company, SAM - “Salvemos Al Mundo” or Let’s Save The World. Her team put up posters to bring awareness to saving animals among other causes. It was her first taste as an entrepreneur, CEO, and champion of impact.
Then again when she was twelve years old, Ariana had her eyes on a pair of new pink shoes. She waited for months practicing her best behaviour until the moment her mother drove her to the store to purchase. After the afternoon shopping, holding her precious new pink shoes on her lap, and while sitting in a warm, dry, beautiful car, she looked out the window. Standing in the rain with her baby and toddler, a mother was cold asking for money. The young child bent over, straw-in-hand, and started drinking from a street puddle. Ariana’s gut churned again - “this shouldn’t be” she thought. “Why do we allow this?” It was a question and challenge, among many about our world, she wanted to both answer and fix.
Fast-forward almost thirty years and Ariana’s resume is nothing short of very impressive. Her B.A. from University of York is in Politics, Philosophy & Economics. She has an MSc. in Development Studies from the London School of Economics, and an MBA from IPADE (Panamerican Institute of Business Management). If her enthusiasm in improving the world made her stand out as a child, her formal education is notable in its own right. The list goes on! Studying at MIT, Harvard, Stanford, and more, Ariana is a sponge for information on, well, humanity and nature. Her early childhood dreams of being a marine biologist and saving the earth had morphed into creating positive change for humans. In her own words she recounts an early lesson, “If you want to protect nature, you need to fix humanity first.”
Once more, Ariana’s corporate side took her, quite literally, all over the world. She worked for the United Nations in Ethiopia, and the World Bank in Africa and Asia. She has been Chief Innovation Officer for Gentera - responsible for developing the first Financial Inclusion Innovation Lab in the continent. For Bosch she was hired to be part of a global executive team to lead social mobility and smart cities. At VISA she was the Senior Director of Innovation, Design & Strategic Partnerships… enough? Not for Ariana.
This endlessly energized, astute, resourceful, force of a woman found herself far from her passion. She wanted to get back to her roots, to be a woman who honours her principles. The white-collar theories and economic titans she was surrounded by weren’t fulfilling her basic need, as she says, “to look animals and the ocean in the eyes, and be proud of myself.”
Her story led her to found Technology for Impact, a next generation management consulting firm focused on stakeholder, net-zero and nature positive strategy and sustainable leadership powered by advanced social and environmental sciences, future foresight, ethical innovation and exponential technologies.
She and her team will launch her second company in February 2022, an e-learning platform where corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, students and anyone will be able to learn about sustainability, leadership, innovation, future studies and exponential technologies.
Their first program will be a one of a kind journey for women from all walks of life, from graphic designers to entrepreneurs, from yoga teachers to corporate CEOs, who want to become sustainability leaders and acquire a confident, future-proof mindset. She is very excited about the community that will result from this initial program and is looking to bring the program to every corner of the world.
In her own words “The countries and companies who are doing a great job at protecting nature and securing a future for humanity are mostly led by women. It is thus quite obvious that the planet needs strong, confident and caring women to lead. We all need more female leaders paving the way for a thriving, healthy and abundant future for all, humans, animals and nature. But to transform the world, we need to transform ourselves first. To improve the world, we need to improve ourselves first.”
This program will start by addressing the limiting mindset that so many women around the world suffer from; impostor syndrome, self-sabotage, internal narratives and saboteurs, to limiting beliefs and old fashioned ideas of what women should do, be and want. Once the mindset has been hacked and expanded, the program will equip all participants with all the tools they need to understand and apply core concepts under the sustainability umbrella such as circular economy, decarbonization, biodiversity, biomimicry, blue economy, green finance and many more.
“Our planet needs women to lead, to be informed and to be in charge more than ever. This program will kick-start a long due global movement. It is for everyone, a stay at home mom or an astronaut. And it will be launched on Valentine’s Day (February 14th) because it’s about time that we celebrate self-love and love for our planet too, isn’t it?”. At Lee London - we 100% agree!
When I asked Ariana who her heroes are, her focus became acute. Her mother and grandmother are the champions of her vision. She also is impressed with Jane Goodall and Sylvia Earle - both women who have made incredible amounts of tangible impact on earth. What’s remarkable about Ariana is not just her (very extraordinary) educational and corporate resume, but that her own values have lead her back to the simple, pure, childhood vision - to give back to this world. To leave it better than how she found it.
We cannot be more excited to follow Ariana and Technology for Impact as she and it rise, and save the world.