What Comes After Making It?

A couple of times a week, I drive through an intersection in Phoenix that always takes me back. It looks different now. There is an actual bus stop there. Twenty years ago, when I was an undergrad, there was basically just a piece of sidewalk to sit on while I waited. At the time, my old car had broken down, and I was taking the bus from Central Phoenix to Tempe for classes. Some of those classes were at night, which meant coming back late and waiting at that intersection for a transfer. It was the kind of place where I stayed very aware of my surroundings while I waited for the next bus to take me the last few miles home. I remember thinking during that period: if I can just graduate, everything will be okay. At that point in my life, the degree felt like the finish line.

Every time I drive through that intersection now, I am reminded that it wasn't. Graduating absolutely changed my life. But what I didn't understand then was that the diploma alone wasn't going to show me all the opportunities that existed. As a commuter student, I didn't have the same access to internships, extracurricular activities, networks or mentors that some of my classmates had. I was focused on getting through school and doing what I thought successful people were supposed to do: work hard, earn the degree, and move forward. What I couldn't see yet was how much relationships, access and exposure would matter.

I think a lot of Latino professionals can relate to some version of that. We may be the first in our families to earn the degree, get the MBA, become a manager, earn $150,000 or $200,000, buy the first home, or reach an executive title. Those milestones matter, and they should be celebrated. Our community has a lot to celebrate. The U.S. Latino economy now represents trillions of dollars in economic output, and Latinos continue to be a major driver of new homeownership in the United States. So maybe the question is no longer simply whether we can "make it." Maybe the more interesting question is: What comes after making it?

For me, part of the answer is ownership. As a mortgage professional, I see the power of homeownership every day. The value isn't only in appreciation or building equity. There is something powerful about having a place that is yours. It creates stability and control. A landlord isn't making the next decision about where you live. That security can affect everything from your family life to the decisions you are able to make in your career. But buying a home shouldn't necessarily be the end of the ownership conversation.

Ownership can mean another property. It can mean investing. It can mean owning a business, buying an existing business, creating intellectual property, or building something that has value beyond your next paycheck. I didn't even know some of those paths existed when I was younger. During my MBA, for example, I learned about entrepreneurship through acquisition and the search fund model. Until I was exposed to people who understood that world, I had assumed that becoming an entrepreneur meant coming up with an idea from scratch and building everything yourself. Suddenly, I was seeing another path: acquiring an existing company, becoming its operator, growing it and continuing something another owner may have spent decades building. That wasn't a lesson about working harder. It was a lesson about exposure.

I grew up believing hard work was one of the most important ingredients for success, and I still believe that. But hard work alone does not automatically give us information, capital, relationships or access. Someone can work incredibly hard and still never know an opportunity exists. That is why our networks matter. And I don't believe that means everyone needs to spend every night networking or dedicate endless hours to organizations. People's lives are different. Some are raising children. Some are caring for parents. Some are supporting a spouse or extended family. Some are simply trying to build a career while managing everything else life requires. Everyone's time has value. The opportunity is to be intentional with whatever capacity we do have.

Sometimes giving back means mentoring someone. Sometimes it means volunteering. Sometimes it means making an introduction. Sometimes it is simply telling someone about an opportunity they didn't know existed. That is one of the reasons communities like Latinx MBA matter to me. I remember what it was like to not know what I didn't know. And now I understand how much one conversation, one relationship or one introduction can change someone's idea of what is possible.

When I drive through that intersection today, the younger version of me doesn't seem wrong for believing graduation would change everything. Graduation did change my life. He just couldn't see the rest of the map yet. For Hispanic Heritage Month, I think there is an opportunity for those of us who have reached some of the milestones we once dreamed about to ask ourselves a few harder questions: What are we building beyond our careers? What do we own? What opportunities have our networks exposed us to that someone else may never hear about? And whose learning curve can we shorten by sharing what we now know?

Because a bigger paycheck can change our lifestyle. A promotion can change our career. Ownership can change our future. But helping someone else see a possibility they couldn't see before may be one of the most meaningful ways we use the success we've built.