A soul-centered speaker and community cultivator who empowers ambitious beings to embrace their authentic selves, transcend limitations, and live aligned with their spiritual wisdom.

Good Things Happen When You Open Your Heart

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Good Things Happen When You Open Your Heart ✳

About Vanessa, A Soul-Centered Leader Decolonizing How We Build and Connect

I’m a multi-passionate builder who believes business is spiritual, connection is currency, and pleasure is a practice worth honoring.

As the former CEO & Partner of #WeAllGrow (acquired March 2025), I spent four years growing a movement that injected over $18 million back into the Latina economy while weathering industry headwinds and advocating fiercely for communities of color.

Guided by my personal mission to democratize access to well-being tools, mental health resources, financial literacy, and business opportunities for women of color, I helped build what became a legacy of connection. Together with my partners, we built the most established digital and IRL community uniting impactful Latinas globally, distributed thousands in grant funding to entrepreneurs, and created Amigahood and the Amigas Circle Conversation Cards – both part of the acquisition.

But my story isn't linear, and that's precisely the point.

As an ex-corporate executive turned conscious entrepreneur, I spent 20+ years developing award-winning products and campaigns for global fintech, fashion tech, and media brands. I learned early that systems benefit the privileged few while failing women like me forging our own paths. So I chose a different route – one guided by inner wisdom rather than to systems that prioritize profit over people

As a Human Design Reflector, I'm deeply attuned to energy and environment, which allows me to lead consciously and help others discover their authentic glow-up. My meditation practice keeps me grounded through life's beautiful impermanence, teaching me that flow and pivot are superpowers, not setbacks.

What Drives Me:

  • Fierce advocacy for women's and human rights

  • Democratizing access to wellness and business resources for communities of color

  • Connection research – I've been studying and writing about friendship and human bonds for over a decade

  • Conscious investing – proud investor in Bloomi, supporting pleasure-positive wellness

  • Board service for early-stage startups, helping establish strong foundations for growth

My honest and soul-baring talks have brought me to world stages, from keynoting Forbes Most Powerful Women to receiving the inaugural Impulsa Award presented by Nationwide and The Hispanic Heritage Foundation for Entrepreneur of the Year.

After years of trying to fit others' definitions of success, I'm living proof you can create mental and emotional freedom while excelling on your own terms. So I carved my own path, tapping into my generational gifts and traumas alike to fuel me in a way no conventional business book could.

Currently on sabbatical, I'm writing about my free fall journey and building my next enterprise from a place of consciousness and joy. With pleasure as my word of the year, I'm opening myself – and helping others discover how to infuse more pleasure into everyday life.

My motto says it all: "If you're not feeling it, you're missing it!"

When I'm not mentoring women of color entrepreneurs or speaking on stages, you'll find me treasuring downtime with my fur babies Elvis and Teddy, seeking mountain solitude to recharge, or diving deep into the generational gifts and wisdom that fuel my unconventional path.

Join me in the journey: Subscribe to Letters from the In-Between, my newsletter where I honor the beautiful, messy transitions that shape our lives and businesses. Because the space between who we were and who we're becoming is where the real magic happens.

How I Got Here

Through deep introspection and the courage to release fears holding me back, I embarked on a profound personal transformation that propelled me into my true power as a conscious leader.

This awakening supported me in leaving my corporate executive role and opened doors that led me to the extraordinary Ana Flores. Together, we built #WeAllGrow into a movement that injected over $18 million back into the Latina economy – igniting a collaboration that continues uplifting Latinas and Latines globally.

Discovering my Human Design as a Reflector taught me that my sensitivity to energy wasn't a weakness, but my greatest strength. This revelation shifted everything – from how I lead to how I create community. By honoring my inner wisdom and rejecting systems designed to control rather than empower, I unlocked the ability to build affirming spaces where ambitious women can write their own daring narratives.

What started as my personal mission to democratize access to well-being tools, mental health resources, financial literacy and business opportunities for women of color became a legacy of connection that continues to ripple outward, one authentic soul at a time.

  • Allow yourself to get there. Great things take time and you shouldn’t set expectations for the unknown

    — Vanessa Santos

  • Your vision is there for a reason. Choose to see it, choose to feel it, and choose to put yourself first.

    — Vanessa Santos

  • Money does grow on trees if you believe it can. The first lesson to know about money is that it's a tool.

    — Vanessa Santos

Fun facts

Taurus 🌞, Cancer 🏹, Capricorn 🌕

First-Gen Latina 🇩🇴🇪🇨

Born & Raised in NYC

My favorite foods are pasta, my mom’s rice & beans, avocados, my own vegan picadillo, cherries and olives 🫒

I have two fur babies, Elvis & Teddy 🐾

I am most creative in nature and love being near the mountains or desert 🏜️

I light up when I speak and I enjoy giving advice = big sis energy.

Professional stats

Former CEO & Partner of #WeAllGrow Latina

CES award winner for an IoT shopping app

Delivered keynote address at Forbes Most Powerful Women of Latin America

Launched a digital API platform to drive mobile commerce for 12 million students across 6 Latin American markets

Led Gilt.com’s expansion to 120+ countries

Published Songwriter & Creative Partner of Derik Fein

Board Advisor at DRAFTED, república skin, Investor in Bloomi

A woman with long wavy hair, wearing a beige sleeveless top, red pants, and colorful high heels, is sitting on a modern white chair against a plain white wall. She is smiling and looking slightly to her right with her chin resting on her right hand.

Building is my jam.

Growing is my medicine.


Growth is not linear and you also don’t have to go at it alone. You also don’t need to code switch or hide who you really are. Building as your most authentic self is freedom. Click below to join my newsletter as I share letters from my sabbatical. Don’t get it twisted, the in-between is where transformation happens. The pause is not empty, it’s where you hear your own voice again.