Meet Julius Alejandro

We were lucky to catch up with Julius Alejandro recently and have shared our conversation below.

Julius, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I’m a doer and always had a drive to do good in my community. My origin story is as a community organizer in college. In college, I got involved in a grassroots movement to save the Filipino language classes in K-12. That’s where I learned the power of community and that individuals coming together and working with different systems can make a positive change. I continued that work as a nonprofit professional in economic development and public health, and it gave me a broader lens on the issues affecting one group of people affecting other groups and communities, all being intertwined. I got involved in the San Diego startup community in 2016 as part of the core planning team for Startup Week. I was among the few people of color on the team and in the ecosystem. The community realized a lack of diversity, but there was no coordinated or regional effort. I used my experience in community organizing and the nonprofit sector to bring different stakeholders together to create Village Up and develop a regional and collaborative solution for an inclusive and accessible entrepreneurial startup ecosystem.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am the Co-Founder & Executive Director of Village Up San Diego with the purpose of fostering an inclusive innovation ecosystem for mental wellness and access to resources. I jokingly and seriously tell people I just swipe the business card and play with Excel sheets. That’s just the administrative side. I manage the different relationships of the organizations. I have an awesome board of directors with whom I report and collaborate on strategic direction. Then, I have my operations team of interns and contractors, and we work together to plan the workshops and mixers and run the organization. Finally, I interact with our organizational partners in different ways we collaborate. These are other nonprofits, colleges, universities, and local government. Due to the change in the funding landscape, we recently formed a coalition of partners and value-aligned entities to look for resources using AI. This year, we are launching our Founders Wellness Program with a half-day event where diverse founders will learn coping strategies like mindfulness and low-impact exercise. I’m very fortunate to be in a position where I am working with the community to help diverse entrepreneurs

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Take risks with your creativity to stand out. Being in charge gives you that leeway to do what you want to do in the way you want. Creativity doesn’t mean you have to create something totally new; it can take an existing model and put a spin on it. For example, we tried the traditional panel style with our founders. It was powerful storytelling, but in between, there were 8-second pauses to pass the mic to the other panelist, and it interrupted those potent moments, and the set-up was too rigid for such depth of dialogue. I decided to create my own style and format for a workshop, which is taken from group relations and academia and called Real Talk with Diverse Founders. It has become our most powerful community engagement in narrative change against imposter syndrome and empowerment that gets requested for universities and conferences at Startup Week or Women’s Venture Summit.

Develop your soft skills. Maya Angelou said, “People will never forget how you made them feel.” that is so true; it’s all about relationships. When starting Village Up with no material or financial resources, it was at that time when we started in 2020 that Zoom and people who knew me, my values, and my reputation in the community as someone they could trust and deliver. No one had to show up or give their time to anybody or anything they didn’t believe in. Even my student interns know they’re building their skill sets, so I am really on the interviews for, as Gen Z says, “vibe check.” are they expressing passion for the work we are doing or a sense of drive from their experience.

Know your numbers. This key administrative skill determines everything from hiring to what you can do. I am serious when I look at my operations budget every day because it informs the decisions I have to make. It also brought insight when interacting with other executives, especially when I get a “no, not at this time.” they’ve made a decision based on the financial health of their organization.

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

The funding landscape with the federal executive order to stop the government from supporting DEI initiatives and big corporations’ rollback on their DEI initiatives. This has put nonprofits in a bind in accessing or continuing federal and corporation funding. My nonprofit, Village Up, doesn’t have federal contracts, but some of our partners do. The atmosphere is heavy from talking to my colleagues. In response, Village Up called upon our partnerships. Together, we formed a coalition of nonprofits, for-profits, colleges, and universities to collectively look for resources. As the facilitator, the collective tasked me to create the organizational structure, and we are incorporating AI to find publicly available resources to bring to the coalition. We have brought grants to the group and identified the appropriate coalition members that would best apply together. The coalition is also sharing our resources to help with our respective events, like letting us use their facilities, giving access to software, and sharing each other events to amplify attendance.

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Image Credits

Adrian Mique – feature pic

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