Latina Business Leaders Patty Arvielo and Vanessa Santos Convene 200+ Power Players for Thrive & Lead at AVANCE Global

LAS VEGAS, NV, UNITED STATES, September 9, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Patty Arvielo, Co-Founder and CEO of New American Funding, and Vanessa Santos, Founder and CEO of Build The Dream, will co-host Thrive & Lead at AVANCE Global, a three-day curated leadership experience bringing together more than 200 Latina founders, executives, operators, and investors September 14–16, 2026, at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Designed to bring Latina decision-makers into one room for substantive conversations, strategic relationships, and greater access to influence and capital, the experience will feature programming across leadership, wealth, AI and technology, health, and personal brand. Speakers are selected for the substance of their work and leadership in their industries rather than the size of their social following, with key sessions held phones-down and off the record to encourage candid conversation.

For Arvielo, Thrive & Lead extends a career centered on expanding economic opportunity and wealth creation. After entering the mortgage industry in a clerical role at 16, she went on to co-found New American Funding, now the nation’s largest Latina and woman owned mortgage company, with more than 5,200 employees and nearly 300 locations nationwide. She is the first Hispanic woman to have a university school of business named in her honor, a Forbes 50 Over 50 honoree, and an EY Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame inductee. “I built one of the largest mortgage companies in the country helping Latino families build wealth through homeownership. Thrive & Lead is the next chapter of that work,” said Arvielo. “It is about giving the next generation of Latina leaders a different starting line, the access, the rooms, and the relationships I had to build the hard way.”

“Latinas contribute $1.3 trillion to this economy, and in most rooms where power actually moves, we are still the best kept secret. We are done negotiating with our power. We are the economy, and we build our own rooms,” said Santos. “Thrive & Lead is where the women behind the brands, building the brands, and moving the capital finally sit at the same table.” Santos has led companies and platforms at the intersection of technology, culture, and the women’s economy, including scaling Gilt.com to more than 120 countries and leading the country’s largest Latina digital ecosystem through growth and acquisition. Her work has injected more than $20 million into the Latina economy, and she has keynoted Forbes Most Powerful Women of Latin America.

The economic influence behind the gathering is significant. According to the inaugural U.S. Latina GDP Report, Latinas contributed $1.3 trillion to the U.S. economy, while the broader U.S. Latino economy reached $4 trillion in 2025. Yet Latinas remain underrepresented in many of the rooms where leadership and capital decisions are made. Thrive & Lead was created to help close that access gap by ensuring attendees leave with meaningful relationships, actionable contacts, and a peer network of decision makers. Arvielo and Santos plan to expand Thrive & Lead into quarterly gatherings anchored by an annual summit, creating year round opportunities for Latina leaders to build relationships, exchange ideas, move capital, and expand their collective influence.

Brielle Cotterman
Influential Leader Agency
+1 7657760492
email us here

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Written By: EIN Presswire