Generating the AndesBeat!
…’cause it’s about ‘time’
Born in famous bureaucratic cities in the Western Hemisphere, hard core hustlers Shonika Proctor (Washington, DC) and Carlos Leiva (Santiago, Chile) have known how to ‘make things happen’ by any clever (but ethical) means necessary, presumably since they were in diapers.
They realize that when they see things that others cannot see, they must stop to do what others have not done. So their work in generating the AndesBeat is not in ‘banging the drum’ louder but in discovering and teaching more people how to play with the soul, rhythm and flavor unique to Latin America.
Thus everyday, they continue rockin’ hard to the core, not because they want the fame…but because they love the music.
Carlos Leiva Burotto (Chile)
Carlos Leiva Burotto – Co-Founder AndesBeat
Chilean born Carlos Leiva Burotto is a lifehacker, startup enthusiast, Quora junkie and curator of AndesBeat.
A self-taught hacker, he has been a super early technology adopter and had his finger on the pulse of South America’s startup community since its evolution. He was also an early beta tester for Twitter and Quora among others.
He oversees the ‘startup side’ of AndesBeat, supporting primarily well-funded startups from the U.S. with their launch in the South American marketplace. Nationally and internationally, since November 2011, he has personally supported over 100 startups in various stages and capacities with growing their brand in S. America (or expanding it abroad).
While his impact may seem insignificant on these terms, it is the work he is always doing in the background that is extremely impressive, but can only be seen and appreciated by AndesBeat co-founder girl. Getting first exposed to startups in the mid 1990′s (Dulles Corridor), she is forever impressed that he actually knows what a start-up is and has built a most amazing directory of South American founded ones.
As the curator for Silicon Valley founded Startup Digest (Chile) and a proactive and effective networker among his international peers, he is able to stay up to date on the latest startup trends happening not only in Silicon Valley but across global markets.
Leveraging that insight (and foresight), through personal outreach, surveys, mini-digital campaigns and attending almost every startup, technology and hackers event (since long before Start-Up Chile was even a thought), he has exposed and engaged over 1,000+ key influencers including startup founders, journalists, organizations and industry leaders to Version 3.0 of South America’s startup ecosystem.
Additionally, he made the ‘direct path’ that enabled Chile’s entire ecosystem to competitively participate in Riverwood Capital’s Latin America Startup Challenge (regardless of cultural barriers); got a Chilean Startup Pavilion considered and approved at TC Disrupt SF 2012 (and then un’conferenced the event); and most importantly set up the framework that has helped Chile’s traditional media to go beyond reporting only ‘the news’ and start becoming more integrated, interested and connected to Chile’s startup, gaming and technology culture, thus making it easier for early-stage companies to be ‘discovered’ and supported.
It is no wonder why many of Chile’s startup founders have branded him Chile’s startup angel.
Follow Carlos Leiva Burotto on Quora
* Schedule consulting time with Carlos Leiva
Shonika Proctor (USA)
Shonika (Shoni) Proctor – Co-Founder AndesBeat
A rare bird in Chile, Washington, DC native Shonika Proctor is a futurist, published author and die-hard entrepreneur (with a huge heart and admiration for Latin American startup founders…and a little extra love for her precious Chilenos)! She prides herself and expertise in emerging markets making things few people can believe, often with people few believe in.
On the other side of the spectrum, Shoni oversees the ‘big business’ side of AndesBeat, as at AndesBeat they are very much aware that a truly successful start-up equals a big company or perhaps an acquisition by a big company.
Much like her rockin’ hard to the core co-founder boy, her work is mostly behind the scenes as she discreetly and thoughtfully helps major foreign companies, public sector entities and universities through the ideation process for ‘localizing’ their brand and/or being able to scout local talent through AndesBeat respective startup network to help them fill those needs.
Often described by her business partner as having the personality of ‘a 10 year old boy’, this has not hindered her professional success and ability to play with the ‘big boys’ and do business with both high profile individuals and iconic brands and companies across the globe.
Her ‘golden rolodex’ includes DC’s largest defense contractors, international consulting and law firms, U.S. Presidential Appointees, Fortune company execs, publicly recognized athletes, media and entertainment personalities, Ambassadors, former Prime Ministers and public sector leaders spanning U.S.A, Eastern Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia and South America.
And she to has been able to effectively leverage this network as she hand-curates the AndesMade Advisory Board made up of a highly accomplished network of experts and advisors across the globe and industry verticals. These experts are also the founding leaders behind AndesBeat Talent Cloud which helps support their larger scale clients and transactions.
From her work in the early 1990’s at the disruptive wireless company that is directly responsible for co-creating the first pager reseller program in the U.S.A. (with MobileComm) to discovering and coaching high impact teen entrepreneurs in sub-developed countries (2007), she is not afraid to pioneer and play in new spaces, years before the mainstream catches on. Since she first landed in S.America, she’s been inspired by the wealth of natural resources and research knowledge she has discovered while living there. Now she is helping them to FINISH IT!
In 2011 she spoke in the U.S. White House Innovators Summit on the importance of investing in Chile and South America.
As Latin America’s start-up ‘story-teller & seeker, she delivers things ‘as she sees it’ and makes sure that long after once upon a time, even the ‘good guys’ shall live happily ever after.
Follow Shonika Proctor on Quora
* Schedule consulting time with Shonika Proctor
Elena Slotosch (Germany)
Elena Slotosch – Former Intern at AndesBeat
Being an intern (July 2012 to September 2012) from Germany at AndesBeat, Elena Slotosch is the youngest member of the team, which also has meant a huge learning curve on many levels.
This resulted in a 3 day crash crash course in startups, the ever changing world of technology, social networking and IT. Definitely hard work at first, but at the same time she considers it ‘a once-in-a-lifetime experience’.
In less than 2 weeks after she had started, she had already gotten into the rhythm of the AndesBeat and is now loudly banging her own drum as she is strengthening her skills in translation (English-Spanish) while discovering a lot of cool skills, she never realized she had!
As Queen of the Articles, she writes and tells the world all about the cool stuff and startups launching out of Chile and Latin America in general.
You can see her work, progress and impact on AndesBeat.com or somewhere in social network community near you!
