Latinos A Morir Article

A Cal State San Francisco student in journalism, Claudia Pocasangre, was assigned to write an article about an entrepreneur in SF under the age of 35 and she decided to write about LAM Founder, Giovanni Gonzalez. Check it out:
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Inside the Otis Lounge in San Francisco the lights were dimly lit. The dance room was surrounded by dark purple loveseats and heavy lamp shades, but despite lack of light, Giovanni Gonzalez, host of the Noche de Rock night at the Otis Lounge, illuminated the venue. Gonzalez ran up the stairs to the dance floor and sang a short verse during the middle of the song “El Duelo,” a song by La Ley. His deep confident voice echoed the room, and he clapped his hands to the beat of the Spanish rock ballad. He hurried over to the DJ, his big green eyes wide with excitement as he towered over dancers. He turned the volume down on the DJ equipment right before the chorus of the song began. Instantly, the crowd roared the chorus, “Sin dolor no te haces feliz!” they recited.

Earlier that week, a more studious Gonzalez sat at Tully’s Coffee waiting for his tea to cool, after having a long conversation with his professor. Gonzalez is both an entrepreneur and an engineering PhD student at UC Berkeley. At 28 he is the CEO of Latinos a Morir, a social network of people who love Latin Culture, which is catered to young diverse professionals.“You don’t have to be Latino but you have to be respectable and energetic,” said Gonzalez. What began as small house parties in Berkeley exploded into a large Latino social network, an alternative fundraising mechanism that extends to the East Coast and Southern California. “I never thought I could start a company that would pay more than just my bills,” said Gonzalez.
About eight years ago Gonzalez transferred to Berkeley pursuing a Bachelors degree in engineering with the hopes of finding the right group of friends who share his love for Latin music and culture. Leaving Guatemala at 14, he wanted to recreate the rich party atmosphere found in many Latin America countries that he felt was lacking at Berkeley.

Gonzalez’s search for the right group of friends did not last long. By networking and with the help of his friendly personality, Gonzalez formed an intimate group of friends from various ethnicities. With his group of friends he hosted parties and eventually decided to gather everyone’s e-mail and create a database called Latinos a Morir, or Latinos to the death. Using this database he sent e-mails notifying people of upcoming events. But he continually had to add e-mails to the account as the parties gained popularity. The popularity of the parties inspired Gonzalez to make Latinos a Morir an exclusive group. “Events would get crowded really fast, I kind of lost track of who was coming to the events,” said Gonzalez, “What I did was I made it exclusive, in the sense that in order to become a member of the organization you have to be invited by a member.” “Making the parties exclusive creates more of a demand,” said Gonzalez

Members get into parties for free or at a lower price than non members, and members can invite a guest to the party. “I don’t necessarily pick and choose, I don’t have time, so I trust my members when I say invite your trusted friends.” The result of the membership creates a comfortable party experience, “We want to be more than just parties,” said Gonzalez, “We want to be a network of people who find similarities. At my events people have started companies, have been hired for companies and started dating.” The crowd at the parties usually consists of late 20 to early 30 year old professionals, many whom already know each other, creating a safer atmosphere. “I’ve gotten a lot of members that tell me that they come by themselves, they know they will find people that are respectful,” said Gonzalez.

Gonzalez faced a few obstacles when he decided to create the membership. According to Gonzalez, there was a demand for the event; the problem lied in trying to gain the trust of venue owners and creating a reliable website. “Luckily I use to work. I used my own savings to fund the website,” said Gonzalez. For the website design, Gonzalez spent about $1,000. “At first I hired somebody to do the initial website design, but I wanted more functionality to it and I didn’t have the money to keep paying somebody, so I took it upon myself to learn website design,” said Gonzalez.
Gonzalez’s close friends, and fundraising managers for Latinos a Morir believe that his personality greatly influenced his recent success. Rael Silva DJ’s for most of the parties and he said what he admires most about Gonzalez is his fearlessness. “He gets some idea and runs with, and it might not be the best idea, but he goes with it,” said Silva, “When he started Latinos a Morir he was like ‘this is it, I’m a do it’ and it worked.”

Perla De Anda, who manages fundraisers for Latinos a Morir, met Gonzalez during a ball room dance class at UC Berkeley. De Anda believes that Gonzalez’s natural charisma has benefited his success. “What makes his parties so successful is that he’s a rumbero at heart, he loves to dance and have a good time,” said De Anda
Even after eight years De Anda still admires Gonzalez’s cool. “Balancing between PhD and Latinos a Morir has been tough,” said Gonzalez. However, De Anda believes his attitude has helped him succeed. “He’s very positive, not afraid to ask questions and find things out,” she said.

Gonzalez hopes that in the future he can expand Latinos a Morir to international territory, like South America, but for now his focus is school. His advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is: “Instead of going out to party on a Wednesday night, work on that side project. In addition, you don’t need money to launch a business, you can always find money one way or another. Also, read a lot about marketing, networking, and building relationships. Networking is the number one thing to get ahead in life.”
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Sex May Sell, But It Has Nothing to Do with the Making of a Great Party!

What do people look for in a social event?

• Energy
• Good Music
• Good Venue
• Sexy People?

How do you portray these qualities via emails, flyers, word of mouth, etc.?

I have been dealing with these questions since LAM started and I recently had a conversation with a friend which sparked my interest even more. It has been my belief that objectifying women on advertisements creates an image that most people hate yet accept and sometimes ... enjoy. Sex sells, but I don't believe it has anything to do with the making of a great party.
I have observed and spoken with various event organizers in San Francisco and all have agreed that sex sells ... and it sells big. I understand that portraying an angle of sexiness is sometimes necessary to entice people to attend an event, but I wonder if attendees think of the sexiness angle in a conscious or subconscious manner. Everyone likes to feel they're part of an elite group of sexy people but I am an extreme believer that this does not make a party any good without positive energy, ambiance, and good music.

I have been very careful to not use extreme sex symbols in LAM's advertising except for women's lips (which I still have a difficult time with). From day one, Latinos A Morir wanted to be a social network of energetic, friendly people ... yet lately I had thought of incorporating "sexy" as a selling point and making it part of LAM's brand strategy. Hence, I write this note to make a statement that I will not be using sex as a selling point since, in my eyes, has nothing to do with a great party. Instead, I will focus on creating a brand that portrays beauty, elegance, and energy.

• Beauty refers to the qualities that give pleasure to the senses ... the beauty of the Latin American culture, the music, its people, its languages
• Elegance refers to a refined quality of gracefulness and good taste ... the elegance of the event themes, its venues, the dress code, the sponsors, and its people
• Energy refers to a positive vibe throughout peoples' bodies and spirits ... the energy to be alive and share it with everyone at the event
  

I write this post to ask you to help me stay true to my words and not give in to the easy side of marketing in the entertainment industry.

Until next event ...

Title was borrowed and modified from the Ad of Sobieski Vodka.

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First LAM Video - Praia @ Supperclub

Shutterboi Productions made this video for LAM to give a short summary about Latinos A Morir. Thank you Perla for helping me out! Read more On "First LAM Video - Praia @ Supperclub"!

One Year Anniversary of Latinos A Morir ... reflections from Founder

When I started this social group, I never thought it would have evolved into what it has today. As most of you know, this is a hobby of mine, but one that I have put a lot of effort toward bringing people together. It brings joy to my face when I see people excited about life while they're dancing, jumping, or having great conversations with each other.


LAM has held a total of 17 events in 11 different venues during the last year. We've worked with 5 different organizations, appeared on 2 different TV shows and a magazine. Each event having its own story from beginning to end. Each event has been extremely special to plan and to execute ... I want to pick a favorite event, but it's hard to choose ... I think one of the most memorable events for me was Noche Blanca, with Batucada, dancers, and a very high energy on the dance floor and throughout the club. The Kiss events have also been amazing with P2A, along with Twist with InkWell ... I guess I don't have a favorite ... :)

Our last event was in honor of our One Year Anniversary. Everyone dressed very elegantly and the pictures came out wonderful (check them out athttp://latinosamorir.com/sf and click on Photos).

The goal of Latinos A Morir is to provide an environment where one can be themselves, dance a bit, meet interesting people, but most importantly, have fun. With the feedback I've received in the past few months, I know LAM is achieving this and more. Comments include:

"Why don't you have these events more often?"
"Out of all the parties I've been to this week, this has been the best by far!"
"Thank you for bringing a piece of home to SF!"
"I started a company at one of your events, thanks for collecting professionals in a friendly environment!"
"La musica es de la mejor!!!"
"When will you take it to LA?"

LAM has grown to an extremely diverse social network of about 2,000 members. I was looking at a report recently and here is some interesting data of our members ....

- 46% of our members are males and 54% are females (sorry ladies ...)
- 60% of our members consider themselves Latino/Hispanic while 32% are from other ethnicities including African, European, Middle Easter, Asian and other (8% declined to state)
- Members from 68 different countries with no one country being dominant (there is a list below of the countries with most representation)
- 250+ different companies (every type of Industry from Medicine, Non-profits, Finance, IT, etc)
- 20+ different universities and colleges
- 60% of our members are in the age group of 25-35 and the rest evenly distributed

What amazes me the most is that all of us, no matter how different we are, are respectful and love the Latino culture and music!

Thank you all for your support and I will not stop creating these events! Please send me an email with your comments/feedback or just post a comment on this blog!

Keep an eye out for our upcoming events ... they'll be different and just as fun!

Giovanni

Countries with most representation:

USA

Mexico

Peru

Colombia

El Salvador

Nicaragua

India

Spain

France

Puerto Rico

Argentina

Guatemala

Venezuela

Iran

Brazil

Ecuador

Russia

Australia

Costa Rica

Italy

Turkey

Uruguay

Germany

Israel

Ukraine

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Entrevista en Television!!!

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Networking with Latinos A Morir

I believe that connections are a powerful thing. I have known from day one that this organization contains an incredible amount of professional individuals and people with different backgrounds. A friend of mine suggested I utilize LinkedIn with Latinos A Morir to make our organization even more powerful!

I learned about the power of connections a few years back through various personal experiences and when I picked up a book called "Never Eat Alone". In this book, the author explains that networking is building relationships for mutual benefit. The number of experiences I've had dealing with the power of networking is incredible, both for my benefit, but more importantly, the benefit of my friends and friends of friends.

Nothing gives me more joy than to know that someone was able to achieve a goal, a desire, a dream thanks to a connection that was made through me. I once helped a friend get a job in San Francisco. Another time, I was able to provide a research job at UCB to a student. I recommended a friend to meet up with another friend in NY and they should meet ... now they're dating.
I have also had great experiences. Thanks to a connection, I was able to start Latinos A Morir. I also was accepted to my top choice of graduate school thanks to Networking. (Yes, I understand that other factors are important, but networking goes a LONG way!).

If you are ever in need of a job, or know of someone that needs a job, or are in need of a quick question regarding how to cook sushi, where to go on a weekend trip, a cheap flight question ... tap into the Latinos A Morir network via Facebook or LinkedIn OR via our events! You'll be amazed how power this network really is! Add me as your connection on either social networking site.

When you attend our events, make sure to talk to a few people and have conversations about your dreams and goals. You'll be amazed as to how similar our goals really are!

Enjoy!

-Giovanni
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The chaos of planning the next event

I have been trying to find a good location for the members to enjoy, yet I have many difficulties in selecting a date and place. I have gotten feedback from members that having an event every month and a half is good, but I also have gotten feedback that I don't have enough events. In addition, people tell me that they like going to the same place because it makes it feel like "nuestro bar" but others say that I need to have variety.

I once read a quote that said: "I cannot give you advice to succeed ... I can only give you advice to fail: Try to please everyone."

I guess I should start following this quote and try to go with gut feeling.

The other part of the chaos is working with locations and dates: Most good lounges/bars/clubs have their calendar full 3 months in advance. I wanted to have a party in April and another in May, but one location wants end of April and the other wants early part of May. (I do want to have at least 2 weeks in between events). Hopefully something opens up and I can have events at least 3 weeks in between.

One thing I do want to point out though .. seeing the process of creation from nothing to a great night is an amazing feeling. Currently there are no plans for April's event, but by mid April, people will be having a blast somewhere in San Francisco. I don't want to sound corny but it is somewhat magical. ;)
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