Hola! I’m Fernanda 💫

I'm obsessed with one question: how do we build an economy that actually works for everyone? I think about not just who gets funded, but what structures, incentives, and models let founders stay true to their purpose and include all stakeholders. 

I'm based in Philly and currently Project Lead for the Values-Led Business Project at Transform Finance, where I'm building the evidence base and practical tools for founders who want to operate differently. I work on case studies, research, and resources grounded in real companies that have chosen workers, communities, and long-term sustainability without sacrificing ambition.

Before this, I spent a year and a half as an investor at Unshackled Ventures, backing immigrant founders from day zero. That work, and the founders I most wanted to support, kept pointing me toward a bigger question: what has to be true structurally for mission-driven companies to survive and scale? That question brought me here.

I also built U-Labs, a curated community for immigrant engineers and scientists, a space for high-potential technical talent before they become founders, where we surfaced early signals and created conditions for people to activate into company creation on their own terms. 

A few other notes:

• I worked in tech before, ran a podcast on LatAm venture capital, and built student founder communities.
  
• I hold a Master's in Business Analytics, which gave me the research and analytical tools I now use to study how businesses are actually built and governed.
• My worldview is shaped by community organizing, including work with Bread & Roses Community Fund, Abortion Rights Coalition, and Planned Parenthood, where I saw firsthand how gender, economic, and political barriers limit people's agency. That informs how I think about systems, access, and who gets to build.
• I'm originally from Uruguay 🇺🇾 and came to the US at 19. My immigration story grounds my commitment to reimagining who gets mobility, opportunity, and economic power.
• Outside of work, I rock climb, mix music, and dance whenever I can 💃