Achieving success in multiple spheres ranging from real estate to finance and tech has inspired Leo and Ariana Pareja to give back and build up others by establishing Pareja Family Foundation. As immigrant children who needed to make a living, Leo and Ariana have built their individual lives and now come together as a couple, building a successful business empire involved in the growth of other people, especially women.
The Pareja Family Foundation was inspired by Leo and Ariana Pareja’s latest venture, a software company, raising over $40 million of venture capital. The couple believes strongly in breaking gender and racial bias in tech, so it was easy for them to start giving back from that angle. They created the Breaking Bias Scholarship Program, a 24-week tech boot camp that teaches women and minorities how to jumpstart a career in tech at no cost. “All women & minorities deserve a seat at the tech table regardless of their socioeconomic background,” Ariana Pareja, co-founder and president of the foundation, said in a statement. “We are helping women escaping domestic violence, women who have lost their businesses due to COVID-19 and young, energetic kids that live in low-income neighborhoods just like the one I grew up in to have a chance at making a 6 figure salary,” she added.
The tech industry has evolved and is now more skills oriented over degrees, and Pareja Family Foundation hopes to set as many people as possible up with the right skills. The foundation offers two programs named “The Breaking Bias program,” a 24-week tech boot camp that can prepare anyone without a technical background for a career in the tech industry for free, and the “Women Who Lead” program, a mentorship program that helps women handle challenges like gender, income inequality, work-family balance, gender bias, and harassments in the workplace.
The foundation aims to attract the interest of CEOs, CTOs, C-Level Executives, HR managers, startups and anyone who has any influence or authority in hiring new talent within the tech industry. Pareja Family Foundation is about changing lives and setting women and minorities up for new careers in tech and related fields. Classes for the Breaking Bias program are mainly virtual or in-person, but there are evening and weekend classes for those who want that option.
Leo and Ariana Pareja see Pareja Family Foundation growing into a top hub for grooming tech talent. The couple has the vision to get as many people as possible into the tech industry irrespective of their gender, background or socioeconomic status. “The entire tech industry is changing. More and more companies are no longer requiring a 4-year college degree and the old antiquated idea of hiring people based on what college they attended is no longer a thing. The opportunity to enter the tech space is no longer limited by someone’s ability to afford college, which opens up the career path to a whole lot of folks who have been previously left out.,” Leo Pareja said. “If we can make that happen for thousands of people, it’s a step in the right direction to change the world,” he added.
Learn more about Pareja Family Foundation on its official website. Also, learn more about the founders on Leo Pareja’s Instagram page and Ariana Pareja’s Instagram page.
