By Brittany Romano
Last week, I had the honor of joining the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade and a delegation of female founders, funders, and ecosystem builders on a mission to Mexico City. The trip underscored the power of entrepreneurs owning their legacy. From the opportunities (and challenges!) women founders face to the value of strong network connectivity and access to resources, this experience reinforced how cross-cultural connection can strengthen rural entrepreneurship at home.
But first, the city itself. I quickly fell in love with Mexico City—its vibrant energy, constant surprises, and genuine warmth made it one of the friendliest places I’ve ever visited. Despite being home to 21 million residents, its entrepreneurial community felt close-knit and anything but anonymous.
Because this was a female-led delegation, our conversations naturally focused on the unique challenges and opportunities for women in entrepreneurship. During our visit, we dropped into DALIA, a hub supporting women entrepreneurs, visited the US Embassy in Mexico where we exchanged in a live pitch practice, discussed US/Mexico investment theories with local venture capital firms, and explored startup spaces across Mexico City. I was reminded of similar efforts underway in rural Colorado—where women are building businesses, shaping ecosystems, and proving that connection and support are just as critical as capital.
One thing I am contemplating: in the U.S., women often feel that they must choose between career and family, as if one diminishes the other. In Mexico, family, primarily childrearing, is not seen as a limitation but as an empowering choice that can coexist with professional growth. This is a narrative that we could afford to challenge and change here at home.
At Startup Colorado, more than half of the entrepreneurs we work with are women. In this year alone, women founders have made big news with their companies, including Georgia Grace Edwards of Gnara, Julia Taylor of GeekPack, and Robin Hall of Town Hall. Women founders are already driving narrative shifts about who and where you can start a successful business, and I believe we have the power to drive broader systemic change. We plan to stay in connection with our new friends and partners in Mexico City to explore further cross-cultural opportunities for women founders.
I left Mexico feeling energized by the conversations on growth, partnership, and to no surprise, politics — most importantly by how much we share across borders. This matters for Colorado: rural communities are home to a significant number of Mexican and Latin American-owned businesses and founders. There is so much room to deepen engagement with the Mexican and LATAM entrepreneurial communities, and I look forward to leaning on new friends in Mexico to help strengthen Latine-owned ventures here.
(If you’d like to connect with our Spanish-speaking business community and learn about their work, come to the Latine Track at West Slope Startup Week on October 6th. While these sessions will be delivered in Spanish, there will be an English-Spanish language exchange to deepen our community connections and understanding.)
I’ll carry with me the incredible women of OEDIT and Colorado Department of Agriculture who made up our delegation and the inspiring people I met in CDMX. Well done to Eve Lieberman, her team at OEDIT, and to Kate Greenberg and her team at CDA, for leading such a meaningful trip. I look forward to the friendships and collaborations that will grow from it.
Join us in empowering rural entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders to achieve even more in 2025. Contributions of any amount directly power our mission to build a sustainable statewide network of resources supporting rural entrepreneurs, so that people and places can thrive and chart their own futures! Will you help us?
