Episode 366: The Fake Seat at the Table: Why Latinas Need to Stop Climbing the Corporate Ladder and Build Their Own | Stephanie Pimentel

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She got to the executive level, got her master’s degree, and still got played. Dominican American strategist and Lumena Global founder Stephanie Pimentel spent 17 years in corporate before she finally understood the difference between being invited into a room and actually having power in it. In this episode, she’s sharing why you should stop climbing the corporate ladder, the “fake seat at the table,” why cultural intelligence is risk management (not a soft skill), and why right now — with AI handing you every tool you need — is the best time for Latinas to stop asking for a seat and build their own table.

Born on Day One: Stephanie’s Origin Story

Stephanie Pimentel’s story starts before she even took her first breath on US soil. Her mother arrived with falsified medical paperwork claiming she was only four months pregnant — she was actually eight. The cabin pressure on the flight induced labor, and Stephanie was born the same day her family landed in America.

She grew up in a fully Dominican household where nobody spoke English. She learned it in preschool, standing in front of the mirror practicing fake laughter. Her family’s entire money mindset came down to one thing: stability. Work hard, follow the rules, don’t take risks, put food on the table.

Entrepreneurship wasn’t even a concept in her world. But Stephanie was wired differently from the start — endlessly curious about why companies succeed, why they fail, and how decisions actually get made inside organizations. That curiosity would eventually become her superpower. But first, she had to spend 17 years learning the hard way.

17 Years in Corporate — And What She Actually Got Out of It

Stephanie started her corporate career as an HR coordinator at $11.75 an hour in a telecommunications company. From there she went into logistics, finished her bachelor’s in psychology, and eventually landed her first HR director role in construction. When the pandemic hit, she was laid off and relocated to Florida.

Her first experience with Latin American expansion came when she became an HR business partner for a UK-based solar energy company expanding into Latam. For the first time, she was able to use what she’d always had — the ability to operate in two cultural worlds at once. She called it “two brains to business.”

That dual fluency was an asset. The problem was, her employers didn’t see it that way.

The Fake Seat at the Table

By the time Stephanie reached executive level — early in her career, with a master’s degree — she’d already encountered something she calls “the fake seat at the table.”

The company put her face on their website. They checked the diversity box. They had a Latina HR director, front and center. But when it came to real influence? Real decision-making? Strategy?

“Power doesn’t come from being invited. It comes from building expertise so undeniably that the room has to stop and listen.” — Stephanie Pimentel

She was consulted but not trusted with decisions. She was present but not truly heard. She brought cultural intelligence they clearly needed — and watched them ignore it, fail because of it, and still not connect the dots. They were using her knowledge. They just weren’t paying her what it was worth.

For first generation Latinas especially, this pattern is real and it is common. The invitation into the room is not the same as having power in the room. And too many of us spend years — sometimes decades — confusing the two.

Why Cultural Intelligence Is Risk Management

The US Latino GDP is $4.1 trillion. It is the fifth largest in the world. Latinos are not a niche — we are the current and future economic engine of this country.

And yet most US companies still treat cultural competence like a soft skill. Something nice to have. A box to check on a DEI slide.

“Cultural intelligence isn’t a soft skill. It’s risk management. When leaders misunderstand culture, they misread markets, teams, and partnerships. That’s where the expensive mistakes start.” — Stephanie Pimentel

This shows up everywhere — but nowhere more clearly than when US companies try to expand into Latin America. The most common mistake? Treating an entire continent of 20+ countries, cultures, legal systems, and ways of doing business as one monolithic market. Everybody’s Mexican, right?

Wrong. Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic all operate differently — legally, culturally, and operationally. Stephanie has sat with CEOs over dinner in these countries. She’s also had lunch with the custodian. She knows how the hierarchy actually works on the ground — and she’s watched US companies bleed money because they didn’t.

One example: calling a Brazilian leader and asking why something isn’t done yet. In US corporate culture, that’s pressure. In Brazil, that’s a cultural violation. They operate with deep respect for interdepartmental boundaries and they will not be rushed. Go in with US norms and your expansion strategy will hit ugly blind spots fast.

The Entrepreneurial Journey: Failures, LLCs, and Finally Believing

Stephanie’s path to entrepreneurship wasn’t a straight line. It was a series of attempts, setbacks, and restarts that she now sees as necessary.

She was a club promoter as a kid — making real money but with no framework for managing it, because nobody in her world was having those conversations. Later, she started a logistics company that she admittedly managed poorly. When a truck broke down and hit her financially, she had to close it.

She opened LLCs. She built AI tools and apps. She had the ideas. She had the strategy. What she didn’t have — for a long time — was belief in herself. And she traces that directly back to the impact of corporate America on Latinas.

“I had all these temporary seats at the table that felt safe. Until I finally said: it stops here. You’re no longer going to use me for my talent while I’m not believing in myself enough because I’m stuck in your toxic work environment.”

The turning point was rock bottom. Losing it all. And deciding that was the last time she was going to let anyone else set the price on her expertise.

Now she runs Lumena Global — helping businesses fix what’s broken before they pump capital in, preparing companies to scale, and expanding into Latam markets the right way. She’s not asking for a seat anymore. She’s building the table.

Why Now Is the Best Time to Build

If you’ve been waiting for permission to leave corporate, Stephanie is giving it to you right now. With AI handing you every tool you need — strategy, content, automation, research — there has never been a lower barrier to starting your own thing.

But the tools aren’t the issue. The belief is. And that’s the part only you can fix.

Stephanie’s advice? You don’t have to quit your job tomorrow. Start before you’re ready. Talk to your tío. Listen when someone says “I wish there was an app for that.” Write the idea down. Open the laptop. Build the cup.

Every single Latina, every single Latino was meant to be an entrepreneur. The bodega on your grandmother’s first floor. The seamstress supplementing her Social Security. The grandfather collecting aluminum cans. That hustle is in your blood — you just have to stop letting corporate tell you it’s not enough.

Episode Takeaways

• The “fake seat at the table” is real — being invited into a room is not the same as having real influence in it.
• Power doesn’t come from being invited. It comes from building expertise so undeniable that the room has to stop and listen.
• Cultural intelligence is risk management, not a soft skill. Misread the culture, misread the market.
• The US Latino GDP is $4.1 trillion — the fifth largest in the world. We are not a niche. We are the market.
• Assuming all Latinos are the same is one of the most expensive mistakes US companies make in Latam expansion.
• Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic all operate differently — legally, culturally, and operationally.
• US corporate pressure tactics don’t translate in markets like Brazil. Cultural respect for process and hierarchy is non-negotiable.
• Latin America is a talent engine — not a cheap labor pool. Companies that treat it as the latter are leaving exponential growth on the table.
• No corporate world, no higher-up is ever going to validate you the way you can validate yourself.
• The mindset shift has to come first. Without belief, every systemic barrier will stop you.
• You don’t have to quit your job to start building. Start tonight. Write the idea down. Build the cup.
• AI has removed the excuse. The tools are there. The belief is the only thing standing in your way.

 

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Connect With Stephanie Pimentel

• Website: lumenaglobal.com (free 15-min strategy call for YQD listeners!)
• Instagram: @therealsrephmichelle

Watch the Full Episode:

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Until next time, stay empowered, stay inspired and #StayPoderosa ✨

 

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