In this episode we talk to Maria Salamanca about her journey into politics and investing, her views on diversity at the funding and portfolio level, innovation trends that excite her the most and the women who inspire her.

Maria is a Principal at Unshackled Ventures, a fund that fills a unique space in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, funding teams with immigrant founders at pre-seed stage. During her time there, she has been involved in 40+ investments and seen ~1,500 deals a year. She was the first Latina named Forbes 30 Under 30 for Venture Capital and Business Insider’s Under 30 Rising Stars. Maria started her career at FWD.us a bipartisan political organization focused on immigration and criminal justice reform. The group was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Ron Conway, Reid Hoffman and other tech leaders. She was also the founding COO at Swing Left and supported Higher Ground Labs with the first-ever political technology landscape.