Leon Brujis is a Partner a Palladium Equity Partners, a private equity firm, headquartered in NYC. The firm is focused on making investments in middle market companies with a special focus on partnering with founders and family-owned businesses, and a particular focus on the Latinx consumer. He has held a number of board roles, and is currently on the Board of New America Alliance, a not for profit organization committed to building on American Latino success to forge a Stronger America.

Our conversation starts with Leon’s background, his roots in Latin America and what drove him to come to the US. We then talk about his investment journey, the potential of the Latinx consumer and how the firm he is in today drives value, including the way it integrates ESG issues into the investment thesis. We then move to talk about the current levels of diversity in the investment industry, and how access to capital is the last frontier of the civil rights movement, and how diversity programs can contribute to addressing this deficit. It is staggering that women and minorities who comprise over 70% of the population manage less than 2% of the capital in the industry.

The end of the podcast contains a moving segment in which Leon shares wisdom that was shared by his late father, Marcos Brujis, who passed away only a few months ago. These three core pieces of advice are: 1. A Bad arrangement is better than a good fight; 2. You are what you negotiate and 3. Don’t take No for an answer. We discuss how Leon learned to negotiate, and how he believes that action = priorities.