Leila Velez

Leila Velez is founder and CEO, strategic advisor and advocate for women's economic equity. Velez's story begins not in a boardroom, but at a McDonald's counter. She started working at 14, became the chain's youngest manager in Brazil at 16, and at 19, with little more than determination and a clear-eyed understanding of who the market was failing, founded Beleza Natural in Rio de Janeiro.

Velez then led one of the most remarkable entrepreneurial journeys in Latin American history. Beleza Natural became Brazil's largest specialty beauty services chain, purpose-built to serve Black and mixed-race women with curly hair, a community that mainstream beauty institutions had long ignored. Over 26 years, Velez grew the company from zero to $100 million in annual revenue, 4,000 employees, 120,000 monthly clients and more than 55 locations across five states, including a cosmetics manufacturing operation. She did not just build a business; she built a new market, a workforce development pipeline and a cultural movement around dignity, inclusion and belonging.

That mission-driven foundation has shaped everything Velez has done since. She has been a voluntary mentor for women entrepreneurs across Brazil and Latin America and has been deeply engaged with initiatives at the intersection of gender equity, racial justice and economic empowerment, including Endeavor, CEO Champions, Brazil's Women, the Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network and E&Y's Winning Women program.

Velez's board service reflects the same values. She serves on the advisory board of Columbia Business School's ECLA program, the board of COPPEAD Business School at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the board of Motriz, an NGO supported by the Lemann Foundation focused on education and social mobility. Past governance roles include the Presidential Advisory Council on Economic and Social Development of Brazil, the Coca-Cola Social Institute, the ETHOS Institute for Business and Social Responsibility and Endeavor Brazil.

Recognized as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, an Endeavor entrepreneur and a Rising Talent by the Women's Global Forum for the Economy and Society in Deauville, Velez has received the Veuve Clicquot Business Women Award and was named one of the eight entrepreneurs to follow by Forbes Brazil. She has been featured on the covers of Exame and Americas Quarterly and has delivered keynotes at TEDx, MIT Sloan, Columbia Business School, the Milken Institute Global Conference, the Women's Forum for the Economy and Society and YPO.

Velez is strategic advisor at Cultivate Advisors, where she works with founders and CEOs navigating complex growth and organizational challenges. She also serves as investor and strategic advisor to Curl Lab, an AI-powered beauty-tech company continuing the legacy of inclusive innovation she pioneered.

Velez brings to every room she enters the rare credibility of someone who built something that mattered, from the ground up, for people the world had overlooked. She is fluent in Portuguese and English and conversational in Spanish, French and German.