10 Questions for 1 Alumnus

Marco Botero '97
This article first appeared in the Belen Jesuit Alumni Magazine, Summer 2021 edition.

What was your experience like at Belen?
Life-changing. I arrived at Belen Jesuit in 6th grade, two weeks after the school year had started. My family had just moved from Houston, Texas and my father’s first item on the agenda when we arrived in Miami was to find the local Jesuit school. Jesuit education was the cornerstone of my father’s upbringing in Colombia and his hope was for me to achieve a similar experience. I still remember the day when I knocked on the door to Mrs. Gillman’s 6C classroom which was my homeroom and a place where I met lifelong friends. It was difficult at first because I had a strange accent, no friends and academically I was playing catch up. I remember the first six months were challenging. If it weren’t for the patience and kindness of Father Sardiñas and some of my teachers, I’m not sure I would have made it. My particular turning point was junior high soccer tryouts. I immediately felt like I found my team, literally and figuratively. I was very fortunate to learn so many life lessons throughout my years in soccer and other sports. Lessons such as knowing when to lead are just as important as knowing when to follow. Nothing comes without hard work. We all win or will all learn, but we’re not losing. These are just a few that come to mind. For me, someone who came to Belen a bit lost, without any friends nor a community, lacking confidence, I’m eternally grateful to the Belen experience for turning that around.

What did you learn that you'll never forget? 
Come prepared to work because nothing will be handed to you. 

What type of student were you?
I was an average student. I had to work hard in order to keep up. Like many of my peers, I remember having to practice for either soccer, track, or volleyball after school until the late afternoon. In addition to my Belen sports, I also played on an outside soccer team so I wouldn’t get home until after 8 p.m. By the time I took a shower, had dinner, and a little downtime, I would begin studying around 10 p.m. or later. I definitely developed the invaluable “all-nighter” skills at Belen which would turn out to be an asset throughout my schooling and career. Even with all the effort I put on the academic side, I would not have achieved the results I did without the generosity of so many of my classmates who spent extra hours with me so I could better understand the material. I sometimes still think about their selflessness and look back at that as an example of not leaving your brothers behind and paying it forward to others. 

Can you describe one funny moment while you were a student? 
Rather than a specific moment, I still laugh out loud when I think back on Father Eddy’s 12th grade philosophy pop quizzes. Father Eddy’s class was notoriously difficult, but what added more pressure is that you had to come to his class always prepared and updated on his material. In the first part of the class, he would call on 2 or 3 students to stand up in front of their classmates and answer pop quiz questions. It was this awkward, nervous tension for an entire year.  People were not only intimidated by the questions, but also in Father Eddy’s entertaining delivery. Throughout my senior year, this was a continuous moment of humor (if you were not called upon that day) as the reactions of many of my classmates, including myself are quite memorable.

Who made an impact in your life? 
Both my parents definitely impacted my life. Now being a father of two boys, I can really appreciate the life lessons that my mother and father instilled in me. While very different, I’ve learned to appreciate how each one has impacted me in a positive way. My mother has always been someone that treats people with kindness, loving all of God’s creations including animals and nature. I’ve learned from her to always be generous and kind while holding God’s teachings close to my heart.   

My father, like many, came to this country at a young age with very little in his pocket. Through hard work and a relentless desire to achieve success in life, he earned a Ph.D. in petroleum engineering and was an accomplished executive within the oil industry. Despite these accomplishments, my father was handicapped later in life, forcing him to retire early. It wasn’t until much later in my life that I realized this “disability” was a blessing for both him and I. I grew up for most of my life with my father always present. I was his only child, so he dedicated all his time and energy to being there for me. My father helped with homework, coaching and never missed a soccer game. He was always available to listen and guide me through good and challenging times. He was intellectually curious, extremely affectionate and loving and taught me that no matter what happens in life the only thing you can control is how you respond, nothing else. My father passed away in 2010, and as many in the Belen community know he was my best friend, always cheering from the stands at the soccer games. 

What do you hold most dear?
I definitely hold my wife, children, all my family, and God most dear. As far as what I hold most dear at Belen, it’s the memories and the friendships I created in my 7 years there. By far, the experiences I went through helped shape who I am today and gifted me some of my most memorable life moments. From my first teenage parties, to my first formal dance (8th-grade prom) to my first “serious” girlfriend. Then there were the countless wins and losses during friendly basketball or volleyball games during lunch, to being fortunate enough to learn valuable lessons from my teammates and coaches across so many competitive sports, especially soccer. Experiences such as Close-up inspired me to attend college in the Washington D.C. area and go on to live there for nearly seven years. It’s the friendships I made during Belen who continue to be my brothers despite busy schedules and with some the distance between us. Whenever we get the chance to connect, it’s as if time had stood still. And I know if I ever need any of them, no matter what, like a brotherhood, they will be there. It’s my Belen brother that has been my confidant, best man at my wedding, godfather to my son, and the first person who showed up when my father passed. Although I grew up an only child, I never felt like one, thanks to my brothers at Belen.

How has your Jesuit education shaped you and helped you in your life?
I wholeheartedly believe that the spiritual foundation that my  Jesuit education gave me has helped me to ensure that God is at the center of my life. I witnessed so many examples of the Jesuit community not only teaching the lessons of St. Ignatius but putting them into real-world action. The community doesn’t just say “men for others,” it lives it. Seeing so much generosity and kindness for others at such a young age for so many years, influenced me to always keep these values close to my heart and mind.

What prompted you to go into the tech industry?
I’ve always had an interest in technology. Arguably our generation was the first to have consumer technology introduced into our everyday lives. From Apple II to Commodore 64 to Atari, Sony Walkman, Beepers, Nokia’s, Napster, MySpace, etc...It wasn’t until my graduate work at Johns Hopkins where I had the opportunity to focus on studying technology and how it was going to shape and define our lives forever. When I returned to Miami I knew two things, one I wanted to work with international markets (particularly LATAM), and second I wanted to work within media and technology. Throughout the years I was building a relationship with Alfonso Cueto ‘94 who gave me a shot to lead the digital business for ESPN throughout Latin America. For me, this was a dream come true combining sports, international markets, and digital media. For nearly five years I worked on driving digital adoption and revenue across ESPN platforms such as their website, mobile applications, and streaming services. This experience set me up to lead the opening of the Twitter Miami office nearly 6 years ago. So I would say I was attracted to the space because of my desire to always be around the intersection of media and technology and how consumer behaviors change throughout time. 

How do you make a difference in that industry?
Humbly speaking, I would say that my contributions thus far could be applied across three different areas; my everyday work, the local Miami tech scene as well as our Belen community. My professional work in tech for over ten years has been dedicated to helping global organizations such as Disney/ESPN and Twitter navigate the challenges while embracing the opportunities such as revenue and user growth that exist throughout Latin America. In so far as the local tech scene, I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved and support local organizations such as eMerge, Miami Angels, The Lab, and FIU who are focused on accelerating the growth of the Miami tech industry. I’ve also really enjoyed being an advisor for local start-ups such as WhereBy.Us (The New Tropic) and SportsManias, which was founded by Vicente Fernandez ’10.  Within our Belen community, I’m excited to see every year more and more interest in tech. Being part of the Beyond Belen Mentorship program for several years, it has been extremely rewarding to connect and learn from various students that are interested in pursuing an educational and professional career path within this industry. 

Miami is becoming a tech hub. What advice would you have to students interested in pursuing a career similar to yours?
For those students interested in pursuing a career in tech, I would say technology nowadays impacts all industries, so the choices today are much greater than in the past. Where traditionally working in tech often translated to a career in computer engineering or software/hardware sales for companies like Microsoft, HP, IBM, or Dell, tech is no longer being limited to those career choices. Technology can be seen impacting industries such as media, retail, travel, dining, and many others. Exciting times lie ahead for rapid change across “traditional” fields such as finance, real estate, legal, medical, and education. So today I don’t think of tech as an isolated field, but rather a discipline that requires a skill set that can be applied horizontally across any industry. For me, the most important skills to develop in order to succeed in tech are analytical reasoning (knowing what to do with the data is invaluable), intellectual curiosity (no one knows everything), adaptability (change is constant), the ability to collaborate with others (nothing is done alone) and lots of grit. 

Three of our very own alumni Raul Moas ‘06 at the Knight Foundation, Felice Gorordo ’01  at  eMerge, and Jose “Hutch” Rasco ’97 at Building.Co and Founder of .health, are some of the local forces driving the growth of the #MiamiTech scene. Students no longer need to only consider working in cities like San Francisco, Seattle, or Boston. None other than our very own Miami now offers world-class career opportunities within the tech space. 

Marco Botero '97 is the managing director of Twitter Miami. Connect with Marco on Twitter @mabot.
Back
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain.  The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline.  In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty.  The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow.  Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.