BIENVENIDO

Saludos! Happy Friday and welcome to Comprende, edition 070.

Since childhood, Harleny Vasquez has been La Consejera, the one asking deeper questions and pushing others to see their potential. That role has only grown with time.

Today, we’re diving into how she went from working in New York’s social services system to launching yourEVOLVEDmind, a career coaching platform and speaking practice guiding first-gen and Gen Z students to build careers on their own terms.

So, depending on where you are in the world, grab your cafecito or cervecita and dive in. If you enjoy today’s edition, please forward it to your gente or share it online. Let’s keep growing this comunidad together. ☕️🍺

comprende 070: La Consejera: How Harleny Vasquez Turned Social Work Into yourEVOLVEDmind

Harleny doesn't do small talk. Even at Dominican family gatherings, where the music is loud and the food is endless, she's the one pulling people aside to ask the big questions. Not "how's work?" but "what do you really want to do with your life?" It's earned her a nickname that's stuck since childhood: la consejera, the advisor. The family member who sees your potential before you do and won't let you forget it.

It's a fitting title for someone whose business is built on refusing to let people play small; especially those who've been told, implicitly or explicitly, that they should.

Growing up as the eldest daughter of Dominican immigrants in Inwood, Manhattan, a neighborhood she affectionately calls "Quisqueya Heights,” Harleny learned early what it meant to navigate without a map. Her mother couldn't guide her through high school applications or college decisions. There was no family playbook, no older sibling who'd done it first. "Tú sabes," she says, "who gets it gets it."

So she knocked on neighbors' doors, asked strangers for advice, pieced together her path one conversation at a time. She made it to Hunter College, became a licensed social worker, and spent a decade in New York's social services system, shelters, foster care, the kind of work that drains you and fills you simultaneously. She loved it. The plan was clear: become a hospital social worker, maybe specialize in palliative care. She had her script.

But the script started to feel wrong when she stepped into leadership, supervising young social workers and interns who reminded her of herself, talented but uncertain, capable but lost.

So in 2019, before it was a business, before it had a name, Harleny started sharing her story online on LinkedIn and Instagram. The real one. The messy one about struggling to pass her licensing exam, about feeling lost post-graduation, about navigating predominantly white spaces where she questioned whether she should even speak up. "¿Soy la única Latina aquí?" she'd wonder in college classes. [Am I the only Latina here?] Or worse: "I don't want to talk because people are going to be like, 'Oh, your accent.'"

People who'd never met her started reaching out. Wait, you're first-gen? You're Dominican? You're a social worker? Help me. The demand was so intense she had to make it official. In 2020, she founded yourEVOLVEDmind, initially focused solely on social workers. But the universe had other plans. Universities called asking her to speak to their students, not just social work majors, but everyone navigating the campus-to-career transition. Students from all fields wanted someone who understood what it meant to be the first, the oldest, the one without a roadmap.

"I was like, I have to pivot," she recalls. "I cannot put myself in a box because people started reaching out."

Today, Harleny is a college speaker, Gen Z career coach, recruiter, and content creator with thousands of followers, who's worked with universities and brands nationwide. She delivers workshops and keynotes that cut through the noise of traditional career services to address what's really blocking people: the voice that says they're not qualified enough, the pressure to follow safe paths, the anxiety that AI will make their degrees obsolete.

Her approach is direct: "Don't let school put you in a box, no voy a hacer eso [I'm not going to do that]. Because the Gen Z pressure is like, go get the degree, go get that job, go work in corporate–versus using it as a tool to fuel whatever interest and passion you have."

She's the career cheerleader she needed when she was young and voiceless, the advisor who sees past your fears to your potential. She's also a recruiter at a mental health tech company, still wearing multiple hats, still refusing to be boxed in. Because if there's anything Harleny has learned, it's this: "Ya no somos títeres" [We're no longer puppets]. "We can do whatever we want. I create the rules."

It's the message she wishes someone had told her when she was knocking on neighbors' doors, asking for directions. Now she's the one people knock on. And she always answers, usually with a question about their goals and a reminder that they're capable of more than they think.

La consejera wouldn't have it any other way.

Based in NYC? Add This to your Calendario 📅

The 3rd Cultura Shop marketplace is back!

Curated by Cultura Takeover, shop Latine-owned brands, vibe to a live DJ, grab a bite, earn prizes, and connect with your people. Every purchase fuels our cultura and builds our power.

​Each ticket includes a complimentary drink

Did you enjoy today’s Comprende newsletter? Please share it with family, friends, and other Latino business owners by forwarding this email or using the link below.

https://www.comp-rende.com/newsletter