Michael Vilardo and Felix Ruano are living the American Dream. The son of Mexican immigrants, Ruano grew up in the inner city of Los Angeles and attended LA public schools before studying at Harvard University and eventually landing a job at McKinsey. Vilardo, whose family is from Colombia, was the first person from his high school to attend an Ivy. He started higher education in community college and attended seven schools in five years before finishing his degree at the University of Pennsylvania. Vilardo later worked at Uber, where he helped launch Uber Freight.

Coming from similar backgrounds, Vilardo and Ruano noticed discrepancies between themselves and classmates at their respective Ivy League institutions. The resources their peers enjoyed and the mentors they were exposed to from an early age prepared them for professional success. Combining their experience in technology, education, and entrepreneurship — and leveraging the connections they formed in school and at work — they launched Emile Learning in October 2020, an online educational platform offering “bingeable” accredited courses which many students can access for free.

Their mission, providing a quality education to every student in the world, led to $5.3 million in angel investment from backers including Softbank, Owl Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins (which has backed two of the most successful online education companies, Duolingo and Coursera, both now public).

As Latino entrepreneurs, the young executives provide needed representation in a tech start-up scene dominated by white founders. Vilardo remains steadfast in his mission: “To help kids who look like the two of us.”