Media’s Top Latina
Rather than a setback, being a first-generation immigrant catapulted Nely Galan forward – helping her become the powerful businesswoman she is today.
(Click here to read her exclusive profile!)
Galan, 48, found her first success in media as a handpicked guest editor at Seventeen magazine.
From there, she fell in love with television, became the nation’s youngest station manager at 22 and launched Galan Entertainment at age 25.
Her meteoric rise started in 1998, Sony named her Telemundo’s president of Entertainment, the first Latina to hold such a role. (The network was later sold for $2.8 billion.) To date, Galan has worked on more than 600 shows in English and Spanish.
Now, fresh off a three-year sabbatical she used to obtain a masters and doctorate in clinical psychology, she focuses on giving other Latina women the tools and resources they need to succeed in business too.
LPB: What is the best business advice you’ve ever received?
NG: When I was 25, I worked at a TV station run by this older man. He sold the station and I was very upset. I said, “How could you sell the station?” He said, “Well, those are my chips. If you want to play, go get your own chips.” I never really thought of myself as an entrepreneur. He said, “If you can’t figure out at this point in your life how to get your own chips, then you don’t have what it takes.” He propelled me to a higher place.
LPB: How has being an immigrant affected your perspective?
NG: When the economy was bad, Americans were freaking out. But when you come from a third-world country, you’re used to it. Bad things happen in business. It doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world – you just have to reinvent. I live in a state of gratitude that I get to live in a country where I get to be me and can succeed.
By Caroline Cox
“Success means working with people you like, having real relationships and going on a journey that’s meaningful.”
Nely Galan
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