Latina Leader Spotlight: Sofia Menendez
Q: What is your ethnicity, where have you lived, where do you currently live?
A: My mom is from Nicaragua and my dad is from El Salvador, they immigrated to San Francisco, CA when they were both around 16 years old. I was born and raised in Northern California, having spent my childhood in Hayward, CA and moved to San Ramon, CA when I was 10. I went to UC Santa Cruz for undergrad and moved to San Francisco to work in tech after college. Thereafter, I moved to Seattle, WA for a change of pace/new opportunity and spent about 2.5 years there. I just moved back to San Francisco about a month ago to be closer to family and to cofound Classalog.com.
Q: Tell us about Classalog, what is it, what was the inspiration behind it, and who is it built to serve?
A: Classalog is a search engine for remote classes. It aggregates live remote classes from all sources, including marketplaces, schools, studios and independent instructors, helping everyone compare and book remote classes across diverse categories—fitness, cooking, professional development, and much more. My Co-Founder, Deniz Binay, an ex-Googler who was on the founding team of Google Assistant, originally started Classalog as a place to find all local classes in your city in 2019. I joined in May 2020 and we decided to do a complete pivot when we saw businesses shift to online due to the current events (e.g., COVID-19 & remote work). Classalog is built for instructors, marketplaces, studios, community centers, and schools that have live online courses or sessions and it serves a wide range of individuals and groups of people who are seeking a place to find different virtual classes in everything related to fitness, cooking, arts & crafts, music, and so much more. Our mission is to help instructors and small businesses gain visibility in a crowded space. :)
Q: How does being a Latina affect your business?
A: Being a Latina helps my business because of the grit, agility, and competitiveness I have ingrained in my blood. I realize my combination of passion & work ethic is attributed to my ethnicity and for that, I'm forever grateful for.
Q: Who is your Latina inspiration?
A: My older sisters — Jackie and Tanya Menendez. Jackie is a Litigation Attorney and Tanya is a serial entreprenuer. I've seen them both persevere throughout their life and they have given me so much inspiration to reach higher and to never have limits on your career aspirations.
Q: What piece of advice would you give people looking to start their own business?
A: Make sure you're doing it all for the right reasons. I'm not working long hours for the money. I'm doing it to give business owners, many of whom are women or people from underrepresented groups, the opportunity to make a living through leveraging the discoverability and reach of our platform. Keep iterating on the idea until it feels right—not when someone else tells you it's right.
Q: What would you tell yourself 5 years ago about where you are today?
A: There's nothing wrong with failing, it's just leading you towards *your* right path.
Q: How can people stay up-to-date with you?
A: My Instagram - @sdmenendez :)
