Entrepreneurship Without Extraction: Our Founder's Journey

From grassroots beginnings to femme-led ecosystems, Kim Tercero’s journey is all about aligning impact with integrity. In this conversation with Alen Cruz of Poderoso Media, she reflects on entrepreneurship, allyship, and why cybersecurity can be a tool for liberation.

AC: So. Who are you and what do you do?

KT: Kim Tercero, I am an operations and cybersecurity consultant for social impact, social enterprise. And so I work with all the do-gooders trying to leave this planet a little better than where we left it.

AC: And how did you get started going into that?

KT: I wish it was a glamorous story.

KT: I was laid off and honestly, I didn't realize that I actually come from a family of entrepreneurs. But I didn't realize like I had this vision that a business putting more products into the world and I'm a environmental, sustainability kind of person, and so I was like, I don't wanna put more stuff.

KT: But after my layoff, I connected with someone who was like, “hey, why don't you come help me on this project? I can't do it right now. Look up an LLC and help me on this project.” I didn't realize the game she was putting me on, and so once I figured that out, I started my website, I registered my business, I put a business plan together because all these things that I was learning in my corporate environment, just like kicked in.

KT: And I realized that what entrepreneurship was for me, I made it very personal and I just couldn't look back. And so that's, that's how I started my business.

AC: I love that. What have you learned so far on this entrepreneurial journey about yourself? What has it taught you? What has it shown you?

KT: That I'm enough.

KT: There's knowledge and there's history and art. What a business is in this system of capitalism is not something that I necessarily subscribe to, however/and I am finding a way to build a healthy, sustainable business in a way that isn't extractive, and I don't quite know the blueprint yet. But I am finding and connecting with people that believe in the same vision as me, and, uh, I have the right inclination that I have my ancestors that are guiding me and that I'm building something that imma be proud of.

AC: That’s amazing, love that. What have been some of your favorite client projects that you've worked on recently in the last year or two?

KT: Okay. I'm a nerd. I'm the one that follows the social media accounts that talk about like excel spreadsheet.

AC: I love that!

KT: and things that nobody is interested in. A project that I am excited about though actually a good friend of mine that I was friends with since I was an undergraduate at UC, Davis, go Aggie!

KT: She put a call out to the number of friends of hers to help her that now turned into her nonprofit. So technically I, I help co-found this organization. And so what's really exciting for me is that I'm helping build an ecosystem that is founded in an indigenous principles that is femme led. And so how to build a, how to build an organization that lives those principles and do it in a way that's within a Western system.

KT: So it's, it's not easy friends, uh, a lot of challenges. But man, it's been beautiful building that in a safe space. With folks that have the say similar values to me and like are willing to like be in that messiness and be in that like struggle. So not quite a project per se. It's a little bit bigger, but I would say that's probably what resonates with me the most right now.

AC: Love that. What's your favorite failure and how did it shape your success and path today?

KT: Waking up every morning. I love failure, to be honest with you. I have this. Beautiful relationship to failure because for me it's growth. And so I am not afraid to make a mistake. Now, mind you, that can cause harm. And so I'm really careful about how I fail.

KT: Because I'm also in tech, and so there's this concept of like failing fast and uh, that can be very dangerous. So I'm conscious of that, and I'm also knowing that I'm not in the pursuit of perfect, and so almost every day there's a little micro failure that I do. I don't know if I'm answering that question right specifically, but I'm not afraid to fail because I know that those lessons are coming at me for a reason to, to build something bigger. And so, so yeah. I think for me it's just, um, taking those lessons and, and not being afraid to make those mistakes. To say, I'm sorry, to acknowledge where maybe I may have not shown up in the right way and moving forward.

AC: Yeah. I love that. I love that. What's one surprising lesson that you've learned on your journey? That you never expected?

KT: That I didn't expect. Hmm. Interesting. You stopped me on that one. Well, I, I did. I never thought I was an entrepreneur and now I'm telling people in this room that I wanna be a serial entrepreneur, and so I'm a builder and so I, if I just love that, I'm able to take my visions and adapt it in a way that feels genuine to me.

KT: And so I didn't expect. Expect that I would be on this journey of, uh, entrepreneurship. And I'm grateful that the universe guided me to this and so, and that I'm not alone. I think so I'm not surprised that I'm not alone. I know that I have a good support system, but I'm surprised at where I'm finding it.

KT: So maybe that's the piece where there's a lot of allyship and a lot of folks that are challenging me in ways that I didn't expect that I would be. And so I love being in those moments.

AC: Oh, I love that. All right, last one to plug yourself in. And where can people find you? What are you up to right now? Who are you serving? All that good stuff. Plug it all in.

KT: Awesome. Yeah, so you can find me on all the socials. Well, although I'm starting to get off on some of them for certain reasons. Uh, but my, my hashtag is, @tercerosoluxns, and that's with an X. Uh, instead of spelling out solutions. You can find me on my website, tercerosolutions.com, and yeah, if you are someone that is in need of someone that's to, to help you nurture your business, whether it's through financial forecasting, strategic planning, you're looking at your tech stack, you're looking at digital security, cybersecurity, I can help do it in a way that's culturally appropriate. Sensitive to your organization in a way that's meaningful, accessible. So again, if you wanna try to make this planet a little better than where you left it on industry agnostic, feel free to hit me up hello@tercerosolutions.com.

AC: Hell yeah