Texas Border Business
By Amanda Sotelo
Sam Garcia began his educational journey at South Texas College as a dual credit student with the dream of attending Harvard Law School. Today, he is not only a 2019 graduate from the university, but he is the youngest Hispanic to join Harvard Law Faculty as a lecturer.
Leading a successful career as a Partner at Amplo VC, a global venture capital firm that helps support entrepreneurs building globally ambitious companies that matter, the 29-year-old is ready to share his knowledge in his course – Applying Legal Skills to VC Business Diligence beginning spring 2024.
“This new venture into teaching is exciting and will give me the opportunity to impact and hopefully inspire other young entrepreneurs, said the Mission native, who will also remain with Amplo VC during his time as a lecturer. “I want to be the someone I wish I had when I was entering this field. When I was younger, I didn’t even know that my career was an option. It’s not an easy path, but through my experience I’ve learned that having a mentor on the inside is beneficial. I want to create opportunities for others.”
Creating opportunities is a lesson he learned at STC. Following in his brother’s footsteps, Garcia also enrolled at the college as a dual credit student, completing most of his academic courses, including calculus and other upper-level math classes, before transferring to the University of Texas at Austin and graduating from its Business Honors Program.
“STC was there for me when I needed it the most,” said Garcia. “STC helped me afford a college education after my father’s death, it was sudden, and he was the primary breadwinner, and STC gave me the credits and GPA I needed to beat the very competitive process of getting into Harvard.”
Garcia added that STC gave him what the top 1% in this nation get at prestigious private colleges – a high-quality education, but at an affordable price.
“I could have never afforded to go to a private college, but STC gave me the same opportunities, if not better because of the smaller class ratios, one-on-one opportunities with instructors and its supportive environment,” he said.
Garcia’s mother Irma Garcia, who is a speech instructor at STC, said she is always amazed at what Garcia has been able to achieve since beginning his journey at the college.
“Everything he does is hard to process from a mother’s point-of-view, but it all amazes me,” she said. “Just thinking about it makes me want to cry. I’m so proud of him and all he has overcome to get to where he is today.”
In addition to scholarly success, Garcia is also an Amazon best-selling author for his books “How Goats Can Fight Poverty” and “How a Goat Became Mayor,” both inspired by a herd of goats his later father acquired from a business deal out on their Alton ranch.
He also serves as vice president of s on the board of LatinxVC, a nonprofit organization focused on growing and supporting Latinx venture capitalists, and serves on the boards of Lightyear, Flume, Kredi, Tradescape, Wizehire, Steno, Axion Ray and Doxel, companies acquired by Amplo.
Garcia is also in the final rounds of being named one of Forbes Under 30, a prestigious listing of the country’s brightest young entrepreneurs and leaders.
“STC is pivotal for opening doors and creating scholars,” said Garcia. “I’m from the RGV, where I can relate to the many students who have big dreams, and I encourage them to get their start at STC. Utilize STC and all its resources. There is no excuse to not go to STC. Success is there.”
