NeoSol, a Hispanic marketing agency, has grown tremendously in its almost 15-year span of working with the Hispanic and multicultural market. Since its beginning in California, the company now has teams in Las Vegas, Chicago, Atlanta, New York, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Oregon and Washington State and works with brands such as Goya, Yakult, Alove, Electrolit, Topo Chico and Maseca, among others.
Ilyana Benson, NeoSol CEO, spoke with Abasto on the company’s mission and what it’s like to be the founder.
The daughter of two entrepreneurs, Benson always knew she would own her own business at some point.
“I had many trials during my life of different kinds of ventures,” Benson confessed.
She sold candy, greeting cards, lipstick, business, marketing plans and even homework. Born, raised and obtaining her MBA in Mexico City, Benson got her first job at a Japanese company, where she says she consolidated many of the quality, consistency and precision characteristics that are the core of NeoSol today.
She chose the name NeoSol because Neo means new in Latin and Sol means sun in Spanish.
“Basically, the sun is a good tie between California and Mexico and many Latin Cultures. It is also a source of life and light. I’ve always had a different way of doing things, so in NeoSol we offer new solutions and new ideas to our clients. As immigrants, we have to find our own way to achieve goals since we don’t have the same tools,” Benson said.
She created this company with the mission of offering handcrafted solutions based on client’s needs. The goal is to work in such a way that clients see them as an extension of their own marketing department and feel as if they are the only client.
“Each company, brand, client is unique and so we adapt our service and our proposals to each of them,” Benson told Abasto.
Benson’s team is made up of Latin women from various educational backgrounds and experiences, which Benson said goes in hand with the business that is very detail oriented, requires consistency and diligence, which are natural characteristics of a woman.
“It has been coincidental that every time we have an open position, out of all the candidates interviewed, the best candidate has been a woman… I’m proud to have an all women team. My team is very strong, passionate, dedicated and nurturing,” Benson said.
As CEO of Neosol, Benson told Abasto that Walt Disney’s quote, “If you can dream it, you can do it,” is her creed.
“What I have learned in my entrepreneurial years is that a burning desire to achieve your dream is the fuel to maintain your focus and your motivation to keep on trying and keep going every day for as long as it takes to make the dream happen. It’s not magic.”