Maria Medrano knows first-hand the value of opportunity: the opportunity to receive an education, the opportunity to pursue higher education, the opportunity to break out of poverty, and the opportunity to start a company that has investors knocking on the door.

In this episode of the American Dream podcast, Maria shares all of those experiences, and explains how they taught her, and now her children, the value of saying “yes.”

• (2:00) The Real Maria
• (14:02) Why Elias & Maria believe you should say yes to everything
• (16:50) Don’t fear new things
• (19:23) Why Maria didn’t want to be poor
• (21:27) Learning to establish a relationship with money
• (22:20) Investing goes beyond the dollar amount
• (32:16) Maria paves her way into big tech
• (36:54) Why Maria left Google to go all in on her startup
• (42:30) Elias and Maria collaborate on AI college advising
• (48:38) Maria’s call to action