This SIPA Student's Start-up Helps Young Latinas Plan Their Financial Futures
Sara Gomez Horta also has advice for fellow students: cross-register at different schools, and open your emails to learn about events across Columbia and the city.
When are you graduating from Columbia SIPA, and what is your area of focus?
I’m graduating in May, and these last two years have flown by! I love how SIPA gives you the freedom to pursue multiple areas of interest, so I’ve unintentionally found myself doing a double concentration-specialization just by taking classes that appealed to me. I’m concentrating in Economic and Political Development, as well as Social Policy, and my specializations are Leadership, Innovation, and Design, and Technology, Media, and Communication. EPD, LID, and TmaC—in true policy school form, we love our acronyms. I’ve dedicated my time at SIPA to expanding my skill set in social entrepreneurship.
What was your path to pursuing graduate work at Columbia?
I was born in Mexico and grew up on an Alaskan island. Being an immigrant has been a core part of my identity, deeply inspiring my career trajectory. I began by organizing immigrant farm workers in college, and mobilizing Latino youth to vote. After graduating, I spent six years working for an immigrants’ rights policy start-up incubated by the Emerson Collective. During that time, I lived and breathed immigration policy and advocacy. I lobbied Congress to pass laws to help undocumented immigrants gain status and protections, worked on narrative change projects, and got exposed to the world of social enterprise.
I applied to SIPA because I wanted to pursue my own social enterprise and be in New York City. I loved how SIPA integrated entrepreneurship throughout its curriculum, and offered opportunities to develop our ideas while being students.
What are some of the projects you've been involved with at SIPA and beyond?
I took a class taught by Sarah Holloway, Creating a Social Enterprise, which introduced me to the Columbia entrepreneurship ecosystem—including SIPA’s Global Policy Challenge, which helped me get my startup off the ground. My project, Tesoro (formerly known as Tanda), won the Global Policy Challenge in 2024. Thanks to the challenge and all of the entrepreneurship resources available at SIPA and Columbia, Tesoro is now a wealth management platform focused on helping young Latinas from immigrant families plan for their financial futures.
What's the best way to meet people on campus?
Cross-register! Take advantage of signing up for classes at other schools, and you’ll meet people you’d otherwise never have met. I’ve cross-registered at the Business School, the J-School, and GSAPP, and have had great experiences.
What's something you didn't expect to love about Columbia?
As someone who is married, I didn’t expect how many other SIPA students would also have spouses and partners. I’ve enjoyed bringing my wife to events, and we’ve made such great friends.
Do you have any unlikely hobbies?
I took a ceramics class at Teachers College this fall, and it was incredible! Aimee Ehrman taught the class, and she made it such a fun environment. The class is open to community members along with Columbia students, so I met terrific people—and it was a nice break from school.
The community of student entrepreneurs at Columbia is incredible, and I appreciate how we’re always there for each other, and willing to brainstorm ideas. There are spaces such as the Startup Lab Uptown, where I’ve met student entrepreneurs from all over the University—Barnard to Computer Science to Public Health. The SoHo Startup Lab has also hosted great events where I’ve met Columbia alumni who’ve built successful projects.
Outside of these endeavors, I’ve gotten the chance to work as a teaching assistant for a Design for Social Innovation class, which is open to students from all across Columbia. I also serve as the program assistant for the LID specialization, where I get to plan events for fellow SIPA students interested in topics like human-centered design and thinking outside the box to address issues such as immigration.
Finally, I’ve also been involved with our Latin American and Caribbean Student Association and the DEICE committee, helping to plan SIPA’s inaugural Inclusive Policy and Leadership Symposium.
How do you like studying in New York? What are your favorite urban activities?
New York is an amazing city—an extension of campus! By taking advantage of Columbia’s Arts Initiative, which provides discounted tickets, I went to the opera for the first time. My tip is to sign up for all the event newsletters and open all your emails. You never know what great events are going on in the city. Beyond that, I recommend walking everywhere you can because you’ll never know what—or who—you’ll find along the way.
Any recommendations for how best to enjoy the city beyond campus?
I have a huge sweet tooth and love museums. One of my favorite places to visit is Café Sabarsky at the Neue Galerie to get a fancy treat. Another recommendation is to ask your fellow Columbia students who are native New Yorkers what their favorite childhood spots are.