Founder and President
Women’s Venture Fund, Inc.
Maria Otero, Esq., is the founder and president of The Women’s Venture Fund, Inc.
(WVF), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to assisting women become successful entrepreneurs. Since its founding, the WVF assisted more than 15,000 women with loans, advisory services or business development training. As the leader of the Women’s Venture Fund, Maria is often asked to comment on “women in business” and the critical success factors essential to nurturing and developing their entrepreneurial spirit. She was featured and interviewed by NBC, Fox News, WPIX, Bloomberg News, Crain’s NY, the NY Times, and other media outlets. Maria routinely serves as a speaker at national forums on issues affecting minorities and women’s economic development, and works with the State Department to meet with and advise foreign delegations researching best practices for developing women entrepreneurs.
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Ms. Otero has evaluated more than a thousand business plans to determine which competitor should be awarded a significant cash prize as Judge to several national and regional competitions, including Forbes Small Business competition, Baruch’s entrepreneurship competition, and the NYC Women’s Small Business Competition. Since her appointment in 1992, Ms. Otero continues to serve on the Mayor’s Commission for Women’s Issues.
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Maria appeared as a guest columnist in El Diario newspaper, and was featured in several print media including Shape Magazine, the National Association of Female Executive’s magazine, and Crain’s New York. For her contributions to the development of women business owners, Ms. Otero received numerous honors including Bloomberg’s Hispanic Entrepreneur Award, the Financial Women’s Association public service award¸ US Women’s Chamber of Commerce recognition, and the Small Business Administration excellence award.
Ms. Otero began her career as an attorney in the public sector serving the Public Service Commission and the Attorney General, where she focused on environmental litigation. Ms. Otero received a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from Queens College.
