Former White House Advisor and Latina Leader Luisana Perez Fernandez Launches Her Own Firm to Uplift Latino Voices

Luisana Perez Fernandez did what many Latinas dream about and fear at the same time, which is walking away from stability to build something that carries her name, her instincts, and her understanding of how Spanish lives inside American politics. Horizonte Strategies is her next chapter after years inside campaigns, federal agencies, and the White House, where she learned how power speaks and how often Latino communities hear it last.

Her path to entrepreneurship stretches across borders and institutions. It begins with a childhood in Caracas and moves through political offices in Florida and federal buildings in Washington. It now lives in late nights answering her own emails and realizing what it means to build something alone.

Language As a Career Foundation

She grew up in a home where language mattered long before it ever became political. Her mother, a Spanish literature teacher, instilled the idea that words carried responsibility and consequence, shaping how she understood communication from an early age.

“I’m Venezuelan. My mom is a Spanish literature teacher in Venezuela, so I grew up with her being a great communicator,” she told BELatina News in a recent interview.

That foundation followed her into college activism and later into American politics, where she entered spaces that spoke fluently about inclusion while rarely practicing it in Spanish, an imbalance she noticed long before it became a professional concern.

She understood early that no matter how polished the office or how formal the title, she would always be a Latina inside those rooms, carrying her accent, her upbringing, and the awareness that she often represented people who were never in those spaces.

Language, for her, functioned as a bridge between institutions and families trying to understand decisions that shaped their lives.

From Florida to Washington

Florida became her proving ground, though the experience looked different depending on where she was working.

In Miami, bilingualism felt natural, woven into daily life and professional interactions, while in Tallahassee it felt conditional, something that had to be justified in spaces designed for insiders.

Spanish language reporters were expected to cover legislative systems few people bothered to explain. She often became the person who walked them through procedures that shaped public policy.

“They didn’t know the process,” she said. “I would tell them, my member is trying to pass this bill, and this is how you pass a bill.”

Over time, she realized that Hispanic media was often treated as an afterthought, included only after strategies and messaging were already in place.

“For me, it’s about helping organizations think about the Latino community when they are doing their planning,” she said.

Before launching Horizonte, Perez Fernandez built her career inside some of the most demanding communications environments in government.

In 2020, she joined the Biden Harris Florida Coordinated Campaign as Deputy Communications Director, overseeing Hispanic media outreach and managing coalition communications across the state. She later became Deputy Communications Director for Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, where she worked to integrate Hispanic media into official communications strategies.

She then served as Press Secretary and Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she handled public messaging during moments when clarity and speed were essential.

Those roles eventually led her to Washington, where she became White House Hispanic Media Director, a position that placed her at the center of federal outreach to Spanish language outlets.

From that role, she coordinated interviews, briefings, and media access, often serving as the bridge between national policy and local Spanish language journalists.

It was there, she says, that she learned how much influence timing and access can have on public understanding.

Leaving Government Without a Map

When she left the White House, movement gave way to stillness, and the pace that had once structured her days disappeared almost overnight.

“There was a pause,” she said. “Nothing was calling me.”

For years, her professional life had been shaped by fixed schedules, defined roles, and institutions that provided direction.

“Two years ago, I would have said there was no way I was going to launch a company,” she said.

Distance from government work created space to think without deadlines dictating every decision. Time with family softened urgency. Travel widened her sense of possibility.

“When I left the White House, I was not afraid of things anymore,” she said.

While visiting relatives in Chile, curiosity turned practical. She began researching how to register a company in the United States and realized the process was manageable.

“I decided to try,” she said.

Encouragement followed through conversations with friends, colleagues, and mentors.

“The only thing giving me space for myself was starting my own company,” she said.

Leaving government meant learning how to carry risk alone and trusting judgment developed over years inside demanding systems.

Strategy Rooted in Real Communities

Her work always begins with listening, with paying attention to how information moves through families, neighborhoods, and informal networks that rarely appear in campaign strategy decks.

Before suggesting platforms or press lists, she asks organizations what they care about and how their communities receive information.

“Is it TV, radio, influencers, WhatsApp group chats,” she said.

She studies how news travels through kitchens, group chats between relatives, and local voices that function as informal newsrooms, understanding that credibility is built long before any press release appears.

Messaging, in her view, cannot be imposed. It has to grow from habits people already have and conversations they already trust.

Listening to Migration and Place

Her perspective has been shaped by constant movement between countries and cities.

“Coming from Venezuela changes how you see everything,” she said.

Migration reshaped Miami, bringing new communities and new needs.

“I try to help people understand things I didn’t know when I arrived,” she said.

Those experiences inform how she approaches every project, reminding her that policy language often assumes familiarity and that trust depends on clarity delivered consistently over time.

How Luisana Perez Fernandez Built Horizonte With Intention

Horizonte grew out of years watching institutions struggle to communicate with Latino communities, and realizing that many of those gaps existed because no one inside decision making spaces had lived them.

“I like looking forward,” she said. “Horizonte means being present while thinking about what’s coming.”

The first year was consumed by contracts, budgeting, client negotiations, and constant recalibration, by learning when to say yes, when to walk away, and when protecting her values mattered more than expanding her client list.

“I want people to see Horizonte as a reference,” she said.

She thinks often about Washington, where Latino communicators circulate through offices without consistent spaces for shared growth.

“We don’t have enough space for collaboration,” she said.

She imagines networks that outlast administrations.

Measuring Success at Home

When she talks about her family, the language of strategy disappears.

“My family is very proud,” she said. “Even if they don’t always understand what I do.”

They understand effort, sacrifice, and persistence.

Horizonte Strategies exists on paper as contracts and client lists. It exists in real life as late nights, uncertain months, careful decisions, and a constant negotiation between ambition and responsibility. It also exists in inherited language, personal history, and years spent translating systems that were never designed with her community in mind.

Building something alone after years inside institutions requires choosing uncertainty and trusting experience.

Luisana Perez Fernandez continues her work without waiting for permission, guided by instinct, memory, and a commitment to ensuring that Latino communities are heard early, clearly, and on their own terms.