Claudia P. Mirza | 2024 Latina of Influence
Hispanic Lifestyle is honored to recognize CEO and Founder of Akorbi, Claudia Mirza as a Latina of Influence. Ms. Mirza will be recognized for her leadership in our community during Hispanic Lifestyle’s Connecting Latinas of Influence | Texas to be held on August 27, 2024 in Dallas, Texas.
Claudia P. Mirza is the CEO and Founder of Akorbi, a Plano, Texas-based company specializing in enterprise solutions for the global economy. Akorbi is a certified HUB, MWBE, WBE, and holds ISO 9001, ISO 13485, ISO 27000 and EN 15038 certifications.
Claudia is a serial entrepreneur, analytic business strategist, and champion of innovation. She is known for solving business problems in a holistic yet decisive way, applying cutting-edge solutions to ignite sales and profitability.
Under Claudia’s leadership, Akorbi has grown to become one of the world’s largest woman-owned, U.S.-based multilingual digital transformation and language service providers since its inception in 2003. The company helps clients overcome language, cultural, and technological barriers to succeed globally, offering services in 170 languages, digital transformation, automation, interpretation and localization. Akorbi has offices in Dallas, El Paso, Colombia, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Czech Republic, and India.
Claudia is actively pursuing independent Board of Director positions, leveraging her expertise in the global economy, automation, digital transformation, and sustainable financial value creation. She also would like to work with private equity companies to increase a company’s value post-transaction, bringing strong skills in marketing, global communications, and sales. Claudia’s profile adds value to companies focused on increasing gender balance on their boards.
A series of events inspired Claudia to found Akorbi. After being part of a multimillion-dollar network infrastructure project at Genuity, Inc. and experiencing the dot-com crash, she began volunteering for translation assignments. With two business degrees and a background in safety and environment supervision and international education projects, Claudia developed a client portfolio of her own and founded Akorbi.
Throughout her career, Claudia’s business acumen, client-centric approach, and rapid success in anticipating marketplace needs have garnered national news coverage in TIME, MSNBC, Forbes, Fortune, and Inc. Magazine, as well as local media visibility. She was invited by the Trump Administration to participate in a bipartisan White House roundtable advocating for women-owned small businesses.
In 2021, Akorbi was named one of the fastest-growing, privately held companies in Texas by the Inc. 5000 Regional Texas Awards, and in 2019, the company received the Google Outstanding Partnership Award. Akorbi has also been ranked in the top 30 Language Services Provider industry (LSP) by Common Sense Advisory (CSA), Nimdzi Insights, and Slator.
Claudia has received multiple honors and awards, including the 2018 Women’s Business Enterprise Star by WBENC, and has been ranked in the top 30 by the Women Presidents’ Organization as one of the 50 Fastest Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies™. She was voted the 2016 Business Woman of the Year by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, named one of EY’s 2015 Entrepreneurial Winning Women, and voted the Enterprising Women of the Year by Enterprising Women magazine.
Claudia is dedicated to several organizations, serving on the Board of Directors of the United States Hispanic Business Council and as the Membership Chair for the YPO Wild West Chapter. She holds a business management degree from Cotecnova, Cartago, Colombia, and is a graduate of the Tuck-WBENC Executive Education Program at the Tuck School of Business. She also has a management certificate from the Southern Methodist University Cox Executive Education Program and a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the DeVry Institute of Technology. Claudia is an alumna of Harvard Business School’s three-year Owner/President Management (OPM) Program, Class 52.
A champion of diversity and inclusion, Claudia believes in creating sustainable impact for future generations through community investment. She is passionate about lifting women up, creating jobs for working mothers, and supporting children with special needs.
Claudia Mirza’s life and accomplishments serve as a testament to the transformative power of entrepreneurship, innovation, and perseverance. From humble beginnings to global prominence, Mirza’s journey exemplifies the limitless possibilities that arise when passion, determination, and purpose converge. As she continues to make her mark on the world, Claudia remains an inspiring figure whose legacy will endure for generations to come.
Nomination Statement
Claudia Mirza, a Colombian immigrant, represents the pinnacle of Latina influence, leadership, success, integrity, and selflessness.
Mirza’s journey began at horse stud auctions, where she capitalized on her bilingual talents and the lack of translators. Her work helping horse-raisers and buyers communicate would eventually blossom into a global company at the forefront of technology, language services and workforce development.
True to the idea of ‘Latinas of Influence’, Claudia has wielded her influence for the betterment of the Hispanic community and Americans as a whole. In addition to being a board member at the USHBC, credited as the leading advocate for the Hispanic business community and the author of this submission, Claudia tirelessly devotes her time to giving back by serving on a variety of these types of non profit Boards of Directors.
Claudia is the living embodiment of the American Dream, having arrived in the United States alone, as a teenager and without English language skills, she quickly set about obtaining the education and networks that would propel her into becoming a leading entrepreneur. Claudia’s opinions and points of view are sought after by elected officials, corporate leaders and a variety of media outlets. Her relentless drive, strategic thinking and intrinsic leadership skills have positioned her as a leader not only in the hispanic or women-business environments, but as a nationally recognized entrepreneurial success. Claudia’s commitment to doing good and giving back is another reason for our submission for the Latinas of Influence award – she is the living testament to the ideal that one can do well, while doing good.
Javier Palomarez
