Leading entertainment and lifestyle retailer, HSN, is collaborating with award-winning entrepreneur Liliana “Lili” Gil Valletta to discover new inventors and innovators as part of its American Dreams initiative. HSN’s American Dreams platform finds, educates and trains rising entrepreneurs to help bring their products to the marketplace and create successful business opportunities
“HSN has been dedicated to finding and supporting innovators, inventors and entrepreneurs since we first opened our doors 40 years ago. Entrepreneurship is core to HSN’s DNA, and we are thrilled to have Lili Gil Valletta join us on our mission to provide these inventors with the tools they need to bring their products to life,” said Bill Brand, President, HSN. “As a business owner herself, Lili understands the critical role small businesses play in building communities and local economies. As we enter the next decade in HSN’s history, we are committed to helping rising entrepreneurs as they launch their products or start a business of their own.”
Gil Valletta is founder and CEO of CIEN+, an advocate for minority business owners and the creator of the accelerator program, Dreamers Ventures, a multi-city tour and business accelerator platform primarily empowering Latinos with access to tools, capital and resources for growth. Minority entrepreneurs represent the fastest growing segment of small business owners in America; however, they still lag in their ability to access capital and opportunities, as reported by the Minority Business Development Agency.
“I am honored to be working with HSN to help discover great inventions and continue the momentum of Project American Dreams,” said Gil Valletta. “As an entrepreneur and immigrant from Colombia, I have experienced firsthand the challenges we face as women and minority business owners and I am focused on helping make it easier for others to achieve their dreams.”
Through Dreamers Ventures and CIEN+, Gil Valletta will help identify and discover inventors and innovators with products that could one day be sold on HSN. This partnership continues the success of the Project American Dreams program, which launched five inventors last March and identified over 100 products created by Latino entrepreneurs.
Gil Valletta joins a select group of star entrepreneurs that include TV’s original billion-dollar man Bob Circosta, Shark Tank’s Daymond John, tech expert Randi Zuckerberg and Marc Portney, from the Science Channel’s popular series All American Makers. Gil Valletta will appear as the first Latina star entrepreneur host on HSN’s American Dreams joining her discovered inventors to sell their products on-air reaching over 90 million households.
