01What you're building

What are you building right now, and what does it make possible that wasn't possible before?

I'm building for us. The solo founder on Google at 2 a.m., trying to find the answers they need for their business. The first person in the family to start a business, with no one at the dinner table to ask. The founder trying to break into an industry that wasn't built with them in mind. I know that feeling because I've been there.

Segarra IP is a trademark firm, but what I'm really building is a place where those people get a straight answer from someone who's been in their seat. Our communities have always made the culture. What we haven't always had is someone in our corner making sure we own what we make. That's the gap I want to close, one founder at a time.

02What it took

What did it take to get here that people don't see?

I loved being a cop. I thought I'd retire from the NYPD. Then a car accident on the job ended my career, and I was facing back surgery and a future I didn't plan for.

As a full-time police officer, I went to law school part time while I was still recovering. For almost four years, four days a week, I was up at 5:30 a.m. and in bed around midnight. I lost friends. I lost weight. I barely saw my wife. And I had to let go of every ounce of pride I had, because starting over at the bottom of something new after being good at something means admitting you're a beginner again.

People see the firm. They don't see what it cost to get to the first day of it.

03Who carried you

Who carried you, and what did they teach you that you still use every week?

My family carried me.

My wife is the rock of our home. During law school, she gave up her time with me so I could chase something neither of us knew would work. She gave me room to grow and breathe, and when I needed checking, she checked me. She taught me that real support includes the truth. Every week I use that. Before I make a big call in my business, I ask someone who will tell me I'm wrong, not someone who will just agree with me. And I give my clients the same honesty, even when it isn't what they want to hear.

My mother is my guiding light. She's five-foot-one and a powerhouse, the first Latina deputy mayor of New York City. She supported my move to the Dominican Republic, she's been my sounding board for every major decision, and she put my name in rooms I didn't know existed. She taught me two things I use every week. First, when you face a big decision, take it to someone who has already walked that road. I still call her. Second, when you're in the room, you say someone else's name. Every week I try to make an introduction, pass along a referral, or recommend someone who isn't in the room yet, because someone did that for me.

Even the friends I lost taught me something. When I couldn't hang out on a random Thursday night anymore because I had class, I learned that every yes costs you something, and you have to know what you're building before you decide what to give up. I still use that every week when I decide where my time goes.

04For the leader coming up

What is the one thing you'd tell the leader coming up behind you?

Nobody should have more control over your story than you do. People will try to tell it for you, whether that's where you came from, what you're capable of, or what you're allowed to become. Don't hand that over.

And invest in relationships before money. Every door I've walked through came from someone who knew me and vouched for me, not from a check I wrote. The money follows the relationships. It rarely works the other way.

05Adelante

Adelante means forward. Where are you taking your function, your company, or your industry next?

I'm not trying to be the biggest IP lawyer in the country or build a firm to compete with the giants. That was never the point. I want to have a real impact on my generation of young, hungry firsts. The first entrepreneur in the family. The first politician. The first attorney. The first cop. People who are building without a blueprint, like I did.

If I can help them protect what they make, avoid the mistakes that cost the people before them, and see that ownership is possible for us too, that's the work. Forward, for me, means making sure the next first doesn't have to figure it all out alone at 2 a.m.