Karla Ruiz Cofiño

Karla Ruiz Cofiño connects people through technology, helping individuals and businesses to navigate, contribute and participate in a digitalized world. For the past 15 years, the Guatemalan entrepreneur has studied the impact that technology has on the evolution of human beings, how this has affected the way we relate to each other and our behavior as consumers. She has become an expert in taking advantage of digital technology to advance a company's brand, revenue and outcome.

Aware of the gap between the common use of social networks and the needs of the real world, Karla developed her own curriculum with an innovative methodology on how to use digital media to achieve a positive impact. The Digital Awareness Program equips people with the digital skills and knowledge they need to be active contributors to online communities. Teaching how to behave as positive Digital Citizens and inspiring them to become Digital Leaders by harnessing the power of Social Media and Digital Strategies to improve the world.

As a speaker, Karla's mission is to recruit, inspire and empower people to become digitally aware, creating a future of interconnected global citizens, aware of the power they have and how to use it. Visualizing a community of change makers connected through technology to improve the world.

Karla is also co-founder of the digital agency MILKnCOOKIES and is a social media consultant for the Global Ambassador Program of Vital Voices and Bank of America. She is the founding curator of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Guatemala and founder of the Community of Women Entrepreneurs - Women's Entrepreneurship Day in Guatemala.

Due to her innovative work in social transformation through social networks, Karla has received numerous honors and awards. These include the Vital Voices 2015 global leadership award, INTECAP 2018 Women of the Year, and the Inter-American Development Bank's top 10 innovators in Latin America 2014. She has also been invited to speak at IFI Women in IT 2018 and the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2016 at Stanford University, among others.