My Story
My name is Daniela, but you can call me Dani :)
Daniela Cadena is a strategy and operations leader, educator, and entrepreneur working at the intersection of technology, education, and economic opportunity. For more than a decade, she has built new ventures, partnerships, programs, and operating systems across the United States and Latin America.
At Chiper, a venture-backed B2B technology company, Daniela progressed from Director of Business Development to Chief of Staff and Director of Data. She contributed to more than $55M in equity raised and led initiatives across international expansion, new business development, operations, product, data, and organizational transformation. Her work has included launching and validating new business models, scaling regional operations, building revenue-generating data products, and creating the systems required to move complex initiatives from experimentation to execution.
Previously, Daniela designed and scaled entrepreneurship and innovation programs at Florida International University, reaching more than 4,000 students and supporting 300+ founders. She built partnerships across universities, corporations, investors, and public-sector organizations that contributed to more than $10M in grants and philanthropic funding. Her work also includes a contract with IDEO, where she designed and facilitated community engagement experiences for a public-private mobility initiative in Miami-Dade.
Through Cadena Capital, Daniela advises founders and leadership teams on fundraising, strategic partnerships, market expansion, and high-priority growth initiatives. She is also the founder of Lionheart Network and co-founder of Conscious Kids, a bilingual social-emotional learning platform for children, families, and educators.
Daniela is a TEDxIEMadrid speaker, former Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community, and holds a Master of International Relations from IE Business School. Her work is grounded in the belief that companies, public institutions, educators, and communities can build more durable opportunities when they work together.
