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Four Cuban women were included in the third edition of the list Forbes Women "50 Latinas to Watch 2026," recently published by the Spanish edition of the magazine, which features the most influential and active Latin American women in Spain and around the world.
The recognized Cuban women are Verónica Carrillo, Yohania de Armas, Mayi de la Vega, and Mayte Medina, four individuals who represent very different yet equally outstanding paths in entrepreneurship, international consulting, and the luxury real estate sector.
Verónica Carrillo arrived in Mexico at a young age, where she studied economics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and became a communicator.
He presented a financial program on TV Azteca and co-founded one of the most influential fashion and lifestyle magazines in the country. In 2017, he moved to Madrid, where he leads business and events at Cambio16.
Today, it promotes the platform "Conscious Luxury" to position brands as ethical and sustainable luxury.
In the case of Yohania de Armas, she is a lawyer from Havana residing in Madrid and the founder of Conecta Iberoamérica, a platform that connects over 1,300 highly qualified professionals across 22 countries in Latin America, Spain, and Portugal.
She arrived in Spain through the Carolina Scholarships and in 2011 was selected as one of the 50 participants in the Ibero-American Young Leaders Program.
Her leadership has been recognized by Bloomberg Línea, which included her among the 500 most influential people in Latin America in 2023, and by the National Federation of Self-Employed Workers of Spain, which named her Entrepreneur of the Year 2025. "Entrepreneurship is a way to redefine freedom," she stated upon receiving this award.
Mayi de la Vega embodies the story of the Cuban diaspora in the United States: she arrived in Miami as a refugee and became the first Cuban woman to own a franchise of Sotheby's International Realty, which she acquired with strategic vision during the economic crisis of 2008.
Founded ONE Sotheby's International Realty, today the number one luxury real estate agency on Florida's east coast, with 31 offices, 1,300 agents, and nearly 8 billion dollars in annual sales.
In January 2026, she left her position as executive director to take on the role of executive president of the company.
The last case, that of Mayte Medina, she is an executive at Drago and has over 20 years of experience in the real estate and hospitality sectors.
Born in Cuba and residing in the United States, she studied Architecture in Houston and pursued a master's degree in Real Estate and Construction Management at the Polytechnic University of Madrid.
She has worked at firms such as Archer Hotel Capital, Everty, and Primark, and in January 2026, she returned to Drago as the Chief Operating Officer, a company where she had previously held positions. She is the daughter of Cuban exiles.
Cuba ranks as the fifth nationality group on the list, behind Venezuela with 13 representatives, Mexico with 10, and Colombia and Argentina with nine each.
This is not the first time that Cuban women have stood out in this selection.
In the 2024 edition, Forbes Spain recognized Rachel Valdés Camejo, Ella Fontanals-Cisneros, and Glenda León, which confirms that the Cuban presence in these lists has solidified edition after edition with high-impact profiles in diverse sectors such as art, social entrepreneurship, and real estate.
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