Finix is now a payment processor!

I'm proud to say Finix is officially a payments processor. One integration now gets any business the payment features & functionality needed to be successful. We're a tech-enabled processing partner that moves fast and has top-tier support. If you want to learn more, please get in touch! As a processor, Finix

April Inflation Update

Inflation is decreasing. Why doesn't it feel better? Note: I visited my parents in San Diego this weekend; this week's post is lighter than others. Inflation is Decreasing If we look at the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report, inflation is decreasing. The Fed Funds Rate and Inflation

Cultural appropriation in Mezcal and Tequila

In this week's newsletter, we'll dive into this spicy topic of cultural appropriation. These questions and feelings always come up when I order my weekly margarita. Over the last year, I've had mixed feelings whenever I order Mezcal or Tequila. I started analyzing my feelings by questioning the brand authenticity

Moving back to East Bay and my Quarter Life Crisis

After a lot of thought, I've decided to return to the East Bay. I've lived in San Francisco a few times, on and off,  usually a year at a time. After enough time in San Francisco, I've realized Oakland is a better place for me. It's been a journey to

Technology

5 Months Later and I'm Back

The last post I wrote was on Sep 28, 2022. It's been about five months since I've worked on an article or written anything personal. I've been adapting to my new Director of Product Management role at Finix. In October, I was promoted to lead our product team, increase our

Fed Rate Hike, what it means, and raising taxes as an alternative

In this week's newsletter, we'll discuss the Federal Reserve raising the rate another 75 basis points and what that means. 📈 Fed Rate Hike The Federal Reserve announced that it’s raising interest rates by 0.75 percentage point, following its September 20-21 meeting, bumping the federal funds rate to a

Sunday Read

Kanye, Adidas, and the fight for creator control

There's a creative control debate between Kanye West and Adidas. The debate centers around financial and creative control for Yeezy. It seems like a limited event in isolation, but it's part of a larger fight for artists to retain creative and monetary control over their artwork, brand, and more.   What's

Sunday Read

Sunday Read No. 8: Bay Area Writers and Artists

Today's Sunday Read focuses on bay area writers and artists. We'll explore the works of Soleil Ho, Liz Hernández, and Taylor Smalls this week. ✍️ Soleil Ho, Restaurant Critic and Writer Since 2019, Soleil Ho (they/them) has been The Chronicle’s Restaurant Critic, spearheading Bay Area restaurant recommendations through the

Sunday Read

Sunday Read No. 7: Student loan forgiveness, China's Real Estate collapse, and Mexico City's houses

Today's Sunday Read covers a few different topics: Student Loan Forgiveness, China's Real Estate collapse, and a collection of my favorite houses from Mexico City. Quick Note For the last week and a half, I've been in Mexico City (Cuidad de Mexico aka CDMX), taking some time off and working

Technology

What is Support Engineering?

Most SaaS companies have a team of Support Engineers, but there isn't a lot of documentation on the role. I wrote this post as an easy intro to Support Engineering.

Fintech

What is the MATCH List? How does someone get on it?

MATCH, also known as the MasterCard Alert to Control High-risk Merchants (MATCH), is an alert system for high risk merchants. Why would someone be on the MATCH list? A merchant is likely to be on the MATCH list if they had experienced or conducted fraud, illegal activities, or violated the

Fintech

5 ways chargebacks can negatively impact you

As a merchant or software company, chargebacks can negatively impact you. Below are 5 ways Chargebacks can negatively impact you. 1. MATCH List Placement Merchants with excessive chargebacks tend to find themselves on the MATCH list, essentially blacklisting them from having a relationship with acquirers, Payment Facilitators, and third-party payment

Fintech

Payment Facilitation Field Guide

This Payment Facilitation Field Guide will navigate you through Payment Facilitation. Below you'll find a curated set of posts and links. Learning about Payment Facilitation What is a Payment Facilitator?A Payment Facilitator is a service provider for merchant service prover that simplifies the merchant account enrollment process.Oscar BarillasOscar

Food

Galanga Thai House (CDMX)

Vero and I had Galanga Thai House our first night in Cuidad de Mexico. We wanted something savory and with rice. Thai food came to mind! The food at Galanga Thai House was delicious with traditional Thai food and a few unique plates. We ordered dumplings, Pad Thai, and Khao

Featured

How to become a Payment Facilitator

I’ve assisted many companies in transitioning to Payment Facilitators. I’ve written this post to help explain how to become a Payment Facilitator in 8 steps. Note: This article was last updated April 21, 2023. Disclosure Full disclosure, I am an active employee of Finix. Finix can help offload

Ghost

Switching my website from WordPress to Ghost

After a lot of internal debate, I switched my website from WordPress to Ghost. I wrote this article to explain my migration to Ghost for my blog.

Sunday Read

Sunday Read No. 6: Mija, Apple's new Ads, and Meta's new COO

Welcome to the 6th edition of the Sunday Read. This week we're talking about Mija, Apple's new Ads, and Meta's new COO.

Food

How long should lunch and dinner be?

As we venture into the later part of Summer, I've been thinking about how long lunch and dinner should be.

Sunday Read

Sunday Read No. 5: Monkeypox, Photos from Norway, and Boxed Water

Welcome to the 5th edition of the Sunday Read. We'll be covering Monkeypox, photos from Norway, and Boxed Water this week.

Sunday Read

Sunday Read No. 4: Heat waves, Inflation, Thor

Welcome to the fourth edition of the Sunday Read. In this week's Sunday Read, we'll cover the heat wave in Europe, inflation, and Thor: Love and Thunder.

Sunday Read

Sunday Read No. 3: Insulin, Wimbledon, and Barrys

We’re back with my third edition of the Sunday Read. I hope you had a wonderful weekend and enjoy this post.

Sunday Read

Sunday Read No. 2: Pride Month, Roe v Wade, Colombia's President, Crypto Margin Calls

I’m continuing a Sunday Read series. I hope you enjoy this new format.

Travel

The little Embraer airplane that could

A little Embraer airplane has been a consistent friend as I travel between Northern and Southern California.

Transportation Featured

Adding a bus lane to the Bay Bridge? Why it's needed

Adding a Bus Lane on the Bay Bridge would be an easy way to alleviate congestion on the Bay Bridge.

Wordpress

Why I don't use Substack or Medium to publish my writing

I don’t use Substack or Medium to publish my writing. This website uses a self-hosted version of WordPress. After a few friends recently asked me, I decided to write this article to explain why.