While some only dream, others turn the adversities and limitations they grew up with into the engine that drives them forward. Scarlen Martinez is one of them. The young Dominican who arrived in the South Bronx at the age of six today owns her own company, through which she works with international athletes from the United States National Football League (NFL), teaching them to adapt to the American professional system, understand the culture and use their visibility in a positive way.
From that same platform, his company works to bring, for the first time, Troy Vincent and other high-level NFL executives to the Dominican Republic this year, accompanied by the Dominican player Byron Matosfor the realization of a camp flag football. It would be the first official visit to the country by an executive of that rank within the league.
During the Super Bowl which will be held this Sunday, Martínez prepare an event in which they will recognize several Dominicans linked to the sports world in the United States.
Scarletn, who currently resides in Washington, D.C.emigrated to the United States with her mother and grandmother, two women who forever marked her way of seeing the world: with pride, a vocation for service and a non-negotiable identity.
Conversations with athletes and executives from the sports world are part of his daily life. From Maven Strategy GroupMartínez promotes sports as a tool for social impact, just as it was for her during her childhood, when her family—a Yankee fan—gathered to enjoy baseball.
“I have always liked Dominican sports; you grow up with baseball in your blood. I remember many nights and weekends sitting in the living room with my grandmother and my mother. They were loyal to the Yankees. “I always saw how sports were a way for my family to get together and participate in the community,” Martínez said when explaining his motivation to build a company linked to sports.
Maven operates at the intersection of athlete development, community engagement and global sports diplomacycollaborating with NFL teams, athletes, brands and institutions both in the United States and internationally.
A path of improvement
At age 14, Martínez left the Bronx to enter a boarding school, where she was the only Dominican, surrounded by mostly white students. The culture shock was strong, but she came prepared: his grandmother had taught him not to shrink and always walk with your head held high. That experience marked her and reinforced a conviction that accompanies her to this day: identity cannot be explained, it is lived.
When she gave birth to her daughter at 18part of his environment thought that this would be the end of his academic life. However, far from stopping, motherhood became an impetus to keep going.
“They told me that with a girl I couldn’t, that I would have to withdraw from the university. “I told my grandmother that no, I wasn’t going to be another statistic, and I never missed a semester,” she recalled.
Scarletn earned a bachelor’s degree in Communications y Español in Manhattan College and later a master’s degree in Educational Policy y Organizational Leadership in American University.
Your professional path always was linked to education and community worksupporting young immigrants from different Latin American countries. Over time, their work expanded to nonprofit organizations that used sports as a tool to reduce racial tensions and build bridges between historically divided communities in the United States.
“Along the way I met many Dominicans and made many friends. Many times they told me about problems they had in their organizations, or athletes told me things they wanted to do, but didn’t know how to start. “I, innocently, gave them ideas,” he said.
Without realizing it, he was already doing what would later become his company and his life purpose. Athletes and sports executives They came to her for guidance to generate social impact, connect with vulnerable communities and use their platforms beyond sports.
“I always saw how sports were a way for my family to come together and participate in the community”Dominican, founder of Maven Strategy Group in Washington DC
“There came a point where the athletes told me: ‘What do I pay you for you to solve this for me??’, and that was the first time I understood that I could generate income from my suggestions,” he explained.
The road was not without obstacles. As a Latina woman in a male-dominated environment, she faced episodes of discrimination who tried to minimize their work and their value. Far from giving up, decided to create his own space.
The NFL and the Super Bowl
At the moment, Scarlen Martinez works with the NFL as a consultant on international athlete programs, helping players from different countries adapt to the American professional system, understand the culture and use their visibility in a positive way, but she has also done similar work for the Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association.
He has collaborated with more than 10 league teams and more than 20 athletes, including the Dominican Byron Matos, becoming a bridge between education and sports.
This year, within the framework of Super Bowlleads initiatives focused on education, empowerment and Latino representation, including an award that will recognize several outstanding Dominicans in the sports field in the United States.
Additionally, he works on projects sports diplomacy that will allow us to soon bring to the Dominican Republic the first NFL Flag Football Campalong with Byron Matos, marking a milestone for Dominican youth and opening opportunities especially for girls and women. The event will be from March 19 to 21 of this year.
The visit of high-level NFL executives to the country will serve to reinforce the potential of the Dominican Republic on the international sports map and consolidates the impact of a Dominican who decided not only to go far, but to pave the way for others.
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