50 Most Influential Latinos

Samantha Ramirez Herrera

CEO & Founder

OffThaRecord Inc

Samantha “Sam” Ramirez-Herrera is an entrepreneur, public speaker, Emmy Award winning storyteller, creative director, and passionate activist. While she wears many hats, at her core, Sam is a storyteller.

Storytelling is the heartbeat of her company, OffThaRecord.com (OTR), a creative content agency headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. At OTR, Sam has built a network of creative multicultural millennials who use their talents and technology to tell raw, uncensored and authentic stories to uplift marginalized communities and work with purpose-driven brands, nonprofits and change-makers.

Sam’s unorthodox path to becoming a digital media maverick is rooted in her own story of drive and determination. She was almost 7 years old when her parents decided to move the family from Mexico City to the United States, seeking a better life. As an undocumented immigrant, she grew up in the shadows, working hard to get ahead while at the same time fearing the possibility of discovery and deportation. After graduating high school, she waited tables and worked other jobs to make ends meet before becoming a DREAMer, thanks to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Through her work at OTR, Sam addresses topics she is passionate about, including feminism, economic justice, immigration, reproductive justice, LGBTQ rights, and mental health in communities of color. She is proud that, in its relatively short time, OTR has grown enough to employ staff and pay creative professionals in its network to produce original work for its clients, which are among the nation’s most influential brands and organizations.

As an extension of work at OTR, Sam, shares her expertise in communicating with Latin and Hispanic audiences and multicultural millennials. She has become a highly sought-after speaker on college campuses and at conferences addressing the issues of immigration, gender equality, sexual orientation and identity, culture and ethnicity, and diversity and inclusion.As a proud, Mexican-born DREAMer, she is also a vocal advocate of U.S. immigration reform.

In 2018 Sam played a lead role as “Elena” in the Latinx web series “Pinkslipped”. She was named a 2018 scholar at The Aspen Institute and at HATCH Experience North America. She currently serves on the board of The Latino Community Fund Georgia. Sam has appeared on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews and written up in Forbes, Mundo Hispanico, The Washington Post, Atlanta Business Chronicles, BITCH Magazine, The Collegian, Remezcla and more.