From opening night to the final toast, Velocity 2026 makes room to gather, connect and celebrate.
Opening Celebration: Velocity Starts with the Energy of Los Angeles
Wednesday October 7 | 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM | West Rd. (outside Gold Foyer)
Step outside and into an opening night filled with music, food, creators, entrepreneurs and the unmistakable pulse of L.A.
The Velocity Opening Celebration brings together local businesses, artists, makers and cultural experiences for a night designed to get people moving, talking, discovering and connecting from the moment they arrive.
This is not a standard conference reception.
This is where Velocity comes to life.
Live Music. L.A. Energy
Start the night with a live performance by NEZZA, followed by music from VAGÓ, setting the tone for an evening of movement, discovery and connection. Experience the energy of Los Angeles while meeting the people you’ll be learning, building and doing business with throughout Velocity.
Eat. Connect. Discover.
Grab something to eat, move through the activations and meet the founders, creators, executives and fellow attendees around you. The Opening Celebration is designed to make networking feel less like networking and more like being part of a great night in Los Angeles.
Discover The Makers
Explore activations from local Latino-owned businesses, entrepreneurs and creators bringing their products, ideas and stories into the Velocity experience. Meet the people behind the brands, discover something new and see how culture, creativity and entrepreneurship come together in Los Angeles.
Experience Dos Mundos
Step into a fragrance experience from Dos Mundos, one of the L.A.-based brands featured throughout the evening.
Discover the brand, explore its fragrances and meet the entrepreneurs behind the
experience.
Make It Your Own
Watch an artist create custom airbrushed Velocity totes live, turning each piece into something unique to take home from opening night.
It is part art, part experience and part reminder that Velocity is designed to be participated in, not simply watched.
Business.
Culture.
Creativity.
Connection.
The Opening Celebration is the first taste of what Velocity is about.
Over the next three days, conversations will move from AI, ownership and capital to fashion, beauty, creators, marketing and culture. Opening night brings all of those worlds together in one place.
Come for the music.
Discover the makers.
Meet the entrepreneurs.
Experience L.A.
One Night.
250 Years of Impact.
Made en América: American Latino 250 Gala
Velocity 2026 culminates with Made en América: American Latino 250 Gala, a star-studded evening celebrating 250 years of Latino contributions to America and the leaders, artists, innovators and changemakers continuing to shape what comes next.
For generations, Latinos have helped build America through business, public service, entrepreneurship, innovation, entertainment, the arts and community leadership.
As the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, Made en América brings those contributions to the center of the American story.
This is an evening to honor the past, recognize the leaders creating impact today and celebrate the people helping define America’s economic, cultural and civic future.
October 9, 2026 | 8:00 PM–10:00 PM | Platinum Ballroom
Honoring a Lifetime of Impact
Edward James Olmos will receive the Velocity Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing a career defined not only by extraordinary work in film and television, but by decades of advocacy, leadership and commitment to the Latino community.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Edward James Olmos | Actor, Producer and Humanitarian
Recognizing Leadership and Public Service
Velocity will recognize two leaders whose careers have helped shape Latino representation and leadership at the highest levels of American public life. Their careers reflect a larger story the Gala is designed to tell: Latino leadership has long been part of the American story and continues to influence where the country goes next.
Henry Cisneros | Former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and former Mayor of San Antonio
Ken Salazar |Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, U.S. Secretary of the Interior and U.S. Senator from Colorado
Special Remarks
The evening will also feature special remarks from Wilmer Valderrama and Jay Hernandez, adding voices from entertainment and culture to a night centered on impact, representation and what comes next.
Wilmer Valderrama | Actor, Producer and Activist
Jay Hernandez | Actor and Producer
A Special Musical Performance by Sheila E.
Music is part of the celebration.
Guests will experience a special musical performance by Sheila E., bringing one of the evening’s biggest cultural moments to the Velocity stage.
Sheila E. | Musician and Performer
Business. Culture. History. The Future.
The Made en América Gala closes Velocity by bringing together the worlds that define the event itself: business, culture, leadership, creativity and economic influence.
After three days of conversations about AI, ownership, capital, marketing, entrepreneurship, creators, fashion and culture, the Gala brings the larger story into focus.
Latino contributions are not separate from the American story.
They are part of how America was built, how it succeeds today and how its future is being shaped.