Isabel Rafferty Zavala is a digital marketing pioneer. She is the Founder and CEO of Canela Media, a leading technology and innovation driven media company offering brands a complete ecosystem to connect with Latino audiences starting with its free streaming platform service Canela.TV, enriching the new generation of Latinos in the U.S. and Latin America with free access to culturally relevant content both on VOD and Live Channels. Prior to starting Canela Media, Isabel founded Mobvious, a company dedicated to reaching U.S. Hispanic and African American audiences via mobile advertising. Under Isabel’s leadership, Mobvious quickly became the largest Hispanic-focused ad network, as ranked by Comscore, before being acquired by PRISA in 2017.
 
Isabel is one of the few Latinas to successfully secure VC funding for her company, with tremendous support from women-led funds. She closed an oversubscribed $32 million Series A to significantly grow the company as its popularity soared in 2022. In 2022, Isabel was given a National Entrepreneur of the Year Award from E&Y, an honoree for the Top Women in Media and AdTech from Admonsters and AdExchanger, 40 under 40 from NYC TV Week and a Top Women in Media from Cynopsis. She was also named a Notable Hispanic Leader by Crain’s New York Business and one of the Top 100 Female Leaders by Entrepreneur Magazine. In 2023, Canela Media was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies. Isabel was also named a Top Female Founder by Inc. Magazine. Additionally, in 2024, she was selected for the second year in a row as one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Mexico by Forbes Mexico, honoree as Top Women in Tech by Admonsters and AdExchanger and Canela Media made the 2024 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America.
 
From its inception, Canela Media quickly became one of the top Hispanic media companies within its first year of operation under Isabel’s leadership.  Canela.TV was launched in May 2020, becoming the first AVOD streaming service built exclusively for Latinos by Latinos, offering culturally relevant content. Canela Media currently reaches over 55 million monthly users globally and continues to grow as it gains popularity in the U.S and Latin America.
 
Isabel is dedicated to giving back to her community through various impactful initiatives. She is committed to supporting Father Joe’s Villages in San Diego, which helps to end homelessness and California State University at San Marcos to help create opportunities for young Hispanic students and their academic success. As part of its mission, Canela Media features new and emerging Latino talent and content creators in its original content to foster authenticity and representation across all its content verticals.