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Wage theft robs workers of economic mobility and dignity

The resilience and ingenuity of Hispanic and Latino communities are essential to shaping the future of the American workforce
This powerful documentary reveals the harsh realities of labor exploitation in the Los Angeles Hispanic and Latino communities and the vigorous efforts of community organizations to advocate for workers' rights.
Director: Alejandro Ravazzola
Producer: Fernanda Sancho, Ilan Numhauser, Sofia Bonavia, Valentina Nuñez, Gabriela Gonzalez, Alejandro Ravazzola, Melissa Panzer, Stephanie Tobey, Mike Zunic
Cinematographer: Jorge Sebastian Dietsch
Editor: Elías Saez, Tomás Elizondo, Tomás Morrison
Executive Producer: Art Bilger, Joan Lynch, Melissa Panzer, Carlos Enrique Cuscó, Ari Taboada

The True Cost of a Car Wash sheds light on the hidden and harsh realities faced by Hispanic and Latino workers in the car wash industry, where wage theft is a pervasive issue. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, workers in Los Angeles County are cheated out of a staggering $26 to $28 million every week due to wage theft. This powerful documentary uncovers how these hardworking individuals are denied their rightful earnings, exposing a crisis that many are unaware of.

As we observe Hispanic Heritage Month 2024 with the theme Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together, this first episode of the series Hispanic Communities: Powering a New American Economy urges us to confront the systemic injustices affecting vulnerable communities.

By bringing these stories to the forefront, The True Cost of a Car Wash not only highlights the struggles of these workers but also serves as a call to action for justice and fairness. The episode underscores how the resilience and ingenuity of Hispanic and Latino communities are essential to shaping the future of the American workforce and driving economic growth.

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Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.