Our Company History

Beginnings: Curiosity and Storytelling

Jessica Bolaños and Nelson Vanegas both grew up fascinated by their educational experiences in and around Houston.

Jessica’s childhood was filled with books and stories that ignited her imagination. She became a published poet before she was a teenager and was among the first to have a home computer, where she spent a lot of her free time on early emerging social networks. She briefly studied psychology in college before taking a break to travel as an independent contractor for national marketing agencies, representing Fortune 100 and 500 brands during product launches and promotions. She would later go back to school and graduate from the Wolff Center (WCE) at UH, the #1-ranked entrepreneurship program in the U.S.

Nelson had a passion for music, science, and technology. As a teenager, he hacked his computer hardware and played with the newest software, recording his musician friends and later playing in an 8-piece Latin rock fusion band. He studied mass media production in the communications college at UH and minored in marketing. He interned at a local radio station before settling into a decade-long role as Creative Production Director at Univision in Houston. These combinations of creative and technical skills would later become Goodspero’s foundation.

Early Experiments

In 2007, Nelson partnered with an investor from Vietnam to open a music recording studio in Alief, and Jessica led the digital and social media marketing. They began helping friends and local artists record music and audio commercials, and produced small documentary-style videos on nights and weekends. They improvised with handheld cameras and editing software on personal desktop computers, learning by doing.

One early project, a short event recap video for the Down Syndrome Association of Houston’s Buddy Walk, showed them how a well‑crafted story could drive donations and volunteer sign‑ups. Word spread, and soon they were fielding requests from businesses and organizations seeking to raise awareness for their brands and causes, ranging from entrepreneur accelerator demo days to nonprofits.

Formalizing the Vision

By 2009 they decided to turn their side projects into a business. They named the company EE Media. In 2012, when Jessica went back to school to learn how to better operate and grow their business as CEO, WCE led them through a holistic “Personal Purpose Process,” which led to deciding to start over with a foundation built on purpose, and Goodspero was born. Pairing “good” with “spero” (“hope” in Latin) to reflect what drives us: partnering with people and organizations who are doing good, and helping them move their mission forward with hope and purpose.

Nelson and Jessica’s partnership brought complementary strengths: Jessica oversaw business development, narrative strategy, and social media marketing, while Nelson led production, post‑production, and teams. Nelson brought long-term vision and kept up to date on the future of tech, while Jessica brought spontaneity and beta exploration of new digital tools. And together, they made strategic decisions and managed client relationships. They invested in better equipment and developed a repeatable process for pre‑production, filming, and editing that focused on authenticity and emotional resonance on and off screen.

Aligning Profit and Purpose

Early on, they made a conscious decision to work primarily with impact‑driven organizations. Although many hear the word impact and think of nonprofit organizations, for‑profit businesses also make a huge impact in communities, and small businesses are a driving force in the U.S. economy.

Still, Jessica and Nelson were inspired by Patagonia’s example of prioritizing environmental and social values over easy profit, and these values continue to inform decisions on who and which initiatives to work with. Goodspero kept its team small, reinvesting revenue into training and equipment, and offering workshops to help clients and communities build internal capacity and professional development skills in the latest tech and digital tools.

Scaling Through Innovation

As digital platforms and tech evolved, Goodspero recognized the need to offer more than traditional one‑off productions. Inspired by their business coach at The Futur, and like-minded creative entrepreneurs, Jessica and Nelson invested in research and productizing services, experimenting with subscription‑based video and social media content packages and remote production services. She and Nelson developed templates and workflows to deliver regular social media content, capital campaign videos, and documentary shorts at a predictable monthly rate. This approach gave clients the ability to tell ongoing stories to stay visible with a consistent online presence.

A Commitment to Learning and Community

Throughout Goodspero’s journey, Jessica and Nelson remain committed to learning: attending masterclasses, reading books, and keeping up with generative AI innovations. They share this knowledge through free and paid workshops, teaching other teams and professionals how to use video, AI, and other tools to enhance fundraising and build community. Our company fosters a collaborative culture, working with freelance creatives who share our values and mentoring young creatives and filmmakers.

Looking Ahead

Today, Goodspero serves clients mostly in the Greater Houston area, and we’re expanding remote offerings with the development of digital products, courses, and subscription services. Our guiding principles remain the same as when we started: crafting stories that inspire action, supporting organizations that make a positive impact, and building partnerships that prosper by doing good in the world.

This is the work we live for.
We're glad you're here.

We look forward to sharing this journey with you, online and in person.

Connect with us: @Goodspero
We're a local small business based in Houston, TX, y'all. 🤘🏼

Jessica Bolaños 🇨🇴🇺🇸
Co-Founder/CEO | Director of Digital & Impact

Leads business development, strategic partnerships, advocacy, and digital media.

Born in Houston and raised in Friendswood, Texas, Jessica’s family came to the U.S. from Colombia in the 70s shortly before she and her brother were born. An entrepreneur by nature, in kindergarten, Jess designed and sold nail polish art to kids in her neighborhood, painting on their hands for 5-10 cents per color.

In grade school, she started working with agencies to book commercial advertisement gigs and by 18-21 was a brand ambassador for local and national marketing agencies representing brands like L'Oreal, Icebreaker Mints, Tyson Foods, and Dodge/Chrysler during new product launches. She enjoyed a 5-year stint in the music/entertainment industry as a touring freestyle hip-hop dancer, sold cosmetics with Lizzo at Dillard's, and other adventures last seen on MySpace.

Jess graduated from the #1 ranked undergraduate entrepreneurship program in the U.S., the Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship, in the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, with a degree in Entrepreneurship, where she co-founded Goodspero. She can often be found reading a business book on an epic road trip with Nelson, zenfully gripping bear spray while hiking national parks, and supporting used bookstores across the globe.

Nelson Vanegas 🇸🇻🇺🇸
Co-Founder/COO | Director of Ops & Video Strategist

Leads innovation, art direction, video production, and live streaming.

At the age of one, Nelson’s family brought him to the U.S. to escape the war in El Salvador in the early 80s. They made Texas their new home. He grew up in Alief, a culturally rich area in Houston. Surrounded by the art of so many cultures inspired him to start businesses around video and music including a recording studio.

He graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in Communications and Media Production. During college Nelson was introduced to the radio industry and worked his way up to Creative & Production Director at Univision Radio Houston, producing commercials in English and Spanish and helping develop video strategies for radio clusters when companies started going digital.

In 2007 he met Jessica at the radio station. The two started recording commercials together and soon after partnered to launch their own businesses. Nelson realized they shared strong core values and co-founded Goodspero with Jess to create a business that makes the best use of their skills while fulfilling their passion to create content with impact, teaching others to do the same.

You can usually find Nelson on his mountain bike, exploring new cities with Jess, and sitting on boards and advisory committees doing impactful work with multicultural communities.

Jessica Bolaños 🇨🇴🇺🇸
Co-Founder/CEO | Director of Digital & Impact

Leads business development, strategic partnerships, advocacy, and digital.

Born in Houston and raised in Friendswood, Texas, Jessica’s family came to the U.S. from Colombia in the 70s shortly before she and her brother were born.

An entrepreneur by nature, in kindergarten, Jess designed and sold nail polish art to kids in her neighborhood, painting on their hands for 5-10 cents per color.

In grade school, she started working with agencies to book commercial advertisement gigs and by 18 was a brand ambassador for local and national marketing agencies representing brands like L'Oreal, Icebreaker Mints, Tyson Foods, and Dodge/Chrysler, during new product launches.

She enjoyed a 5-year stint in the music/entertainment industry as a touring freestyle hip-hop dancer, sold cosmetics with Lizzo at Dillard's, and other adventures last seen on MySpace.

Jess graduated from the #1 ranked ujndergraduate entrepreneurship program in the U.S., the Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship in the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, with a degree in Entrepreneurship, where she co-founded Goodspero.

She can often be found reading a business book on an epic road trip with Nelson, zenfully gripping bear spray while hiking national parks, and supporting used bookstores across the globe.

Nelson Vanegas 🇸🇻🇺🇸
Co-Founder/COO | Director of Ops & Video Strategist

Leads innovation, art direction, video production, and live streaming.

At the age of one, Nelson’s family brought him to the US to escape the war in El Salvador in the early 80s. They settled in Texas. He grew up in Alief, a culturally rich area in Houston. Surrounded by the art of so many cultures inspired him to start multiple side gigs around video and music, including a recording studio.

He went on to graduate from the University of Houston with a degree in Communications and Media Production. During college, Nelson was introduced to the radio industry and worked his way up to Creative & Production Director at Univision Radio Houston, producing commercials in English and Spanish and helping develop video strategies for radio clusters.

In 2007, he met Jessica at the radio station. The two started recording commercials together and soon after partnered to launch their own businesses. Nelson realized they shared strong core values and co-founded Goodspero with Jess to create a business that makes the best use of their skills and fulfills their need to create content that matters and teaches others to do the same.

You can usually find Nelson on his mountain bike, exploring new cities with Jess, and sitting on boards and advisory committees of non-profits doing impactful work with multicultural communities.

partners

Click images for bios.

We’re a multicultural-owned and majority woman-owned video + digital media agency.

Our network of creative partners brings lived experience and cultural insight to shape every project. Grounded, relevant, and reflective of the communities we serve.

Expanding access to opportunity.

When you work with us, you invest in expanding access to creative and entrepreneurial opportunities for multicultural voices as diverse as Houston.

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