Isabel Rafferty Zavala is the Founder and CEO of Canela Media, a leading digital media tech company that gives brands the tools they need to effectively connect with multicultural audiences through multiple touchpoints, including its highly successful free-to-stream platform Canela.TV. Under her leadership, Canela Media became one of the top Hispanic media companies in its first year of operation. Canela.TV is the first AVOD streaming service built exclusively for Latinos by Latinos and currently has over 28 million users. In 2022, Zavala was named a national entrepreneur of the year New York by 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. Zavala was also named a top female founder by Inc. Magazine.

Prior to starting Canela Media, Zavala founded Mobvious, a company dedicated to reaching U.S. Hispanic and African-American audiences via mobile advertising.