By Riley Kaminer
It’s not every day you meet someone who pivoted from no coding experience to founding a cutting-edge cloud infrastructure company. But Hitomi Mizugaki, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Cuemby, did just that, transforming a chance introduction to coding into a flourishing career.
“One day, I realized that everything is run by computers, but I didn’t know anything about them,” Mizugaki told Refresh Miami. That realization led her to take a leap of faith, diving into programming and eventually landing her first software job – interviewed by none other than her future co-founder, Angel Ramirez.
Mizugaki’s tech journey began with a decision to attend the second ever cohort of Ironhack, a Miami-based coding bootcamp.
“They really cared about us and connected us with the community,” she said, adding that the program helped her secure her first tech role, which paved the way for the launch of Cuemby. This foundation of community-driven support is a thread that continues to run through her work.
Cuemby began as a software development agency specializing in DevOps and infrastructure projects. But after working on over 100 technical due diligence projects for private equity firms, Mizugaki and her co-founders – CEO Ramirez and COO Christer Castro – noticed a recurring issue. “Every company faced similar challenges with scalability, reliability, and security,” she explained. The team decided to channel their expertise into building a product that automates the solutions to these common problems.
Bootstrapped from the start, Cuemby has launched two core products aimed at making cloud infrastructure more accessible and cost-efficient. Their platform-as-a-service allows businesses to deploy scalable software across public or private cloud environments in minutes. Another offering enables companies to monetize excess computing capacity by creating their own cloud marketplaces.
As a bilingual company with strong ties to Latin America, Cuemby has played a pivotal role in building cloud-native communities in the region. Castro, in particular, has spearheaded these efforts, organizing major events like the first Kubernetes Day in Colombia.
“There weren’t many cloud-native technology communities in Latin America, so we built one from the ground up,” Mizugaki said. For Cuemby, this commitment to community is strategic as much as it is personal. “Our goal is to eventually make parts of our software open source, and a strong community is essential for that to thrive.”
Cuemby’s South Florida roots have also been integral to its success. “South Florida is a hub that connects the U.S., Europe, and South America,” Mizugaki said. “This access to diverse networks and communities made it easier for us to kickstart our business and expand into Latin America.”
As Cuemby looks ahead, the focus is squarely on scaling. The company is incorporating AI into its platform to further enhance productivity and ease of use. “AI has the potential to automate manual processes and significantly boost efficiency,” Mizugaki noted. While product development remains a priority, Cuemby is now channeling much of its energy into converting relationships into revenue.
Mizugaki, who is a minority and female founder, is acutely aware of the challenges that come with navigating a male-dominated tech industry. “When we walk into certain meetings, we don’t always get the same level of attention as others,” she shared. “But this is the reality. It doesn’t bother me. I just focus on what I can control.”
Pictured at top of post: Cuemby co-founders, left to right, Christer Castro (COO), Hitomi Mizugaki (CPO), Angel Ramirez (CEO).
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