Each year, September 15th through October 15th is designated as National Hispanic and LatinX Heritage Month. This month-long observance recognizes and celebrates the histories, cultures, and contributions of Hispanic and LatinX Americans past and present.

It was during this month that a listener of this podcast Becky reached out to me to ask if I would cover the topic of networking and advocacy specifically within the LatinX and Hispanic community. 

Listen in as I talk with listener Becky Aquino about her journey as a Latina in corporate America, her experiences networking and the importance of having advocates for the LatinX and Hispanic community. 

Drink of the week: PASIÓN MADRAS

If you liked what you heard today, please leave a review and subscribe to the podcast. Also, please remember to share the podcast to help it reach a larger audience.

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Each year.

September 15th through October 15th is designated as national,

Hispanic, and Latin X heritage month.

This month, long gum servants recognizes and celebrates the histories, cultures,

and contributions of the Hispanic and Latin X Americans past and present.

It was during this month that a listener of the podcast, Becky reached out to

me to ask if I would cover the topic of networking specifically within

the Latin X and Hispanic community.

Welcome to episode one 18 of this shit works a podcast dedicated to

all things, networking, relationship building and business development.

I'm your host, Julie Brown professional speaker.

Author.

And networking coach.

And today I am discussing networking and advocacy within the Latin

X and Hispanic communities.

I was nervous to cover this topic.

A hundred percent transparency.

I had been asked to cover this topic once before.

But that was back when I had first started the podcast.

Ah, at that time, I wasn't prepared to create an episode around the subject.

When Becky reached out to me, I asked her if she would help me, if

she would guide me in my research.

She provided me with articles and studies.

And we ended up talking for about an hour about her experience being

a Latina in corporate America.

Now.

The amount of research.

And the time I spent talking with Becky didn't make me an expert, but it did

offer me information and insights that I am now comfortable sharing with you.

As I continue to learn more about this subject.

She mentioned that when considering the Latin X struggles in business, we

need to think about the stereotypes.

People's concepts of Latinas and Latinos in the United States.

Predominantly that they all come from the same background.

She went on to tell me that every country has its own culture in distinction.

There are approximately 62 million people of Latin X or Hispanic origin in America.

And yet we put all these people.

With complex identities under a single umbrella.

This has its roots in the census taking almost a hundred years ago.

The pew research center reports that in the 1930s, Latinos living in the United

States, regardless of their place of birth or family of origin were noted as Mexican.

By door to door, us census bureau counters.

It wasn't until 1970 that the agency began asking Latinos living in the United

States to self identify as either Mexican.

Puerto Rican.

Cuban central or south American other Spanish or no, none of these.

As of 2020, the Hispanic and Latin X population in the United

States is almost 20% of the population of the entire country.

And yet.

Uh, Latino corporate directors association, recent study shows 65%

of 2022 fortune 100 companies lack a single Latin X director on their board.

And just a fraction of the small number of these board seats are held by Latinas.

This might help explain why in America today, Hispanic women must work 22 months

to equal the 12 month salary of white men.

A recent Forbes article highlighted the fact that despite making

up 17% of the us workforce.

Uh, Hispanic Americans currently hold just 4% of executive roles in 6.5% of

stem related roles in the United States.

This might help explain why.

According to McKinsey, 50% of black and Latino scientists are routinely mistaken

for janitorial or administrative staff.

We can do better than this.

Uh, we know that when we see people that look like us in positions of power and

authority, we begin to believe that we can also inhabit those high profile positions.

We not only need comfortable and welcoming networking opportunities for

the Latin X and Hispanic community, but we also need mentors and advocates

for the Latin X and Hispanic community.

I want to share an excerpt from my conversation with

Becky in regards to this topic.

when I was looking at my goals for 2022.

There were two things that were really, resonating constantly.

I wanna do things that were centered around women issues.

And then the other one was about background of being Hispanic.

And, luckily enough I think I've been able to accomplish both

and so one of the avenues that I got to work on the women's

part was through provisors.

So now I'm part the executive committee of the Women's Affinity

Group for the DC chapter.

And it's been really an amazing experience because now I get to connect with so

many different women and it's to learn from their experiences and to help and

lift each other up has been amazing.

But when I still look around, I am the only Latina in my group.

That's the one thing that really has struck me the most, and as I

have reflected on my past and my journey, I have had many mentors.

None of them have been Hispanic females, and they have only been . Either

white females or, people that are not really representing me necessarily.

But then they have been great mentors.

And one of the conversations that I was having earlier with somebody else

was about the big difference between having a mentor and having an advocate.

And it really didn't hit me until I had that conversation of the big difference

so you could have tons of mentors and which are really important to have in

your life and in your professional career.

But the advocate is just as important as the mentor , I had

many mentors that have helped me.

Polish myself professionally, and become a better person,

a better version of myself.

But the advocate is the one person that will go out of their way, even

when you're not there to say, you need to give her a chance or you need

to give this person an opportunity.

And that's where I feel that perhaps that's missing.

And that's one of the things that I want at least to see if there's

an opportunity to bring that to, to a podcast, because I think.

Latinas are underrepresented in so many different ways,

The definition of an advocate is a person who

publicly supports or recommends.

It doesn't matter who you are, or what background you come from?

We all have the ability to be advocates and we all have the ability to create

networking events that are open and welcoming to the Latin X and Hispanic

A recent article in WGBH highlighted how isolating being in an immigrant

can be even, and especially if you are in a professional work setting,

the article highlighted Mexican immigrant named Carl Palmer, who said,

I don't have any school buddies here.

I don't have any kids that I went to primary school with.

I don't know their parents.

I don't have these networks where people can just trust me.

I asked Becky about her experience, moving to the United States from

Puerto Rico in her twenties.

in these days, because you have so many different types of backgrounds,

you have Latinos that have been born and raised in the states that really don't

even feel like they're fully Latinos.

They feel like more American than then they feel Latinos

because they've grown up here.

They, established roots here.

So they feel more American than they do.

So in my case it's a bit different because I was born and

raised, in a Hispanic country.

So now I've been planted here and I consider the US my home, but I

still have a lot of things that really define me because of where I grew up.

Becky went on to discuss how varied Hispanic culture is, but also

how it serves as a thread to connect with others within the community.

There are a lot of misconceptions, about what Latinos

are, about how we do things.

There are so many different misconceptions about Latinos in general

just to begin with, because there are tons of countries with different

cultures, different backgrounds.

And so there are many misconceptions depending on where you grew up,

what your background is, and.

It's funny that the one thing that at least within Hispanics, we have learned

to come together is just the fact that we feel like, we're one bubble.

So we find each other just to connect because we feel like at least there's

somebody that understands me, even though we are different in so many different

levels, so it's interesting to see that even within the Latino community,

there's so many things that make us different, but still finer way to connect.

And if that, if we can do that within, the Hispanic community,

why not do it in general?

So why not do it in general?

Well, That's where we come in.

By providing and creating welcoming events by mentoring and advocating by

looking at the makeup of our boards and committees and asking ourselves

if there is Hispanic representation.

By encouraging people to network with diverse groups of people to

understand that meeting somewhere where they are at, maybe admitting

that you have a lot to learn.

I don't know all the answers and I'm just beginning to learn about this subject, but

as Becky reminded me, I have the platform.

So I also have the responsibility to shine a light on things

that need to be discussed.

I want to thank Becky for reaching out to me, for helping

me learn for sharing her story.

And happy to report that Becky has been asked to join a board in DC.

She's literally becoming the change that she wants to He or she discusses how

she went from looking for representation to becoming the representation.

And what's interesting is my conversation with this person, when she

brought it up, I was telling her how, when I was looking at for compositions,

I always try to look for the person that would be able to represent me.

And her reply back just hit me.

It hit me like a brick wall.

She said, Why not

and I, I had never thought about it, honestly.

It was just one of those moments where I'm just like, speechless.

And I went gaga

Again, I could not have created this episode without guidance

from Becky and I want to thank her.

I asked Becky if she would share her favorite cocktail with

us for the drink of the week.

As I mentioned, Becky's from Puerto Rico, which is also where Don Q rum is produced.

And is her favorite?

So she shared a drink with us called Passy Madras.

Here's what you're going to need one and a half ounces of Don Q Passy on rum.

So this is a passion fruit from.

One and a half ounces of orange juice, four ounces of cranberry juice

and one orange slice for garnish.

What you're going to do is you're going to mix all ingredients and serve on ice and

then garnish with that slice of orange.

That's all for this week.

I'm so glad that you were here.

And I'm so glad that I have listeners like Becky.

To remind me that I have a platform and who pushed me to cover topics

that I might otherwise have missed.

If you like what you heard today, please leave a review

and subscribe to the podcast.

Also, please remember to share the podcast to help it reach a larger audience.

And until next week.