Conexiones y cultura: Celebrating Latinx Heritage Month at Asana
Latinx Heritage Month happens every year from September 15 to October 15 in the US. And while we celebrate and uplift the Latinx community throughout the year, this month-long occasion provides the perfect opportunity to reflect on the collective progress that we’ve made while at the same time honing in on what’s next.
At Asana, we dedicated the month to showcasing members of the Latinx diaspora and to creating community within our internal and external circles. From a special salsa making class, to a Latinx-themed movie night for all our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), and more, here’s a glimpse of how it went down.
Putting our #TeamAsana Latinx community members front and center
To kick off the festivities, our EMEA Marketing & Localization Lead Margarita Rojas participated in the inaugural Latinas in Tech London chapter event on September 15th where she discussed her career journey and shared learnings from her recent transition moving from the Bay Area to Europe. This was a special event since it officially launched the London chapter of Latinas in Tech, the largest network of Latina women working across the tech sector. Margarita’s career story inspires us to dream big and to not be afraid of taking big career leaps of faith.
To give people a glimpse of the Latinx experience, throughout the month we spotlighted #Latinx members of Team Asana on our social channels, the Asana blog, and we even collaborated with publications like Built In to feature our teammates. We absolutely loved hearing stories about what inspires them, how they use their access to uplift others, and their tips for succeeding in the workplace.
Celebrating our cultural diversity through food, traditions, and success stories
Gradient, our employee resource group for people of color, planned a delightful month full of activities that all of our teammates could take part in. I personally loved the Real Talk discussion on inclusive terminology where we dug deep into the origins and meaning of words like Hispanic, Latinx, and Latino/a. It truly was a learning moment for all, and I feel super grateful that we’re able to have these important discussions in the workplace with our peers.
Allyship is a core focus of all of our ERGs, so it was great to bring all three of our ERGs together to host a Latinx-themed virtual movie night where we watched films inspired by the Latinx experience. In addition, we featured different notable Latinx icons in our internal channels to help educate and inspire our employees. It was fun to learn about people like Guillermo Gonzales Camerena, the inventor of the color television and Lupe Hernandez, the inventor of hand sanitizer.
Another super fun activity was our DIY Salsa Making Class hosted by Asana Culinary, our awesome in-house culinary team. In this interactive class we learned how to make three different types of salsas from different regions of Latin America. They varied in heat level, but all carried the common thread of traditions passed down from generation to generation. Our Culinary team also hosts a Cook Off challenge each month, and for this month they partnered with our internal Latinx Community to add a Latin twist to the challenge, mixing in ingredients like plantains and queso fresco.
Celebrating our Latinx customers and creating new connections with our partners
We love connecting with our broader community so it was a great experience to feature seven of our Latinx customers who are founders and doing incredible things. My favorite part was reading the stories of what inspired them to create their organizations and how they’re leveraging Asana to help bring the vision to life. It’s hard not to walk away inspired.
Speaking of community, we also hosted an event with our partner and customer, Techqueria. LatinX leaders, including three of our own Asanas—Steve Morin, Silvana Bacigalupo, and Nadia Abouizaid—joined Josh Torres and Jacob Martinez for a discussion about finding connection and building community in tech. After the event we had the chance to network with 120+ Latinx professionals from across the United States in breakout rooms. All in all this was the networking event I needed to revive my spirits after quarantining for so long.
We loved having the opportunity to sponsor LTX Fest this year! From the keynotes to the numerous activities and opportunities to connect with other Latinx folks, it was a great time.
We appreciate having the opportunity to learn more about Latinx culture and to share that with our communities both inside and outside of work during this special month and throughout the year.
Love what we’re doing in our community? Join us! We’re always looking to welcome new team members who share our commitment to building a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone is confident being their authentic selves. If you’re looking for new challenges and experiences, check out our job openings today. Hasta la próxima!
