This Hispanic Heritage Month, it’s never been more important for our community to celebrate our similarities, acknowledge our differences and come together to support our resilience. The differences within our community are many — the color of our skin, our immigration status, our culture and experiences, even the languages we may speak or not speak. Each of us are unique and that’s what makes our community vibrant.
Stronger Together
The Intuit Latinos Network’s goal is to celebrate Latinx culture at Intuit by uniting, cultivating and growing our employees while serving our customers and communities. The pandemic has brought our network closer together and encouraged us to think about our member engagement in new ways. Rather than focus on our traditional physical chapters, tied to an Intuit office, we became a truly virtual network. Through these expanded virtual engagements with the Latinx community across Intuit offices around the globe, we realized the magic that happens when we lift one another up and find synergies we never knew existed.
One example resulted in the launch of our Spanish club. What started out as a raw and open conversation from one member regarding their regret about not learning to speak Spanish has turned into a much bigger movement among our members. It also became personal as it raised emotions from my own childhood. Growing up in Arizona, near the Mexico border, I have fond memories of my grandmother speaking Spanish. While I understand Spanish, I speak Spanglish, a hybrid and more casual version of Spanish and English. Many of our network members had similar feelings around wanting to improve their Spanish. A vulnerable conversation turned into the launch of our Spanish club in which we have regular meetings that allow employees to practice Spanish together. There’s no judgement. Our members have come together to create a safe place that allows us to get closer to our roots, our heritage and our culture. This is just one example of how we’ve become stronger together.
A Year of Growth
This year alone, we launched three new committees, allowing members from around the world to develop their leadership skills, get involved and drive meaningful projects while meeting Intuit colleagues from around the world.
- Our communication committee helps to develop new ways to connect the network through engaging employee communications
- The membership committee is focused on developing ways to ensure all members feel like family in a way that fits each person’s comfort level
- Our community committee members plan virtual events and community planning initiatives that highlight our community within our company and beyond
The work our ERG is driving is one key piece of how we are helping support DEI at Intuit. As shared by our Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, Sheldon Cummings, we also have a company-wide goal to increase the representation of underrepresented minorities, including those who identify as Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx and Native American, Native Alaskan and Native Hawaiian, to 16% of our workforce by 2023. We’re passionate about doing our part to attract Latinx talent at all levels. Not only are we building additional partnerships like Latinas in Tech, Techqueria or #LatinaGeeks, but this year, we are partnering with HR to train 10% of our members to participate in at least one interview panel so that we can be active participants in looking for and advocating for great talent.
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month
Year-over-year, our Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations have grown to become a key moment in time for our network and for all of Intuit. This year’s Hispanic Heritage Month theme is centered around esperanza– a celebration of Afro-Latino, Chicano, Hispanic, Indigenous, and Latinx heritage and hope for us at Intuit. To celebrate the month, we’re highlighting our Latino Network members, customers and small businesses.
As I think about the sacrifices our families have made and the challenges we’ve overcome, a powerful quote from humanitarian and journalist, Edith Auslander brings tears to my eyes, “Our grandparents carried greencards so we can carry business cards.” It’s up to all of us to do more and make meaningful progress for a more equal world for not only our generation but for generations to come. Happy Hispanic Heritage Month!