Highlights:
- September 15 through October 15, 2022 is Hispanic Heritage Month
- Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates the history, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.
Celebrating Hispanic Americans
Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, the Caribbean and Central and South America. National Hispanic Heritage Month started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and is celebrated from September 15 to October 15. The day of September 15 is significant because it is celebrated as Independence Day in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. This month, RingCentral will be celebrating with fun and informative activities organized by our HOLA Employee Resource Group.
Upcoming HHM Festivities
In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, HOLA is hosting a variety of activities for all @RingCentral employees:
- Family Recipe Contest -We recently hosted a recipe contest open to our HOLA members. The winner’s recipe will be featured in the Belmont Cafe in October
- September 15 – Hispanic Heritage Month Kick Off with House Party Friday LIVE ft. DJ Christylez
- All throughout September and October – Hispanic Culture Fun Facts
- October 5 – Virtual Salsa Dance Class
- October 12 – RingCentral Welcomes Gabriel Abaroa, President Emeritus of the Latin Recording Academy
- October 13 – Trivia – Facts about Hispanic culture
RingCentral’s HOLA ERG encourages everyone to celebrate Hispanic history, culture, and contributions!
Say ¡Hola! to HOLA!
HOLA (Hispanic Organization for Leadership and Achievement) is RingCentral’s Employee Resource Group (ERG) dedicated to fostering leadership and achievement amongst our Hispanic employees, as well as outreach to the greater Hispanic community. We recently spoke with HOLA steering committee leaders—Cesar Marrufo, Regional VP of Major Accounts, Marla Ravkind, Enterprise Account Executive, Diane Martinez, Program Manager of Web and eCommerce Accessibility, and Levi Salazar, Business Development Representative—to learn more about the group.
HOLA mainly aims to attract, mentor, develop, and retain Hispanic employees. But according to Diane Martinez, it’s also a priority to bring more visibility to the Hispanic community within and beyond RingCentral to increase overall opportunity and representation in tech. “We’re looking for opportunity within but also representation within. We may be only 3% of the population here at RingCentral, but look at us, we’re vocal. We’re not a shy group of people.”
Marla Ravkind reiterates these goals. “We definitely would like to see more Hispanic professionals here at RingCentral. We want to show our local communities and networks that we can have thriving careers in corporate America! In our HOLA Steering Committee, we have Hispanic employees at all different levels of their career. Elevating and helping each other get to the next level is the goal.”
A Vision for Outreach
Cesar Marrufo has a vision for expanded recruiting and outreach that could potentially increase RingCentral’s reach among Hispanic businesses. “I think if we want to find candidates and we want to improve our number of Hispanic employees within RingCentral, we have to focus on universities and recruit from locations where Hispanic candidates actually are.” Marrufo adds, “The largest amount of small business being created is happening right now, across the United States by Hispanic business owners. That’s a pretty amazing fact. And that would be my call to action for our executive team, not just our C-team, but to anybody who works with a customer.” HOLA is excited to increase RingCentral’s visibility in the Hispanic community and to expand employee, as well as, client representation.
Originally published Sep 14, 2022, updated Sep 29, 2022