Every year from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, our country celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month. This company has a deep love and appreciation for the Hispanic and Latinx communities as BOCA founder Kathleen Shanahan’s mom and sister live full-time in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and Kathleen has a home there as well. It would be impossible to adequately acknowledge all of the ways in which this culture has improved our lives in a matter of a few weeks.
Hispanic Heritage Week was first instituted by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968. The choice of Sept. 15 as the commencement date is notable because it falls on the day that numerous Latin American nations, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, celebrate their independence. President Ronald Reagan extended this week-long celebration in 1988 to a month-long celebration.
According to Sara Garibaldi, President of the communications agency BODEN, our country is in the middle of a “Hispanic revolution.” We see Hispanic and Latinx culture taking the main stage on television screens, in stadiums, and on the radio – it’s fantastic. It’s also not a surprise. Spanish is the second-most-spoken language in the U.S. and the Hispanic ethnicity is the second largest in the country. This community deserves to be recognized for the contributions they have made and continue to make in this country.
Sara recently spoke with PRNews Live and discussed the role of the Hispanic and Latinx community within public relations and how the industry is a bit behind in culture inclusivity. While we’re on the right path, there is a lot of room for growth, from the creative work that is being done, to the people who are selected to do the work. While the topic of DEI is all the rage these days, many talk the talk but not everyone walks the walk. Representation matters, context matters, and creating opportunities for diverse talent matters. Sara believes that instituting sustainable inclusivity initiatives is the most important piece, they must extend beyond Oct. 15.
Every September, BOCA selects the Hispanic Heritage Fund for our donation matching program. BOCA picks a non-profit organization each month and matches all employee donations to that organization in an effort to support the people and issues that matter most to us. BOCA is proud to have multiple members of the Hispanic and Latinx community on our small team. We pride ourselves in being a diverse group of people and we value our differences – they are what make us so effective at our jobs, they are what make us BOCA.