We sat down with fellow colleagues Isabeau Touchard, Senior Account Supervisor on the Lifestyle/Cities team at BerlinRosen; Gabriella Camacho, Assistant Account Executive at Derris; Katelyn Rodriguez, Senior Visual Designer at Inkhouse; and Christopher Shannon, Creative Director at the Glen Echo Group, for a Latinx Heritage Month panel. During this conversation, the panelists opened up about their professional journeys within their respective agencies and delved into a discussion on the significance of Latinx Heritage Month, sharing personal reflections on how their culture has influenced and shaped them.
What has been your favorite memory working at your agency thus far?
Christopher: I have a lot of great memories, thankfully, but have a really fun recent one. We recently had our first happy hour with BerlinRosen in the D.C. office. We asked to get a picture of the GEG-ers and the BerlinRosen team started chanting “Glen”–“Echo” as a call and repeat. Then when we got our full group photo, we started chanting “Berlin”–“Rosen” in the same way. And I thought, this is so exciting to be in this bigger family of companies. It was really cool.
Gabriella: During Asian American and Pacific Islanders month, we had a boba tea experience happy hour. We learned about boba tea and where it originated from. Then we all got to make two different versions of the boba tea and got to take any extras home. It was a really great experience because it’s the first time that I did a happy hour at Derris.
Isabeau: I’ve been with BR for almost two years now, and I feel like I’ve had a lot of really great memories here, but one that sticks out is our recent lifestyle team outing. The Beekman Hotel here in Downtown is one of our clients, and they were really gracious enough to let us use their gorgeous penthouse suite. We took the time to hang out, reflect and celebrate our wins throughout the year.
How did your culture shape you growing up?
Gabriella: I’m 100% Puerto Rican and I feel that my culture shaped me to understand the value of a good work ethic and the importance of giving back to your community. When my grandpa and grandma came here from Puerto Rico, they also brought their community from San Sebastian with them. They settled in Bushwick, Brooklyn and worked many jobs to provide for my mom and her 10 siblings. They knew everyone in their neighborhood and were the people to always lend a hand to those in need. A story that I love to tell is that, when my grandpa finally paid off the mortgage of our family house, he kissed the steps and said, “finally this is mine, I own this.” I always think back to this story because it reminds me to work hard for the things in life.
Isabeau: My dad is Venezuelan and my mom’s Ecuadorian, and both my parents immigrated here when they were young. I think the idea of hard work has been instilled in me since I was a kid. With my mom being deaf, there’s an added layer of challenges she faced and continues to face, and growing up, I saw a lot of that firsthand. Also, seeing my parents navigate through new cultures and understanding new languages has definitely shown me that I am very fortunate to be in the position that I am in. It’s because of their sacrifices and hard work that I am able to be here today.
Katelyn: It wasn’t until after I moved away from Los Angeles and lived in Boston for a couple of years that separating myself from my home and community really showed me that my culture is more a part of me than I knew and is truly important to me. I used to feel I didn’t have the right to claim my heritage because of how I look or how I was raised, but I’m thankful I’ve been able to come to a point where I can celebrate my culture in a way that is true to me and reclaim some of the traditions my family lost. And especially now, as I have a daughter who is a year and a half old. For myself and my husband, who is Salvadorian, it’s very important to us that we raise her with a love and pride for her heritage and create memories around traditions from our culture, as well as give her exposure to Spanish.
What does Latinx Heritage Month mean to you?
Katelyn: For me, I think it’s just a time of celebration and community amongst our whole Latinx family. Oftentimes, there’s events or things like this panel that bring us together and revive that sense of connection. I think that that’s a really lovely and special thing.
Gabriella: For me, it’s really a time to reflect on all of the things that those in our community have achieved and even our own personal achievements. To share our gratitude for our ancestors and their sacrifices.
Isabeau: I think there’s so many ways to celebrate, and being based in New York, I feel like the Latin culture is celebrated all the time, but I think this month in particular just feels special. It’s also a time of reflection to see how far we’ve come.
Christopher: There’s a way in which it gives you an opportunity to remember and be proud. I’m also queer, so it kind of reminds me of Pride Month. But for Latino or Hispanic people, it’s kind of a nice reset because life is really busy and fast. And so to me, it is that opportunity of reflection, but also a time to have fun, go dancing, have some tacos and have a good time.
Can you share any significant achievements or contributions made by Latinx individuals in history that you admire?
Gabriella: One thing that really excited me was the fact that Celia Cruz is going to be on the quarter! I love listening to her music. I think that it’s really important for Afro-Latinos to have their moment because of the colorism discourse that happens a lot within our community. Celia was really a trailblazer in that regard. I think it’s just amazing that she’s gonna be on a piece of U.S. currency. I can’t wait to buy something and see that I have Celia Cruz in my change.
Christopher: Jean-Michel Basquiat is a huge inspiration of mine from an artistic and design perspective. And a lot of people don’t think about the fact that he was half Puerto Rican. I also wrote down AOC. I just have to give her props. She’s changing the world!
Katelyn: I would have to say Lin-Manuel Miranda. I mean, who doesn’t love his work? He’s revolutionized not only Broadway and the arts, but American culture, and his passion for diversity within all of his work is so impactful. It’s really powerful to see the impact of his lived experiences in his work, like seeing his perspective of the immigrant story and his father coming from Puerto Rico. You can see the influence of that in Hamilton. He’s just a phenomenal genius.
How can organizations create a more inclusive environment for their Latinx team members?
Isabeau: I think BR has done a really great job at making the organization feel inclusive—just having this panel is amazing. We also have an affinity group where we can just talk and share jokes, cultural happenings and all of that. We’re able to talk about the latest trends, or if something were to happen that maybe other groups wouldn’t understand, we can talk about it, and it’s nice to have that.
Christopher: I think it’s not any different from the things that need to happen when ensuring inclusion for any other group: creating a space for community and respect and finding ways to listen, learn, discuss and support them. I’m glad that all our companies took the time to have this discussion and bring us all together for Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month and creating a space like this is one. It’s so great to meet and hear everyone’s experience.
Katelyn: Having the opportunity for us to share our stories through things like this panel is incredible. At Inkhouse, we used to do this thing called PechaKucha, which is a storytelling format where you have 20 slides that you go through quickly on any topic of interest to you. During last year’s Latinx Heritage Month, I did mine on my heritage, telling the story of my family and little tidbits about my culture. It was a really great way for me to be able to share about myself and my culture.
What’s your favorite Latinx…
Restaurant
Gabriella: Nenes Taqueria in Brooklyn
Christopher: El Sol in Washington, D.C.
Katelyn: King Taco in Los Angeles
Isabeau: Irma’s Restaurant in Plainfield, New Jersey (shameless plug)
Celebrity
Gabriella: Ivy Queen
Katelyn: Pedro Pascal
Isabeau: Salma Hayek
Christopher: Salma was already said, so I’ll go with America Ferrera
Movie
Gabriella: “Stand and Deliver”
Isabeau: “Instructions Not Included”
Christopher: “Mucho Mucho Amor”
Katelyn: “Coco”
Song
Gabriella: “Otra Noche en Miami” by Bad Bunny
Katelyn: “Mamita” by Rawayana, ft. Natalia Lafourcade
Isabeau: “Hasta la Raíz” by Natalia Lafourcade
Christopher: “De Colores” by Joan Baez (childhood shoutout)
Dish
Gabriella: Alcapurrias
Isabeau: Arepas
Christopher: Tacos
Katelyn: Tamales with fried eggs and beans