Every year from Sept 15-Oct 15, the Somos Miro employee resource group leads Miro in celebrating the histories, cultures, and contributions of people whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean (e.g. Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico), and Central and South America. Today, 4 of the ERG’s leaders share how being a part of Somos Miro has brought community, joy, authenticity, and resiliency to their lives as Mironeers and beyond.
Why did you join Somos Miro?
Luis: Being one of Miro’s early employees — sales rep #5, employee #112 — allowed me to essentially pave the way as one of the first Latinx employees at the company. Along with that, there are certainly some challenges in being the only person in the company with Latinx descent at times.
One of the reasons I joined Somos Miro was to make an impact with other Latinx Mironeers. Every single one of the Somos leads is absolutely committed to facilitating a space where Latinx Mironeers and like-minded individuals are able to share their experiences, share their culture, and have a platform and a forum to showcase abilities and create a sense of community where we help each other achieve our personal and professional career goals.
Grace: I wanted a safe space to be able to feel authentically more myself, without having to worry about how I was being perceived. And so when I saw the opportunity arise to be a part of this ERG, I jumped in to get on that first call for the very first meeting.
At the time, I was one of maybe 4 self-identifying members, and the person who had been leading the ERG had just left Miro. Someone on the People team asked if I would be willing to lead that first meeting. And that kind of just evolved into me owning the leadership role for Somos. Then, thankfully, a little after that, Falon joined me and we were able to co-lead Somos together.
Chris: As an ally and fellow minority, I felt that it was the right thing to do, and a good thing to connect with a group of like-minded people that are here to help other people who are underrepresented in tech to be able to thrive in this community and in this space.
Falon: I’m very proud to be a first generation American and Latina in tech, and being an active member of the Latino community is very important to me. Just by being here, we are showing younger Latinos that there is an opportunity and space for them in this industry. I’ve had people tell me in the past that I must have found “some easy way” to get into tech or that I was “given” a spot because companies wanted to fill some DEI quota, but the truth is I earned my spot and I’m proud of it. I want to show others in the community that they can do this, too. I joined Somos at the very beginning with Grace so we could build the community together at Miro.
Members of Somos Miro pose for a group photo at Miro’s summer offsite in Austin
What does Somos mean to you?
Grace: Being a part of Somos Miro gives me the ability to be authentically myself. I think in past roles, I’ve always been nervous to really, truly bring my full self to work. I mean, I don’t even go by my actual name, Maria Gracia Larrea. I’ve Anglicized it so that people can refer to me in a way that is more simplified. I felt like becoming a part of Somos would allow me to open up areas of my life that I’ve never really brought to work, allow me not to have to code switch, and give me a place to support and uplift my community and other self-identifying members here at Miro.
Luis: Somos has allowed me to make connections across the world. We’re a global company, and we have a global presence of Latinx Mironeers, so being a Somos leader gives me the opportunity to reach out, make connections, develop relationships, that have not only helped me but have also helped my peers in understanding what opportunities there are for us to make an impact in the company, both professionally and personally.
I experience a sense of pride that has definitely come out of the impact of my direct contributions. I’ve been able to share that pride with my friends and family, and essentially just make my family proud of all of the things coming from humble beginnings. My parents helped me with a great education, going to private school, working very hard, and now I get to show them some of the results on how I’ve been able to accomplish goals within my career.
Chris: Somos has impacted my work greatly: it has introduced me to a wealth of different people inside and outside my own line of business who have become my friends, people who are here to help me grow and thrive. It’s hard to find people that are like us in the tech community, so I feel like it’s good to connect and good for representation overall, to kind of help each other thrive in this fast-paced tech environment.
Falon: Somos feels like family — it’s really nice to have a group you can go to that understands your culture, your food, your music…I don’t know what I’d do without them! I think it’s super important that we support each other and create space to celebrate our culture. Being a part of Somos gives me space to celebrate my culture and also share that culture with others at Miro. It makes me feel like I can bring this part of myself to work.
What are 3 words you would use to describe Somos?
Resiliency
Luis: We are, at the core of the company, a startup organization, and our Somos Mironeers definitely have a startup and grit mentality. And so we’ve been able to be resilient at times that have not been easy in the world over the last couple of years. Somos has absolutely helped me, on a personal level, to overcome some challenges around anxiety and world stresses that potentially affect me personally. Knowing people from my culture have my back allows me to be successful and motivated to drive our initiatives forward.
Support
Grace: What I want people to know is that this is an open community. There is no one way to be Hispanic/Latinx. There are so many ways to be who we want to be. I think the one thing we need to remember is that our communities are about love, celebration, uplifting, and being there for one another. Somos is a community that’s here for everyone. We want to be a support system.
Community
Chris: Somos is a connected, inclusive community of people that are here to welcome you in and help you get better, grow, and thrive here at Miro.
Falon: We’re a super supportive and passionate community, and everyone is welcome to be a part of the familia!
What’s coming up
From beautiful Zoom backgrounds and custom Slack emojis, to a speaker series featuring a diverse panel of speakers, to cooking classes, dancing, history, and more, Somos Miro has come up with many ways for fellow Mironeers to celebrate and get in on the action in the next few weeks. Stay tuned to hear more from Somos throughout this month of festivities!
