When, how and why was eLatinos founded at Expedia Group?

Expedia Latinos was founded around four years ago, initially from the need to connect with other Latinos and allies and to create a place where we all belong and can do our best work as a result of it. However, what started as an intrinsic need to connect, eLatinos evolved into a BRG (Business Resource Group) where we are now committed to representation, advancement, and inclusion of Latinos at Expedia Group.

What is eLatino’s mission?

Our mission is to connect and develop Expedia Latino employees by creating a community that encourages advancement and professional growth while promoting Expedia’s culture of inclusion.

How big is the eLatinos community at Expedia Group? How many offices/countries do you have a presence in?

eLatinos has more than 100 members with chapters in Bellevue, Chicago and Las Vegas.

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What is eLatinos most proud of in the last year?

Last year was critical for the eLatinos foundation, this was the year when we realized our work needed to go further to advocate for the needs of our members, as an example, these are some of the last year wins:

• Chicago chapter was born!
• Imparted a “Leadership Workshop” with the goal to generate a change of mindset to help Latinos to develop a strong presence based on leadership competencies.
• First Heritage Month Celebration organized and coordinated by eLatinos members
• First Mexican students visit to Expedia, where eLatinos members created a whole day experience including a virtual reality lab and a professional panel.

What are eLatino’s goals for 2019 and beyond?

Our priority for this and next year is to take steps to solidify and strengthen the eLatinos BRG internally, working closely with our active members, chapters and allies.  Our goal is to formalize and complete our internal structure, have distinct roles and functions as well as established processes with our chapters. At the same time, we are planning to cultivate more the participation of our members on our different activities by aligning those with our mission and vision.

Expedia Group recently brought together all the Business Resource Group leaders for the Summit – what did you learn from that?

Working together with other BRGs leads and Expedia Diversity and Inclusion during this summit was a unique experience that allows us to have an honest conversation with regards to where Expedia Group stands as a diverse and inclusive company and what will take us to the north star.

Specifically, for eLatinos, it made us reflect on the improvements we must make to evolve from a foundational BRG to a dynamic organization that is recognized and valued as an integrated business partner. Additionally, we realized we needed to adjust our mission and vision based on our pillars and have a re-org to work efficiently and therefore bring more value to our members. 

How can people outside of the eLatinos community in wider Expedia Group and beyond be an ally to eLatinos?

eLatinos and all BRG’s at Expedia Group are all about inclusion, we support the idea that having a multicultural community enrich us all, then we are delighted to have allies! First of all, make sure to subscribe to our distribution list expLatinos@expedia and join our slack channel #eLatinos. Be ready to share and learn from our differences, consider this environment as a place to learn our culture, our ideas and difficulties. Everything starts with trying to be more empathic and inclusive with each other and by that being aware of our unconscious biases.

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