National Hispanic Heritage Month is just around the corner. From September 15th to October 15th, the U.S. celebrates! What started as Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968 has become a month-long celebration 20 years later. Today, the U.S. celebrates the contributions of Americans with heritages from Central and Latin American countries, like Mexico, Chile and Colombia to name a few.
We’re so grateful here at DB Schenker to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month with our talented and diverse Hispanic American team members! Please join us as we celebrate and pay tribute to those who have been empowered through their ethnicities, enriching our company culture, communities, and regions. Learn more below about our team members who are proud to celebrate with us this month!
Yosdeny Zayas – Marketing Communications Manager
Starting his day with a cup of Cafe Con Leche (a Cuban Latte), Yosdeny focuses on emails bright and early before diving into his workday ahead. As DB Schenker’s Marketing Communications Manager, Yosdeny drives all social media initiatives and external communications, managing the DB Schenker Americas Blog and overseeing all our company branding in the Americas, amongst other things.
To Yosdeny, Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to bring awareness to Hispanic culture and achievements. “I could not be prouder to work for a company that fosters this kind of culture.”
A few years ago, he had the opportunity to go on a solo backpacking trip in Europe for three weeks. So naturally, his first stop was the Warner Bros studios as the big Harry Potter fan he is. He spent over 5 hours looking at movie sets and props for all the Harry Potter Movies before heading off to explore the rest of Europe!
Laura Espino – People & Organization Senior Business Partner
For Laura, family is first and foremost. While balancing work and home life, she relaxes by spending quality time with her loved ones. Watching the Dallas Cowboys games, going to family outings, and spending weekends swimming are just a few things her family enjoys doing together. In addition, as People & Organization Senior Business Partner, Laura’s hard work at DB Schenker supports our employees by ensuring equal treatment while educating our teams on company policies, benefits, and more.
To her, Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to celebrate her culture, family, and traditions. “DB Schenker is a great place to work for many diverse backgrounds, giving opportunities for all employees to grow and work together. I’m proud to be part of the DB Schenker team”.
Maria Isabel Giraldo – Manager, Global Customer Support, Schenker Americas
Maria, our Global Customer Support Manager (Schenker Americas), enjoys her days of work-life balance filled with several daily calls with colleagues and departments as she supports the V.M. Aerospace and Consumer & Retail regional sales teams. In addition, she breaks up her days with workouts, keeps in touch with her close-knit family, and fills her weekends with outdoor activities as she loves going to the beach and roller-skating with her friends.
To Maria, Hispanic culture is diverse and vibrant. Hispanic Heritage Month helps her reflect on the influence of her heritage and others worldwide. “There are many meanings I can think of when it refers to being Hispanic, such as family and hard work, but courage is the most significant for me. It is time to remember our history and how our culture expanded and evolved through generations. I celebrate this month as a proud Colombian by gathering with family and cooking some of our traditional desserts.”
Maria enjoys the interaction with people who appreciate what diversity means and, most importantly, are open to interacting and learning from colleagues around the world. “It means a lot to me that the company I am part of respects and appreciates my work with the understanding that I am coming from a foreign country. I love that Schenker does not have boundaries when it comes to people and embraces any culture, creating an engaging and diverse work environment.”
Antonio Soda – Regional Head Vertical Market Industrial, Americas
As our Regional Head of Vertical Market Industrial, Americas, Antonio dedicates early mornings to connecting with peers and colleagues worldwide. His most precious time at work is spent electronically or physically holding different customer-facing activities. It’s important to him to have face-to-face calls with key accounts and partners as often as possible to connect and foster relationships. Antonio also holds several internal meetings supporting Corporate Account Managers, Regional Account Managers, and the Country Key Account Management teams.
When the work day ends, Antonio spends time raising, educating, entertaining, and supporting his four kids with his wife. He’s a die-hard Yankees fan and was based out of his home country, Mexico, working as CCO for seven years before joining the Regional team in Miami a year ago! To Antonio, Hispanic Heritage Month means “Appreciation and pride about our multi-cultural Spanish speaking Americas legacy contributing to enrichen the social diversity greatness of the U.S. and Canada.”
Being bilingual allows Antonio to strive in his role. “In the case of regional positions in the Americas, I consider it a bonus to be fluent in Spanish and Portuguese to better connect with LATAM, especially with our customers and colleagues. Let’s bear in mind that most of the population in those countries are fluent only in Spanish (and only in Portuguese in Brazil). You will find bilingual people only in some pockets of our corporate life, so adapting to their culture and language makes a difference to build more rapport with our customers and partners in LATAM countries.”
Paulina Caro – National Account Manager, Schenker Inc
As a National Account Manager, Paulina spends her time at work connecting with customers, team members, and partners. You can find her by the water, hanging at the beach, meeting up with friends, or scuba diving during her time off!
Paulina appreciates Hispanic Heritage Month, saying, “It is great to have recognition of the influence of Hispanic countries. Especially because throughout this month is the commemoration of the independence of many Latin-American countries.” She later jokes that a “category five earthquake in any country is considered high intensity and in Chile is considered medium intensity” and “people keep doing their activities.”
We hope you’ll join us at DB Schenker as we celebrate this month. Please find us on social to hear more from our Hispanic American team! Looking for ways to celebrate with your family, friends, or coworkers this year? Learn more about events, Hispanic history, and culture here!
