HOLA to our Community
Employees across Adobe joined in on Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations, connecting with colleagues and building a deeper appreciation and understanding of Hispanic and Latino/a cultures and traditions.
From San Jose to Lehi, from Emeryville to New York, employees celebrated not only with food, festivals and dancing, but by giving back to their communities. The Hispanic/LatinX at Adobe (HOLA) employee network has been making an impact within and beyond Adobe, reaching out to local youth and providing mentorship to interns. Check out the ways each site is making a difference in their communities.
San Jose
HOLA in San Jose has been quite busy this month! They have sponsored and co-sponsored several events including:
- Hosted a Hispanic Heritage Foundation community discussion in our San Francisco office.
- Invited students from Independence High School to the San Jose office, including a tour, guest panel session featuring Gloria Williamson, Provisioning Coordinator, and Marcos Gallardo, Senior Project Manager, and a tech session with Adobe Spark.
- Co-Hosted an event with our Adobe & Women employee network to hear guest speaker Laura Gomez, CEO and Founder of Atipica.
- Hosted Conexiones Group, a collaboration of Bay Area Hipsanic/LatinX organizations. Members include Facebook, Intel, KPMG, Walmart and Schwab. The groups shared recruitment strategies, engagement, retention and career development, and community outreach.
- Hosted Movimiente de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA) student event in the San Jose office, with tour, guest panel and tech panel with Adobe Spark.
According to Antonio Humphreys, HOLA San Jose site lead, there are over 200 members in HOLA SJ and growing! The most rewarding part of his job? “Building the foundation for this organization, seeing individuals grow in their careers through their involvement, and knowing that we’re making a true impact in our partnerships and communities,” Antonio said. Not only are the employees within HOLA developing through the organization, but so are the participants of their various events.
SJ HOLA members representing the organization at the SJ Communities Fair.
At university recruiting events and Adobe site events alike, Antonio was happy to see students inspired by Adobe employees “who look and speak like them.” These students were motivated to excel in their schooling and professional development. Many said they aspire to work for a company like Adobe someday.
Emeryville
The newest HOLA chapter, established earlier this year in our new Emeryville office, is looking forward to expanding not only its membership but its impact in the community. The chapter has begun to recruit at the collegiate level through involvement with Latino student professional organizations. In the future, the group plans on hosting panels, speaker series and networking sessions to enrich their members’ experience.
Joseph Sandoval, HOLA Emeryville site lead, plans on collaborating with our other local employee networks such as theBlack Employee Network (BEN) and Adobe & Women. The group also plans on supporting external groups such as the Latino Business Student Association at Berkeley, the Chican@/Latin@ Student Development Center, Latinas in Tech Silicon Valley, and more. Co-founder Karina Gonzalez, Business Development Manager, summed up the main goal for the organization: “The most important piece is to build community first, and to get to know and support one another in our career aspirations.”
New York
HOLA in New York held a special event on September 29, in partnership with New Settlement College Access Center, a non-profit community organization based in the Bronx that runs a pilot program for high school and college students. HOLA planned a full day at the Times Square office, where students toured the facility, had professional headshots taken and listened to an Adobe panel discussion. Panelists Christopher Young, Camille Ong, and Michael Lee-Amezcua all shared with the students about their journeys at Adobe. HOLA will continue to work with New Settlement on building the students’ resumes and LinkedIn profiles to propel them into the professional world.
The group, led by co-leads Meylin Mota and Lucy Amparo, is planning more events in the future with other organizations, and will continue its partnership with New Settlement.
Meylin said the “most rewarding experience has been to connect with other Hispanic/LatinX Adobe employees from other offices.”
Lehi
On September 28, HOLA in Lehi partnered with the Diversity Leadership Council and Latinos in Action (LIA) and hosted over 200 students at the Lehi campus. To inspire and motivate these students, Adobe volunteers facilitated the event, and made the day special for the participants. State Senator Luz Escamilla spoke to the students about being the first Latina immigrant to be elected to the Utah State Senate.
More than 200 students attended the Lehi office HOLA event, Latinos in Action.
The students also heard from Rene Salcedo, who was the first in his family to get his high school GED. His family is already incredibly proud of him, but he’s not done yet. Rene plans on completing his college degree, something he never thought was possible. His “beating the odds” story inspired the students in attendance.
In addition to the speakers, the students participated in team-building exercises. One game, “Win All You Can,” pitted students against each other. By the end of the game, students learned that if they worked together they would have the most success.
Jake Mayorga, HOLA Lehi site lead and LIA member, is proud to see the Latino youth fulfill their promise to themselves to go to college.
“I particularly remember one girl who volunteered with me at the LIA conference in 2016 who didn’t go to college right away,” Jake said. “When I asked her about her promise to herself to go to college she assured me she would, but she just needed some time to find resources to pay for college.” This year Jake saw her again, this time she was proudly enrolled at the University of Utah.
Although Hispanic Heritage month is just coming to an end, our HOLA network is excited to continue making an impact throughout the year!
Our Employee Networks play an important role in bringing our employees together to build community and an inclusive workplace. Embracing Adobe’s Core Values, Employee Networks share a common purpose, interest or background and act as a resource for personal and professional development. Look for open positions on our career site and join an Adobe Employee Network!