Latina Equal Pay Day is December 8th and to celebrate this important day, #WeAllGrow Latina has partnered with Indeed to bring the issue to the forefront and create lasting change. “Our partnership with Indeed is focused on empowering Latinas in the workplace,” said Vanessa Santos Fein, co-owner of #WeAllGrow Latina. Through a virtual panel that took place on Tuesday 6th DecemberSantos explains how thought leaders and business founders came together to share actionable tips on how to grow in your career, negotiate better wages, and explore ways Latinas can position themselves to own the table.
#WeAllGrow Latina has grown into a disruptor since its launch in 2010. Through partnerships like the one with Indeed, the organization remains present to make equal pay for Latinas a top priority. For Ana Flores, founder of #WeAllGrow Latina, this mission is personal. “When I founded the company in 2010, I could not imagine what it is today,” says Flores. “It started as Latina Bloggers Connect, the first network in the world dedicated to connecting Latina bloggers and creators with brands in what we now know as influencer marketing.”
Flores loved being a blogger and recognized the limitless possibilities in the digital world. “I saw a room without a porter,” she recalls. “A space where the voices of Latina women could be democratized and our stories heard by and for us.” While her ideas brimmed with potential, the reality was that Flores had no funding to really get them off the ground. She was recovering from the recession at the time and was also raising a young child. Still, the inspiration Flores felt from the community of Latina bloggers she built was the fuel she needed to keep moving forward.
“I decided to go all-in with no other means than freelance gigs, which I would do on the side,” she says. “So I started my own blog, had a friend help me with a logo, and launched Latina Bloggers Connect with a Google form inviting Latina influencers to sign up if they wanted to work with brands. “My promise was that I would find it worked for us and that we would find out together. And I ended it with what is now our motto and our name: “As you grow, we all grow“.
#WeAllGrow Latina is now the largest digital and IRL lifestyle community for Latinas and Femme Latines. Over the past decade, #WeAllGrow Latina has grown into an immense source of inspiration and a resource-sharing community for Latina entrepreneurs and small business owners. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization found a way to stay strong despite the cancellation of their flagship annual three-day #WeAllGrow summit, thanks to the free Amigas member platform and app they launched the year before.
“We were able to obtain both the PPP and EIDL loans from the SBA. This allowed us to process the refunds (to attendees and sponsors) and stay open long enough to turn our offers into unique bespoke digital campaigns for brands that were keen to connect with Latinas online,” says Flores.
“We now have almost 20,000 Amigas members and were able to bring the Summit back for 2022 and sold it out in 3 hours,” she adds. “I’ve learned to face any obstacle by doing the work of tapping into my inner guidance and trusting it enough to inspire the courage needed to take the actions that arise Lightness, patience and grace are based.”
While there is so much to celebrate with the continued growth of #WeAllGrow Latina, there is still work to be done to ensure Latinas get paid equally and own the table, which is why it matters to the organization. Latina Equal Pay Day falls on December 8th this year. The day marks how far into the new year is The average Latina woman has to work to keep up with what her white non-Hispanic male counterparts were making the year before. A Latina would have to work until she was around 90 years old to make the same amount of money that a white, non-Hispanic man would have made at 60.
More than 50 years after the Equal Pay Act 1963 was passedFull-time, year-round and part-time Latina workers, reported income, earn just 54 cents for every dollar white non-Hispanic males make. Year-round, full-time Latina workers who have reported their earnings make just 57 cents on the dollar. It means that Latina women have to work 21 months to earn a white man’s annual income.
However, a last report entitled “US Hispanics, A New Approach to Understanding an Untapped Market,” notes that US Hispanics are an engine of the US economy. Additionally, Latinas are the primary drivers of Hispanic purchasing power and make the majority of household purchasing decisions. So while they spend the most, they earn the least.
“Latinas are drivers of the US economy and have immense purchasing power, but are constantly left out of the conversation when it comes to our financial wealth, which is why raising awareness of the injustices is important to us.”
“Latinas are drivers of the US economy and have tremendous purchasing power, but are constantly excluded from the conversation when it comes to our financial wealth, which is why it’s important for us to raise awareness of the injustices,” says Santos.
“We know we’re givers, we know how to share wealth fairly, and that will have a positive impact on the US economy,” she adds. “When Latinas earn more, we spend more, and this knock-on effect is immeasurable. But if Latinas earn less, we still have to spend more on our daily necessities – our country will continue to be at a disadvantage.”
As Flores and Santos know only too well, real change in the world does not happen overnight. These Latinas are in it for the long haul, creating a legacy of changemakers along the way.
“Twelve years later, #WeAllGrow Latina is still 100% Latina owned and operated and has evolved into a community-driven platform that provides Latinas and Latina women with access to resources and connections for professional and personal growth,” says Flores proudly. “Our mission to elevate the voices and stories of Latinas to empower them continues to be our driving force.”
Image Credit: Rachel Carrillo