September 2020
As latinos, we want to share stories that inspire. Characters that have taken Hispanic Heritage to another level, and data to support this movement through social media.
This celebration, which was initially Hispanic Heritage Week, began in 1968 but became a 30-day event to make the most of it.
Hispanic Heritage Month recognized a community’s work contributing to America’s history, culture, and achievements. And the truth is that this should be appreciated every day. However, this month is the perfect opportunity to give it more visibility and attract more people who want to discover the wonderful and diverse of our culture, achievements, and customs.
For example, it is common to find restaurants that include tacos on their menu, or bars where salsa and reggaeton are played, Latin and Spanish actors in Hollywood movies, and advertising campaigns that use Spanish words. There are film categories and music awards essential to highlight the work exclusively of Latinos.
In addition to the fact that Latinos are becoming a powerful economic force as an exciting market in the consumption of products and services in the United States, Stanford found that Latino companies contributed about $500 billion to annual sales.
A 2019 Congressional report based on 2017 data found that nearly 60 million Latinos in the United States already represent $2.3 billion in total economic activity, which alone would rank as the eighth largest economy in the world.
Latino companies in recent years have employed more than 3 million people, according to the State of Latino Entrepreneurship 2019 report of the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI).
One of the first actions is to share resources on social networks that seem relevant to us about this event and explore accounts highlighting Hispanics’ work in the United States; here are 3 Instagram profiles great in their content:
@thehispanicstar: It is a project that aims to educate both the Hispanic community and the non-Hispanic community about the perception of our culture, using people from the artistic field who are recognized and play the role of ambassadors of the project.
@aintilatina: It is an account that highlights the experiences and raises the voices of Afro-Latina women.
@aigaunidos: It’s a collaboration that creates a space to empower and celebrate the lives, work, and needs of creatives with Hispanic and Latino cultural Heritage.
Social media can also spread and support Latino entrepreneurship to support small business owners to have a more digital context presence.
Over time, not only artists but also activists have joined together to provide further recognition to the Hispanic Heritage in the United States, here we leave you one:
Let us unite to make known our strength, our culture. We must talk about our successes, our businesses, and how proud we are of the Latino heritage that gives us a Twist that no other culture has.